Autonomous sensory Meridian response as a physically felt signature of positive and negative emotions.

Introduction: Current research on Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) assumes that ASMR is always accompanied by contentment, and it is distinct from frisson due to positive emotions. Thus, research investigations tend to limit their scope to solely focusing on the sensation of relaxation that ASMR induces. This study explores whether it is possible to have a different emotional experience and still perceive ASMR, testing the theory of ASMR as an amplifier of pre-existing emotion instead of a determination of positive affect.

Contextualising video game engagement and addiction in mental health: the mediating roles of coping and social support.

Introduction: A challenge in defining Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is discriminating pathological gameplay from an excessive, yet benign, involvement in video games. Although previous research has explored this theoretical distinction in the context of general computing activities, it merits consideration with regards to online gaming. Additionally, whilst comorbidities of addicted gaming and mental health outcomes have been robustly demonstrated, few studies have examined the role of mediating factors that may contextualise this relationship.

The effects of personality and locus of control on trust in humans versus artificial intelligence.

Introduction: We are increasingly exposed to applications that embed some sort of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm, and there is a general belief that people trust any AI-based product or service without question. This study investigated the effect of personality characteristics (Big Five Inventory (BFI) traits and locus of control (LOC)) on trust behaviour, and the extent to which people trust the advice from an AI-based algorithm, more than humans, in a decision-making card game.

Method: One hundred and seventy-one adult volunteers decided whether the final covered card, in a five-card sequence over ten trials, had a higher/lower number than the second-to-last card.

Computational modelling of maternal interactions with spermatozoa: potentials and prospects.

Understanding the complex interactions between gametes, embryos and the maternal tract is required knowledge for combating infertility and developing new methods of contraception. Here we present some main aspects of spermatozoa interactions with the mammalian oviduct before fertilisation and discuss how computational modelling can be used as an invaluable aid to experimental investigation in this field. A complete predictive computational model of gamete and embryo interactions with the female reproductive tract is a long way off.

Constructing complex 3D biological environments from medical imaging using high performance computing.

Extracting information about the structure of biological tissue from static image data is a complex task requiring computationally intensive operations. Here, we present how multicore CPUs and GPUs have been utilized to extract information about the shape, size, and path followed by the mammalian oviduct, called the fallopian tube in humans, from histology images, to create a unique but realistic 3D virtual organ. Histology images were processed to identify the individual cross sections and determine the 3D path that the tube follows through the tissue.