A bigeminus pattern in social behavior.
Bigeminus pattern in baboon social behavior, noting diurnal rhythm independence from social deprivation, light cycling and food supply
Thach, J. S., Jr.↗
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Cognitive Modeling of Social Behaviors
The driving theme of cognitive modeling for many decades has been that knowledge affects how and which goals are accomplished by an intelligent being (Newell 1991). But when one examines groups of people living and working together, one is forced to recognize that whose knowledge is called into play, at a particular time and location, directly affects what the group accomplishes. Indeed, constraints on participation, including roles, procedures, and norms, affect whether an individual is able to act at all (Lave & Wenger 1991; Jordan 1992; Scribner & Sachs 1991). To understand both individual cognition and collective activity, perhaps the greatest opportunity today is to integrate the cognitive modeling approach (which stresses how beliefs are formed and drive behavior) with social studies (which stress how relationships and informal practices drive behavior). The crucial insight is that norms are conceptualized in the individual &nd as ways of carrying out activities (Clancey 1997a, 2002b). This requires for the psychologist a shift from only modeling goals and tasks - why people do what they do - to modeling behavioral patterns-what people do-as they are engaged in purposeful activities. Instead of a model that exclusively deduces actions from goals, behaviors are also, if not primarily, driven by broader patterns of chronological and located activities (akin to scripts). This analysis is particular inspired by activity theory (Leont ev 1979). While acknowledging that knowledge (relating goals and operations) is fundamental for intelligent behavior, activity theory claims that a broader driver is the person s motives and conceptualization of activities. Such understanding of human interaction is normative (i.e., viewed with respect to social standards), affecting how knowledge is called into play and applied in practice. Put another way, how problems are discovered and framed, what methods are chosen, and indeed who even cares or has the authority to act, are all constrained by norms, which are conceived and enacted by individuals.
Clancey, William J.↗
Short forms of the Texas Social Behavior Inventory /TSBI/, an objective measure of self-esteem
Two short (16 item) forms of the Helmreich, Stapp, and Ervin (1974) Texas Social Behavior Inventory, a validated, objective measure of self-esteem or social competence are presented. Normative data and other statistics are described for males and females. Correlations between each short form and long (32-item) scale were .97. Factor analysis and part-whole correlations verified the similarity of the two forms. The utility of the scale in research is described.
Helmreich, R.↗
Analysis of High-order Social Interaction of Female Mice on the International Space Station
Social interactions are adaptive responses to environmental pressures that have evolved to facilitate the success of individual animals and their progeny. Quantifying social behavior in social animals is therefore one method of evaluating an animal's health, wellbeing and their adjustment to changes in their environment. The interaction between environment and animal can influence numerous other physiological and psychological responses that may enhance, deter or shift an animals social paradigm. For this study, we utilized flight video from the Rodent Research Hardware and Operations Validation mission (Rodent Research-1; RR1) on the International Space Station (ISS). Female mice spent 37 days in microgravity on the ISS and video was captured during the final 33 days. In a previous analysis of individual behavior, we also reported an observed spontaneous ambulatory behavior which we termed circling or 'race tracking,' and we anecdotally observed an increase in group organization around this behavior. In this analysis we further examined this behavior, and other social interactions, to determine if (1) animals joining in on this behavior were induced by other cohort members already participating in this circling behavior, (2) rates of joining varied by number already participating.
spacefligh↗
Report to the President: Harnessing Social and Behavioral Science Insights to Enhance Policymaking and Improve the Lives of the American People
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is the sole body of advisors from outside the federal government charged with making science, technology, and innovation policy recommendations to the President and the White House. Established by Executive Order, it is an independent Federal Advisory Committee comprised of distinguished individuals from industry, academia, and non-profit organizations with a range of perspectives and expertise. On January 15, 2025, PCAST sent a report to the President with recommendations to harness the insights of social and behavioral science research to benefit the American public.
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
Studying flight crew behavior: A social psychologist encounters the real world
Considerable social psychological research has been conducted on the relationship between personality and performance in various occupational settings. Of special interest are situations where the performer is under pressure or the consequences of poor performance can be serious, as in aircraft operation. Some significant findings are summarized, including those related to Type A personality factors, achievement motivation factors, and attitude factors. Future research should focus on group behavior.
Helmreich, Robert L.↗
Applied group theory applications in the engineering (physical, chemical, and medical), biological, social, and behavioral sciences and in the fine arts
A generalized applied group theory is developed, and it is shown that phenomena from a number of diverse disciplines may be included under the umbrella of a single theoretical formulation based upon the concept of a group consistent with the usual definition of this term.
Borg, S. F.↗
Queen bees offload pesticide burden to eggs when social buffering is overwhelmed
Honey bee colonies pollinate about one-third of the world’s food crops, and their rapid decline directly threatens agricultural productivity and ecosystem stability. Understanding how colony-level social defenses influence pesticide fate and the circumstances under which they fail is therefore a crucial question in pollinator biology. We used biological accelerator mass spectrometry (BioAMS), a sensitive radiotracer technique, to track the movement of a model pesticide through a small honey bee colony under laboratory conditions. We tested the hypothesis that social buffering protects honey bees from toxic accumulation and that this protection can be overcome, leading to maternal offloading of the pesticide to developing eggs. Consistent with this hypothesis, our results identified three key mechanisms governing chemical movement within a social insect colony: (1) worker bees initially decrease dietary pesticide levels by 95% through diet filtering and deposition in honeycombs, though this declines to 86% by day 10; (2) queen bees maintain markedly lower pesticide levels than workers but, over time, they accumulate the pesticide in their ovaries and transfer it into developing eggs, revealing a previously undocumented protective mechanism in reproductive individuals; and (3) the presence of a queen bee shifts colony-wide chemical distribution by concentrating worker exposure and increasing pesticide deposition in wax. Our findings show that honey bee colonies function as integrated detoxification networks, in which chemical fate depends on complex social behaviors and caste-specific physiology. When social buffering is overwhelmed, reproductive queens may survive by transferring their chemical burden to their offspring.
Biological and medical sciences↗
Developmental Research in Space: Predicting Adult Neurobehavioral Phenotypes via Metabolomic Imaging
As human habitation and eventual colonization of space becomes an inevitable reality, there is a necessity to understand how organisms develop over the life span in the space environment. Microgravity, altered CO2, radiation and psychological stress are some of the key factors that could affect mammalian reproduction and development in space, however there is a paucity of information on this topic. Here we combine early (neonatal) in vivo spectroscopic imaging with an adult emotionality assay following a common obstetric complication (prenatal asphyxia) likely to occur during gestation in space. The neural metabolome is sensitive to alteration by degenerative changes and developmental disorders, thus we hypothesized that that early neonatal neurometabolite profiles can predict adult response to novelty. Late gestation fetal rats were exposed to moderate asphyxia by occluding the blood supply feeding one of the rats pair uterine horns for 15min. Blood supply to the opposite horn was not occluded (within-litter cesarean control). Further comparisons were made with vaginal (natural) birth controls. In one-week old neonates, we measured neurometabolites in three brain areas (i.e., striatum, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus). Adult perinatally-asphyxiated offspring exhibited greater anxiety-like behavioral phenotypes (as measured the composite neurobehavioral assay involving open field activity, responses to novel object, quantification of fecal droppings, and resident-intruder tests of social behavior). Further, early neurometabolite profiles predicted adult responses. Non-invasive MRS screening of mammalian offspring is likely to advance ground-based space analogue studies informing mammalian reproduction in space, and achieving high-priority multigenerational research that will enable studies of the first truly space-developed mammals.
Schorn, Julia M.↗
Developmental Research in Space: Predicting Adult Neurobehavioral Phenotypes via Metabolomic Imaging
As human habitation and eventual colonization of space becomes an inevitable reality, there is a necessity to understand how organisms develop over the life span in the space environment. Microgravity, altered CO2, radiation and psychological stress are some of the key factors that could affect mammalian reproduction and development in space, however there is a paucity of information on this topic. Here we combine early (neonatal) in vivo spectroscopic imaging with an adult emotionality assay following a common obstetric complication (prenatal asphyxia) likely to occur during gestation in space. The neural metabolome is sensitive to alteration by degenerative changes and developmental disorders, thus we hypothesized that that early neonatal neurometabolite profiles can predict adult response to novelty. Late gestation fetal rats were exposed to moderate asphyxia by occluding the blood supply feeding one of the rats pair uterine horns for 15min. Blood supply to the opposite horn was not occluded (within-litter cesarean control). Further comparisons were made with vaginal (natural) birth controls. In one-week old neonates, we measured neurometabolites in three brain areas (i.e., striatum, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus). Adult perinatally-asphyxiated offspring exhibited greater anxiety-like behavioral phenotypes (as measured the composite neurobehavioral assay involving open field activity, responses to novel object, quantification of fecal droppings, and resident-intruder tests of social behavior). Further, early neurometabolite profiles predicted adult responses. Non-invasive MRS screening of mammalian offspring is likely to advance ground-based space analogue studies informing mammalian reproduction in space, and achieving high-priority.
rodent development spacefligh↗
Cognitive Network Modeling as a Basis for Characterizing Human Communication Dynamics and Belief Contagion in Technology Adoption
Societal level macro models of social behavior do not sufficiently capture nuances needed to adequately represent the dynamics of person-to-person interactions. Likewise, individual agent level micro models have limited scalability - even minute parameter changes can drastically affect a model's response characteristics. This work presents an approach that uses agent-based modeling to represent detailed intra- and inter-personal interactions, as well as a system dynamics model to integrate societal-level influences via reciprocating functions. A Cognitive Network Model (CNM) is proposed as a method of quantitatively characterizing cognitive mechanisms at the intra-individual level. To capture the rich dynamics of interpersonal communication for the propagation of beliefs and attitudes, a Socio-Cognitive Network Model (SCNM) is presented. The SCNM uses socio-cognitive tie strength to regulate how agents influence--and are influenced by--one another's beliefs during social interactions. We then present experimental results which support the use of this network analytical approach, and we discuss its applicability towards characterizing and understanding human information processing.
Hutto, Clayton↗
Near-infrared nanosensors enable optical imaging of oxytocin with selectivity over vasopressin in acute mouse brain slices
Oxytocin plays a critical role in regulating social behaviors, yet our understanding of its function in both neurological health and disease remains incomplete. Real-time oxytocin imaging probes with spatiotemporal resolution relevant to its endogenous signaling are required to fully elucidate oxytocin’s role in the brain. Herein, we describe a near-infrared oxytocin nanosensor (nIROXT), a synthetic probe capable of imaging oxytocin in the brain without interference from its structural analogue, vasopressin. nIROXT leverages the inherent tissue-transparent fluorescence of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and the molecular recognition capacity of an oxytocin receptor peptide fragment to selectively and reversibly image oxytocin. We employ these nanosensors to monitor electrically stimulated oxytocin release in brain tissue, revealing oxytocin release sites with a median size of 3 µm in the paraventricular nucleus of C57BL/6 mice, which putatively represents the spatial diffusion of oxytocin from its point of release. These data demonstrate that covalent SWCNT constructs, such as nIROXT, are powerful optical tools that can be leveraged to measure neuropeptide release in brain tissue.
Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
Psychosocial experiences are associated with human brain mitochondrial biology
Psychosocial experiences affect brain health and aging trajectories, but the molecular pathways underlying these associations remain unclear. Normal brain function relies on energy transformation by mitochondria oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos). Two main lines of evidence position mitochondria both as targets and drivers of psychosocial experiences. On the one hand, chronic stress exposure and mood states may alter multiple aspects of mitochondrial biology; on the other hand, functional variations in mitochondrial OxPhos capacity may alter social behavior, stress reactivity, and mood. But are psychosocial exposures and subjective experiences linked to mitochondrial biology in the human brain? By combining longitudinal antemortem assessments of psychosocial factors with postmortem brain (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) proteomics in older adults, we find that higher well-being is linked to greater abundance of the mitochondrial OxPhos machinery, whereas higher negative mood is linked to lower OxPhos protein content. Combined, positive and negative psychosocial factors explained 18 to 25% of the variance in the abundance of OxPhos complex I, the primary biochemical entry point that energizes brain mitochondria. Moreover, interrogating mitochondrial psychobiological associations in specific neuronal and nonneuronal brain cells with single-nucleus RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) revealed strong cell-type-specific associations for positive psychosocial experiences and mitochondria in glia but opposite associations in neurons. As a result, these “mind-mitochondria” associations were masked in bulk RNA-seq, highlighting the likely underestimation of true psychobiological effect sizes in bulk brain tissues. Thus, self-reported psychosocial experiences are linked to human brain mitochondrial phenotypes.
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
Habitat model for the Florida Scrub Jay on John F. Kennedy Space Center
The Florida Scrub Jay is endemic to Florida. The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) provides habitat for one of the three largest populations of the Florida Scrub Jay. This threatened bird occupies scrub, slash pine flatwoods, disturbed scrub, and coastal strand on KSC. Densities of Florida Scrub Jays were shown to vary with habitat characteristics but not necessarily with vegetation type. Relationships between Florida Scrub Jay densities and habitat characteristics were used to develop a habitat model to provide a tool to compare alternative sites for new facilities and to quantify environmental impacts. This model is being tested using long term demographic studies of colorbanded Florida Scrub Jays. Optimal habitat predicted by the model has greater than or equal to 50 percent of the shrub canopy comprised of scrub oaks, 20-50 percent open space or scrub oak vegetation within 100 m of a ruderal edge, less than or equal to 15 percent pine canopy cover, a shrub height of 120-170 cm, and is greater than or equal to 100 m from a forest. This document reviews life history, social behavior, food, foraging habitat, cover requirements, characteristics of habitat on KSC, and habitat preferences of the Florida Scrub Jay. Construction of the model and its limitations are discussed.
Breininger, David R.↗
A prototype case-based reasoning human assistant for space crew assessment and mission management
We present a prototype human assistant system for space crew assessment and mission management. Our system is based on case episodes from American and Russian space missions and analog environments such as polar stations and undersea habitats. The general domain of small groups in isolated and confined environments represents a near ideal application area for case-based reasoning (CBR) - there are few reliable rules to follow, and most domain knowledge is in the form of cases. We define the problem domain and outline a unique knowledge representation system driven by conflict and communication triggers. The prototype system is able to represent, index, and retrieve case studies of human performance. We index by social, behavioral, and environmental factors. We present the problem domain, our current implementation, our research approach for an operational system, and prototype performance and results.
Owen, Robert B.↗
Development of Human System Integration at NASA
Human Systems Integration seeks to design systems around the capabilities and limitations of the humans which use and interact with the system, ensuring greater efficiency of use, reduced error rates, and less rework in the design, manufacturing and operational deployment of hardware and software. One of the primary goals of HSI is to get the human factors practitioner involved early in the design process. In doing so, the aim is to reduce future budget costs and resources in redesign and training. By the preliminary design phase of a project nearly 80% of the total cost of the project is locked in. Potential design changes recommended by evaluations past this point will have little effect due to lack of funding or a huge cost in terms of resources to make changes. Three key concepts define an effective HSI program. First, systems are comprised of hardware, software, and the human, all of which operate within an environment. Too often, engineers and developers fail to consider the human capacity or requirements as part of the system. This leads to poor task allocation within the system. To promote ideal task allocation, it is critical that the human element be considered early in system development. Poor design, or designs that do not adequately consider the human component, could negatively affect physical or mental performance, as well as, social behavior. Second, successful HSI depends upon integration and collaboration of all the domains that represent acquisition efforts. Too often, these domains exist as independent disciplines due to the location of expertise within the service structure. Proper implementation of HSI through participation would help to integrate these domains and disciplines to leverage and apply their interdependencies to attain an optimal design. Via this process domain interests can be integrated to perform effective HSI through trade-offs and collaboration. This provides a common basis upon which to make knowledgeable decisions. Finally, HSI must be considered early in the requirements development phase of system design and acquisition. This will provide the best opportunity to maximize return on investment (ROI) and system performance. HSI requirements must be developed in conjunction with capability ]based requirements generation through functional. HSI requirements will drive HSI metrics and embed HSI issues within the system design. After a system is designed, implementation of HSI oversights can be very expensive. An HSI program should be included as an integral part of a total system approach to vehicle and habitat development. This would include, but not limited to, workstation design, D&C development, volumetric analysis, training, operations, and human -robotic interaction. HSI is a necessary process for Human Space Flight programs to meet the Agency Human ]System standards and thus mitigate human risks to acceptable levels. NASA has been involved in HSI planning, procedures development, process, and implementation for many years, and has been building several internal and publicly accessible products to facilitate HSI fs inclusion in the NASA Systems Engineering Lifecycle. Some of these products include: NASA STD 3001 Volumes 1 and 2, Human Integration Design Handbook, NASA HSI Implementation Plan, NASA HSI Implementation Plan Templates, NASA HSI Implementation Handbook, and a 2 ]hour short course on HSI delivered as part of the NASA Space and Life Sciences Directorate Academy. These products have been created leveraging industry best practices and lessons learned from other Federal Government agencies.
Whitmore, Mihriban↗
Explaining Health Risk Behaviors in the U.S. with Social Deprivation at Local and Regional Levels
Health risk behaviors are precursors to many chronic health outcomes, and hence, they pose a challenge to public health. Social deprivation undoubtedly creates circumstances that limit access to healthy habits. Moreover, broad regional effects (weather patterns, political ideology, social norms), and local characteristics (cultural notions and barriers, urban places) also influence lifestyle choices and must be accounted for to truly understand the impact of social deprivation on risky behaviors. This research fills the knowledge gap in epidemiological modeling of health risk behaviors by leveraging machine learning to find associations between social deprivation and health risk behaviors, when adjusted by regional and local effects. Four health risk behaviors, namely, binge drinking, smoking, lack of sleep, and lack of physical activity from the CDC PLACES project are considered in a single framework to understand and compare the interplay between local/regional characteristics and seven measures of social deprivation. Our results indicate that local and/or regional factors rise to the top for three out of four risk behaviors (binge drinking, smoking and lack of sleep) out-competing social deprivation measures. Un-entangling the geographical effects reveals that poverty, educational attainment and non-employment are the three deprivation measures most significantly associated with all four health risk factors. The research thus indicates that public health policies to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors must seek to remedy social deprivation, but using socially and culturally sensitive interventions.
Gokhale, Swapna↗
Person-like intelligent systems architectures for robotic shared control and automated operations
An approach to rendering robotic systems as 'personlike' as possible to achieve needed capabilities is outlined. Human characteristics such as knowledge, motivation, know-how, performance, achievement and individual differences corresponding to propensities and abilities can be supplied, within limits, with computing software and hardware to robotic systems provided with sufficiently rich sensory configurations. Pushing these limits is the developmental path for more and more personlike robotic systems. The portions of the Person Concept that appear to be most directly relevant to this effort are described in the following topics: reality concepts (the state-of-affairs system and descriptive formats, behavior as intentional action, individual persons (person characteristics), social patterns of behavior (social practices), and boundary conditions (status maxims). Personlike robotic themes and considerations for a technical development plan are also discussed.
Erickson, Jon D.↗