Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Agency matters! Social preferences in the three-person ultimatum game
The young field of "neureconomics" has shown that humans have a well-developed, innate sense of justice, presumably due to our evolutionary history as social animals. Johanna Alexopoulos and colleagues from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, here show that two key variables determine whether we feel that a reward has been fairly distributed: how much we received compared to our peers, and how much influence we had over the distribution. Volunteers who were allowed to determine how a small monetary reward should be distributed exhibited community-level thinking: they felt rewarded themselves as long as either they or their peers received a reasonable sum of money, even if some received more than others. In contrast, people without influence over the distribution only cared about fairness towards themselves, and felt rewarded when influential peers were "punished" by receiving less than others. The researchers conclude that the way we feel about others and our perception of injustice both depend on how much power we have.
Researcher contact:
Johanna Alexopoulos
Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy
Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Email: johanna.alexopoulos@meduniwien.ac.at
URL: http://www.frontiersin.org/Human_Neuroscience/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00312/abstract
Frontiers in Immunology
Control of uterine microenvironment by Foxp3+ cells facilitates embryo implantation
With methods ranging from ceremonies in honor of fertility gods to in vitro fertilization, humans have always tried to promote a successful pregnancy. Implantation, the moment when an embryo inserts into the lining of the uterus, marks the start of a prolonged physiological relationship between mother and offspring. This relationship is critically dependent on the correct balance between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses by the mother. Together with the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and two Portuguese institutions, Ana Zenclussen and colleagues from the Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg here report that so-called regulatory T cells, a type of cells responsible for maintaining immune tolerance and avoiding autoimmunity, are critical for successful implantation. Female mice without regulatory T cells showed impaired implantations with infiltration of inflammatory cells into the uterine lining, resulting in inflammation. Without regulatory T cells, the uterus thus becomes a hostile environment for the fetus. These results may in due course help to overcome infertility in humans, the study concludes.
Researcher contact:
Ana C. Zenclussen
Department of Experimental Obstetrics and Gynecology
Otto von Guericke University, Germany
E-mail: ana.zenclussen@med.ovgu.de
URL: http://www.frontiersin.org/Mucosal_Immunity/10.3389/fimmu.2013.00158/abstract
Frontiers in Psychology
Speech versus singing: Infants choose happier sounds
Mothers around the world regulate the emotions of their babies by body contact and by talking and singing to them. Mariève Corbeil and colleagues at the University of Montreal, Canada, asked whether babies prefer to listen to speech, a type of sound with obvious social significance, or to song, a type of sound that is universally attractive but whose social significance remains unclear. When babies between 4 and 13 were given the choice between listening to speech and song in an unfamiliar language, they listened longer to the stimulus that sounded happier, irrespective of whether this was speech or song. For example, infants listened equally long to joyfully spoken and sung versions of a Turkish children's song, but they listened longer when the lyrics of the song were sung joyfully than when spoken in an emotionally neutral manner.
Researcher contact:
Mariève Corbeil
International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS)
University of Montreal
Email: marieve.corbeil@umontreal.ca
URL: http://www.frontiersin.org/Emotion_Science/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00372/abstract
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