We are able to recognise very subtle differences between facial expressions even for the shortest presentation time; we can recognise these expressions based on information contained in the eye region only

In the Blink of an Eye: Reading Mental States From Briefly Presented Eye Regions. Gunnar Schmidtmann et al. i-Perception, October 5, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041669520961116

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1313403609871245313

Abstract: Faces provide not only cues to an individual’s identity, age, gender, and ethnicity but also insight into their mental states. The aim was to investigate the temporal aspects of processing of facial expressions of complex mental states for very short presentation times ranging from 12.5 to 100 ms in a four-alternative forced choice paradigm based on Reading the Mind in the Eyes test. Results show that participants are able to recognise very subtle differences between facial expressions; performance is better than chance, even for the shortest presentation time. Importantly, we show for the first time that observers can recognise these expressions based on information contained in the eye region only. These results support the hypothesis that the eye region plays a particularly important role in social interactions and that the expressions in the eyes are a rich source of information about other peoples’ mental states. When asked to what extent the observers guessed during the task, they significantly underestimated their ability to make correct decisions, yet perform better than chance, even for very brief presentation times. These results are particularly relevant in the light of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the associated wearing of face coverings.

Keywords: facial expressions, emotional states, temporal processing, theory of mind, eyes

Discussion

The aim of this study was to investigate the temporal aspects of processing of facial (eye region) expressions of complex mental states. Our results show that subjects are able to recognise subtle and fine-grained differences between facial expressions which convey emotions, intentions, and feelings within a fraction of a second—similar results have been revealed before (e.g., Derntl et al., 2009). However, interestingly, humans can recognise these expressions, above chance level, based on information from the eye region only, which underlines the important role of the eye region in social interactions and that the expressions in the eyes are a rich source of information about other peoples’ mental states (Grossmann, 2017). The resolution of visual sensitivity to facial expressions is far superior than might be presumed based on the coarse differences between the Ekman six basic emotions (Ekman, 1992).

In recent years, a number of investigators have pursued the hypothesis that Theory of Mind might be characterised as a dual system or dual process capacity (Apperly & Butterfill, 2009; Frith & Frith, 2008; Meinhardt-Injac et al., 2018). Dual system hypotheses construe a cognitive capacity as subserved by two distinct processes. One—often termed System 1—is typically taken to be unconscious, automatic, and fast, and the other—System 2—conscious, deliberative, and slow (Evans, 2008). Although these properties, among many others, are not necessary features of systems, they are characteristic of them. Our findings provide evidence that mental states can reliably be associated with facial expressions much more rapidly than previously believed, and most importantly, from the eye regions alone. Our results provide some novel support for the existence of a rapid Theory of Mind capacity and, indirectly therefore, for the dual system hypothesis. That facial expressions of complex mental states can be accurately recognised at very brief presentation times might facilitate nonverbal communication and rapid adjustment of one’s approach in response to facial expressions of mental states of another person. Note that our results relate to one specific identity and the extent to which these results can be generalised to other face identities has yet to be determined.

Another surprising finding is that subjects significantly underestimated their ability to make correct decisions at short presentation times. The results shown in Figures 2 and 3 reveal that participants considered themselves to be guessing on a significant proportion of trials, yet they consistently perform better than chance, even for extremely short presentation times. There is a huge body of research showing that emotionally charged stimuli, such as faces with facial expressions, are rapidly and automatically processed (e.g., Almeida et al., 2013; Vuilleumier et al., 2001). Furthermore, it has been shown that responses to emotional stimuli, in particular linked to threat, lead to involuntary decisions (Globisch et al., 1999; Lang et al., 1998; Öhman et al., 1995; Vuilleumier et al., 2001). This might explain the discrepancy between the perceived and actual performance in the task described here. This type of automatic processing of facial expressions of emotional states might have developed to prioritise significant stimuli, presumably those critical for nonverbal communication and social interactions. Here, we can show for the first time that accurate decisions about a person’s emotional state can be extracted in an automatic “pre-attentive” and rapid way from the eye region alone.

As noted in the introduction, the literature on which expressions are more salient—that is, which are more quickly and easily recognised—is mixed. Some have argued that positive expressions like happiness are more easily recognised, while others have argued that it is rather negative expressions like fear or anger that have greater salience (Calvo et al., 2014; Calvo & Lundqvist, 2008; Palermo & Coltheart, 2004; Tracy & Robins, 2008). Our results show that, with increasing presentation time, performance for negative expressions improved much more rapidly than that for positive ones. One might argue that this could be based on image-based aspects of the stimuli used in this study. For instance, Nummenmaa and Calvo (2015) proposed that contrast is a useful cue for rapid identification of expressions. If the stimuli differ across positive and negative groupings in terms of contrast, this could explain the differing results for positive and negative expressions with the two tests. Figure 7 shows root mean square (RMS) contrasts (Pelli & Bex, 2013; Rovamo et al., 1992) for all 36 stimuli. There are insignificant variations across the full range of stimuli including both positive and negative (mean RMS = 0.51, ±0.004 SD). Image properties are therefore very unlikely to explain the observed results. It is, however, important to emphasise that this analysis does not provide any information about the contrast distribution (more pronounced local features) which could be responsible for differences.

Figure 7. RMS Contrast for the 36 Stimuli. The marginal figure shows the histogram and a normal distribution fit to the RMS contrasts.

It is noteworthy that face expression identification accuracy saturates on average around 55% (see Figure 1). Restriction of available information to the eye region may partly explain this limitation of performance. It is well established that the eyes make a disproportionate contribution to the identification of emotional facial expressions (Baron-Cohen, 1997; Grossmann, 2017; Jack et al., 2012). Previous studies, however, have indicated that other face features (e.g., nose, mouth) also communicate information which facilitates interpretation of facial expressions (Baron-Cohen, 1997; Eisenbarth & Alpers, 2011; Yuki et al., 2007). This suggests that an improvement in accuracy may be achieved if the stimuli were adapted to include more face information.

In summary, we can show for the very first time that humans can recognise facial expressions of complex mental states, above chance level, within a fraction of a second, based on information from the eye region only, which underlines the important role of the eye region in social interactions, and that the expressions in the eyes are a rich source of information about other peoples’ mental states. In other words, the eyes really are “. . . windows into other minds . . .” (Grossmann, 2017). The salience of the eye region for inferring an individual's emotional state may be particularly beneficial in situations where information from other features, such as the mouth, is unavailable. This is of particular relevant in the light of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the associated wearing of face coverings (see also Carbon, 2020).

Does Parental Separation Lower Genetic Influences on Children's School Performance?

Does Parental Separation Lower Genetic Influences on Children's School Performance? Tina Baier  Zachary Van Winkle. Journal of Marriage and Family, October 2 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12730

Rolf Degen's take: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jomf.12730

Abstract

Objective: A behavioral genetics approach is used to test whether parental separation lowers the importance of genes for children's school performance.

Background: The Scarr–Rowe hypothesis, which states that the relative importance of genes on cognitive ability is higher for advantaged compared to disadvantaged children, has been expanded to educational outcomes. However, advantage/disadvantage is predominantly conceptualized as parental socioeconomic status and neglects other important factors. This study expands upon the literature to include family structure as an indicator for advantage/disadvantage.

Method: Data from TwinLife, a new population‐register‐based sample of twins and their families in Germany, and ACE variance decomposition models are used to estimate the heritability of cognitive ability (NPairs = 896), school grades (NPairs = 740), and academic self‐concept (NPairs = 949) separately for single‐parent and two‐parent households.

Results: Findings show that the relative importance of genes on children's cognitive ability and academic self‐concept is lower for children in single‐parent households compared to two‐parent households (32–47% and 23–50%, respectively), but differences are negligible for math grades (41–43%). ACE models adjusted for mothers' education and household income retrieve substantively similar results.

Conclusion: The quality of the family environment that is important for the realization of children's genetic potential is not just shaped by socioeconomic status, but also family structure.

Conclusion

In this study, we sought to ascertain (a) whether parental separation lowers children's chances to realize genetic dispositions relevant for school performance and (b) whether differences in heritability are driven by socioeconomic differences between two‐ and single‐parent households. We studied genetic influences on three different indicators of school performance – cognitive skills, math grades, and math academic self‐concept – that are important predictors for children's educational attainment. Drawing on previous findings that show that parental separation can have a negative impact on children's school performance and enhancement theories rooted in behavioral genetics, we expected genetic influence on school performance to be higher in two‐parent compared to single‐parent families (H1). Furthermore, if parental separation moderates the impact of genetic influences due mechanisms above and beyond socioeconomic differences between households, then genetic influences on school performance should be lower in one‐parent compared to two‐parent families even when adjusted for parental education and household income (H2).

Our results supported both hypotheses and provided a clear pattern for cognitive ability and math academic self‐concept. Genetic influences accounted for substantially more variance in children's school performance in two‐parent compared to one‐parent families. Furthermore, the higher genetic influence in two‐parent compared to one‐parent families is not attributable solely to educational or income differences between households, but likely driven by mechanisms related with family instability. Specifically, our findings support the notion that processes associated with parental separation, such as more distant parenting, reduced parental monitoring, and higher levels of stress among children, lower the quality of the family environment (e.g., Cooper et al., 2011; Hadfield et al., 2018; Lee & McLanahan, 2015). Compared to the tailored environments of two‐parent households, the environments of children in single‐parent households seem less able to enhance children's chances to realize their genetic potential. Our results for cognitive ability and math academic self‐concept therefore support the expectation that parental separation indeed represents a distinct set of environmental conditions that moderate the impact of genetic influences although further research is needed to adjudicate the mechanisms at work.

For math grades differences in the heritability between one‐ and two‐parent households were negligible. One possible explanation for our math grade findings could lie in the highly stratified and differentiated German school system, which makes it difficult to compare school grades across different school types. While we controlled for the school type, we are likely not able to completely capture differences with respect to grading. For example, it's more difficult to obtain the best grade in the most demanding school tracks (“Gymnasium”) compared to lower tracks (“Hauptschule” and “Realschule”). Future research on school grades should therefore choose a country with a comprehensive schooling system that facilitates comparability. In addition, grades are plagued by slightly higher missingness compared to our other indicators. Therefore, our findings on grades should also be replicated once larger data sets are available for Germany.

Our study highlights promising avenues to facilitate a better understanding of heritability differences in children's school performance by family structure. For example, further research is needed to examine whether the impact of parental separation differs by children's age, because children's vulnerability for negative life events may vary over their childhood. Children rely almost exclusively on familial resources during early childhood, whereas more proximal contexts, such as schools, teachers, or peers, become more influential as children grow older. In sum, to gain a better understanding on the link of parental separation and genetic influences, future research needs to study different outcomes, while accounting for the timing of parental separation as well as the duration of exposure to marital conflict.

In addition, future research should examine the diversity of single‐ and two‐parent households in greater detail. For example, we were not able to include step‐parent families in this study. However, research on family instability highlights that divorce is one of many transitions that may affect children negatively (Cavanagh & Fomby, 2019; Hadfield et al., 2018). Future research is needed, for example, to examine to what extent the presence of a step‐parent changes the quality of the family environment. An additional adult in the household may be able to help facilitate a rearing environment tailored to the needs of children and thereby help children express their genetic potential. In contrast, stress and conflict associated with remarriage and merging two households may further suppress the realization of children's innate abilities. More information on the socioeconomic well‐being of households than household income and mothers' education, such as occupation status, as well as indicators of family processes, such as custody arrangements and father involvement, are needed to capture all the latent constructs that should be considered.

In addition, our findings refer to Germany, often considered an ideal typical conservative welfare state that provides a relatively high level of social security. However, German labor market and family policy also actively incentivizes a male‐breadwinner female‐homemaker division of labor with low coverage of all‐day childcare and schooling. Differences in the realization of children's genetic potential by household composition may be larger in liberal societies, such as the United States, where women are at a considerably higher risk of poverty following divorce (Van Winkle & Struffolino, 2018). Compared to social democratic states where social systems secure divorced women's socioeconomic well‐being and facilitate labor market participation, such as Sweden, differences in the heritability may be lower. Future research should estimate the heritability of school‐related skills by household composition in other contexts to gain insight on the extent that institutional arrangements ameliorate or exacerbate the effects of parental separation.

One limitation of our study lies in the CTD and its inability to account for gene–environmental correlations. Previous research shows that parental divorce itself is heritable, with estimates ranging from 0.13 to 0.50 (McGue & Lykken, 1992; Salvatore et al., 2018). If genetic influences that affect parental separation also affect children's school performance, for example, via problem or nonconfirmatory behavior in school, then the link between parental separation and children's school performance would be genetically confounded (e.g., Jaffee & Price, 2007). To date, several studies have investigated to what extent gene–environment correlations drive the impact of separation or divorce (see for an overview Amato, 2010). These studies have used adoption‐ or children of twin (CoT) designs. Previous research shows that negative influences on abnormal behavior are driven by environmental exposure, while evidence is mixed for internalizing problems and educational outcomes (e.g., D'Onofrio et al., 2005, 2006, 2007). Although O'Connor et al. (2000) provided evidence for gene–environment correlations for reading competencies, parental reports on children's achievement, and children's self‐reported attitudes about educational achievement, D'Onofrio et al. (2006) provided conflicting evidence for grade repetition and years of education. In light of the weak support for gene–environmental correlations, the current literature indicates that gene–environmental correlations are likely not the main driver of the association between parental separation and children's outcomes.

Another promising route for future research is to examine whether the negative impact of parental separation is driven by genetic nurturing (e.g., Dalton & Fletcher, 2017; Kong et al., 2018; Liu, 2018). Genetic nurturing describes how genetic influences that are not passed down to children still affect their outcomes. For example, it could be that specific genes that are associated with parental separation are also associated with specific parenting behaviors. Even if these genes are not transmitted they could still affect children as they lead to specific parenting behavior. Such research questions, however, can only be addressed using methodological approaches developed in molecular genetics.

In conclusion, our study has for the first time shown that genetic influences on certain indicators of children's school performance differ considerably in single‐ and two‐parent families. In addition, our findings indicate that parental separation is associated with processes that affect the realization of children's genetic potential above and beyond socioeconomic differences. Our study highlights an important but until now mainly neglected factor in the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage among children who experienced a parental separation and live in single‐parent households (Mclanahan, 2004; McLanahan & Percheski, 2008; Raley & Sweeney, 2020). Our study has implications for policies targeted at improving the educational disadvantages of children living in single‐parent households. For example, tailored learning environments within and outside of schools targeted at children living in single‐parent households could complement income transfers to ensure children's chances for the realization of their genetic potential. A shift from traditional structural characteristics to family structure is needed to enhance our current understanding on the mechanisms behind the gene–environment interplay leading to the reproduction of inequalities across generations.

Low contact frequency was associated with poor health & low survival rates; but increasing the frequency of social interactions beyond a moderate level was no longer associated with better health & longevity

Is More Always Better? Examining the Nonlinear Association of Social Contact Frequency With Physical Health and Longevity. Olga Stavrova, Dongning Ren. Social Psychological and Personality Science, October 5, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620961589

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1313369677662429186

Abstract: Frequent social contact has been associated with better health and longer life. It remains unclear though whether there is an optimal contact frequency, beyond which contact is no longer positively associated with health and longevity. The present research explored this question by examining nonlinear associations of social contact frequency with health and longevity. Study 1 (N ∼ 350,000) demonstrated that once the frequency of social contact reached a moderate level (monthly or weekly), its positive association with health flattened out. Study 2 (N ∼ 50,000) extended these findings to longitudinal and mortality data: Although low contact frequency was associated with poor health and low survival rates, increasing the frequency of social interactions beyond a moderate level (monthly or weekly) was no longer associated with better health and longevity and, in some cases, was even related to worse health and increased mortality risks.

Keywords: health, mortality, social contact frequency, nonlinear effects

Discussion

Study 1 provided first evidence of a nonlinear association between social contact frequency and physical health. It showed that increasing the frequency of social contacts from yearly to monthly is associated with significant health improvement. Yet increasing the frequency of social contacts beyond this point (e.g., from monthly to daily) is associated with very little additional benefits.

Study 2

Study 1 provided the initial demonstration of the nonlinear association between contact frequency and health. Yet its use of cross-sectional data does not provide any evidence for the suggested causal direction. Therefore, in Study 2, we tested the nonlinear effect of contact frequency on health using longitudinal data. Additionally, Study 2 examined whether the nonlinear pattern extends beyond self-rated physical health to mortality.

While offering a new understanding of the coevolution of genes, culture, and human behavior, niche‐construction models also invoke multivariate causality, which require multiple time series to resolve

Genes, culture, and the human niche: An overview. Michael J. O'Brien  R. Alexander Bentley. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, September 28 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21865

Abstract: The sharp distinction between biological traits and culturally based traits, which had long been standard in evolutionary approaches to behavior, was blurred in the early 1980s by mathematical models that allowed a co‐dependent evolution of genetic transmission and cultural information. Niche‐construction theory has since added another contrast to standard evolutionary theory, in that it views niche construction as a cause of evolutionary change rather than simply a product of selection. While offering a new understanding of the coevolution of genes, culture, and human behavior, niche‐construction models also invoke multivariate causality, which require multiple time series to resolve. The empirical challenge lies in obtaining time‐series data on causal pathways involved in the coevolution of genes, culture, and behavior. This is a significant issue in archeology, where time series are often sparse and causal behaviors are represented only by proxies in the material record.

Evolution provides a critical foundation for proposing why men’s neurobiological and hormonal systems (testosterone) would have the functional capacity to respond to certain forms of partnering and parenting

Gettler L.T. (2020) Exploring Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Fatherhood and Paternal Biology: Testosterone as an Exemplar. In: Fitzgerald H.E., von Klitzing K., Cabrera N.J., Scarano de Mendonça J., Skjøthaug T. (eds) Handbook of Fathers and Child Development. Springer, Oct 2 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51027-5_10

Abstract: Fathers’ roles vary greatly within and across cultures. Reflecting human biological plasticity, these diverse forms of fathering are expressed through psychobiological mechanisms. In this chapter, I focus on testosterone as one of the key and widely studied mechanisms relevant to the biology of fatherhood in humans and other species. I highlight the ways that evolutionary framing provides a critical foundation for proposing why men’s neurobiological and hormonal systems would have the functional capacity to respond to certain forms of partnering and parenting. I also review the importance of cultural variation in fatherhood and family life for studying the plausible range of possibilities for parental physiology in contemporary family systems.

Keywords: Biological plasticity Testosterone Evolutional perspectives on fathering Parental investment theory Cooperative breeding 

Individuals who perceived their competitors to be of high mate-value were more supportive of traditional gender roles and, only for men, more opposed to promiscuity and sexual liberalism

Does the Quality of Mating Competitors Affect Socio-Political Attitudes? An Experimental Test. Francesca R. Luberti, Khandis R. Blake & Robert C. Brooks. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, September 30 2020. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40750-020-00151-3

Abstract

Objectives: Individual differences in socio-political attitudes can reflect mating interests, and attitudes can also shift in response to mating market cues, including mating competitor quality. In four experiments, we tested whether competitors’ attractiveness (Experiments 1F&1M) and income (Experiments 2F&2M) would influence socio-political attitudes (participants’ self-reported attitudes towards promiscuity and sexual liberalism, traditional gender roles, and the minimum wage and healthcare).

Methods: We collected data from American participants online through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (total N = 787). In all experiments, each participant was randomly assigned to one of four experimental treatments in a between-subjects design (three levels of mating competitor quality and a control group), and to one of five stimuli within each treatment.

Results: Overall, the experimental treatments largely did not predict participants’ socio-political attitudes. The fifteen unique experimental stimuli, however, did significantly affect participants’ perception of their competitors’ quality. That perception, in turn, affected some socio-political attitudes. Namely, individuals who perceived their competitors to be of high mate-value were more supportive of traditional gender roles and, only for men in Experiment 2M, more opposed to promiscuity and sexual liberalism than individuals who perceived competitors to be of low mate-value. These results only applied to sexually unrestricted, but not restricted, women. Perceived mating competition did not affect attitudes towards the minimum wage and healthcare.

Conclusions: Experimental cues of mating competition shifted participants’ perceptions of their competitors’ mating quality and these perceptions in turn shifted some socio-political attitudes. We interpret these results considering broader arguments about plasticity in socio-political attitudes.

It sounds like food: Phonotaxis of a diurnal lizard -- There is a complex interaction between the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi and the dead horse arum, Helicodiceros muscivorus

Pérez-Cembranos A and Pérez-Mellado V. (2020). It sounds like food: Phonotaxis of a diurnal lizard. Behavioural Processes 179:104217. DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2020.104217

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1313339840319160322

Highlights

• There is a complex interaction between the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi and the dead horse arum, Helicodiceros muscivorus.

• The dead horse arum attracts flies to be pollinated.

• Flies are trapped inside floral chambers during several hours.

• Lizards are able to enter inside floral chambers to capture flies.

• A natural experiment using trapped flies was done in Aire. Lizards were attracted by the sound of trapped flies.

• This is the first known case of phonotaxis towards prey for a diurnal lizard.

Abstract: Foraging diurnal lizards are well known for their use of visual and chemical cues to detect prey. We already showed that the Balearic lizard is able to detect prey using visual and chemical cues, even from airborne odors. In this study we carried out a field experiment to test if lizards can detect prey using acoustic cues. Our results show that Podarcis lilfordi is able to detect flies trapped inside opaque cups, only using acoustic cues. To our knowledge, this is the first known case of phonotaxis of a diurnal lizard. Thus, P. lilfordi can detect, from far away, current pollinators trapped inside floral chambers of the dead horse arum, Helicodiceros muscivorus. This is another behavioral trait displayed by the Balearic lizard during its complex interaction with the dead horse arum.

Popular version: The Lizard and the Rotting Meat Lily. Mary Bates. Psychology Today, Oct 5 2020. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/animal-minds/202010/the-lizard-and-the-rotting-meat-lily

Are there dedicated female neurons for saying no to sex? In the sophisticated fly Drosophila, there are.

Neuroscience: The Female Art of Saying No. Anne C.von Philipsborn. Current Biology, Volume 30, Issue 19, October 5 2020, Pages R1080-R1083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.08.023

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1313135084627783682

Refers to: Ovipositor Extrusion Promotes the Transition from Courtship to Copulation and Signals Female Acceptance in Drosophila melanogaster. Cecilia Mezzera, Margarida Brotas, Miguel Gaspar, Hania J. Pavlou, Stephen F. Goodwin, Maria Luísa Vasconcelos. Current Biology, Volume 30, Issue 19, October 5 2020, Pages 3736-3748.e5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960982220311775

Summary: Females communicate sexual receptivity in various ways. Drosophila signal that they are mated and ovulating, and resistive to mating again, by extruding their egg-laying organ (ovipositor). Connectome-aided circuit analysis reveals how this break up message is computed and differs from an acceptance response in virgins.

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Are there dedicated female neurons for saying no to sex? In the sophisticated fly Drosophila, there are.

From the Mezzera paper:

Summary: Communication between male and female fruit flies during courtship is essential for successful mating, but, as with many other species, it is the female who decides whether to mate. Here, we show a novel role for ovipositor extrusion in promoting male copulation attempts in virgin and mated females and signaling acceptance in virgins. We first show that ovipositor extrusion is only displayed by sexually mature females, exclusively during courtship and in response to the male song. We identified a pair of descending neurons that controls ovipositor extrusion in mated females. Genetic silencing of the descending neurons shows that ovipositor extrusion stimulates the male to attempt copulation. A detailed behavioral analysis revealed that during courtship, the male repeatedly licks the female genitalia, independently of ovipositor extrusion, and that licking an extruded ovipositor prompts a copulation attempt. However, if the ovipositor is not subsequently retracted, copulation is prevented, as it happens with mated females. In this study, we reveal a dual function of the ovipositor: while its extrusion is necessary for initiating copulation by the male, its retraction signals female acceptance. We thus uncover the significance of the communication between male and female that initiates the transition from courtship to copulation.

Discussion

The transition from courtship to copulation is a critical moment for the reproductive success of animals. The exact steps leading to this transition in any species remain largely uncharacterized [41]. In our work, we showed that in fruit flies, male licking and female ovipositor extrusion are involved in this transition (schema in Figure 5G). An important feature of this interaction is that the female mating status determines whether this transition is complete. We observed that virgin females retract the ovipositor upon a male’s attempt, thus allowing copulation, whereas mated females do not, thus blocking copulation.

Virgin and mated females use a variation of the same behavior to stimulate and prevent copulation, respectively. This variation requires different descending neurons probably acting on common circuits. This could be a versatile and economic strategy to mediate opposite responses when the same individual uses one or the other variation depending on the circumstances.

Why would a mated female signal the male to attempt copulation while blocking intromission? In circumstances that we have not addressed in this study, mated females re-mate. For a few hours after mating, and given the appropriate context, mated females will eject the sperm and re-mate in an attempt to increase fecundity and offspring genetic diversity [25, 42]. In this case, prompting the male to attempt copulation makes sense, as it could lead to copulation. An additional role for full ovipositor extrusion in mated females, which we have not explored here, may be in announcing the female’s current pheromonal composition. Ovipositor extrusion would be an efficient way of exposing the anti-aphrodisiac pheromones 3-O-acetyl-1,3-dihydroxyoctacosa-11,19-diene [24] present in the tip of the ovipositor and cis-vaccenyl acetate, mostly in the reproductive system [25, 43], which, together with 7-tricosene [23] present in the cuticle, indicate to an approaching male that the female has mated, and, depending on the combination and intensity of the chemical cues, the male may or may not initiate courtship.

In this work, we identified a pair of descending neurons that control full ovipositor extrusion. Full ovipositor extrusion can be induced in the virgin female by DNp13 activation, but activity in these neurons is not necessary for ovipositor extrusion in virgins. Although full and partial ovipositor extrusions do not have a sharp distinction, ovipositor extrusion is commanded by different neurons and controlled differently in virgin and mated flies. It remains to be elucidated which are the descending neurons controlling virgin ovipositor extrusion and how they interact with DNp13 to control similar behavior in females in different mating states.

Our work shows that, during the interaction between the sexes, the female responds to the male courtship song with ovipositor extrusion. However, it is apparent in the videos that song does not always lead to ovipositor extrusion. This response pattern suggests that ovipositor extrusion is not a reflexive reaction to courtship song, but rather arises from a temporal or multimodal integration. Further experiments are required to elucidate the nature of this association. How does the male verify that the song was heard? Our results indicate that the male is sampling the female genitalia with the proboscis throughout courtship. Presumably, licking is intended to probe the chemical landscape of the female genitalia, which is likely to change when the ovipositor is extruded; in this way, the male could sense when the female is responding to the song. We show that licking of the ovipositor elicits a copulation attempt. In line with early suggestions that compounds are released during ovipositor extrusion to stimulate the male [11], we speculate that a chemical compound is presented with the ovipositor by the female and sensed by taste neurons on the male proboscis. A gustatory signal, yet unidentified and common to virgin and mated females, would stimulate the male to attempt copulation. Having established that licking an extruded ovipositor is the starting point for the male to attempt copulation allows us to use the same starting point to study how the transition from courtship to copulation is processed in the male brain.

In conclusion, our work highlights how both sexes contribute to continuous communication during courtship that culminates in copulation attempt gated by the female ovipositor extrusion. Moreover, our findings open new avenues of study of the neuronal regulation of behaviors that lead to the transition from courtship to copulation and how this transition regulates neuronal activity.

Contrary to the common impression, the U.S. public is largely uninformed rather than misinformed of a wide range of factual claims verified by journalists

The Value of Not Knowing: Partisan Cue-Taking and Belief Updating of the Uninformed, the Ambiguous, and the Misinformed. Jianing Li, Michael W Wagner. Journal of Communication, Volume 70, Issue 5, October 2020, Pages 646–669, https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaa022

Abstract: The problem of a misinformed citizenry is often used to motivate research on misinformation and its corrections. However, researchers know little about how differences in informedness affect how well corrective information helps individuals develop knowledge about current events. We introduce a Differential Informedness Model that distinguishes between three types of individuals, that is, the uninformed, the ambiguous, and the misinformed, and establish their differences with two experiments incorporating multiple partisan cues and issues. Contrary to the common impression, the U.S. public is largely uninformed rather than misinformed of a wide range of factual claims verified by journalists. Importantly, we find that the success of belief updating after exposure to corrective information (via a fact-checking article) is dependent on the presence, the certainty, and the accuracy of one’s prior belief. Uninformed individuals are more likely to update their beliefs than misinformed individuals after exposure to corrective information. Interestingly, the ambiguous individuals, regardless of whether their uncertain guesses were correct, do not differ from uninformed individuals with respect to belief updating.

Discussion

Sociotechnical changes in the communication environment and the concomitant concerns over the quality and content of information people consume have urged scholars to carefully theorize how persuasion takes place (Holbert, Garrett, & Gleason, 2010). Knowledge, a foundational factor in persuasion theories, is important for considering how people elaborate on and react to new information (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). In this paper, we conceptualized differential types of informedness and tested how individuals with different states of informedness take up partisan cues and update beliefs about what is true.

First, and contrary to the impression that many citizens are misinformed, the majority of our respondents are uninformed of a wide range of claims important enough to be verified by journalists. Only a small group of respondents hold confident, inaccurate beliefs. This builds on work by Pasek et al. (2015) by distinguishing between the uninformed, who admit that they “don’t know,” the ambiguous, who take a guess with varying degrees of accuracy, and the misinformed, who hold steadfast false beliefs. In the current environment where concerns over misinformation often lead to heightened attention to belief accuracy, our findings highlight the necessity to bridge between work on political ignorance and misperception and the benefit of leveraging belief accuracy, belief presence and belief certainty to better assess public informedness.

Considering our Differential Informedness Model along with theories on information shortcuts (Popkin, 1991) and belief updating (Kunda, 1990) yields several important implications. Notably, the conceptual distinctions between types of political informedness are substantively meaningful in belief updating. Individuals engage in different levels of motivated reasoning depending on their prior informedness. In the immigration condition, the misinformed individuals held on to false beliefs even after reading the fact-checking article, while the uninformed and the ambiguous individuals were less likely to choose the incorrect answer. Interestingly, the ambiguous individuals, regardless of whether their uncertain guess was correct or not, did not differ from uninformed individuals with respect to belief updates. This gives hope that although the persuasive effects of fact-checks might be hindered by confident misperceptions, it is still useful to the much larger group of citizens who are uninformed or ambiguous of the facts. Of course, it is likely that these same citizens are less likely to participate in democratic politics, muting the persuasive effects of fact-checks on attitudes and behaviors.

Further, integrating the Differential Informedness Model with theories about the effects of information shortcuts on decision-making (Popkin, 1991), we find that what people believe is also influenced by who is doing the talking. Labeling the three U.S. political figures, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Chuck Schumer, as the source of a claim of fact influenced people’s factual beliefs to different extents. Unsurprisingly, Trump was the strongest cue of the three, resulting in a decreased number of “Don’t know” answers, an increased number of certain answers, and more partisan-congruent truthfulness evaluation. The McConnell cue resulted in increased partisan-congruent evaluation, while the Schumer cue leads to increased number of certain answers. These findings confirm that the influence of partisan cues on factual beliefs is not particular to a single partisan politician, although prominence in political discourse, or indeed, the elite in question’s partisanship itself, may influence the size of the effect.

Our findings also lay plain the likelihood that context will play important roles in conclusions about persuasive effects. With the divisive yet ubiquitous immigration issue, fact-checking helps the uninformed more than the misinformed, highlighting its role in accurate belief formation beyond belief debiasing (Graves & Amazeen, 2019). For marijuana legalization, fact-checking generally helps everyone. Is this due to fundamental differences in the nature of the issues, or is it because the immigration claim is rated false while the marijuana claim is rated true? Our study implies that the misinformed may have a harder time believing something they thought was true is actually false than the other way around (Wintersieck, 2017).

Taken together, our work points to fruitful directions in theorizing a more generalized process (Figure 3) of how prior states of differential informedness, interacting with message features, can trigger distinct types of processing motivations and ultimately produce pro- or anti-democratic changes as well as persistence regarding various persuasion outcomes. Our proposed framework suggests directions to theorize about message features—including but not limited to information shortcuts and issue contexts—such as argument strength, message frames, etc., to consider the role of differential informedness when estimating persuasive effects. Further, building on work that highlights outcomes beyond message-congruent response changing (Miller, 2002), our work suggests that individuals may engage in accurate belief formation or hold on to persistent ones. Future research should explore if backfire, or reinforcement of responses, depends upon differential informedness (Nyhan & Reifler, 2010; Wood & Porter, 2019) and consider attitudinal and behavior outcomes beyond belief responses (Thorson, 2016).

Figure 3

A simple model of informedness, message features, motivation, and persuasive outcomes.

What can journalists learn from our analysis? Fact-checking stands as an attractive remedy for the public to navigate a complicated media ecosystem rife with misinformation and a focus on the horse race (Amazeen, 2015). However, we offered a nuanced account of the ability of fact-checking to help citizens learn about the truth. Of course, reporters do not control their audiences’ prior states of informedness; but taking caution with partisan cues when presenting facts can facilitate more accurate beliefs. Fact-checkers might consider focusing on the evidence regarding the veracity of the claims they check and give less attention to who made the claim. A downside of this approach is that the partisan source is usually a key element of what makes the factual claim newsworthy and perhaps the most crucial factor in the size of the audience the fact-check earns. Finally, given that the majority of the public is uninformed rather than misinformed, journalists might consider focusing on presenting verifiable facts rather than repeating a false claim, which may lead audience to erroneously remember it as true (Peter & Koch, 2016).

While we analyzed beliefs about claims of fact for 60 claims across two studies, we only provided fact-check reporting on two of the claims. More work on representative samples across countries is necessary before meaningful generalizations about belief updating based upon informedness is possible. Of course, we randomly assigned the politicians we used in our studies to the claims we selected for analysis. In the political information ecology, these claims are not random nor is the attention they receive from fact-checkers. The nature of the political environment will also likely impact our findings on partisan cues and belief updating. People tend to adopt partisan frames, regardless of quality, when the environment is polarized, while non-polarized environments tend to encourage individuals to seek the best argument before adopting a position on an issue (Druckman, Peterson, & Slothuus, 2013). Future research should replicate our findings with considerations of contextual or ecological variances.

We have made the case that it is important to differentiate among types of informedness to assess the quality of citizens’ knowledge and persuade them to believe what is verifiably true. Persuasive effects of corrective information can be strong for those who are aware of their own ignorance but may fail when individuals do not know the biases they carry that cause unearned certainty about their beliefs. We examined 60 factual claims, partisan cues regarding three political elites, and two-issue contexts for a granularity of data that has allowed us to advance knowledge on an important question in political communication. Our framework on differential informedness is applicable to other subject areas such as health and science where knowledge measurement is increasingly crucial and useful in theorizing a general process of the interplay of informedness, message features, and motivations on persuasive outcomes.

Adolescents with stronger religiosity earn better grades, are less truant in secondary school, and complete more years of higher education, [but] conservative Protestants are among the least educated religious groups

Religion and Academic Achievement: A Research Review Spanning Secondary School and Higher Education. Ilana M. Horwitz. Review of Religious Research, Oct 4 2020. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13644-020-00433-y

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1312982215496740865

Abstract: Profound socio-economic disparities that exist among American religious groups are largely driven by the quantity and quality of education they receive. Furthermore, given the U.S. schooling system is rooted in Protestant ideals, it is possible that students with Protestant commitments have an academic advantage. This article synthesizes literature on how adolescents’ religious commitment and background are associated with their short- and long-term academic outcomes. A literature search identified 42 relevant studies published in 1990-present. These studies were reviewed to identify: (1) the mechanisms through which religion affects educational outcomes—moral, social, and cultural; (2) the main operationalized measures of religion—religious tradition and individual religiosity; and (3) the most frequent academic outcomes studied—secondary school grades, truancy, test scores, educational aspirations, and educational attainment. Of the 42 studies, 95% were based exclusively on quantitative survey data, 95% examined only religiosity or religious tradition, and 66% focused on educational attainment. There were three major findings. First, research has advanced from correlational studies to methodologically rigorous designs suggesting religion can play a causal role in academic success. Second, research reveals a religiosity-religious tradition paradox: Adolescents with stronger religiosity earn better grades, are less truant in secondary school, and complete more years of higher education. A large proportion of highly religious adolescents are likely to be conservative Protestants, but the research on religious tradition suggests that conservative Protestants are among the least educated religious groups. Third, it is unclear if religious adolescents only fare better on academic outcomes that reward their personality, such as grades, or whether they also perform better on more objective measures, such as standardized tests. This systematic review reveals a paradoxical “effect” of academic achievement and religiosity versus-religious tradition. The overall results indicate the need to: (a) identify the interaction between religious tradition and religiosity, (b) distinguish between subjective versus objective academic outcomes; (c) examine heterogeneity among non-religious adolescents; (d) study the interplay between institutional schooling and institutional religion; (e) investigate the religion/cultural match between teachers and students; (f) pursue qualitative research to better understand mechanisms; and (g) expand research about non-Christians.

“And the Male Is Not like the Female”: Sunni Islam and Gender Nonconformity

“And the Male Is Not like the Female”: Sunni Islam and Gender Nonconformity (Part I). Mobeen Vaid. Muslim Matters, Jul 24. https://muslimmatters.org/2017/07/24/and-the-male-is-not-like-the-female-sunni-islam-and-gender-nonconformity/

VI. Conclusions Concerning Gender Nonconformity in Sunni Islam

On the basis of the above discussion, we can make a number of normative assertions concerning Sunni Islam’s position on gender nonconformity:

⦁ Gender is of two discrete types: male and female.

⦁ Gender is normatively presumed on the basis of unambiguous biological constitution.

⦁ In the event of physiological ambiguities, either on account of hermaphroditism or genital agenesis, the Sharīʿa provides methods by which gender can be established. Should these methods fail, a minority of scholars permit the ambiguous individual to make a non-revocable gender selection, after which he or she is treated in accord with the gender chosen, while the majority continue regarding the individual as “ambiguous” (mushkil) and consider marriage impermissible for such a person.

⦁ Mannish behavior (for women) and effeminate behavior (for men) are impermissible if taken on deliberately. If, however, effeminate behavior manifests in a male dispositionally (khilqatan)—hence lying outside of his conscious control—then those (unelected) mannerisms are not deemed sinful. The effeminate male (mukhannath) is required, by some jurists, to attenuate to the extent possible those traits—such as gait, voice, and other mannerisms—that may be liable to correction through conscious habituation.

⦁ If male effeminacy is paired with an absence of sexual desire for women, then the effeminate male is permitted to remain in the private company of marriageable non-maḥram women (ajnabiyyāt) according to the majority of scholars. This permission is contingent on the effeminate male upholding the confidentiality of the women in question, not divulging the specifics of their physique to unrelated men.

⦁ Aside from the specific permission to enter into the company of non-maḥram women, a constitutionally effeminate male (al-mukhannath al-khilqī) is regarded and treated as a man in all other respects, subject to the same Sharīʿa rulings that would apply to any other male. Accordingly, he may lead prayer, testify and bear witness as a man, and marry a woman if he so desires. Conversely, he is required to refrain from liwāṭ (sodomy) and other forbidden sexual acts, even if his lack of desire for women is accompanied by a persistent inclination towards men.

⦁ It is categorically impermissible for either a male or a female to dress in a manner that conclusively imitates the opposite sex. If men and women in a given culture dress in ways that are indistinguishable, then men must at least abstain from veiling and from covering in other ways that are specific to women.

In light of the normative Islamic categories, prescriptions, and proscriptions examined above, Part II of this study will consider contemporary discourses surrounding the issue of gender identity (in comparison to biological sex), gender roles, and transgenderism with a focus on the multifarious ways in which modern discourses surrounding these topics can or cannot be accommodated given the legal, ethical, and moral boundaries established by the Sharīʿa.

Latent genetic traits explain a nontrivial amount of variance in two news use motives (surveillance & entertainment), as well as frequency of consumption across news sources, mainly ideological ones (Fox News & CNN)

Exploring Genetic Contributions to News Use Motives and Frequency of News Consumption: A Study of Identical and Fraternal Twins. Chance York & Paul Haridakis. Mass Communication and Society, May 27 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2020.1759096

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1312702086736470022

Abstract: Prior research conducted within the Uses and Gratifications paradigm has considered the contribution of numerous background social and psychological characteristics to motives for media use and media consumption patterns. In this study, we explore the extent to which far more fundamental characteristics—genes—explain, in part, motives to use news media and frequency of news use. Utilizing original data collected on identical and fraternal twins (n = 334), we find that latent genetic traits explain a nontrivial amount of variance in two unique news use motives, surveillance and entertainment, as well as frequency of consumption across multiple news sources. Genetic traits were particularly influential in explaining the frequency of using sources commonly characterized as ideological, such as Fox News and CNN.