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In evolutionary biology, a spandrel is a phenotypic trait that is a byproduct of the evolution of some other characteristic, rather than a direct product of adaptive selection. Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin brought the term into biology in their 1979 paper " The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the ...
For example, a circle swept along a straight axis would define a cylinder (see Figure). A rectangle swept along a straight axis would define a "brick" (see Figure). Four dimensions with contrastive values (i.e., mutually exclusive values) define the current set of geons (see Figure): Shape of cross section: round vs. straight.
Contour plowing or contour farming is the farming practice of plowing and/or planting across a slope following its elevation contour lines. These contour line furrows create a water break, reducing the formation of rills and gullies during heavy precipitation and allowing more time for the water to settle into the soil. [ 1 ]
Kanizsa's triangle: These spatially separate fragments give the impression of a bright white triangle, defined by a sharp illusory contour, occluding three black circles and a black-outlined triangle. Illusory contours or subjective contours are visual illusions that evoke the perception of an edge without a luminance or color change across ...
An example of this would be the map in primary visual cortex (V1). Second-order representations, also known as a field discontinuity map, are maps that are organized such that it appears that a discontinuity has been introduced in either the visual field or the retina. The maps in V2 and other extrastriate cortex are second-order ...
This schema constitutes a basic framework of the overlapping behavioural fields of ethology, behavioural ecology, comparative psychology, sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, and anthropology. Julian Huxley identified the first three questions. Niko Tinbergen gave only the fourth question, as Huxley's questions failed to distinguish between ...
In biology, optimality models are a tool used to evaluate the costs and benefits of different organismal features, traits, and characteristics, including behavior, in the natural world. This evaluation allows researchers to make predictions about an organism's optimal behavior or other aspects of its phenotype .
Mainstream evolutionary psychology grew out of earlier movements which applied the principles of evolutionary biology to understand the mind and behavior such as sociobiology, ethology, and behavioral ecology, [5] differing from these earlier approaches by focusing on identifying psychological adaptations rather than adaptive behavior. [20]