The genetics of New World monkey visual pigments

To have color vision, having at least two cone photopigment types with different spectral sensitivities present in distinct photoreceptors is necessary together with the neural circuitry necessary to extract color information. Visual pigments are highly conserved molecules, but differences can be found among vertebrate groups. Primates have a variety of cone photopigments (i.e., opsins) that are expressed by polymorphic genes. This article examines the diversity of cone photopigments in New World monkeys and their behavioral relevance.

Construct validity of behavioral models of anxiety: where experimental psychopathology meets ecology and evolution

In experimental psychopathology, construct validity is usually enhanced by addressing theories from other fields in its nomological network. In the field of anxiety research, this construct is related to antipredator behavior, conserved across phylogeny in its functions and neural basis, but not necessarily on its topography. Even though the relations between behavioral models of anxiety and statements from behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology are commonly made in anxiety research, these are rarely tested, at least explicitly. However, in order to increase construct validity in experimental anxiety, testing predictions from those theories is highly desirable. This article discusses these questions, suggesting a few ways in which behavioral ecological and evolutionary hypotheses of anxiety-like behavior may be tested.