Insights into the evolution of the sense of fairness

Long-tailed macaques react with disappointment when their expectations are not met

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DEUTSCHES PRIMATENZENTRUM (DPZ)/GERMAN PRIMATE CENTER

 

IMAGE: LONG-TAILED MACAQUES (MACACA FASCICULARIS) IN THE ANIMAL HUSBANDRY FACILITY AT THE GERMAN PRIMATE CENTRE IN GÖTTINGEN. view more 

CREDIT: ANTON SÄCKL/DPZ

Göttingen, March 2, 2023. A sense of fairness has long been considered purely human – but animals also react with frustration when they are treated unequally by a person. For instance, a well-known video shows monkeys throwing the offered cucumber at their trainer when a conspecific receives sweet grapes as a reward for the same task. Meanwhile, researchers have observed similarly frustrated reactions to unfair rewards in wolves, rats and crows. However, researchers still debate the reasons for this behavior: Does the frustration really stem from a dislike of unequal treatment, or is there another explanation? In a study with long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), researchers at the German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research (DPZ) have now confirmed an alternative explanatory approach in a collaborative project involving the Departments of Cognitive Ethology and Neurobiology. The team around Rowan Titchener, PhD student at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and researcher in the Department of Cognitive Ethology at the DPZ, showed that long-tailed macaques rejected an inferior reward more frequently if it is selected and allocated by a person. In contrast, if the reward is provided by an automatic feeder, they accept it. The researchers conclude that the monkeys refuse the reward out of social disappointment towards the experimenter – and not because they feel that they are at a disadvantage compared to a conspecific. (Royal Society Open Science).

Humans have a strong sense of equity. If we believe that resources are being unfairly or wrongly distributed, we make this clear – with protest. This controlling behavior promotes successful cooperation and partly explains why cooperation has been a winning strategy in human evolution.

Equal effort, same reward

However, not only humans protest when the same performance is rewarded differently for no apparent reason. Many animals are likewise dissatisfied with a reward that is perceived as comparatively inferior and react in a frustrated way. The characteristic behavioral patterns can be reliably reproduced in experiments across various species of birds, rodents and monkeys. The interpretation of this protest behavior, on the other hand, is controversial among researchers. If the animals' frustration stemmed from a comparison of their own reward with that of their conspecific, this would indicate an abstract understanding of equal treatment.

The root of disappointment

In the present study, the researchers tested three alternative explanations for protest behavior following unequal treatment. The first hypothesis invokes "inequity aversion" and presupposes social comparison with conspecifics and a sense of fairness. This is based on the idea that the pattern of rewards is compared between oneself and others so that it may be perceived as unfair. The second hypothesis, "food expectation", assumes the visibility of the attractive food as a trigger for frustration. Thus, if a high-quality reward is visible, the animal expects to receive it. The third hypothesis is based on "social disappointment" about the trainer's decision to provide an inferior reward. Behind this stands an expectation to be rewarded in the best possible way by the responsible human.

Disappointing human

The results of the current study on long-tailed macaques are in line with a previously published chimpanzee study. Rowan Titchener, lead author of the study, states: "The animals' response patterns are best explained by frustration with the human trainer's decisions. Thus, the current results speak for the third hypothesis, based on social disappointment". This interpretation is supported in particular by the fact that the long-tailed macaques accepted an inferior reward from an automatic feeder more often than from a human.

Experimental setup

The researchers confronted the monkeys with four different scenarios in the experiment. The procedure was always the same: The activation of a lever was followed by the reward of low-quality food, which was brought within reach by a small conveyor belt. High-quality rewards were displayed, but remained out of reach. The experimental design was varied in two ways: Firstly, either a human provided the reward, or it was administered by an automatic feeder; secondly, the animal was either alone, or a conspecific solved the same task within sight, but received higher-quality rewards.

Clear result

The monkeys almost never refused their reward when it was provided by the automatic feeder – but did so in more than 20 percent of the experiments in which a human offered the food. This behavioural pattern is consistent with social disappointment with the human who decides to give them the inferior reward. "The monkeys have no social expectations of a vending machine and are therefore not disappointed," Titchener explains.

Stefanie Keupp, leader of the study at the German Primate Centre, draws the conclusion: "A combination of social disappointment with the human experimenter and some degree of food competition best explains the behavior of the long-tailed macaques in our study."

A long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) operates a lever in an experiment to obtain a reward. In the red carousels, high-value rewards (grapes) and low-value rewards (red pepper) are presented. If a human offers red pepper to the monkey, it reacts in frustration, but not if the reward is allocated automatically.

CREDIT

Screenshot: Jana Wilken, Video: Rowan Titchener/DPZ

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JOURNAL

Royal Society Open Science

DOI

10.1098/rsos.221225 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Social disappointment and partner presence affect long-tailed macaque refusal behaviour in an ‘inequity aversion’ experiment

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Mar-2023

Security vulnerabilities detected in drones made by DJI

Reports and Proceedings

RUHR-UNIVERSITY BOCHUM

 

IMAGE: THE SECURITY OF DRONES WAS ALREADY THE SUBJECT OF NICO SCHILLER’S MASTER’S THESIS AT RUHR UNIVERSITY BOCHUM. HE IS CURRENTLY RESEARCHING THIS TOPIC FOR HIS DOCTORATE. view more 

CREDIT: RUB, MARQUARD

Researchers from Bochum and Saarbrücken have detected security vulnerabilities, some of them serious, in several drones made by the manufacturer DJI. These enable users, for example, to change a drone’s serial number or override the mechanisms that allow security authorities to track the drones and their pilots. In special attack scenarios, the drones can even be brought down remotely in flight.

The team headed by Nico Schiller of the Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and Professor Thorsten Holz, formerly in Bochum, now at the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security in Saarbrücken, will present their findings at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS). The conference will take place from 27 February to 3 March in San Diego, USA.

The researchers informed DJI of the 16 detected vulnerabilities prior to releasing the information to the public; the manufacturer has taken steps towards fixing them.

Four models put to the test

The team tested three DJI drones of different categories: the small DJI Mini 2, the medium-sized Air 2, and the large Mavic 2. Later, the IT experts reproduced the results for the newer Mavic 3 model as well. They fed the drones’ hardware and firmware a large number of random inputs and checked which ones caused the drones to crash or made unwanted changes to the drone data such as the serial number – a method known as fuzzing. To this end, they first had to develop a new algorithm.

“We often have the entire firmware of a device available for the purpose of fuzzing. Here, however, this was not the case,” as Nico Schiller describes this particular challenge. Because DJI drones are relatively complex devices, the fuzzing had to be performed in the live system. “After connecting the drone to a laptop, we first looked at how we could communicate with it and which interfaces were available to us for this purpose,” says the researcher from Bochum. It turned out that most of the communication is done via the same protocol, called DUML, which sends commands to the drone in packets.

Four severe errors

The fuzzer developed by the research group thus generated DUML data packets, sent them to the drone and evaluated which inputs caused the drone’s software to crash. Such a crash indicates an error in the programming. “However, not all security gaps resulted in a crash,” says Thorsten Holz. “Some errors led to changes in data such as the serial number.” To detect such logical vulnerabilities, the team paired the drone with a mobile phone running the DJI app. They could thus periodically check the app to see if fuzzing was changing the state of the drone.

All of the four tested models were found to have security vulnerabilities. In total, the researchers documented 16 vulnerabilities. The DJI Mini 2, Mavic Air 2 and Mavic 3 models had four serious flaws. For one, these bugs allowed an attacker to gain extended access rights in the system. “An attacker can thus change log data or the serial number and disguise their identity,” explains Thorsten Holz. “Plus, while DJI does take precautions to prevent drones from flying over airports or other restricted areas such as prisons, these mechanisms could also be overridden.” Furthermore, the group was able to crash the flying drones mid-air.

In future studies, the Bochum-Saarbrücken team intends to test the security of other drone models as well.

Location data is transmitted unencrypted

In addition, the researchers examined the protocol used by DJI drones to transmit the location of the drone and its pilot so that authorised bodies – such as security authorities or operators of critical infrastructure – can access it. By reverse engineering DJI’s firmware and the radio signals emitted by the drones, the research team was able to document the tracking protocol called “DroneID” for the first time. “We showed that the transmitted data is not encrypted, and that practically anyone can read the location of the pilot and the drone with relatively simple methods,” concludes Nico Schiller.

The researchers looked for security gaps in the firmware and scrutinised the inner workings of the drones.

CAPTION

The researchers looked for security gaps in the firmware and scrutinised the inner workings of the drones.

The security of drones was already the subject of Nico Schiller’s master’s thesis at Ruhr University Bochum. He is currently researching this topic for his doctorate.

CREDIT

RUB, Marquard

DOI

10.14722/ndss.2023.24217 

ARTICLE TITLE

Drone Security and the Mysterious Case of DJI’s DroneID

A bridge between hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity of flax fiber: A breakthrough in the multipurpose oil-water separation field

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HIGHER EDUCATION PRESS

 

IMAGE: NONE view more 

CREDIT: CHEN XIUJUAN，LIU YUNQIU，HUANG GORDON，AN CHUNJIANG，FENG RENFEI，YAO YAO，HUANG WENDY，WENG SHUQING

The large number of oily wastewater discharges and oil spills are bringing about severe threats to environment and human health. Corresponding to this challenge, a number of functional materials have been developed and applied in oil-water separation as oil barriers or oil sorbents. These materials can be divided into two main categories which are artificial and natural.

Natural materials such as green bio-materials are generally low cost and abundant with biological degradability, which are also regarded as promising alternatives for oil-water separation and have been paid increasing attention. Many kinds of biomass materials, such as cotton fabrics, plant fibers, and kapoks, had been used for oil-water separation. To further improve the oil-water separation performances of biomass materials, many of them were artificially coated a functional layer with special wettability on their surfaces. However, these modified flax fibers merely have either hydrophobic or hydrophilic property, without the ability of switching between each other (or switchable wettability). Such a limitation may hinder their practical applications in oil-water separation. Functional flax fibers with switchable surface wettability are thus desired.

In this study, the researchers from University of Calgary, University of Regina, Concordia University, Canadian Light Source and McElhanney Inc. aimed to develop a functional flax fiber with switchable wettability for multipurpose oil-water separation. The flax fiber was coated with ZnO-hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS) nanocomposites through a plasma-grafted poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) layer which acted as the binding agent. The as-prepared PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber was hydrophobic initially and could be switched to hydrophilic through UV irradiation. Its hydrophobicity could be easily recovered through being stored in dark environment for several days without UV irradiation. This study entitled “Functional flax fiber with UV-induced switchable wettability for multipurpose oil-water separation” is published online in Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering in 2022.

To optimize the performance of the PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber, the effects of ZnO and HDTMS concentrations on its switchable wettability were investigated. The developed PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber was comprehensively characterized through contact-angle measurement, SEM imaging, and synchrotron-based FTIR and X-ray analyses. The optimized PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber had a large water contact angle (~130°) in air and an extremely small oil contact angle (~0°) underwater initially. After UV treatment, the water contact angle was decreased to 30°, while the underwater oil contact angle was increased to more than 150°.

The mechanism of the acquired UV-induced switchable wettability was investigated. It could be concluded that the ZnO-HDTMS nanocomposites immobilized to the flax fiber surface endowed the UV-induced switchable wettability to the asprepared PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber. During the modification process, the silanol groups of HDTMS bonded with hydroxyl groups on the surfaces of flax fiber and ZnO NPs. Thus, the alkyl groups of HDTMS exposed on the surface of the fresh PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber, thus the flax fiber exhibited hydrophobic property. Nano-ZnO as a photo-responsive semiconducting material, electronhole pairs could be generated on its surface during UV irradiation. These holes could interact with the lattice oxygen of nano-ZnO to produce oxygen vacancies, which could then adsorb the surrounding water in the atmosphere to generate hydroxyl groups. These hydroxyl groups changed the surface property of modified flax fiber from hydrophobicity to hydrophilicity. When the PAA-ZnOHDTMS flax fibers were stored in a dark environment, ambient oxygen could replace the hydroxyl groups, reconverting the flax fiber surface from hydrophilic to hydrophobic.

Based on this UV-induced switchable wettability, the developed PAA-ZnO-HDTMS flax fiber was applied to remove oil from immiscible oil-water mixtures and oil-in-water emulsion with great reusability for multiple cycles. Thus, the developed flax fiber could be further fabricated into oil barrier or oil sorbent for oil-water separation, which could be an environmentally-friendly alternative in oil spill response and oily wastewater treatment.

A bridge between hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity of flax fiber: a breakthrough in the multipurpose oil-water separation field 

CREDIT

Chen Xiujuan，Liu Yunqiu，Huang Gordon，An Chunjiang，Feng Renfei，Yao Yao，Huang Wendy，Weng Shuqing

About Higher Education Press

Founded in May 1954, Higher Education Press Limited Company (HEP), affiliated with the Ministry of Education, is one of the earliest institutions committed to educational publishing after the establishment of P. R. China in 1949. After striving for six decades, HEP has developed into a major comprehensive publisher, with products in various forms and at different levels. Both for import and export, HEP has been striving to fill in the gap of domestic and foreign markets and meet the demand of global customers by collaborating with more than 200 partners throughout the world and selling products and services in 32 languages globally. Now, HEP ranks among China's top publishers in terms of copyright export volume and the world's top 50 largest publishing enterprises in terms of comprehensive strength.

The Frontiers Journals series published by HEP includes 28 English academic journals, covering the largest academic fields in China at present. Among the series, 13 have been indexed by SCI, 6 by EI, 2 by MEDLINE, 1 by A&HCI. HEP's academic monographs have won about 300 different kinds of publishing funds and awards both at home and abroad.

 

About Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering

Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering (FESE) is the leading edge forum for peer-reviewed original submissions in English on all main branches of environmental disciplines. FESE welcomes original research papers, review articles, short communications, and views & comments. All the papers will be published within 6 months since they are submitted. The Editors-in-Chief are Prof. Jiuhui Qu from Tsinghua University, and Prof. John C. Crittenden from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. The journal has been indexed by almost all the authoritative databases such as SCI, Ei, INSPEC, SCOPUS, CSCD, etc.

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JOURNAL

Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering

DOI

10.1007/s11783-022-1588-6 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Functional flax fiber with UV-induced switchable wettability for multipurpose oil-water separation

THE ANCIENT LOWLY

UCD Archaeologist receives prestigious Dan David Prize for research on the invisible workforce behind ancient forms of art

Dr Anita Radini is first in Ireland to win the world's largest history prize

Grant and Award Announcement

UCD RESEARCH & INNOVATION

 

IMAGE: DR ANITA RADINI, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN view more 

CREDIT: JASON CLARKE PHOTOGRAPHY

The Dan David Prize, the largest history prize in the world, has announced University College Dublin (UCD) Archaeologist, Dr Anita Radini, as one of nine recipients for 2023.

Each of the winners - who work in Kenya, Denmark, Israel, Canada, the US and Ireland - will receive $300,000 (USD) in recognition of their achievements as emerging scholars and to support their future endeavours in the study of the human past. Dr Radini is the first in Ireland to receive this award.

“Our winners represent the next generation of historians,” said Ariel David, board member of the Prize and son of the late founder. “They are changing our understanding of the past by asking new questions, targeting under-researched topics and using innovative methods. Many of the winners we are recognising today are in the early stages of their careers, but they have already challenged how we think about history. Understanding the past, in all its complexity, is critical to illuminating the present and confronting the challenges of the future.” 

Dan David, the founder of the Prize, believed that knowledge of the past enriches us and helps us grapple with the challenges of the present. David lived through persecution in Nazi-occupied and then Communist Romania, becoming an accomplished photographer and later an entrepreneur and philanthropist.

The Dan David Prize Selection Committee said: “Anita Radini is developing novel techniques to track the artists and craftspeople of ancient times by their skeletal remains. In addition, Radini studies the elements present in dental calculus in order to obtain data on diet, activities and health. This is a radically pioneering line of research with extraordinary potential to answer fundamental questions about the lifestyles and environmental contexts of past populations. Radini’s multi-disciplinary approach to past diet, environment and health has important implications for society today.”

Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact and incoming University President said: "I congratulate Dr Anita Radini on this very prestigious award. It is wonderful to see a UCD archaeologist recognised on such a global and high-profile platform. We are very proud of Anita's research and I look forward to seeing it continue to flourish." 

While we may be familiar with ancient monuments and artwork that exemplify ancient craft skills, the crafters themselves often remain invisible. An Archaeological Scientist and Human Palaeoecologist at UCD School of Archaeology, Dr Radini analyses the tiny remains of dust in dental plaque on ancient people’s teeth to uncover more about their lives.

“Multiple aspects of an individual’s life history are preserved in their teeth for millennia.” Radini said. “These people were exposed to particular kinds of dirt when practising their crafts - wood carving, traditional leather work, fabric dyeing, etc. By approaching the human mouth as a ‘depositional environment’ and using Experimental Archaeology, we can reveal more about who they were and the conditions they worked in.”

In 2019, a unique discovery by Dr Radini and her colleagues helped to illuminate the role of women in mediaeval crafts and to challenge the widespread assumption that male monks were the sole producers of books in the Middle Ages. The team identified particles of blue pigments in the dental plaque of a mediaeval woman’s remains as lapis lazuli, a stone more precious than gold at the time. These findings were the first to provide direct archaeological evidence from skeletal remains that women were involved in illustrating mediaeval manuscripts. 

The study suggested potential to track other “dusty” crafts and reveal the invisible workforce behind many ancient forms of art. Dr Radini is currently developing novel methodologies to understand exposure to dirt and pollution and their links to health in past populations.

”Our knowledge of occupational health in ancient times is limited by paucity of historical texts and lack of specific markers on ancient skeletal remains. My research aims to push the boundaries of how we approach labour division, by exploring health impacts and inequalities in past societies I believe we can gain valuable insights for our modern world. Dust entrapped in teeth, combined with demographic (age/sex) and other osteoarchaeological parameters, can reveal many unknown aspects of past lives.”

The significant Dan David Prize fund will help Dr Radini to expand her work in this field and to create a better understanding of how labour division and crafts affect health through time.

“I am thrilled to receive this prize and deeply honoured to be recognised among leading scholars of the human past from all over the world. I am particularly delighted to see the  great diversity of studies and people that were awarded the prize.”

Projects from this year’s Dan David Prize recipients include a virtual reality tour of mediaeval Angkor Wat and a digital archive of disappearing architecture in Kenya, as well as explorations of interfaith rifts after the Holocaust, illicit sexuality in colonial Nigeria and white women’s complicity in slave ownership in the US South.

All nine winners for 2023 will be honoured at the Dan David Prize Award Ceremony in Tel Aviv this May. The recipients were selected from hundreds of nominations submitted by colleagues, institutions and the general public in a worldwide open nomination process. 

To learn more about the Dan David Prize visit www.dandavidprize.org.

 

 REPLACE SCHOOL COPS WITH NURSES

Nursing student highlights important role school nurses can play in identifying and supporting young people with eating disorders

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KINGSTON UNIVERSITY

The vital role school nurses can play in addressing the rising number of eating disorders among children and young people has been outlined by a Kingston University student in a leading nursing journal.

Third year children's nursing student Emmie Hopkinson's evidence and practice article in Nursing Children and Young People has drawn on current research and her own clinical experience from placements to provide recommendations for the profession that could inform delivery of care. 

Her article reflects on some of the most common types of eating disorders – defined as a mental illness by The National Institute of Mental Health – including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder.

Drawing on data from NHS England, she highlighted how there had been a 185 per cent increase in eating disorder diagnoses in children and young people between 2016 and 2022, and explored some of the factors that may have contributed to this rise.

"There is an urgent need to address the lack of early intervention, prevention and accessibility to help young people living with eating disorders and those who may potentially develop eating disorders," she said.

The impact of the Covid-19 on people's mental health had let to almost double the number of urgent and routine referrals to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in 2021, Emmie explained. She also set out how the school nurse had an important role to play in supporting prevention and early intervention for eating disorders, with limited education of these conditions in schools found to be a possible contributing factor. 

"The school nurse, who is already skilled in identifying these issues, can help by advocating for regular sessions on mental health to be implemented into the curriculum," she said. "They can educate teachers on some of the misconceptions around eating disorders and how best to approach and support a child and young person who may be going through diagnosis or treatment."

Highlighting research into the negative impact social media can have on body image, Emmie detailed changes she believed could help decrease the risk of young people developing eating disorders.

"Implementing positive changes such as greater restrictions on the age limit to join social media and preventing the use of photo manipulation and filters could make these platforms safer for children and young people to use," she said.

Within the article, the 25 year old student set out some of the barriers to accessing children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and early intervention services. Citing a need for further funding, she also explored regional differences in the number of young people being diagnosed with eating disorders in recent years, referencing research that found those from a low socioeconomic status or ethnic minority background were less likely to be identified.

Associate Professor in children's nursing at Kingston University and Emmie's personal tutor, Zoe Clark, said the nursing student was raising awareness of an important public health issue and the challenges children and young people face in accessing support and treatment. "Emmie is making a valuable contribution to the increasingly complex challenges around eating disorder treatment and support which could help educate nurses who are not necessarily trained in dealing with these issues," she said.

Emmie is one of 55 students around the country currently enrolled in the Council of Dean of Health's Student Leadership programme, which supports students to develop leadership skills and become advocates in their respective fields. The scheme pairs students with academic mentors, outside of their respective university and from across the country.

Julia Petty, senior lecturer in children's nursing at the University of Hertfordshire, who is Emmie's mentor and worked with her on the article, praised her dedication to children's nursing. "This is a very important health topic that requires attention," she said. "Emmie has demonstrated exemplary leadership as a student nurse by increasing public knowledge and understanding of these serious, life-threatening conditions to a wide range of audiences."

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JOURNAL

Nursing Children and Young People

DOI

10.7748/ncyp.2022.e1445 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Why eating disorders in children and young people are increasing: implications for practice

What type of GIF user are you?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: THE WAY YOU USE GIFS MEANS MORE THAN YOU MIGHT REALIZE, ACCORDING TO NEW RESEARCH FROM BYU. view more 

CREDIT: NATE EDWARDS, BYU PHOTO

When you get a text from a friend, is your immediate reaction to reply with a GIF? Do you know which GIF to send, or do you begin to scroll, searching for the perfect one? If so, it may mean more than you realize, according to researchers at BYU.

GIF use has become increasingly common — even among older generations — as people realize how effectively they communicate humor, allow users to express themselves, and maintain relationships. BYU communications professor Scott Church said even though people don’t think much about their GIF usage, understanding them and how we use them can help us better understand ourselves and how we communicate in today's media environment.

According to a new study by Church and a team of BYU coauthors, GIF users fall into one of three categories: GIF Enthusiasts, Searchers, or Referentialists. Read on to find out what kind of GIF user you are, and what it says about you.

GIF Enthusiasts

GIF Enthusiasts are those who are savvy in internet culture, Church says, those who know GIFs well and enjoy using them to make others laugh. Enthusiasts see GIFs as a meaningful way to express themselves and like to impress others with their knowledge and familiarity with GIFs.

Enthusiasts love the emotion GIFs allow them to express through text, and understand they are a richer form of media than emojis or pictures. They are mainly motivated by the communicative potential of GIFs, and that motivation comes from focusing on the social benefits of sending GIFs.

“I hate that my body language cannot be expressed through texting; too much of our communication is lost,” said one GIF Enthusiast from this study. “I think GIFs help bring restore a bit of what is lost.”

Enthusiasts are also well-versed in internet culture, and often want to be recognized as such. Emojis can seem stagnant and overused; to avoid the same thing happening with their own GIFs, enthusiasts stay updated on which GIFs are popular and relatable.

Searchers

For Searchers, it’s all about the “thrill of the hunt,” searching for that one perfect GIF. Each situation is unique, and they like to find the GIF that exactly matches what they want to express.

One participant said, “A friend will do something and then I’ll find one that shows what they did.”

Searchers see GIFs as a humorous and lighthearted form of communication and avoid using them to discuss genuine or serious topics. They prefer quick, easy-to-watch, GIFs and don’t think romantic or long GIFs are worth their time. Searchers often enjoy scrolling to find the ideal GIF, viewing it as a challenge, often resulting in obscure GIFs that complement a situation perfectly.

Referentialists

Referentialists are usually involved in pop culture and dislike having to search for GIFs. They are much more likely to use GIFs as a response to a GIF they were sent because it references a common interest such as a TV show or popular meme.

One Referentialist said, “I love using pop culture... it’s kind of like an inside joke,” while another said, “If there’s someone who likes to use GIFs, I try to reciprocate that... to match their style.”

Referentialists often use fandom-specific GIFs, as that helps them avoid the process of searching for GIFs and potentially gives them ways to relate to their audience. They often send GIFs out of social obligation, a reciprocation for one they were sent, and assume that their friends will find it more fun if it is connected to a funny TV show or game.

Referentialists also send GIFs as a method to avoid awkwardness.

“Sometimes people say things that are awkward or in poor taste,” said one study participant. “You don’t really want to respond, but you have the obligation to. So, a GIF is a funny, semi-sarcastic way of responding to it. And it can help divert the situation.”

Fellow BYU professors Tom Robinson and Clark Callahan, along with former BYU graduate student Jesse King, were co-authors on the study, which was recently published in Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.

According to a new study by a team of BYU coauthors, GIF users fall into one of three categories: GIF Enthusiasts, Searchers, or Referentialists.

CREDIT

Nate Edwards, BYU Photo

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JOURNAL

Convergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

DOI

10.1177/13548565231155075 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Relating, searching, and referencing: Assessing the appeal of using GIFs to communicate

FEAR KILLS

Many firearm owners in the U.S. store at least one gun unlocked, fearing an emergency

Rutgers researchers found that gun safes are the most frequently used type of lock

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

Most firearm owners keep at least one firearm unlocked, with some viewing gun locks as an unnecessary obstacle to quick access in an emergency, according to a Rutgers study. But when they do lock their firearms, Rutgers researchers found that firearm owners are most likely to use gun safes.

In a study published in JAMA Network Open and funded by the Defense Health Agency, researchers surveyed a national sample of 2,152 English-speaking adult firearm owners, asking them what locking devices they used and why.

Unlike previous studies, participants were presented with both words and images describing each type of locking device. The researchers not only examined different types of locking devices, like gun safes and cable locks but also different types of locking mechanisms. This resulted in a more detailed description of the firearm storage practices of firearm owners in the United States.

Despite evidence that securely stored firearms can help prevent firearm injury and death, the authors found 58.3 percent  of firearm owners store at least one firearm unlocked and hidden and 17.9 percent store at least one firearm unlocked and unhidden. Among those who store at least one firearm locked, gun safes are the most frequently used type of option both for devices opened by key, PIN code or dial lock (32.4 percent) and biometric devices (15.6 percent).

“These finding highlight two key points,” said Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and the lead author of the study. “First, it appears firearm owners prefer gun safes relative to cable locks and trigger locks. Most locking device distribution programs provide cable locks and trigger locks, so those programs might be mismatched to firearm owner preferences. Second, very few firearm owners use biometric locks, which could indicate that cost is an issue or that firearm owners do not trust the technology to work when needed.”

Among those who don’t lock their firearms, the most common reasons were a belief that locks are unnecessary (49.3 percent) and that locks will prevent quick access in an emergency (44.8 percent). On the other hand, firearm owners most frequently indicated they would consider locking unlocked firearms to prevent access by a child (48.5 percent), to prevent theft (36.9 percent) and to prevent access by an adolescent or teenager (36.7 percent).

“Given these results, it appears that increasing the use of secure firearm storage will require several things,” Anestis said. “First, to address motivation we need to address disproportionate fears regarding the likelihood of armed home invasions. Similarly, we need to help the public better understand the risks associated with having firearms in the home – above and beyond the risk of unauthorized access by children. Second, we need to create more ready and equitable access to gun safes so that the available locking options align better with the preferences of firearm owners.”

JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen2023.1447 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Assessment of firearm storage practices in the US, 2022

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Mar-2023