Differential encoding of signals and preferences by noradrenaline in the anuran brain

ABSTRACTSocial preferences enable animals to selectively interact with some individuals over others. One influential idea for the evolution of social preferences is that preferred signals evolve because they elicit greater neural responses from sensory systems. However, in juvenile plains spadefoot toad (Spea bombifrons), a species with condition-dependent mating preferences, responses of the preoptic area, but not of the auditory midbrain, mirror adult social preferences. To examine whether this separation of signal representation from signal valuation generalizes to other anurans, we compared the relative contributions of noradrenergic signalling in the preoptic area and auditory midbrain of S. bombifrons and its close relative Spea multiplicata. We manipulated body condition in juvenile toads by controlling diet and used high pressure liquid chromatography to compare call-induced levels of noradrenaline and its metabolite MHPG in the auditory midbrain and preoptic area of the two species. We found that calls from the two species induced different levels of noradrenaline and MHPG in the auditory system, with higher levels measured in both species for the more energetic S. bombifrons call. In contrast, noradrenaline levels in the preoptic area mirrored patterns of social preferences in both S. bombifrons and S. multiplicata. That is, noradrenaline levels were higher in response to the preferred calls within each species and were modified by diet in S. bombifrons (with condition-dependent preferences) but not S. multiplicata (with condition-independent preferences). Our results are consistent with a potentially important role for preoptic noradrenaline in the development of social preferences and indicate that it could be a target of selection in the evolution of condition-dependent social preferences.

Verb Third in spoken German

Recent findings from spoken language use outside formal standard German provide evidence for linearizations that violate the V2 constraint, suggesting that there might be extensions of V2 in German to a more liberal forefield that can also accommodate V3. Evidence for this was first reported from Kiezdeutsch, an urban dialect from informal peer-group settings in multilingual contexts, and has subsequently also been found in more monolingual settings of German. Findings point to a specific pattern that allows both frame setters and topics to appear together in the left periphery. This chapter contains results from a cross-linguistic study that further explored such an information-structural motive. The investigation was inspired by a seminal study by Goldin-Meadow et al. (2008) that revealed language-independent preferences for the serialization of thematic roles, a ‘natural order of events’. The study investigates a possible ‘natural order of information’ in three typologically different languages, namely German, English, and Turkish: were speakers more likely to place verbs in a position after frame setter plus topic (supporting V3) if language-specific grammatical restrictions were removed? Results indicate an information-structural motivation of V3 that holds across speakers of different linguistic backgrounds (German, English, Turkish), even in violation of language-specific word order options.

Multinational Enterprise Adaptation Dynamics, Mathematical Modelling, and Empirical Analysis

Using an applied mathematics approach, this chapter embeds algorithmic measures into cultural theory in research on international business. The specialized area is concerned with adaptation of multinational enterprise (MNE) cross-borders in which how dynamic functions can strengthen the argument by producing robust models. The chapter contributes to the extant literature by offering a set of mechanisms that can be used by MNEs in adapting to a new or complex environment where culture can be diverse and policy choice is challenging. The mechanism by driving an adaptive approach, in particular, addresses a research issue that is persistent in cultural transition studies. The issue is distinguished from the standard economic model in that individual or rational actors have a fixed set of independent preferences (i.e., decision choice based on price, benefit, or rules of the game), uninfluenced by the behavior of others or the social settings within which they operate. The current study addresses the issue by demonstrating that a range of socio-cultural factors can influence behavior.

Average-case Analysis of the Assignment Problem with Independent Preferences

The fundamental assignment problem is in search of welfare maximization mechanisms to allocate items to agents when the private preferences over indivisible items are provided by self-interested agents. The mainstream mechanism \textit{Random Priority} is asymptotically the best mechanism for this purpose, when comparing its welfare to the optimal social welfare using the canonical \textit{worst-case approximation ratio}. Surprisingly, the efficiency loss indicated by the worst-case ratio does not have a constant bound \cite{FFZ:14}.Recently, \cite{DBLP:conf/mfcs/DengG017} shows that when the agents' preferences are drawn from a uniform distribution, its \textit{average-case approximation ratio} is upper bounded by 3.718. They left it as an open question of whether a constant ratio holds for general scenarios. In this paper, we offer an affirmative answer to this question by showing that the ratio is bounded by $1/\mu$ when the preference values are independent and identically distributed random variables, where $\mu$ is the expectation of the value distribution. This upper bound improves the results in \cite{DBLP:conf/mfcs/DengG017} for the Uniform distribution as well. Moreover, under mild conditions, the ratio has a \textit{constant} bound for any independent random values. En route to these results, we develop powerful tools to show the insights that for most valuation inputs, the efficiency loss is small.

Ambiguity, Volatility, and Credit Risk

We explore the implications of ambiguity for the pricing of credit default swaps (CDSs). A model of heterogeneous investors with independent preferences for ambiguity and risk shows that, because CDS contracts are assets in zero net supply, the net credit risk exposure of the marginal investor determines the sign of the impact of ambiguity on CDS spreads. We find that ambiguity has an economically significant negative impact on CDS spreads, on average, suggesting that the marginal investor is a net buyer of credit protection. A 1-standard-deviation increase in ambiguity is estimated to decrease CDS spreads by approximately 6%. (JEL C65, D81, D83, G13, G22) Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.

The Liberal Tradition and the Challenge from Behavioural Economics

Chapter 1 describes the liberal tradition of economics, encapsulated in John Stuart Mill’s account of the market as a ‘community of advantage’ in which individuals cooperate for mutual benefit, pursuing their respective interests, as they perceive them. This favourable view of economic freedom has often been presented in terms of ‘neoclassical’ theories that assume that individuals make rational choices based on stable, context-independent preferences. By calling this assumption into question, recent work in behavioural economics poses a challenge to accepted methods of doing normative analysis in economics and to the liberal tradition more generally. Chapter 1 introduces this challenge and gives a preliminary sketch of how the book will respond to it.

Pragmatic Inference of Intended Referents from Binomial Word Order

How does listeners’ perceptual bias influence their interpretation of an ambiguous multiword utterance? We address this question by investigating the relationship between word order in a binomial (an expression of type "A and B") and visual properties of image pairs serving as its potential referents. We found that listeners’ choices were strongly influenced by iconicity and relative salience of images within the pair: participants preferred referents where the first mentioned image was located on the left, as well as pairs where the first image was larger than the second image. The effect of image order tended to be stronger than the influence of image size, and both were modulated by participants’ general visual field preferences (determined in a separate experimental condition). We further show that binomial phrase interpretation can be simulated by a Rational Speech Act model that includes both word order effects and utterance-independent preferences of the participants.

Going along with the crowd? The importance of group effects for environmental deliberative monetary valuation

Deliberation is expected to enhance the validity and/or the democratic status of stated preference methods. Those objectives are challenged by the potential presence of group effects. Deference to the information publicly announced by others and social pressures to conformity hinder people's ability to express reflective and independent preferences. Through a split sample contingent valuation survey, we tested whether participating in group discussion affects willingness to pay (WTP). We also test for the presence of group effects. Participants in group discussion stated a higher WTP, and we did not find evidence of group effects. These results are favorable to the deliberative project.