The Experts below are selected from a list of 60585 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Dominik R Bach - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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RESEARCH ARTICLE Anxiety-Like Behavioural Inhibition Is Normative under Environmental Threat- Reward Correlations
2016Co-Authors: Dominik R BachAbstract:Behavioural inhibition is a key anxiety-like behaviour in rodents and humans, distinct from avoidance of danger, and reduced by anxiolytic drugs. In some situations, it is not clear how behavioural inhibition minimises harm or maximises benefit for the agent, and can even appear counterproductive. Extant explanations of this phenomenon make use of descriptive models but do not provide a formal assessment of its adaptive value. This hampers a better understanding of the neural computations underlying anxiety behaviour. Here, we analyse a standard rodent anxiety model, the operant conflict test. We harvest Bayesian Decision Theory to show that behavioural inhibition normatively arises as cost-minimising strategy in temporally correlated environments. Importantly, only if behavioural inhibition is aimed at minimising cost, it depends on probability and magnitude of Threat. Harnessing a virtual computer game, we test model predictions in four experiments with human participants. Humans exhibit behavioural inhibition with a strong linear dependence on Threat probability and magnitude. Strikingly, inhibition occurs before motor execution and depends on the vir-tual environment, thus likely resulting from a neural optimisation process rather than a pre
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anxiety like behavioural inhibition is normative under Environmental Threat reward correlations
PLOS Computational Biology, 2015Co-Authors: Dominik R BachAbstract:Behavioural inhibition is a key anxiety-like behaviour in rodents and humans, distinct from avoidance of danger, and reduced by anxiolytic drugs. In some situations, it is not clear how behavioural inhibition minimises harm or maximises benefit for the agent, and can even appear counterproductive. Extant explanations of this phenomenon make use of descriptive models but do not provide a formal assessment of its adaptive value. This hampers a better understanding of the neural computations underlying anxiety behaviour. Here, we analyse a standard rodent anxiety model, the operant conflict test. We harvest Bayesian Decision Theory to show that behavioural inhibition normatively arises as cost-minimising strategy in temporally correlated environments. Importantly, only if behavioural inhibition is aimed at minimising cost, it depends on probability and magnitude of Threat. Harnessing a virtual computer game, we test model predictions in four experiments with human participants. Humans exhibit behavioural inhibition with a strong linear dependence on Threat probability and magnitude. Strikingly, inhibition occurs before motor execution and depends on the virtual environment, thus likely resulting from a neural optimisation process rather than a pre-programmed mechanism. Individual trait anxiety scores predict behavioural inhibition, underlining the validity of this anxiety model. These findings put anxiety behaviour into the context of cost-minimisation and optimal inference, and may ultimately pave the way towards a mechanistic understanding of the neural computations gone awry in human anxiety disorder.
Joachim Claudet - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Convergence of stakeholders' Environmental Threat perceptions following mass coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef
Conservation Biology, 2021Co-Authors: Lauric Thiault, Matthew Curnock, Georgina Gurney, Scott Heron, Nadine Marshall, Erin Bohensky, Nao Nakamura, Petina Pert, Joachim ClaudetAbstract:Managing human use of ecosystems in an era of rapid Environmental change requires an understanding of diverse stakeholders’ behaviors and perceptions to enable effective prioritization of actions to mitigate multiple Threats. Specifically, research examining how Threat perceptions are shared or diverge among stakeholder groups and how these can evolve through time is increasingly important. We investigated Environmental Threat perceptions related to Australia's Great Barrier Reef and explored their associations before and after consecutive years of mass coral bleaching. We used data from surveys of commercial fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents (n = 5254) conducted in 2013 and 2017. Threats perceived as most serious differed substantially among groups before bleaching but were strongly aligned after bleaching. Climate change became the most frequently reported Threat by all stakeholder groups following the coral bleaching events, and perceptions of fishing and poor water quality as Threats also ranked high. Within each of the 3 stakeholder groups, fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents, the prioritization of these 3 Threats tended to diverge in 2013, but convergence occurred after bleaching. These results indicate an emergence of areas of agreement both within and across stakeholder groups. Changes in perceptions were likely influenced by high‐profile Environmental‐disturbance events and media representations of Threats. Our results provide insights into the plasticity of Environmental‐Threat perceptions and highlight how their convergence in response to major events may create new opportunities for strategic public engagement and increasing support for management.
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Convergence of stakeholders' Environmental Threat perceptions following mass coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef.
Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, 2020Co-Authors: Lauric Thiault, Matthew Curnock, Nadine Marshall, Erin Bohensky, Nao Nakamura, Petina Pert, Georgina G. Gurney, Scott F. Heron, Joachim ClaudetAbstract:Managing human use of ecosystems in an era of rapid Environmental change requires an understanding of diverse stakeholders' behaviors and perceptions to enable effective prioritization of actions to mitigate multiple Threats. Specifically, research examining how Threat perceptions are shared or diverge among stakeholder groups, and how these can evolve through time, is increasingly important. Here, we investigate Environmental Threat perceptions related to Australia's Great Barrier Reef and explore their associations before and after consecutive years of mass coral bleaching. Using survey responses from 2013 and 2017 involving commercial fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents (n = 5,254), we found that the Threats perceived as most serious by these groups differed substantially in the pre-bleaching period but became strongly aligned post-bleaching. Climate change became the most frequently reported Threat by all stakeholder groups following the coral bleaching events, and perceptions of fishing and water quality also ranked high. For the three stakeholder groups of fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents, the prioritization of these three Threats tended to diverge in 2013, but convergence became evident post-bleaching. These results indicate an emergence of areas of agreement within and across stakeholder groups. Changes in perceptions were likely influenced by high profile Environmental disturbance events and media representations of attributable Threats. Our study provides insights into the plasticity of Environmental Threat perceptions and highlights how their convergence in response to major events may create new opportunities for strategic public engagement and increasing support for management actions. Article impact statement: High-profile Environmental crises shape public perceptions and may create new opportunities to engage people with mitigation and adaptation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Neil J Rowan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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development of a semi quantitative risk assessment model for evaluating Environmental Threat posed by the three first eu watch list pharmaceuticals to urban wastewater treatment plants an irish case study
Science of The Total Environment, 2017Co-Authors: Alexandre Tahar, Erin Jo Tiedeken, Eoghan Clifford, Enda Cummins, Neil J RowanAbstract:Contamination of receiving waters with pharmaceutical compounds is of pressing concern. This constitutes the first study to report on the development of a semi-quantitative risk assessment (RA) model for evaluating the Environmental Threat posed by three EU watch list pharmaceutical compounds namely, diclofenac, 17-beta-estradiol and 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol, to aquatic ecosystems using Irish data as a case study. This RA model adopts the Irish Environmental Protection Agency Source-Pathway-Receptor concept to define relevant parameters for calculating low, medium or high risk score for each agglomeration of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), which include catchment, treatments, operational and management factors. This RA model may potentially be used on a national scale to (i) identify WWTPs that pose a particular risk as regards releasing disproportionally high levels of these pharmaceutical compounds, and (ii) help identify priority locations for introducing or upgrading control measures (e.g. tertiary treatment, source reduction). To assess risks for these substances of emerging concern, the model was applied to 16 urban WWTPs located in different regions in Ireland that were scored for the three different compounds and ranked as low, medium or high risk. As a validation proxy, this case study used limited monitoring data recorded at some these plants receiving waters. It is envisaged that this semi-quantitative RA approach may aid other EU countries investigate and screen for potential risks where limited measured or predicted Environmental pollutant concentrations and/or hydrological data are available. This model is semi-quantitative, as other factors such as influence of climate change and drug usage or prescription data will need to be considered in a future point for estimating and predicting risks.
Jaroslava Varella Valentova - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Environmental Threat influences preferences for sexual dimorphism in male and female faces but not voices or dances
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2020Co-Authors: Kamila Janaina Pereira, Vinicius Frayze David, Marco Antonio Correa Varella, Jaroslava Varella ValentovaAbstract:Abstract During evolution, humans faced the trade-off between preferences for feminine and masculine traits which are presumably connected to parental care, and genetic quality or provisioning abilities, respectively. Recent research has shown that Environmental factors influence preferences for femininity/masculinity in potential mates. However, studies mainly focus on women's preferences for isolated cues in men. We examined the influence of pathogen and resource Threat on women's and men's preference for femininity/masculinity in opposite sex unmanipulated faces, voices, and dances. Three hundred seventy (206 women) students, aged 18–35 years, from universities across the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, were primed with newspaper-like articles on either pathogen Threat (Aedes aegypti, and its mosquito-borne diseases) or resource Threat (=economic crisis), and compared to a control-priming condition (lions poisoned in a Kenyan Reserve). Participants were randomly assigned to rate attractiveness of the stimuli in one of the mating strategies (i.e., short-term or long-term relationship context). After each priming article, participants rated attractiveness of pre-rated masculine and feminine stimuli of the opposite sex in a standalone-rating design. The Environmental Threats and the control-priming conditions were shown in a random sequence. We found that the Environmental Threat and the mating strategies had no systematic effect on preferences for faces, voices and behavior, suggesting that different modalities can cue to different individual qualities and can be used differently according to the Environmental context and relationship strategy. The Environmental Threat only had a weak effect on preferences for facial femininity-masculinity: women found feminine male faces more attractive under pathogen Threat, while men found feminine female faces more attractive under resource Threat. This is in contrast to some previous studies, and shows that effect of ecological factors on human psychology should be submitted to a more rigorous scrutiny. The mating strategies only interacted with voice attractiveness: women rated male voices as more attractive after being primed with any type of Environmental Threat when considering long-term relationship context, while in men this was true when considering short-term relationship. Finally, feminine dance videos were perceived as attractive under Environmental Threat, irrespective of sex, type of Environmental Threat or mating strategy.
Lauric Thiault - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Convergence of stakeholders' Environmental Threat perceptions following mass coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef
Conservation Biology, 2021Co-Authors: Lauric Thiault, Matthew Curnock, Georgina Gurney, Scott Heron, Nadine Marshall, Erin Bohensky, Nao Nakamura, Petina Pert, Joachim ClaudetAbstract:Managing human use of ecosystems in an era of rapid Environmental change requires an understanding of diverse stakeholders’ behaviors and perceptions to enable effective prioritization of actions to mitigate multiple Threats. Specifically, research examining how Threat perceptions are shared or diverge among stakeholder groups and how these can evolve through time is increasingly important. We investigated Environmental Threat perceptions related to Australia's Great Barrier Reef and explored their associations before and after consecutive years of mass coral bleaching. We used data from surveys of commercial fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents (n = 5254) conducted in 2013 and 2017. Threats perceived as most serious differed substantially among groups before bleaching but were strongly aligned after bleaching. Climate change became the most frequently reported Threat by all stakeholder groups following the coral bleaching events, and perceptions of fishing and poor water quality as Threats also ranked high. Within each of the 3 stakeholder groups, fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents, the prioritization of these 3 Threats tended to diverge in 2013, but convergence occurred after bleaching. These results indicate an emergence of areas of agreement both within and across stakeholder groups. Changes in perceptions were likely influenced by high‐profile Environmental‐disturbance events and media representations of Threats. Our results provide insights into the plasticity of Environmental‐Threat perceptions and highlight how their convergence in response to major events may create new opportunities for strategic public engagement and increasing support for management.
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Convergence of stakeholders' Environmental Threat perceptions following mass coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef.
Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, 2020Co-Authors: Lauric Thiault, Matthew Curnock, Nadine Marshall, Erin Bohensky, Nao Nakamura, Petina Pert, Georgina G. Gurney, Scott F. Heron, Joachim ClaudetAbstract:Managing human use of ecosystems in an era of rapid Environmental change requires an understanding of diverse stakeholders' behaviors and perceptions to enable effective prioritization of actions to mitigate multiple Threats. Specifically, research examining how Threat perceptions are shared or diverge among stakeholder groups, and how these can evolve through time, is increasingly important. Here, we investigate Environmental Threat perceptions related to Australia's Great Barrier Reef and explore their associations before and after consecutive years of mass coral bleaching. Using survey responses from 2013 and 2017 involving commercial fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents (n = 5,254), we found that the Threats perceived as most serious by these groups differed substantially in the pre-bleaching period but became strongly aligned post-bleaching. Climate change became the most frequently reported Threat by all stakeholder groups following the coral bleaching events, and perceptions of fishing and water quality also ranked high. For the three stakeholder groups of fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents, the prioritization of these three Threats tended to diverge in 2013, but convergence became evident post-bleaching. These results indicate an emergence of areas of agreement within and across stakeholder groups. Changes in perceptions were likely influenced by high profile Environmental disturbance events and media representations of attributable Threats. Our study provides insights into the plasticity of Environmental Threat perceptions and highlights how their convergence in response to major events may create new opportunities for strategic public engagement and increasing support for management actions. Article impact statement: High-profile Environmental crises shape public perceptions and may create new opportunities to engage people with mitigation and adaptation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.