The association between risky decision making and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms: A preregistered assessment of need for cognition as underlying mechanism

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is related to suboptimal decision making in experimental tasks and to real-life risk-taking behavior (RTB) such as substance abuse and unsafe traffic conduct. In this preregistered study, we tested whether these associations are mediated by need for cognition—the extent to which one tends towards, and enjoys, analytical thought. In a large sample of young adults (N = 463, M_age = 19.7 years), we tested whether need for cognition mediated the association between self-reported ADHD symptoms on the one hand and decision-making strategy complexity on an experimental gambling task and self-reported real-life RTB on the other hand. Preregistered confirmatory analyses indicated first that ADHD symptoms were positively associated with real-life RTB, but the association was not mediated by need for cognition. Second, ADHD symptoms were not related to decision-making strategy complexity, and need for cognition was not a significant mediator. Explorative analyses revealed that (a) need for cognition was associated with higher decision-making accuracy and slower reaction time; (b) need for cognition was related to inattentive but not to hyperactive/impulsive ADHD symptoms; (c) need for cognition was associated with health-related RTB but not interpersonal RTB; and (4) only the association between inattention and health-related RTB was mediated by need for cognition. We conclude that need for cognition is not a mediator in the association between ADHD symptoms and RTB. Additionally, we conclude that neither ADHD symptoms nor need for cognition predict decision-making strategy complexity. Implications for both future research and clinical practice are discussed.     

电视暴力对不同外倾性气质学前儿童社会行为的差异化影响——“一般攻击模型”与“催化剂模型”的理论之争

选取154名3~5岁学前儿童（M=4.11,SD=0.31）,采用母亲报告法收集儿童最近3个月最常观看的电视节目、外倾性气质、问题行为和亲社会行为,对19部儿童最常观看的动画片的暴力性进行编码,考察电视暴力频率和暴力残酷性和儿童外倾性对学前儿童社会行为的共同作用。结果：（1）在预测儿童的问题行为时,电视暴力频率与儿童外倾性的交互作用显著,与低外倾性儿童相比,高外倾性儿童观看较多的电视暴力内容会表现出更多的问题行为,观看较少电视暴力内容也会表现出更少的问题行为,支持差别易感性模型;（2）在预测儿童的亲社会行为时,电视暴力频率和暴力残酷性的主效应及其与儿童外倾性的交互作用不显著,外倾性有显著的预测作用,高外倾性儿童表现出更多亲社会行为。     

Effects of socially appropriate singing on the vocal stereotypy of children with autism spectrum disorder

This study evaluated the effects of children with autism spectrum disorder engaging in socially acceptable singing on their vocal stereotypy. A multiple‐baseline across four participants with embedded multielement designs was used to assess the effects of the singing intervention upon later occurrence of vocal stereotypy for each participant. Results showed that fewer instances of vocal stereotypy occurred during and after singing intervention sessions. Additionally, two children began to emit appropriate singing after intervention, which suggests that the topography of their vocal stereotypy (e.g., monosyllabic or screeching sounds) was altered to some extent. Overall, results suggest positive implications for teaching appropriate vocal behaviors as functional replacements for vocal stereotypy.     

Salient Volunteering Behavior Increases Monetary Risk‐taking

Research finds that engaging in prosocial behavior has many positive psychological outcomes (e.g., enhanced well‐being, optimism, perceived control, and a boost in self‐concept), and research on monetary risk‐taking reveals these psychological outcomes are associated with increased risk‐taking. Merging these findings, we propose that when people's volunteering behavior is made salient in their minds, they take more monetary risks. Making research participants’ volunteering behavior salient by having them recall an act of prior volunteering (studies 1 and 3), choosing whether to volunteer (study 2), or choosing one of two volunteering activities (study 4), four experiments (and a fifth reported in the Appendix S2) reveal increased risk‐taking across several monetary‐risk outcomes (incentive‐compatible gambles, allocation of a windfall gain, and a behavioral risk‐taking measure involving escalating risk). Lastly, when the decision maker attributes a decision to volunteer to an external source, the effect of salient volunteering on monetary risk‐taking attenuates.     

The effect of behavioral skills training on shot performance in field hockey

Behavior analysis procedures have been used to improve sports performance and enhance player safety across a wide variety of sports. The current study evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training on three common field hockey shots, a slap shot, drive, and sweep for young field hockey players. The procedures were evaluated in a multiple baseline across behaviors for three players. Results showed increases in each type of shot once intervention was implemented.     

Analysis of driver’s decision distance and merging distance in work zone area based on parametric survival models: With the aid of a driving simulator experiment

Work zones affect traffic safety and efficiency by changing the road condition and drivers’ maneuver. Therefore, it is important to fully understand drivers’ merging behavior in work zone related areas. In this study, a model framework composed of decision-distance analysis and merging-distance analysis was proposed, which could describe both decision-making and lane-changing process of merging behavior. A road environment with work zone was developed based on a driving simulator, and six scenarios composed of two levels of traffic volume and three different lane-end sign’s locations were designed. Forty-two licensed participants, including 21 females (10 professional drivers vs. 11 normal drivers) and 21 males (15 professional drivers vs. 6 normal drivers) finally completed the experiment. Based on the experimental data, parametric survival models were established to analyze the effects of traffic sign location, traffic situation and driver characteristics on drivers’ decision distance and merging distance. The results showed that: (i) the lane-end sign’s location affected the decision point of lane changing and further affected the merging distance. However, the effect was weakened when the sign was placed far away from the work zone; (ii) merging distance in high traffic volume condition was shorter than that in low traffic volume condition; (iii) work zone posed greater challenges for female drivers as they merged later than males, and females were reluctant to adjust their merging distance according to different gap conditions. The findings shed some light on the future improvement of traffic design and management in work zones.     

Face detection in 2‐ to 6‐month‐old infants is influenced by gaze direction and species

Humans detect faces efficiently from a young age. Face detection is critical for infants to identify and learn from relevant social stimuli in their environments. Faces with eye contact are an especially salient stimulus, and attention to the eyes in infancy is linked to the emergence of later sociality. Despite the importance of both of these early social skills—attending to faces and attending to the eyes—surprisingly little is known about how they interact. We used eye tracking to explore whether eye contact influences infants' face detection. Longitudinally, we examined 2‐, 4‐, and 6‐month‐olds' (N = 65) visual scanning of complex image arrays with human and animal faces varying in eye contact and head orientation. Across all ages, infants displayed superior detection of faces with eye contact; however, this effect varied as a function of species and head orientation. Infants were more attentive to human than animal faces and were more sensitive to eye and head orientation for human faces compared to animal faces. Unexpectedly, human faces with both averted heads and eyes received the most attention. This pattern may reflect the early emergence of gaze following—the ability to look where another individual looks—which begins to develop around this age. Infants may be especially interested in averted gaze faces, providing early scaffolding for joint attention. This study represents the first investigation to document infants' attention patterns to faces systematically varying in their attentional states. Together, these findings suggest that infants develop early, specialized functional conspecific face detection.     

Psychometric adaption of the impulsive driver behavior scale in a Chinese sample

Impulsivity plays an important role in aberrant driving behavior and crash involvement. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Impulsive Driver Behavior Scale (IDBS, Bıçaksız & Özkan, 2016a) with a Chinese sample. Two hundred and ninety-nine drivers completed the Chinese version of the Impulsive Driver Behavior Scale, the Driver Behavior Questionnaire, the Big Five Inventory and some social-demographic and traffic violation items. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a four-factor solution with 20 items yielded a better fit to the data than other solutions. The reduced IDBS showed good reliability and a stable structure. Drivers’ functional impulsivity was positively correlated with positive driver behavior and some ordinary violations. Meanwhile, the other three dimensions of dysfunctional impulsivity showed negative correlations with positive driver behavior and positive associations with aberrant driving behavior and penalty points and fines. Impulsive driver behavior is also associated with agreeableness and conscientiousness. These results provide evidence supporting the IDBS as a reliable and valuable instrument for measuring driving impulsivity in the Chinese traffic environment.     

Mild functional decline and driving performance of older drivers without a diagnosed dementia: Study of leukoaraiosis and cognitive function

Motor vehicle collisions involving older drivers have increased and become an important social issue. It is known that the decline of cognitive function, including dementia, affects driving performance. A series of studies using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and other tests of dementia have attempted to prevent motor vehicle collisions by identifying as early as possible older drivers who may be unable to maintain their driving performance. Further, the performance of older drivers may deteriorate even if they do not have a diagnosis of dementia. Therefore we focused on the relationship between cognitive functioning assessed by the MMSE and diagnosis of leukoaraiosis (LA), or changes in the cerebral white matter, with different aspects of driving behavior resulting from aging. Qualified driving instructors evaluated participants’ driving behaviors on an outdoor driving course at a driving school. Visual search duration and angle at intersections were obtained by wearable wireless sensors. Vehicle speed and minimum vehicle speed were recorded from vehicle speed pulse signals. Duration of signaling and visual searches at unsignalized intersections were recorded using an in-vehicle camera. We assessed instructors’ evaluations and the scores on two instruments to evaluate the effects of MMSE scores and the grade of LA on driving performance were verified. The results suggest that lower MMSE scores and higher LA grade can predict some aspects of poor driving performance in older drivers before they experience dementia or an evident decline in cognitive functioning. Based on these results, we discuss countermeasures that may prevent motor vehicle collisions involving older drivers.     

Factors related to the use of pedestrian bridges in university students of Honduras

Considering that deaths and injuries due to run overs near pedestrian bridges (PB) are preventable events, this research aims to analyze the factors related to the use of pedestrian bridges in students of a public university of Honduras. This was made through a quantitative methodology; 330 questionnaires were applied to a sample of university students. Results suggest that 17.27% of the respondents don’t use the bridge. Most respondents (62.42%) believe it’s faster to cross the street and that using the bridge is tiresome (79.90%). Pedestrian bridges are also considered to be unsafe places, prone to robberies. Pearson’s r coefficient determined that this belief is significantly associated with the perception of cleanliness, quality of the infrastructure and illumination. There is a correlation between stress and considering the use of the bridge as a tiresome activity. A logistic regression model determined that significant variables explained the use of the PB included: being in a hurry, believing it’s faster to cross the street, thinking that PBs have a bad infrastructure, laziness and thinking that using the PB is tiresome, all of them reducing the chance that someone will use the bridge. On the other hand, non-significant variables in the model included: age, considering that using the PB is stressful, thinking that crossing the street is stressful, thinking PBs have good illumination. Safety related variables were not able to discriminate between users and non-users. These results are discussed in the light of previous research and their implication for public policy and future research.