Habitat selection in adult males of Alpine ibex, <i>Capra ibex ibex</i>

Habitat use and selection of 14 Alpine ibex males were studied in the Gran Paradiso National Park. Alpine meadows were always overused and positively selected, because this habitat constituted an important food resource for the ibex. Even if rocks (30%) and stone ravines (22%) were the most frequented habitats in the study area, their use was lower than their availability because they offered few trophic resources. Pastures were used only in spring when the ibexes were looking for those sites just free from snow and with fresh vegetation. Stone ravines, where the ibexes rested in the hottest days, were most used in summer. Rocks were most used in winter: rock-faces are the only sites where the risk of avalanches is low and where it is still possible to find snow-free patches. Larch woods were especially used in winter and spring when it was still possible to find snow-free patches. The home range sizes proved to be influenced by the amount of Alpine meadows and rocks

Using N2pc variability to probe functionality:Linear mixed modelling of trial EEG and behaviour

This paper has two concurrent goals. On one hand, we hope it will serve as a simple primer in the use of linear mixed modelling (LMM) for inferential statistical analysis of multimodal data. We describe how LMM can be easily adopted for the identification of trial-wise relationships between disparate measures and provide a brief cookbook for assessing the suitability of LMM in your analyses. On the other hand, this paper is an empirical report, probing how trial-wise variance in the N2pc, and specifically its sub-component the NT, can be predicted by manual reaction time (RT) and stimuli parameters. Extant work has identified a link between N2pc and RT that has been interpreted as evidence of a direct and causative relationship. However, results have left open the less-interesting possibility that the measures covary as a function of motivation or arousal. Using LMM, we demonstrate that the relationship only emerges when the NT is elicited by targets, not distractors, suggesting a discrete and functional relationship. In other analyses, we find that the target-elicited NT is sensitive to variance in distractor identity even when the distractor cannot itself elicit consistently lateralized brain activity. The NT thus appears closely linked to attentional target processing, supporting the propagation of target-related information to response preparation and execution. At the same time, we find that this component is sensitive to distractor interference, which leaves open the possibility that NT reflects brain activity responsible for the suppression of irrelevant distractor information

Object-based attention is accentuated by object reward association

Humans use selective attention to prioritize visual features, like color or shape, as well as discrete spatial locations, and these effects are sensitive to the experience of reward. Reward-associated features and locations are accordingly prioritized from early in the visual hierarchy. Attention is also sensitive to the establishment of visual objects: selection of one constituent object part often leads to prioritization of other locations on that object. But very little is known about the influence of reward on this object-based control of attention. Here we show in four experiments that reward prioritization and object prioritization interact in visual cognition to guide selection. Experiment 1 establishes groundwork for this investigation, showing that reward feedback does not negate object prioritization. In Experiment 2, we corroborate the hypothesis that reward prioritization and object prioritization emerge concurrently. In Experiment 3, we find that reward prioritization and object prioritization sustain and interact in extinction, when reward feedback is discontinued. We verify this interaction in Experiment 4, linking it to task experience rather than the strategic utility of the reward association. Results suggest that information gathered from locations on reward-associated objects gains preferential access to cognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).</p

Protected areas as refuges for pest species? The case of wild boar

Abstract Protected areas are often blamed for offering refuge to pest species populations, giving rise to the so-called "reserve effect". Nevertheless, this major conservation side effect has seldom been investigated or verified on a local scale. Along the borders of two protected areas of different size, we modelled wild boar individual likelihood of being either inside or outside the protected areas throughout the year, considering their activity rhythms and resource availability. No evidence of reserve effect was found in the small protected area, yet the percentage of wild boar moving across the border was smaller in the large one. Moreover, although wild boar use of the large protected area resulted to increase in autumn, we showed that this was not the consequence of hunting avoidance. Our results clearly highlighted the importance to verify reserve effect on a local scale with studies based on detailed information on animal spatial behaviour and environmental variables

Recensioni: Sbagliando non si impara. Perché facciamo sempre le scelte sbagliate in amore, sul lavoro e nella vita quotidiana

Le scienze cognitive e l'economia comportamentale nel giro di un decennio si sono trasformate da discipline esoteriche per soli addetti ad argomento comune, quotidianamente dibattuto su quotidiani e social. Il volume di Sara Garofalo ne è un esempio perché offre al lettore una serie di esempi, esercizi e test in cui semplici situazioni di vita quotidiana rivelano l'ormai nota fallibilità della architettura delle scelte della nostra specie, ovvero la nostra 'razionalità limitata' preconizzata dalle ricerche, ogni volta riconosciute con il Nobel, dello psicologo Herbert Simon tra gli anni Cinquanta e Settanta del secolo scorso, poi sviluppata in economia dallo psicologo Daniel Kahneman e dall'economista comportamentale Richard Thaler in anni recenti

Neural Mechanisms of Object Prioritization in Vision

Selective attention is widely thought to be sensitive to visual objects. This is commonly observed in cueing studies, which show that when attention is deployed to a known target location that happens to fall on a visual object, responses to targets that unexpectedly appear at other locations on that object are faster and more accurate, as if the object in its entirety has been visually prioritized. However, this notion has recently been challenged by results suggesting that putative object‐based effects may reflect the influence of hemifield anisotropies in attentional deployment, or of unacknowledged influences of perceptual complexity and visual clutter. Studies employing measures of behavior provide limited opportunity to address these challenges. Here, we used EEG to directly measure the influence of task‐irrelevant objects on the deployment of visual attention. We had participants complete a simple visual cueing task involving identification of a target that appeared at either a cued location or elsewhere. Throughout each experimental trial, displays contained task‐irrelevant rectangle stimuli that could be oriented horizontally or vertically. We derived two cue‐elicited indices of attentional deployment–lateralized alpha oscillations and the ADAN component of the event‐related potential–and found that these were sensitive to the otherwise irrelevant orientation of the rectangles. Our results provide evidence that the allocation of visual attention is influenced by objects boundaries, supporting models of object‐based attentional prioritization

Neural oscillations coordinate continuous error correction during force control

Effective motor control depends on the brain’s ability to monitor performance and make continuous corrections. While many studies focus on discrete errors, everyday actions often require ongoing feedback-based adjustments. Here, we used an isometric force control task with EEG to investigate the neural dynamics supporting real-time error correction. Participants maintained a constant grip force with or without continuous visual feedback. With feedback, behavior showed ∼6 Hz rhythmic fluctuations, consistent with active correction. These fluctuations were mirrored in EEG activity across theta, beta, and alpha bands—oscillations linked to performance monitoring, updating, and attentional control. Without feedback, performance decayed linearly, and the corresponding neural signatures were reduced. These findings suggest that continuous sensory feedback engages a dynamic feedback loop involving distinct neural processes that support adaptive behavior. Our results highlight the importance of oscillatory activity in tracking and correcting moment-to-moment fluctuations in force, offering insight into the neural basis of feedback-loop force control

Habitat selection in adult males of Alpine ibex,Capra ibex ibex

Habitat use and selection of 14 Alpine ibex males were studied in the Gran Paradiso National Park. Alpine meadows were always overused and positively selected, because this habitat constituted an important food resource for the ibex. Even if rocks (30%) and stone ravines (22%) were the most frequented habitats in the study area, their use was lower than their availability because they offered few trophic resources. Pastures were used only in spring when the ibexes were looking for those sites just free from snow and with fresh vegetation. Stone ravines, where the ibexes rested in the hottest days, were most used in summer. Rocks were most used in winter: rock-faces are the only sites where the risk of avalanches is low and where it is still possible to find snow-free patches. Larch woods were especially used in winter and spring when it was still possible to find snow-free patches. The home range sizes proved to be influenced by the amount of Alpine meadows and rocks