Delay discounting, risk-taking, and rejection sensitivity among individuals with Internet and Video Gaming Disorders

Background and aims There is a previous evidence for impulsivity in individuals with Internet and Video Gaming Disorders. The aim of this study was to examine whether Internet and video game addictions are associated with experiential delay discounting, risk-taking, and sensitivity to social rejection using computerized tasks and questionnaires. Methods Twenty participants (mean age 24, SD = 1.55) with high score on the Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire (POGQ) were compared with 20 participants (mean age 24.8, SD = 1.34) with low score on the POGQ. They performed on computerized Balloon Analog Risk Task and Experiential Delay discounting Task (EDT), and filled in the sensitivity to social rejection questionnaire. Results Participants with high POGQ scores had lower measures of delay discounting, higher measures of risk-taking, and higher measures of sensitivity to social rejection compared with participants with low POGQ scores. Discussion The results of this study support the previous evidence of risk-taking and provide new evidence for difficulties in delay discounting and sensitivity to social rejection among those who score high on Internet and video games. Conclusions The results suggest that Internet- and video game-addicted individuals seek immediate gratification and cannot wait for later reward. Furthermore, these individuals spend time in the virtual world, where they feel safe, and avoid social interactions presumably due to fears of social rejection

Implicit and explicit attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women among heterosexual undergraduate and graduate psychology and nursing students

ObjectivesTo examine implicit and explicit attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women among heterosexual undergraduate and graduate psychology and nursing students.MethodsImplicit attitudes were measured via the Implicit Association Test and explicit attitudes via the Attitudes Toward Lesbian Women and Gay questionnaire.Main resultsAll groups held negative implicit attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women. Among undergraduates, nursing students reported holding more negative explicit attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women than psychology students.ConclusionThe curricula in both nursing and psychology studies need to address the medical and paramedical needs and issues of sexual minorities

Exploring the production effect in memory reveals a balanced bilingual advantage

Background: The term “bilingual advantage” refers to the cognitive and psychological benefits associated with being bilingual (or multilingual). The characteristics of this advantage are not unanimously agreed upon in the literature, and some even doubt it exists. The heterogeneity of the bilingual population may explain this inconsistency. Hence, it is important to identify different subgroups of bilinguals and characterize their cognitive performance. The current study focuses on the production effect, a well-established memory phenomenon, in bilingual young adults differing in their Hebrew and English proficiency levels, and the possible balanced bilingual advantage. Aims: (1) To evaluate the production effect in three groups of bilingual participants: English-dominant bilinguals, Hebrew-dominant bilinguals, and balanced bilinguals, and (2) to examine whether memory advantage depends on varying degrees of bilingualism. Methods: 121 bilingual young adults who speak English and Hebrew at different levels participated. All learned lists of familiar words, in English and Hebrew, half by reading aloud and half by silent reading, followed by free recall tests. Results and Discussion: As expected, a production effect (better memory for aloud words than for silent words) was found for all groups, in both languages. Balanced bilinguals remembered more words than did dominant participants, demonstrating a memory advantage in both languages. These findings support the hypothesis that the presence of cognitive advantage in bilingualism depends on the acquisition of a good proficiency level in each of the languages, with direct implications for family language policy and bilingual education

Evaluation of a fragrance system to counter sleepiness at the wheel

Driver fatigue is a major cause of car accidents, and the prevention of fatigue is a major goal in the automotive industry. To reach the goal of zero traffic-accident fatalities, developing innovative solutions to prevent fatigue is a key objective. Solutions for fatigue countermeasures during driving have not yet reached a satisfactory level for effectiveness and safety. The most effective ones, such as taking a break and napping, are highly intrusive in the sense that they require you to stop the vehicle or shift drivers. In the current study, the possibility of using odors to counter driver fatigue has been explored. In this proof-of-concept study, the aim was to investigate if a fragrance system incorporating trigeminal components can have an alerting effect on sleepy drivers. The goal of the project was to provide enough evidence to determine whether the alerting fragrance is effective enough to justify further development and integration of the product into vehicles. The fragrance was tested on 21 healthy but sleep-deprived individuals while they performed a driving task in a simulator. We investigated whether the fragrance system had a measurable effect on subjective sleepiness, objective signs of fatigue and driving performance and attention.Trötthet hos förare är en viktig orsak till bilolyckor, och att förebygga trötthet och att hantera trötthet när den uppstår är ett viktigt mål inom bilindustrin. För att nå nollvisionen om noll dödsfall i trafikolyckor är utveckling av innovativa lösningar för att förebygga trötthet ett centralt mål. De motåtgärder som finns i dagsläget för att minska trötthet hos bilförare är inte tillräckligt effektivitet och säkra. De mest effektiva åtgärderna, som att stanna fordonet och ta en tupplur är mycket opraktiska eftersom de kräver att du avbryter din resa eller byter förare. I det här projektet har möjligheten att använda dofter för att motverka trötthet hos förare undersökts. Tidigare forskning har funnit att specifika doftämnen har uppiggande effekter och vissa substanser kan väcka personer från både lätt och djupare sömn. I denna studie var syftet att undersöka om ett doftsystem kan ha en uppiggande effekt på sömniga förare. Målet med projektet var att utföra tester i en kontrollerad miljö för att avgöra om den aktiva doften är tillräckligt effektiv för att motivera ytterligare utveckling och integration av produkten i fordon. Doften testades på 21 friska men sömndepriverade individer medan de utförde en köruppgift i en simulator. Vi undersökte om doftsystemet hade en mätbar effekt på subjektiv sömnighet, objektiva tecken på trötthet samt körförmåga och uppmärksamhet.Traffic safety and automated vehicles (TSAF