Brain Activity in the Play of Dominant Strategy and Mixed Strategy Games

We conjecture that the thought processes used to solve dominant strategy games and mixed strategy games are quite distinct. Two-person games with dominant strategies can be treated as simple decision problems that involve no assessment of one's partner. By contrast, two-person games with mixed strategies require that one think about one's partner. We measure differences in electroencephalogram (EEG) activity while a human subject is playing two-person games. We time-lock the EEG to a common event and use the average across many trials and subjects to find an Event Related Potential (ERP) associated with the common event. The ERP is the brain's response to events—in this case our different games. Our findings lend modest support for the idea that subjects respond to types of games differently.     

Effects of dialect on merger perception: ERP and behavioral correlates

Native speakers of a language are often unable to consciously perceive, and have altered neural responses to, phonemic contrasts not present in their language. This study examined whether speakers of dialects of the same language with different phoneme inventories also show measurably different neural responses to contrasts not present in their dialect. Speakers with (n=11) and without (n=11) an American English I/E (pin/pen) vowel merger in speech production were asked to discriminate perceptually between minimal pairs of words that contrasted in the critical vowel merger and minimal pairs of control words while their event-related potential (ERPs) were recorded. Compared with unmerged dialect speakers, merged dialect speakers were less able to make behavioral discriminations and exhibited a reduced late positive ERP component (LPC) effect to incongruent merger vowel stimuli. These results indicate that between dialects of a single language, the behavioral response differences may reflect neural differences related to conscious phonological decision processes.     

The Institute of Medicine's report on non-heart-beating organ transplantation

In December 1997, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report on medical and ethical issues in the procurement of non-heart-beating organ donors. This report had been requested in May 1997 by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). We will here describe the genesis of the IOM report, the medical and moral concerns that led the DHHS to sponsor it, the process of producing it, and its conclusions. The analyses, findings, and recommendations of the report are also reviewed, in particular the central issues that led to suggestions for policy changes.     

Sensation seeking, television viewing motives, and home television viewing patterns

This study examined the relationships between sensation seeking and television viewing motives and home TV viewing preferences. A total of 189 participants completed a sensation seeking scale, rated the importance of several global television viewing motives, and indicated viewing frequency for 18 categories of TV programming. Findings indicated that, contrary to previously-reported results, high sensation seekers did not watch less television or rate it as less important in their lives compared to low sensation seekers. Sensation seekers did, however, indicate several program viewing preferences. Compared to low sensation seekers, high sensation seekers watched more music videos, daytime talk shows, stand-up comedy programs, documentaries, and animated cartoons; they watched fewer newscasts and drama series. Findings are discussed in terms of selective exposure processes and social-environmental influences on behavioral manifestations of sensation seeking.     

Personality Correlates of Psychological Flow States in Videogame Play

Psychological flow states experienced during videogame play was the topic of this study. Flow is defined as a pleasurable, immersive state experienced when engaged in a challenging task for which one has requisite skills, and has been suggested as the primary reward of videogame play. One hundred eighty-five adult videogame players completed a survey of videogaming patterns, experiences of flow states during videogaming, and a measure of personality traits. Results indicate that individual dimensions of flow were reported as moderately frequent during videogaming, and showed strong coherence in a factor analysis. Personality traits reflecting a high need to learn and low need for activity predicted weekly videogaming hours in a path analysis model. Traits reflecting high need to learn, high need to compete, and low need for activity predicted frequency of videogaming flow experiences. Participant sex predicted flow as well, favoring males. Weekly videogaming hours modestly predicted frequency of flow experiences in a positive direction. Results are generally consistent with previous research on trait and motivational predictors of videogaming as well as supporting theoretical proposals about game-induced flow experiences.     

Domain general mechanisms account for imagined transformations of whole body perspective

Three experiments investigated the contribution of domain general processes to imagined transformations of whole body perspective. In a task where participants make left–right judgements about a schematic human figure, reaction times made from the point of view of the figure are longer when the figure does not share the same spatial orientation as the participant and are substantially longer than those made from the participant's own point of view. These phenomena have been attributed to a specialised mechanism for imagined perspective transformations. In the present experiments, the effect of orientation on performance was influenced by factors that affect spatial stimulus–response (S–R) compatibility; it was attenuated with reduced dimensional overlap and reversed by crossed S–R mappings. Performance in a control experiment in which no figure was present suggests that processes moderating S–R mappings may account for the effect of adopting another's point of view. Our findings demonstrate a role for domain general processes in imagined transformations of whole body perspective, imply that egocentric codes for spatial relationships within visually presented bodies are automatically generated, and undermine evidence for a specialised mechanism for imagined perspective transformations.     

Frontal deficits in alcoholism: an ERP study

Alcoholism is a major health problem afflicting people all over the world. Understanding the neural substrates of this addictive disorder may provide the basis for effective interventions. So-called "executive processes" play a role in cognitive functions like attention and working memory, and appear to be disrupted in alcoholism (Noel et al., 2001). Event related potentials (ERPs) provide an excellent, minimally invasive technique for exploring these neural deficits. The current study used the P300 in number sequencing task (modified version of the Petries & Milner, 1982) requiring working memory to compare a group of patients with alcoholism and frontal lobe lesions to patients with subcortical lesions and normal controls to assess the relationship of alcoholism to frontal lobe damage. The ERP paradigm was a Number Sequencing task. Electrophysiological results indicate that the frontal lesion group had significant P300 amplitude reduction and a similar trend for alcohol dependent group but not the subcortical group compared to the normal controls.     

Emancipatory education versus school-based prevention in African American communities

Schools have become strategic settings for the work of community psychologists. In a review of 177 primary prevention programs for children and adolescents, Durlak and Wells (1997) found that 129 (72.9%) were based in schools. The literature in community psychology describes many school-based prevention programs targeting problems such as substance abuse, school maladjustment, delinquency, and violence (e.g. C. A. Mason, A. M. Cauce, L. Robinson & G. W. Harper, 1999). A large number of these programs are based in schools in African American communities and include social–cognitive, decision making, affective education, and other skills-building modules along with direct instruction. In this paper, it is argued that ideas from emancipatory education (e.g. Freire, 1998) and African-centered education (e.g. H. Madhubuti & S. Madhubuti, 1994; M. J. Shujaa, 1995) should guide school-based interventions in communities of people of African descent. There is an extensive and distinguished history of emancipatory schools and school-based programs in African American communities. Included in this history are the freedom schools during reconstruction, the SNCC Freedom Schools, the Liberation Schools of the Black Panther Party, the Malcolm X Academy in Detroit, Sankofa Shule in Lansing, the Institute for Positive Education/New Concept Development Center in Chicago, the Benjamin E. Mays Institute in Hartford, and the schools affiliated with the Council of Independent Black Institutions (CIBI) to name just a few. This paper will first provide a brief, critical review of the role of schools and social oppression. Second, primary prevention programs in communities of people of African descent will be examined, questioning some of the dominant methods and assumptions. Next, underlying assumptions about relationships between African identity, educational success, and healthy outcomes for young people will be addressed. This will be followed by a discussion of African-centered emancipatory education, focusing specifically on the role of students as agents of social change and the importance of critical reflection on African cultural resources. The Benjamin E. Mays Institute will be presented as an example of how ideas from an African-centered emancipatory approach to education have been incorporated within a school serving a community of people of African descent in Hartford, Connecticut.