Danielle Sulikowski | Charles Sturt University (original) (raw)

Comparative Cognition by Danielle Sulikowski

A variety of nectarivorous species have demonstrated a bias to ‘win-shift’ (shift away from/avoid... more A variety of nectarivorous species have demonstrated a bias to ‘win-shift’ (shift away from/avoid locations that have recently yielded food, as opposed to ‘win-stay’ behaviour where the animal returns to such locations). Since recently exploited !owers contain no nectar, the win-shift bias is a candidate for an
adaptive specialization of cognition. This bias tends to manifest as faster learning and/or better performance on a win-shift than a win-stay task. In standard win-shift/win-stay tasks (multiple two-phase trials where animals first find rewards in particular locations, and must subsequently avoid, or return
to, such locations) noisy miners, Manorina melanocephala, and rainbow lorikeets, Trichoglossus haematodus, developed patterns of revisits/errors in the exploration phases that corresponded to the spatial contingency they experienced in the test phases: birds reinforced to shift revisited locations in the exploration phase that were unrewarded; birds reinforced to stay revisited rewarded ones. This was true even for birds that failed to shift or stay appropriately in the test phase itself. This suggests that the poorer performance of nectarivorous birds in win-stay than win-shift tasks may not be a consequence of an inability to learn the win-stay contingency. Our results suggest that these birds are equally sensitive to
the win-shift and win-stay contingencies. This implies that, if the win-shift bias previously reported in nectarivorous birds is an example of a cognitive adaptation to the depleting nature of nectar, then the specially adapted mechanisms may have more to do with inhibition of the win-stay response than insensitivity to the win-stay contingency.

Noisy miners, Manorina melanocephala (Australian honeyeaters, Meliphagidae) feed on both nectar a... more Noisy miners, Manorina melanocephala (Australian honeyeaters, Meliphagidae) feed on both nectar and
invertebrates. The spatiotemporal distributions of these two food resources differ: nectar is a static,
visually signalled resource, and invertebrates are cryptic and mobile. In the present study, we investigated
whether birds would forage more efficiently if they could plan their search path through a ‘patch’
of feeders, than if they could not. We predicted that the ability to plan would only increase the efficiency
of nectar foraging. Wild-caught captive birds were allowed to forage through arrays of feeders containing
both nectar (sucrose) and invertebrate (mealworm) prey. When foraging for nectar, birds made more
search errors if they were unable to plan their foraging route, while search efficiency for invertebrate
prey was not affected in this way. These results suggest that noisy miners make use of the advertised
locations of nectar to plan their search route. Such route planning may be a type of planning that does
not involve anticipation of future motivational states.

ntnu.no. Publications. ...

Noisy miners (Australian honeyeaters) feed on both nectar and invertebrates. The distributions of... more Noisy miners (Australian honeyeaters) feed on both nectar and invertebrates. The distributions of these two food resources differ: nectar is a static, visually cued resource that depletes and replenishes in a predictable way while invertebrates are cryptic and mobile. If the cognitive mechanisms that underpin foraging have been adapted to increase foraging efficiency, we might predict the competing demands of nectar and invertebrate food sources to result in (at least) two sets of divergent mechanisms. Previous studies have provided strong evidence of two such cognitive systems. In the present study, wild-caught captive birds were allowed to forage through arrays of feeder containing either nectar (sucrose) or invertebrate (mealworm) prey. When foraging for nectar, birds made more search errors if they were unable to plan their foraging route, while search efficiency for invertebrate prey was not affected in this way. Moreover, birds were able to forage reasonably efficiently for bo...

Noisy miners (an Australian honeyeater) feed on both nectar and invertebrates. The distributions ... more Noisy miners (an Australian honeyeater) feed on both nectar and invertebrates. The distributions of these two food resources differ: nectar is a static, visually cued resource that depletes and replenishes in a predictable way while invertebrates are cryptic and mobile. If the cognitive mechanisms that underpin foraging have been adapted to increase foraging efficiency, we might predict the competing demands of nectar and invertebrate food source to result in (at least) two sets of divergent mechanisms. Here, we present evidence of two such divergent systems, each apparently triggered by the proximate ingestion (or expectation) of the relevant food type. The nectar system appears to be less flexible than the invertebrate system, but may have a longer lasting memory for high-resolution spatial information. We are also investigating whether these two system differ in the extent to which they integrate information observed over time versus the extent to which they produce behaviour bas...

The tendency to avoid locations that have recently yielded food (to ‘win-shift’) has been identif... more The tendency to avoid locations that have recently yielded food (to ‘win-shift’) has been identified in a variety of nectar-feeding species and has been interpreted as an adaptation to the spatio-temporal distribution of nectar. In the omnivorous Noisy Miner bird (Manorina melanocephala), this behaviour is sensitive to foraging context, manifesting only in association with nectar, but not when foraging for invertebrates. This difference could potentially have its basis in any of a number of cognitive processes (attention, encoding, retention, recall). The data presented here suggest that at least part of the difference lies in how spatial information is attended to and used while exploring a patch.

Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 2008

Search is an important tool in an ant's navigational toolbox to relocate food sources and Wnd the... more Search is an important tool in an ant's navigational toolbox to relocate food sources and Wnd the inconspicuous nest entrance. In habitats where landmark information is sparse, homing ants travel their entire home vector before searching systematically with ever increasing loops. Search strategies have not been previously investigated in ants that inhabit landmark-rich habitats where they typically establish stereotypical routes. Here we examine the search strategy in one such ant, Melophorus bagoti, by conWning their foraging in one-dimensional channels to determine if their search pattern changes with experience, location of distant cues and altered distance on the homebound journey. Irrespective of conditions, we found ants exhibit a progressive search that drifted towards the Wctive nest and beyond. Segments moving away from the start of the homeward journey were longer than segments heading back towards the start. The right tail distribution of segment lengths was well Wtted by a power function, but slopes less than ¡3 on a log-log plot indicate that the process cannot be characterized as Lévy searches that have optimal slopes near-2. A double exponential function Wts the distribution of segment lengths better, supporting another theoretically optimal search pattern, the composite Brownian walk.

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2010

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2007

Behaviour, 2010

The adaptationist perspective investigates how an animal's cognition has been shaped by the i... more The adaptationist perspective investigates how an animal's cognition has been shaped by the informational properties of the environment. The information that is useful may vary from one context to another. In the current study we examine how manipulating the foraging context (the type of resource being foraged) could affect the way spatial information is used by the forager. Noisy miner birds (omnivorous honeyeaters) were given spatial working memory tasks in which they searched baited and unbaited feeders for either nectar or invertebrates. We hypothesised that noisy miners would encode the locations of baited and unbaited feeders equally well when foraging for nectar (all flowers, whether containing nectar or not are places to remember and avoid while foraging on a plant). When foraging for invertebrates, however, we predicted that noisy miner birds would not encode the locations of unbaited feeders as effectively as baited feeders (in a natural patch of invertebrates there is...

The adaptationist perspective investigates how an animal’s cognition has been shaped by the infor... more The adaptationist perspective investigates how an animal’s cognition has been shaped by the informational properties of the environment. The information that is useful may vary from one context to another. In the current study we examine how manipulating the foraging context (the type of resource being foraged) could affect the way spatial information is used by the
forager. Noisy miner birds (omnivorous honeyeaters) were given spatial working memory tasks in which they searched baited and unbaited feeders for either nectar or invertebrates.
We hypothesised that noisy miners would encode the locations of baited and unbaited feeders equally well when foraging for nectar (all flowers, whether containing nectar or not are places to remember and avoid while foraging on a plant). When foraging for invertebrates, however, we predicted that noisy miner birds would not encode the locations of unbaited
feeders as effectively as baited feeders (in a natural patch of invertebrates there is no cue to differentiate a point location where a prey item has not been found from the rest of the
potentially homogenous patch). As predicted, birds foraging for invertebrates made more revisits to unbaited than baited feeders, with no such difference evident when birds were
foraging for nectar.

ntnu.no. Publications. ...

Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 2008

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2010

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2007

Behaviour, 2010

PLOS ONE

Attentional biases for threatening stimuli of various kinds have been repeatedly demonstrated. Mo... more Attentional biases for threatening stimuli of various kinds have been repeatedly demonstrated. More recently, sex differences in the strength of visual biases for weapons have been observed, with men exhibiting stronger biases than do women. In the current study we further explored this sex difference, by examining how immediate vicarious experience with weapons (via playing a violent video game compared to playing a non-violent video game) affected the visual attention for weapons. We found that the basic visual bias for weapons compared to non-weapons was replicated, as was the sex difference in the strength of this bias. We also observed that the context produced by playing a violent video game prior to the visual search task, produced some sex differences in responding that were not present after playing the nonviolent video game, providing modest evidence that men may be more prone to cognitive behavioural effects of violent video game play. Interestingly, there was some eviden...

Evolution and Human Behavior, 2012

Previous reports of faster responses to threatening compared to benign stimuli in visual search t... more Previous reports of faster responses to threatening compared to benign stimuli in visual search tasks have argued that threatening targets are faster to engage and slower to disengage attention than benign targets. This study reinterprets previous findings and resolves inconsistencies in the literature by replacing the theory of differential disengagement of attention with one of differential caution. It also examines whether visual attentional mechanisms are sensitive to more than just the threatening versus benign categorical status of the targets
and introduces a novel measure (a caution score) that appears to be sensitive to the level of threat implied by the target image, but immune to other stimulus features (target-distracter similarity and threat status of distracters) known to affect reaction time. As well as locating threatening targets faster than benign targets, participants were also faster, more accurate, and more cautious to detect lethal spiders compared to nonlethal spiders and even more cautious again if the spiders were presented on a person's hand. These results suggest that mechanisms of attention and threat evaluation interact during visual search tasks, producing behaviour that is sensitive to the target's implied threat level and the context in which that target is presented.

Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior, 2014

In visual displays, people locate potentially threatening stimuli, such as snakes, spiders, and w... more In visual displays, people locate potentially threatening stimuli, such as snakes, spiders, and weapons, more quickly than similar benign stimuli, such as beetles and gadgets. Such biases are likely adaptive, facilitating fast responses to potential threats. Currently, and historically, men have engaged in more weapons-related activities (fighting and hunting) than women. If biases of visual attention for weapons result from selection pressures related to these activities, then we would predict such biases to be stronger in men than in women. The current study reports the results of two visual search experiments, in which men showed a stronger bias of attention toward guns and knives than did women, whether the weapons were depicted wielded or not. When the weapons were depicted wielded, both sexes searched for them with more caution than when they were not. Neither of these effects extended reliably to syringes, a non-weapon-yet potentially threatening-object. The findings are disc...

Evolutionary Psychology, Oct 29, 2014

Evolutionary Psychology, Oct 23, 2014

Previous reports of faster responses to threatening compared to benign stimuli in visual search t... more Previous reports of faster responses to threatening compared to benign stimuli in visual search tasks, have argued that threatening targets are faster to engage, and slower to disengage, attention than benign targets. This study re-interprets previous findings and resolves inconsistencies by replacing the theory of differential disengagement of attention, with one of differential caution. It also examines whether visual attentional mechanisms are sensitive to more than just the threatening versus benign categorical status of the targets and introduces a novel 'caution score' that appears to be sensitive to the level of threat implied by the target image, but immune to other stimulus features (target-distracter similarity and threat status of distracters) known to affect reaction time. As well as locating threatening targets faster than benign targets, participants were also faster, more accurate and more cautious to detect lethal spiders compared to non-lethal spiders; and e...

Frontiers in Psychology

Modern attitudes to meat in both men and women reflect a strong meat-masculinity association. Sex... more Modern attitudes to meat in both men and women reflect a strong meat-masculinity association. Sex differences in the relationship between meat and masculinity have not been previously explored. In the current study we used two IATs (implicit association tasks), a visual search task, and a questionnaire to measure implicit and explicit attitudes toward meat in men and women. Men exhibited stronger implicit associations between meat and healthiness than did women, but both sexes associated meat more strongly with 'healthy' than 'unhealthy' concepts. As 'healthy' was operationalized in the current study using terms such as "virile" and "powerful," this suggests that a meatstrength/power association may mediate the meat-masculinity link readily observed across western cultures. The sex difference was not related to explicit attitudes to meat, nor was it attributable to a variety of other factors, such as a generally more positive disposition toward meat in men than women. Men also exhibited an attention bias toward meats, compared to non-meat foods, while females exhibited more caution when searching for non-meat foods, compared to meat. These biases were not related to implicit attitudes, but did tend to increase with increasing hunger levels. Potential ultimate explanations for these differences, including sex differences in bio-physiological needs and receptivity to social signals are discussed.

Evolution and Human Behavior

Previous reports of faster responses to threatening compared to benign stimuli in visual search t... more Previous reports of faster responses to threatening compared to benign stimuli in visual search tasks, have argued that threatening targets are faster to engage, and slower to disengage, attention than benign targets. This study re-interprets previous findings and resolves inconsistencies by replacing the theory of differential disengagement of attention, with one of differential caution. It introduces a novel 'caution score' that appears to be sensitive to the level of threat implied by the target image, but immune to other stimulus features (target-distracter similarity and threat status of distracters) known to affect reaction time. As well as locating threatening targets faster than benign targets, participants were also faster, more accurate and more cautious to detect lethal spiders compared to non-lethal spiders; and even more cautious again if the spiders were presented on a person’s hand. These results suggest that mechanisms of attention and threat evaluation inter...

Personality and Individual Differences, 2023

Intrasexual competition between women is often covert, and targets rivals' appearance. Here we in... more Intrasexual competition between women is often covert, and targets rivals' appearance. Here we investigate appearance advice as a vector for female intrasexual competition. Across two studies (N = 192, N = 258) women indicated how much hair they would recommend hypothetical clients have cut off in their hypothetical salon. Clients varied in their facial attractiveness (depicted pictorially), the condition of their hair, and how much hair they wished to have cut off. Participants also provided self-report measures of their own mate value and intrasexual competitiveness. In both studies, participants' intrasexual competitiveness positively predicted how much hair they recommended clients have cut off, especially when the hair was in good condition and the clients reported wanting as little as possible cut offcircumstances wherein cutting off too much hair is most likely to indicate sabotage. Considering data across both collectively, women tended to recommend cutting the most hair off clients they perceived to be as attractive as themselves. These data suggest that just like mating, intrasexual competition may be assortative with respect to mate value. They also demonstrate that competitive motives can impact female-female interactions even in scenarios which feature no prospective mates, and are nominally unrelated to mate guarding or mating competition.

Personality and Individual Differences, 2022

Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 2022

Evolution, Mind and Behaviour, 2015

Personality and Individual Differences, 2020

Abstract Individuals select mates adaptively, adjusting their ideal partner preferences in accord... more Abstract Individuals select mates adaptively, adjusting their ideal partner preferences in accordance with their own mate value, and prevailing environmental conditions. They may then select a mate that falls short of these preferences if they are unable to locate or attract someone who meets their ideals. In the current study we investigated the extent to which men and women of varying mate value compromise their mate choice decisions implicitly (by lowering their preferred ideals) or explicitly (by choosing a partner who falls short of their declared). Participants reported on their ideal trait preferences, the traits of an actual long-term partner, and their own mate value. We observed that both men and women engaged in substantial implicit compromise, with lower stated ideal preferences across all potential partner traits, as participant self-perceived mate value decreased. Explicit compromises were comparatively rare and unrelated to an individual's own mate value. We conclude that implicit compromise from both men and women plays a far greater role than does explicit compromise in either sex in driving assortative mating.

Human faces show marked sexual shape dimorphism, and this affects their attractiveness. Humans al... more Human faces show marked sexual shape dimorphism, and this affects their attractiveness. Humans also show marked height dimorphism, which means that men typically view women’s faces from slightly above and women typically view men’s faces from slightly below. We tested the idea that this perspective difference may be the evolutionary origin of the face shape dimorphism by having males and females rate the masculinity/femininity and attractiveness of male and female faces that had been manipulated in pitch (forward or backward tilt), simulating viewing the face from slightly above or below. As predicted, tilting female faces upwards decreased their perceived femininity and attractiveness, whereas tilting them downwards increased their perceived femininity and attractiveness. Male faces tilted up were judged to be more masculine, and tilted down judged to be less masculine. This suggests that sexual selection may have embodied this viewpoint difference into the actual facial proportions of men and women.

Even in multicultural nations interracial relationships and marriages are quite rare, one reflect... more Even in multicultural nations interracial relationships and marriages are quite rare, one reflection of assortative mating. A relatively unexplored factor that could explain part of this effect is that people may find members of their own racial group more attractive than members of other groups. We tested whether there is an own-race preference in attractiveness judgments, and also examined the effect of familiarity by comparing the attractiveness ratings given by participants of different ancestral and geographic origins to faces of European, East Asian and African origin. We did not find a strong own-race bias in attractiveness judgments, but neither were the data consistent with familiarity, suggesting an important role for other factors determining the patterns of assortative mating observed.

Burke and Sulikowski (2010) showed that the forward or backward head tilt angle (pitch) of a huma... more Burke and Sulikowski (2010) showed that the forward or backward head tilt angle (pitch) of a human face influenced both attractiveness and masculinity/femininity ratings. Face pitch has also been shown to impact dominance ratings, as has eye gaze direction. The current study was designed to investigate whether the effect of face pitch on attractiveness and masculinity/femininity was driven by changes in perceived dominance. Twenty male and 29 female participants rated 220 faces that were manipulated for eye gaze (direct vs averted) and 11 different head tilts, for attractiveness, femininity, masculinity, physical dominance and social dominance, to examine the way each of these rating varied as a function of face pitch. For female faces, perceived femininity and perceived attractiveness tracked each other perfectly, across changes in pitch, whereas perceived social and physical dominance monotonically increased as faces tilted further back. For male faces, tilting faces further back ...

People are highly sensitive to configural variation in faces. This sensitivity allows for discrim... more People are highly sensitive to configural variation in faces. This sensitivity allows for discrimination between different identities and detection of facial expressions and is reduced when faces are inverted. The extent to which configural sensitivity facilitates judgements of facial attractiveness is not well understood, but is the focus of the current study. Across two experiments, we manipulated several featural and configural cues to attractiveness (including pupil size, skin tone, lip fullness, symmetry, and sexual dimorphism) of male and female faces and asked participants to make judgements of attractiveness of these faces when presented upright as well as inverted. Our data suggest that reduced sensitivity to configural cues in inverted faces does hinder people's ability to make appropriate attractiveness judgements. This confirms mate-choice judgements as a potential selection pressure in the evolution of hyper-sensitivity to facial configurations.

14 males (mean age = 24.57, sd = 4.70) Procedure: Two conditions: ST v LT (consider the likelihoo... more 14 males (mean age = 24.57, sd = 4.70) Procedure: Two conditions: ST v LT (consider the likelihood you would engage in a short-term/long-term relationship with this individual) Two image types:

• Women illustrate (pen and paper) that they will wear more revealing clothes when fer9le (Durant... more • Women illustrate (pen and paper) that they will wear more revealing clothes when fer9le (Durante, Li, Haselton, 2008) • Women self--report wearing more revealing clothes when fer9le (Saad and Strenstrom, 2012) • Women are perceived by others to be puEng more effort into appearance when fer9le (Durante, Li, Haselton, 2008; Haselton et al, 2007) , and to be wearing more revealing clothes when fer9le (Grammer, Reninger and Fisher, 2004) • Women's choice of dress in a nightclub shows correla9ons between skin exposure and estradiol, and between skin exposure and courtship mo9va9on (Grammer, Reninger, Fisher, 2004) • BUT no direct evidence for change in skin exposure between fer9le/non--fer9le phases.

Blocks1 & 2 As predicted, par-cipants tended to respond faster to congruent trials than to incong... more Blocks1 & 2 As predicted, par-cipants tended to respond faster to congruent trials than to incongruent trials F(1, 69) = 3.86, p=.053. A bias towards individuals' own sex was also clear, with a significant face--sex--by--par-cipant--sex interac-on F(1, 69) = 8.85, p=.004 .

Personality and Individual Differences, 2020

Individuals select mates adaptively, adjusting their ideal partner preferences in accordance with... more Individuals select mates adaptively, adjusting their ideal partner preferences in accordance with their own mate value, and prevailing environmental conditions. They may then select a mate that falls short of these preferences if they are unable to locate or attract someone who meets their ideals. In the current study we investigated the extent to which men and women of varying mate value compromise their mate choice decisions implicitly (by lowering their preferred ideals) or explicitly (by choosing a partner who falls short of their declared). Participants reported on their ideal trait preferences, the traits of an actual long-term partner, and their own mate value. We observed that both men and women engaged in substantial implicit compromise, with lower stated ideal preferences across all potential partner traits, as participant self-perceived mate value decreased. Explicit compromises were comparatively rare and unrelated to an individual's own mate value. We conclude that implicit compromise from both men and women plays a far greater role than does explicit compromise in either sex in driving assortative mating.

Journal of evolutionary biology, Jan 4, 2016

In many species, male secondary sexual traits have evolved via female choice as they confer indir... more In many species, male secondary sexual traits have evolved via female choice as they confer indirect (i.e. genetic) benefits or direct benefits such as enhanced fertility or survival. In humans, the role of men's characteristically masculine androgen-dependent facial traits in determining men's attractiveness has presented an enduring paradox in studies of human mate preferences. Male-typical facial features such as a pronounced brow ridge, a more robust jawline may signal underlying health while beards may signal men's age and masculine social dominance. However, masculine faces are judged as more attractive for short-term relationships over less masculine faces, while beards are judged as more attractive than clean-shaven faces for long-term relationships. Why such divergent effects occur between preferences for two sexually dimorphic traits remains unresolved. In the present study, we used computer graphic manipulation to morph male faces varying in facial hair from c...

Psychoneuroendocrinology, Jan 19, 2018

The ovulatory shift hypothesis proposes that women's preferences for masculine physical and b... more The ovulatory shift hypothesis proposes that women's preferences for masculine physical and behavioral traits are greater at the peri-ovulatory period than at other points of the menstrual cycle. However, many previous studies used self-reported menstrual cycle data to estimate fecundability rather than confirming the peri-ovulatory phase hormonally. Here we report two studies and three analyses revisiting the ovulatory shift hypothesis with respect to both facial masculinity and beardedness. In Study 1, a large sample of female participants (N = 2,161) self-reported their cycle phase and provided ratings for faces varying in beardedness (clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble, full beards) and masculinity (-50%, -25%, natural, +25% and +50%) in a between-subjects design. In Study 2, 68 women provided the same ratings data, in a within-subjects design in which fertility was confirmed via luteinising hormone (LH) tests and analysed categorically. In Study 2, we also measured ...

Holistic/configural processing has typically been found for faces, but not for other categories o... more Holistic/configural processing has typically been found for faces, but not for other categories of objects. This raises important questions about the nature of the face processing mechanism, the kinds of stimuli that can activate it, and about the evolutionary origin of a face - processing module, if one exists. To begin to address these questions, the current study examined the extent to which the well-known inversion effect and composite effect occur when people make identity judgements of the faces of other species – particularly those of our nearest phylogenetic relatives. While the inversion effect was evident across a range of faces (for almost all primate faces tested), the composite effect was only evident when human faces were used as stimuli. These results hold implications for the specialness of the processing of human faces and for the kinds of tasks that best reflect this processing.

There is a great deal of evidence that faces are processed more holistically and/or configurally ... more There is a great deal of evidence that faces are processed more holistically and/or configurally than are other categories of objects. This has frequently been interpreted as evidence that we have specialised neural mechanisms to process faces, which, if true, raises important questions about the evolutionary origin of the face-processing module, and the kinds of stimuli that can activate it. To begin to address these questions, the current study examined the extent to which two indices of holistic/configural processing, the inversion effect (poorer recognition when faces are viewed upside down) and the composite effect (poor recognition of the top half of a face when aligned with a different bottom half), occur when people make identity judgements of the faces of other species – particularly those of our nearest phylogenetic relatives. While the inversion effect was evident across a range of faces (for almost all primate faces tested), the composite effect was only evident when hum...

Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 2014

The hunter-gatherer hypothesis of is the best-supported evolutionary explanation for sex differen... more The hunter-gatherer hypothesis of is the best-supported evolutionary explanation for sex differences in human spatial cognitive skills. It proposes that the sex differences in performance on a range of spatial task are a consequence of males (who hunted much more than did females) being better adapted to encode space allocentrically, and to rely on Euclidian navigational strategies employing distant landmarks, whereas females (who gathered much more than did males) are better adapted to encode space more egocentrically, navigating based more on local landmarks, and to be better able to precisely encode the position of particular objects. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the performance of male and female participants in a virtual navigation task (in which we could manipulate the landmark information available), a virtual dead-reckoning task and an object location memory task. The patterns of sex differences in the spatial tasks were strongly supportive of the hunter-gatherer hypothesis, but the sex-specific correlations between tasks thought to be underpinned by the same spatial-cognitive ability were not always supportive of the hypothesis, suggesting that the hunter-gatherer hypothesis requires some revisions or extensions.

Frontiers in Psychology, 2013

In this paper we examine the holistic processing of faces from an evolutionary perspective, clari... more In this paper we examine the holistic processing of faces from an evolutionary perspective, clarifying what such an approach entails, and evaluating the extent to which the evidence currently available permits any strong conclusions. While it seems clear that the holistic processing of faces depends on mechanisms evolved to perform that task, our review of the comparative literature reveals that there is currently insufficient evidence (or sometimes insufficiently compelling evidence) to decide when in our evolutionary past such processing may have arisen. It is also difficult to assess what kinds of selection pressures may have led to evolution of such a mechanism, or even what kinds of information holistic processing may have originally evolved to extract, given that many sources of socially relevant face-based information other than identity depend on integrating information across different regions of the face -judgments of expression, behavioral intent, attractiveness, sex, age, etc. We suggest some directions for future research that would help to answer these important questions.

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

We argue that the CLASH model makes a number of questionable assumptions about the harshness and ... more We argue that the CLASH model makes a number of questionable assumptions about the harshness and unpredictability of low-latitude environments, calling into question the life history strategy approach used, and that it is inconsistent with more nuanced global patterns of violence. We suggest an alternative account for less violence at high latitudes, based on a greater need for cooperation.

Frontiers in Psychology, 2016

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science, 2016

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2017

We adopt Tinbergen's (1963) “four questions” approach to strengthen the criticism by Maestrip... more We adopt Tinbergen's (1963) “four questions” approach to strengthen the criticism by Maestripieri et al. of the non-evolutionary accounts of favouritism toward attractive individuals, by showing which levels of explanation are lacking in these accounts. We also use this approach to propose ways in which the evolutionary account may be extended and strengthened.

Psychology Crime & Law, Aug 31, 2022

The integrative model of criminal choice proposes that cognitive and/or affective appraisals part... more The integrative model of criminal choice proposes that cognitive and/or affective appraisals partially mediate the personality-crime relationship. The current study tests the integrated model of criminal choice across three different levels of subjective apprehension risk. Participants made hypothetical criminal choices in response to three vignette scenarios presenting criminal opportunities varying in the implied risk of apprehension. Consistent with the integrated model of criminal choice, when risk of apprehension was not manipulated, cognitive and affective appraisals (perceived risk and negative affect) partially mediated the relationship between personality (honesty-humility) and criminal choice. Higher levels of honestyhumility predicted increased perceived risk and negative affect, which in turn predicted decreased intentions to offend. When risk of apprehension was experimentally increased, personality did not affect either variable. As predicted, in both baseline and increased levels of risk of apprehension, higher levels of honestyhumility, perceived risk, and negative affect were found to significantly predict lower intentions to offend. Additionally, decreased perceived risk predicted reduced negative affect. These findings suggest that the mediating relationship between personality and crime may be dependent on the level of subjective risk of apprehension. Future studies may investigate whether different levels of situational risk moderate the relationship between personality and cognitive/affective appraisals.

Biological Invasions, 2013

Human activity can dramatically affect biodiversity, often by introducing non-native species, or ... more Human activity can dramatically affect biodiversity, often by introducing non-native species, or by increasing the abundance of a small number of native species. Management strategies aimed at conserving biodiversity need to be informed by the actual impacts of highly abundant species, whether native or introduced. In this study we examined characteristics of two bird species, introduced common mynas and native noisy miners, both of which are highly abundant in urbanised areas along the East coast of Australia. Current managerial practices have a strong focus on eradication of common mynas, while noisy miners are largely ignored. However, in this study noisy miners were found in a broader range of habitats, and in greater abundance, than common mynas; displayed more aggressive behaviour; and were linked to a decline in the diversity and abundance of other species where common mynas were not. We suggest that the adaptability of a species and the variety of habitats it can colonise may be a better predictor of its potential impact, than whether it is native or introduced.

Personality and Individual Differences, 2017

Conservatives differ from liberals in a variety of domains, including exhibiting greater fear and... more Conservatives differ from liberals in a variety of domains, including exhibiting greater fear and disgust sensitivity. Additionally, experimental procedures to reduce reasoning ability lead to stronger endorsement of conservative views. We propose that dual-process models of moral judgements can account for these findings, with conservatives relying on System 1 (fast, emotional) and liberals relying on System 2 (slow, reasoned) processes. To test this theory, we had liberal and conservative participants respond to moral dilemmas under cognitive load or with no load. As predicted, liberals took longer to respond under cognitive load than under no load, indicating a reliance on controlled reasoning processes. Conservatives' response times were not affected by cognitive load. These differences cannot be accounted for by group differences in logical reasoning or working memory capacity. Instead, as predicted, logical reasoning ability positively predicted the time that liberals, but not conservatives, spent contemplating the dilemmas. These findings suggest that differential reliance on Systems 1 and 2 may be a fundamental aspect of left-right political orientation. They also challenge intuitionist models of morality and politics and suggest a dual-process theory of morality could account for some of the discrepancies in the political psychology literature.

Emu, 2012

Invasive species present economic and ecological challenges worldwide. In many cases we are not a... more Invasive species present economic and ecological challenges worldwide. In many cases we are not aware of the full effect they have on the environment, the extent of any damage, or the factors contributing to their success. In this study we examined the foraging aggression of wild Common Mynas (Sturnus tristis) as a potential explanation for their invasive success, and quantified the effect of this behaviour on other birds. Common Mynas did not display significantly more aggression than other species, and displayed significantly less aggression than native Australian Magpies (Cracticus tibicen). Furthermore, the presence of Common Mynas at a feeding resource had no greater effect on the abundance of heterospecific individuals than the presence of any other species. Presence of each species was negatively correlated with the presence of other species, that is all species were less likely to approach the feeding station if any other species was present there. Common Mynas also did not displace other birds at feeding sites any more frequently than three of the other four species, and less frequently than two other native species. Overall, the findings suggest that Common Mynas do not display more foodrelated aggression than other species in suburban habitats, suggesting that competitive aggression over food is not likely to be one of the behavioural traits leading to the success of Common Mynas in suburban habitats.

An article recently published in the prestigious scientific journal, Biology Letters, claims to h... more An article recently published in the prestigious scientific journal, Biology Letters, claims to have been written by 25 8-10 year olds. The paper, Blackawton bees, co-authored by Beau Lotto from UCL (and the 25 8-10 year olds), reports the data collected from an experiment it claims was designed and conducted by the primary school children. The paper includes no citations as it does not review any relevant literature, but presents the data in 'kids speak'. Nevertheless, Lotto claims in the prologue to the paper, the lack of scientific context does not take-away from the merit of the study, which he describes as scientifically and conceptually novel. Lotto goes so far as to describe scientific endeavour as a series of 'games' which even children can play and claims that the paper 'reveals science in its truest (and most naive) form, and in this way makes explicit the commonalities between science, art and indeed all creative activities'.

ABSTRACT An article recently published in the prestigious scientific journal, Biology Letters, cl... more ABSTRACT An article recently published in the prestigious scientific journal, Biology Letters, claims to have been written by 25 8-10 year olds. The paper, Blackawton bees, co-authored by Beau Lotto from UCL (and the 25 8-10 year olds), reports the data collected from an experiment it claims was designed and conducted by the primary school children. The paper includes no citations as it does not review any relevant literature, but presents the data in 'kids speak'. Nevertheless, Lotto claims in the prologue to the paper, the lack of scientific context does not take-away from the merit of the study, which he describes as scientifically and conceptually novel. Lotto goes so far as to describe scientific endeavour as a series of 'games' which even children can play and claims that the paper 'reveals science in its truest (and most naive) form, and in this way makes explicit the commonalities between science, art and indeed all creative activities'.

Psychology, Crime & Law

Captive breeding and reintroduction programs are becoming an increasingly important part of endan... more Captive breeding and reintroduction programs are becoming an increasingly important part of endangered species conservation. Relatively poor success of such programs has been at least partially due to deficiencies of key adaptive behaviours in reintroduced individuals, resulting from inadequate captive environments. In an attempt to improve the potential for successful reintroduction of the captive rock-rat (Zyzomys pedunculatus), a critically endangered Australian rodent, the behaviour of two captive breeding populations being held at Alice Springs Desert Park and Perth Zoo, respectively, were compared. Behavioural differences between the two locations were observed in activity levels, levels of exhibited sterotypy and ways in which the respective enclosures were used. Variatins in enclosure design may have played a causal role in the observed behaviorual differences. This study highlights the importance of considering enclosure design when keeping captive populations, particularly for the purposes of reintroduction.1 page(s

Frontiers in Psychology, May 24, 2016

Frontiers in Psychology, Apr 8, 2020

Australian Psychologist, Dec 1, 2018

Aim: The demand for labiaplasty, the most popular form of female genital cosmetic surgery, has in... more Aim: The demand for labiaplasty, the most popular form of female genital cosmetic surgery, has increased rapidly over the past 10-15 years in Western countries. However, little is known about the psychological and psychosexual outcomes of this procedure. The aim of the current studies was to examine the effects of labiaplasty on women's psychological and sexual well-being using quantitative (Study 1) and qualitative approaches (Study 2). Design: Study 1 involved a prospective controlled questionnaire study design and Study 2 involved retrospective in-depth interviews. Method: Participants in Study 1 were 29 adult Australian women who underwent a labiaplasty procedure and 22 comparison women who were not interested in undergoing labiaplasty. Both groups completed a baseline questionnaire (immediately prior to surgery for the labiaplasty group) and a follow-up questionnaire 6 months later. The questionnaires contained standardised measures of genital appearance satisfaction, self-esteem, psychological distress, life satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and sexual confidence. Participants in Study 2 were 14 adult Australian women who had undergone a labiaplasty procedure between 5 and 16 months prior. The women were asked, in semi-structured phone interviews, about their satisfaction with their procedure and how labiaplasty had impacted on their psychological and sexual well-being. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: For Study 1, the vast majority of the labiaplasty group reported that they were "moderately" or "extremely" satisfied with the aesthetic (83%), functional (86%), and overall (83%) surgical outcomes. For the standardised measures, the only significant change was for genital appearance dissatisfaction with the labiaplasty group experiencing a significant reduction in their genital appearance dissatisfaction from pre-to 6-months post-surgery, p < .001, d = 3.26. The qualitative results from Study 2 also indicated that most women were generally very satisfied with their labiaplasty results and some associated this change in genital appearance with an improvement in their self-perception. Most women reported improvements in their sexual well-being after surgery, however, some noted that their psychological discomfort around sexual intercourse still remained. Conclusion: Labiaplasty appears to have a positive effect on women's satisfaction with their genital appearance. However, the effects on psychological and sexual well-being are mixed. These study results may assist health professionals when assessing patient suitability for labiaplasty. Future research will involve the design and evaluation of a psychological therapy for women with genital appearance concerns which may have the potential to better address psychological and psychosexual issues associated with genital appearance concerns.

Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2011

The tendency to win-shift (to better learn to avoid, rather than return to, recently rewarded loc... more The tendency to win-shift (to better learn to avoid, rather than return to, recently rewarded locations) has been demonstrated in a variety of nectarivorous birds and in honeybees. It is hypothesized to be a cognitive adaptation to the depleting nature of nectar. In the present study we report the first attempt to test for a win-shift bias in a nectarivorous parrot, the rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus hematodus). This species differs from others tested for a win-shift bias in that it is a facultative, rather than an obligate, nectarivore. We tested a captive-reared population of the birds on a shift/stay task at long and short retention intervals. The data show no evidence of either a win-shift or a win-stay bias. The birds demonstrated efficient spatial search ability and above chance performance for both shift and stay contingencies at long and short delays. These data suggest that an innate tendency to win-shift may not be present in all avian nectarivores, or that the role experience plays in shaping such behaviors is different for different species.

Journal of Comparative Physiology A-neuroethology Sensory Neural and Behavioral Physiology, Sep 10, 2008

Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Aug 22, 2016

PLOS ONE, Dec 22, 2022

The four levels of explanation at which Tinbergen (1963) argued that a behaviour can and should b... more The four levels of explanation at which Tinbergen (1963) argued that a behaviour can and should be understood.

Biology Letters, Apr 10, 2007

The tendency of nectarivorous birds to perform better on tasks requiring them to avoid previously... more The tendency of nectarivorous birds to perform better on tasks requiring them to avoid previously rewarding locations (to win-shift) than to return to them (win-stay) has been explained as an adaptation to the depleting nature of nectar. This interpretation relies on the previously untested assumption that the win-shift tendency is not associated with food types possessing a different distribution. To test this assumption, we examined the specificity of this bias to different food types in an omnivorous honeyeater, the noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala). As predicted, we found that the win-shift bias was sensitive to foraging context, manifesting only in association with foraging for nectar, not with foraging for invertebrates.

Current opinion in behavioral sciences, Aug 1, 2017

Foraging decisions reflect cost-benefit trade-offs. Costs arise from missed opportunities, ingest... more Foraging decisions reflect cost-benefit trade-offs. Costs arise from missed opportunities, ingestion (such as if prey are toxic), and acquisition (time and energy through exploration). Benefits arise from acquiring energy, nutrients and information. I present a collection of recent findings from vertebrates and invertebrates, demonstrating the breadth of informationsensory, social, nutritional, spatial and physiological, to name a few-that impacts animal foraging decisions. I also consider key challenges facing the study of foraging cognition, namely misgivings arising from observations of suboptimal foraging decisions in laboratory studies, and a lack of transferability between information use in the laboratory and that in the world. I conclude that an emphasis on custom experimental designs is key to continued empirical progress in the field.

In this paper, I begin by presenting a detailed summary and discussion of work that has been cond... more In this paper, I begin by presenting a detailed summary and discussion of work that has been conducted in my laboratory investigating how the cognitive mechanisms that underpin foraging may be adapted to maximally exploit resources of different distributions. My study species, the noisy miner (Aves: Meliphagidae, Manorina melanocephala) is a generalist forager that feeds on both nectar and invertebrate preyresources with quite different natural distributions. Throughout this discussion I draw comparisons between the behaviour and cognition of noisy miners and other relevant species. These include the two other nectarivorous groups that have been the subjects of the most in-depth investigations of the cognition of nectar foraging: hummingbirds (especially rufous hummingbirds, Selasphorus rufus) and bees; and also several species of insectivorous birds. I then consider how the different extant approaches to studying animal cognition lead researchers to ask different questions, apply different types of studies and ultimately draw quite different conclusions about the structure and function of cognitive mechanisms across the Animal Kingdom. In particular, I discuss the implications of these different approaches for interpreting the findings from avian nectarivores and for inspiring the directions of future research. I finish by identifying some of the strengths and weaknesses of the research programs examined. I also suggest some potentially profitable future directions, including the development of more novel paradigms, and the use of formal modeling to guide quantitative predictions of behaviour.

Personality and Individual Differences, Sep 1, 2017

Springer eBooks, Dec 16, 2022