Familiarity and relatedness: Effects on social learning about foods by Norway rats and Mongolian gerbils

In recent experiments in which the social influences on feeding in Mongolian gerbils were investigated, observer gerbils acquired food preferences from conspecific demonstrators only if the demonstrators and observers were either related or familiar. Even then, the effects of demonstrator gerbils on observers’ food choices lasted less than 24 h. In similar experiments with Norway rats, the familiarity/relatedness of demonstrators and observers had little effect on social learning, and the demonstrators’ influence on observers’ food choices lasted many days. We examined the causes of these differences and found that, after observer gerbils interacted with either unfamiliar or familiar conspecific demonstrators that had been fed using procedures typically used to feed demonstrator rats, they showed long-lasting social learning about foods, whereas observer rats interacting with conspecific demonstrators that had been fed as demonstrator gerbils normally are fed showed effects of familiarity/relatedness to demonstrators on their social learning about foods. Procedural differences, rather than species differences, seem to be responsible for reported inconsistencies in social learning about foods by rats and gerbils.     

Digit ratio (2D:4D) and performance in elite rugby players

The relative length of the second and fourth digits (2D:4D) is a putative marker for prenatal testosterone. Low 2D:4D has been reported to correlate with high performance in sport in general. Here, for the first time, we examine the relationship between 2D:4D and performance in elite rugby players. The 44 players (28 forwards, 16 backs) were drawn from the Ospreys Rugby Union Club and 44 age-matched controls. The measures of performance comprised age-adjusted number of international performances (caps) for Wales, a comparison of coaches' first-choice League team with others, and the number of tries scored by backs in club matches. Compared with controls, players were larger and had lower 2D:4D for the right and left hand. With regard to number of caps, players with low 2D:4D in their right hand and low right 2D:4D compared with their left (right?-?left 2D:4D difference) had high numbers of caps. First-choice players did not differ significantly from second-choice players in their 2D:4D but they did have a lower right?-?left 2D:4D difference than second-choice players. Low right 2D:4D and low right?-?left 2D:4D difference were significantly linked with large numbers of tries. We conclude that low right 2D:4D and low right?-?left 2D:4D difference are predictors of high rugby performance.     

Absence of blocking,overshadowing, and latent inhibition in social enhancement of food preferences

A rat’s preference for food of a given flavor can be substantially enhanced by allowing it to interact with a conspecificdemonstrator that has recently eaten food of that flavor. The heuristic value of treating such socially induced enhancement of flavor preference as an instance of Pavlovian conditioning was examined in three experiments. Conceiving of the smell of the food as a conditional stimulus and other cues emanating from the demonstrator rat as an unconditional stimulus, we determined whether each of three common Pavlovian phenomena-blocking, overshadowing, and latent inhibition-would occur. Using experimental parameters that readily produce socially induced enhancement of flavor preference, none of the three Pavlovian phenomena were found.     

Whitehead and the Seduction of the Market: Some Suggestions

The recent essay by Howard Woodhouse on Whithead and Hutchins raises important questions about the proper role of the university and the relation between colleges of arts and sciences and professional schools, particularly business schools. Woodhouse takes us most, but not all, of the way in exploring these questions. I argue that Whitehead's speculative metaphysics, not the seduction of the market, led him to include professional schools in universities. I suggest that it requires us to do so today, and I argue that only by recognizing this can we hope to counteract the logic of the market that, if anything, is even stronger today than 60 years ago.     

Factors related to persistence among Asian,Black, Hispanic,and White undergraduates at a predominantly white university: Comparison between first and fourth year cohorts

This follow-up study of undergraduate student attrition at Indiana University makes it clear that there exist two different issues: (1) student attrition and the continuing high dropout rates among Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans on campus, and (2) the negative quality of campus life for ethnic minorities, including Asians, who have relatively low attrition rates and strong feelings of social alienation and dissatisfaction.Among Hispanic and White undergraduates these two issues seem closely interrelated: The least satisfied and most alienated students drop out whereas those who feel most satisfied and best adjusted or least alienated remain. Among Asian and Black undergraduates, however, the issues appear separate. Blacks and Asians in their fourth year on campus, the persisters, feel less satisfied and more socially alienated than do the Black and Asian students who have left the university.     

Socially mediated attenuation of taste-aversion learning in Norway rats: Preventing development of “food phobias”

After interacting with rat demonstrators that had eaten a novel, palatable diet, many observer rats exhibited either attenuation or total blockade of their subsequent acquisition of a lithium-chloride-induced aversion to that diet. In natural circumstances, such social attenuation of aversion learning could prevent new recruits to a population (weanlings or recent immigrants) from learning maladaptive aversions (“food phobias”) to tainted or spoiled samples of normally safe foods that others of their social group were eating.     

Quantity and Quality of Work in Rows and Classroom Groups

The effect of different seating arrangements on the quantity and quality of work produced in reading, language and mathematics among two classes of 10and 11‐year‐old children was examined. In both classes matched for size, and age and sex distribution, the pupils spent the first two weeks in their normal classroom groups. The second two‐week period was spent in rows before moving back into groups. The findings indicate that quantity of work completed generally increases when children are sat in rows whilst quality of work is maintained.