Effect of a Cat's Permanent Presence on the Health and Social Network of Older Adults With Alzheimer's Disease or Disabilities in a Nursing Home.

Our study analyzes the effects of the permanent presence of cats on the health and social network of residents with pathologies in nursing home. Fifty-three residents, thirty-six caregivers, and four cats in three Alzheimer's Disease units ("ADU") and one Disability unit ("DISU") were observed for 180 hours. Social networks were created via instantaneous sampling of physical proximities and social exchanges between residents, caregivers, and the cats. Our results showed that: (1) the four units behave similarly in the presence or absence of a cat (2) cats are placed at the periphery of the network and interact with residents showing a keen interest in them, and (3) caregivers who are in strong contact with the cat show a greater number of social interactions in their unit. This study, using for the first time a social network approach, opens up a new field of understanding of human-animal relationships in a care dimension.

Fractals and artificial intelligence to decrypt ideography and understand the evolution of language.

Self-sufficient ideographies are rare because they are stifled by the issue of standardization. Similar issues arise with abstract art or drawings created by young children or great apes. We propose that mathematical indices and artificial intelligence can help us decode ideography, and if not to understand its meaning, at least to know that meaning exists.

Editorial: Recent Advances in Animal Cognition and Ethology.

Animal cognition and ethology, the scientific study of animal behaviour, have long captivated the human imagination [...].

Incorporating animal agency into research design could improve behavioral and neuroscience research.

Despite increasing numbers of publications showing that many animals possess the neural substrates involved in emotions and consciousness and exhibit agency in their behavior, many animals are still restrained and forced to take part in applied or fundamental research. However, these restraints and procedures, because they stress animals and limit the expression of adaptive behavior, may result in compromised findings. Researchers should alter their research paradigms to understand the mechanisms and functions of the brain and behavior so that the paradigms incorporate animals' agency. This article discusses how animal agency cannot only be the key to more wide-ranging and improved research in existing domains but can also lead to new research questions about behavior and brain evolution. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Deep learning for studying drawing behavior: A review.

In recent years, computer science has made major advances in understanding drawing behavior. Artificial intelligence, and more precisely deep learning, has displayed unprecedented performance in the automatic recognition and classification of large databases of sketches and drawings collected through touchpad devices. Although deep learning can perform these tasks with high accuracy, the way they are performed by the algorithms remains largely unexplored. Improving the interpretability of deep neural networks is a very active research area, with promising recent advances in understanding human cognition. Deep learning thus offers a powerful framework to study drawing behavior and the underlying cognitive processes, particularly in children and non-human animals, on whom knowledge is incomplete. In this literature review, we first explore the history of deep learning as applied to the study of drawing along with the main discoveries in this area, while proposing open challenges. Second, multiple ideas are discussed to understand the inherent structure of deep learning models. A non-exhaustive list of drawing datasets relevant to deep learning approaches is further provided. Finally, the potential benefits of coupling deep learning with comparative cultural analyses are discussed.

Making Drawings Speak Through Mathematical Metrics.

Figurative drawing is a skill that takes time to learn, and it evolves during different childhood phases that begin with scribbling and end with representational drawing. Between these phases, it is difficult to assess when and how children demonstrate intentions and representativeness in their drawings. The marks produced are increasingly goal-oriented and efficient as the child's skills progress from scribbles to figurative drawings. Pre-figurative activities provide an opportunity to focus on drawing processes. We applied fourteen metrics to two different datasets (N = 65 and N = 344) to better understand the intentional and representational processes behind drawing, and combined these metrics using principal component analysis (PCA) in different biologically significant dimensions. Three dimensions were identified: efficiency based on spatial metrics, diversity with color metrics, and temporal sequentiality. The metrics at play in each dimension are similar for both datasets, and PCA explains 77% of the variance in both datasets. Gender had no effect, but age influenced all three dimensions differently. These analyses for instance differentiate scribbles by children from those drawn by adults. The three dimensions highlighted by this study provide a better understanding of the emergence of intentions and representativeness in drawings. We discussed the perspectives of such findings in comparative psychology and evolutionary anthropology.

Draw yourself: How culture influences drawings by children between the ages of two and fifteen.

The place children live strongly influence how they develop their behavior, this is also true for pictorial expression. This study is based on 958 self-portraits drawn by children aged 2-15 years old from 35 countries across 5 continents. A total of 13 variables were extracted of each drawing allowing us to investigate the differences of individuals and environment representations in these drawings. We used a principal component analysis to understand how drawing characteristics can be combined in pictorial concepts. We analyzed the effect of age, gender, socioeconomic, and cultural factors in terms of complexity and inclusion of social (human figures) and physical (element from Nature and man-made elements) environments, their frequencies, size, and proportions of these elements on each drawing. Our results confirm the existence of cultural variations and the influence of age on self-portrait patterns. We also observed an influence of physical and socio-cultural contexts through the level of urbanization and the degree of individualism of the countries, which have affected the complexity, content and representation of human figures in the drawings studied.

Using Artificial Intelligence to Analyze Non-Human Drawings: A First Step with Orangutan Productions.

Drawings have been widely used as a window to the mind; as such, they can reveal some aspects of the cognitive and emotional worlds of other animals that can produce them. The study of non-human drawings, however, is limited by human perception, which can bias the methodology and interpretation of the results. Artificial intelligence can circumvent this issue by allowing automated, objective selection of features used to analyze drawings. In this study, we use artificial intelligence to investigate seasonal variations in drawings made by Molly, a female orangutan who produced more than 1299 drawings between 2006 and 2011 at the Tama Zoological Park in Japan. We train the VGG19 model to first classify the drawings according to the season in which they are produced. The results show that deep learning is able to identify subtle but significant seasonal variations in Molly's drawings, with a classification accuracy of 41.6%. We use VGG19 to investigate the features that influence this seasonal variation. We analyze separate features, both simple and complex, related to color and patterning, and to drawing content and style. Content and style classification show maximum performance for moderately complex, highly complex, and holistic features, respectively. We also show that both color and patterning drive seasonal variation, with the latter being more important than the former. This study demonstrates how deep learning can be used to objectively analyze non-figurative drawings and calls for applications to non-primate species and scribbles made by human toddlers.

The pedestrian behaviour scale: A systematic review of its validation around the world.

OBJECTIVE: The Pedestrian Behaviour Scale (PBS) is a self-report questionnaire that distinguishes five dimensions of pedestrian behaviour: violations, errors, lapses, aggressive behaviours and positive behaviours. This study aimed to meet three objectives: to trace the development of the PBS worldwide from 1997 to 2021, to report on its varied uses and to analyse the scientific validation of the different dimensions of pedestrian behaviour reflected by the PBS and its derivatives. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY: In this systematic literature review, we selected all works that cited the 2013 founding study of the PBS as well as all publications that cited the 2017 US validation of PBS which was frequently replicated around the world. We conducted an online database search using Web of Science, Google Scholar, ResearchGate and PubMed. After excluding duplicates, 116 studies were identified. A total of 30 studies were selected to meet our first two objectives and 14 studies were selected to meet our third objective. RESULTS: Over time, the PBS has undergone many changes. Overall, we found differences in the scientific validation of this questionnaire depending on the version used, the validation tests performed and the population studied. The original version of the PBS and its Turkish adaptation proved most appropriate for assessing the transgressions dimension. The American version of the PBS proved a suitable alternative but it is more suited to assessing the two independent dimensions of violations and errors. The Chinese version of the PBS (CPBS) proved unsuitable for assessing the lapses dimension, while the original version of the PBS emerged as the best option for assessing aggressive behaviours. The positive behaviour dimension presented many validation difficulties but its assessment by the CPBS seems to be the most appropriate option. CONCLUSION: As no systematic review of the PBS has been conducted before, researchers can now make an informed choice of methodology quickly and be guided by our recommendations regarding the use and possible improvements of the different validated versions.

Eye image effect in the context of pedestrian safety: a French questionnaire study.

Human behavior is influenced by the presence of others, which scientists also call 'the audience effect'. The use of social control to produce more cooperative behaviors may positively influence road use and safety. This study uses an online questionnaire to test how eyes images affect the behavior of pedestrians when crossing a road. Different eyes images of men, women and a child with different facial expressions -neutral, friendly and angry- were presented to participants who were asked what they would feel by looking at these images before crossing a signalized road. Participants completed a questionnaire of 20 questions about pedestrian behaviors (PBQ). The questionnaire was received by 1,447 French participants, 610 of whom answered the entire questionnaire. Seventy-one percent of participants were women, and the mean age was 35 ± 14 years. Eye images give individuals the feeling they are being observed at 33%, feared at 5% and surprised at 26%, and thus seem to indicate mixed results about avoiding crossing at the red light. The expressions shown in the eyes are also an important factor: feelings of being observed increased by about 10-15% whilst feelings of being scared or inhibited increased by about 5% as the expression changed from neutral to friendly to angry. No link was found between the results of our questionnaire and those of the Pedestrian Behavior Questionnaire (PBQ). This study shows that the use of eye images could reduce illegal crossings by pedestrians, and is thus of key interest as a practical road safety tool. However, the effect is limited and how to increase this nudge effect needs further consideration.

I Wanna Draw Like You: Inter- and Intra-Individual Differences in Orang-Utan Drawings.

This study analyses 749 drawings by five female Bornean orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus) at Tama Zoological Park in Japan. We searched for differences between individuals but also tried to identify possible temporal changes among the drawings of one individual, Molly, who drew almost 1300 drawings from 2006 to 2011. An analysis of the drawings was carried out after collecting quantitative and qualitative variables. Our findings reveal evidence of differences in the drawing style of the five individuals as well as creative changes in Molly's drawing style throughout her lifetime. Individuals differed in terms of the colours used, the space they filled, and the shapes (fan patterns, circles, or loops) they drew. Molly drew less and less as she grew older, and we found a significant difference between drawings produced in winter, when orang-utans were kept inside and had less activity, and those produced during other seasons. Our results suggest that the drawing behaviour of these five orang-utans is not random and that differences among individuals might reflect differences of styles, states of mind, and motivation to draw.

New indices to characterize drawing behavior in humans (Homo sapiens) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Techniques used in cave art suggest that drawing skills emerged long before the oldest known representative human productions (44,000 years BC). This study seeks to improve our knowledge of the evolutionary origins and the ontogenetic development of drawing behavior by studying drawings of humans (N = 178, 3- to 10-year-old children and adults) and chimpanzees (N = 5). Drawings were characterized with an innovative index based on spatial measures which provides the degree of efficiency for the lines that are drawn. Results showed that this index was lowest in chimpanzees, increased and reached its maximum between 5-year-old and 10-year-old children and decreased in adults, whose drawing efficiency was reduced by the addition of details. Drawings of chimpanzees are not random suggesting that their movements are constrained by cognitive or locomotor aspect and we cannot conclude to the absence of representativeness. We also used indices based on colors and time and asked children about what they drew. These indices can be considered relevant tools to improve our understanding of drawing development and evolution in hominids.

Drawing in nonhuman primates: What we know and what remains to be investigated.

For over a century now, a number of researchers have explored the evolutionary emergence of mark-making and drawing behaviors through studies in monkeys and apes, and particularly in chimpanzees. Their observations and results remain relevant to this day and underline the interest of this question and the questions that remain to be answered. The present review begins by retracing the historical timeline of this specific and challenging topic from the earliest anecdotal evidence to the first systematic studies in the 1930s. We then describe how the research became more empirical through the use of stimulus figures, the examination of color choices, or even exploring outline-making processes. We discuss the use of touch screens in the 1990s, which enriched our knowledge by providing an opportunity for data collection and innovative analysis. Finally, we underline several key points that are of importance for future investigations into the mark-making process in nonhuman primates. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Are They Really Trying to Save Their Buddy? The Anthropomorphism of Animal Epimeletic Behaviours.

Anthropomorphism is a natural tendency in humans, but it is also influenced by many characteristics of the observer (the human) and the observed entity (here, the animal species). This study asked participants to complete an online questionnaire about three videos showing epimeletic behaviours in three animal species. In the videos, an individual (a sparrow, an elephant and a macaque, respectively) displayed behaviours towards an inanimate conspecific that suddenly regained consciousness at the end of the footage. A fourth video showed a robot dog being kicked by an engineer to demonstrate its stability. Each video was followed by a series of questions designed to evaluate the degree of anthropomorphism of participants, from mentaphobia (no attribution of intentions and beliefs, whatever the animal species) to full anthropomorphism (full attribution of intentions and beliefs by animals, to the same extent as in humans) and to measure how far the participants had correctly assessed each situation in terms of biological reality (current scientific knowledge of each species). There is a negative correlation (about 61%) between the mental states attributed to animals by humans and the real capability of animals. The heterogeneity of responses proved that humans display different forms of anthropomorphism, from rejecting all emotional or intentional states in animals to considering animals to show the same intentions as humans. However, the scores participants attributed to animals differed according to the species shown in the video and to human socio-demographic characteristics. Understanding the potential usefulness of these factors can lead to better relationships with animals and encourage a positive view of human-robot interactions. Indeed, reflective or critical anthropomorphism can increase our humanity.

The light is red: Uncertainty behaviours displayed by pedestrians during illegal road crossing.

Road accidents involving pedestrians are a reality of urban life. Pedestrian risk is now well known and documented from the perspective of drivers. However, pedestrian behaviour plays a central role in road accidents, notably in terms of illegal road crossing at signalized intersections. This study focuses on pedestrians crossing illegally at a signal light, and specifically investigates uncertainty behaviour, also referred to as hesitation, which occurs when a pedestrian slows down or stops his/her crossing movement then (1) abandons the crossing by returning to the kerb or (2) accelerates to cross the road more quickly. We sought to understand the causes of this behaviour in France and Japan, two countries where interesting differences have already been demonstrated in the way pedestrians behave. The results show a longer period of uncertainty for pedestrians in Japan compared to France. Japanese pedestrians also hesitated longer when they were alone. This study demonstrates a tendency to speed up if there are a number of pedestrians already crossing the road, but abandoning behaviours were more frequently observed than acceleration. This study confirms that pedestrians may misevaluate the moment to cross and hesitate when they realise that they have made a mistake, thus increasing the risk of an accident. These results could help to find solutions that prevent illegal and dangerous road-crossing behaviours.

Impact of Group Management and Transfer on Individual Sociality in Highland Cattle (Bos taurus).

The sociality of cattle facilitates the maintenance of herd cohesion and synchronization, making these species the ideal choice for domestication as livestock for humans. However, livestock populations are not self-regulated, and farmers transfer individuals across different groups. Individuals consequently have to adapt to different group compositions during their lives rather than choose their own herd mates, as they would do in the wild. These changes may lead to social instability and stress, entailing potentially negative effects on animal welfare. In this study, we assess how the transfer of Highland cattle (Bos taurus) impacts individual and group social network measures. Four groups with nine different compositions and 18 individual transfers were studied to evaluate 1) the effect of group composition on individual social centralities and 2) the effect of group composition changes on these centralities. This study reveals that the relative stability of dyadic spatial relationships between changes in group composition or enclosure is due to the identities of transferred individuals more than the quantity of individuals that are transferred. Older cattle had higher network centralities than other individuals. The centrality of individuals was also affected by their sex and the number of familiar individuals in the group. This study reveals the necessity of understanding the social structure of a group to predict social instability following the transfer of individuals between groups. The developing of guidelines for the modification of group composition could improve livestock management and reduce stress for the animals concerned.

Cultural influence of social information use in pedestrian road-crossing behaviours.

Social information use is common in a wide range of group-living animals, notably in humans. The role it plays in decision-making could be a key to understanding how social groups make collective decisions. The observation of road-crossing behaviours in the presence of other individuals is an ideal means to study the influence of social information on decision-making. This study investigated the influence of culture on social information used by pedestrians in a potentially dangerous scenario, namely road crossing. We scored the collective crossing of pedestrians at four locations in Nagoya (Japan) and three locations in Strasbourg (France). French pedestrians cross against the lights much more often (41.9%) than Japanese ones (2.1%). Individuals deciding to cross the road were strongly influenced by the behaviour and the presence of other pedestrians, especially in Japan, where a stronger conformism was noted. However, Japanese pedestrians were half as likely to be influenced by social information as their French counterparts when crossing at the red light, as they were more respectful of rules. Men show riskier behaviour than women (40.6% versus 25.7% of rule-breaking, respectively), deciding quickly and setting off earlier than women. Further related studies could help target specific preventive, culture-specific solutions for pedestrian safety.

Interspecies sexual behaviour between a male Japanese macaque and female sika deer.

Interspecies sexual behaviour or 'reproductive interference' has been reported across a wide range of animal taxa. However, most of these occurrences were observed in phylogenetically close species and were mainly discussed in terms of their effect on fitness, hybridization and species survival. The few cases of heterospecific mating in distant species occurred between animals that were bred and maintained in captivity. Only one scientific study has reported this phenomenon, describing sexual harassment of king penguins by an Antarctic fur seal. This is the first article to report mating behaviour between a male Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata yakui) and female sika deer (Cervus nippon yakushimae) on Yakushima Island, Japan. Although Japanese macaques are known to ride deer, this individual showed clearly sexual behaviour towards several female deer, some of which tried to escape whilst others accepted the mount. This male seems to belong to a group of peripheral males. Although this phenomenon may be explained as copulation learning, this is highly unlikely. The most realistic hypothesis would be that of mate deprivation, which states that males with limited access to females are more likely to display this behaviour. Whatever the cause for this event may be, the observation of highly unusual animal behaviour may be a key to understanding the evolution of heterospecific mating behaviour in the animal kingdom.

Social network and decision-making in primates: a report on Franco-Japanese research collaborations.

Sociality is suggested to evolve as a strategy for animals to cope with challenges in their environment. Within a population, each individual can be seen as part of a network of social interactions that vary in strength, type and dynamics (Sueur et al. 2011a). The structure of this social network can strongly impact upon not only on the fitness of individuals and their decision-making, but also on the ecology of populations and the evolution of a species. Our Franco-Japanese collaboration allowed us to study social networks in several species (Japanese macaques, chimpanzees, colobines, etc.) and on different topics (social epidemiology, social evolution, information transmission). Individual attributes such as stress, rank or age can affect how individuals take decisions and the structure of the social network. This heterogeneity is linked to the assortativity of individuals and to the efficiency of the flow within a network. It is important, therefore, that this heterogeneity is integrated in the process or pattern under study in order to provide a better resolution of investigation and, ultimately, a better understanding of behavioural strategies, social dynamics and social evolution. How social information affects decision-making could be important to understand how social groups make collective decisions and how information may spread throughout the social group. In human beings, road-crossing behaviours in the presence of other individuals is a good way to study the influence of social information on individual behaviour and decision-making, for instance. Culture directly affects which information - personal vs social - individuals prefer to follow. Our collaboration contributed to the understanding of the relative influence of different factors, cultural and ecological, on primate, including human, sociality.