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Meaning in great ape communication: Summarising the debate (2015)
Journal Article
Scott-Phillips, T. (2016). Meaning in great ape communication: Summarising the debate. Animal Cognition, 19(1), 233-238. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-015-0936-3

Does non-human great ape communication have meaning in the same way as human words (and some other human behaviours)? I recently argued that the answer to this question is most likely to be in the negative (Scott-Phillips in Anim Cogn 18(3):801–805,... Read More about Meaning in great ape communication: Summarising the debate.

An analysis of bimanual actions in natural feeding of semi‐wild chimpanzees (2015)
Journal Article
Forrester, G., Rawlings, B., & Davila-Ross, M. (2016). An analysis of bimanual actions in natural feeding of semi‐wild chimpanzees. American journal of physical anthropology, 159(1), 85-92. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22845

Objective The objective of the current study was to investigate the lateral dominance for a bimanually coordinated natural feeding behavior in semi‐wild chimpanzees. Methods Strychnos spp. fruit consumption behaviors in semi‐wild chimpanzees as an ec... Read More about An analysis of bimanual actions in natural feeding of semi‐wild chimpanzees.

The impacts, characterisation and management of human-leopard conflict in a multi-use land system in South Africa (2015)
Journal Article
Constant, N., Bell, S., & Hill, R. (2015). The impacts, characterisation and management of human-leopard conflict in a multi-use land system in South Africa. Biodiversity and Conservation, 24(12), 2967-2989. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0989-2

Human–carnivore conflict represents a global problem, negatively impacting carnivore populations and local livelihoods worldwide. Game farming in South Africa has increased introducing a new form of conflict due to predation on game, but is poorly un... Read More about The impacts, characterisation and management of human-leopard conflict in a multi-use land system in South Africa.

The role of life history traits in mammalian invasion success (2015)
Journal Article
Capellini, I., Baker, J., Allen, W., Street, S., & Venditti, C. (2015). The role of life history traits in mammalian invasion success. Ecology Letters, 18(10), 1099-1107. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12493

Why some organisms become invasive when introduced into novel regions while others fail to even establish is a fundamental question in ecology. Barriers to success are expected to filter species at each stage along the invasion pathway. No study to d... Read More about The role of life history traits in mammalian invasion success.

Fostering active network management through SMEs’practises (2015)
Journal Article
Powells, G., Bell, S., Judson, E. P., Lyon, S. M., Wardle, R., Capova, K. A., & Bulkeley, H. (2016). Fostering active network management through SMEs’practises. Energy Efficiency, 9(3), 591-604. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-015-9382-y

Managing the electricity network through ‘smart grid’ systems is a key strategy to address challenges of energy security, low carbon transitions and the replacement of ageing infrastructure networks in the UK. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have... Read More about Fostering active network management through SMEs’practises.

Philanthronationalism: junctures at the business-charity nexus in post-war Sri Lanka (2015)
Journal Article
Widger, T. (2016). Philanthronationalism: junctures at the business-charity nexus in post-war Sri Lanka. Development and Change, 47(1), 27-50. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12185

Over the past few years, the role of private sector organizations as actors and investors in development processes has received increased attention. This article explores the rise of ‘philanthronationalism’ in Sri Lanka: the co-development of busines... Read More about Philanthronationalism: junctures at the business-charity nexus in post-war Sri Lanka.

Functional flexibility in wild bonobo vocal behaviour (2015)
Journal Article
Clay, Z., Archbold, J., & Zuberbühler, K. (2015). Functional flexibility in wild bonobo vocal behaviour. PeerJ – the Journal of Life & Environmental Sciences, 3, Article e1124. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1124

A shared principle in the evolution of language and the development of speech is the emergence of functional flexibility, the capacity of vocal signals to express a range of emotional states independently of context and biological function. Functiona... Read More about Functional flexibility in wild bonobo vocal behaviour.

Microparasites and placental invasiveness in eutherian mammals (2015)
Journal Article
Capellini, I., Nunn, C. L., & Barton, R. A. (2015). Microparasites and placental invasiveness in eutherian mammals. PLoS ONE, 10(7), Article e0132563. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0132563

Placental invasiveness—the number of maternal tissue layers separating fetal tissues from maternal blood—is variable across mammalian species. Although this diversity is likely to be functionally important, variation in placental invasiveness remains... Read More about Microparasites and placental invasiveness in eutherian mammals.

Does a peer model’s task proficiency influence children’s solution choice and innovation? (2015)
Journal Article
Wood, L., Kendal, R., & Flynn, E. (2015). Does a peer model’s task proficiency influence children’s solution choice and innovation?. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 139, 190-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2015.06.003

The current study investigated whether 4- to 6-year-old children’s task solution choice was influenced by the past proficiency of familiar peer models and the children’s personal prior task experience. Peer past proficiency was established through be... Read More about Does a peer model’s task proficiency influence children’s solution choice and innovation?.

The ease and extent of recursive mindreading, across implicit and explicit tasks (2015)
Journal Article
O'Grady, C., Kliesch, C., Smith, K., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2015). The ease and extent of recursive mindreading, across implicit and explicit tasks. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36(4), 313-322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.01.004

Recursive mindreading is the ability to embed mental representations inside other mental representations e.g. to hold beliefs about beliefs about beliefs. An advanced ability to entertain recursively embedded mental states is consistent with evolutio... Read More about The ease and extent of recursive mindreading, across implicit and explicit tasks.

Oral Fairy Tale or Literary Fake? Investigating the Origins of Little Red Riding Hood Using Phylogenetic Network Analysis (2015)
Journal Article
Tehrani, J., Nguyen, Q., & Roos, T. (2016). Oral Fairy Tale or Literary Fake? Investigating the Origins of Little Red Riding Hood Using Phylogenetic Network Analysis. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 31(3), 611-636. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqv016

The evolution of fairy tales often involves complex interactions between oral and literary traditions, which can be difficult to tease apart when investigating their origins. Here, we show how computer-assisted stemmatology can be productively applie... Read More about Oral Fairy Tale or Literary Fake? Investigating the Origins of Little Red Riding Hood Using Phylogenetic Network Analysis.

Imitate or Innovate? Children’s Innovation is Influenced by the Efficacy of Observed Behaviour (2015)
Journal Article
Carr, K., Kendal, R., & Flynn, E. (2015). Imitate or Innovate? Children’s Innovation is Influenced by the Efficacy of Observed Behaviour. Cognition, 142, 322-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2015.05.005

This study investigated the age at which children judge it futile to imitate unreliable information, in the form of a visibly ineffective demonstrated solution, and deviate to produce novel solutions (‘innovations’). Children aged 4–9 years were pres... Read More about Imitate or Innovate? Children’s Innovation is Influenced by the Efficacy of Observed Behaviour.

Do Online Voting Patterns Reflect Evolved Features of Human Cognition? An Exploratory Empirical Investigation (2015)
Journal Article
Priestley, M., & Mesoudi, A. (2015). Do Online Voting Patterns Reflect Evolved Features of Human Cognition? An Exploratory Empirical Investigation. PLoS ONE, 10(6), Article e0129703. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129703

Online votes or ratings can assist internet users in evaluating the credibility and appeal of the information which they encounter. For example, aggregator websites such as Reddit allow users to up-vote submitted content to make it more prominent, an... Read More about Do Online Voting Patterns Reflect Evolved Features of Human Cognition? An Exploratory Empirical Investigation.

What is Art? A Pragmatic Perspective (2015)
Journal Article
Scott-Phillips, T. (2015). What is Art? A Pragmatic Perspective. Think, 14(40), 87-91. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1477175615000093

What is art? Marcel Duchamp made this question pertinent when he developed his ‘Readymades’: ordinary, manufactured objects that he presented as art. In this paper, I use pragmatics – the branch of linguistics concerned with language use in context,... Read More about What is Art? A Pragmatic Perspective.

Anthropologists in Films: “The Horror! The Horror!” (2015)
Journal Article
Weston, G., Lawson, J., Blell, M., & Hayton, J. (2015). Anthropologists in Films: “The Horror! The Horror!”. American Anthropologist, 117(2), 316-328. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.12233

ABSTRACT Drawing upon 53 films featuring fictional representations of anthropologists, we explore in this article the popular depiction and perception of anthropology by examining portrayals of the discipline in film. Finding that 26 of the 53 can be... Read More about Anthropologists in Films: “The Horror! The Horror!”.