It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Dance, gibbon, dance!
Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf
image:
A northern white-cheeked gibbon at Mulhouse Zoo (left) and a female yellow-cheeked gibbon with young at Amsterdam Zoo (right). (Photos: Miriam Lindenmeier (left); HHU/Kai R. Caspar (right))
Credit: Miriam Lindenmeier (left); HHU/Kai R. Caspar (right)
Female crested gibbons display jerky, almost geometric patterns of movement. Researchers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), Oslo in Norway and Paris have studied these conspicuous movements, which are comparable to human dances. In the scientific journal Primates, they describe the structure of the dances, their rhythm and the contexts in which the dances occur.
Zoo visitors have perhaps already seen how female crested gibbons perform conspicuous sequences of twitching movements involving the rump, arms and legs. This behaviour can be observed in zoos and also in the wild. This video provides a clear impression of the dances of female crested gibbons.
Crested gibbons belong to the family of small apes. There has been little scientific interest in this special display to date. Dr Kai R. Caspar from the Institute of Cell Biology at HHU, Dr Camille Coye from the Institut Jean Nicod in Paris and Professor Dr Pritty Patel-Grosz from the University of Oslo in Norway have now analysed this striking behaviour of the gibbons in more detail and present their results in the journal Primates. They focused on the sequence of movements, rhythm and intentionality – i.e. the circumstances in which the gibbons perform the dances.
Dr Coye, lead author of the study: “Our examination of video material from various zoos and rescue centres proves that all species of crested gibbons perform these dances. They represent a common and intentional form of visual communication.” It is an indicator of the intentional usage of the dances that the gibbons often check during a performance whether the audience is paying attention.
Professor Patel-Grosz: “Only sexually mature females dance. Within species, the dances are evidently primarily used to solicit copulation, but they also occur in a wide range of situations related to non-sexual arousal or frustration and are also frequently directed at humans when performed in captivity in zoos.”
The researchers also observed that the dance movements display a grouping structure. Dr Caspar: “They are often organised in groups of up-down or left-right movements and they follow a clear rhythm. Depending on the individual, the movement sequences may vary in complexity.”
The researchers can see similarities between crested gibbon and human dances, but presume that they evolved independently of each other. This conclusion is based among other things on the fact that other species of apes do not display this type of behaviour. Furthermore, gibbon dances are also likely to be innate, while human dance is primarily determined by culture. Human dance is also frequently accompanied by music or song, while this is never the case with gibbons.
“The dance behaviour was noticed by chance, but is now being reported from various zoos,” says Dr Caspar. Dancing crested gibbons can be seen at Duisburg Zoo and Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem in the Netherlands, among other locations.
Original publication:
Camille Coye, Kai R. Caspar, Pritty Patel-Grosz. Dance displays in gibbons: Biological and linguistic perspectives on structured, intentional, and rhythmic body movement. Primates (2024).
Dance displays in gibbons: Biological and linguistic perspectives on structured, intentional, and rhythmic body movement
Article Publication Date
11-Oct-2024
Understanding how smiling influences relationship building during real-life conversations
Researchers measured the intensity and frequency of smiling in face-to-face conversations and how it influences mutual response
Fujita Health University
image:
Researchers found that smiling during face-to-face conversations creates a reciprocal response, with speakers smiling more when listeners smile, especially among paired individuals of the same biological sex. These findings suggest that facial expressions could shape how people interact and connect during conversations.
Credit: Flickr through the Creative Commons Search Repository Source link: https://openverse.org/en-za/image/5a0d4a4b-3574-421a-88b8-9b2c49083205
Smiling during conversations creates warmth, making people feel more comfortable and connected. For example, a friendly smile when meeting someone new can ease nervousness. A smile can soften tension in a debate, showing respect among the participants despite disagreement. In fact, extensive studies have been conducted in the past in an attempt to understand smiling interactions in a natural conversation. Despite these studies, however, little is known about the extent to which one’s smile influences or gets affected by the other person’s smile during a conversation.
A new study sought to investigate this by quantifying the influence of smiling in face-to-face conversations. The study, led by Professor Yohei Otaka from the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Japan, found that the amount of smiling by the speaker increased as the listener's smile intensity increased, particularly in same-sex pairs. The study also involved lead researchers Dr. Yota Obayashi, Dr. Shintaro Uehara, and Dr. Akiko Yuasa from the same university. Their findings were published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience on 09 August 2024.
When asked about the motivation behind pursuing this study, Prof. Otaka exclaims, “The main purpose of this study was to develop a methodology for assessing dementia symptoms, given the affected individuals tend to lose their facial expressions. We also intend to evaluate the rehabilitation treatment efficacy in these individuals.” Adding further, he says, “This study is, in fact, the first step towards the larger, above-mentioned goal by evaluating the reaction of people to the smile of others in young healthy participants.”
The study involved 40 participants (20 men and 20 women) in three-minute, face-to-face conversations. During these interactions, listeners were asked to smile at different levels—lesser, moderate, and greater—and the speakers’ smiles were observed in response. A specialized software was used to measure the intensity and frequency of the smiles during the conversations.
Results revealed that speakers smiled more when listeners smiled more, especially in conversations between two individuals of the same-sex—men smiled more when talking to other men who smiled, and women smiled more when talking to other women who smiled. Interestingly, this effect was less pronounced in mixed-sex conversations, suggesting that individuals did not show the same level of mutual smiling as they did when conversing with same-sex partners. However, the researchers speculate that in mixed-sex pairs, the speakers smiled more often than the listeners in order to build interpersonal relationship.
Another key finding was that the more the listener smiled, the more positive the speaker felt about the interaction. Speakers reported feeling friendlier and enjoying the conversation more when their partner smiled frequently. This finding highlights the emotional importance of smiling in conversations, as it enhances feelings of connection and rapport between individuals. Explaining these findings further, Prof. Otaka says, “If one smiles more during a conversation, the other person will also smile more, which can lead to a better interpersonal relationship with each other.”
Additionally, the study found that smile synchronization occurred consistently across all types of pairs—both same-sex and mixed-sex. This implies that, regardless of who was talking to whom, people smiled simultaneously, reinforcing that smiling is a reciprocal behavior.
In summary, the study reveals that smiling is a powerful, dynamic part of face-to-face conversations. Speakers’ smiles are influenced by how much and how intensely the listener smiles, particularly in conversations between individuals of the same-sex. Also, smile synchronization is essential in creating social bonds and fostering positive feelings during interactions.
These findings emphasize the importance of nonverbal communication, especially facial expressions, in everyday conversations. Furthermore, this study suggests that the interaction between two individuals can be helpful in assessing dementia and psychological dysfunctions.
***
Reference
Title of original paper: The other person’s smiling amount affects one’s smiling response during face-to-face conversations
Fujita Health University is a private university situated in Toyoake, Aichi, Japan. It was founded in 1964 and houses one of the largest teaching university hospitals in Japan in terms of the number of beds. With over 900 faculty members, the university is committed to providing various academic opportunities to students internationally. Fujita Health University has been ranked eighth among all universities and second among all private universities in Japan in the 2020 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings. THE University Impact Rankings 2019 visualized university initiatives for sustainable development goals (SDGs). For the “good health and well-being” SDG, Fujita Health University was ranked second among all universities and number one among private universities in Japan. The university became the first Japanese university to host the "THE Asia Universities Summit" in June 2021. The university’s founding philosophy is “Our creativity for the people (DOKUSOU-ICHIRI),” which reflects the belief that, as with the university’s alumni and alumnae, current students also unlock their future by leveraging their creativity.
About Professor Yohei Otaka from Fujita Health University
Yohei Otaka is a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Fujita Health University, Japan. Prof. Otaka is also the Director of Fujita Health University Nanakuri Memorial Hospital, and Vice President of the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine. With 252 publications and 2,374 citations to his credit, his research has significantly contributed to rehabilitation medicine, including research disciplines, such as stroke, fall prevention, and robotics. His work spans clinical and academic domains, reflecting his commitment to advancing medical knowledge and technology.
Funding information
The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, KAKENHI (https://www.jsps.go.jp/j-grantsinaid/) Grant Number JP20K23145 and JP22K17598. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
A person’s facial expression provides crucial information for us to recognize their emotions. But there’s much more to this process than that. This is according to the research conducted by Dr. Leda Berio and Professor Albert Newen from the Institute of Philosophy II at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. The team describes emotion recognition not as a separate module, but as part of a comprehensive process that helps us form a general impression of another person. This process of person impression formation also includes physical and cultural characteristics as well as background information. The paper was published on September 24, 2024 in the journal Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
Understanding the situation affects how we recognize emotions
In the 1970s, the theory was put forward that the face is the window to our emotions. Researcher Paul Ekman described basic emotions such as fear, anger, disgust, joy and sadness using typical facial expressions, which were found to be similar across all cultures. “However, in recent years it’s become increasingly obvious that there are many situations in life where a typical facial expression is not necessarily the key piece of information that guides our assessment of other people’s feelings,” points out Newen and cites the following example: “People almost universally rate a typical facial expression of fear as anger when they have the background knowledge that the assessed person’s been turned away by a waiter even though they’d demonstrably reserved a table.” In such a situation, people expect the person to be angry, and this expectation determines the perception of their emotion, even if their facial expression would typically be attributed to a different emotion.
“In addition, we can sometimes recognize emotions even without seeing the face; for example, the fear experienced by a person who’s being attacked by a snarling dog, even though we only see them from behind in a stance of freeze or fright,” illustrates Berio.
Recognizing an emotion is part of our overall impression of a person
Berio and Newen propose that recognizing emotions is a sub-process of our ability to form an overall impression of a person. In doing so, people are guided by certain characteristics of the other person, for example physical appearance characteristics such as skin color, age and gender, cultural characteristics such as clothing and attractiveness as well as situational characteristics such as facial expression, gestures and posture.
Based on such characteristics, people tend to quickly assess others and immediately associate social status and even certain personality traits with them. These associations dictate how we perceive other people’s emotions. “If we perceive a person as a woman and they show a negative emotion, we’re more likely to attribute the emotion to fear, whereas with a man it’s more likely to be read as anger,” as Berio points out.
Background information is included in the assessment
In addition to the perception of characteristics and initial associations, we also hold detailed person images that we use as background information for individuals in our social circle – family members, friends and colleagues. “If a family member suffers from Parkinson’s, we learn to assess the typical facial expression of this person, which seems to indicate anger, as neutral, because we are aware that a rigid facial expression is part of the disease,” says Berio.
The background information also includes person models of typical occupational groups. “We hold stereotypical assumptions about the social roles and responsibilities of for example doctors, students and workmen,” says Newen. “We generally perceive doctors as less emotional, for example, which changes the way we assess their emotions.”
In other words, people make use of the wealth of characteristics and background knowledge to assess the emotion of another person. Only in rare cases do they read the emotion from a person’s facial expression alone. “All this has implications for emotion recognition using artificial intelligence (AI): It will only be a reliable option when AI doesn’t rely solely on facial expressions, which is what most systems currently do,” says Newen.
I Expect You to Be Happy, So I See You Smile: A Multidimensional Account of Emotion Attribution
Different types of teenage friendships critical to wellbeing as we age, scientists find
Scientists find that peer acceptance in young teenagers, and close friendships in older teenagers, predict low social anxiety and high life satisfaction in young adults
Frontiers
Being a teenager is hard, confusing — and crucially important. Scientists studying teenage socializing have found that teenaged friendships could lay essential foundations for wellbeing in later life, and that not just the kinds of friendships teenagers experience but the timing of those friendships is critical.
“A teen’s perception of how broadly socially accepted they are by their peers in early adolescence is particularly influential in predicting adult wellbeing,” said Emily Shah of the University of Arkansas, first author of the article in Frontiers in Developmental Psychology. “Conversely, in late adolescence, the quality of their more intimate close friendships is more influential for predicting adult wellbeing.”
Coming of age
Our relationships with other people affect how we feel about ourselves, how we function in society, and our psychological wellbeing; that in turn affects our physical wellbeing. This is especially true in our teenage years, when we start to rely on our peers’ support, and when puberty puts our bodies under strain. Relationships can also help manage the stressful transitions teenagers deal with, from exams to new jobs to leaving home.
“Friendships during the teenage years provide youth with one of their first forays into intimate consensual relationships,” said Dr David Szwedo of James Madison University, corresponding author. “Because friends may come and go, friendships are a context in which teens must develop skills to maintain and grow the friendship or risk its loss. These skills are likely to be subsequently helpful for forming future friendships and longer-term romantic relationships.”
The researchers recruited 184 participants attending an American middle school. They surveyed these students at ages 13-14, then again at ages 17-18, measuring the quality of their close friendships, their perceived social acceptance, and their likability as reported by their peers. Finally, the researchers caught up with these teenagers as adults aged 28-30 to ask them about their physical and mental health, job satisfaction, romantic insecurity, and experience of aggression.
Friendships are teenagers’ foundations
Overall, the researchers found that perceived social acceptance was the best predictor of adult wellbeing. When contacted as adults, teenagers who thought their peers liked them reported lower levels of social anxiety and aggression, better physical health, professional and romantic satisfaction, and feeling more socially connected. However, likability as reported by teenagers’ peers did not predict any facet of adult wellbeing well — possibly suggesting that a teenager’s own perception of their social success is particularly important.
However, when the authors examined the two stages of adolescence separately, adult wellbeing was best predicted by social acceptance for young teenagers and close friendships for older teenagers. Close friendships predicted lower social anxiety and romantic insecurity and higher job satisfaction.
The difference between the two stages of adolescence also suggests that timing is critical. While self-perception of success could stop younger teenagers developing social anxiety, and contribute to preventing stress-linked poorer health, lower levels of social acceptance in later teenage years didn’t predict health outcomes.
You aren’t alone
The authors cautioned that, although the longitudinal design allowed them to track how wellbeing changed over time, it meant that the participants weren’t in school during the Covid-19 pandemic, which could significantly impact teenagers’ social experiences and their future wellbeing. Additionally, the study was largely based on self-reported measures; future research might complement these with observational measures.
“I want teens to know that they aren’t alone,” said Shah. “It’s not easy being a teenager in this world, and I choose to believe that teens are doing the best that they can with the skills that they have. I hope that adults who interact with teenagers consider sharing that perspective, to hold space for empathy and compassion.”
“It’s always helpful to keep in mind that studies such as this point to things that happen on average, and that things could be different for any individual child or teenager,” observed Szwedo. “This study reinforces the importance of caregivers being aware of their children’s social lives by talking to their kids, talking to their teachers, and knowing who they are talking to online. It’s helpful for parents to not only ask about who their teens’ friends are, but also how socially accepted they feel.”
Adolescent Close Friendships, Self-Perceived Social Acceptance, and Peer-Rated Likeability as Predictors of Well-Being in Young Adulthood
Article Publication Date
11-Oct-2024
AI does not necessarily lead to more efficiency in clinical practice
Bonn researchers analyse the effects of AI on work processes in medical imaging
Universitatsklinikum Bonn
Bonn, 11 October 2024 – The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in hospitals and patient care is steadily increasing. Especially in specialist areas with a high proportion of imaging, such as radiology, AI has long been part of everyday clinical practice.However, the question of the extent to which AI actually influences workflows in a clinical setting remains largely unanswered. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have therefore conducted a comprehensive analysis of existing studies on the effect of AI. They were able to show that AI does not automatically lead to an acceleration of work processes.Their results have now been published in the journal npj Digital Medicine.
Although AI is often seen as a solution for handling routine tasks such as monitoring patients, documenting care tasks and supporting clinical decisions, the actual effects on work processes are unclear. Particularly in data-intensive specialties such as genomics, pathology and radiology, where AI is already being used to recognise patterns in large amounts of data and prioritise cases, there is a lack of reliable data on efficiency gains.
‘We wanted to find out to what extent AI solutions actually improve efficiency in medical imaging,’ explains Katharina Wenderott, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at the University of Bonn at the UKB's Institute for Patient Safety (IfPS). ’The widespread assumption that AI automatically speeds up work processes often falls short.’
Consistent evaluation of studies is difficult
The research team conducted a systematic review of 48 studies that examined the use of AI tools in clinical settings, particularly in radiology and gastroenterology. Of the 33 studies that looked at the processing time of work processes, 67 per cent reported a reduction in working hours, but the meta-analyses did not show any significant efficiency gains. ‘Some studies showed statistically significant differences, but these were insufficient to draw general conclusions,’ says Wenderott.
In addition, the team analysed how well AI is integrated into existing workflows. It was found that the success of implementation depends heavily on the specific conditions and processes on site. However, the heterogeneity of the study designs and the technologies used made it difficult to conduct a uniform evaluation.
‘Our results make it clear that the use of AI in everyday clinical practice must be considered in a differentiated way,’ emphasises Prof. Matthias Weigl, Director of the IfPS at the UKB, who also conducts research at the University of Bonn. ’Local conditions and individual work processes have a major influence on the success of implementation.’
The study provides important initial insights into how AI technologies can influence clinical work processes. ‘A key finding is the need for clearly structured reporting in future studies in order to better evaluate the scientific and practical benefits of these technologies,’ summarises Prof. Weigl.
Publication: Katharina Wenderott, Jim Krups, Fiona Zaruchas, Matthias Weigl: Effects of artificial intelligence implementation on efficiency in medical imaging - A systematic literature review and meta-analysis; npj digital medicine; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-024-01248-9
Effects of artificial intelligence implementation on efficiency in medical imaging - A systematic literature review and meta-analysis
Article Publication Date
10-Oct-2024
Workforce diversity is key to advancing One Health
Innovation in public health requires more than an interdisciplinary approach; it also requires a diverse workforce that reflects a range of human characteristics
According to Desvars-Larrive and Karimi, true innovation in solving public health challenges requires not just an interdisciplinary approach but also adiverse workforcethat reflects a range of human differences—including ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality, and more.
The Multiple Facets of Diversity
“We usually think of diversity in One Health in terms of teams with experts from different knowledge areas,” explains Desvars-Larrive, who leads CSH’s research team on Health Across Species. “After meeting Fariba at CSH, I learned that diversity goes far beyond that,” says Desvars-Larrive, also a professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna.
“Diversity has multiple facets. As we argue here, those differences in terms of social constructs such as ethnicity, race, and sexual orientation, contribute to diverse lived experiences that are important when addressing complex health challenges,” says Karimi, who leads CSH's research team on Algorithmic Fairness.
“Such global challenges are often complex problems and to solve them we need a diverse group of people to examine the problem from different angles and bring a variety of perspectives and methods,” explains Karimi, also a professor of Social Data Science at Graz University of Technology.
In her research, Karimi explores a wide range of social problems and phenomena through computational social science. Her recent work addresses the emergence of biases and inequality in social networks, as well as the visibility of minorities.
Innovative and Creative Thinking
According to Desvars-Larrive and Karimi, diversity fosters creativity, reduces groupthink, and improves the quality of scientific research. “Teams that encompass a diverse mix of genders, sociocultural backgrounds, and perspectives, while fostering inclusiveness, tend to be more productive, more competitive, more innovative, and better equipped to find effective science-based solutions. Notably, diversity in teams enhances community participation, particularly when researching minority populations,” add the CSH scientists.
The Complexity Science Hub (CSH) is Europe’s research center for the study of complex systems. We derive meaning from data from a range of disciplines — economics, medicine, ecology, and the social sciences — as a basis for actionable solutions for a better world. Established in 2015, we have grown to over 70 researchers, driven by the increasing demand to gain a genuine understanding of the networks that underlie society, from healthcare to supply chains. Through our complexity science approaches linking physics, mathematics, and computational modeling with data and network science, we develop the capacity to address today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.
Beyond silos: integrating diversity for a stronger One Health
Article Publication Date
9-Oct-2024
Racial and ethnic disparities in age-specific all-cause mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic
JAMA Network
About The Study:
In this cross-sectional study of the U.S. population during the COVID-19 public health emergency, excess mortality occurred in all racial and ethnic groups, with disparities affecting several minoritized populations. The greatest relative increases occurred in populations ages 25 to 64. Documented differences deviated from pre-pandemic disparities.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jeremy Samuel Faust, MD, MS, email jsfaust@bwh.harvard.edu.
Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.
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About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is an online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. On weekdays, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication.
Journal
JAMA Network Open
Potential risk factors for suicide identified in the professional athlete population
The care models for the screening and management of mental health issues in professional athletes often do not consider sport-related factors that are unique to this population
George A. Wilson, MBBS, of the University of South Wales in the UK, and his colleagues write, "The data we reviewed showed that former athletes were likely to be more at risk of suicide when compared to the global average. However, overall, when compared with age-matched controls, professional and elite athletes were likely to be at an equal or lower risk of suicide. It is recommended that future research aim to develop and implement resources to help athletes prepare for life after retirement, such as life skills training and educational groups to mitigate the risk of suicide within this cohort."
Participation in elite and professional sports does not increase the risk of suicide
The authors based their conclusions on a review of 9 studies of suicide in elite or professional athletes who were at least 16 years old. Collectively, the studies involved 23,836 athletes: 2,407 women and 21,429 men.
Besides finding no elevated risk of suicide overall, Dr. Wilson and his colleagues found no trends in suicide risk related to specific sports. The exceptions were elite or professional sports in which the use of anabolic androgenic steroids was suspected to be high and shooting sports where athletes have access to firearms.
Several factors may contribute to a lower risk of suicide in athletes, the reviewers note. Regular exercise is well established to have a positive effect on mental health and well-being, and belonging to a sports community or team can lead to decreased feelings of social isolation and loneliness. "Athletes may also develop effective coping skills through sport, which can foster a sense of resilience and mastery that can be applied to other areas of life." The social conditions and higher socioeconomic status of professional athletes may also help protect against suicide.
Elite and professional athletes do have certain potential risk factors for suicide
The reviewers did find evidence of potential risk factors for suicide among elite and professional athletes:
Retirement from sport
Anabolic androgenic steroid use
Sexual abuse victimization
The use of self-blame or behavioral disengagement as a coping strategy
"Retirement from athletic careers is often a stressful and challenging experience," the authors emphasize. "Athletes may experience a loss of purpose, a loss of identity, emotional distress, social isolation as well as financial challenges and difficulties in adjusting to a new lifestyle outside of sport. The psychology of athlete retirement is complex and multifaceted. It is therefore important to ensure support and resources are in place to help athletes cope with the emotional aspects of the process."
Dr. Wilson and his colleagues emphasize that as the field of sports psychiatry continues to develop, physicians need to consider other sport-related factors that are unique to elite and professional athletes. "A comprehensive understanding of these factors is required to provide guidance for those working with athletes to enhance models of care, improve emotional wellbeing, and increase quality of life in this population."
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