Background: Endurance training (ET) and resistance training (RT) are known to be effective in improving anthropometric/body composition and lipid panel indicators, but there is an evident lack of studies on differential effects of these two forms of physical exercise (PE). This study aimed to evaluate the differential effects of 8-week ET and RT among young adult women. Methods: Participants were women (n = 57; age: 23 ± 3 years; initial body height: 165 ± 6 cm; body mass: 66.79 ± 7.23 kg; BMI: 24.37 ± 2.57 kg/m2) divided into the ET group (n = 20), RT group (n = 19), and non-exercising control group (n = 18). All participants were tested for cardiovascular risk factors (CRF), including total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides, glucose, and anthropometric/body composition (body mass, body mass index, skinfold measures, body fat %) at the beginning and at the end of the study. Over the 8 weeks, the ET group trained three times/week on a treadmill while the RT group participated in equal number of circuit weight training sessions. Both types of training were planned according to participants’ pre-study fitness status. Results: A two-factor analysis of variance for repeated measurements (“group” × “measurement”) revealed significant main effects for “measurement” in CRF. The “group × measurement” interaction was significant for CRF. The post-hoc analysis indicated significant improvements in CRF for RT and ET. No significant differential effects between RT and ET were evidenced. Conclusions: The results of this study evidence improvements of CRF in young adult women as a result of 8-week ET and RT. The lack of differential training-effects may be attributed to the fact that all participants underwent pre-study screening of their fitness status, which resulted in application of accurate training loads.

Jedno je od glavnih istraživačkih područja u socijalnoj kogniciji životinja kooperativno rješavanje problema, tj. kognicija kod međusobne suradnje životinja. Smatra se da je socijalna kognicija evoluirala zbog zahtjeva koje donosi život u grupama i često se drži adaptacijom za takav život. Analiza socijalnoga učenja, drugoga istraživačkog područja unutar socijalne kognicije, pokazala je da je ta pretpostavka u literaturi prouzročila dva problema. Prvo, postoji pristranost prema testiranju socijalnih vrsta, i drugo, postoji a priori pretpostavka da je socijalno učenje kvalitativno drugačije od individualnoga. Ta dva problema nisu nužno ograničena na socijalno učenje, nego mogu biti prisutna i u drugim poljima unutar istraživanja socijalne kognicije. Primjena slične analize na kooperativno rješavanje problema ukazuje da i u tome području postoje oba problema. Prvo, empirijska se istraživanja provode ponajprije na vrstama koje su socijalne i na onima koje pokazuju kooperativna ponašanja u divljini. Drugo, pretpostavka da se kooperativno rješavanje problema temelji na specifično socijalnim kognitivnim sposobnostima implicirana je u velikome dijelu literature. Moguće je da je to rezultat miješanja različitih komponenti unutar kognitivnoga procesa: koja je informacija potrebna za uspješnu kooperaciju i kako se ta informacija stječe. Dok prva komponenta mora uključivati informaciju o drugome pojedincu, ne postoji indikacija da se druga komponenta mora razlikovati od već poznatih, općenamjenskih mehanizama. Ta dva problema sprečavaju sistematsko ispitivanje razlika između vrsta i ometaju istraživanje evolucije kooperativnoga rješavanja problema.

In an open letter more than five years ago, a group of scientists called for adopting Registered Reports in all journals of the life sciences. This letter and subsequent efforts have yielded some notable success. At time of writing, 207 journals support the Registered Reports format, with many more currently considering its implementation. However, these numbers are still small in comparison to the many journals that rely exclusively on the traditional way of evaluating scientific quality. We, a group of over 250 scientists, want to emphatically reiterate the importance of accepting studies before the results are in. We call for all empirical journals in the social and life sciences to offer Registered Reports, alongside the traditional publication formats.

A prominent vein of comparative cognition research asks which cognitive abilities may be ascribed to different species. Here, we argue that the current structure of comparative cognition makes it near impossible to evaluate the accuracy of many of the claims produced by the field’s empirical research. We base this argument on six observations: i) the field is biased towards confirming more exceptional abilities in animals, ii) a likely high rate of false positive discovery, iii) the persistence of the bias towards more exceptional abilities, even in the presence of strong methodological criticism, iv) the absence of a formal method to assess evidence of absence of a cognitive ability, v) the ambiguity in definitions used to make claims, and vi) the small size of the research field. We then highlight how the widespread methodological and conceptual criticism in the comparative cognition literature does not facilitate scientific progress, rather it can impede it by creating an illusion of scientific rigour. Finally, we call for a reform of our research field that draws on recent developments in related fields and the Open Science movement.

Intelligence in large-brained vertebrates might have evolved through independent, yet similar processes based on comparable socioecological pressures and slow life histories. This convergent evolutionary route, however, cannot explain why cephalopods developed large brains and flexible behavioural repertoires: cephalopods have fast life histories and live in simple social environments. Here, we suggest that the loss of the external shell in cephalopods (i) caused a dramatic increase in predatory pressure, which in turn prevented the emergence of slow life histories, and (ii) allowed the exploitation of novel challenging niches, thus favouring the emergence of intelligence. By highlighting convergent and divergent aspects between cephalopods and large-brained vertebrates we illustrate how the evolution of intelligence might not be constrained to a single evolutionary route.

Recent research has uncovered a developmental paradox within theory of mind. While spontaneous response measures indicate sensitivity to false beliefs in infants before their first birthday, tasks involving elicited response measures of false belief are only passed consistently from 4 years of age. In adults, it has been suggested that these spontaneous responses may result from a minimal theory of mind system, which allows rapid and automatic attribution of mental states to others.It has been proposed that the limitations of the minimal system in adults may resemble the limitations demonstrated by non-human animals in tasks thought to involve mental state attribution. Here we have adapted the specific satiety paradigm used with Eurasian jays to investigate adult humans’ anticipatory looking responses based on another individual’s specific satiety.Although no clear evidence was found for spontaneous desire attribution in this study, it is difficult to draw conclusions from these results given the small sample sizes available and the current replication failures of studies demonstrating spontaneous responses to false belief.

Sport participation is considered as a factor of potential influence on illicit drug misuse (IDM) in adolescence, but there is an evident lack of studies which prospectively investigated this problem. This study aimed to prospectively investigate the sports-related factors related to IDM and the initiation of IDM among older adolescents. The participants were 436 adolescents (202 females; 16 years old at study baseline). They were tested at baseline and follow-up (two years later). The predictors included variables associated with different facets of sports participation and success in sports. The criteria were (i) baseline IDM, (ii) follow-up IDM, and (iii) initiation of IDM between baseline and follow-up. Crude and adjusted (controlled for parental conflict, age, socioeconomic status, and gender) logistic regressions were applied to establish correlations between predictors and criteria. There were higher odds for baseline IDM in adolescents who quit individual sports (OR: 4.2, 95% CI: 1.3-13.9), who had better competitive sports achievements (OR: 1.8, 95% CI: 1.0-3.3), and those involved in sports for a longer time (OR: 1.6, 95% CI: 1.0-2.5). The IDM at follow-up was more prevalent in adolescents who were involved in sports for a longer time (OR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.1-2.6). Initiation of drug use was predicted by longer experience in sports (OR: 1.8, 95% CI: 1.1-3.1). Sports-related factors were more negatively than positively related to illicit drug use. Most probably, the transition from junior to senior level in sports put specific stress on those adolescents who were highly committed to sports until that time, but who then had to question their own sports abilities and future potential in sports. Sport-authorities should be informed on established results and specific public-health efforts aimed at preventing IDM in athletic adolescents are urgently needed.