Strategic truth and deception

We study strategic communication in a sender-receiver gamein which the sender sends a message about the observed quality ofthe good to the receiver who may accept or reject the good without knowing the true quality or the sender's type. The game has infinitely many perfect Bayesian Nash equilibria. An equilibrium refinement identifies a unique class of equilibria that are outcome equivalent to the equilibrium in which the neutral sender always tells the truth and the biased sender adopts a feigning strategy to disguise himself by not fully exaggerating about the quality of the good.Cheap Talk, Feigning Strategy, Strategic Information Transmission.

Heterodon nasicus

Number of Pages: 10Integrative BiologyGeological Science

The modified stroop task is susceptible to feigning: stroop performance and symptom over-endorsement in feigned test anxiety

Some researchers argue that the modified Stroop task (MST) can be employed to rule out feigning. According to these authors, modified Stroop interference effects are beyond conscious control and therefore indicative of genuine psychopathology. We examined this assumption using a within-subject design. In the first session, students (N = 22) responded honestly, while in the second session they were asked to read a vignette about test anxiety and then fake this condition. During both sessions, we administered an MST consisting of neutral, anxiety-related, and test anxiety-related words. Participants also completed the Self-Report Symptom Inventory (SRSI; Merten et al., 2016) that focuses on over-reporting of pseudosymptoms. Our feigning instructions were successful in that students succeeded in generating the typical MST effect by providing longer response latencies on anxiety related (r = 0.43) and test anxiety-related (r = 0.31) words, compared with neutral words. Furthermore, students endorsed significantly more pseudosymptoms on the SRSI (r = 0.62) in the feigning session than in the honest control condition. We conclude that the MST effect is not immune to feigning tendencies, while the SRSI provides promising results that require future research.</p

Neuroimaging in Functional Movement Disorders.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Functional movement disorders are common and disabling causes of abnormal movement control. Here, we review the current state of the evidence on the use of neuroimaging in Functional movement disorders, particularly its role in helping to unravel the pathophysiology of this enigmatic condition. RECENT FINDINGS: In recent years, there has been a shift in thinking about functional movement disorder, away from a focus on high-level psychological precipitants as in Freudian conversion theories, or even an implicit belief they are 'put-on' for secondary gain. New research has emphasised novel neurobiological models incorporating emotional processing, self-representation and agency. Neuroimaging has provided new insights into functional movement disorders, supporting emerging neurobiological theories implicating dysfunctional emotional processing, self-image and sense of agency. Recent studies have also found subtle structural brain changes in patients with functional disorders, arguing against a strict functional/structural dichotomy

The Impact of Failing to Identify Suspect Effort in Patients Undergoing Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Assessment

This retrospective study examines how many adult patients would plausibly receive a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) if performance and symptom validity measures were not administered during neuropsychological evaluations. Five hundred fifty-four patients were extracted from an archival clinical dataset. A total of 102 were diagnosed with ADHD based on cognitive testing, behavior rating scales, effort testing, and clinical interview; 115 were identified as putting forth suspect effort in accordance with the Slick, Sherman, and Iverson (1999) criteria. From a clinical decision-making perspective, suspect effort and ADHD groups were nearly indistinguishable on ADHD behavior, executive function, and functional impairment rating scales, as well as on cognitive testing and key clinical interview questions. These results suggest that a significant percentage of those making a suspect effort will be diagnosed with ADHD using the most commonly employed assessment methods: an interview alone (71%); an interview and ADHD behavior rating scales combined (65%); and an interview, behavior rating scales, and most continuous performance tests combined (57%). This research makes clear that it is essential to evaluate task engagement and possible symptom amplification during clinical evaluations

How to coexist with fire ants: The roles of behaviour and cuticular compounds

tBecause territoriality is energetically costly, territorial animals frequently respond less aggressively toneighbours than to strangers, a reaction known as the “dear enemy phenomenon” (DEP). The contrary,the “nasty neighbour effect” (NNE), occurs mainly for group-living species defending resource-basedterritories. We studied the relationships between supercolonies of the pest fire ant Solenopsis saevissimaand eight ant species able to live in the vicinity of its nests plus Eciton burchellii, an army ant predatorof other ants. The workers from all of the eight ant species behaved submissively when confrontedwith S. saevissima (dominant) individuals, whereas the contrary was never true. Yet, S. saevissima weresubmissive towards E. burchellii workers. Both DEP and NNE were observed for the eight ant species, withsubmissive behaviours less frequent in the case of DEP. To distinguish what is due to chemical cues fromwhat can be attributed to behaviour, we extracted cuticular compounds from all of the nine ant speciescompared and transferred them onto a number of S. saevissima workers that were then confronted withuntreated conspecifics. The cuticular compounds from three species, particularly E. burchellii, triggeredgreater aggressiveness by S. saevissima workers, while those from the other species did not

Neither playing the game nor keeping it real: media logics and Big Brother

Sam Pepper, one of the contestants in Big Brother 11, at one point accused fellow housemates Josie and John James of feigning romantic feelings for each other in order to cash in on lucrative deals with celebrity magazines such as OK! and Hello!. The provocation caused much apparent offence, and led to a prolonged and predominantly rancorous debate about authenticity and inauthenticity, soon extending to revelations that other housemates (Rachel, Corinne) aimed to appear in soft pornography titles like Nuts and Zoo, and as such, ‘couldn’t be trusted’. The clear subtext was that any economic motivation was considered a breach of the rules of the Big Brother game – not the explicit parameters of the competition, but the spirit in which it should be played. Being a worthy winner is a matter of who you are rather than what you do, which raises the question of how we came to know Josie and co, as well as how we come to know celebrity selves generally. If BB has taught us anything about the formation of mediated selves, it is that an authentic mediated self cannot exist – and yet authenticity still matters. This piece reflects on this tension and its implications for our increasingly reflexive media culture

It Ain\u27t Etiquette

...I do not condone coarseness at the table, but its adversary, delicacy, has risen to such prominence that if the Duchess of Tweedleborn were to give vent to a belch, no matter how tiny or how Bacchanalian, the scandal would be earth-shaking..