scholarly journals Do long-tailed macaques engage in intuitive statistics?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Placì ◽  
Johanna Eckert ◽  
Hannes Rakoczy ◽  
Julia Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Correct Choice ◽  
Statistical Reasoning ◽  
Old World Monkeys ◽  
Core Knowledge ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Food Items ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
Intuitive Statistics ◽  
The Difference

Human infants, apes and capuchins have been found to engage in intuitive statistics, generating predictions from populations to samples based on proportional information. This suggests that statistical reasoning might depend on some core knowledge that is shared with other species. Here, we investigated whether such intuitive statistical reasoning is also present in a species of Old World monkeys, to aid in the reconstruction of the evolution of this capacity. In a series of 7 test conditions, 11 long-tailed macaques were offered different pairs of populations containing varying proportions of preferred vs. neutral food items. One population always contained a higher proportion of preferred items than the other. An experimenter simultaneously drew one item out of each population, hid them in her fists and presented them to the monkey to choose. Results revealed that at least one individual seemed to make systematic population-to-sample inferences and consistently chose the sample from the population with the more favorable distribution of preferred vs. neutral food items. While it is not clear whether she used relative or absolute quantities of food, she seemed to understand the difference between a correct choice and a favorable draw and thus some basic principles of intuitive statistics.

scholarly journals Long-tailed macaques ( Macaca fascicularis ) can use simple heuristics but fail at drawing statistical inferences from populations to samples

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 181025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Placì ◽  
Johanna Eckert ◽  
Hannes Rakoczy ◽  
Julia Fischer
Keyword(s):  
World Monkey ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Statistical Reasoning ◽  
New World Monkeys ◽  
Core Knowledge ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Food Items ◽  
Statistical Inferences ◽  
Intuitive Statistics ◽  
Simple Heuristics

Human infants, apes and capuchin monkeys engage in intuitive statistics: they generate predictions from populations of objects to samples based on proportional information. This suggests that statistical reasoning might depend on some core knowledge that humans share with other primate species. To aid the reconstruction of the evolution of this capacity, we investigated whether intuitive statistical reasoning is also present in a species of Old World monkey. In a series of four experiments, 11 long-tailed macaques were offered different pairs of populations containing varying proportions of preferred versus neutral food items. One population always contained a higher proportion of preferred items than the other. An experimenter simultaneously drew one item out of each population, hid them in her fists and presented them to the monkeys to choose. Although some individuals performed well across most experiments, our results imply that long-tailed macaques as a group did not make statistical inferences from populations of food items to samples but rather relied on heuristics. These findings suggest that there may have been convergent evolution of this ability in New World monkeys and apes (including humans).

scholarly journals Modularity, comparative cognition and human uniqueness

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1603) ◽  
pp. 2794-2802 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara J. Shettleworth
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Evolutionary Developmental Biology ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Core Knowledge ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
The Core ◽  
Knowledge Account ◽  
The Difference

Darwin's claim ‘that the difference in mind between man and the higher animals … is certainly one of degree and not of kind’ is at the core of the comparative study of cognition. Recent research provides unprecedented support for Darwin's claim as well as new reasons to question it, stimulating new theories of human cognitive uniqueness. This article compares and evaluates approaches to such theories. Some prominent theories propose sweeping domain-general characterizations of the difference in cognitive capabilities and/or mechanisms between adult humans and other animals. Dual-process theories for some cognitive domains propose that adult human cognition shares simple basic processes with that of other animals while additionally including slower-developing and more explicit uniquely human processes. These theories are consistent with a modular account of cognition and the ‘core knowledge’ account of children's cognitive development. A complementary proposal is that human infants have unique social and/or cognitive adaptations for uniquely human learning. A view of human cognitive architecture as a mosaic of unique and species-general modular and domain-general processes together with a focus on uniquely human developmental mechanisms is consistent with modern evolutionary-developmental biology and suggests new questions for comparative research.

scholarly journals A Bird's-Eye View: Core Knowledge in Wild North Island Robins of New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alexis Garland
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Core Knowledge ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Evolutionary Context ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
And Mathematics

<p>A prominent psychological theory on early cognitive development is Spelke’s Core Knowledge (CK) hypothesis (Spelke, Breinlinger, Macomber, & Jacobson, 1992), which posits that human infants, and possibly other species, are guided by innate understandings of how object movements, classification and quantification are governed by physical laws and, further, how agents are capable of perceptions and purposive action. CK is a set of cognitive building blocks, which serve as the foundation for more complex cognition such as acquisition and use of symbol systems pertaining to language and mathematics (Spelke, 2000). Evidence points to four core systems of knowledge: representation of number, object, space (or geometry) and agency. Investigation of spontaneous CK in nonhuman species in the wild is fundamental to understanding the ecological validity and evolutionary context for a set of systems that is proposed to be universally embedded. The bold, inquisitive manner, naïve fearlessness and unique insect caching behaviour of wild North Island robins (Petroica longipes) presents a unique opportunity to identify and characterise CK in a new model system. Six studies were conducted with the aim of investigating core developmental cognition in robins. The first three studies focused on perception of numerical quantity. Study 1 investigated the ability to discriminate between both large and small quantities, finding that robins successfully discriminate between unusually large quantities independent of ratio. Study 2 explored quantity discrimination in which summation of items is spatially distributed across an array, and found that while robins perform successfully with small numbers, the task presented substantially more cognitive demand. Study 3 measured robins’ reactions to computation by presenting simple addition and subtraction problems in a Violation of Expectancy (VoE) paradigm, finding that robins search longer when presented with a mathematically incongruent scenario. The last three studies focused on perception of agency. Study 4 investigated robins’ response to gaze direction in humans in a competitive paradigm, and found that they were sensitive to human gaze direction in all conditions but one. Study 5 explored perception of physical capability in humans, and results indicated that limb visibility significantly influences pilfering choice. Study 6 examined robins’ perception of animacy in prey, finding that in a VoE paradigm, robins’ expectation of hidden prey continuity varies depending on mobility and animacy. Taken together, the results of these six studies suggest that while supportive of fundamental characteristics defining basic Core Knowledge in many ways, some unique results in the cognitive abilities of this biologically naïve species shed new light on our growing understanding of the shared basis of cognition. A deeper look at avian performance in core developmental tasks, especially in a naïve wild population, can offer new insights into sweeping evolutionary theories that underpin basic cognitive mechanisms.</p>

A Note on the Determination of the Drag of Retractable Undercarriages in Flight

1940 ◽  
Vol 44 (360) ◽  
pp. 862-864
Author(s):  
J. A. C. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Usual Method ◽  
Flight Tests ◽  
Level Flight ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
The Difference

Upon occasion it is required to find the drag of aircraft components which are normally retracted in level flight, such as flaps and undercarriages. The usual method of obtaining this drag from flight tests, is to measure speeds in level flight under known engine conditions with the component retracted and then with the component down. The difference of speed so obtained, together with the known test conditions then yields an answer. The disadvantage of this method is that, as the difference of speed is usually large, incidence changes and airscrew and engine assumptions cause discrepancies in the results. The difference of power between different engines of a type can be ± 5 per cent. A method is proposed which will enable most of the disadvantages of the older method to be overcome.

Culture and Cognitive Development

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Tomasello
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Human Adaptation ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Symbolic Representations ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Intentional Agents ◽  
Human Ontogeny

Human beings are biologically adapted for culture in ways that other primates are not. The difference can be clearly seen when the social learning skills of humans and their nearest primate relatives are systematically compared. The human adaptation for culture begins to make itself manifest in human ontogeny at around 1 year of age as human infants come to understand other persons as intentional agents like the self and so engage in joint attentional interactions with them. This understanding then enables young children (a) to employ some uniquely powerful forms of cultural learning to acquire the accumulated wisdom of their cultures, especially as embodied in language, and also (b) to comprehend their worlds in some uniquely powerful ways involving perspectivally based symbolic representations.

Fatigue in Engine Design

1953 ◽  
Vol 57 (513) ◽  
pp. 580-584
Author(s):  
F. M. Owner
Keyword(s):  
Crystal Structure ◽  
Heat Treatment ◽  
Cold Work ◽  
Controlled Atmosphere ◽  
The Core ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
Engine Design ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Cylindrical Test ◽  
Effect Of Surface

The difference in outlook between metallurgist, physicist and designer on the problem of fatigue of metals is due not only to the differences in training and method but also in immediate objective, however closely their ultimate objectives may coincide.Physicists consider fatigue in terms of crystal structure and composition of the constituents of the crystal, noting in passing that certain types of crystal structures are associated with poor fatigue strength. The metallurgist's prime interest lies in the effect of surface finish, heat treatment, the physical condition of the surface, such as degree of cold work, the effect of carburised and nitrided cases having different hardness from the core. Both think in terms of controlled condition tests, with idealised test conditions such as cylindrical test specimens, close control of changes of section, polished surfaces of only a few micro-inches surface roughness, operating in a controlled atmosphere.

Measurement of high lung volumes by nitrogen washout method

1994 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 1562-1564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Sivan ◽  
J. Hammer ◽  
C. J. Newth
Keyword(s):  
Lung Volume ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Lung Volumes ◽  
Nitrogen Washout ◽  
Thoracic Gas Volume ◽  
Residual Capacity ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Gas Dilution ◽  
Spontaneously Breathing ◽  
Gas Volume

Studies on human infants suggested that thoracic gas volume (TGV) measured at end exhalation may not depict the true TGV and may differ from TGV measured from a series of higher lung volumes and corrected for the volume added. This was explained by gas trapping. If true, we should expect the discrepancy to be more pronounced when functional residual capacity (FRC) and higher lung volumes are measured by gas dilution techniques. We studied lung volumes above FRC by the nitrogen washout technique in 12 spontaneously breathing rhesus monkeys (5.0–11.3 kg wt; 42 compared measurements). Lung volumes directly measured were compared with preset lung volumes achieved by artificial inflation of the lungs above FRC with known volumes of air (100–260 ml). Measured lung volume strongly correlated with and was not significantly different from present lung volume (P = 0.05; r = 0.996). The difference between measured and preset lung volume was 0–5% in 41 of 42 cases [1 +/- 0.4% (SE)]. The direction of the difference was unpredictable; in 22 of 42 cases the measured volume was larger than the preset volume, but in 17 of 42 cases it was smaller. The difference was not affected by the volume of gas artificially inflated into the lungs. We conclude that, overall, lung volumes above FRC can be reliably measured by the nitrogen washout technique and that FRC measurements by this method reasonably reflect true FRC.

Genetics: the centre of science

1966 ◽  
Vol 164 (995) ◽  
pp. 154-166 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
General Principle ◽  
Pollen Parent ◽  
Seed Parent ◽  
Crossing Experiments ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Difference

It is not often possible to pinpoint the origin of a whole new branch of science accurately in time and place, because, as Isaac Newton said, there are usually so many precursors on whose shoulders the successor stands and is thereby able to see further than they. But genetics is an exception, for it owes its origin to one man, Gregor Johann Mendel, who expounded its basic principles at Brno on 8 February and 8 March 1865. If a precursor is a man who, at an earlier date, makes a discovery which his successor is able to expand into a general principle of universal validity, Mendel had no precursors. There were not wanting breeders who hybridized plants: Joseph Gottlieb Koelreuter, Carl Friedrich von Gaertner, and William Herbert, to mention only the chief names, but what they were studying was not really basic genetics at all. They wanted to know if sterility in a hybrid is the fault of the pollen-parent or the seed-parent, whether either parent could be held responsible for the characters of different specified regions of the plant, or which had prepotency over the characters of the hybrid. The parent races that they chose for their crossing experiments were either different species, or varieties differing in large numbers of characters, and the results which they obtained were chaotic, inconstant, and contradictory, and led to no general principles at all. This was the difference between previous attempts to study heredity, and the Mendelian revolution that resulted in genetics.

A High Pressure Sensor with Circular Diaphragm Based on MEMS Technology

2011 ◽  
Vol 483 ◽  
pp. 206-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Bo Zhao ◽  
Xu Dong Fang ◽  
Yu Long Zhao ◽  
Zhuang De Jiang ◽  
Yong Li
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Pressure Sensor ◽  
Correct Choice ◽  
Excellent Performance ◽  
Piezoresistive Sensors ◽  
Mems Technology ◽  
Circular Diaphragm ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Mems Process ◽  
Different Thickness

A pressure sensor in the range of 25 MPa with circular diaphragm is designed and fabricated, and the calibration experiments prove its excellent performance, which also reflects the correct choice of design after analyzing the effect of diaphragm dimension, location and shapes of piezoresistors. Circular diaphragms of different thickness and diameters are simulated to meet the pressure requirement of 25 MPa. It also displays the advantage of piezoresistive sensors over others and the difference characteristics between different types of piezoresistive sensors. And then the effect of piezoresistor location is analyzed and simulated to attain high accuracy and sensitivity after the circular diaphragm chip is packaged with borosilicate glass ring. The whole fabrication process of the chip is inexpensive and compatible with standard MEMS process. The experimental results show the developed high pressure sensor with the sensitivity of 2.533 mV/MPa has excellent performance, such as linearity of 0.08%FS, hysteresis of 0.03%FS, accuracy of 0.11%FS and repeatability of 0.03%FS under high temperature of 200 °C.

scholarly journals Determining Bounds on Assumption Errors in Operational Analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Neal M. Bengtson
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measures ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Kkt Conditions ◽  
Tolerance Limits ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Operational Analysis ◽  
Error Measures ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Difference

The technique of operational analysis (OA) is used in the study of systems performance, mainly for estimating mean values of various measures of interest, such as, number of jobs at a device and response times. The basic principles of operational analysis allow errors in assumptions to be quantified over a time period. The assumptions which are used to derive the operational analysis relationships are studied. Using Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions bounds on error measures of these OA relationships are found. Examples of these bounds are used for representative performance measures to show limits on the difference between true performance values and those estimated by operational analysis relationships. A technique for finding tolerance limits on the bounds is demonstrated with a simulation example.

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