The present study reports normative ratings for 200 food and non-food odors. One hundred participants rated odors across measures of verbalisability, perceived descriptive ability, context availability, pleasantness, irritability, intensity, familiarity, frequency, age of acquisition, and complexity. Analysis of the agreement between raters revealed that four dimensions, those of familiarity, intensity, pleasantness, and irritability, have the strongest utility as normative data. The ratings for the remaining dimensions exhibited reduced discriminability across the odor set and should therefore be used with caution. Indeed, these dimensions showed a larger difference between individuals in the ratings of the odors. Familiarity was shown to be related to pleasantness, and a non-linear relationship between pleasantness and intensity was observed which reflects greater intensity for odors that elicit a strong hedonic response. The suitability of these data for use in future olfactory study is considered, and effective implementation of the data for controlling stimuli is discussed.

We examine item-specific olfactory proactive interference (PI) effects and undertake comparisons with verbal and non-verbal visual stimuli. Using a sequential recent-probes task, we show no evidence for PI with hard-to-name odours (Experiment 1). However, verbalisable odours do exhibit PI effects (Experiment 2). These findings occur despite above chance performance and similar serial position functions across both tasks. Experiments 3 and 4 apply words and faces, respectively, to our modified procedure, and show that methodological differences cannot explain the null finding in Experiment 1. The extent to which odours exhibit analogous PI effects to that of other modalities is, we argue, contingent on the characteristics of the odours employed.

Addressing the biodiversity crisis requires renewed collaborative approaches. Large carnivores are ambassador species, and as such they can aid the protection of a wide range of species, including evolutionarily distinct and threatened ones, while being popular for conservation marketing. However, conflicts between carnivores and people present a considerable challenge to biodiversity conservation. Our cross disciplinary essay brings together original research to discuss key issues in the conservation of large carnivores as keystone species for biodiversity rich, healthy ecosystems. Our findings suggest the need to promote coexistence through challenging ‘wilderness’ myths; to consider coexistence/conflict as a continuum; to include varied interest groups in decision making; to address fear through positive mediated experiences, and to explore further partnerships with zoos. As wide-reaching institutions visited by over 700 million people/year worldwide, zoos combine knowledge, emotion and social context creating ideal conditions for the development of care towards nature, pro-environmental behaviors and long-term connections between visitors and carnivores. Based on current research, we provide evidence that large carnivores and zoos are both powerful catalysts for public engagement with biodiversity conservation, recognizing barriers and suggesting future ways to collaborate to address biodiversity loss.

This study, conducted over a four-year period at Chester Zoo in the UK, sought to evaluate the impact on visitor behavior and interpretation use that a transition from second- to third-generation zoo exhibit might affect. Visitors spent more time in the newer exhibit (even when allowing for relative floor area) and visitor time budgets suggest a high degree of visitor interaction with different exhibit elements. Specific interpretive elements were analyzed in detail, using quasi-quantitative methods in addition to more standard timing and tracking measures. From this, a proportional relationship between time and visitor engagement is proposed. Areas that were highlighted as under-performing during evaluation were retrofitted with simple, but highly visible, instructional signage and this was found to increase the proportion of visitors that stopped, and how long they stopped in a significant way.

In the past few decades, zoos have undergone a transformation from places of entertainment to centers for conservation, with education becoming a particular focus. Interpretation in zoos is a near‐universal method for delivering education in zoos and has been shown to prompt learning and pro‐conservation behavior change. However, there is limited understanding on how interpretation design itself can influence visitor engagement. Using unobtrusive visitor observations (n = 3890), this study measures visitor engagement of multiple pieces of interpretation with various design “traits,” to provide a comprehensive overview of the key traits related to increased visitor engagement. The proportion of visitors who stopped at the interpretation (attraction power), and how long they stopped for (holding power), were our two outcome variables. From our models, we found that attraction and holding power are most strongly influenced by the type of interpretation, with interactive interpretation seeing nearly four times as many visitors stop, and for more than six times longer, when compared to standard text and graphics interpretation. We also found that location was significantly related to attraction power, with visitors more likely to stop at interpretation in more immersive exhibits. Lastly, interpretation containing images of humans were related to a higher holding power. We hope our findings will be used as a guide for designing interpretation that is both attractive and interesting to zoo visitors, maximizing the conservation education value of zoo‐based interpretation.

We describe four experiments each examining n-back performance for high and low verbalisable odorants. Participants were presented with a sequence of odorants and were required to state if the current odorant was the same or different to the odorant presented two items earlier. Experiment 1 reported superior performance for high, relative to low, verbalisable odorants and was evident despite above chance memory performance for the low verbalisable odorants. Experiment 2 showed that such superiority persisted with a concurrent articulation condition, suggesting that the memory benefit was not a consequence of verbal recording and rehearsal. Experiment 3 employed metacognitive judgments and showed that correct 2-back responses for high verbalisable odorants received more recollection responses compared to low verbalisable odorants. Experiment 4 compared n-back performance across different stimulus types and showed that, for high verbalisable odorants, performance correlated with both letters and abstract shapes, but such correlations were absent for low verbalisable odorants. Taken together, these findings show differences in n-back performance between high and low verbalisable odorants, and show that high verbalisable odorants exhibit performance similarities with both verbal and visual stimuli. We further argue that n-back performance for low verbalisable odorants operates differently to that of high verbalisable odorants.

One Health is increasingly being used as a tool in ecosystem protection. The Orangutan Veterinary Advisory Group (OVAG) is working to address One Health concerns in Pongo spp. (orangutan) welfare and conservation. Orangutans are vital contributors to the ecosystem health of their range areas. Strengthening national capacity is crucial to make a lasting difference in the currently bleak outlook for orangutan species survival. OVAG is a capacity strengthening and expertise network that brings together all those working with orangutans, in‐ and ex‐situ, to share knowledge, skills, and to collectively learn. Using the One Health paradigm embedded to enhance professional development, the OVAG network is successfully supporting conservation outcomes and impact. As part of our adaptive management approach, and to assess individual and organizational change attributable to the capacity strengthening work of OVAG, we evaluated technical skill test data, program satisfaction data, and asked participants to complete a self‐reflective survey. This pilot study of our work demonstrates statistically significant improvements in conservation medicine (t = 5.481, p < 0.0001) and wildlife clinical skills knowledge (t = 3.923, p < 0.001) for those in the OVAG program. Most consider OVAG participation to be either critical or very useful in their conservation medicine decision‐making process, with a perceived positive impact on their skills at handling multiple situations. Additionally, participant feedback shows a sense of being able to drive positive change locally and nationally (within their own countries) as a consequence of OVAG participation. The authors hope the OVAG model including its associated capacity support mechanisms and pedagogical approaches can be used as a template for other One Health efforts.

No abstract