PC-Based Game Features That Influence Instruction and Learner Motivation

PC-based games are currently being used for military training, but the instructional and motivational features of such technology are not well understood. To identify features of training games that influence instruction and motivation, a popular first-person-perspective game with a military theme was analyzed empirically. Twenty-one participants played the “basic training” portion of the game, which included Army background information, virtual marksmanship training, an obstacle course, virtual weapons familiarization, and an urban terrain training mission. The results of this research provide useful information to individuals developing training games, desktop simulations, and interactive multimedia courseware to meet optimal training objectives and strategies.     

Private Investigations of White‐Collar Crime Suspicions: A Qualitative Study of the Blame Game Hypothesis

The activity of private investigations by fraud examiners is a business of lawyers, auditors, and other professionals who investigate suspicions of financial crime by white‐collar criminals. This paper presents results from an empirical study of investigation reports. The available sample consists of 28 reports written mostly by auditing firms such as Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and PwC. The blame game can occur at two stages in a private investigation. First, the mandate formulated by a client may point investigators in a specific direction. Next, investigators sometimes suffer from a tunnel view of predetermined opinions. In the sample of 28 investigations reports, more than half of them involve potential blame game victims. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

游戏训练提高幼儿自我控制能力:来自ERP的证据

游戏是激发幼儿兴趣的有效载体,已有研究表明游戏可以提高幼儿自我控制的外显行为表现,但未考察是否能够引起幼儿自我控制相关的电生理变化。本研究将幼儿按班级随机分为实验组和对照组,实验组的幼儿接受一学期的游戏训练,对照组不参加训练,进行自由活动,训练前后所有幼儿完成Go/No Go任务的ERP测试,评定自我控制能力。结果发现:实验组后测中No Go任务的N2和P3成分(分别表示为No Go-N2和No Go-P3)平均波幅均显著小于前测,而对照组前后测波幅无变化;同时,后测实验组中No Go-N2平均波幅显著小于对照组。结果表明,游戏训练可促进幼儿自我控制相关大脑系统的发展,为自我控制游戏训练的效果提供了电生理证据。。     

Fairness‐related behaviour modulation by friendship is moderated by American primes in Chinese participants

Empirical studies from the fields of psychology and behavioural economics indicate that people do not like being treated unfairly and may punish those who violate the norm, even at a cost to themselves. Recent research has emphasized the relationship effect on fairness‐related behaviour but has shown conflicting results and has not focused much on the characteristics of culture. This study used the cultural priming paradigm and the Ultimatum Game (UG) to explore whether cultural primes could moderate the relationship effect on fairness‐related decision making. We primed Chinese participants with either Chinese cultural symbols or American cultural symbols and asked them to play as responders with friends or strangers in the two‐party UG (experiment 1) or in the three‐party UG (experiment 2). Results from the two experiments confirm that Chinese participants accepted unfair offers more often when the offers were made by friends than when the offers were made by strangers. However, the relationship effect was diminished after American cultural priming. These results suggest that American primes can moderate the relationship effect on fairness‐related behaviour in Chinese people. This finding may shed new light on the likelihood of exiting from the heavy reliance on social relationships in Chinese society.     

Knock,Knock–Who’s Scared?: The Knockout Game as a Short-lived Crime Problem

ABSTRACT

The “knockout game”--youths assaulting strangers at random with the goal of knocking them unconscious with a single blow—attracted intense attention in the United States for a brief period near the end of 2013. This paper examines the history of a set of claims about similar behaviors preceded that knockout game’s eventual celebrity. It demonstrates the difficulty of successfully constructing a new crime problem; it took decades before a combination of elements—location, the characterization of offenders and victims, an emphasis on technology, and a prominent media venue willing to promote the story—brought these claims to prominence.     

初中生内疚情绪体验的发展及其对公平行为的影响

为探讨初中生内疚情绪体验的发展特点及其对公平行为的影响,研究1采用自编的初中生内疚情绪体验情境问卷,对335名七、八、九年级初中生的内疚情绪体验特点进行测查,研究2采用独裁者博弈游戏研究范式,考察了120名初中生的内疚情绪体验对不同情境中公平行为的影响,结果表明：初中生的内疚情绪体验随年级的增长而降低,且在性别、他人评价、情境类型以及情境类型与他人评价的交互作用上存在显著差异。在内疚情绪唤醒状态下,初中生在两人情境中分配给搭档的代币数显著高于分配给自己的代币数;初中生在三人情境中分配代币的数量依次从分配给搭档、自己和第三人而递减,但与控制组没有显著差异。研究说明初中生的内疚情绪体验对两人情境中的公平行为有积极影响,而对三人情境中的公平行为没有显著影响。     

信任：父母的代内相似和亲子的代际传递

以往研究指出, 信任有其家庭根源。以116个家庭中的子女及其父母为研究对象考察在家庭中, 父母信任水平是否相似, 父母和子女之间是否存在人际信任的代际传递现象。研究采用投资博弈问卷分别测量了子女和父母的信任水平, 并以送出数量和估计返还数量作为信任的测量指标。结果发现：(1)子女和父母在投资博弈中均表现出一定水平的信任, 且父母的信任表现出相似性; (2)在估计返还数量上, 信任表现出代际传递, 且传递存在性别差异：父亲和母亲的信任水平不能预测女孩的信任水平, 能预测男孩信任水平; 父亲对男孩的影响呈J型曲线, 母亲与男孩的信任水平呈倒U型曲线关系。     

网络游戏成瘾者注意焦点转换功能的特异性损伤研究

网络游戏成瘾对人类认知功能的损伤日益成为研究焦点之一。采用注意焦点转换任务,分别要求网络游戏成瘾被试与正常被试在工作记忆的语音环内、视空画板内及语音环——视空画板间进行注意焦点转换,然后比较两组被试在各转换任务中转换代价的差异,来探讨网络游戏成瘾者的注意焦点转换功能是否受损以及受损的特征。结果发现网络游戏成瘾组被试在视空画板内进行注意焦点转换时比对照组被试表现出更大的转换代价,而在其他两种转换任务中则没有发现组间差异。此结果表明网络游戏成瘾者的注意转换功能受到特异性损伤。     

Seeing is not enough: manipulating choice options causes focusing and preference change in multiattribute risky decision‐making

We show that preferences depend on the attributes that can be directly manipulated when people need to integrate multiple sources of information because direct manipulation causes focusing bias. This effect appears even when all relevant information is simultaneously and explicitly presented at the time the decisions are made. Participants decided how much to save, what investment risk to take and observed the future financial consequences in terms of the mean and variability of the expected retirement income. Participants who manipulated only the future income distribution saved more and took less risk. This effect disappears when the risk‐related variables are removed, which indicates that task complexity is a mediator of such focusing effects. A more balanced trade‐off between the choice attributes was selected when all attributes were manipulated. However, when there is a dichotomy between manipulating versus observing choice attributes, then decisions were based mostly on the manipulated attributes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.