Value-based decision-making in regular alcohol consumers following experimental manipulation of alcohol value.

Background: Devaluation of alcohol leads to reductions in alcohol choice and consumption; however, the cognitive mechanisms that underpin this relationship are not well-understood. In this study we applied a computational model of value-based decision-making (VBDM) to decisions made about alcohol and alcohol-unrelated cues following experimental manipulation of alcohol value.

Method: Using a pre-registered within-subject design, thirty-six regular alcohol consumers (≥14 UK units per week) completed a two-alternative forced choice task where they chose between two alcohol images (in one block) or two soft drink images (in a different block) after watching videos that emphasised the positive (alcohol value), and separately, the negative (alcohol devalue) consequences of alcohol.

The correlation between conspiracy mentality and vaccine intentions is moderated by social events: Evidence from longitudinal data during COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.

Social events may provide important cues that influence the sense of reality, including the perception that conspiracy theories are plausible. Using longitudinal panel data collected in the UK from March 2020 to December 2021, this study aims to identify whether social events influenced the strength of the association between conspiracy mentality and vaccine intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consistent with previous research, the conspiracy mentality was a significant predictor of vaccine intentions across three-time points, but also that conspiracy mentality measured in March 2020 predicted that participants were more hesitant to the vaccines in December 2020.

Exploring the multiverse of analysis options for the alcohol Stroop.

The alcohol Stroop is a widely used task in addiction science to measure the theoretical concept of attentional bias (a selective attention to alcohol-related cues in the environment), which is thought to be associated with clinical outcomes (craving and consumption). However, recent research suggests findings from this task can be equivocal. This may be because the task has many different potential analysis pipelines, which increase researcher degrees of freedom when analysing data and reporting results.

The three-dimensional community structure of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) traits captured by the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale: An exploratory graph analysis.

Objective: To employ a novel analytic method-namely, exploratory graph analysis (EGA)-to subclinical attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) trait scores in order to reveal their dimensional structure, as well as compare EGA's performance with traditional factor-analytic techniques in doing so.

Method: 1149 respondents from a survey panel completed the ASRS, a common ADHD scale made up of 18 distinct trait measures. EGA and factor analysis were applied to identify traits which associate with each other.

Where next for partial randomisation of research funding? The feasibility of RCTs and alternatives.

We outline essential considerations for any study of partial randomisation of research funding, and consider scenarios in which randomised controlled trials (RCTs) would be feasible and appropriate. We highlight the interdependence of target outcomes, sample availability and statistical power for determining the cost and feasibility of a trial. For many choices of target outcome, RCTs may be less practical and more expensive than they at first appear (in large part due to issues pertaining to sample size and statistical power).

Recovery From Nicotine Addiction: A Diffusion Model Decomposition of Value-Based Decision-Making in Current Smokers and Ex-smokers.

Introduction: A considerable number of people successfully give up tobacco smoking. In nicotine-dependent individuals, tobacco choice is determined by greater expected drug value; however, less is known about the underlying mechanisms through which people quit smoking.

Aims And Methods: This study aimed to explore whether computational parameters of value-based decision-making (VBDM) characterize recovery from nicotine addiction.

Using dialogues to increase positive attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines in a vaccine-hesitant UK population.

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Mind the gap: Distributed practice enhances performance in a MOBA game.

Understanding how humans master complex skills has the potential for wide-reaching societal benefit. Research has shown that one important aspect of effective skill learning is the temporal distribution of practice episodes (i.e.

Behavioral economic and value-based decision-making constructs that discriminate current heavy drinkers versus people who reduced their drinking without treatment.

Objective: A substantial number of people reduce their consumption of alcohol in the absence of formal treatment; however, less is known about the mechanisms of change. The aim of this study is to explore whether constructs derived from behavioral economics and computational decision-modeling characterize the moderation of alcohol consumption that many heavy drinkers experience without treatment.

Method: Between-subject, preregistered design.

Magnitude-sensitivity: rethinking decision-making.

Magnitude-sensitivity refers to the result that performance in decision-making, across domains and organisms, is affected by the total value of the possible alternatives. This simple result offers a window into fundamental issues in decision-making and has led to a reconsideration of ecological decision-making, prominent computational models of decision-making, and optimal decision-making. Moreover, magnitude-sensitivity has inspired the design of new robotic systems that exploit natural solutions and apply optimal decision-making policies.

The relationship between sensory processing sensitivity and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder traits: A spectrum approach.

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) and symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in adults. The Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS) scale and the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) were administered to a non-clinical group of 274 participants recruited from a university volunteers list. We found a highly significant positive correlation between number of self-reported ADHD traits and sensory sensitivity.

Evidence for the rationalisation phenomenon is exaggerated.

The evidence for rationalisation, which motivates the target article, is exaggerated. Experimental evidence shows that rationalisation effects are small rather than gross and, I argue, largely silent on the pervasiveness and persistence of the phenomenon. At least some examples taken to show rationalisation also have an interpretation compatible with deliberate, knowing reason-responsiveness on the part of participants.

Quantifying the benefits of using decision models with response time and accuracy data.

Response time and accuracy are fundamental measures of behavioral science, but discerning participants' underlying abilities can be masked by speed-accuracy trade-offs (SATOs). SATOs are often inadequately addressed in experiment analyses which focus on a single variable or which involve a suboptimal analytic correction. Models of decision-making, such as the drift diffusion model (DDM), provide a principled account of the decision-making process, allowing the recovery of SATO-unconfounded decision parameters from observed behavioral variables.

Slowed Luminance Reaction Times in Cervical Dystonia: Disordered Superior Colliculus Processing.

Background: Abnormal temporal discrimination in cervical dystonia is hypothesized to be attributable to disrupted processing in the superior colliculus. The fast, luminance-based, retinotectal pathway, projects to the superior colliculus; chromatic stimuli responses, by the retino-geniculo-calcarine pathway, are up to 30 ms longer.

Objectives: We sought to interrogate visual processing and reaction times in patients with cervical dystonia compared with healthy controls.

Cognitive control across adolescence: Dynamic adjustments and mind-wandering.

Models of cognitive development suggest that cognitive control, a complex construct that ensures goal-directedness even in the face of distractions, is still maturing across adolescence. In the present study, we investigated how the ability to dynamically adjust cognitive control develops in this period of life, as indexed by the magnitude of the congruency sequence effect (CSE) in conflict tasks, and how this ability might relate to lapses of attention (mind-wandering [MW]). To these ends, participants from four age groups (12-13, 14-15, 18-20 and 25-27 years old) completed confound-minimized variants of the flanker and Simon tasks, along with a Go/No-Go task with thought probes to assess their frequency of mind-wandering.

Recovery from addiction: Behavioral economics and value-based decision making.

Behavioral economics provides a general framework to explain the shift in behavioral allocation from substance use to substance-free activities that characterizes recovery from addiction, but it does not attempt to explain the internal processes that prompt those behavioral changes. In this article we outline a novel analysis of addiction recovery based on computational work on value-based decision making (VBDM), which can explain how people with addiction are able to overcome the reinforcement pathologies and decision-making vulnerabilities that characterize the disorder. The central tenet of this account is that shifts in molar reinforcer preferences over time from substance use to substance-free activities can be attributed to changes in evidence accumulation rates and response thresholds in the context of choices involving substance use and substance-free alternatives.

Microsaccade rate as a measure of drug response.

In 22 human subjects we measured microsaccade count across 60 brief fixation trials both pre- and post- administration of 300mg of caffeine. There was a statistically significant reduction in average microsaccade count post-caffeine administration, with a moderate effect size (Cohen's d of 0.42).

Reduced habit-driven errors in Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's Disease can be understood as a disorder of motor habits. A prediction of this theory is that early stage Parkinson's patients will display fewer errors caused by interference from previously over-learned behaviours. We test this prediction in the domain of skilled typing, where actions are easy to record and errors easy to identify.

Internet-based measurement of visual assessment skill of trainee radiologists: developing a sensitive tool.

Objective: Expert radiologists exhibit high levels of visual diagnostic accuracy from review of radiological images, doing so after accumulating years of training and experience. To train new radiologists, learning interventions must focus on the development of these skills. By developing a web-based measure of image assessment, a key part of visual diagnosis, we aimed to capture differences in the performance of expert, trainee and non-radiologists.

Evidence for the speed-value trade-off: human and monkey decision making is magnitude sensitive.

Complex natural systems from brains to bee swarms have evolved to make adaptive multifactorial decisions. Recent theoretical and empirical work suggests that many evolved systems may take advantage of common motifs across multiple domains. We are particularly interested in value sensitivity (i.

Female Chess Players Outperform Expectations When Playing Men.

Stereotype threat has been offered as a potential explanation of differential performance between men and women in some cognitive domains. Questions remain about the reliability and generality of the phenomenon. Previous studies have found that stereotype threat is activated in female chess players when they are matched against male players.

The relationship between ADHD traits and sensory sensitivity in the general population.

Preliminary studies in children and adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) report both hypo-responsiveness and hyper-responsiveness to sensory stimuli, as well as problems modulating sensory input. As it has been suggested that those with ADHD exist at the extreme end of a continuum of ADHD traits, which are also evident in the general population, we investigated the link between ADHD and sensory sensitivity in the general population. Two online questionnaires measuring ADHD traits and sensory responsivity across various sensory domains were administered to 234 participants.

Multisensory integration and ADHD-like traits: Evidence for an abnormal temporal integration window in ADHD.

Abnormalities in multimodal processing have been found in many developmental disorders such as autism and dyslexia. However, surprisingly little empirical work has been conducted to test the integrity of multisensory integration in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The main aim of the present study was to examine links between symptoms of ADHD (as measured using a self-report scale in a healthy adult population) and the temporal aspects of multisensory processing.

Co-Occurrence of ASD and ADHD Traits in an Adult Population.

ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be viewed as the extreme end of traits found in the general population. Clinical and genetic studies suggest that ADHD and ASD often co-occur and share genetic susceptibility. The aim of this study was to examine co-occurrence of ADHD and ASD traits in the general population.

Frontal theta band oscillations predict error correction and posterror slowing in typing.

Performance errors are associated with robust behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) effects. However, there is a debate about the nature of the relationship between these effects and implicit versus explicit error awareness. Our aim was to study the relationship between error related electrophysiological effects, such as spectral perturbations in fronto-medial theta band oscillations (FMT), and error awareness in typing.