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Automated vehicles (AVs) are expected to improve traffic flow efficiency and safety. The deployment of AVs on motorways is expected to be the first step in their implementation. One of the main concerns is how human drivers will interact with AVs. Dedicating specific lanes to AVs have been suggested as a possible solution. However, there is still a lack of evidence-based research on the consequence of dedicated lanes for AVs on human drivers’ behavior. To bridge this research gap, a driving simulator experiment was conducted to investigate the behavior of human drivers exposed to different road design configurations of dedicated lanes on motorways. The experiment sample consisted of 34 (13 female) licensed drivers in the age range of 20–30. A repeated measures ANOVA was applied, which revealed that the type of separation between the dedicated lane and the other lanes has a significant influence on the behavior of human drivers driving in the proximity of AV platoons. Human drivers maintained a significantly lower time headway (THW) when driving in the proximity of a continuous access dedicated lane as compared to a limited-access dedicated lane with a guardrail separation for AV platoons. A similar result was found for the limited-access dedicated lane in comparison to the limited-access dedicated lane with guardrail separation. Moreover, the results regarding the empirical relationships between THW and sociodemographic variables indicate a significant THW difference between males and females as well as a significant inverse relationship between THW and the years of driving experience.

The present study has investigated relationships between cyclists’ safety equipment use, crash involvement, and other safety relevant behavior. The main focus is on relationships that indicate either behavioral adaptation (safety equipment use leads to riskier behavior) or precautionary behavior (safety equipment is used for cycling in risky situations). Three consecutive surveys were conducted in 2015, 2016, and 2017 years among 650 Norwegian cyclists. Most items were dichotomized and analyzed with logistic regression models. In contrast to the behavioral adaptation hypothesis, regular use of safety equipment (bicycle lights, high-visibility clothing, and helmets) was found to be negatively related to some types of high-risk behavior (listening to music and taking chances while cycling). Regular use of bicycle lights and high-visibility clothing is also negatively related to collision involvement. Safety equipment use was found to be positively related to regular winter cycling and cycling in mixed traffic (not on sidewalks), and it is most likely used as a precautionary measure in such situations. Some cyclists learn from crash involvement by starting to use safety equipment after a crash, but the results do not indicate that crash involvement deters from cycling. The main conclusion from the study is that recommending, promoting or even mandating safety equipment for cyclists can be expected to improve safety and that behavioral adaptation is not likely to occur, at least not to an extent that will outweigh the positive safety effects. The results do not support reservations against the use of “sporty” (well-equipped) models in campaigns for promoting cycling.

Sandy beaches are severely under-represented in the literature on climate-change ecology, yet different lines of evidence suggest that the macrofauna inhabiting these narrow and dynamic environments located at the land-sea interface is being reorganized under the influence of this large scale and long-lasting stressor. This is reflected in macrofaunal sensitivity to increasing sea surface temperature, sea-level rise, extreme events and erosion of the narrow physical habitat. However, evidence of behavioral responses by sandy beach macrofauna that are consistent with expectations under climate change is scarce and fragmentary. In this paper, specific hypotheses are formulated for how behavioral adaptations in sandy beach macrofauna are predicted to respond to climate change impacts. Firstly, a conceptual framework and an overview of macrofauna behavioral adaptation features are provided. Secondly, the effects of main climate change drivers on sandy beaches are summarized. Thirdly, a conceptual framework is developed giving behavioral adaptations of sandy beach macrofauna under climate change pressure. The degree to which observations on behavioral adaptations of beach animals conform to expectations under specific climate change drivers (sea level rise, sea surface temperature, winds and storminess, rainfall, acidification and eutrophication) is explored. Taking into account the empirical evidence and the theoretical framework detailed in the paper, emergent hypotheses/predictions are proposed. Climate change drivers are expected to impact habitat features and consequently the behavioral expression of macrofauna as active responses to habitat changes. Behavioral adaptations are expected to be impaired, more variable or disrupted, thus decreasing fitness, causing local population extirpations and potentially triggering a range of cascading effects of ecological change in the beach ecosystem. Biodiversity loss will be the outcome of the negative pressures driven by climate change. The specificity of sandy beaches as narrow ecotones between sea and land may be lost under climate change pressure, adversely affecting fine-tuned macrofaunal adaptations and therefore ecosystem functioning. Strictly adapted endemic sandy beach fauna will be especially subjected to local extirpations, while species with a large reaction norm (i.e. phenotypic and behavioral plasticity) may face changes by dispersal and exploitation of new niches. Under climate change impacts, biodiversity loss is predicted, which would hamper beach ecosystem resilience. The limits to which sandy beach macrofauna responds and can behaviorally adapt to environmental change are worthy of exploration, in view of the increasing influence of the long-lasting climate driven stressors threatening these ecosystems at risk.

Astyanax cavefish are fascinating animals that have survived in the dark over evolutionary times. Beyond their spectacular loss of eyes, their nervous system has undergone many significant changes that affect their behavior. Here, we review current knowledge on the early embryonic and larval mechanisms underlying developmental evolution of the cavefish brain and sensory systems, and which mainly lead to subtle variations in the size of brain regions or in the number of neurons. We also review recent data showing major modifications of brain neurochemistry in cavefish, which are due to mutations in genes controlling neuromodulatory transmitter balance. Globally, a picture emerges to start explaining the developmental and molecular mechanisms of cavefish behavioral adaptation.

The adjustment of our behavior is made possible by a permanent monitoring of our actions. In this regard, the detection, monitoring, and compensation of errors are crucial because response errors are important events that often require immediate behavioral adjustments. A neurophysiological substrate of this error monitoring system can be measured in the electroencephalogram: The error negativity is a negative potential that can be observed shortly following response errors at fronto-central electrode positions. I will provide a brief overview about response or error monitoring, followed by some methodological advice on how to measure response-related EEG signals. The chapter will close with an outlook about the practical value of this central correlate of response monitoring and individual differences with respect to the efficiency of the response monitoring system. I will argue that the key correlate, the Ne, can be utilized in a concrete practical application to predict inter- and intra-individual differing behavioral adaptation.

The largest component of the mammalian cerebral cortex is the neocortex, which has several structural, morphological, and compositional differences that make it a derived mammalian trait. While basic features are shared across species, the mammalian neocortex across species is highly varied due to differences in cortical circuitry, such modular organization and local processing, as well as neuronal morphology and subtype distribution, which likely reflect cortical specializations necessary for behavioral adaptation to a given ecological niche. Such variation in cortical microstructure suggests that rather than large-scale changes in size, cognitively significant evolutionary shifts, such as those seen in human evolution, are likely due to subtle cortical modifications.

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the responses of metazoans as reactions to changed conditions of living. Under conditions of environmental stress, metazoans may display two types of behavioral responses: immediate or delayed response. Immediate responses are neuroendocrine responses aiming at neutralizing or avoiding noxious factors of the changed environment. Delayed responses may lead to changes in the morphology, physiology, and life history of animals. Furthermore, delayed responses may be classified into intragenerational and trans-generational responses. Any drastically changed environment, by disturbing the homeostasis, represents a challenge to the central nervous system (CNS), which is in control of the homeostasis. The study presents neural basis of animal behavior, and neural basis of learned behavior. It argues that genes do not determine animal behavior but that information is generated by activation of specific neural circuits/networks and related fixed action patterns (FAPs) in response to external/internal stimuli. Like innate behaviors, learned behaviors result from the activity of specific neural circuits that often arise in appropriate responses to changes in the environment and gradually evolve into innate behaviors. Furthermore, this chapter illustrates that, essentially, evolution of behavior in metazoans is evolution of the structure and connectivity of neural circuits. Finally, it puts forward an evolutionary and a developmental relationship between behavior and morphology.

This chapter provides evidence of spatial and temporal changes in the behavior of neurons within Areas 5 and 4 of the sensorimotor cortex of a nonhuman primate while it was executing a perturbed arm-reaching task. Chronically implanted electrode arrays were used to record simultaneously from 37 to 58 neurons. Also measured were the trajectory of arm movement, EMG activity in selected arm muscles and the perturbation force applied to the arm. The adaptation in Area 4 neurons' behavior usually involved a reduction in the latency from the onset of the perturbation to the peak-firing rate of the cell. In contrast, Area 5 neurons exhibited no such adaptive change in this latency. In each cortical area, the adaptation was not uniform across all neurons, and the spatial pattern of neuronal population behavior changed over the period of behavioral adaptation. We also found that the direction of arm movement and its configuration were important in determining which control strategy (predictive trajectory compensation or stiffness control) the animal used to overcome the externally applied perturbation for an improved performance of the reaching task.

Publisher Summary Behavioral adaptation and the chemical codes in the limbic system that underlie adaptation are set in ecological contexts in which there are trade-offs between competing desires—food, water, mates, safety, etc. Balancing the set of biological needs is an endless task; homeostatic and allostatic mechanisms are recruited to balance both short- and long-term needs. The limbic system contains both specific and nonspecific mechanisms to achieve internal stability. Peptides within the limbic system are contained in both specific and nonspecific neural systems. Afferent signals (demand or deficit signals-peripheral signals) act to invoke coordinating behavioral responses. The limbic system has a unique role in adjusting the requirements of the internal milieu to the demands of the external world. Appraisal mechanisms to facilitate and coordinate behavior are responsive to a wide range of demands, including recognition of need states, assessment of danger, coordination of drive demands, etc.

Publisher Summary The observation that the adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) affects behavior has a history of more than 25 years (Mirsky et al., 1953). Since then a great number of studies on ACTH, the melanotropic hormones a- and P-MSH and related peptides in numerous behavioral paradigms corroborated the view that ACTH and related peptides profoundly affect adaptive behavior. The influence of these peptides is independent of their peripheral endocrine effects and appeared to reside in several amino acid sequences of the molecule, which are present in the moiety ACTH 4-16 . ACTH and P-lipotropin (P-LPH) are derived from the same precursor molecule. The 31 K precursor is present in the pituitary and in the brain. The nucleus arcuatus seems to be the origin of this material in the brain. The precursor molecule which has been termed “pro-opio(me1ano) cortin” is transported via peptidergic neurons to the lower brainstem and limbic midbrain structures. These latter structures are important for ACTH and neuropeptides. The presence of the precursor in the brain and its cleavage to peptides with marked CNS effects suggests that the molecule following biotransformation modulates complex brain functions that underlie behavioral adaptation. In fact, the CNS effects of the various neuropeptides derived from the pro-opiomelanocortin molecule corroborate the view that it serves the adaptive capacities of the organism.

Publisher Summary The study of psychological problems and the adaptation of men on Antarctic expeditions is important both for the successful running of the expeditions and for an insight into man's behavior in total isolation. This chapter explores the observations made on a group of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) at Davis, as a part of an overall study of physiology, health, and behavioral adaptation. The investigation was designed to add factual data on the Australian expeditions as the Australian research in psychology prior to this expedition had been mainly on the assessment and establishment of selection criteria using rating scales and assessments by officers-in-charge and debriefing-type interviews supplemented by sociometric data. In the study, the medical officer kept detailed daily records for 13 months to summarize the Davis group's adaptation to Antarctic life. None of the men, apart from the medical officer, knew that such records were being kept. The analysis of the data was not begun until the expeditions returned to Australia.

Publisher Summary Wintering-over is regarded as a stressful experience for even the most well-balanced of men. It deprives men of the comfort of their normal surroundings and confines them indoors for substantial periods of time. This chapter discusses the adaptation of New Zealand research personnel in the Antarctic. A total number of 93 people were studied in 5 successive years starting from 1967, before and after they went to Antarctica. 65 people were in winter parties either at Scott Base or Lake Vanda Station for 12 months, and 28 people were in summer field parties for approximately 2 months in various parts of the Ross Dependency. The composition of the two different kinds of party varied according to the functions they were required to perform. Initial data were obtained from the subjects during their training courses in New Zealand, and further data were obtained in Antarctica when they had completed their assignments and were about to return home. Final data were obtained when the subjects had been home for periods of 1 month and 12 months. The chapter focuses on the psychological and behavioral adaptation of men to social isolation.