Related papers: The Silver Lining Around Fearful Living
A model of the mechanisms underlying exploratory behaviour, based on empirical research and refined using a computer simulation, is presented. The behaviour of killifish from two lakes, one with killifish predators and one without, was…
We tested the hypothesis that threatening situations enhance creativity. 60 participants viewed a series of photographs and rated them on level of threat. They then wrote two short stories: one based on the photograph they rated as most…
Decisions in a group often result in imitation and aggregation, which are enhanced in panic, dangerous, stressful or negative situations. Current explanations of this enhancement are restricted to particular contexts, such as anti-predatory…
Fear is a critical brain function that enables us to learn to avoid danger via reinforcement learning (RL). While many researchers have argued that fear has evolved to escape predators, how varying predatory pressures have shaped fear and…
There are both benefits and drawbacks to cultural diversity. It can lead to friction and exacerbate differences. However, as with biological diversity, cultural diversity is valuable in times of upheaval; if a previously effective solution…
Fish schools are able to display a rich variety of collective states and behavioural responses when they are confronted to threats. However a school's response to perturbations may be different depending on its collective state. Here we use…
Mimicry is a resemblance between species that benefits at least one of the species. It is a ubiquitous evolutionary phenomenon particularly common among prey species, in which case the advantage involves better protection from predation. We…
Many species engage in acts that could be called creative. However, human creativity is unique in that it has transformed our planet. Given that the anatomy of the human brain is not so different from that of the great apes, what enables us…
A prey animal surveying its environment must decide whether there is a dangerous predator present or not. If there is, it may flee. Flight has an associated cost, so the animal should not flee if there is no danger. However, the prey animal…
This study explores the influence of environmental colors on human behavior, specifically focusing on aggressiveness and passiveness. Color is widely regarded as an influential environmental factor shaping human behavior, yet existing…
Living systems such as neuronal networks and animal groups process information about their environment via the dynamics of interacting units. These can transition between distinct macroscopic behaviors. Near such a transition (or critical…
Are large language models (LLMs) creative in the same way humans are, and can the same interventions increase creativity in both? We evaluate a promising but largely untested intervention for creativity: forcing creators to draw an analogy…
This study investigates how student exposure to resources in their home environments relates to creative thinking performance, using data from the PISA 2022 Creative Thinking assessment. It focuses on two primary questions: (1) How strongly…
Equipping artificial agents with useful exploration mechanisms remains a challenge to this day. Humans, on the other hand, seem to manage the trade-off between exploration and exploitation effortlessly. In the present article, we put…
Suppose that females choose males based on attributes that do not signal any genetic quality that is not related to the choice itself. Can being choosy confer selective advantage in this situation? We introduce correlated strategies, which…
The exceptional reactivity of animal collectives to predatory attacks is thought to be due to rapid, but local, transfer of information between group members. These groups turn together in unison and produce escape waves. However, it is not…
Generalized additive mixed models are introduced as an extension of the generalized linear mixed model which makes it possible to deal with temporal autocorrelational structure in experimental data. This autocorrelational structure is…
One of the most highly debated questions in the field of animal swarming and social behaviour, is the collective random patterns and chaotic behaviour formed by some animal species, in particular if there is a danger. Is such a behaviour…
Creativity is fundamentally human. As AI takes on more of the generative work that once required human imagination, despite documented limitations in creative ability, a critical question emerges: How does GenAI affect users' creativity?…
Phishing attacks are prevalent and humans are central to this online identity theft attack, which aims to steal victims' sensitive and personal information such as username, password, and online banking details. There are many anti-phishing…