Nathaniel Dominy, Ph.D.
Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire
March 19 | 1:30 p.m. | Ansari Business, room 106
How did we become the storytelling ape?
Storytelling is a uniquely human trait and it entails a diverse range of narrative forms, from formalised performance to informal anecdotes. It can be fictional or factual, but it always includes an ordered narrative, with characters, settings, events and resolution. In the intent of this talk -- this story -- is to probe and unpack the origin and evolution of human storytellinf, progressing from forelimb anatomy of apes to the need for syntax and control of fire for social purposes. The talk will include new data on the nest-building behaviors of chimpanzees in Budongo, Uganda and from several large fire festivals, including Las Falles in Valencia, Spain and Up Helly Aa in Lerwick, Scotland.
Karen Schloss, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology & Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
Friday, April 12, 2024 | 1:30 p.m. | Reynolds School of Journalism Room 101
Understanding color semantics for visual communication
Visual communication is fundamental to how humans share information, from weather patterns, to disease prevalence, to their latest scientific discoveries. When people attempt to interpret information visualizations, such as graphs, maps, diagrams, and signage, they are faced with the task of mapping perceptual features onto meanings. Sometimes, visualization designs include legends, labels, or accompanying verbal descriptions to help determine the meaning of colors (color semantics). However, people have expectations about how colors will map to concepts (called inferred mappings), and they find it more difficult to interpret visualizations that violate those expectations. Traditionally, studies on inferred mappings distinguished factors relevant for visualizations of categorical vs. continuous information.
In this talk, I will discuss recent work that unites these two domains within a single framework of assignment inference. Assignment inference is the process by which people infer mappings between perceptual features and concepts represented in encoding systems. I will begin by presenting evidence that observers infer globally optimal assignments by maximizing the "merit," or "goodness," of assignments between colors and concepts. I will then discuss factors that contribute to merit in assignment inference and explain how we can model the combination of multiple (sometimes competing) sources of merit to predict human judgments. This work has increased our understanding of people's expectations about color semantics, which can be used to make visual communication more effective and efficient.
Valerie Chalcraft, Ph.D.
Animal Behavior Institute
Friday, April 19, 2023 | 1:30 p.m. | Reynolds School of Journalism Room 101
Applied Animal Behavior: Combining psychology and ethology to improve the lives of companion animals
Despite different evolutionary pathways and social structures, cats and dogs (and other species) develop similar behavior problems which can be addressed with similar treatment plans. Stress and fear underlie a lot of behavior in non-human animals and manifest in similar ways on a continuum. In confinement, natural behaviors can become behavior problems. Several examples of common behavior problems in dogs and cats are discussed as are the basic principles for resolving behavior problems in general.