Trends in Online Academic Publishing

Modern information technology allows academics many new ways to enhance their research activities. This article suggests that one of the most important changes in recent years has been the overwhelming proliferation of academic research. It proposes that many new developments in online publishing have been, and will continue to be, in response to this proliferation of research. It also offers some general principles based on six years' working for a series of innovative online journals, including examples of where new technologies have been used successfully to enrich a journal's content without adding substantively to the workloads of authors and editors.     

Play fighting and real fighting: Using video playback methodology with young children

This study develops a video playback methodology: children aged five to eight years viewed taped play fighting and real fighting bouts in which they were both participants and nonparticipants. Views of participants were also compared for immediate and delayed viewing. The methodology examines the criteria used to distinguish play fighting and real fighting; views concerning the characteristics of such episodes; and the motivations involved. The methodology was found to be feasible at this age; and useful in terms of differing views of participants and nonparticipants. There was evidence for increased insight from participants, who used more criteria to make their judgments, and more informative criteria such as knowledge of the rules of a game being played. Participant knowledge was most evident at the immediate viewings, but was partially retained one week later. Participants (more than nonparticipants) mostly described play fighting as friendly, and not involving hurt or showing off. The methodology could usefully be applied to examine further developmental changes in older children. Aggr. Behav. 30:164–173, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Not so fast: Rethinking the effects of action video games on attentional capacity

Considerable excitement has been generated by recent studies showing that video gaming alters fundamental aspects of attention. We tested the claim that people who frequently play action video games (video game players (VGPs)) have a greater capacity of attention than those who rarely play video games (non‐video game players (NVGPs)). We first attempted to replicate previous findings by comparing VGPs and NVGPs on a flanker compatibility task (Experiment 1). In contrast with previous studies, VGPs did not demonstrate greater intrusion from distractors, calling into question the reliability of previous findings. In Experiment 2, we manipulated the eccentricity of flankers in an Eriksen flanker task to examine the extent to which VGPs and NVGPs processed irrelevant peripheral stimuli. No attentional differences emerged in the conditions tested, with both groups displaying compatibility effects at all eccentricities. Together these results raise doubts that video game playing increases attentional capacity.     

Constructing Gender in Chat Groups

We investigated the construction of gender in chat groups. Four unacquainted persons chatted in two gender-anonymous conditions and a non-anonymous control condition. In one anonymous condition, the gender focus was made salient. The other groups did not know about the gender focus. All participants had to guess the gender of the others and give reasons for their decisions. Results suggest that (a) overall, 2/3 of gender guesses fit the sex category of the targets, (b) gender anonymity was more comfortable for women, (c) participants used mostly gender-stereotypic cues to infer gender, however, men and women used syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic cues (with different predictive value) to different degrees, (d) conversational behavior varied depending on gender anonymity, and (e) degree of gender salience was irrelevant for the use of gender as an organizing category.     

暴力电子游戏玩家对攻击性图片注意偏向的ERP研究

本研究采用游戏使用习惯问卷筛选暴力电子游戏玩家和对照组被试各24名,利用线索探测范式,探讨了暴力电子游戏玩家对攻击性图片的注意偏向机制。结果发现：（1）与对照组相比,暴力电子游戏玩家对攻击性图片线索下探测目标诱发的P1潜伏期提前;（2）暴力电子游戏玩家表现出特定的脑电模式：N1潜伏期延长,P2波幅减小,P300波幅降低;（3）线索的有效性效应表现在早期ERP成分（P1）中。结果表明,暴力电子游戏玩家对攻击性图片表现出注意偏向,其脑电模式揭示暴力电子游戏对玩家的认知功能有消极影响。     

The effect of auditory versus visual violent media exposure on aggressive behaviour: The role of song lyrics, video clips and musical tone

Five decades of research have shown clear links between exposure to violent visual media and subsequent aggression, however there has been little research that directly compares the effects of exposure to violent visual versus auditory media, or which has experimentally tested the effect of violent song lyrics with musical ‘tone’ held constant. In the current study 194 participants heard music either with or without lyrics, and with or without a violent music video, and were then given the chance to aggress using the hot sauce paradigm. Musical tone was held constant across groups, and a fifth (control) group had no media exposure at all. Experimental groups, on average, were significantly more aggressive than controls. The strongest effect was elicited by exposure to violent lyrics, regardless of whether violent imagery accompanied the music, and regardless of various person-based characteristics. Implications for theories of media violence and models of aggression are discussed.     

Violent and nonviolent video games differentially affect physical aggression for individuals high vs. low in dispositional anger

Although numerous experiments have shown that exposure to violent video games (VVG) causes increases in aggression, relatively few studies have investigated the extent to which this effect differs as a function of theoretically relevant individual difference factors. This study investigated whether video game content differentially influences aggression as a function of individual differences in trait anger. Participants were randomly assigned to play a violent or nonviolent video game before completing a task in which they could behave aggressively. Results showed that participants high in trait anger were the most aggressive, but only if they first played a VVG. This relationship held while statistically controlling for dimensions other than violent content on which game conditions differed (e.g. frustration, arousal). Implications of these findings for models explaining the effects of video games on behavior are discussed.     

视频游戏训练对执行功能的迁移效应

视频游戏训练是一种正处于探索阶段的执行功能训练方案,其对工作记忆和认知灵活性能产生迁移效应,对抑制的迁移结论尚不明确,这一结果不同无法通过考察迁移发生的泛化还是具体化机制得到解决,差异更有可能来自游戏训练本身。虽然真实游戏经验能产生迁移,但训练不一定能模拟经验对执行功能的迁移。这一方面受训练游戏类型的影响,另一方面与训练剂量有关。建议从丰富迁移机制等角度提高迁移效应。     

Evaluating motion detection to score sleep disturbance for children: A translational approach to developing a measurement system

Information obtained via direct observation of children's sleep disturbance throughout the night in their home can guide the assessment and treatment process, but watching live or via recorded video might be impractical in terms of time expenditures. In Experiment 1, we assessed the accuracy and reliability of a motion‐detection camera with human motor movements. In Experiment 2, we tested the system's generality by using it to obtain in‐home measures of sleep disturbance for three children with autism spectrum disorder and compared the accuracy to a continuous measurement system. We also measured scoring efficiency and assessed parents' acceptability of the camera. Results provide preliminary support for motion detection in measuring sleep disturbance, but further evaluation of motion detection to improve accuracy is warranted.