In the present research, we took advantage of geometric morphometrics to propose a data-driven method for estimating the individual degree of facial typicality/distinctiveness for cross-cultural (and other cross-group) comparisons. Looking like a stranger in one's home culture may be somewhat stressful. The same facial appearance, however, might become advantageous within an outgroup population. To address this fit between facial appearance and cultural setting, we propose a simple measure of distinctiveness/typicality based on position of an individual along the axis connecting the facial averages of two populations under comparison. The more distant a face is from its ingroup population mean toward the outgroup mean the more distinct it is (vis-à-vis the ingroup) and the more it resembles the outgroup standards. We compared this new measure with an alternative measure based on distance from outgroup mean. The new measure showed stronger association with rated facial distinctiveness than distance from outgroup mean. Subsequently, we manipulated facial stimuli to reflect different levels of ingroup-outgroup distinctiveness and tested them in one of the target cultures. Perceivers were able to successfully distinguish outgroup from ingroup faces in a two-alternative forced-choice task. There was also some evidence that this task was harder when the two faces were closer along the axis connecting the facial averages from the two cultures. Future directions and potential applications of our proposed approach are discussed.

• Klíčová slova
• cross-culture, distinctiveness, face space, geometric morphometrics, morphology, typicality,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

This study focuses on the origin of life as presented in the thought of Anaximander of Miletus but also points to some parallel motifs found in much later conceptions of both the pre-Darwinian German romantic science and post-Darwinian biology. According to Anaximander, life originated in the moisture associated with earth (mud). This moist environment hosted the first living creatures that later populated the dry land. In these descriptions, one can trace the earliest hints of the notion of environmental adaptation. The origin of humans was seen as connected in some way with fish: ancient humans were supposed to have developed inside fish-like animals. Anaximander took into account changes in the development of living creatures (adaptations) and speculated on the origins of humans. Similar ideas are found also in the writings of much later, eighteenth and nineteenth century authors who were close to the tradition of German romantic science. We do not argue that these later concepts are in any way directly linked with those of the pre-Socratics, but they show surprising parallels in, e.g., the hypothesis that life originated in a moist environment or the supposition that human developed from fish-like ancestors. These transformations are seen as a consequence of timeless logic rather than as evolution in historical terms. Despite the accent on the origin of living things, both Anaximander and the later Naturphilosophen lack in their notions the element most characteristic of Darwin's thought, that is, the emphasis on historicity and uniqueness of all that comes into being.

• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Independent phenotypic emergence of superficially similar traits is a phenomenon frequently reported from investigations in the whole biota. Superficial similarity (including mimicry) is frequently explained as results of selective forces (predation or external environment). However, the mechanisms underlying independent (polyphyletic) emergence of similar phenotypic features remain largely unknown. A part of superficial similarity may emerge due to the occasional re-activation of latent genetic and/or developmental precursors. A specific kind of superficial similarity is represented by the phenomenon of mimicry that presupposes the attendance of a particular animal-interpreter. Despite diversity of ways how mimetic patterns are generated, they are structurally similar and often bear a common semantic message for an interpreter (predator); therefore, the term "homosemiosis" is proposed for such cases of sign-mediated correspondences where congruence of meaning appears.

• MeSH
• hmyz anatomie a histologie   MeSH
• modely genetické * MeSH
• vývojová biologie * MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH