Summary: Montgomery (2014)

 Many mammals, including primates, play. Play includes those behaviours that appear incompletely functional, atypical, spontaneous and repeatable, and are elicited under conditions of low stress. Play is easy to recognize, but is often difficult to define. Play is primates occurs often, although nonadaptive and adaptive explanations for its occurrence are plentiful. In primates, social play has been linked to the relative size of various brain regions, including the neocortex, amygdala, cerebellum and hypothalamus, suggesting that play is involved in the development of cognition. These structures have also been shown to be involved in the ability to first predict, and then perform, sequential actions, indicative of behavioural flexibility. Using data on the frequency of social and nonsocial play in various primates, Montgomery (2014) attempted to find evidence that could directly link play to behavioural flexibility and/or brain maturation. He found that postnatal brain growth increased with the frequency of play and that measures of behavioural flexibility are associated with the frequency of play. Montgomery (2014) concluded by indicating that the results from this study provide an adaptive framework for play.

Summary: McComb et al. (2014)

An animals' ability to perceive and recognize predators, as well as assess the threat they pose, is crucial for the survival and persistence of the individual and, by extension, the species. By assessing the threat, animals can minimise the cost of retreating if the threat is unfounded, while maximising the time spent engaged in other activities. While most small-bodied animals are faced with a variety of predator threats, larger-bodied species, such as elephants Loxodonta africana may not experience the same pressure from predation. However, elephants and other large-bodied animals are at risk of predation by humans, due to humans increased cognitive ability to hunt these larger-bodied resources. McComb et al. (2014) investigated elephant responses to vocal playbacks of different humans in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. They tested whether elephants responded differently to 1) adult male human voices from two different ethnic groups (Maasai and Kamba), 2) male and female human vocalizations; and 3) young male human voices (boys). They resynthesised the adult male vocalizations to mimic female voices. McComb et al. (2014) found that elephants used more defensive bunching postures and investigative smelling following adult male Maasai vocalizations, compared to Kamba male vocalizations, consistent with the high predation threat imposed by this group of humans. In addition, elephants were less likely to demonstrate a strong behavioural response to female and young boy vocalizations, indicating an ability to distinguish between different vocal qualities. While McComb et al. (2014) suggest that this may be a function of selection in these cognitively advanced animals, with increasing human pressure, it would be interesting to determine whether this is a more general response than expected.

Summary: Atwood et al. (2012)

Increased mortality and morbidity can result from alcohol consumption and high levels of  consumption and increased episodic "binge" drinking incidents are increasingly becoming more of a social concern. Alcohol consumption is sensitive to a variety of factors, including price, drinking age restrictions, hours/days of alcohol sale and number/density/type of alcohol outlets. Atwood et al. (2012) explored another factor thought to influence alcohol consumption - glass shape. They exposed 159 male and female alcohol consumers to either lager or soft drink (7-Up), straight or curved glass and 6 fl oz or 12 fl oz (in various combinations). Thereafter, participants completed a word search puzzle to disguise the true aim of the experiment. Atwood et al. (2012) measured rate of consumption, total drinking time, perceptual judgement of the half-way point of the glass. They found that rate of consumption decreased by 60% when alcohol-drinking consumers drank from a straight glass compared to a curved one, but this was only observed when the glass was full (12 fl oz). Atwood et al. (2012) also found that the half-way point of a curved glass was more difficult to estimate than that of a straight glass, suggesting that glass shape can influence rate of consumption of alcoholic beverages. This could be an effective strategy for alcoholic consumption management.

Summary: Pappano et al. (2012)

 Living in a group confers numerous benefits, such as reduced energy expenditure for thermoregulation (social huddling), increased predator detection (with reduced individual vigilance - the "many eyes" hypothesis) and increased predator defence (e.g. mobbing by many). Hamilton (1971) postulated that groups form because individuals are inherently selfish and grouping can diminish costs associated with living alone. Both De Vos & O'Riain (2010) and Quinn & Cresswell (2006) have demonstrated that the the central tenets of the "selfish herd hypothesis" can hold true in some mammals and birds. Pappano et al. (2012) postulate that this idea can also translate to "social predators" - infanticidal males. They proposed that the impact of a non-breeding, potentially infanticidal bachelor male geladas Theropithecus gelada, could alter spacing patterns of  reproductive units within a group. Their findings suggest that these social predators are capable of causing group spacing dynamics to change: 1) numbers of animals in a group increased with an increasing number of bachelor males; 2) breeding individuals moved into closer contact with neighbours closest to them; and 3) reproductive females associated more with reproductive males. Pappano et al.'s (2012) study indicates that spacing patterns of individuals could offset the costs of potentially associating with social predators within groups.