tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/journal-plos-one-8554/articlesjournal PLoS ONE – The Conversation2017-10-25T18:31:46Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/860042017-10-25T18:31:46Z2017-10-25T18:31:46ZMeet the giant dinosaur that roamed southern Africa 200 million years ago<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191793/original/file-20171025-25544-htfgc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kayentapus ambrokholohali footprints belong to an animal of about 26 feet long, dwarfing all the life around it.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Theropod image adapted by Lara Sciscio, with permission, from an illustration by Scott Hartman</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Globally at around 200 million years ago, in what’s known as the Early Jurassic, small and agile two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs called <a href="http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/saurischia/theropoda.html">theropods</a> roamed the ancient landscapes. In southern Africa, we know of their existence from their rare body fossils but also, importantly, from their fossil footprints.</p>
<p>Now our team’s new discovery, <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185941">published in <em>PLOS ONE</em></a>, unexpectedly reveals that very large carnivorous dinosaurs with an estimated body length of between 8 to 9 meters (or 26 feet) – that’s a <a href="https://www.convertunits.com/from/feet/to/story">two-story building</a> or two adult rhinos nose to tail – lived in southern Africa too. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191351/original/file-20171023-1689-2ow4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191351/original/file-20171023-1689-2ow4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191351/original/file-20171023-1689-2ow4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191351/original/file-20171023-1689-2ow4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191351/original/file-20171023-1689-2ow4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191351/original/file-20171023-1689-2ow4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191351/original/file-20171023-1689-2ow4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191351/original/file-20171023-1689-2ow4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Miengah Abrahams, a PhD student from the University of Cape Town, lying next to the dinosaur’s tracks. She is 1.6m tall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lara Sciscio</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Evidence for this massive beast comes from a set of three-toed, 57cm long and 50cm wide footprints recently found in western Lesotho. This is a first for Africa. It places a huge carnivorous dinosaur in what was then the southern part of the <a href="https://www.livescience.com/37285-gondwana.html">supercontinent Gondwana</a> during Early Jurassic times.</p>
<p>Until this discovery, theropod dinosaurs were thought to be considerably smaller, at three to five metres in body length, during the Early Jurassic. </p>
<p>There has only been one other report of large carnivorous dinosaurs occurring as early as 200 million years ago. This also came from fossil footprint evidence in Poland’s <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/244483002_Slady_wielkich_teropodow_z_wczesnojurajskich_osadow_Gor_Swietokrzyskich_in_Polish_with_English_abstract">Holy Cross Mountains</a>. Such giants are rare. The iconic and enormous (about 12 metres long) <em>Tyrannosaurus</em>, for instance, only emerged around 128 million years later during the <a href="https://animals.howstuffworks.com/dinosaurs/late-cretaceous-period.htm">Late Cretaceous</a>. </p>
<p>The dimensions of the trackmaker with the 57cm long feet, although slightly smaller, come close to those of the well-known and younger Late Cretaceous theropod dinosaurs such as <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em> or the similarly huge North African <em>Spinosaurus</em>.</p>
<p>The unanticipated footprint size of this Lesotho giant considerably expands the body size range of theropods in the Early Jurassic. Now the hunt is on to track down more theropod footprints – and perhaps even their body fossils.</p>
<h2>Lesotho’s giant carnivore</h2>
<p>Our <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185941">team of scientists</a> from South Africa’s University of Cape Town, the University of Manchester in the UK, <a href="http://www.fundaciondinopolis.org/">Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis</a> in Spain, and Brazil’s Universidade de São Paulo discovered the 200 million year old megatheropod trackway during recent fieldwork in Lesotho. </p>
<p>The footprints were found on a small dirt road approximately 2km from the National University of Lesotho at Roma (Maseru District) in the western part of the country. They are on a palaeosurface, an ancient land surface that has been preserved in time.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191391/original/file-20171023-1717-heeaf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191391/original/file-20171023-1717-heeaf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191391/original/file-20171023-1717-heeaf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=699&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191391/original/file-20171023-1717-heeaf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=699&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191391/original/file-20171023-1717-heeaf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=699&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191391/original/file-20171023-1717-heeaf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191391/original/file-20171023-1717-heeaf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191391/original/file-20171023-1717-heeaf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Once the dinosaur’s tracks had been identified and cleaned of rock debris, the team photographed and took silicon rubber impressions of them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lara Sciscio</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ancient surface is also covered in the footprints of other theropod dinosaurs. Even their footprint impressions are relatively large (30-40cm long) for the time period. </p>
<p>The 57 cm long Lesotho footprints have been named <em>Kayentapus ambrokholohali</em>. The trackmaker falls into an informal grouping of very large dinosaurs, called “megatheropods”, with footprints exceeding 50 cm in length and calculated hip heights greater than 2 m. </p>
<p>The new species name <em>ambrokholohali</em> was given to identify this particular footprint. It was derived in honour of Emeritus Professor David Ambrose, a now retired professor and Head Research Fellow at National University of Lesotho, for his detailed recording of the trace fossil heritage within Roma. </p>
<p>We were following in Ambrose’s footsteps, trying to relocate one of his documented sites, when we discovered the freshly exposed megatheropod footprints.</p>
<p>The latter part of the name, <em>kholohali</em>, is derived from two Sesotho words: “kholo”, meaning big, large or great and “hali”, meaning much or very. This was to describe its unexpectedly large size. </p>
<h2>Size matters</h2>
<p>The main bipedal predators during the Mesozoic (the “Dinosaur Era”) were large theropod dinosaurs. They included the <em>Allosaurus</em> (from the late Jurassic) and <em>Tyrannosaurus</em> (Upper Cretaceous). But early in the Mesozoic, theropod dinosaurs were usually relatively small (3–5 m body length). Truly large forms of theropods only started making their appearance around 100 million years later, within the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous.</p>
<p>In light of this, the new discovery of these impressively large tracks expands the range of body size for theropods in the Early Jurassic at the very onset of their diversification. But, why were these theropods so much larger than anything else around at the time? An answer could lie in the timing of their evolution. </p>
<p>The megatheropod tracks appear after the end-Triassic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/end-Triassic-extinction">mass extinction event</a>. This mass extinction event was the result of a biotic crisis that significantly affected animals both on land and sea. The biotic crisis allowed for the main competitors of theropod dinosaurs to be completely eradicated. Killing off the competition, coupled with changes in ecosystem composition, probably gave theropod dinosaurs “free reign” to dominate the Early Jurassic landscape and resources. </p>
<p>Another possible driver for larger theropod body size was the increased size of the herbivorous dinosaurs – like the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/nov/10/south-african-scientists-new-dinosaur-species-fossils-sauropod-highland-giant-karoo">Highland Giant sauropodomorph</a> – within the same ancient landscape. </p>
<p>It’s most likely that both factors lead to theropods in southern Africa being able to evolve into numerous forms and increase in abundance. But these are questions we can’t answer conclusively.</p>
<h2>Giant footprints, but still no fossils</h2>
<p>The body fossil evidence for theropod dinosaurs in southern Africa is slim. Luckily the footprints they left behind are not. By studying these and other tracks as well as the bone fossil record, scientists are able to tentatively link footprints to potential trackmakers. </p>
<p>To date, we have no body fossil material to match the <em>K. ambrokholohali</em>‘s footprints. Hopefully we’ll soon discover more unusual footprints and, from there, body fossils that will help add to our understanding of the complex ancient world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86004/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lara Sciscio and her colleagues received funding for this work from the National Research Foundation of South Africa
Competitive Programme for Rated Researches (NRF Grant number 93544 Bordy) and the Department of Science and Technology-National Research Foundation Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences. The work was also supported by the ARAID (<a href="https://www.araid.es/">https://www.araid.es/</a>)</span></em></p>Until this discovery, theropod dinosaurs were thought to be considerably smaller, at three to five metres in body length, during the Early Jurassic.Lara Sciscio, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Geological Sciences, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/747802017-03-22T14:54:43Z2017-03-22T14:54:43ZWhy it’s so important to understand how elephants sleep<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161331/original/image-20170317-6133-ysbvhc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Could this be the world's largest Fitbit?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans and animals need to do several things to pass on their genes: eat, avoid being eaten, reproduce and sleep. Missing any of these biological imperatives leads to death. But when we’re asleep we can’t perform those other functions. One of modern science’s big mysteries, then, is: why do we sleep?</p>
<p>Scientists have suggested many answers when it comes to human sleep. One is for the removal of waste products, another is for <a href="http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v3/n12/full/nn1200_1225.html">memory consolidation</a>. One way to test these ideas’ validity is see how they apply to sleep in exotic animals that are normally not studied, such as the large African mammals.</p>
<p>Research has already shown that larger mammals <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v437/n7063/abs/nature04285.html">tend to sleep less</a> than smaller mammals. So African elephants, adults weighing between 3000 and 5000 kg, shouldn’t sleep much. Recording brain waves is the accepted way to prove when an animal is asleep: features of the brain’s global activity show when the brain is awake, in slow wave sleep or is dreaming (REM sleep). But doing this in elephants borders on surgically impossible because of the large frontal sinus that makes up most of their skull. </p>
<p>To overcome this our comparative neurobiology group at the University of the Witwatersrand, with colleagues from <a href="http://elephantswithoutborders.org/">Elephants Without Borders</a> and <a href="https://www.semel.ucla.edu/sleepresearch">UCLA</a> adapted an activity meter used in studies of human sleep. This allowed us to monitor the sleeping patterns and habits of two wild elephant matriarchs. </p>
<p><a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0171903">The results</a>, published in the journal PLoS ONE, are important for two reasons. By understanding sleep across animals we can gain insights into improving the quality of human sleep and our quality of life. But just as crucially, understanding sleep in animals like elephants helps us to understand them better – and improves our ability to develop beneficial conservation and management strategies. </p>
<h2>The findings</h2>
<p>The device we used provides an output of the number of acceleration events per minute. It could be readily implanted under the skin to measure when the elephant was or wasn’t moving. After observing elephants in the wild, we realised that the most active part of the body was the trunk. We reasoned that if the trunk wasn’t moving for five minutes, the elephant was likely to be asleep – so that’s where the activity meter was implanted.</p>
<p>Combining this with a GPS collar and gyroscope – which measured bodily movements in the <a href="https://my-ms.org/mri_planes.htm">x, y and z planes</a>, we made four really interesting observations:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the elephants slept on average for two hours a day; </p></li>
<li><p>most of their sleep was while standing, but they lay down to sleep every third or fourth day; </p></li>
<li><p>there were nights when they didn’t sleep at all, and they took a 30 km hike; and</p></li>
<li><p>the time they went to sleep and woke up coincided with environmental conditions not related to sunrise or sunset.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_4JGBKr10Vs?wmode=transparent&start=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The secrets of elephant sleep, revealed…</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Existing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1557589">research</a> done on captive elephants found that they slept on average between four and six hours a day. That’s because they have plenty of time to sleep. They aren’t having to go out and find the food they need to keep their large bodies going, they receive a higher quality diet and they are not at any risk of predation.</p>
<p>A large elephant needs to eat around 300 kg of low quality food daily. This leaves little time for sleep. One of the specialisations in the elephant brain are orexin neurons of the hypothalamus. These control the balance between satiety and arousal: if you’ve had enough to eat, the neurons become silent and allow you to go to sleep. If not, they keep you awake. </p>
<p>This balance and the quality of the diet explains the trend for larger mammals to sleep less, or herbivores to sleep less than carnivores and omnivores (like humans). The elephant data supports this emerging idea in sleep research, and helps explain why the elephant sleeps so little.</p>
<p>In captivity, elephants spend much of their time asleep lying down, but they also sometimes sleep standing. With combined data from the gyroscope and the activity meter we found that wild elephants mostly slept standing up. Lying down to sleep only happened every third or fourth day and for about an hour. </p>
<p>Mammals lose tone in their skeletal muscles during REM sleep. So for an elephant to have REM sleep it needs to lie down, as without any muscle tone it is very difficult to remain standing, unless they’re resting against a tree or a large rock. </p>
<p>One idea of the function of REM sleep is memory consolidation – experiences had during the day are converted into long-term memories during REM sleep. Elephants have good <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23728481">long-term memory</a>, but only go into REM sleep every third or fourth day. This suggests that the memory consolidation theory perhaps isn’t the answer to the function of REM sleep.</p>
<h2>Environmental cues</h2>
<p>Some nights the elephants went without sleep. This happened three nights for one elephant, two for the other. Not long after sunset on these days the elephants were disturbed, perhaps by hunting lions, poachers or even a bull elephant <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25091910">in musth</a>. For the remainder of the night the elephants hiked for a distance of around 30 km. This behaviour had never been recorded previously for elephants. It indicates that elephants really do need a lot of space, which is important in terms of elephant conservation – it seems that small reserves don’t give them enough room.</p>
<p>Lastly, the time the elephants went to sleep (sleep onset) and woke up (sleep offset) was not related to sunset and sunrise. Rather, both were strongly related to the “real feel” of the environment; a mix of temperature, humidity, wind speed and solar radiation. It appears that environmental cues are important for going to sleep and waking up at the right time. If we examine this more closely we might be able to adjust human sleep environments in a way to get ourselves a better night’s sleep.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74780/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Manger receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. </span></em></p>By understanding sleep across animals we can gain insights into improving the quality of human sleep. It can also help to bolster conservation management strategies for the animals in question.Paul Manger, Professor of Comparative and Evolutionary Neurobiology, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/635752016-10-24T01:59:36Z2016-10-24T01:59:36ZCould subscriptions for academic journals go the way of pay phones?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142725/original/image-20161021-1773-1om1q8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Should the public pay to read research?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gbsk/4980421657/in/photolist-8A6XQV-8Aa4Jq-8Aa4Lm-bLiMFx-aZWiM8-8A6XSi-8A6Xya-abadYb-8Aa4Pm-8Aa4MN-kkpW-4pp8AA-8Aa4Ub-dsPkpH-4F7Q57-8A6XGT-2od2G-5deFEe-ggwxvR-8Aa4Zd-87FG1B-73AV9v-8A6XKc-iQiXqW-7MQWdB-8Aa4Y3-5aZddG-8Aa4RJ-4GH1DF-4pp8AN-4GH25c-4eUvA4-4GH34B-4TZ58D-4GH5z8-4GMaGS-5PAeF7-4GGZSF-4GH5fp-8A6XEg-4GH3tP-3pXRU-dydt9a-4GH2iM-9bZ5AC-5deFEk-8Aa4WU-4ydeyf-4GH2vP-dJ51SX">Barry Silver</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The cost of academic journals has increased steeply over the past few decades and <a href="http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2016/04/publishing/fracking-the-ecosystem-periodicals-price-survey-2016/">continues to climb</a>. Academic libraries, already caught in an economic squeeze, are finding it difficult to acquire new journal subscriptions or, in the worst case, are even canceling existing subscriptions. </p>
<p>Either way, faculty and students find they are unable to access journal articles that could further their research and learning. </p>
<p>In my 26 years as an academic librarian, I have witnessed the <a href="http://sites.tufts.edu/scholarlycommunication/open-access/the-serials-crisis-explained/">serials crisis</a> transition from the print to the digital world with no relief from ever-escalating subscription costs. Early hopes that a digital publishing environment would lead to lower costs and greater access have failed to bear fruit. </p>
<p>In view of such rising costs and the failure to achieve universal access, a <a href="https://openaccess.mpg.de/Berlin12">conference held in Berlin</a> in December 2015 announced the launch of a radical open access initiative – OA 2020. </p>
<p>The OA 2020 initiative calls for the rapid flipping of the financial model of academic journal publishing. It proposes to replace subscriptions for journals with an open access model funded through fees charged to scholarly authors. </p>
<p>Could such a model work? </p>
<h2>Cost of journals</h2>
<p>Worldwide, the academic journal industry nets an <a href="http://www.researchresearch.com/news/article/?articleId=1355652">estimated US$8.3 billion per year</a>. Most of this income is generated through annual subscriptions. In other words, the consumer – the academic library or individual subscriber – covers the cost of academic journal publishing as well as the (<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-11-03/academic-publishing-can-t-remain-such-a-great-business">sometimes substantial</a>) profits reaped by publishers. </p>
<p>OA 2020 has proposed a financial flip to a model based on what are known as “article processing charges (APCs).” An APC is a charge paid by an author of journal article once the article has been accepted for publication.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142726/original/image-20161021-1788-v5i5q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142726/original/image-20161021-1788-v5i5q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142726/original/image-20161021-1788-v5i5q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142726/original/image-20161021-1788-v5i5q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142726/original/image-20161021-1788-v5i5q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142726/original/image-20161021-1788-v5i5q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142726/original/image-20161021-1788-v5i5q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Academic libraries are finding it difficult to keep up with the rising costs of journals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewphotography/4995623889/in/photolist-8BrSWn-bpCgvC-8Fxgv3-cktvPo-hW9GkX-6qoPNi-4KHMs1-eyiTjs-dwVrNo-4ZUyno-5Emj44-bVpm9T-dY2Z8D-4pmL92-923VJQ-osTWCE-eem4U-iskTFu-96kTx-bUYNFv-bbwByr-5Y64MV-aTkCng-fgPTrW-2UwTw-aVn2eF-82ipB5-WiwuD-dQp8kV-6tQvry-4nj6YZ-4P3LnY-dQuHnG-ajydF-ppsKuz-RcM8t-ghnoDc-7PBmY8-kb9aZB-kcvb9-7LGHx3-qCBt6i-2XUSwK-59LGLq-oJ6VNR-chQiW-bk4t2G-34SFNT-5CNcg-dvNU6a">Matt Madd</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In limited use at present, APCs in most cases are paid for by scholars’ institutions or through grants. Once an APC has been paid, the article is published as open access and is freely available for anyone to read. </p>
<p>The cost of these APCs varies widely: A study that looked at APCs between August 2014 through July 2015 found costs ranging from a <a href="https://www.jisc.ac.uk/reports/apcs-and-subscriptions">low of $240 to a high of $6,800</a>. Half of all APCs fell between $1,534 and $2,579.</p>
<p>The backers of OA 2020 propose that academic libraries cover the cost of APCs. The billions currently spent each year on journal subscriptions could be repurposed into paying the cost of APCs. </p>
<p>In one scenario, the funds could continue to be managed by academic libraries. Libraries would then be responsible for covering the cost of the APCs generated by their campus’ authors – the same way libraries cover the cost of subscriptions for their campuses.</p>
<p>In a different scenario, the funds could go directly to faculty and other campus researchers who would then have discretionary control over their allocated publication funds. In either scenario, publishers would need to price their APCs to cover their expenses plus any profits they hope to recoup. </p>
<p>The goal of OA 2020 is to create a system in which <a href="http://liber2016.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/1400-1420_Schimmer_Open_Access_2020.pdf">90 percent of paid journal subscriptions cease to exist</a>. Scholarly articles published in those journals would then be freely and immediately available to everyone. </p>
<p>For scholars, OA 2020’s universal open access model offers the promise of increasing both the transparency and impact of their research. For the average citizen, it means unrestricted access to the published results of research financed by public funds. </p>
<p>To date, 69 scholarly organizations have <a href="http://oa2020.org/mission">expressed support</a> for the OA 2020 initiative. Most of these, however, come from a small group of European nations. For the rest of the world, including the United States, the open access proposal remains largely controversial. </p>
<h2>Green Open Access</h2>
<p>To understand the controversy behind this proposal, let’s first understand how journals are made available to wider public through open access. There are two main approaches – one approach is Green Open Access; the other, Gold Open Access. </p>
<p>So, what is Green Open Access? </p>
<p>Green Open Access relies on a practice under which scholars deposit their work (typically previously published articles but also preprints, theses, dissertations, data sets, images, digital maps, etc.) into a digital repository that can be accessed for free by anyone. This is a form of self-archiving. </p>
<p>Virtually all green repositories are associated with, and financed by, higher education institutions. While there is no charge for scholars to deposit their works, green repositories incur costs associated with data curation, servers and repository software packages. These costs are most often centrally funded by the parent academic institution while the repositories themselves are typically managed by academic libraries. </p>
<p>Green Open Access repositories have proven popular. The number of green repositories grew from <a href="http://roar.eprints.org/view/year">two in 1991 to 4,249 in 2016</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142727/original/image-20161021-1773-1vvypww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142727/original/image-20161021-1773-1vvypww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142727/original/image-20161021-1773-1vvypww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142727/original/image-20161021-1773-1vvypww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142727/original/image-20161021-1773-1vvypww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142727/original/image-20161021-1773-1vvypww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142727/original/image-20161021-1773-1vvypww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scholars can self archive their manuscripts so they can be available under Open Access. But there are challenges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mckln/3449347231/in/photolist-6fNNKZ-49zLVc-fnVNJ9-iR336y-51ojDi-ffBWir-sq8PQm-sGJaMP-etnbH-51sBff-sGHpY2-pLViJs-bLqrgT-qQW3x1-rvsB8x-b89oaB-sGwK7L-sGHjye-sGwKuQ-qFCyb1-dQBZnU-sq8MLb-sEoX4y-sEoVYC-rKHouU-4iDWss-fLSNJV-hTMkWJ-h5xXrR-q1D5Z1-C3Maa-9v57NB-qfVtq5-4iGCsa-p1fNeR-4jm3tj-qfVt8b-2PPgpE-pmrUut-9v57Lv-nFkFUj-9V6VVX-9Z6Bge-4wD4ne-q1DKb3-q1D6yN-qfVtGY-9v87vm-7Ftqxp-99xekA">David Woo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The model, however, has its shortcomings: It imposes an embargo period before an article can be accessed for free. The typical period of embargo is 12 months unless the scholar has paid an APC to make the article open access from the moment it is published. Embargoes limit access to the most current research. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-U-of-California-s/237044">other challenge</a> has been getting busy academics to spend the 10 to 15 minutes required to actually deposit articles post-publication. Even after more than 20 years of existence, green repositories have done nothing to curb the rising costs of journal subscriptions. </p>
<h2>Gold Open Access</h2>
<p>The other approach is Gold Open Access. </p>
<p>Journals published under Gold Open Access are funded for the most part through article publication charges (APCs) paid by authors. Such journals can be nonprofit (for example, <a href="https://www.plos.org">PLOS</a>) or for-profit (for example, <a href="http://www.biomedcentral.com">BioMed Central</a>). </p>
<p>The chief advantages of Gold Open Access are that there are no embargo periods and no need for authors to self-archive. However, deserving scholars who lack access to sufficient grant or institutional funding cannot publish their work under this model. </p>
<p>One concern with this model has been that a pay-to-publish scenario could marginalize the work of underfunded scholars – <a href="https://www.library.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/Ginny-Steel_open-letter_OA2020-PIF_October-2016.pdf">particularly scholars in the global south</a>. </p>
<p>Not only would this be detrimental for the scholars affected by it, in my view it would be also be a loss for the world at large. Research that could have a significant impact on the health, safety or sustainability of the globe could remain invisible through lack of publication. </p>
<p>And that’s not the only concern: Gold Open Access has led to the emergence of <a href="https://scholarlyoa.com/2016/01/05/bealls-list-of-predatory-publishers-2016/">predatory journals</a> willing to publish anything for a fee, regardless of the quality of the research or the writing. </p>
<h2>Can both models coexist?</h2>
<p>Coming back to OA 2020, it is a proposal squarely in the Gold Open Access camp. </p>
<p>As discussed, under the Gold Open Access model articles are funded through APCs provided by authors. If the financial model of scholarly publishing is flipped from subscriptions to a model based on APCs, all articles could be available to readers for free. This would help realize the long-standing dream of univresal open access. </p>
<p>Of course there is nothing to prevent Green and Gold Open Access models from coexisting. The two are complementary, not adversarial. A point to note is that green repositories are under the <a href="http://legacy.earlham.edu/%7Epeters/fos/overview.htm#repositories">control of academic institutions</a> rather than publishers. So the cost of funding both models simultaneously represents an economic burden that academic institutions may not be able to shoulder indefinitely. </p>
<h2>Is OA2020 economically viable?</h2>
<p>OA2020 proposes taking the funds currently spent on journal subscriptions and repurposing them to pay APCs. Do the numbers add up?</p>
<p>Using a rigorous economic analysis, the team of librarians, information scientists and economists who authored the study <a href="http://icis.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/UC-Pay-It-Forward-Final-Report.rev_.7.18.16.pdf">PayItForward</a> examined the feasibility of a flip from the subscription model to full Gold Open Access. The team <a href="https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2016/08/24/the-costs-of-flipping-our-dollars-to-gold/">found that</a> such a flip might be economically viable and concluded:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Despite higher overall costs to publish, there are scenarios in which research universities can afford a system of APC-funded journals, and even scenarios where costs could go down over time.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Could the market decide?</h2>
<p>Could subscriptions to academic journals become as much an artifact of the past as pay phones and VHS tapes? </p>
<p>There certainly are skeptics. And there are good reasons for their skepticism: For one, the influential U.S.-based Association of Research Libraries has not embraced the proposal. Thus far, only one U.S. institution has signed on to <a href="http://oa2020.org/mission">support the OA 2020</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142728/original/image-20161021-1760-5c7eu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142728/original/image-20161021-1760-5c7eu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142728/original/image-20161021-1760-5c7eu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142728/original/image-20161021-1760-5c7eu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142728/original/image-20161021-1760-5c7eu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142728/original/image-20161021-1760-5c7eu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142728/original/image-20161021-1760-5c7eu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Could the market decide?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/slumadridcampus/5736110401/in/photolist-9JT4Mc-oAo3D9-6DBG3Y-e5FCJb-fiksz9-doNwXT-9AaXbn-9AaXvi-9AdUH7-9VKYFM-bZvRSU-4vMh8G-jdPDJd-9cKPBv-8epoS5-eKpM6d-s4PjWe-dAykep-bQcz4D-o8cS7i-9AdUJJ-9AaXvV-9qk3J2-a5JTh7-FPJVQ-bfVRm4-quU1i8-dxyggs-f27Bu8-k36zt-8Hpynr-q3NEgy-9kxQp9-e4T6Fn-bB5AsA-gSSzpw-DuXEQ4-5T5WZE-9AdU1J-e4YKxW-9ic5yr-9GVZNQ-9GVZKb-8HpsMe-brbLZ2-pSgSkj-9AdUEG-9AaWKK-bFZjNe-9AaWYr">Saint Louis University Madrid Campus Follow</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also, skeptics fear academic publishers will charge such high APCs that the academy will, as a whole, <a href="http://www.arl.org/storage/documents/substituting-apcs-for-subscriptions-20july2016.pdf">end up at a bigger financial disadvantage</a> than it is under the subscription model.</p>
<p>However, in my view, such a fear may be an exaggerated one. The workings of the same marketplace that has allowed academic publishers to consistently raise subscription prices could work against publishers in an entirely Gold Open Access marketplace. </p>
<p>Under the current model, the cost of journal subscriptions is a business transaction between academic libraries and publishers. Insulated from subscription costs, scholars have, as the saying goes, “no skin in the game.” </p>
<p>Instead of publishing without regard for cost and leaving academic libraries to pick up the tab, scholarly authors in an entirely gold open access world will be motivated to consider cost. </p>
<p>Just like any consumer, authors will be able to balance quality (a journal’s ranking) with cost (how much it charges to publish an article) when deciding where to publish. Market forces will dictate that highly ranked journals charging excessive APCs will drive their customers (authors) to publish in lower ranked, but cheaper, journals. </p>
<p><a href="http://madlibbing.berkeley.edu/economic-thoughts-about-gold-open-access/">In the words of</a> economist and UC Berkeley University librarian <a href="http://www.jeff-mason.com/">Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“By engaging authors in the economic decision about where to publish, we will create article-level (submission) price competition between journals and publishers.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The goal of flipping to an all Gold Open Access model by 2020 might seem audacious. But at least some serious conversations have started.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald A. Barclay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The public pays for academic research and then again to read the published results of that research. A new initiative proposes a radical Open Access model. Can it work?Donald A. Barclay, Deputy University Librarian, University of California, MercedLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/418892015-05-20T20:02:50Z2015-05-20T20:02:50ZMost people want to know risk of overdiagnosis, but aren’t told<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82156/original/image-20150519-25400-1dalg0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An independent UK inquiry estimated that perhaps one in five of the cancers detected via breast cancer screening are overdiagnosed. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/armymedicine/14917131905/">Army Medicine/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An <a href="http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125165">Australian survey released today</a> has found a large majority of people report they’ve never been told by doctors about the danger of being overdiagnosed – and an equally large majority say they want to be informed.</p>
<p>This is the first time anywhere in the world the general community has been asked about their knowledge and views on the “<a href="http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1203523">modern epidemic</a>” of overdiagnosis, which happens when someone is <a href="https://theconversation.com/preventing-over-diagnosis-how-to-stop-harming-the-healthy-8569">diagnosed with a disease that won’t actually harm them</a>. Being overdiagnosed means you’re likely to be over-treated, and potentially suffer the harms of that treatment without getting any of its benefits.</p>
<p>It can occur as a result of healthy people undergoing certain cancer screening programs, for instance, and being diagnosed and treated for a cancer that would never progress to cause symptoms or early death.</p>
<h2>Wanting to know</h2>
<p>While there’s ongoing scientific debate about how often this happens, a large <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)61611-0/abstract">independent UK inquiry</a> estimated that, along with saving lives of those diagnosed with harmful cancers, perhaps one in five of the cancers detected via breast cancer screening are overdiagnosed. </p>
<p>Overdiagnosed cancers were defined in the inquiry’s <a href="http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/prod_consump/groups/cr_common/@nre/@pol/documents/generalcontent/breast-screening-report.pdf">full report</a> as those “diagnosed by screening that would not otherwise have come to attention in the woman‘s lifetime”.</p>
<p>For prostate cancer screening, evidence suggests as many as one in two cancers may be overdiagnosed – causing some <a href="http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1216568">public health authorities</a> to recommend against screening for it at all.</p>
<p>Run with colleagues at Bond and Sydney universities, our national survey of 500 Australians – <a href="http://dx.plos.org/10thehh.1371/journal.pone.0125165">published today in global open-access journal PLOS ONE</a> – specifically asked people if they’d been screened for breast or prostate cancer. And if so, whether or not they’d been informed about the risk of overdiagnosis associated with the screening.</p>
<p>Of the men reporting being screened for prostate cancer, 80% said they had not been told of the risk of overdiagnosis. Of women who’d been screened for breast cancer, 87% said they had not been told. Overall, only one in ten said they’d ever been informed by a doctor about overdiagnosis.</p>
<p>Asked whether they thought that, along with the benefits of being screened, people should also be informed about the risk of being overdiagnosed, 93% agreed.</p>
<p>Remarkably, at the end of the anonymous telephone survey, 80% of people agreed to share their personal details so they could participate in follow-up qualitative research on overdiagnosis. Their agreement highlights a public hunger for more information about the issue.</p>
<h2>Expanding definitions</h2>
<p>Another reason overdiagnosis happens is because diagnostic thresholds for some diseases are lowered so much that people with mild symptoms, or at very low risk of illness, are labelled as “diseased” – even though many will never actually be harmed by the disease. </p>
<p>Consider “<a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c4442">pre-hypertension</a>” which is said to affect a whopping one in three adults, or the continually expanding definitions of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (<a href="https://theconversation.com/moving-the-diagnostic-goalposts-medicalising-adhd-8675">ADHD</a>).</p>
<p>These changes to disease definitions, which often expand the numbers of people classified as sick, are commonly made by panels of experts that include doctors who are paid to speak for or consult to drug companies. In a <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001500">previous study</a> published in PLOS Medicine, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-diseases-get-defined-and-what-that-means-for-you-16965">our team found</a> around 75% of these experts have multiple relationships with a median of seven drug or device companies.</p>
<p>In our current survey, we asked the public what they thought about doctors who define disease also having relationships with pharmaceutical companies. This is likely the first time anywhere in the world the public has been asked about the experts who draw the line between health and illness. </p>
<p>Almost 80% of the survey participants thought these relationships with drug companies were inappropriate, and 90% thought the panels should have a minority of members with these conflicts of interest, or be totally free of them.</p>
<p>Public thinking, it seems, is very much in tune with recommendations from august bodies including the United States Institute of Medicine, which have <a href="http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Clinical-Practice-Guidelines-We-Can-Trust.aspx">concluded there is a need</a> for much greater independence between influential medical panels and the pharmaceutical industry.</p>
<h2>Better care</h2>
<p>Like all research, our survey has limitations and we’ve spelt them out in our published article. One of them is that out of all the people contacted and eligible for the survey, just under half agreed to take part, raising the possibility of differences between our sample and the wider population.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding limitations, our survey adds weight to calls to better inform people about the risk of overdiagnosis, particularly those who take part in cancer screening programs. This has <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2960123-4/abstract">started to happen around the world</a>, and is on the cards in Australia. </p>
<p>On the question of conflicted experts, our results suggest there might be strong public sympathy for any professional group or policymaker brave enough to try and bring more independence to the influential panels that decide who is sick and how they should be treated.</p>
<p>Despite the counter-intuitive and complex nature of the problem, preventing overdiagnosis is increasingly on the radar of those working for a more rational and sustainable health-care system. It may help shift resources wasted on unnecessary care to those in genuine need.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41889/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Ray Moynihan is a member of the committees planning the Preventing Overdiagnosis and Overuse meeting in Australia in August, and the Preventing Overdiagnosis conference in the US in September this year.</span></em></p>Researchers have been talking about the dangers of overdiagnosis for some time. But now a national survey shows most people aren’t told about the risk it poses to their health – and they want to know.Ray Moynihan, Senior Research Fellow, Bond UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/246142014-04-01T02:32:46Z2014-04-01T02:32:46ZIs red warmer than blue? What colours can tell you<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44538/original/zxctsymt-1395635514.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Are you feeling warm or cold by the colours?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theophilusphotography/5513868356/">Flickr/Joe</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a typical kitchen or bathroom you often find the hot and cold water taps labelled red and blue.</p>
<p>It’s common practice in industrial and interior design in many parts of the world to present information about temperature by means of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261306909004932">colour cues</a>. People often talk about painting a room in warm hues such as yellows and oranges.</p>
<p>This association of a colour with a temperature is known as “crossmodal correspondence” and has been known about for many years.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44539/original/x6hyrr5t-1395635592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44539/original/x6hyrr5t-1395635592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44539/original/x6hyrr5t-1395635592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44539/original/x6hyrr5t-1395635592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44539/original/x6hyrr5t-1395635592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44539/original/x6hyrr5t-1395635592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44539/original/x6hyrr5t-1395635592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44539/original/x6hyrr5t-1395635592.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Typical hot and cold taps - marked red and blue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/anjum/1093959384/">Flickr/Anjum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But why do we make these associations? Are they learned just because that’s the way hot and cold have always been labelled, or is there some deeper association?</p>
<p>Much of the earlier research on this has been subjective and focused on asking people to rate colour patches or coloured stimuli as being either warm or cool, or by giving people a thermal stimulus and asking them to report <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/imp/jcs/2000/00000007/F0020008/1046">which colour</a> they were reminded of.</p>
<p>We wanted to examine the colour-temperature correspondence using more objective measures, and the results were published last month in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0091854">PLoS ONE</a>.</p>
<h2>The colour temperature test</h2>
<p>We used a number of tests including an Implicit Association Test (IAT). The IAT is designed to assess the strength of automatic associations between different concepts in a given individual. (You can take a <a href="https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/">test yourself here</a> if you’d like.)</p>
<p>A total of 42 people from Japan and Australia were run through one of three experiments. We manipulated the combination of colour and thermal stimuli presented in each trial.</p>
<p>In two experiments, the thermal stimuli were words such as “cold” or “warm” presented on a computer screen. In the third experiment people could feel a “warm” or “cold” stimulus on the skin of their index finger using a <a href="http://www.tetech.com/Peltier-Thermoelectric-Cooler-Modules.html?gclid=CPDDlJXEoL0CFVADvAodbrcAdg">Peltier device</a>.</p>
<p>In half of the trials people were shown congruent combinations (they were asked to associate red and warm) while in the other half of the trials people were shown incongruent combinations (this time they were asked to associate red and cold).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44351/original/jwxbf7bj-1395275834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44351/original/jwxbf7bj-1395275834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44351/original/jwxbf7bj-1395275834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44351/original/jwxbf7bj-1395275834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44351/original/jwxbf7bj-1395275834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44351/original/jwxbf7bj-1395275834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44351/original/jwxbf7bj-1395275834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44351/original/jwxbf7bj-1395275834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The congruent pairing (left) asked people to associate red and warm, blue and cold. The incongruent pairing (right) asked people to associate the reverse.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The results of our IAT confirmed our prediction that congruent pairings would give rise to shorter response times than incongruent pairings. This shows that the speed of response to a colour or a thermal word is influenced by the colour-temperature correspondences.</p>
<h2>A one way effect</h2>
<p>Some of the results also show that this colour-temperature correspondence might only work one way. Specifically, there was no difference in response times between congruent and incongruent pairs when people were identifying the colour of a stimulus in the pair.</p>
<p>But when people were asked to identify a temperature, the congruent pairings gave rise to shorter response times than incongruent pairings. People were quicker at identifying a “warm” stimulus when it was combined with red, relative to a “warm” stimulus paired with blue.</p>
<p>This asymmetrical effect is not unexpected given that colours are often used to indicate temperature, whereas temperature is seldom (if ever) used to indicate colour.</p>
<h2>The colour of sound</h2>
<p>A similar one-directional effect is seen in people who have a condition known as <a href="http://www.sussex.ac.uk/synaesthesia/">synaesthesia</a>. They often perceive numbers, months or even <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16683501">sounds</a> as colours; but fail to perceive colours as sounds, for example.</p>
<p>The correspondences between colour and temperature are presumably based on our natural observation of the environment around us with correlations that are likely <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.3758%2Fs13414-010-0073-7">learnt through experience</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44524/original/hj66b4pt-1395631735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44524/original/hj66b4pt-1395631735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44524/original/hj66b4pt-1395631735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44524/original/hj66b4pt-1395631735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44524/original/hj66b4pt-1395631735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44524/original/hj66b4pt-1395631735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44524/original/hj66b4pt-1395631735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44524/original/hj66b4pt-1395631735.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The warm glow of an orange sunset over the cold blue water – a typical colour temperature association.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archetypefotografie/4280894997/">Flickr/Vincent_AF</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fire and the sun are both warm; hence all the colours of fire and the sun might be associated with warmth. Water and forests are cool; hence blue and green may be associated with coolness.</p>
<p>The association might also be linked to the fact that <a href="http://www.changizi.com/colorface.pdf">our skin</a> gets redder when we are warm and blue when we are very cold.</p>
<p>It’s also been argued that many other crossmodal correspondences are based on natural, rather than learnt, correlations present in the environment, such as <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3485837/">sound pitch and size</a>. Large falling objects usually land with a deep thud, whereas smaller objects are more likely to make a high-pitched “ping” as they hit the ground. The calls of small animals are usually high-pitched relative to their larger counterparts.</p>
<p>So the reason we use red for the hot tap and blue for the cold tap is explained by our objective test. This crossmodal association is likely learnt via our encounters with colours and temperatures that correlate in the natural world. It also explains why we are slower to react when the colour combinations are reversed (such as hot and blue).</p>
<h2>Cultures</h2>
<p>In those cases where the crossmodal association is learnt through experience, different cultures and environments could possibly influence the colour-temperature association.</p>
<p>Our tests were done on people in Australia and Japan, and bathroom/kitchen taps in Japan are tagged with the same red (hot) and blue (cold) as they are in Australia, so our results were consistent for the colour-temperature association.</p>
<p>But in some African countries the association is reversed with <a href="http://csc.sagepub.com/content/1/3/283.full.pdf">blue signifying hot and red cold</a>. Given the natural observed association of colour and temperature described earlier, it would be interesting to see if our test would produce different results in such countries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24614/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Van Doorn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a typical kitchen or bathroom you often find the hot and cold water taps labelled red and blue. It’s common practice in industrial and interior design in many parts of the world to present information…George Van Doorn, Lecturer in Psychology, Federation University AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.