# Question
Title: Variation in prefrontal cortex development
I have read everywhere that the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until about the mid twenties, but everyone's brain develops differently. Is it possible for a teens prefrontal cortex to be significantly more developed than it should be at this age?

# Answer
In the last 20 years or so, a growing amount of neuroimaging research has demonstrated that adolescence is a period of continued brain growth and change, challenging longstanding assumptions that the brain was largely finished maturing by puberty (Giedd, et al. 1999; Sowell, et al. 1999; Sowell, et al. 2001; Johnson, et al. 2009).

Several major morphological and functional changes occur in the human brain during adolescence (Giedd, et al. 1999), and the maturation of the adolescent brain is influenced by (among other things) heredity, environment, nutritional status, sleep patterns, and sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone), which play a crucial role in myelination (Arain, et al. 2013). Full development and maturation of the prefrontal cortex is generally believed to occur at roughly 25 years old, however, Sowell, et al. (2003) found a subtle increase in grey matter density until age 30, which remained stable until a steep decline in later decades.

> A detailed study is required in order to determine the exact biomarkers involved, as well as the intricate influence of diet, drugs, sex, and sleep on the maturation of the adolescent brain as discussed briefly in this report (Arain, et al. 2013).

Despite the fact that brain development may be done by our 30s, it doesn’t mean that someone with a fully developed brain cannot change it. There is considerable evidence to suggest that we can still change our own brains with a process called **neuroplasticity**. Our brains are constantly adapting to our environment, experiences, and other inputs to which it is exposed.

## References

Arain, M., Haque, M., Johal, L., Mathur, P., Nel, W., Rais, A., ... & Sharma, S. (2013). Maturation of the adolescent brain. *Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment*, 9, 449.
DOI: 10.2147/NDT.S39776 PMCID: PMC3621648 PMID: 23579318
PDF: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621648/pdf/ndt-9-449.pdf

Giedd, J. N., Blumenthal, J., Jeffries, N. O., Castellanos, F. X., Liu, H., Zijdenbos, A., ... & Rapoport, J. L. (1999). Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study. *Nature neuroscience*, 2(10), 861.
DOI: 10.1038/13158 PMID: 10491603
PDF: https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs379c/archive/2013/suggested\_reading\_list/supplements/documents/GieddetalNN-99.pdf

Johnson, S. B., Blum, R. W., & Giedd, J. N. (2009). Adolescent maturity and the brain: the promise and pitfalls of neuroscience research in adolescent health policy. Journal of Adolescent Health, 45(3), 216-221.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.05.016 PMCID: PMC2892678 PMID: 19699416
PDF: https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(09)00251-1/pdf

Sowell, E. R., Thompson, P. M., Holmes, C. J., Jernigan, T. L., & Toga, A. W. (1999). In vivo evidence for post-adolescent brain maturation in frontal and striatal regions. *Nature neuroscience*, 2(10), 859.
DOI: 10.1038/13154 PMID: 10491602
PDF: https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt1d34r7w2/qt1d34r7w2.pdf

Sowell, E. R., Thompson, P. M., Tessner, K. D., & Toga, A. W. (2001). Mapping continued brain growth and gray matter density reduction in dorsal frontal cortex: Inverse relationships during postadolescent brain maturation. *Journal of Neuroscience*, 21(22), 8819-8829.
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.21-22-08819.2001 PMID: 11698594 PDF: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/21/22/8819.full.pdf

Sowell, E. R., Peterson, B. S., Thompson, P. M., Welcome, S. E., Henkenius, A. L., & Toga, A. W. (2003). Mapping cortical change across the human life span. *Nature neuroscience*, 6(3), 309-315.
DOI: 10.1038/nn1008 PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul\_Thompson13/publication/10933611\_Mapping\_cortical\_change\_across\_the\_lifespan/links/564f004408aeafc2aab33ed0.pdf
> 4 votes

---
Tags: neuroscience, brain-development
---


# Question
Title: How should medication for the treatment of ADHD symptoms be calibrated?
My understanding is that the treatment of ADHD symptoms with stimulant medication is a balancing act between alleviating ADHD symptoms, and not producing unwanted side effects like insomnia or anxiety.

My understanding also is that the drugs effect different people differently, and so finding the right dose of the right specific drug is an exercise of 'finding what works'.

The question is - how should a medical practitioner determine when and by how much to change a patient's medication schedule?

# Answer
> My understanding also is that the drugs effect different people differently, and so finding the right dose of the right specific drug is an exercise of 'finding what works'.
>
> The question is - how should a medical practitioner determine when and by how much to change a patient's medication schedule?

I think you've answered your own question: titration of dose i.e. slow, incremental changes in dose until desired therapeutic response is achieved.

The best way to understand it is terms of pharmacokinetics: if a drug has a linear dose-response curve, then we can anticipate a slightly higher dose will result in a slightly greater therapeutic effect, and a slightly greater increase in side-effects. The point of titrating the dose is to either stop when one reaches a ceiling effect i.e. increasing the dose won't have any improvement in symptoms, because it will only increase the side-effects, which haven't reached a ceiling yet,.

This is essentially true for all psychiatric drugs, and the same rationale applies to all pharmacotherapies.

With regards to ADHD, my understanding is that severity of symptoms does not predict the dose of psychostimulants required. So the psychiatrist will typically hand a patient a bottle of amphetamine, some dosing instructions, and tell them to sort it out themselves over the course of a few weeks. The whole point with the use of psychostimulants for ADHD is that its mediated by dopaminergic hypofrontality. But if one goes overshoots the therapeutic window, then it will result in worse cognitive functioning, etc.
> -1 votes

# Answer
For those who need it PRN, prescribe it based on when they'll need it. How sensitive a person is to medication in general should be considered.
> -2 votes

---
Tags: adhd, psychopharmacology
---


title: How well defined is ADD/ADHD?

text:
# Question
Title: How well defined is ADD/ADHD?
I understand ADHD is a standard term, but I'm still a bit suspicious that it's not a useful one; Psychiatry doesn't seem like the most reliable field.

Are there good reasons for picking out the behaviors associated with ADHD and giving them a name?

Potential answers

* Behaviors associated with ADHD strongly cluster
* Analyzing questionnaires of attention and focus behaviors with factor analysis naturally produces an 'ADHD dimension' that explains a lot of variance (similar methodology to identifying Big 5 personality traits).
* ADHD diagnosis is a strong independent predictor of something interesting: income or grades or some contrived but interesting lab test (controlling for obvious things like IQ)
* Something else along these lines.

# Answer
> 7 votes
Like all psychiatric disorers, ADD and ADHD are diagnosed using a set of criteria listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM

The latest version is the DSM-IV-TR. The DSM-V is due out in 2013 and may change these criteria.

Diagnosis is expected to be done by a licensed professional who is able to assess these criteria.

From http://www.mental-health-today.com/add/dsm.htm :

```
INATTENTION
(need 6 of 9)

- often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work or other activities
- often has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities
- often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly
- often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (no if oppositional behavior or doesn’t understand instructions)
- often has difficulty organizing tasks and activities
- often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks or activities that require sustained mental effort (such as schoolwork or homework)
- often loses things necessary for tasks or activities (e.g., toys, school assignments, pencils, books, or tools)
- often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli
- often forgetful in daily activities

HYPERACTIVITY-IMPULSIVITY
(need 6 of 9)

- often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat
- often leaves seat in classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is expected
- often runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it is inappropriate (in adolescents or adults, may be limited to subjective feelings of restlessness)
- often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly
- is often "on the go" or often acts as if "driven by a motor"
- often talks excessively
- often blurts out answers before questions have been completed
- often has difficulty awaiting turn
- often interrupts or intrudes on others (e.g., butts into conversations or games)

REQUIREMENTS

- Present at least 6 months, maladaptive and inconsistent with development level
- Some symptoms that caused impairment were present before age 7
- Some impairment from the symptoms is present in two or more settings (e.g., at school {or work} and at home)
- There must be clear evidence of clinically significant impairment in social, academic or occupational functioning

```

# Answer
> 5 votes
**Why the symptoms were picked out and given a name**

Professionals used to believe ADHD was something children grew out of, but not anymore. ADHD has always been strongly related to school performance. If a child is not focused on school, and seems unwilling or unable to concentrate, everyone tends to think of ADHD as the cause.

This makes me think that ADHD was "discovered" as an explanation to why some kids are not so good at school. If you look at the symptoms for ADHD, you'll notice that each of them is completely normal behavior, but every one of them reduces performance at school.

**Do the symptoms for ADHD cluster?**

Yes and no. They cluster in more than 1 cluster. Studying personality psychology, I have noticed a growing number of completely normal personality traits that remind me alot of ADHD.

A stereotypical boy with ADHD (restless, fidgety, takative, forgetful, unorganized) would easily remind you of the MBTI personality type ESxP. (ESFP: http://www.16personalities.com/esfp-personality ESTP: http://www.16personalities.com/estp-personality )

A stereotypical girl with ADHD (silent, daydreaming, inattentive) would remind you of the MBTI personality trait INxP. (INTP: http://www.16personalities.com/intp-personality INFP: http://www.16personalities.com/infp-personality ) Girl's ADHD: http://www.addvance.com/help/women/daydreamer.html

Also note how the "boy's ADHD" and "girl's ADHD" are pretty different. The only common traits are poor attention and organization at school.

The typical ADHD behavior also matches well with several parts of the Big 5:

> Substantial effects emerged that were replicated across samples. First, the ADHD symptom cluster of inattention-disorganization was substantially related to **low Conscientiousness** and, to a lesser extent, **Neuroticism**. Second, ADHD symptom clusters of hyperactivity-impulsivity and oppositional childhood and adult behaviors were associated with **low Agreeableness**.

http://psych.colorado.edu/~willcutt/pdfs/nigg\_2002.pdf

> Although previous research on personality and ADHD has focused primarily on extraversion and neuroticism, the present study found that **agreeableness** and **conscientiousness** were stronger predictors. This pattern of results is consistent with the clinical literature on adults with ADHD.

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/James\_Parker3/publication/222409991\_ADHD\_symptoms\_and\_personality\_relationships\_with\_the\_five-factor\_model/links/02e7e52cad95c0fcfc000000.pdf

Conscientiousness is what measures your ability to stay focused (and more), and neuroticism measures your patience (and more). And those are exactly what primarily defines the J/P factor in MBTI - and ADHD. You're a P? Congratulations, you may have ADHD. You're a J? Nope, no ADHD there.

Additionally, several of the required symptoms for ADHD do not have any fixed requirement for frequency - they are relative. When each of these symptoms are completely normal at the same time, the whole diagnose becomes relative - Are you too unfocused to function at school, or do you manage to get your homework done despite of poor attention? Because nobody will diagnose you with ADHD as long as you are able to cope and function with school and everyday life. A bit of the problem with the ADHD diagnosis is how there are no exact measurements that can tell whether or not an individual is "suffering".

Having a hard time in everyday life is also one of the requirements to have a diagnosis, but this is more relative than all the other symptoms. Considering how modern societies are increasingly demanding for the individual, and Conscientiousness is -the- strongest predictor for academic success, there is bound to be a growing gap between the most and least successful individuals. The least successful individuals are those who struggle to stay focused, and some of these seek psychological help for it. "You struggle at school because you have trouble staying focused? Here, take this test. Yes, I can see that you have poor attention. You have ADHD"

**To put it short: ADHD symptoms are all about academic capability**

# Answer
> 2 votes
> I understand ADHD is a standard term, but I'm still a bit suspicious that it's not a useful one; Psychiatry doesn't seem like the most reliable field

Okay, I know this is going to sound weird, but I think ADHD is another name for *hypofrontality-mediated unfulfilled potential*

**ADHD as "unfulfilled potential"**

Although it is characterised by a dysregulation of executive function, if you look at the diagnostic criteria for ADHD, it's all about a functional impairment. Diagnosis is based on the presence of symptoms, but regardless of the combination of symptoms with which someone presents, it's the following criterion in the DSM-V that's necessary:

> There is clear evidence that the symptoms interfere with, or **reduce the quality** of, social, academic, or occupational functioning.

In other words, one can be performing extremely well academically, have a high IQ, and still have ADHD. This is not to say that individuals with ADHD aren't typically poor-performing, but there's nothing precluding someone from being a high performer and still fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for ADHD:

> **Is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder a valid diagnosis in the presence of high IQ? Results from the MGH Longitudinal Family Studies of ADHD (Antshel et al., 2007)**.
>
> Background: The aim of this study was to assess the validity of diagnosing attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in high IQ children and to further characterize the clinical features associated with their ADHD.
>
> Methods: We operationalized giftedness/high IQ as having a full scale IQ ≥120. We identified 92 children with a high IQ who did not have ADHD and 49 children with a high IQ that met diagnostic criteria for ADHD who had participated in the Massachusetts General Hospital Longitudinal Family Studies of ADHD.
>
> Results: Of our participants with ADHD and a high IQ, the majority (n = 35) met criteria for the Combined subtype. Relative to control participants, children with ADHD and high IQ had a higher prevalence rate of familial ADHD in first‐degree relatives, repeated grades more often, had a poorer performance on the WISC‐III Block Design, had more comorbid psychopathology, and had more functional impairments across a number of domains.
>
> **Conclusions: Children with a high IQ and ADHD showed a pattern of familiality as well as cognitive, psychiatric and behavioral features consistent with the diagnosis of ADHD in children with average IQ. These data suggest that the diagnosis of ADHD is valid among high IQ children.**

I note that you won't find any literature on unfulfilled potential. Instead, if you parse the above diagnostic criterion carefully, you'll see it: what precisely does the DSM-5 criterion of "reduced quality of academic functioning" mean but some inability to fulfill one's potential with regards to schooling?

**ADHD as hypofrontality**

Regarding hypofrontality, this has to do with the view of biological psychiatry that ADHD is mediated by dopaminergic hypofrontality. There is an attempt to map the symptoms to a particular neural substrate.

Fisher & Beckley (1998) is a little old, but characterises the general view:

> That is not the end of the whole story. If the brain messengers dopamine and norepinephrine have an impact on the frontal area of the brain, and the hypofrontality creates the higher-level-thinking disorder of ADD or ADHD, then wouldn't it also affect the other thinking areas of the brain that use these same neurotransmitters? **Hypofrontality defines the lack of dopamine and norepinephrine primarily in the frontal area of the brain.** However, the effect can also be seen in the parietal area of the brain. This defines the basis for the anatomical differences between the two subtypes of ADD: ADHD and ADD without hyperactivity (ADD). **It has been found through both clinical research and studies of medication that ADD without hyperactivity is more closely related to the parietal area of the brain and the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, while ADHD is found to more related to the frontal area or processes and the neurotransmitter dopamine.**

A more recent paper, which refers to the role of D1 dopamine receptors in hypofrontality. However, it focuses more on the role on noradrenaline via a2-adrenoceptors (both dopamine and noradrenaline are catecholamines):

> **Neurobiology of Executive Functions: Catecholamine Influences on Prefrontal Cortical Functions (Arnsten & Li, 2005)**
>
> The prefrontal cortex guides behaviors, thoughts, and feelings using representational knowledge, i.e., working memory. These fundamental cognitive abilities subserve the so-called executive functions: the ability to inhibit inappropriate behaviors and thoughts, regulate our attention, monitor our actions, and plan and organize for the future. Neuropsychological and imaging studies indicate that these prefrontal cortex functions are weaker in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and contribute substantially to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptomology. Research in animals indicates that the prefrontal cortex is very sensitive to its neurochemical environment and that small changes in catecholamine modulation of prefrontal cortex cells can have profound effects on the ability of the prefrontal cortex to guide behavior. **Optimal levels of norepinephrine acting at postsynaptic α-2A-adrenoceptors and dopamine acting at D1 receptors are essential to prefrontal cortex function.** Blockade of norepinephrine α-2-adrenoceptors in prefrontal cortex markedly impairs prefrontal cortex function and mimics most of the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, including impulsivity and locomotor hyperactivity. Conversely, stimulation of α-2-adrenoceptors in prefrontal cortex strengthens prefrontal cortex regulation of behavior and reduces distractibility. Most effective treatments for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder facilitate catecholamine transmission and likely have their therapeutic actions by optimizing catecholamine actions in prefrontal cortex.

My simplistic understanding is that when there is hypofrontality, psychostimulants will improve the signal:noise ratio in the prefrontal cortex, thereby addressing the dysregulation in executive function seen in ADHD.

**Cynical answer the question**

ADHD is the label given to someone who is impulsive, unmotivated and bad at school and whose symptoms improve when they're given psychostimulants. This isn't a statement about whether or not ADHD does or doesn't exist, it's a statement about how its currently diagnosed and treated, hence my use of the term *hypofrontality-mediated unfulfilled potential*.

**References**

Antshel, K. M., Faraone, S. V., Stallone, K., Nave, A., Kaufmann, F. A., Doyle, A., ... & Biederman, J. (2007). Is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder a valid diagnosis in the presence of high IQ? Results from the MGH Longitudinal Family Studies of ADHD. *Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry*, 48(7), 687-694.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01735.x

Arnsten, A. F., & Li, B. M. (2005). Neurobiology of executive functions: catecholamine influences on prefrontal cortical functions. *Biological psychiatry*, 57(11), 1377-1384.
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.08.019

Fisher, B. C., & Beckley, R. A. (1998). *Attention deficit disorder: Practical coping methods*. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

---
Tags: adhd
---


title: Do ADHD drugs harm the brain?

text:
# Question
Title: Do ADHD drugs harm the brain?
Particularly, the amphetamine "vyvanse". If one was to take a 30mg dose once a day for 50+ years, would it damage brain function at all? Would the brain simply get used to the drug and become 100% tolerant to it? Would the brain damage be permanent? Would the brain's performance be improved for the whole time taking the medication? These are some of the questions I have regarding ADHD amphetamines.

# Answer
> 5 votes
This section from the Wikipedia page on Neuroplasticity indicates (emphasis mine)

> Reviews of MRI studies on individuals with ADHD suggest that the **long-term treatment** of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) **with stimulants**, such as amphetamine or methylphenidate, **decreases abnormalities in brain structure and function** found in subjects with ADHD, and improves function in several parts of the brain, such as the right caudate nucleus of the basal ganglia.

The following studies are cited as reference:

I had a quick read on these papers and they do not appear to isolate Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine) specifically. The one from 2012 doesn't even mention it; the other two address both methylphenidate and lisdexamfetamine. Each paper has their own limitations, for instance, standardization concerning comorbid conditions, age, etc.

From what I can understand, long-term use of ADHD stimulants *in individuals with ADHD* (this is important) does not appear to be associated with brain damage, but rather the opposite, they appear to promote "normalization" of certain structural deficiences. Not *all* deficiences, though (i.e. effects visible on the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) but not on the left ACC).

The paper from Spencer *et al* cites another - Potential adverse effects of amphetamine treatment on brain and behavior: a review (Berman, Steven M. *et al* 2009). I didn't have a chance to look into that just yet.

# Answer
> 4 votes
> If one was to take a 30mg dose once a day for 50+ years, would it damage brain function at all?

You ask a very good question, but I'm going to rephrase it for you: Is the chronic administration of low doses of methylphenidate (Ritalin), amphetamine (Adderall) or methamphetamine (Desoxyn) neurotoxic in humans?

The answer:

* High doses of methylphenidate are neurotoxic
* High doses of amphetamine are neurotoxic
* High doses of methamphetamine are neurotoxic

But despite being biologically plausible, very little research exists on whether long-term administration of these drugs in low doses is neurotoxic.

This topic is poorly understood for the number of people knowing the answer would be relevant.

### Evidence of neurotoxicity in non-human primates

To date, I've only been able to find a couple papers examining this very topic.

In non-human primates, there's evidence to suggest that that chronic low doses of amphetamine could be:

> **Amphetamine Treatment Similar to That Used in the Treatment of Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Damages Dopaminergic Nerve Endings in the Striatum of Adult Nonhuman Primates**
>
> Pharmacotherapy with amphetamine is effective in the management of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), now recognized in adults as well as in children and adolescents. **Here we demonstrate that amphetamine treatment, similar to that used clinically for adult ADHD, damages dopaminergic nerve endings in the striatum of adult nonhuman primates.** Furthermore, plasma concentrations of amphetamine associated with dopaminergic neurotoxicity in nonhuman primates are on the order of those reported in young patients receiving amphetamine for the management of ADHD. These findings may have implications for the pathophysiology and treatment of ADHD. Further preclinical and clinical studies are needed to evaluate the dopaminergic neurotoxic potential of therapeutic doses of amphetamine in children as well as adults.

The problem with the above study is that it was led by a researcher called Ricaurte, who screwed up when he reported in 2002 that a single recreational dose of MDMA is neurotoxic. He had to later retract his findings when he learned that that the drug bottles were mislabeled and they'd accidentally administered methamphetamine instead. See here.

Conversely, there's also evidence to suggest that that low doses of amphetamine aren't neurotoxic:

> **Literature Review: Update on Amphetamine Neurotoxicity and Its Relevance to the Treatment of ADHD**
>
> *Objective:* A review of amphetamine treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was conducted, to obtain information on the long-term neurological consequences of this therapy. *Method:* Several databases were accessed for research articles on the effects of amphetamine in the brain of laboratory animals and ADHD diagnosed individuals. *Results:* **In early studies, high doses of amphetamine, comparable to amounts used by addicts, were shown to damage dopaminergic pathways. More recent studies, using therapeutic regimens, appear contradictory. One paradigm shows significant decreases in striatal dopamine and transporter density after oral administration of “therapeutic” doses in primates. Another shows morphological evidence of “trophic” dendritic growth in the brains of adult and juvenile rats given systemic injections mimicking “therapeutic” treatment. Imaging studies of ADHD-diagnosed individuals show an increase in striatal dopamine transporter availability that may be reduced by methylphenidate treatment.** *Conclusion:* Clarification of the neurological consequences of chronic AMPH treatment for ADHD is needed. (J. of Att. Dis. 2007; 11(1) 8-16)

### Summary

There's very little evidence either way. It's possible. Personally, I *really* think this needs to be examined in more detail.

---
Tags: neuroscience, performance, brain-development
---


title: Baby Names and the Hive Mind

text:
# Question
Title: Baby Names and the Hive Mind
A couple of months ago my wife and I found out we were having a little girl and needed to start thinking seriously about picking some names. After going through a dictionary of names we narrowed it down a (long) shortlist. Interestingly almost every single name on one of the various 'Top Baby Names UK 2017' lists happened to appear on our shortlist. 8 out of the top 10 names below appeared on our list.

I'm assuming that this isn't coincidence and it's probably very common, hence the popularity of the names. What I struggle to understand is where the influence comes from.

I don't read celebrity magazines. I don't have lots of friends with children. None of these names are family tradition. I've never even met people with some of these names and some I've only met who are 80+ years old. Ava being a good example of that, it turns out for the last ten years, completely unbeknownst to me, every woman and her dog have been named Ava.

**What is influencing our preferences and why does this convergence happen?**

# Answer
> 5 votes
There are probably a number of factors at play here.

One important contribution to the "snowballing" of trends like this is the mere exposure effect by which things we encounter repeatedly become more attractive to us just because of their familiarity (this is also the logic that underlies ad campaigns that just put the brand or logo all over the place without bothering to associate any particular messaging with it --- just hoping to increase the number of times people see it). Notice how similar the list of names you have are to each other. Repeated sounds (the "ia" ending, the use of nasals and liquids like "l" and "m" in place of harsher stop consonants like "t" or "p").

You (and everyone else) has been encountering names with these components, and these names in particular, increasingly over the last couple years, which make them seem more and more attractive to you.

# Answer
> 3 votes
It really is quite amazing. As others have said most of this is most likely do to exposure. For instance, characters in TV stories often see spikes in their name afterwards. I don't think people are naming their child after the character, but the name starts to subconsciously stick with them.

For instance, after Violet was one of the characters in The Incredibles the name took off for years: http://www.babynameinstitute.com/Names/Girl/Violet.html

---
Tags: cognitive-psychology, bias
---


# Question
Title: Fitting equal-variance signal detection model to ROC data
I posted this question in the programming forums but think I might get some answers if I post here as well... hope that's ok.

I'm trying to follow the steps in this paper to reproduce the excel table shown, but for some reason I'm unable to reproduce the 'estimated' values on the right hand side of the sheet, despite correctly calculating c for each of the six levels. I'm confused as to how the author arrived at those values, so I would appreciate if anyone could point out what's going on.

# Answer
The cross posting make it hard to answer, but I would rather the points here ...

Apart from not running on my machine (something about `convert_to_proportions` that I don't care to debug or understand) the code you posted seems conceptually correct. Looking at an abridged version of the code

```
### Input the signal and noise values
## "sure signal", "likely signal", "guess signal", ... ... "sure noise"
signal = [1230, 496, 358, 272, 215, 165]
noise = [111, 216, 349, 540, 625, 895]

# cumulate them
csignal, cnoise = np.cumsum(signal), np.cumsum(noise)

# convert them to proportions and correct so that all but the last elements will never equal 1
propsignal = convert_to_proportions(csignal)
propnoise = convert_to_proportions(cnoise)

# calculate d' for all, except for the last element which is always 1.
d_primes = [get_d_prime(i[0], i[1]) for i in zip(propsignal[0:-1], propnoise[0:-1])]

# calculate c in the same way
cs = [get_c(i[0], i[1]) for i in zip(propsignal[0:-1], propnoise[0:-1])]

#estimate the noise and signal curves.
#*** This is where my numbers disagree with those in the paper.
estimated_noise = [stats.norm.cdf(-c) for c in cs]
estimated_signal = [stats.norm.cdf(np.mean(d_primes) - c) for c in cs]

```

you do not actually need to calculate `cs`. I suggest instead just do

```
cs = np.arange(-10, 10, 0.01)

```

This way cs varies over the entire range of interest and makes a smooth curve and you avoid issues from interpolating between the points. When you do this, the fitted curve passes very close to the third data point, but in the manuscript the fitted curve passes very close to the fourth data point. The discrepancy between the paper and your plot seems to arise from

```
stats.norm.cdf(np.mean(d_primes) - c)

```

It turns out that `np.mean(d_primes)` is very close to `d_primes[2]` (i.e., the $d^\prime$ associated with the third category). If we replace the offending line with

```
stats.norm.cdf(d_primes[3] - c)

```

everything seems to line up.

From a conceptual standpoint, I think that `d_primes[3]` is the best estimate of $d^\prime$ since that corresponds to the division between possible signal and possible noise on the 6 point rating scale. That said, there may be a method for which `np.mean(d_primes)` is the best choice. It is also worth noting that the numbers in the excel table in the paper do not match the figure in the paper.

In summary, if you want to get the numbers in the table, use `np.mean(d_primes)`, but if you want the figure to match use `d_primes[3]`.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: memory, psychology, signal-detection
---


# Question
Title: What statistics can compare individual survey responses & others that were measured as a group (from which we need to extract individual responses)?
The organization I belong to studies indigenous populations through primarily survey research. One study for example aims to identify the relationship between culture and the evaluation of odors. We are looking for a statistical procedure that can be used to compare a larger amount of individuals. Some records were measured directly on individuals, while others were measured by a group spokesman. In the case of groups, however, individuals should be "downscaled" in order to be able to compare these data records with the data sets of individuals measured. The group speakers of a group are not always the same people from a particular group, but different people can respond on behalf of the group. The group size can vary within the measurement. A mean number of group size, ratio between man and woman and age is estimated per questionnaire/measurement (data set). Due to the difficulties collecting data in indigenous contexts, this is the only way we found to be possible. We are looking for a statistical method that can compare individual survey responses, if some were measured individually, and others were measured as a group (from which we need to extract individual responses).

# Answer
> 1 votes
Sounds like you're looking for a hierarchical model. You might find some joy in BDA, http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/book/ (in particular, chapter 5)

To quickly get some idea if this sort of thing is right for you, you could check out this blog-post on one particular example here http://andrewgelman.com/2014/01/21/everything-need-know-bayesian-statistics-learned-eight-schools/

Whether this will work for you also depends quite a bit on what you want to ask (what does 'identify the relationship' mean?) and the target audience. If you do head over to Cross Validated (strongly recommended!) make those things as clear as possible in your question.

---
Tags: statistics, survey, cross-cultural-psychology, analysis
---


# Question
Title: Do social classes hang more with the same social class?
Do social classes hang more with the same social class?

Further, how "reasonable" phenomenon this is?

# Answer
> 1 votes
If we take "social class" to mean income/wealth as it's most commonly the case in the West today, then there's even an academic term for the uncommon friendships across such classes, namely "income-bridging". As for their occurence, let me quote you from a paper by Léna Pellandini-Simányi (which happens to survey Hungarian society, but I think it easily generalizable across the Western world):

> Many of the income-bridging friendships are between former classmates whose class position diverged, yet who kept their old friendship alive.

Let me tell you from personal experience that this is 100% the case for me, if we take the "income-bridging" to mean a tenfold difference in income.

Also from the same paper on Hungary, this interesting bit regarding the socialist past:

> During socialism, status-bridging friendships were not more frequent in Hungary than in capitalist societies, contrary to the image of an egalitarian and open society promoted by political public discourse. \[... However\] It is important to note that these \[socialist-era\] studies measured class by education and working position, omitting income.

The last part kinda reminds me of joke/advice along the lines of: don't get a PhD to impress your friends, once you get a PhD most of your friends will have one.

---
Tags: sociology, social-desirability
---


# Question
Title: What research is there on how people go from examining/gathering evidence to executing on a decision?
I'm curious what research there is about when/how people decide to stop evaluating or gathering evidence, and actually begin executing on an action, and how the order of information presented could therefore effect conclusions. Most of the articles I've found on this so far are related to premature closure in the area of medical diagnoses specifically -- i.e. when people make a diagnosis prematurely. However, it seems like this must be researched in psychology as well- I think I'm just missing the key terms to look at to find it. Any suggestions/idea of the research would be very helpful!

# Answer
> 4 votes
It's possible that there is no sharp threshold between information gathering and acting. A recent paper by Piantadosi exploring that possibility, and citing a ton of (admittedly more conventional/mainstream) work on decision boundaries is:

Alonso-Diaz S, Cantlon JF, Piantadosi ST (2018) A threshold-free model of numerosity comparisons. *PLoS ONE* 13(4): e0195188. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195188

---
Tags: cognitive-psychology, social-psychology, bias, decision-making
---


# Question
Title: Term for a disposition to ramble on special interests in conversation?
Some people are notorious for "going off on extended tangents," meaning: in any conversation they are prone to expound at length on subjects of personal interest *without regard for the interest of, or relevance to, other listeners or participants*. Is there a term for this behavior?

To refine the question: I am curious not about general rambling (which can manifest itself in many ways, and is probably a consequence of many different pathologies), but more specifically about such behavior manifest by people who are "high-functioning" and intelligent, and where the exposition (when it begins) is relevant to the conversation.

For example, I have seen this sort of behavior frequently among people with high-functioning ASD when a conversation touches on a special interest. It is something of a trope: The geek who everyone knows is going not going to stop talking about, say, trains, and once he gets started will not be derailed from the subject by any hint or attempt by others to bring the conversation back on track.

I'm not asserting that the behavior as described is only manifest in individuals with ASD (although if it is, or is particular to a few recognized conditions, that would be noteworthy). I'm more curious as to whether the behavior itself has a clinical name or association.

# Answer
I think the term you're looking for describing the nature of the interests is "obsessive". Quoting from a presentation aimed the general public:

> Why so obsessive? Exactly why special interests, obsessions and autism tend to go together is still not very well understood. However, if you look at the key characteristics of autism, it does make a certain sense.
>
> To begin with, autism is associated with ‘rigid’ thinking. This sounds quite judgemental, but another way to say it would be to say that people with autism tend to be more all-or-nothing than most people: something is either absolutely not interesting or absolutely fascinating.
>
> This can be an oversimplification, but people with autism do tend to think in fewer shades of grey. When applied to favourite subjects, this can turn an interest into a passion, or an obsession.

And from a more DSM-ish perspective (that is not presupposing a common cause) that is stated as

> Research suggests that anxiety disorders and OCD are highly prevalent in individuals with ASD. However, the significant overlap of ASD features with anxiety and OCD symptomology makes differential diagnosis of these disorders particularly challenging.

In the autism literature, the term "obsession" is used

> to indicate strong, repetitive interests, even if this is not accompanied by anxiety.

The latter paper also has a survey of the content of obsessions in children with autism spectrum conditions, in case you're interested. (Generally speaking, such obsession tend to be more object- rather than people-oriented in subjects with autism.)

Keep in mind that the distinction between a "passion" and an "obsession" can be a bit value-laden, and not just when talking about autism, but also in the wider context of perfectionism etc.

An alternative term with practically the same meaning as "obsessive" \[interests\] is "circumscribed interests". I don't read enough autism literature to tell you if this or "obsessive" is the more prevalent term used. It's probably wise to search for both. It doesn't seem like the terminology has settled. The DSM is not terribly helpful in this respect because it discusses/titles the notion together with behaviors, more precisely using the term(s) Restricted and Repetitive Behaviours and Interests (RRBIs).

Finally the "rambling" part of your question relates more to social deficits present in autism, so what you're asking for is a combination of terms/notions rather than just one. In fact these two dimensions (social deficits and RRBIs) are considered definitory for autism... so the umbrella term you're looking for (for someone rambling about their very narrow interests) is basically... "autistic".

It would be nice if there were a term for some subset of A (social deficits) + some subset of B (RRBis) features, but I doubt you'll find a term so specific given the state of the literature I've looked at. So if "autistic" comes off as too broad, the precise answer is that there isn't a specific term for what you're asking... unless you want to coin/combine existing terms.

It's rather hard to even find a technical term just for the autistic rambling (regardless of subject). I did find an informal term for this used by autistic persons themselves, which has been reproduced in a psychiatry monograph, namely "data dump":

> Paradoxically, when patients do eventually begin to talk, they can soon switch into a speech-like monologue that is difficult to interrupt or halt, and may seem rambling. (Often they are also quite self-conscious about how much they are digressing and 'wasting \[your\] time'.)
>
> Being autistic means being slow to notice non-verbal cues from another person \[i.e. from you the doctor\] that signal to them \[the patient\], 'it's my turn to say or ask something now'. It is as as if they have been silently building up their in their minds a long and very detailed account of their lives, which is suddenly released. Some on the autism spectrum refer to this using the computer analogy of 'data dump' (there is no humorous intent here). Attempts to interrupt this flow can produce irritated reactions. This is not anger (although expression of anger can occur suddenly). A common complaint of people on the autism spectrum is that interruptions are hugely problematic--in more extreme cases the only way to resume is to start over at the beginning. Equally, they are sometimes aware of this. 'I know I talk on too much, but I just don't know when to stop, the way other people seem to know with its time to give way'. \[sic\]

So... if we were to coin a combined term for precisely what you are asking for... "obsessive interest data dump" (more informally) or "circumscribed-interest speech-like monologue" (somewhat more formally) would be the term combo I'd use. And that's for the action itself; for the \[pre\]disposition to it; prepend that word.

Finally the notion of perseveration defined as

> the continuation or recurrence of an experience or activity without the appropriate stimulus

does seem to apply to the \[socially uncalled for\] "data dump" as well, but perseveration is a slightly broader term, so "perseverative speech/discourse on fixated interest" seems more precise... although there are at least some DSM-5 guidelines on autism using the terms "perseveration on a specific topic" (under criterion B3) and "preservative speech" (criterion B1), and it seems they suggest the former (rather than the latter) for what you ask about. (criterion B3). Note however that "failure of normal back and forth conversation through reduced sharing of interests" including "One‐sided conversations/monologues/tangential speech" is under criterion A1... and (all three) A's and two B's are required for a diagnosis under DSM-5; and they also suggest to "avoid using the exact same behavioral exemplar to satisfy two criteria." (In general, meeting the DSM-5 criteria for autism is more difficult than for DSM-IV-TR; furthermore, the tightened criteria also results in greater OCD comorbitidy.)
> 1 votes

---
Tags: terminology, autism, pathology
---


# Question
Title: Has "induced savantism" been further explored beyond Snyder 2009?
The Mechanism/Neurological subsection of the Wikipedia article Savant Syndrome says:

> Savant syndrome results from damage to the left anterior temporal lobe, an area of the brain key in processing sensory input, recognizing objects and forming visual memories.\[citation needed\] Savant syndrome has been artificially replicated using transcranial magnetic stimulation to temporarily disable this area of the brain.(16)

and reference (16) links to:

* Snyder, A. (2009). Explaining and inducing savant skills: privileged access to lower level, less-processed information. *Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences*, 364(1522), 1399-1405. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0290

The article describes experimental work *earlier than 2009* in which savant-like skills were "artificially induced by low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation."

My guess is that almost ten years on induced savantism would have been explored further *experimentally* and either 1) refuted, or 2) more thoroughly proven and potential explanations tested with more complex experiments.

Has either happened?

See also this substantial answer from 2012.

# Answer
There are no other studies I can find where TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) was used in the same way, but there is a paper mentioning Snyder (2009) whilst discussing safety and other ethical considerations required regarding neural enhancement using noninvasive brain stimulation.

Hamilton, et al. (2011) said the following about Snyder (2009)
(References re-numbered for formatting purposes and converted to APA style)

> Finally, one set of cognitive skills in which the role of TMS and tDCS has been especially controversial is the unmasking of so-called savant-like abilities. Snyder2 argued that inhibition of the left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) with brain stimulation interferes with semantic networks that normally impose top-down constraints on human perception—in short, making conception play a diminished role in perception. These investigators suggest that suppressing the LATL increases access to less-processed information, improving performance in perceptual abilities on tasks such as drawing, proof-reading, numerosity judgment,1 and other cognitive processes in which conceptual knowledge biases performance.3,4
>
> 1. Snyder, A. W., Mulcahy, E., Taylor, J. L., Mitchell, D. J., Sachdev, P., & Gandevia, S. C. (2003). Savant-like skills exposed in normal people by suppressing the left fronto-temporal lobe. *Journal of integrative neuroscience*, 2(2), 149-158.
> DOI: 10.1142/S0219635203000287
> PDF: http://howieswebs.ipage.com/pdf/savantskills.pdf
> 2. Snyder, A. (2009). Explaining and inducing savant skills: privileged access to lower level, less-processed information. *Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences*, 364(1522), 1399-1405.
> DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0290
> PDF: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1522/1399.full.pdf
> 3. Gallate, J., Chi, R., Ellwood, S., & Snyder, A. (2009). Reducing false memories by magnetic pulse stimulation. *Neuroscience letters*, 449(3), 151-154.
> DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2008.11.021
> PDF: http://www.centreforthemind.com/publications/FalseMemories160109.pdf
> 4. Oliveri, M., Romero, L., & Papagno, C. (2004). Left but not right temporal involvement in opaque idiom comprehension: A repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation study. *Journal of cognitive Neuroscience*, 16(5), 848-855.
> DOI: 10.1162/089892904970717
> PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Costanza\_Papagno/publication/8506415\_Left\_But\_Not\_Right\_Temporal\_Involvement\_in\_Opaque\_Idiom\_Comprehension\_A\_Repetitive\_Transcranial\_Magnetic\_Stimulation\_Study/links/09e4150b4c7a9f03be000000.pdf

Regarding the safety of TMS, Hamilton, et al. (2011) said the following:

> There are known and possibly unknown safety concerns associated with noninvasive brain stimulation. The most important safety risk associated with TMS is the risk of inducing seizures. Since the introduction of published safety parameters for the use of rTMS, the incidence of induced seizure is exceptionally rare. All current evidence indicates that tDCS is extremely safe; its main safety risks are mild headache and a mild burning or itching sensation under the electrodes. Given the newness of these methodologies, one caveat is that not much is known about the chronic effects of either magnetic or electrical brain stimulation. Future studies may reveal unsuspected side effects and risks that are more serious than those associated with some conventional methods of behavioral cognitive manipulation (e.g., psychotherapy)**....**

There is quite a bit more on the safety and other ethical considerations, which I will leave you to read.

## References

Hamilton, R., Messing, S., & Chatterjee, A. (2011). Rethinking the thinking cap: Ethics of neural enhancement using noninvasive brain stimulation. *Neurology*, 76(2), 187-193.
DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e318205d50d
> 5 votes

# Answer
Sort of. Snyder togher with Chi have published a paper in 2012 in which they claim to have obtained a fairly similar result using tDCS to vastly improve the odds of solving the nine-dot problem, which certainly strengthens their case (although not as much as if this were replicated by others). The abstract of the latter paper doesn't quite let on how related their two studies are, but in the discussion the authrors emphasize that:

> Importantly, our paradigm for brain stimulation is unlike other attempts for enhancing cognition \[...\] in that we did not aim to enhance an existing ability by exciting a specific brain region associated with that ability. Instead, our stimulation protocol aims to mirror left hemisphere inhibition together with right hemisphere facilitation, a condition that characterizes some individuals with extraordinary savant like skills \[...\].

They further their point that unusual brain functioning might indeed be the mechanism facilitating the solution to the nine-dot problem with a case report in which the sole participant who did solve the problem sans tDCS aid turned out to have had a brain injury.

I also found a 2012 piece in Wired (covering mainly the latter paper) which is a bit ambivalent whether Snyder's results (in general) could be replicated:

> It sounds like a Michael Crichton plot, but Snyder, of the University of Sydney, Australia, says he wouldn’t be surprised to see a prototype of the creativity cap within a couple of years. His research suggests that brain stimulation improves people’s ability to solve difficult problems. But Snyder's interpretation of his findings remains controversial, and the science of using brain stimulation to boost thinking is still in its early stages.
>
> "I think it’s a bit of a minefield," said psychologist Robyn Young of Flinders University in Australia, who has tried to replicate Snyder’s early experiments. "I’m not really sure whether the technology is developed that can turn it into a more accurate science."
>
> \[...\]
>
> Snyder’s earlier studies used magnetic, rather than electrical, stimulation to try to elicit savant abilities. One study showed a change in artistic ability, while another found improved numerosity, the ability to precisely estimate a large number of objects without counting them.
>
> But as of yet, not many of Snyder’s studies have been replicated. Australian psychologist Robyn Young did a study in 2004 that examined the effect of magnetic stimulation on savant-type skills such as drawing, memory, mathematics and calendar calculating. In five out of 17 subjects, some improvement was observed, but most of the findings weren't statistically significant. A follow-up study failed to show any effect of the stimulation.
>
> Young thinks the idea of improving cognition with brain stimulation is plausible, but "there were so many variables involved," she said, such as where to stimulate and how long the effect lasts, that she dropped the work to pursue other research.

So apparently the Snyder studies are difficult to replicate, methodologically... and there doesn't seem to be much interest. Bummer.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: savant-syndrome, tms
---


# Question
Title: Acceleration of subjective time with age
I came across this online paper, entitled *Subjective Time vs. Proper (Clock) Time* by Ronald P. Gruber, Stanford University, in which the following statement can be found:

> The shorter the latency of the person’s response or the more bits (or chunks) a person processes during a time period, the faster is the person’s information-processing rate.

Information-processing rate would decrease with age, and account for the common feeling of time moving by faster in later decades of life.

The other important factor in the subjective measure of time would be the cummulative items of information processed:

> (1) subjective time is based upon the overall information-processing rate, and
>
> (2) the subjective experience of life’s duration is related to if not based upon the total information processed (cumulative uncertainty).

I don't know if there have been any serious studies on the topic, but in trying to comprehend what the paper is saying two things come to mind:

1. The healthy awake human mind is constantly "thinking," and often in a chaotic, random way, influenced by incessant visual, auditory and other external stimuli, as well as loose associative chains moving forwards (future) and backwards (past). This process is effortless, and at many points slips into a semi-conscious level, barely detectable. It tends to recur, be interrupted, and wander far away from its point of origin; a random walk or "scattered thoughts."
2. However, when effort, concentration or interest in a challenging mental activity focuses the mind, a structure arises within the featureless fabric of thoughts, forming nodes of "achievement", such as solving a problem, or understanding a concept, achieving a milestone, etc. The mind is again prone to the same types of distractions; however, these nodes of convergence become an internal metronome. Let's call this type of thinking "recurrent concentration."

It is the preponderance of these second "states of mind" in people that opt to further their education with challenging courses, write a book, or teach a difficult topic (as examples of demanding tasks) that introduces the punctuation marks in the otherwise effortless flow of conscience. By doing so, an internal clock is awoken, and the passage of time slows down - an internal structure with compartments is created with its own architecture and distinct spaces.

Here would be an illustration of the two types of "thinking":

Notice that this has nothing to do with Daniel Kahneman's dual process theory. Rather it acknowledges the teachings in Zen, or in Mindfulness Theravada Buddhist meditation regarding the existence of a "monkey mind" that wanders off all the time, and needs to be gently reminded to focus. See, for instance Fig.25 on page 111 of Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy by Katsuki Sekida:

Also, there would be an apparent contradiction only at a superficial level: engaging in effort-full activities would sharpen our concentration at the expense of our perception of the passage of time ("being in the zone"); yet it would be the decision to initially engage in something new, and the subsequent intermediate and ultimate achievements resulting from directed mind focus on challenging tasks that would leave a biographic mark in the person, effectively highlighting a particular period, and creating texture in the passage of time. It would, hence, become conscious only in retrospect.

Finally, this take would be more along the lines of cumulative information along a biography, and in particular, "challenging" periods of acquiring information with effort, and less dependent on the more neuronal or biological processing rate.

The question is:

> What is the status of research on the topic of subjective perception of time as accelerating towards later decades of an individual, and in particular, in connection to my thoughts expressed above.

# Answer
I think that from an experimental perspective, the subjective passage of time being faster in later life is somewhat true, but not as simple as the above, and only on a decade-scale, not a minute/hour/day-scale. The results tend to depend on the methodology; in particular using metaphors may produce different results than using a Likert scale. Also even this weak effect of age appears to cap around the age of 50. Furthermore being under time pressure (presently or during the period in question) significantly skews the answers (towards faster passage). So it's a pretty complex topic.

Refs & further reading:
> 1 votes

---
Tags: cognitive-psychology
---


title: Are emotions needed to make decisions?

text:
# Question
Title: Are emotions needed to make decisions?
Oprah.com says:

> It turns out, though, that for most people there is no such thing as a purely rational self. Decision making is intrinsically linked to our emotions, so much so that when a person suffers damage to her orbitofrontal cortex—a part of the brain just behind the eyes that's strongly involved in processing emotions—she can lose her decision-making ability entirely. (We're talking any decision, like which day to schedule a doctor's appointment or whether to use a blue or black pen.) "If it weren't for our emotions," says science writer Jonah Lehrer, author of *How We Decide*, "reason wouldn't exist at all."

Is this really so? Lab experiments on humans on this would certainly be unethical, so I suspect Lehrer might be talking about some nature-did-the-experiment-for-us case (Phineas Gage style). Is anyone familiar with the details, e.g. from Lehrer's book or elsewhere?

# Answer
> 5 votes
Phineas Gage style indeed (is that a precursor to Gangnam style?) - ironically (referring to one large iron rod), Phineas Gage's accident is believed to have entirely removed his OFC, as well as parts of his PFC. Though Gage likely suffered some mental changes, his recovery was a far cry from any sweeping "lose his decision-making ability entirely" diagnosis, even with injuries more extensive than just the OFC, so I think we can safely rule out the statement above without resorting to unethical experimentation.

This misconception may have originated with Antonio Damasio:

> Antonio Damasio, in support of his somatic marker hypothesis (relating decision-making to emotions and their biological underpinnings), draws parallels between behaviors he ascribes to Gage and those of modern patients with damage to the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala. But Damasio's depiction of Gage has been severely criticized ...

In neuroscience, this type of error is called a "reverse inference". For example, if we find that a particular region of the brain is active when subjects experience an "emotion", we can't then conclude that it always means subjects are experiencing that "emotion" when it is active. That brain region may have other functions besides that emotion, many other brain regions may be involved in experiencing that emotion, and different regions may be involved in different contexts.

Furthermore, in modern emotion traditions, the distinction between emotion and cognition in general tends to be blurry, to the extent that some popular emotion models argue that the two cannot feasibly be separated. In other words, depending on your preferred model, "emotion" may refer to all cognition (the entire brain), so **the answer to your question would be ... yes?**

Note: I don't know anything about Jonah Lehrer's book, but Wikipedia says:

> On March 1, 2013, following revelations that Lehrer has been caught in numerous falsifications in his œuvre of writings, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced the book was taken "off sale" after an internal review.

---
Tags: emotion, decision-making
---


# Question
Title: Are there official guidelines to provide "mental first aid" to people attempting suicide?
I wonder if there are any official guidelines on how to act in case of an attempted suicide as a civilian (*i.e.* trained in first aid, but untrained in rescue, mental health *etc*)? How should a regular person react in order to prevent the suicide attempt? Obviously -

1. By not endangering myself
2. By calling 911 (or a local equivalent)

being the obvious first steps. However, WebMD as an example is pretty bland about the rest one can do. I have also learned that keeping them talking and asking open questions about the suicide thoughts.

However, there must be some official guidelines (that I just couldn't find).

I should point out that this is not about suicide prevention, put about what to do when one witnesses a suicide attempt (so the plan has already been made and is currently starting to be put into action, *i.e.* the patient is already standing on the roof-top about to jump or starting to take other means of committing suicide

# Answer
> 5 votes
This is a good question as according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), close to 800,000 people die due to suicide every year, which is one person every 40 seconds. (WHO, n.d.) Calling the emergency services via 911 (or a local equivalent) is the first thing you should do when discovering someone is about to attempt suicide.

## Emotional First Aid (EFA)

The first time I heard about any kind of "mental first aid" was around 2010 when some training courses on **Emotional First Aid (EFA)** were made available, run for 6 three and a half hour sessions over a 6 week period. Built on a foundation of systemic thinking and humanistic principles, EFA seeks to dispel the myth that mental health means mental illness; and so EFA was designed to help a child or young person experiencing emotional distress, before any professional help is sought.

## Other Training

As members of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), there are also formal training courses run by Samaritans (UK and USA).

## Psychological First Aid (PFA)

For an informal approach to learning about the subject, there is a guide for field workers written and provided in many languages by the World Health Organisation (WHO) through their Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) called *Psychological first aid: Guide for field workers* (WHO, 2011). The guide is not specifically aimed at suicide prevention. It is aimed at providing guidance for Psychological First Aid for any possible reason, and therefore, the guidance can be followed whilst dealing with suicidal people.

### Some Key Points (Among Others)

* **The prime responsibility you have is for your own personal safety**
Helping the suicidal person should never endanger your own personal safety. If you get seriously injured whilst trying to help, you are not being helpful and it could add to the list of reasons the suicidal person may carry through with it.
* **Psychological first aid (PFA) is is not counselling or psychotherapy**
so you don't need to be trained in any of the related mental health fields. Even if you are trained in any related mental health fields, you are not to treat it as counselling or psychotherapy.
* **Don’t force help on people, and don’t be intrusive or pushy.** (WHO, 2011)
One of the things which some people might think they should do is to insist that they stay with the suicidal person and force them to talk. Not only is this going against their human rights, but someone who is suicidal because they feel they are not in control of their own lives can be pushed into carrying through with their suicide attempt with this approach.
* **Make it clear to them that even if they refuse help now, they can still access help in the future**
If they refuse and ask you to leave them alone, you can say that you will stay nearby and if they change their mind, just call out and you will be there. The fact that you are there can be enough support.
* **Be aware of and set aside your own biases and prejudices.**
You may have strong beliefs which may affect how you feel about that person once they tell you something. You need to be mindful that you can inadvertently display the fact that you don't approve of something which can be detrimental to the process.
* **After it is over, be sure to look after yourself**.
Dealing with suicidal people can lead to Vicarious Trauma. Be aware of how you are feeling and how the incident has affected you. Seek emotional help for yourself where needed too.

If there is a strong chance you may be in the situation where you have a suicidal person you need to help, I would recommend at least reading the WHO guide for field workers, however it may be more beneficial to undertake some form of formal training in Psychological First Aid either through the Samaritans or a similar organisation.

## References

WHO. (n.d.) *Mental Health - Suicide Data*.
Retrievable from: http://www.who.int/mental\_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/

WHO. (2011). *Psychological first aid: Guide for field workers*. Retrievable from: http://www.who.int/mental\_health/publications/guide\_field\_workers/en/

---
Tags: abnormal-psychology, health-psychology
---


# Question
Title: What techniques can be used to differentiate between correlation and causation?
Psychology is unique among other medical sciences in that it cannot ask test participants to like, prefer or support something. As such a vast body of psychological studies are purely observational and can find correlation but not causation.

For example if there is a link between self-awareness and empathy, how to test if being more empathetic increases self-awareness, being more self-aware increases empathy, or, let's say, level of some hormone control both and they are otherwise independent of each other?

# Problem

Let's compare those two situations:

1. A study found that people who eat a lot of sugar are fat. How researchers can test whether **a)** eating sugar makes people fat **b)** being fat makes people eat more sugar or **c)** both sugar consumption and body fat are influenced by the same external factor?
2. A study found that people who like yellow color are more likely to be psychopaths. How researchers can test whether **a)** liking yellow turns people into psychopaths **b)** being a psychopath makes people like yellow **c)** being a psychopath and liking yellow are both influenced by the same external factor?

In first scenario the answer is easy - split test subjects into two groups, force one group to restrict sugar intake and monitor their weight, help second group lose weight and monitor their sugar intake.

In second - I cannot find the answer. Because psychology generally concerns itself with what people are as opposed to what they do, the standard approach in medicine described above cannot be utilized. Researchers can't force someone to like yellow, neither can they turn someone into a psychopath.

# Question

When researchers find a statistical correlation between character traits or preferences, how do they test whether there is a causal relationship between those characteristic, if traits cannot be adjusted?

# Answer
There is no statistical test for distinguishing mere correlation from causation. It has to come from ulterior (model) considerations.

Having said that, a common way is to design a new experiment, called a controlled study, in which \[based on ulterior model considerations\] you change something in some but not all the items/subjects observed. This is basically what you describe (propose to do) in your situation 1.

If you have no way whatsoever to change/adjust anything, then you are stuck so to speak; there's no way to go beyond observational studies. In practice, researchers come up with an idea of what causes what and try to "eliminate" (or rather account for) confounders--what you call an "external factor". There are various degrees of statistical sophistication at which you can do this, e.g. the so called path analysis. However, coming up with a complete list of confounders is hopeless.

---

A science in which by necessity many or most studies are observational is called an observational science (duh). Psychology is not the only science where you find a lot of observational studies. Archeology, geology, epidemiology or astronomy are other, perhaps more exterme examples. In general, a science being (mostly) observational entails that it's more difficult to replicate the results of studies findings... but some contend that this state of affairs is something people got used to... so the so-called "replication crisis" has mostly to do with controlled rather than observational studies. Quoting from the previous link:

> But Peng also describes his own field, epidemiology, in the top left of the chart, as having largely been spared the reproducibility crisis, even though it is as theoretically rudderless as medicine or psychology (or archaeology). His contention is that in fields that rely on experimentation, breeds an unreasonable expectation that the results of single experiments (if well-designed and statistically validated) are true. Meanwhile, observational sciences, which are accustomed to the fact that they have little control over their observations and that single results may well be wrong, have already learned the core lesson of the reproducibility crisis: don’t trust that that isn’t replicated.

In fact some of the most controversial results in psychology have both a theoretical (albeit not deeply so) basis and rely on controlled rather that observational studies, e.g. the ego depletion hypothesis, which is roughly that sugar restores willpower.
> 5 votes

# Answer
Fizz's answer that *"there is no statistical test for distinguishing mere correlation from causation"* is **wrong**. There is. It's called the Granger causality test. It's basically a test for correlation across time, which is what a causal relation essentially is:

> The Granger causality test is a statistical hypothesis test for determining whether one time series is useful in forecasting another, first proposed in 1969. Ordinarily, regressions reflect "mere" correlations, but Clive Granger argued that causality in economics could be tested for by measuring the ability to predict the future values of a time series using prior values of another time series. (Wikipedia)

As long as you're able to observe the phenomena you're attempting to ascertain causality separated in time, you can test whether the forerunning phenomenon is a good statistical forecast of the subsequent phenomenon. Whether we fully understand the mechanics of how the former causes the latter or not is immaterial to them being in a causal relation, and, in fact, any such explanation is just a breakdown of one such lagged correlation into a series of correlations between intervening steps.

For more on the Granger causality test see:

Granger, C. W. (1969). Investigating causal relations by econometric models and cross-spectral methods. *Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society*, 37(3), 424-438. doi:10.2307/1912791 PDF: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1c68/05d6029f56b49041f7578ad4a412a0327953.pdf
> 0 votes

---
Tags: measurement
---


# Question
Title: What are science-based methods to memorize large sets of best practices?
I am a writer. In every book about writing fiction there are some recommendations, which I need to remember during the process of writing. Examples of best practices may include:

* In every scene, it is necessary to describe where the characters are, what they look like (incl. how they are dressed), what time is it, plus information that competing media cannot replicate (smells -- books compete with movies and describing smells is one way to make a book more immersive than a movie).
* Balance of description and action: Two paragraphs of description, then something must happen.
* You cannot just tell what happens like a journalist. Instead, you need to paint a picture by using metaphors and comparisons.

What are scientifically proven strategies to memorize long list of items (best practices in this case)?

I know I could do a giant checklist of text improvement processes and go through it while editing every chapter. I already tried that and it didn't work that well. There were over a hundred methods from different books, organized by writing stage (ideation, plotting, writing first draft, editing).

I'm using Anki to increase my vocabulary (I'm not an English native speaker) and would like to have something similar for lists of best practices. However, Anki isn't really suitable for this purpose because it trains your ability to give correct answers to questions (not remember a set of best practices at a certain stage of writing).

In another question the use of flash cards was suggested. If I understand it correctly, this method requires me to create a flash card with following data:

Question: What things do you need to do at the beginning of chapter design phase?

Answer:

1. Define the event that the chapter is describing.
2. Write down the beat sheet.
3. Find on the Internet the images of places and objects that are featured in this chapter.
4. Write down the goals of the chapter.

This is fine, if the list of items is relatively small. But what if there are 40 or 100 things that I can do at the beginning of a phase (chapter design in this case) and I want to remember them all without a checklist?

An answer to this question suggests attaching emotions to the things I want to memorize. I probably could invent some stories to memorize. But I still don't feel like this is the "full solution" (even if I invent stories that trigger my emotions for every of the 100 best practices, I am still not sure that I will remember them all).

# Answer
> 1 votes
We, as human beings, are generally not able to MEMORIZE that quantity of information. I suggest there are two ways to approach this issue:

1) Remembering WHERE information is as opposed to what information there is. This works with top-notch scientists and I am particularly fond of this strategy. For example, instead of remembering the parts of the neuron, you could remember where you wrote them down or how you can quickly find those out and you can refer back to those. Or, in your example, instead of remembering what you have to describe, you could remember where your checklist or notes are regarding that and just look it up every time. Now, all you have to remember is that only certain information goes into the description and where you can look that up. (similar to chunking as mentioned by one of the previous replies)

2) Experience -\> Incorporating that much information can be done easily only if you have deliberately practised it A LOT. The more information there is, the more practice you need. By the sounds of it - you may need a lot if there are so many rules. I would assume, much like the scientific work I am involved it, at one point it will become second nature to you and you will feel when something is not described or written well.

I realize that these two points do not address your question directly: Generally if you want to remember a long list of items it all boils down to the strength of the connections you build. Build your own associations. In one incredible study, for example, an undergraduate long-distance runner managed to increase his memory span from 7 (which is the average) to 79 digits (in some cases this could also be chunks which can increase the amount of remembered information) after 230 hours of deliberate practice (1h a day 3-5 days/week). He did that by "recoding" long strings of numbers into associations - e.g. 3492 -\> 3 minutes 49.2 seconds near world record mile time; 1944 -\> near WWII end and so on (Ericsson, Chase & Faloon, 1980).

So, it is possible to remember that amount of information but I strongly discourage you to do so as it would limit the amount of creative work you can accomplish in the meantime.

P.S. Just as an example of how effective 2) is -\> In order for me to recall that study I remember that a lot of hours of deliberate practice increase working memory recall span and I remembered that there was a case study. Then in order to remember exactly what the study was, I recalled where it must be (Somewhere in my Memory-related notes) and so that I can sort through them quickly I recalled that there was something with WWII and recoding strategies. I managed to find it within 30-45 seconds among A LOT of notes!

Hope that helps.

---
Tags: memory
---


# Question
Title: What science-based strategies can slow down dementia?
What are some science-based strategies that could slow down dementia?

For example, do cognitive demanding tasks like solving crosswords, playing with the Rubic's cube, chess, or perhaps stuff like gardening help against dementia?

# Answer
> 3 votes
It depends on the disease that causes dementia. Dementia is a syndrome that has many causes. Some of them are treatable, such as metabolic/infectious diseases. Some are primary degenerative diseases of the nervous system, such as Alzheimer disease, Pick disease, and Huntington disease. Most diseases in the first category are treatable, many are curable. But most diseases in the second category are usually not amenable to treatment. They progress slowly but relentlessly despite any treatment.

Regarding non-pharmacologic treatments, including cognitive training or cognitive rehabilitation, they seem to have some roles in the management of dementia (H C Kales) but not have spectacular effects and still be inconclusive in improving or maintaining cognitive and functional performance of people with dementia (Diagnosis and Treatment of Dementia).

---
Tags: alzheimer
---


# Question
Title: Is the belief that a consultant knows more than the team a form of cognitive bias?
I've noticed that many people assume that consultants know more than they themselves do and/or more than their team does. That is, when a team is stuck on a problem, some people believe that a consultant can figure it out even without knowing that consultant. True, more heads might help, but I've also seen teams who believe everything a consultant says, especially at the beginning of the relationship yet scrutinize the people they work with. Why?

I've read about the **halo effect** in Wikipedia, which contains the statement, "The halo effect is a type of immediate judgement discrepancy, or cognitive bias, where a person making an initial assessment of another person, place, or thing will assume ambiguous information based upon concrete information."

This would suggest to me that any concrete information can bias someone when filling in the ambiguous information. However, reading more about the halo effect, it seems mainly focused on how people *look*.

So my questions are, what goes on in people's minds to create the belief that a consultant knows best when they don't have evidence to believe so? Is it a bias? If so, which one? Or just human behaviour? Something else? Does it depend on the situation?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Yes, this *could be* a cognitive bias. Quite clearly, a consultant is *expected* to be more knowledgeable about the specific topic they were hired to consult on.

> A consultant (from Latin: consultare "to deliberate") is a professional who provides expert advice.

Consultants are *supposed* to be experts in their field, and as a result they carry some authority. Therefore, **authority bias** comes to mind:

> Authority bias is the tendency to attribute greater accuracy to the opinion of an authority figure **(unrelated to its content)** and be more influenced by that opinion.

The bolded addendum in between parentheses is important. As long as based on the content the consultant brings to the table you respect their opinion, there is no cognitive bias (no irrationality); they are simply doing a good job.

But, not all 'consultants' are experts per se. In software development specifically, I have the impression 'consultancy' has almost become synonymous with 'temporary hire'. Newly grads often get hired straight out of school in consultancy firms. In such cases, there might be a cognitive bias at play, when it is not the contributed content which is evaluated (as you outline in your answer), but merely the title the consultant carries.

---
Tags: cognitive-psychology, bias, halo-effect
---


# Question
Title: How to advise a high school student about choosing a university to study psychology?
My son is a sophomore in high school and the only field he seems interested in for college is psychology because he wants to help people. I'm trying to figure out the best way to help him make an educated decision on what college might give him the best chances for starting his career. I figure that if we know what he specifically would like to focus on as a discipline post graduation, I could help him get to a list of great colleges/universities offering him a step up in that specialty.

Is there a series of questions/guide/webpage/book that might help us figure out the specialty that he would most enjoy? Any advice on this would be welcome.

# Answer
Psychology can be roughly summarised as the study of human behaviour. To figure out where your interest lies in the field, you have to figure what aspect of human behaviour you want to understand and how you want to understand it.

Do you want to know:

* How people solve problems? That’s Cognitive Psychology.
* How we can model how people solve problems with a computer? That’s Cognitive Modelling. etc…

There are a lot of fields and they aren’t mutually exclusive. To get started, you may want to browse the tags of this site or look at the Wikipedia outline of the Psychology topic.

**Side note:** Wanting to help people isn't the best reason to want to study psychology. There a much more effective ways of reducing suffering in the world. See 80,000 Hours for further information.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: reference-request
---


# Question
Title: What are the top contributions from neuroscience to AI and viceversa? How much progress has been made from the interaction between these two fields?
What are the top contributions from neuroscience to artificial intelligence and viceversa? How much progress has been made from the interaction between these two fields? Is there a formal research area dedicated to the study of topics in the intersection between AI and neuroscience, with papers being published and maybe conferences being held periodically?

# Answer
There is a really close correspondence between Auditory Scene Analysis and Computational Auditory Scene Analysis. If you tried to build a speech recognition system, especially for use in noisy environments, while ignoring what we know from auditory psychophysics, physiology, and anatomy, I would guess that you would not get too far. The things we have learned from CASA have lead to better hearing aids and cochlear implants, which in turn have taught us about the auditory system, which of course leads to further improvements in CASA.

Bregman has a nice summary (along with conferences) on his webpage
> 2 votes

---
Tags: neuroscience, theoretical-neuroscience, artificial-intelligence
---


# Question
Title: How can I find out why a person gets dementia?
In this answer user287279 wrote that dementia may have different causes.

How can I find out what causes dementia of someone? For example, what tests (like blood or urine tests) can they take to confirm or refute hypotheses why they are getting dementia?

# Answer
> 4 votes
As there are several diseases and conditions that can mimic dementia and as there are many possible causes of dementia, in order to avoid unnecessary investigations, the diagnosis of dementia and of the cause have to be done methodologically. The best way is to meet a neurologist to do this.

First to diagnose whether someone has dementia, a clinical history of his/her symptoms, especially those related to memory, speech, cognitive functions, behavior, and functional performances, and a mental state exam, such as MMSE and MMSE in elderly perople, have to be taken. This step will tell whether or not the person has dementia or whether the person has other conditions such as benign forgetfulness, mild cognitive impairment, or depression.

Next, if the person has dementia, the cause of dementia can be diagnosed by the following steps.

1. Clinical history and physical examination. In some overt cases, this step alone can diagnose the cause of dementia, such as clinical pictures of brain tumor, chronic meningitis, and CJD.
2. Imaging, such as CT scan, MRI scan, and PET scan. This can diagnose some diseases right away, such as brain tumor, normal pressure hydrocephalus, and Alzheimers's disease.
3. Laboratory tests, such as thyroid function tests, blood calcium level, and vitamin B12 level. These tests can diagnose metabolic causes of dementia.
4. Other tests, such as lumbar puncture to examine the cerebrospinal fluid, Electroencephalography, and brain biopsy. This may have to be done in some cases. They can diagnose some difficult diseases such as neurosyphilis, CNS lymphoma, cerebral vasculitis, and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

Which investigations in 2.- 4. are to be done first depend on the clinical picture in 1. and subsequent investigations may be needed later.

---
Tags: alzheimer
---


title: Are there any types of good addiction

text:
# Question
Title: Are there any types of good addiction
Many more things than I previously thought can be considered addiction, so I was wondering whether an addiction is always bad

# Answer
> 7 votes
As I pointed out in Technical term for "hidden addictions", the term addiction is defined as **not having control** over doing, taking or using something **to the point where it could be harmful to you**. Often it can start with a habit but then it becomes an addiction because there is a **compulsion** to continue the habit.

You can continue with your daily life without carrying out a task which is habit, but if you are addicted to doing it you have a feeling of necessity to do it otherwise you cannot function.

> Addiction is most commonly associated with gambling, drugs, alcohol and nicotine, but it's possible to be addicted to just about anything

So to answer your question, there can be good habits but there are no good types of addiction as they affect your life to the point where you "cannot live" without the addiction.

---
Tags: addiction
---