Explaining contentious political issues promotes open-minded thinking.

Cognitive scientists suggest that inviting people to explain contentious political issues might reduce intergroup toxicity because it exposes people to how poorly they understand the issue. However, whether providing explanations can result in more open-minded political thinking remains unclear. On one hand, inviting people to explain a political issue might make them more impartial and open-minded in their thinking. On the other hand, an invitation to explain a contentious political issue might lead to myside bias-rationalization of one's default position. Here, we address these contrasting predictions in five experiments (N = 1884; three pre-registered), conducted across a variety of contexts: with graduate students interacting with an actor in a laboratory setting, with US residents at the peak of the 2012 and 2016 U.S. presidential elections, with UK residents before the highly polarized 2019 Brexit vote, and with gun-control partisans. Across studies, we found that explaining politically contentious topics resulted in more open-minded thinking, an effect that generalized across coded (Studies 1-4) and self-report (Studies 3-4) measures. We also observed that participants who were made to feel like their explanations were welcomed felt closer to their discussion partner (Studies 3-4), an effect that generalized to all outgroup members with whom they disagreed with about the politically contentious issue (Study 4). We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings, and the potential for explanations to foster open-minded political engagement.

Effect of IUCN Red List category on public attention to mammals.

Cultural data is a powerful tool to analyze public awareness of key societal issues, including the conservation of nature. I used two publicly available repositories of cultural data, Google Trends and Google Ngram, to quantify the effect of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List conservation status on public attention toward 4539 mammal species. With Google Trends, I calculated whether Google searches for their common and scientific names have been increasing or decreasing over time. I also ran an anomaly detection analysis to investigate whether a change in red-list status directly results in an increase in Google searches. Additionally, I quantified the mentions of species' common and scientific names in English texts with Google Ngram. Overall, Google searches for most mammal species remained at similar levels or increased since 2008. The severity of species' IUCN Red List status was a significant predictor of increasing Google searches, although the effect size was relatively small. Red-list status seemed strongly confounded with mammal body size. Species that moved to a higher-risk category spiked significantly in Google searches directly after the new designation. The mention of species' common names in the Google Ngram's English 2019 corpus significantly increased as the red-list category increased. These results provide valuable insight into the importance of the IUCN Red List for increasing public awareness and the usefulness of publicly available cultural data on examining the effectiveness of specific conservation efforts and thus evaluating targets for support and funding.

La información cultural es una herramienta importante para analizar la conciencia pública sobre los temas sociales relevantes, incluida la conservación de la naturaleza. Usé dos depósitos de información cultural, Google Trends y Google Ngram, para cuantificar el efecto que tiene el estado de la Lista Roja de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN) de 4539 especies de mamíferos sobre la atención pública que reciben. Con Google Trends calculé si las búsquedas de los nombres comunes y científicos en Google ha incrementado o disminuido con el tiempo. También apliqué un análisis de detección de anomalías para esclarecer si un cambio en el estado en la lista roja resulta directamente en un incremento de búsquedas en la plataforma. Con Google Ngram cuantifiqué las menciones de los nombres científicos y comunes de las especies en textos en inglés. En general, las búsquedas en Google para la mayoría de las especies permanecieron en niveles similares o incrementaron a partir de 2008. La severidad del estado de la especie en la Lista Roja de la UICN fue un indicador importante del incremento en las búsquedas de Google, aunque el tamaño del efecto fue relativamente pequeño. El estado en la lista roja pareció estar estrechamente relacionado con el tamaño corporal de la especie. Las especies que subían de categoría de riesgo sufrían un aumento significativo en las búsquedas de Google inmediatamente después del cambio. La mención de los nombres comunes de las especies en el corpus de 2019 de Google Ngram en inglés incrementó significativamente conforme subió la categoría en la lista roja. Estos resultados proporcionan conocimiento valioso sobre la importancia que tiene la Lista Roja de la UICN para incrementar la conciencia pública y la utilidad que tiene la información cultural disponible al público para analizar la efectividad de esfuerzos específicos de conservación y así poder evaluar los objetivos para su apoyo y financiamiento. Efectos de las categorías de la Lista Roja de la UICN sobre la atención pública que reciben los mamíferos.

Melatonin Adjusts the Phase of Mouse Circadian Clocks in the Cornea Both Ex Vivo and In Vivo.

The presence of an endogenous circadian clock within most mammalian cells is associated with the amazing observation that within a given tissue, these clocks are largely in synchrony with each other. Different tissues use a variety of systemic or environmental cues to precisely coordinate the phase of these clocks. The cornea is a unique tissue in that it is largely isolated from the direct blood supply that most tissues experience, it is transparent to visible light, and it is exposed directly to environmental light and temperature. Melatonin is a hormone that has been implicated in regulation of the cornea's circadian clocks. Here, we analyze the ability of rhythmic melatonin to entrain corneas ex vivo, and analyze the phase of corneal circadian clocks in vivo both in light: dark cycles and in constant darkness. We find that the presence of a retina from a melatonin-proficient mouse strain, C3Sn, can photoentrain the circadian clocks of a co-cultured mouse cornea, but a retina from a melatonin-deficient strain, C57Bl/6, cannot. Furthermore, pharmacologic blockade of melatonin or use of a retina with advanced retinal degeneration, Pde6brd1, blocks the photoentraining effect. Corneal circadian clocks in vivo adopt an advanced phase in C3Sn mice compared with C57Bl/6, but the circadian clocks in the liver are unaffected. This observation is not attributable to a shorter endogenous period of the cornea or behavior between the strains. Some transcripts of circadian genes in the corneas of C3Sn mice also show an advanced phase of expression in a light: dark cycle, while the transcript of Per2 exhibits a light-dependent transient induction at the onset of darkness. We conclude that melatonin acts as a phase modifying factor in a rhythmic manner for the circadian clocks of the cornea.

Attention spreads between students in a learning environment.

We propose a novel phenomenon, attention contagion, defined as the spread of attentive (or inattentive) states among members of a group. We examined attention contagion in a learning environment in which pairs of undergraduate students watched a lecture video. Each pair consisted of a participant and a confederate trained to exhibit attentive behaviors (e.g., leaning forward) or inattentive behaviors (e.g., slouching). In Experiment 1, confederates sat in front of participants and could be seen. Relative to participants who watched the lecture with an inattentive confederate, participants with an attentive confederate: (a) self-reported higher levels of attentiveness, (b) behaved more attentively (e.g., took more notes), and (c) had better memory for lecture content. In Experiment 2, confederates sat behind participants. Despite confederates not being visible, participants were still aware of whether confederates were acting attentively or inattentively, and participants were still susceptible to attention contagion. Our findings suggest that distraction is one factor that contributes to the spread of inattentiveness (Experiment 1), but this phenomenon apparently can still occur in the absence of distraction (Experiment 2). We propose an account of how (in)attentiveness spreads across students and discuss practical implications regarding how learning is affected in the classroom. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

3D-printed assistive pipetting system for gel electrophoresis for technicians with low acuity vision.

In molecular biology laboratories, many tasks require fine motor control and high acuity vision. For example, lab technicians with visual impairment experience difficulty loading samples into the small wells of a horizontal agarose gel. We have developed a 3D-printable gel loading system which allows technicians with low-contrast vision to load gels correctly. It includes a casting tray, a bridge, and a modified comb. The system provides a high-contrast visual field to improve visibility, and the bridge allows pipette tips to be inserted at the correct location and only to the correct depth. The necessary computer files for printing this device are freely available to increase the accessibility of molecular biology laboratories to people with visual impairment.

Novel culture system via wirelessly controllable optical stimulation of the FGF signaling pathway for human and pig pluripotency.

Stem cell fate is largely determined by cellular signaling networks and is heavily dependent on the supplementation of exogenous recombinant proteins into culture media; however, uneven distribution and inconsistent stability of recombinant proteins are closely associated with the spontaneous differentiation of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) and result in significant costs in large-scale manufacturing. Here, we report a novel PSC culture system via wirelessly controllable optical activation of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling pathway without the need for supplementation of recombinant FGF2 protein, a key molecule for maintaining pluripotency of PSCs. Using a fusion protein between the cytoplasmic region of the FGF receptor-1 and a light-oxygen-voltage domain, we achieved tunable, blue light-dependent activation of FGF signaling in human and porcine PSCs. Our data demonstrate that a highly controllable optical stimulation of the FGF signaling pathway is sufficient for long-term maintenance of PSCs, without the loss of differentiation potential into three germ layers. This culture system will be a cost-effective platform for a large-scale stem cell culture.

Conspecific olfactory preferences and interspecific divergence in odor cues in a chickadee hybrid zone.

Understanding how mating cues promote reproductive isolation upon secondary contact is important in describing the speciation process in animals. Divergent chemical cues have been shown to act in reproductive isolation across many animal taxa. However, such cues have been overlooked in avian speciation, particularly in passerines, in favor of more traditional signals such as song and plumage. Here, we aim to test the potential for odor to act as a mate choice cue, and therefore contribute to premating reproductive isolation between the black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and Carolina chickadee (P. carolinensis) in eastern Pennsylvania hybrid zone populations. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, we document significant species differences in uropygial gland oil chemistry, especially in the ratio of ester to nonester compounds. We also show significant preferences for conspecific over heterospecific odor cues in wild chickadees using a Y-maze design. Our results suggest that odor may be an overlooked but important mating cue in these chickadees, potentially promoting premating reproductive isolation. We further discuss several promising avenues for future research in songbird olfactory communication and speciation.

Hybrid chickadees are deficient in learning and memory.

Identifying the phenotypes underlying postzygotic reproductive isolation is crucial for fully understanding the evolution and maintenance of species. One potential postzygotic isolating barrier that has rarely been examined is learning and memory ability in hybrids. Learning and memory are important fitness-related traits, especially in scatter-hoarding species, where accurate retrieval of hoarded food is vital for winter survival. Here, we test the hypothesis that learning and memory ability can act as a postzygotic isolating barrier by comparing these traits among two scatter-hoarding songbird species, black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis), and their naturally occurring hybrids. In an outdoor aviary setting, we find that hybrid chickadees perform significantly worse on an associative learning spatial task and are worse at solving a novel problem compared to both parental species. Deficiencies in learning and memory abilities could therefore contribute to postzygotic reproductive isolation between chickadee species. Given the importance of learning and memory for fitness, our results suggest that these traits may play an important, but as yet overlooked, role in postzygotic reproductive isolation.

The Wisdom in Virtue: Pursuit of Virtue Predicts Wise Reasoning About Personal Conflicts.

Most people can reason relatively wisely about others' social conflicts, but often struggle to do so about their own (i.e., Solomon's paradox). We suggest that true wisdom should involve the ability to reason wisely about both others' and one's own social conflicts, and we investigated the pursuit of virtue as a construct that predicts this broader capacity for wisdom. Results across two studies support prior findings regarding Solomon's paradox: Participants ( N = 623) more strongly endorsed wise-reasoning strategies (e.g., intellectual humility, adopting an outsider's perspective) for resolving other people's social conflicts than for resolving their own. The pursuit of virtue (e.g., pursuing personal ideals and contributing to other people) moderated this effect of conflict type. In both studies, greater endorsement of the pursuit of virtue was associated with greater endorsement of wise-reasoning strategies for one's own personal conflicts; as a result, participants who highly endorsed the pursuit of virtue endorsed wise-reasoning strategies at similar levels for resolving their own social conflicts and resolving other people's social conflicts. Implications of these results and underlying mechanisms are explored and discussed.

Emotional complexity: Clarifying definitions and cultural correlates.

There is much debate about the notion of emotional complexity (EC). The debate concerns both the definition and the meaning of ostensible cultural differences in the construct. Some scholars have defined EC as the experience of positive and negative emotions together rather than as opposites, a phenomenon that seems more common in East Asia than North America. Others have defined EC as the experience of emotions in a differentiated manner, a definition that has yet to be explored cross-culturally. The present research explores the role of dialectical beliefs and interdependence in explaining cultural differences in EC according to both definitions. In Study 1, we examined the prevalence of mixed (positive-negative) emotions in English-language online texts from 10 countries varying in interdependence and dialecticism. In Studies 2-3, we examined reports of emotional experiences in 6 countries, comparing intraindividual associations between pleasant and unpleasant states, prevalence of mixed emotions, and emotional differentiation across and within-situations. Overall, interdependence accounted for more cross-cultural and individual variance in EC measures than did dialecticism. Moreover, emotional differentiation was associated with the experience of positive and negative emotions together rather than as opposites, but only when tested on the same level of analysis (i.e., within vs. across-situations). (PsycINFO Database Record

MALDI-TOF MS analysis of proanthocyanidins in two lowland tropical forest species of Cecropia: a first look at their chemical structures.

The structural chemistry of proanthocyanidin molecules has been investigated in temperate zone plants, but few studies have been done with plants of the Amazonian lowland tropical wet forests where herbivore pressure is more extensive and diverse. Using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, we report unique properties of the proanthocyanidin structural chemistry in two neotropical Cecropia species, C. polystachya, a myrmecophyte with mutualistic ants, and C. sciadophylla, a non-myrmecophyte lacking mutualistic ants. Our preliminary data suggests the presence of reportedly uncommon propelargonidin subunits in a majority of proanthocyanidin oligomers. The presence of 3-O-gallate proanthocyanidin monomers was also detected in the mass spectra of both species. Unlike other studies that have examined species growing at higher latitudes, oligomers composed of procyanidin, propelargonidin, and their 3-O-gallates were present in both Cecropia species while the presence of oligomers containing prodelphinidin units were absent or at lower levels. These distinctive features may suggest that proanthocyanidins in some tropical plant species may be an untapped source of proanthocyanidin structural complexity that warrants further investigation. Several differences between spectra of the two Cecropia species could also point to the presence of anti-herbivore defense tradeoffs between chemical defense quality and biotic defense between the two species.