Risky choice as a function of amount and variance in food supply.

In Experiment 1, 4 rats earned their daily food ration by choosing on a trials basis between a "risky" and a "riskless" lever. The risky lever produced either 15 45-mg food pellets or no pellets, and on average provided five pellets per choice. The riskless lever always produced three pellets. Across conditions, the number of trials per session was varied. Body weight and choice of the risky lever decreased as the number of trials per session decreased, even though body weight could only be defended by increased choice of the risky lever. In Experiment 2, trials per session were fixed, but the number of pellets delivered by the risky and riskless levers was either at the same level as in Experiment 1 or tripled from those levels. Now choice of the risky lever was inversely related to the size of reinforcement and to body weight. The results of these experiments show that risk aversion covaries with the amount of food available in a session and the daily variance in the amount of food earned.     

Neonatal imitation, gaze aversion, and mother-infant interaction

A relationship between elicited imitation in neonates and social interaction has been proposed by several investigators. The present work examines if such a relationship can be found when studying neonatal imitation, gaze aversion, and mother-infant interaction. Thirty-two infants were observed at 2 to 3 days, 3 weeks, and 3 months of age. Imitation of tongue protrusion and mouth opening was assessed in all three observations. In addition, a face-to-face interaction between mother and child was included when the child reached 3 months of age. The most striking result was a negative relationship between the infants' brief gaze aversion observed at 3 months of age while interacting with their mothers and the infants' imitative reactions at 2 to 3 days, 3 weeks, and 3 months of age. Behaviorally, these patterns indicate that high-imitating infants tend to display fewer episodes of brief gaze aversion when interacting with their mothers.     

Aversive potency of urine from dominant and subordinate male laboratory mice (Mus musculus): Resolution of a conflict

The present study assessed the aversive potency of urine collected from male albino mice that had been clearly identified as dominants/winners or subordinates/losers of paired aggression tests and then housed either individually or in a quasi-paired situation in which only a wire-mesh divider separated the two mice. This divider permitted constant visual, olfactory, auditory, and some tactile contact. The responses of individually tested, group-housed males were recorded when half of the substrate in a test box was treated with either water or one of the four urine types; the other half remained untreated. Significant preferences for the untreated half were found when the urine of winners or losers housed in individual metabolism cages or that of pair-housed dominants was used as the test stimulus. On the other hand, neither water nor the urine of cohabiting subordinate males was avoided. The present findings confirmed our earlier reports that the urine of dominant male mice was aversive, whereas that of their cohabiting subordinate partners was not. They also identified Sawyer's [1978] procedure of housing winners and losers in individual cages, with the consequent interruption of social contact as the likely reason for his failure to replicate our reports that subordinate male urine lacked aversive properties. The territorial implications of the aversive factor and other urinary signals are discussed.     

Differential effects of trait anger on optimism and risk behaviour

It has been proposed that angry people exhibit optimistic risk estimates about future events and, consequently, are biased towards making risk-seeking choices. The goal of this study was to directly test the hypothesised effect of trait anger on optimism and risk-taking behaviour. One hundred healthy volunteers completed questionnaires about personality traits, optimism and risk behaviour. In addition their risk tendency was assessed with the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), which provides an online measure of risk behaviour. Our results partly confirmed the relation between trait anger and outcome expectations of future life events, but suggest that this optimism does not necessarily translate into actual risk-seeking behaviour.     

Physical risk taking in elementary-school children: Measurement and emotion regulation issues

Children who engage in physical risk taking experience more injuries. In the present study children 7-12 years completed laboratory tasks and standardized questionnaires to explore inter-relations between measures of risk taking and to determine if the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) is a valid index of physical risk taking. Emotion regulation skills also were assessed to determine if poorer skills are associated with greater risk taking, and what measures of risk taking show these relations. Results revealed that general measures of risk taking propensity predicted both BART performance and physical risk taking. Similarly, poorer emotion regulation skills were associated with greater risk taking scores for both the BART and physical risk taking task. Measures of physical risk taking related to one another, however, none of these scores related to performance on the BART. Implications for measuring physical risk taking and exploring emotional links to risk taking in future research are discussed.     

ADHD的抑制缺陷和厌恶延迟—来自双通道理论的解释

行为抑制理论认为抑制功能的落后是ADHD的核心缺损所在,Sonuga-Barke的厌恶延迟理论认为ADHD起因是厌恶延迟而非抑制缺损,但该理论并不能解释ADHD的全部症状,Sonuga-Barke将厌恶延迟理论作了修正,提出了双通道模型。该模型认为ADHD的抑制缺陷和厌恶延迟同时存在,相互独立,模型的认知发展通道关注抑制控制缺陷对ADHD的影响,而动机发展通道则认为ADHD儿童是因奖励回路紊乱而引起异常的厌恶延迟的动机风格。本文介绍了双通道理论及相关的研究及其应用于ADHD诊断和干预的价值和局限性。     

自尊与模糊决策中的决策偏好

从自尊的角度出发,与是否需要承担决策结果的责任相结合,探讨了低自尊、中等自尊和高自尊水平下的被试在模糊决策中的决策偏好。结果发现：角色差异对决策偏好没有影响;自尊水平的高低对决策偏好有影响,高自尊被试与中等、低自尊被试相比,更容易模糊规避。支持了高自尊个体比低自尊个体更具有防御反应的理论。     

Myopic loss aversion: Demystifying the key factors influencing decision problem framing

Advancement of myopic loss aversion theory has been hamstrung by conflicting results, methodological inconsistencies, and a piecemeal approach toward understanding the key factors influencing decision problem framing. A series of controlled experiments provides a more holistic view of the variables promoting myopia. Extending the information horizon promotes broad framing, which propels risk. Evaluation frequency and decision frequency interact regardless of information horizon, supporting the notion that restricting either mechanism alleviates myopia. When conducting evaluations infrequently, neither segregating nor aggregating retrospective returns significantly alters risk preferences. Moreover, students and real retirement plan participants exhibit comparable appetites for risk, implying that both groups frame decision problems similarly. Explanations for these findings and avenues for future research are discussed.     

Gaze tracking patterns on different types of traffic risk in early-stage Alzheimer’s disease

Many fatal accidents are caused by the driver’s inability, upon the occurrence of sudden events, to detect hazards in time, an ability that is based on the driver’s eye movement patterns, the detection of involved persons, events, objects, as well as the length of time spent on noticing same. This study intends to compare risk perception and decision-making in high-risk traffic situations between individuals with AD and controls by exploring gaze tracking and hazard detection patterns. The study included 16 individuals with early-stage AD and 26 controls. During the experiment, participants underwent several vision and cognitive tests and watched twelve videos of high-risk traffic situations while their eye movement patterns were being recorded by the eye tracking device, in order to understand how cognitive abilities affect eye movement patterns during high-risk traffic situations. The results revealed poorer cognitive abilities and diminished risk perception in individuals with AD compared with the controls and thus an inability to predict potential accidents. In terms of high-risk traffic situations involving pedestrians, traffic violations by others and view-blocking events, a significant difference in gaze patterns was found between individuals with AD and healthy seniors. The contribution of this study is in elaborating the effect of different traffic event type and specific cognitive abilities on traffic risk-detection in individuals with AD. The results of this study may aid in the formulation of driver licensing policies and the design of traffic scenarios; they also elucidate the driving behaviors of individuals with AD.