Are paired or single stimuli better to recognize genuine and posed smiles from observers' GSR

<div>Smile recognition plays a vital role in human-human and human-computer interactions. This paper demonstrates a system to recognize the genuine and posed smiles by sensing observers’ galvanic skin response (GSR), while watching sets of images and videos. The smiles were shown either in ‘paired’ or in ‘single’ forms. Here, ‘paired’ means that the same smiler was seen in both genuine and posed</div><div>smile forms, otherwise the condition is referred to as ‘single’. The GSR signals were recorded and processed, and several time-domain and frequency-domain features were extracted from the processed GSR signals. Classification accuracies were found to be as high as 93.6% and 91.4% from paired and single conditions respectively. In comparison, observers were verbally 59.8% and 56.2% correct. Our results demonstrate that human subconscious responses (i.e. GSR signals) is better than their own verbal response, where the paired condition is slightly better than the single condition.</div>

Are paired or single stimuli better to recognize genuine and posed smiles from observers' GSR

<div>Smile recognition plays a vital role in human-human and human-computer interactions. This paper demonstrates a system to recognize the genuine and posed smiles by sensing observers’ galvanic skin response (GSR), while watching sets of images and videos. The smiles were shown either in ‘paired’ or in ‘single’ forms. Here, ‘paired’ means that the same smiler was seen in both genuine and posed</div><div>smile forms, otherwise the condition is referred to as ‘single’. The GSR signals were recorded and processed, and several time-domain and frequency-domain features were extracted from the processed GSR signals. Classification accuracies were found to be as high as 93.6% and 91.4% from paired and single conditions respectively. In comparison, observers were verbally 59.8% and 56.2% correct. Our results demonstrate that human subconscious responses (i.e. GSR signals) is better than their own verbal response, where the paired condition is slightly better than the single condition.</div>

Adsorption of Phenol and Methylene Blue in Solution by Oil Palm Shell Activated Carbon Prepared by Chemical Activation

In this research, it has been performed carbon activation of oil palm shells (CAC) prepared by chemical treatment as adsorbents of phenol and methylene blue (MB) in solution either in the form of single or in pair solution. The activation of carbon from the oil palm shells was done physically at a temperature of 700°C for 1 hour continued with chemical activation using 10% H3PO4 for 24 hours. Identification of functional groups on the carbon from oil palm shell before and after chemically activated was performed using infrared spectrophotometer (IR) and analysis of its surface morphology was carried out using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The phenol and MB adsorption process was performed in single and binary systems using the batch method. The adsorption of phenol on CAC is optimum at pH 8 while MB at pH 11 with optimum contact time of 90 min for phenol and 120 min for MB respectively. The phenol and MB adsorption data on the CAC in the single system follow the pseudo-second-order kinetics model with the adsorption rate constant of 0.399 and 0.769 g mmol-1 min-1 respectively. The adsorption isotherms of phenol and MB in CAC tend to follow Freundlich adsorption isotherm pattern with the adsorption intensity factor (n) for phenol, MB, phenol/MB, and MB/phenol: 1.739, 1.341, 1.334, and 1.293 respectively. The adsorbent of CAC is effective to remove phenol and MB in solution, either in single or paired condition.

The Effect of Group Size and Synchrony on Pain Threshold Changes

Synchronization of behavior has repeatedly been shown to increase pain threshold, which is understood to be an indicator of endorphin activity. Although Weinstein et al. found that large and small groups showed the same effect, to date no study has manipulated group size to determine if it has an effect on change in pain threshold. Thirty-three participants rowed two 20-min time trials under two counterbalanced conditions—paired and large group. Pain threshold was assessed before, immediately post, 5-min post, and 10-min post each session. A repeated-measures (3 × 2) factorial ANOVA revealed a significant interaction between condition and time. Specifically, there was a significantly higher pain threshold in the large group than in the paired condition after 10 min of exercise.

Sensitivity to High Frequency Communication Sounds in the Inner Ear Enhanced by Selective Attention: Preliminary Findings in Mongolian Gerbils

Audible range for Mongolian gerbils overlaps well with one for humans. This is one of the reasons why they have been used for auditory studies. So, most of studies on gerbils have been in human audible frequency range. They live in a group and use a variety of vocalizations for their conspecific communication. Roughly 80% of the fundamental frequencies of their communication calls are found in the frequency range above 20[Formula: see text]kHz. However, thresholds for frequencies above 20[Formula: see text]kHz have been reported higher than those for low frequencies (from 1[Formula: see text]kHz to 16[Formula: see text]kHz) by as much as 20[Formula: see text]dB. We examined how gerbils utilize ultrasonic frequency range for their important vocal communication. Findings from alert animals with paired condition showed the cochlear microphonics (CM) were amplified by 2–4[Formula: see text]dB with ultrasonic communication calls of low sound pressure levels (from 45[Formula: see text]dB to 60[Formula: see text]dB p.e. SPL), while no enhancement was observed with the same calls higher than 65[Formula: see text]dB p.e. SPL. Findings also suggested that CM responses to tone burst higher than 25[Formula: see text]kHz demonstrated magnified amplitude under the paired condition. Data strongly imply that attention to conspecifics would increase sensitivity to ultrasonic frequency range.

Unpredictability and Context Conditioning: Does the Nature of the US Matter?

Using a conditioned suppression task, we examined the minimal conditions to establish context conditioning as induced by unpredictability of an unconditioned stimulus (US). We investigated whether a biologically significant US is necessary to produce such context conditioning effects. In this between-subjects experiment, we manipulated the nature of the US and US-unpredictability. In the Paired condition, the conditioned stimulus (CS) was always followed by the US, whereas in the Unpaired condition, the CS and the US were presented explicitly unpaired, that is, the CS was never followed by the US. Half of the participants received an aversive, biologically significant human scream, and the other half received a more neutral, biologically non-significant sound as US. Results show more contextual suppression in the Unpaired condition than in the Paired condition. We conclude that in an expectancy-based conditioning task, US-unpredictability, but not a biologically potent US, is crucial to establish context conditioning.

Effects of Paired and Unpaired Eye-Blink Conditioning on Purkinje Cell Morphology

This experiment addressed (1) the importance of conjunctive stimulus presentation for morphological plasticity of cerebellar Purkinje cells and inhibitory interneurons and (2) whether plasticity is restricted to the spiny branches of Purkinje cells, which receive parallel fiber input. These issues were investigated in naive rabbits and in rabbits that received paired or unpaired presentations of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US). To direct CS input to the cerebellar cortex, pontine stimulation served as the CS. Air puffs to the cornea served as the US. Paired condition rabbits received pontine stimulation for 350 msec paired with a coterminating 100-msec air puff. Unpaired condition rabbits received the same stimuli in a pseudorandom order at 1- to 32-sec intervals. Rabbits were trained for a mean of 12 days. Naive rabbits received no treatment. In Golgi-stained Purkinje neurons in lobule HVI, total dendritic length, main branch length, total spiny branch length, and number of spiny branch arbors were all greater in the naive group than in the paired and unpaired groups, which did not differ. No differences were found between the hemispheres ipsilateral and contralateral to the trained eye. The dendritic length and number of branches for inhibitory interneurons did not differ across groups. The Purkinje cell morphological changes detected with these methods do not appear to be uniquely related to the conjunctive activation of the CS and US in the paired condition.

The polytene chromosomes of Drosophila triauraria and D. quadraria, sibling species of D. auraria

The polytene chromosomes of Drosophila triauraria and D. quadraria, two of the sibling species of D. auraria, were examined. The polytene chromosomes of all three species exhibit very clear homology. Unlike the stock of D. auraria that we studied, D. triauraria and D. quadraria carry heterozygous paracentric inversions. In both species, 2R and 3R are the arms where these inversions are concentrated. In addition, in D. quadraria, the 3L chromosome arm is very complicated because of heterozygous inversions. The mode of inheritance of these rearrangements was studied. A homozygous strain for all chromosome arms of D. triauraria was isolated, while a homozygous strain was obtained only for the arms X, 2L, 3L, and 4 of D. quadraria. Like D. auraria, both species show a large number of inverted tandem duplications in the paired condition, even in the chromosomes of their hybrids. Small deletions were also detected, one of which, in D. triauraria, is homozygous terminal. Hypotheses are discussed concerning the relationships of the species and the existence of inverted tandem duplications.Key words: Drosophila, duplications, inversions, deletions, evolution.