Can Fabricated Data be Ignored when it is Detected?

As information sharing via social media increases, individuals are increasingly exposed to misinformation that they may utilize when forming beliefs. Over five experiments (total N=819), we investigated whether people could ignore quantitative information when they judged for themselves that it had been fabricated. Participants recruited online viewed sets of values sampled from Gaussian distributions to estimate the underlying means. They attempted to ignore fabricated data, which were outlier values inserted into the value sequences. Results indicated participants were able to detect outliers, and that higher detection confidence was associated with greater estimate accuracy. However, even when participants were most confident that they detected fabricated data, their estimates were still biased in the direction of the outlier. The addition of visual warning cues and different task scenarios did not fully eliminate systematic over- and under-estimation. These findings suggest individuals may incorporate fabricated data they meant to ignore when forming beliefs.

Aposematism increases acoustic diversification and speciation in poison frogs

Multimodal signals facilitate communication with conspecifics during courtship, but they can also alert eavesdropper predators. Hence, signallers face two pressures: enticing partners to mate and avoiding detection by enemies. Undefended organisms with limited escape abilities are expected to minimize predator recognition over mate attraction by limiting or modifying their signalling. Alternatively, organisms with anti-predator mechanisms such as aposematism (i.e. unprofitability signalled by warning cues) might elaborate mating signals as a consequence of reduced predation. We hypothesize that calls diversified in association with aposematism. To test this, we assembled a large acoustic signal database for a diurnal lineage of aposematic and cryptic/non-defended taxa, the poison frogs. First, we showed that aposematic and non-aposematic species share similar extinction rates, and aposematic lineages diversify more and rarely revert to the non-aposematic phenotype. We then characterized mating calls based on morphological (spectral), behavioural/physiological (temporal) and environmental traits. Of these, only spectral and temporal features were associated with aposematism. We propose that with the evolution of anti-predator defences, reduced predation facilitated the diversification of vocal signals, which then became elaborated or showy via sexual selection.

Evaluating Visualisations and Automatic Warning Cues for Visual Search in Vascular Images

Visual search is a task that is performed in various application domains. The authors examine it in the domain of radiological analysis of 3D vascular images. They compare several major visualisations used in this domain, and study the possible benefits of automatic warning systems that highlight the sections that may contain visual targets and hence require the user’s attention. With help of a literature study, the authors present some theory about what result can be expected given the accuracy of a particular visual cue. They present the results of two experiments, in which they find that the Curved Planar Reformation visualisation, which presents a cross-section based on knowledge about the position of the blood vessel, is significantly more efficient than regular 3D visualisations, and that automatic warning systems that produce false alarms could work if they do not miss targets.