# Question
Title: Could bioinfomatics explain consciousness?
There's a theory that consciousness is the result of information processing. Many speculate based on this that the brain is conscious because it is processing information. *If* this theory of consciousness is true, would it be correct to assume that consciousness initially occurs within each neuron cell, rather than the brain as a whole?

Secondly, given that cells within the brain transmit data via synapses to do collective computations, would it be fair to assume that they would also form a collective consciousness from this process? In other words, would several connected neurons performing a computation together all share consciousness, and if divided into 2 groups would their shared consciousness also be divided? If so, perhaps this could explain how some studies indicate that consciousness can be divided (ie duel/divided consciousness in split brain patients)?

Just to clarify, I realize this assumption is not proven by science and I'm not meaning this to be an opinion based question. I'd just like to know whether there's any logical/scientific errors here.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I’m not certain but think that the theory you referred to is Single-neuron Theory of Consciousness \[1\]. Anyway, if it is not the one, let’s discuss this theory because it has the concept like the one in your question. The abstract of this theory is as follows:

> By most accounts, the mind arises from the integrated activity of large populations of neurons distributed across multiple brain regions. A contrasting model is presented in the present paper that places the mind/brain interface not at the whole brain level but at the level of single neurons. Specifically, it is proposed that **each neuron in the nervous system is independently conscious, with conscious content corresponding to the spatial pattern of a portion of that neuron's dendritic electrical activity**. For most neurons, such as those in the hypothalamus or posterior sensory cortices, the conscious activity would be assumed to be simple and unable to directly affect the organism's macroscopic conscious behavior. For a subpopulation of layer 5 pyramidal neurons in the lateral prefrontal cortices, however, an arrangement is proposed to be present such that, at any given moment: **i)** the spatial pattern of electrical activity in a portion of the dendritic tree of each neuron in the subpopulation individually manifests a complexity and diversity sufficient to account for the complexity and diversity of conscious experience; **ii)** the dendritic trees of the neurons in the subpopulation all contain similar spatial electrical patterns; **iii)** the spatial electrical pattern in the dendritic tree of each neuron interacts nonlinearly with the remaining ambient dendritic electrical activity to determine the neuron's overall axonal response; **iv)** the dendritic spatial pattern is reexpressed at the population level by the spatial pattern exhibited by a synchronously firing subgroup of the conscious neurons, thereby providing a mechanism by which conscious activity at the neuronal level can influence overall behavior. The resulting scheme is one in which conscious behavior appears to be the product of a single macroscopic mind, but is actually the integrated output of a chorus of minds, each associated with a different neuron.”

**Comment:**

Fist, I think it is certain that the signaling activity of each neuron, among other millions of neurons, in the neural circuit that creates consciousness contributes something to the whole consciousness. But I think whether we call this minute contribution “consciousness” is a matter of individual’s opinion. However, if we call it “consciousness”, we should be aware that, whatever this minute consciousness is, it is not and cannot be the complex and highly informative consciousness that we feel in our mind, because a single neuron is too simple to be so.

Now, let’s examine the content of the theory. It appears strange to me that the theory asserts that **dendritic electrical activity corresponds to consciousness.** Dendritic activities are processing activities of incoming information that arrives at dendrites. They are ongoing, unfinished activities. On the other hand, the completely processed, synthesized information comes out at the axons. Also, a lot of current evidence shows that consciousness corresponds to recurrent neuronal activities among and synchronization of various cortical areas \[2-5\]. The recurrent neuronal activities and synchronization entails activities in the axons too. Therefore, it seems more evidence-based that the composite of all electrical activities, both dendritic and axonal, not dendritic alone, among various cortical areas that include the consciousness neural circuit should be the one that corresponds to consciousness.

Next, regarding assertion i), it’s hard to believe that **the spatial pattern of electrical activity in a portion of the dendritic tree of each neuron individually** manifests a complexity and diversity sufficient to account for the complexity and diversity of conscious experience, but it’s more probable that **the combination of the spatial patterns of electrical activities of a very large group of neurons** can manifest the require complexity and diversity. Assertion ii) is possible but needs objective evidence to confirm. Assertion iii) is not a novel assertion but a current standard model of neuronal processing. Assertion iv) is questionable, but it may just an inaccurate wording. I think the wording shouldn’t be **“dendritic spatial pattern is re-expressed at the population level by …”** but should be **“dendritic spatial pattern is processed, and a new axonal spatial pattern is synthesized and expressed at the population level by …”**.

**References**

1. Sevush S. Single-neuron Theory of Consciousness. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 2005..
2. Babiloni C, Marzano N, Soricelli A, Cordone S, Millán-Calenti JC, Percio CD, et al. Cortical neural synchronization underlies primary visual consciousness of qualia: Evidence from event-related potentials. Front Hum Neurosci. 2016;10:310.
3. Dehaene S, Sergent C, Changeux JP. A neuronal network model linking subjective reports and objective physiological data during conscious perception. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Jul 8;100(14):8520–8525.
4. Fisch L, Privman E, Ramot M, Harel M, Nir Y, Kipervasser S, et al. Neural “Ignition”: Enhanced activation linked to perceptual awareness in human ventral stream visual cortex. Neuron. 2009 Nov 25;64(4):562–574.
5. Pollen DA. On the neural correlates of visual perception. Cereb Cortex. 1999; 9(1):4-19.

---
Tags: neuroscience, consciousness, philosophy-of-mind
---


# Question
Title: How can reaction times be measured, and what affects it?
I was playing pinball the other day, and I wasn't doing very well - my reactions were far too slow it seemed.

My question is - Firstly - how can someone's reactivity measured/determined? I imagine there are some quite conclusive tests.

Secondly - what affects people's reaction times? I imagine alcohol impairment and sleep deprivation affects them - are there other common factors? Is there anything that increases reactivity?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Reaction times can be measured by a variety of techniques in the lab. The simplest test is to present a stimulus to a test subject and instruct the subject to press a button as fast as possible after the stimulus is perceived. Responses can be measured by using a response box. Often-used stimuli are either visual (e.g., a colored dot that pops up at random times on a computer screen), auditory (e.g., an acoustic beep), or tactile (e.g., a vibratory buzz or tap on the finger). These tests measure the reaction time from stimulus presentation up to the moment the subject presses the button. Hence, obtained response latencies include peripheral sensory processes, central sensorimotor processing in the brain, and motor output.

**Age** increases reaction time, mainly due to a slowed motor output (Woods *et al*., 2015). The **stimulus modality** also affects response latency. Visual stimuli result in long reaction times, tactile stimuli in shorter latencies, and auditory stimuli induce the shortest reaction time (Ng & Chan, 2012). These differences reflect the slow sensory processing in the visual system and the fast response of the auditory system. **Neuro-supressants**, such as alcohol, tranquilizers, antiepileptics- and anesthetics all increase reaction times (e.g., Mitchell *et al.,*, 1993).

<sub>**References**
**-** Mitchell *et al*., *Pediatrics* (1993);**91**(1):101-5
**-** Ng & Chan, *Proc IMECS* II (2012)
**-** Woods *et al*., *Frontiers Human Neurosci* (2015); **9**:131-12p</sub>

# Answer
> 0 votes
I did some hobbyist experimentation in this area and wrote an article for Adafruit on reaction times recently. Their "arduino-like" boards make a good platform for this and don't need any extra electronics. I would *avoid* use of a laptop or general purpose computer as there are many software components adding latency and some of them aren't predictable. Even something as simple as the innocent-looking keyboard adds latency. LEDs are far better due to high speed response than LCD devices for visual stimuli too. I would also suggest verifying the accuracy of any measuring equipment with a high speed camera - many smartphones have a 240fps mode nowadays.

Have a look at Adafruit Learn: Circuit Playground Bluefruit Quick Draw Duo if you're interested. There are two parts, the first is a game, the second measures reaction times and sends them over USB to the host computer. If you are working with young children the game as a first phase might be useful to get them interested. The graphs are just simple R/ggplot2 plots of the console output.

---
Tags: reaction-time
---


# Question
Title: Is there a criterion to distinct between a philia and a paraphilia?
The terms "Androphilia" and "Gynephilia" describe the two major `romantic and/or sexual orientation/s` of humans → towards "masculine" humans and "feminine" humans, respectively.

Generally any human (including Asexuals which only lack the desire to have sex but not the romantic connection desire) will likely be classified by some in society as a "heterosexual", "homosexual" or "bisexual", according to that person's `romantic and/or sexual orientation/s` and in the context of gender.

* One can say that attractions to FTM transgenders and attraction to MTF transgenders are separate major philias "Andromimetophilia" and "Gynemimetophilia"<sup>(as somewhat accurate yet probably bad terms)</sup>.
* One could speak of a third and forth philias (or fifth and sixth philias, depending how one counts) to Male-oriented intersex individuals and Female-oriented intersex individuals.
* One could go to the extreme and speak about philias to FTM and MTF detransitioned people.

## My problem

Any of the above philias can have one or more paraphilias, which can be not harmful or does harmful but it is unclear to me if there is a criterion to distinct between a philia and a paraphilia.

### Non harmful examples

* A man with gynephilia (heterosexual) can have a paraphilia such as for women in army uniform and on the contrary, a man with androphilia (homosexual) can have a paraphilia for men in army uniform.
* A man with gynephilia (heterosexual) can have a paraphilia for women with Gothic appearance and on contrary, a man with androphilia (homosexual) can have a paraphilia for men with Gothic appearance.

### Harmful examples

* The first harmful example is pedophiliac paraphilia:
A man with gynephilia (heterosexual) can have a paraphilia for little girls (say under sexual maturation) and on the contrary, a man with androphilia (homosexual) can have a paraphilia for little boys (say, under sexual maturation).
* Another harmful example is zoophilia which includes exploitation of animals who cannot give consent and might be raped.

Both pedophilia (not to be confused with hebephilia which is attraction to young teenagers) as well as zoophilia, are rare paraphilias that may manifest themselves in harmful or illegal behavior.

## Interim note

As I have shown, the "philia" term can describe both sexual orientations and their sub components (*not harmful* and *is harmful*).

## My question

Is there a criterion to distinct between a philia and a paraphilia?

> This question encapsulates the question:
>
> * Does the term Philia exists in psychological literature for describing `romantic and/or sexual orientation/s` and not just fetishes, or alternatively, as a standalone term?

# Answer
> 3 votes
As far as I am aware, there is no such word in the English language as *Philia*, but it is a suffix within words.

Also, the suffix of *-philia* in a word does not necessarily denote anything sexual.

The *-philia* suffix denotes one of the following (Merriam-Webster, n.d.):

1. friendly feeling toward
(as in Franco*philia*)
2. tendency toward
(as in hemo*philia*)
3. abnormal appetite or liking for
(as in necro*philia*)

The term *paraphilia*

> denotes any intense and persistent sexual interest other than sexual interest in genital stimulation or preparatory fondling with phenotypically normal, physically mature, consenting human partners (APA, 2013 p.685).

So a man or woman in uniform will not be a paraphilia. For more on paraphilias see McManus, et al. (2013).

On the subject of -philias, there is one point you made which is not entirely accurate. You said

> Both pedophilia and zoophilia are rare harmful paraphilias that require hospitalization, therapy, surveillance and generally also chemical castration.

I am not sure on zoophilia, but:

* paedophilia and hebephilia is extremely common and therefore not rare (Gerwinn et al., 2018).

> Contrary to public perception, child sex offending (CSO) and paedophilia are not the same. Only half of all cases of CSO are motivated by paedophilic preference, and a paedophilic preference does not necessarily lead to CSO. However, studies that investigated clinical factors accompanying and contributing to paedophilia so far mainly relied on paedophiles with a history of CSO.
* Estimates on the prevalence of paedophile CSO are wide ranging, and more accurate with better reporting, but they include:
* there are hebephiles and paedophiles who do not act out on their desires, and there are helplines such as Stop It Now! for those who are worried they **may** act out, so therefore
* these sexual tendencies do not *necessarily* need hospitalization, therapy, surveillance and chemical castration.

Chemical castration is an idea put forward to deal with pedophilia, and even made mandatory in states such as Alabama (LegiScan, 2019). However, there is no strong scientific evidence to back the idea that this helps to stop pedophilia or hebephilia, and many criminologists argue that police investigators treating castrated men as less likely to reoffend than non-castrated men may cause an investigation bias and self-fulfilling prophecy (Horne & Lovaglia, 2008; Sismondo & Greene, 2015; Fridell, 2016).

## References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). *Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5®)*. American Psychiatric Pub.

Gerwinn, H., Weiß, S., Tenbergen, G., Amelung, T., Födisch, C., Pohl, A., ... & Wittfoth, M. (2018). Clinical characteristics associated with paedophilia and child sex offending–Differentiating sexual preference from offence status. *European Psychiatry, 51*, 74-85. doi: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2018.02.002

Horne, Christine; Lovaglia, Michael J. (2008). *Experiments in criminology and law: a research revolution*. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-6027-7

Finkelhor, D., Hotaling, G., Lewis, I. A., & Smith, C. (1990). Sexual abuse in a national survey of adult men and women: prevalence, characteristics, and risk factors. *Child abuse & neglect, 14*(1), 19. doi: 10.1016/0145-2134(90)90077-7

Fridell, Lorie A. (2016). *Producing Bias-Free Policing: A Science-Based Approach*. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-33175-1

LegiScan. (2019). Alabama House Bill 379. In *LegiScan API* Retrieved from: https://legiscan.com/AL/bill/HB379/2019

McConaghy, N. (1998). Paedophilia: a review of the evidence. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 32(2), 252-265. doi: 10.3109/00048679809062736

McManus, M. A., Hargreaves, P., & Lee Rainbow, L. J. A. (2013). Paraphilias: definition, diagnosis and treatment. *F1000prime reports, 5*. doi: 10.12703/P5-36 pmcid: PMC3769077

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). -philia. In *Merriam-Webster.com dictionary*. Retrieved from: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/-philia

Oluwatosin, S. A., & Akinbo, O. T. (2017). Prevalence and Public Perception on Causes of Paedophilia in Osun State Nigeria. *Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 4*(24). doi: 10.14738/assrj.424.3847

Sismondo, Sergio; Greene, Jeremy A. (2015). *The Pharmaceutical Studies Reader*. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-89654-9

Stoltenborgh, M., van Ijzendoorn, M.H., Euser, E.M., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J. (2011) A global perspective on child sexual abuse: meta-analysis of prevalence around the world. *Child Maltreat, 16*(2), 79-101, doi: 10.1177/1077559511403920

---
Tags: social-psychology, sexuality, gender, categorisation, sexual-assault
---


title: Why do people commit suicide?

text:
# Question
Title: Why do people commit suicide?
I don't understand why people commit suicide.

If I imagine myself in a really bad situation and make a list of what kind of things I would do in that situation, I don't have suicide even in my top-100 things to do in my list! In the worst situation I would abandon everything and go on a trip!

So why do people not just throw away everything instead of committing suicide?

# Answer
### People who kill themselves usually believe that they are in an unbearable situation from which they cannot escape and that things won't ever get better.

The problem with research into the reasons for suicide is that those that successfuly killed themselves can no longer explain their motives, and those that survived might – consciously or unconsciously – have planned not to die, so their motivations might not be motivations to die but motivations to affect others or to relieve tension (similar to non-suicidal self-injury).

A close friend who only accidentally survived a suicide attempt (because, not being a physician or apothecary, she had unknowingly chosen sleeping pills that cannot kill you, no matter how many you take) had been abused as a child, consequently lost all self-worth, felt she would never experience love and happiness, and finally tried to end her misery when she was 21. Her survival was followed by another, successful, suicide, which to me shows that her first attempt was earnest.

This is the only person I know who wanted to die and told me her reasons, between the two attempts. More abstractly, her reason was the one stated at the beginning of my answer: not simple depression or hopelessness. We all go through such phases, but we know they pass, so we bear them and wait for better times. This person had been depressed and miserable for so long, that she could no longer imagine things changeing for the better. Unable to bear the idea of having to endure another eighty years of unhappiness, she ended it.

There is some research into reasons for suicide, which, as far as I know, does not emphasise this point and thus fails to explain why some people kill themselves in a moment of hopelessness, while others don't. For example, Brown, Comtois and Linehan (2002) interviewed women who attempted suicide and compared their motivations to women who performed non-suicidal self-injury. Their abstract summarizes (my emphasis):

> Overall, reasons given for suicide attempts differed from reasons for nonsuicidal self-injury. Nonsuicidal acts were more often reported as intended to express anger, punish oneself, generate normal feelings, and distract oneself, whereas suicide attempts were more often reported as **intended to make others better off**. Almost all participants reported that both types of parasuicide were intended to relieve negative emotions. It is likely that suicidal and nonsuicidal parasuicide have multiple intents and functions.

Some old people who ask physicians for assisted suicide report that they don't want to burden their families. I think it is a true reason for some people, while others would probably rather want to live, *if they could stop being debilitated by old age*. Again, the underlying reason is that these people feel they cannot change their situation to the better. Borderline women might feel the same, since their emotional instability, inability to have functioning relationships, fear and depression, are not momentary but have usually been there for all their adult lives, often as effects of some trauma such as childhood abuse.

Adolescents, who are often thought to be more self-centered and less socially concerned in their motives than old people, also report more self-centered reasons to kill themselves. In their study of adolescent suicide, Boergers, Spirito and Donaldson (1998, my emphasis) found that

> Consistent with prior research, the most frequently endorsed motives for self-harm were **to die, to escape, and to obtain relief**. More manipulative reasons for overdose (such as making people sorry) were endorsed less frequently. Adolescents who cited death as a reason for their suicide attempt reported **more hopelessness, socially prescribed perfectionism, depression, and anger expression**.

With the restriction that we don't know who of the suicide attempters really wanted to die, nevertheless for most of them the primary reason was to end a life they had no hope of changing to the better.

Because what does it mean that you feel you are not perfect enough? For adolescents it usually means that you feel you are so ugly no one will ever love you, or that you are introverted and cannot make friends and have been outside the ingroup for so long that you no longer believe that anyone will ever love you. It does not matter if other, less pretty people, can be happy, or if other loners can make loner friends, the important aspect is that you feel you are not good enough to be loved by those that you want to love you and that nothing you ever do (makeup, bringing home good marks) can change that, because in truth, for example, it is not actually you who are unlovable but your parents who are unable to love you because of their own mental disorders (and that is how some of them are passed on through the generations).

Studying *successful suicides*, Cavanagh, Carson, Sharpe and Lawrie (2003) found that

> mental disorder was the most strongly associated variable of those that have been studied. ... Suicide prevention strategies may be most effective if focused on the treatment of mental disorders.

This is of course a very global result, but it shows that people don't usually kill themselves because they experience dire circumstances or a bad phase in their lives, but only if *their long term mental well-being is destroyed*.

Linehan, Goodstein, Nielsen and Chiles (1983) have studied the reasons why people do *not* kill themselves. The primary reasons for living, if suicide was contemplated, were:

> Survival and Coping Beliefs, Responsibility to Family, Child-Related Concerns, Fear of Suicide, Fear of Social Disapproval, and Moral Objections.

Besides fear (of dying and death and the judgment of God and men) and responsibility for family and children, the main reason to keep people alive was their **belief that they could survive and cope**! If we turn this around, the main reason to die (besides having no responsibility and not being afraid, or overcoming those concerns) is the belief of **not being able to cope**.

What makes you kill yourself, in sum, is that you can no longer take it and believe you cannot change it. Very simple – and horribly tragic.

---

Sources:

* Boergers, J., Spirito, A., & Donaldson, D. (1998). Reasons for adolescent suicide attempts: Associations with psychological functioning. *Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 37*(12), 1287-1293.
* Brown, M. Z., Comtois, K. A., & Linehan, M. M. (2002). Reasons for suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-injury in women with borderline personality disorder. *Journal of abnormal psychology, 111*(1), 198.
* Cavanagh, J. T., Carson, A. J., Sharpe, M., & Lawrie, S. M. (2003). Psychological autopsy studies of suicide: a systematic review. Psychological medicine, 33(03), 395-405.
* Linehan, M. M., Goodstein, J. L., Nielsen, S. L., & Chiles, J. A. (1983). Reasons for staying alive when you are thinking of killing yourself: the reasons for living inventory. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 51(2), 276.
> 24 votes

# Answer
The truth is that *very few people* who haven't seriously contemplated suicide, or who haven't dealt extensively with many people who have, really understand it. They will, like you, not figure it out, thinking there are so many other options available to them. It is even more puzzling when wealthy people, who have so many more options than most, do so, while hungry homeless people hang on.

If you are serious about the answer, I recommend reading this blog post for a quick and accurate cartoon version of one person's deep depression.

In the US (where I live), suicide is the third leading cause of death for adolescents 15 to 19 years old.\[1\] From 1999 to 2010, the age-adjusted suicide rate for adults aged 35–64 years in the United States increased significantly by 28.4%, from 13.7 to 17.6 per 100,000 population.\[2\] There are ~35,000 known suicides/year (and likely more undiscovered.)

J.John Mann MD, a leading researcher in the neurobiology of suicide (trained in Psychiatry and Internal Medicine with a Doctorate in Neurochemistry) employs functional brain imaging, neurochemistry and molecular genetics to probe the causes of mental illness and suicide. A number of abstracts of his papers are available online. His research points to problems in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex of the brain.\[3\]\[4\] A recent paper\[5\] summarizes the neurobiological, environmental, genetic and familial influences.

Perhaps most relevant to your question is that there seem to be prerequisites to suicide which you may never have experienced, which must include all of the following:

> * psychological pain (a sense of being a burden to others)
> * a profound sense of loneliness, alienation and isolation
> * a pervasive sense of pessimism/hopelessness
> * a sense of fearlessness (or impulsivity and aggression)

If one is afraid of death, one will not likely commit suicide.\[6\]

\[1\] CDC.gov
\[2\] Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
\[3\] Neurobiology of suicidal behaviour
\[4\] The Neurobiology of Suicide
\[5\] Neurobiological Aspects of Suicide
\[6\] An Interview with Thomas Joiner, Ph.D. on Why People Commit Suicide
> 17 votes

# Answer
As a person who has dealt with 12 years of chronic bipolar depression and anxiety with multiple serious suicide attempts, I would say that much of reason behind the attempts have to do with *pure absolute exhaustion*. The coping skills are there but they are hard to practice everyday. I say “practice” because performing mundane tasks such as brushing my teeth or putting on a shirt feels much like part of a day long yoga routine. The intrusive thoughts and the dialogue wear me out. The feeling that this could go on for another decade felt too overwhelming for me.

If some one became a paraplegic and confined to bed for most of their life but is mentally healthy, they may make peace with this by adapting to their situation. Listening to audio books, watching movies, writing, etc. In the case of someone who has had too many severe episodes of not being able to leave bed or normal periods of having minuscule energy due to depression, things are different. The depressive cannot focus, draw pleasure from distractions, and paralyzed by fear.

In many ways suicide makes logical sense in the same way that a caged animal would be willing to bite off a limb to escape this cage.

There is research that suggests that suicidality has its causes in specific chemical imbalances in the brain.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-origins-of-suicidal-brains/

Which is why, I believe when a new medication was added to my cocktail of meds, my suicidal thoughts vanished within 48 hours.

My theory is that the cause of suicide is extreme mental distress from chemical imbalance and that once conceived, takes on a life of its own and becomes a monster. It is a resolve that most people set plans for but provides soothing effects for people who believe that they will soon have relief.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: emotion, depression
---


# Question
Title: How can psychopaths with no sympathy for their victims, exploit empathy to ensnare or torture them?
I understand the difference between empathy and sympathy, but not the emboldened sentence. Please expound?

Empathy vs. Sympathy | Psychology Today Canada

> Sympathy (‘fellow feeling’, ‘community of feeling’) is a feeling of care and concern for someone, often someone close, accompanied by a wish to see him better off or happier. Compared to pity, sympathy implies a greater sense of shared similarities together with a more profound personal engagement. However, sympathy, unlike empathy, does not involve a shared perspective or shared emotions, and while the facial expressions of sympathy do convey caring and concern, they do not convey shared distress. Sympathy and empathy often lead to each other, but not always. For instance, it is possible to sympathize with such things as hedgehogs and ladybirds, but not, strictly speaking, to empathize with them. Conversely, **psychopaths with absolutely no sympathy for their victims can nonetheless make use of empathy to ensnare or torture them**. Sympathy should also be distinguished from benevolence, which is a much more detached and impartial attitude.

# Answer
The theory, apparently backed up by some experiments, is that psychopaths can make use of empathy at will, which is what allows them to employ emotional manipulation. As related in a popsci account:

> For example, consider one particularly fascinating experiment by Dr. Christian Keysers, Professor of Social Neuroscience at the University of Amsterdam.
>
> In one study, Keysers and his team analyzed the brain activity of 21 convicted violent psychopathic offenders, comparing the results with 26 men of similar age and IQ. The participants were shown movies of people hurting each other while brain activity was measured. Later, a doctoral student would slap the patients on their hands to localize brain regions connected with feeling touch and pain. The goal was to see if patients' brains activated a feeling of pain in their own brain when viewing the pain of others.
>
> "The vicarious activation of motor, somatosensory and emotional brain regions was much lower in the patients with psychopathy than in the normal subjects," writes Keysers. "The theory seemed right: their empathy was reduced, and this could explain why they committed such terrible crimes without feeling guilt."
>
> But one question still plagued Keysers.
>
> How could these same individuals prove to be so charming at times?
>
> "I remember chatting with one of the patients...a particularly severe psychopath (he had scored the full 40 points on the psychopathy checklist)," writes Keysers. "Surrounded by the guards, he seemed a most pleasant person. He was smiling, engaging, and seemed to feel exactly what we wanted from him."
>
> So Keysers and his partner decided to let the patients watch the movies again, this time asking them to try and empathize with the victims in the movies.
>
> "What we found was that this simple instruction sufficed to boost the empathic activation in their brain to a level that was hard to distinguish from that of the healthy controls," writes Keysers. "Suddenly, the psychopaths seemed as empathic as the next guy. Their empathy was switched on."
>
> Keysers' conclusion:
>
> > "Psychopathic individuals do not simply lack empathy. Instead, it seems as though for most of us, empathy is the default mode. If we see a victim, we share her pain. For the psychopathic criminals of our study, empathy seemed to be a voluntary activity. If they want to, they can empathize, and that explains how they can be so charming, and maybe so manipulative. Once they have seduced you into doing what serves their purpose, the effortful empathy would probably disappear again."

I'm not sure how well accepted this is... The BBC also ran a story on this with some additional more sketpical comments

> Essi Viding from University College London, who was not involved with the study, said it was an extremely interesting finding, but that it remained unclear whether the psychopathic criminals' experience of empathy felt the same as that of the controls.
>
> "It's dangerous to look at brain activation and say that it means they're empathising. They are able to generate a typical neural response, but that doesn't mean they have the same empathetic experience," Prof Viding told BBC News.
>
> "We know they can generate the same response but they do that in an active and effortful way. Under free-viewing conditions they don't seem to. \[...\]"

There's also a newer study that seems to confirm the "empathy switch" in a larger class of "dark triad" personalities. (Also posci story on that.)
> 1 votes

---
Tags: abnormal-psychology
---


# Question
Title: Does sleep-talking typically happen during NREM or REM sleep?
I have observed some of my mother's sleep-talking and have even attempted to reply / speak to her during such episodes.

In my experience, I have found sleep-talking to be a part of her dream. In some cases, when she sounded panicky, I have even woken her up partially to rescue her from panic, only to have her drowsily explain that she was dreaming.

However this article by Teodora Stoica in the Scientific American (https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/why-do-we-sleep/) says that sleep-talking happens during NREM sleep and not during REM sleep when dreaming occurs:

> Onto stage 3 and 4, characterized by delta waves, the slowest and highest amplitude brain waves, the most unlike waking brain waves. Since delta sleep is the deepest sleep, it is the most difficult stage in which to wake sleepers, and when they are awakened, they are usually sleepy and disoriented. Interestingly, delta sleep is when sleep walking and sleep talking is most likely to occur.

Could the experts here please shed some light on sleep-talking and its relation (or lack thereof) to dreaming?

# Answer
> 1 votes
It seems like there is a common idea that dreaming occurs only during REM sleep, but I'm not quite sure why this persists. Scientists interested in sleep and dreaming have known for a long time that dreams occur in both NREM and REM sleep, and there are many papers comparing NREM to REM dreams.

*Cavallero, C., Cicogna, P., Natale, V., Occhionero, M., & Zito, A. (1992). Slow wave sleep dreaming. Sleep, 15(6), 562-566.*

---

A fairly old paper on sleep talking concludes:

> The distribution of sleep-talking incidents by time of night does not differ significantly from a random distribution.
>
> Sleep talking occurs both in REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (no rapid eye movement) stages of sleep.
>
> Sleep-talking incidents occurring during REM periods were different in character from those occurring in NREM periods

Of note, in looking at their data:

> Of the 84 sleep-talking incidents, 7 (8%) occurred in REM periods, 53 (63%) occurred in Stage 2, and 24 (29%) in Stages 3 and 4.

Therefore, it does appear that there are fewer events during REM sleep, but because REM sleep is a smaller fraction of the night this difference is exaggerated.

Related to dreaming,

> Only 2 awakenings were made following REM sleep-talking incidents. Both REM awakenings produced detailed reports of "disturbing" dreams.

and

> By any of the usual criteria, one would say that subjects are dreaming while speaking during REM periods. All of the recent data on the relationship between dreaming and REM periods indicate that dreams occur during these periods.

However:

> if we accept the NREM waking report of mental activity as repre sentative of the mental activity that was actually occurring during the incident, we would describe these mental experiences as less "dreamlike" than the REM experiences.

Therefore, it seems like sleep-talking during REM is more associated with dreaming; sleep-talking with NREM may not be, and may be more associated with internal thoughts or just brief arousals.

*Rechtschaffen, A., Goodenough, D. R., & Shapiro, A. (1962). Patterns of sleep talking. Archives of General Psychiatry, 7(6), 418-426.*

---
Tags: sleep, dreams, eye-movement
---


# Question
Title: Has the Open-Source Psychometrics Project been well received by the community?
I am not a psychologist/psychology student, but I've just recently discovered the Open-Source Psychometrics Project, and I think it's great.

To my untrained eyes, it seems like they have solid methodology and are collecting a huge amount of data: https://openpsychometrics.org/\_rawdata/

But I'm wondering how it's been received by the research psychology community?

Is it considered a reputable data source?

Have there been any serious evaluations of its methodology or data?

# Answer
As a matter of anecdote, I've used some of this data for teaching purposes, and I've heard of others doing the same.

As Bryan notes, there is a list of journal articles that have used the data: https://openpsychometrics.org/\_rawdata/cited/ This includes many well-regarded journals in personality and individual differences research.

One main limitation is that the data tends to be based around single scales. In contrast, I imagine in a lot of uses cases for potential publications rely on relating multiple scales with each other.

That said, I imagine these datasets could be useful for examining various general questions about scale properties and test structure. You could also look at demographic correlates of test scores. And the data would be interesting if you were interested in the psychometric properties of the specific tests that are reported.

A second limitation is that there seems to be limited information about the nature of data collection and data cleaning. That said, for many purposes, a massive online convenience sample of online participants may be useful.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: measurement, experimental-psychology, reproducible-research
---


# Question
Title: What is the name of the survey question style that forces a choice between non-opposite pairs of items, and why is it used?
I've seen personality tests and industrial / organizational psychology tests that force one to choose between non-opposing concepts. What is the name of this question style, and what are the reasons to use it over a more standard question style that forces you to choose between opposing pairs?

Example questions:

In general, I prefer \[Assertiveness / Clear communication\]

I prefer my direct reports to be \[Self-directed / Punctual\]

# Answer
> 1 votes
**Short answer**
Forced-choice task

**Background**
You have answered your own question:

> ...tests that force one to choose...

Such tests are generally referred to as **forced-choice tests** in psychophysics. There are many applications of these tests. In general, AFC tasks are less biased than for example yes/no tasks (Yushurun *et al*, 2008). A sample paper on an AFC test for personality testing is Christiansen *et al*. (2005).

<sub>**References**
**-** Christiansen *et al*. *Human Performance* (2005); **18**(3): 267-307
**-** yushurun *et al*. *Vis Res* (2008); **48**(17): 1837-51</sub>

# Answer
> 0 votes
Like AliceD's answer says, this is a form of forced-choice task used to assay preferences.

These measures are used especially when there is no good counterpart on the opposite side: there is no spectrum to consider. Let's think about your examples:

> In general, I prefer \[Assertiveness / Clear communication\]
>
> I prefer my direct reports to be \[Self-directed / Punctual\]

What would the "opposite" versions of these be? Some possibilities:

> In general, I prefer \[Assertiveness / Passiveness\]
>
> In general, I prefer \[Opaque communication / clear communication\]
>
> I prefer my direct reports to be \[Self-directed / Micromanaged\]
>
> I prefer my direct reports to be \[Late / Punctual\]

With the exception of maybe the third one (level of oversight), the counterparts are not really that informative. No one wants their employees to be *late*, but someone might not mind so much if someone is *late* as long as they manage themselves. The test is trying to get at what your desires are when you weight dissimilar things against each other.

Another example might be food preferences: are sweet and sour opposites?

What about someone that likes, say, fruit flavors - those are both *sweet* and *sour* \- you need a way to find that someone prefers sweet+sour over savory, or to find that another person likes sweet and savory foods, but doesn't like sour ones.

Other options in this circumstance might be to rank-order possibilities, but in general giving people just 2 options allows them to more quickly make a determination. You can develop rank orders later by analyzing the results of the individual paired items.

---
Tags: statistics, test, data, experiment-design, survey
---


# Question
Title: How to learn about children using hitting affectionately
When I am about to leave, my youngest son will show affection by hugging me before I leave. When we are playing a game and he is really enjoying it, he will actually smile at me and hit me really quickly maybe 5 times a row. Sometimes this coincides snuggling his head into my body.

Initially I thought he was being angry or acting out, it has become clear that he only does it a happy face while we are doing something fun. (And not in an "I am overwhelmed" kind of way. Lately I respond by returning a hug instead of giving him a surprised or irritated face, and he likes that).

Anyway, when I try to google to understand this, keywords such as "affectionate hitting" simply return thousands of "anti-parent hitting children sites". Is there an term for when children do this so I can find more helpful thoughts/discussion about this?

# Answer
> 1 votes
The search term "children hitting for fun" seems to yield the results you may want although the results seem to come from sites such as mumsnet.

An aspect to this phenomenon is that this behaviour **may** lead to bullying behaviour later on in life if the right responses are not given when this occurs. The child needs to learn the *cause and effect* of hitting.

Typing the same term in Google Scholar gives research articles on dealing with bullying.

---
Tags: developmental-psychology
---


# Question
Title: Does thinking or focusing on something alter a neuron's speed?
I Googled about this but couldn't find any thing precise to be that does thinking about something hard alters the speed of neurons impulses? I have heard of neurons velocity being variable but want to understand the exact circumstances in which the velocity varies.

# Answer
> 1 votes
There are, as far as I know, 2 main factors that determine the speed of action potential propagation:

* **Diameter**: Axons with a large diameter have lower resistances, and hence higher conduction velocities;
* **Myelination**: Myelin prevents passive diffusion of ions through the cell's membrane and increases charge separation across the cell membrane, speeding up conduction. Additionally, the spaces between the myelin sheaths, known as the nodes of Ranvier, facilitate **saltatory conduction**, which is akin to the action potential 'jumping' from node to node with a net increase in propagation as a consequence.

These factors are physical properties of a neuron and hence are pretty much constant under physiological conditions, and are not influenced by thinking or focus.

---
Tags: neuroscience, cognitive-neuroscience, neurophysiology, brain
---


# Question
Title: Is a concept of good and bad innate or learned?
Some people would say that without religion, there would be no moral code to tell us what is good and bad.

Some Darwinist's like Dawkins say that acts like sharing and feelings like guilt are innate and that we don't need religion. And that we can have morals without religion. He gives the examples of a monkey sharing it's food.

However there appear to be some religions, e.g. human sacrifice in paganism, or death for apostasy in Islam, which seem to suggest that the notion of what constitutes good and bad is more flexible. And the feeling of guilt would be more a social construct.

Sure we can have laws without religion. But these laws might just suit the majority not the minority.

So for instance would a person who had never been taught that murder is bad. But that murder as a revenge for steeling (for example) is good. Would they then feel guilt after comitting a murder? (As Dawkin's might posit). Or feel like they have done a good deed?

Thus, from a psychological standpoint, is Dawkin's correct in thinking that humans would be kind to each other in the absence of society built on the foundations of a religious code. If so what exactly is "guilt" if it only exists with respect to social expectations.

# Answer
> 2 votes
*Psychologically,* **guilt** can be described as "a *feeling* of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., *whether real or imagined*" (Dictionary.com).

Guilt is an emotion triggered by a belief that you did something wrong, based on what *you* think is wrong. You can feel guilty after breaking your New year resolution. You can also feel guilty when doing something what is considered wrong by social, moral or religious criteria set by others but only when you *believe* that what you did is wrong.

So, you can feel guilty when you do something against your personal beliefs. I'm not answering to "Is a concept of good and bad innate or learned?" because, this is not a psychological question...The question what is innate and learned, of course, can be a psychological question. I believe that the *capability* of feeling guilt (not guilt by itself) is *innate.*

# Answer
> 0 votes
There is no evidence that humans need religion to develop the concepts of morality and ethics. In contrast, there are endless examples of where religion is the primary cause of inhumanity and murder. The "however" in your question doesn't make sense. You posit that religion is necessary for morality but then move straight to an example of where religion shows the opposite. In addition to Dawkins, I suggest you read 'God is Not Great' by Christopher Hitchens and 'The End of Faith' by Sam Harris. Both make thorough, well-researched arguments against religion as a source of morality. Look for some YouTube videos of Hitchens, he also had a reputation as an excellent debater.

---
Tags: emotion, moral-psychology, religion
---


# Question
Title: How to assess the effect of individual difference measure on quadratic fit of a within-subject factor?
In my task, there are 8 levels of a within-subjects/repeated measure factor. The overall relationship that this factor has with the DV is in the shape of an inverted-U, such that their DV scores at levels 1 and 8 are generally lowest, and those at 4 and 5 are highest.

What I want to test is whether my individual difference measure interacts with the within-subjects factor to make the inverted U (quadratic) shape fit better or worse. My hypothesis is that those high on my indiv diff measure will have more of a straight line than the curvey one in the overall sample. And I'd like to keep the indiv diff measure continuous.

Input and insights on good statistical approaches to this question are greatly appreciated!

Emmett

# Answer
> 2 votes
By default your 8 levels are probably coded linearly: e.g.,

```
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

```

Or

```
-3.5,-2.5, ..., 2.5,  3.5

```

To examine quadratic effects you could simply square these values. Interpretation of linear and quadratic parameters will be clearer if you first center the linear variable before squaring.

So you could enter (-3.5)^2 = 12.25; (-2.5)^2 = 6.25, etc.

Equally, some data analysis software will allow you to specify polynomial contrasts (i.e., linear, quadratic, cubic). And in such software you can specify interactions.

In R, you would specify that the 8-level variable is an ordered factor.

In SPSS, the GLM - Repeated measures dialog allows you specify interactions and polynomial contrasts.

---
Tags: cognitive-psychology, personality, statistics, task-analysis
---


# Question
Title: What is the notation about group differences in terms standard deviations?
I am just getting into watching psych lectures and things online and am taking notes but I have been wondering what the proper/standard way of writing in note form about standard deviations is.

For example: GROUP-A is a third of a standard deviation higher in TRAIT than GROUP-B.

Is there a standardised way of representing that information with a kind of notation or shorthand in psychology?

Thanks! And sorry for the very basic question!

# Answer
The psychology notation for standardized differences between group means is *d*. I.e., the difference between group differences divided by the within-group standard deviation. Note that there are some variants about which group is used or whether a pooled standard deviation is obtained.

I.e., in your example: *d* = 0.3.

If you want to report means and sds, then you typically use *M* and *SD*.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: measurement, personality, statistics, test
---


# Question
Title: Are the raw scores of the NEO-PI-R normally distributed?
Scoring the NEO-PI-R test results, as done for example in this document, involves converting an absolute score to a t-score. However, the conversion from absolute score to t-score (as can be seen in the document above and many others) seems to be always linear, i.e. $t=\alpha\*raw+\beta$ for some values of $\alpha,\beta$.

Since the t-scores are normally distributed, such a linear conversion only makes sense if the raw scores are also normally distributed (and not e.g. skew in either direction). In a limited sample that I took, I noticed that some of the facets are not normally distributed, in the sense that they have a significant amount of skewness.

Is this not a flaw in the scoring system? Or is there a (psychological) reason why we should not worry about this?

# Answer
Generally, psychological scales that are the sum of forced-choice items exhibit skew as the mean approaches the floor or ceiling of the scale.

The test manual for the NEO-PI shows the exact relationship between raw scores for domains and facets and corresponding percentiles. So if you want to be more precise and not assume normality, you can use that data.

Here's one table showing skewness values in an officer sample from Detrick & Chibnall (2013). As is typical with this kind of data, there's a little bit of skew, but it's not huge. So the normal approximation wont be too bad.

Detrick, P., & Chibnall, J. T. (2013). Revised NEO Personality Inventory normative data for police officer selection. Psychological Services, 10(4), 372.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: statistics, test, big-five
---


# Question
Title: Can one claim that a person is having cognitive distortion and be always correct?
# What is cognitive distorion?

According to Wikipedia, "cognitive distortion are thoughts that cause individuals to perceive reality inaccurately". It is a negative outlook on reality, sometimes called negative schemas (or schemata), and can reinforce negative emotions and thoughts.

# Criticisms on cognitive distortion

> Common criticisms of the diagnosis of cognitive distortion relate to epistemology and the theoretical basis. The implicit assumption behind the diagnosis is that the therapist is infallible and that only the world view of the therapist is correct. If the perceptions of the patient differ from those of the therapist, it may not be because of intellectual malfunctions but because the patient has different experiences.

# My question

For convenience, I'll name the person who is making diagnosis Cueball, and the person who is being diagnosed Megan. Here is Cueball and Megan:

I agree with the idea that Cueball may even have assumption that he is correct (thus having a distorted perception about Megan), but I don't think this criticism paints a full picture. I think the main issue with cognitive distortion is that Megan lacks self-skepticism. That is, she doesn't assume that she can be wrong. Any person can (or will) assume that they are correct, but they can still assume that they can be wrong at the same time. And more importantly, **the behavior of a person assuming they can be wrong is totally different from the behavior of a person who doesn't have that assumption**.

So if Cueball doesn't see that behavior in Megan, can he conclude that she has cognitive distortion and still be correct? Is the signs of cognitive distortion so detectable that one can use gut instinct to conclude and still be correct?

Related: Does following logic necessarily require one to conclude that they are objective and have no bias?

# Answer
The use of assumptions in clinical settings seems to play into the errors you mention. Cueball is just as prone to distortions as Megan.

According to Dawes, Faust, & Meehl (1989), a professional in the field has to rely on one of two choices when making a decision on a client, either their own clinical judgment which is based on experience and knowledge or actuarial judgment which essentially rests on the statistical method, establishing a link between empirical data and the event in question. The clinical judgment does not seem to be accurate, for the most part. Clinicians fair better when using methods that are backed by actuarial methods, rather than relying on their own "hunches" or "gut feelings".

It would probably be a better idea for Cueball to at least try to jot down some explicit instances of distortions and compare them to some baseline to ensure it is something out of the ordinary, at least for what he might know about Megan. Though he would be correct, at least in this instance, but it wasn't necessarily due to experience, but chance.
Which is one of the big issues pointed to in the article by Dawes and his colleagues, they essentially find that the criticisms towards the therapist being an all-knowing being are valid and point out that they often forget to consider other variables that might be contributing to the situation, so with the occasional correct guess, they may begin to rely on their gut or worldview which distorts their decisions, overall.

To combat these errors Lambert and Shimokawa (2011), highly recommended that client feedback is collected because it helps in understanding the client's subjective point of view and can aid in aligning the therapist's views to better meet the needs of their client, leading to stronger outcomes. The practice of feedback helps build a factor in therapy success, which is the therapeutic alliance (the relationship between client and therapist). Flexibility also helps as well.

This notion of client feedback is another layer on top of the common factors pointed out by Rosenzweig (2002) that seem to contribute most to positive client outcomes, more so than the theoretical method used. These factors include the qualities of the therapist and how they interact with the client and their specific qualities.

Essentially, it is the nonspecific elements, like therapist and client qualities in interaction, that create the foundation for a better client outcome.

Dawes, R. M., Faust, D., & Meehl, P. E. (1989). Clinical versus actuarial judgment. Science, 243(4899), 1668-1674.

Lambert, M. J., & Shimokawa, K. (2011). Collecting client feedback. Psychotherapy, 48(1), 72–79.

Rosenzweig, S. (2002). Some implicit common factors in diverse methods of psychotherapy. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 12(1), 5–9. doi:10.1037/1053-0479.12.1.5
> 1 votes

---
Tags: bias, cbt, epistemology, cognitive-distortion
---


# Question
Title: Causality regarding neurotransmitter imbalance and depression
Neurotransmitter imbalances are blamed for various psychiatric conditions (depression, ADHD, etc). Clearly plasma levels of neurotransmitters are confirmed to be abnormal in some people with such conditions. BUT, has causality ever been proven? That is; for example, does a serotonin deficiency cause depression or does depression cause a serotonin deficiency?

It is clearly possible to be "situationally depressed" caused, for example, by grief or the loss of a loved one. Do such people also experience a neurotransmitter imbalance?

Is there a definitive study of this?

# Answer
I have what is mostly a frame-challenge to your question as an answer: **the simple "neurotransmitter imbalance" hypothesis is a bit outdated, and it hasn't been strongly influential in a research context for a very long time**.

Rather, it is an extremely oversimplified way to try to explain that there are brain differences involved in depression: that it's a real and physical disorder rather than something "made up" or "all in the head". This message might be useful for patients in explaining that their symptoms are not imaginary or something to just "get over", and also for pharmaceutical marketing of those medications. It may also cause harm (see Kemp et al 2014).

The hypothesis is originally based on studies that showed both a) that drugs impairing serotonin signalling could create depressive symptoms in animal models, and b) that drugs like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which (at least initially) increase synaptic availability of serotonin, could treat depressive symptoms. Since then, more work shows that it is very questionable to consider reduced levels of monoamines like serotonin purely causative for depression, because depletion of such monoamines fails to produce depressive symptoms in healthy subjects (France et al 2007 review several such studies).

However, other neurotransmitters are also involved, and serotonin itself acts through numerous receptor subtypes (even completely different families), and many of these influence levels of other neurotransmitters as well. Levels of glutamate, dopamine, and norepinephrine are also both implicated in depression, but like with serotonin there is no clear, simple story.

In the brain, it's not just *how much* of a substance is present, but *where* it is released, *when* it is released, and in *what pattern* it is released. The same neurotransmitter in different brain areas can have different or even opposite effects. A neurotransmitter released 100 times in 1 second or 100 times in 100 seconds can have different or even opposite effects.

There is also a strong likelihood that depression and related conditions including anxiety disorders are not specific conditions but rather umbrella descriptions for a host of different brain dysfunctions. If there was a simple story, it wouldn't be nearly as complicated to treat.

---

France, C. M., Lysaker, P. H., & Robinson, R. P. (2007). The" chemical imbalance" explanation for depression: Origins, lay endorsement, and clinical implications. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 38(4), 411.

Kemp, J. J., Lickel, J. J., & Deacon, B. J. (2014). Effects of a chemical imbalance causal explanation on individuals' perceptions of their depressive symptoms. Behaviour research and therapy, 56, 47-52.

Lacasse, J. R., & Leo, J. (2005). Serotonin and depression: a disconnect between the advertisements and the scientific literature. PLoS medicine, 2(12).

Leo, J., & Lacasse, J. R. (2008). The media and the chemical imbalance theory of depression. Society, 45(1), 35-45.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: depression, adhd, neuro-transmitters, serotonin
---


title: Why does "bulk" yellow ink look red?

text:
# Question
Title: Why does "bulk" yellow ink look red?
A transparent blue inkjet cartridge looks deep blue, a red one looks deep red, but a yellow one looks red. Tea also looks yellowish when it's shallow and reddish otherwise. Red is another colour, a different wavelength, so why does deep yellow look red?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Not all liquid or things that are yellow become red when they exist in large quantity. For example, beer, vegetable oil, and normal urine never look red even in large quantity, like in a vat. It really depends on the optical properties of the liquid and the suspended particles in it.

The optical properties of something depend on both its intrinsic factors such as its reflectance, transmittance, and absorptance of the light and the extrinsic factors such as its thickness, the surface that it’s on, the angle of light incidence, and the polarization of the incident light. (This is not to mention psychological factors like the mood when you look at that thing or the surroundings colors or compositions of that thing, which can make that thing look different.)

That’s why a thin film of water is colorless but a large body of water like the lake looks blue. And that’s why there is a phenomenon called iridescence – the phenomenon that certain surfaces appear to change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes – like changing rainbow colors on a soap bubble or on a colorless CD surface.

In your case, I think the color reflection and transmission properties of the ink are different. The ink probably reflects mainly the yellow color, so it looks yellow when reflection of colors is the major event – as when the ink is painted on a surface. But the ink probably transmits more of the red color than the yellow color, so it looks red when transmission of colors is the major event – as when you look through it.

**N.B.** I think you’ll probably get better answers than mine by posting the question on the Physics forum.

**References.**

1. II.8. Reflection, Transmission, and Absorption Gigahertz-Optik.
2. Elements that Affect the Appearance of Color Konica Minolta.
3. Iridescence Wikipedia.

---
Tags: color
---


title: Is Melatonin necessary to sleep?

text:
# Question
Title: Is Melatonin necessary to sleep?
Consider a scenario where a person's melatonin secretion gets inhibited (and that person also don't get external melatonin);

Will this person feel sleepiness and a desire to sleep? Or, since that person is not having melatonin being secreted, there will not be any sleepiness?

Searching for this, I found that "melatonin levels in the blood rise sharply and you begin to feel less alert". However, I would like to know if a person which is not have melatonin being secreted will not feel sleepiness.

Is Melatonin necessary to sleep or even to have desire for sleep?

# Answer
I don’t have a direct or a very reputable reference to answer this question, but I work in the clinical field and have seen many insomniacs, so I’ll offer you the answers based on the references and the experiences I have for you to consider in the meantime.

Melatonin’s principal function is to convey the message of darkness or information about timing of the day and night to the central circadian clock. \[1-3\]

> In mammals, a central circadian clock, located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus, tunes the innate circadian physiological rhythms to the ambient 24 h light–dark cycle to invigorate and optimize the internal temporal order. … Melatonin conveys the message of darkness to the clock and induces night‐state physiological functions, for example, sleep/wake blood pressure and metabolism. \[1\]

and

> The primary physiological function of melatonin, whose secretion adjusts to night length, is to convey information concerning the daily cycle of light and darkness to body structures. \[2\]

Melatonin does not have direct effects on sleep-wake cycles, which are governed by other complex neural circuits in the brainstem. It is not one of the neurotransmitters in the complex sleep-wake neural circuits, which utilize cholinergic, noradrenergic, and serotonergic neurotransmitters. Melatonin just influences the circuits by conveying the message of darkness or timing of the day and night to the SCN, the central circadian clock, which in turn, affects the sleep-wake neural circuits.

> The highly organized sequence of human sleep states is actively generated by nuclei in the brainstem, most importantly the cholinergic nuclei of the pons–midbrain junction, the noradrenergic cells of the locus coeruleus, and the serotonergic neurons of the raphe nuclei. The activity of the relevant cell groups controls the degree of mental alertness on a continuum from deep sleep to waking attentiveness. These brainstem systems are in turn influenced by a circadian clocks located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and VLPO of the hypothalamus. The clock adjusts periods of sleep and wakefulness to appropriate durations during the 24-hour cycle of light and darkness that is fundamental to life on Earth. \[4\]

Clinically, melatonin seems to be neither necessary nor sufficient for sleep to occur. This is evident by the fact that when melatonin is high in the night and a person is about to fall asleep or even asleep, he /she can be awakened and remain awake by some strong stimulus despite the high level of melatonin at that time. Also, if melatonin is given to awake people, they may feel like sleeping, but, unlike strong sleeping pills (which mostly affect cholinergic, noradrenergic, and/or serotonergic neurotransmissions), they may not fall asleep if other things such as surrounding circumstances do not allow them to sleep. So, melatonin alone is not sufficient for sleep to occur or be maintained.

On the other hand, when a person is deprived of sleep for one or more nights, he/she can fall asleep during daytime even if the level of melatonin is low at that time. Or, if strong sleeping pills (which mostly affect those mentioned neurotransmissions) are given to awake people during daytime, when melatonin level is low, they will fall asleep despite the low level of melatonin. So, melatonin alone is not necessary for sleep to occur or be maintained.

In summary, the principal role of melatonin regarding sleep is to convey the message of darkness or information about timing of the day and night to the central circadian clock to influence the sleep-wake neural circuits so that the animal, including human, can sleep at appropriate time; but it is not necessary or sufficient for sleep to occur or be maintained.

**References.**

1. Nava Zisapel. New perspectives on the role of melatonin in human sleep, circadian rhythms and their regulation. Br J Pharmacol. 2018 Aug; 175(16): 3190–3199.
2. Claustrat B, Leston J. Melatonin: Physiological effects in humans.. Neurochirurgie. 2015 Apr-Jun;61(2-3):77-84. doi: 10.1016/j.neuchi.2015.03.002.
3. Pandi-Perumal SR1, Srinivasan V, Spence DW, Cardinali DP. Role of the melatonin system in the control of sleep: therapeutic implications. CNS Drugs. 2007;21(12):995-1018.
4. Purves D. Chapter 27. Sleep and wakefulness. Neural circuits governing sleep. In Neuroscience. 3rd ed. Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer Associates Inc; 2004. p 674-684.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: sleep
---


# Question
Title: How to help people who may suffer from Paranoia?
I am a very active member of the Information Security Stack Exchange site. Every now and then, I come across people who I believe may suffer from paranoia. They believe that "someone" is out to get them, and use techno-babble to make themselves sound legitimate. Here is an example post:

> How to prevent attacker from viewing what's on my Android phone screen? Can someone give me advice or suggest apps to prevent this?
>
> For example, if I write in notepad, and it's offline, they can read it. They know the time of my alarm. if I just set new random one they know. If I play some music, they know.

Another post by the same user:

> they can read my screen, listen to my mic and even control my notification. both my rooted and unrooted phone. This happens when i just moved to new place im renting, it was bad neighborhood.

I'm not a psychiatrist, but I am very well-versed in security and I am 99.999999% certain that the things this person described are not real. I asked that person a few times who "they" were, and how he could know that someone was reading his messages. He claimed he didn't know who "they" were, but he was certain someone was watching him. As an example for "proof" he claimed that someone in his neighborhood was listening to the same song he was listening to a while ago.

The sad thing is, such users come to our site regularly and I am unsure how to best help them. What should I do when I come across a person who I suspect may suffer from paranoia?

### What I've tried so far

So far, I have tried to tell those looking for help with their supposed hacker problems that they are likely not being attacked, and that it seems to me that they may be affected by paranoia. I tried to help them by adding links to credible organizations (like the Australian Better Health Channel), which was always countered by them claiming that they are not paranoid and that their problems are real.

I'm not sure if bluntly saying "I think you may have a mental health problem" is beneficial though, and if it may do more harm than good. For this reason, I am asking this question, how exactly I should act and how to best help people.

# Answer
I'm not active on this board, so please forgive me if my answer is not up to community standards.

I am not a psychologist, but I have some experience with mental illness (maybe too much.)

True paranoia (or Paranoid Personality Disorder/PPD) is much more pronounced than thinking that people can spy on you through your mobile. Whether it's true or not isn't relevant, really. In this case, there is a kernel of truth to their fears, which becomes exacerbated.\*

> According to the DSM-5, persons with Paranoid Personality Disorder will have trouble operating with others in the workplace, educational or social settings (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). It is noted that people with PPD are more frequently unemployed or working more menial jobs than the general population (Mueser, Mischel, Adams, Harvey, McClure, Look, Leung, & Siever, 2013).They tend to be solitary, self sufficient, and secretive, and will have difficulty making or maintaining intimate relationships or close friendships. (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Persons with PPD may experience a conflict, in that they want intimate relationships and friendships, but do not have a level of trust which is an essential element of such relationships.

If many of the other criteria aren't met, it's probably not paranoia. On the other hand, if your interactions are limited, you may not know about other criteria, so this might be paranoia.

> How to help people who may suffer from Paranoia?

It's very difficult, even for therapists, because challenging their belief systems makes the person very defensive. They do not tend to have much self insight, which makes therapy challenging. Clearly you are not in a therapeutic relationship with the user; I would try to steer them in the right direction security-wise, and then (gently and respectfully) disengage.

> So far, I have tried to tell those looking for help with their supposed hacker problems that they are likely not being attacked, and that it seems to me that they may be affected by paranoia.

I would definitely avoid this, as this is giving a diagnosis, which you should not do (I believe it's unethical) over a brief interaction on the internet. I'm not surprised they counter by claiming that they are not paranoid and that their problems are real. To someone who's paranoid, their problems *are* real.

In case my answer isn't well explained,

> I'm not sure if bluntly saying "I think you may have a mental health problem" is beneficial though, and if it may do more harm than good. For this reason, I am asking this question, how exactly I should act and how to best help people.

Unless you are in a close personal relationship with someone, I think it's not in their best interests to tell them they may suffer from a mental illness, whether they do or not. First, you do not know. Second, they will most likely be defensive if not offended as well.

My reaction would be to be kind and gentle with the person, avoid overt confrontation ("That's not possible...") and let people close to them tell them they need professional help.

*Laptop cameras have been hacked, and worse.

\**I know people who believe Pizzagate was real. Te truth doesn't matter if you like conspiracy theories.

## References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). *Diagnostics and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)* Washington. DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.
> 5 votes

---
Tags: abnormal-psychology
---


# Question
Title: How can humans tell when something diverges from the norm
With this I mean the notion of humans being able to, for example, look at a painting and tell that something doesn't belong in there. For example sun glasses on the Mona Lisa, without prior knowledge of the painting. I just find it easier to spot or add things to something that are wrong than to add something that fits in perfectly.

I found some pointers to Gestalt Theory but I couldn't find anything there yet. I'll keep looking but maybe someone here knows what I'm trying to convey. Thanks.

# Answer
> 0 votes
The predictive coding model of brain function suggests that the entire function of the brain is to update an internal model of the world.

This process occurs by generating predictions based on the current model, and comparing these predictions to sensory information. The difference between the predictions and the actual information is the *prediction error*: this is the stuff that the brain has to work harder on, because it is these errors that require further action to update the models and make better predictions in the future.

Based on this model, **unexpected things are highly salient**, because they generate large prediction errors. In contrast, *expected* things are boring, and can mostly be ignored. This is a mechanism to filter the massive amount of sensory information we are capable of taking in at any given moment.

As of now, predictive coding is still just a model, and there is a lot of work being done towards finding evidence for predictive coding in the brain. That said, it explains the phenomenon you are describing fairly well.

---

Some references for further reading:

Bastos, A. M., Usrey, W. M., Adams, R. A., Mangun, G. R., Fries, P., & Friston, K. J. (2012). Canonical microcircuits for predictive coding. Neuron, 76(4), 695-711.

Kok, P., & de Lange, F. P. (2015). Predictive coding in sensory cortex. In An introduction to model-based cognitive neuroscience (pp. 221-244). Springer, New York, NY.

Melloni, L., van Leeuwen, S., Alink, A., & Müller, N. G. (2012). Interaction between bottom-up saliency and top-down control: how saliency maps are created in the human brain. Cerebral cortex, 22(12), 2943-2952.

Rao, R. P., & Ballard, D. H. (1999). Predictive coding in the visual cortex: a functional interpretation of some extra-classical receptive-field effects. Nature neuroscience, 2(1), 79-87.

Spratling, M. W. (2012). Predictive coding as a model of the V1 saliency map hypothesis. Neural Networks, 26, 7-28.

Yuille, A., & Kersten, D. (2006). Vision as Bayesian inference: analysis by synthesis?. Trends in cognitive sciences, 10(7), 301-308.

# Answer
> 0 votes
In fact one might say that pretty much most of human cognition is detecting when things diverge from the norm.

Some simple examples include:

Movement detection is nothing more than detecting when the input in our eyes diverges from the norma of nothing moving. Equally the same can be said with detection of sudden sounds.

Of course, once a sudden sound like a washing machine turning on might continue for so long it becomes the norm, then we may then not even consciously notice it.

Remembering faces, is a process of coding how each face diverges from the norm.

McCarthy (inventor of Lisp) proposed that human knowledge should be encoded as "exceptions". e.g. "a penguin is a bird *except* it can't fly".

Neural networks, also, first converge to the norm, and then refine themselves by the various exceptions to that norm.

---
Tags: bias, psychology, decision-making, gestalt-psychology
---


# Question
Title: What is the field that deals with observing an individual's fitness within a system called?
*Foreword: Perhaps this question is better suited for statistics.stackexchange.com, but I'm deeply interested in studying about both the living thing and the statistics side of things.*

Everything in this universe that has surviving and procreation as some of its goals, given finite resources, operates within a competitive system. As such, one is rewarded for doing well, as well as punished for doing badly. Ane extreme proof of this system is the savanah, where faster(?) gazelles can outrun lions so that they can continue existing & procreating and the slower ones get eaten.

My question is, then, is there any literature that studies the fitness of individuals inside systems?

Assume we built a model `StocksTraderFitness` and based on only assumptions at the very start, we tell the model about 4 qualities it should look at and their importance:

```
level-headed => 1.3
does well under stress => 1.7
is good with maths = 1
loves risk = 1.3

```

We then create 1000 `StockTraders` and we let them out inside the system, based on a `FitnessFunction`, we keep calculating how they are doing and once we reach an observable good spot, we try to see whether or not our model was good and **if these weights of importance don't match these of the winners', we re-adjust our model,** or even better yet, we observe new qualities we hadn't even thought about through pattern recognition.

Is there literature or a field that studies this in the context of living things?

---

Side note, perhaps it helps with an answer.

My original, actual intent with reading on this is that I believe **fitness is akin to what we popularly call intelligence: you do well in the systems you believe are meaningful to you, therefore you are intelligent** and the study of discrepancies between humans' personal care about these systems. I had an argument with my grandmother when I was 12 and it made me realize that she's wrong in my system (in a way that I can also test & prove), but she's right inside her's (that she can also test & prove), simply because we are humans, it doesn't mean we submit or attribute importance to every system put in front of us and as such, biases are formed, which leads me to think that the current world-view, perhaps hindered by popular media of the bias is that it's evil, when in fact, it's a core building block of ours.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The study of physiological fitness is simply evolutionary biology. The study of animal behavior and how it evolved is ethology. John Maynard Smith was one of the first to apply mathematical modeling, especially game theory, to the evolution of species. It is now a well-established field (see for example the wikipedia page for evolutionary game theory). But other mathematical frameworks, such as dynamical systems, have been applied to the question. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary\_game\_theory

The precise algorithm you describe is called an evolutionary algorithm and is a well-known, well-studied subclass of optimization algorithms that are loosely inspired by biological systems (e.g. genetic algorithm, particle swarm algorithm...). These algorithms are useful when trying to optimize a high-dimensional and/or highly non-linear function. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary\_algorithm

As for your side note I think you didn't think this through very carefully. Firstly you are now talking about behavior, not physiology. It is far less clear how behaviors are shaped by evolution. Then you describe how an observer would attribute value to an environment, while fitness is precisely the opposite. Finally there is no notion of "value" in evolution. You might be fit in one environment, but not in another. It doesn't make you any better or worse.

---
Tags: statistics, performance
---


title: Is it possible to induce eye blinking?

text:
# Question
Title: Is it possible to induce eye blinking?
Long time screen users like software developers sometimes use computers so intensely that they do not blink enough with their eyes. This leads to dry eyes.

> Unfortunately, people typically don't blink their eyes normally when using a computer or other digital devices or simply watching television intently. Specifically, computer use affects both blink rate (how frequently we blink) and blink completeness (whether the eyelids close completely during a blink).

Is it possible to induce blinking by manipulating the screen, for example by regularly making it completely black for a split second?

**References:**
Blink patterns: reading from a computer screen versus hard copy. Optometry and Vision Science. March 2014.
Blink rate, blink amplitude, and tear film integrity during dynamic visual display terminal tasks. Current Eye Research. March 2011.
Computer vision syndrome: a review. Survey of Ophthalmology. May/June 2005.

# Answer
> 1 votes
There are multiple ways to trigger eyeblinks:

* Typically in scientific research an air puff is used.
* Anything that touches the cornea.
* Loud noises.
* Bright lights.
* Looming stimuli (i.e. something that is or looks like it is approaching fast).
* More broadly anything that is unexpected and triggers a sense of danger.

So in short it is possible to visually trigger blinks but as far as I know not anything that would be an agreeable experience to the observer.

---
Tags: eye-movement, behavioural-neuroscience
---


# Question
Title: Why does an image seem smaller or larger through a pinhole when viewing with human eye
I was chewing gum when I took the Trident gum wrapper and rolled it into an open cylinder with a diameter of about 1.5mm (give or take 0.15mm). When I look through the gum wrapper (I have to put it right up against my eye and position it just right to be able to see all the way through), images seem about 10% smaller (extremely back of the napkin assumption) than without the gum wrapper.

This is hard to measure empirically, so I tried to take a photo showing this effect, but the camera showed no difference between the two (the one through the wrapper is brighter, but I think that's just the iPhone camera trying to adjust to the surrounding dark and thus trivial). Just to confirm, I asked 6 people if they see any differences between viewing items through the gum wrapper and without the gum wrapper, and all of them said that the images through the gum wrapper looked smaller than without the wrapper. \[EDIT: Asked 4 more people and 3 of the 4 said the image was 5-10% larger than normal\]

\[EDIT 2: The images also get larger (smaller for the people who said the image was larger) as the wrapper moves away from the eye and towards the object, eventually reaching true size when the wrapper is at the object.\]

The only reason I could think of this happening is based on another observation I made. As I brought the gum wrapper into position, objects seemed to bend as they passed over the wrapper in my vision. The only thing I could think of is that the diameter of the cylinder is small enough that this "bend" doesn't have time to even out, and thus collides with the "bend" on the other side of the wrapper and creates a smaller image. However, this assumes that the distortion is causing images to be smaller when viewed through the wrapper. The "bend" distortion could also just be a byproduct of the actual cause of this phenomenon and just a symptom of the image getting smaller.

Why is this occurring?

EDIT 3: More photos that are more out of focus as recommended for more data

(Originally posted in the physics SE site with an account that I lost)

# Answer
I suspect this is related to distance perception and size constancy. The retinal size of an object (the actual projection of the object on your retina) decreases with 1/distance. However your visual system is compensating for this effect, which is called size constancy. For example if you put one thumb at arm length (~60cm) in front of you and another at half that distance, they will appear roughly the same size, the farther one a little smaller, while it is actually half the size of the closer one. Similarly when you look at yourself in a mirror, your face seems regular size. Next time your are in front of a mirror with condensation, draw the contour of your face in the condensation. You'll be surprised by how small it actually is. Your visual system uses distance cues to perceptually "rescale" objects so that they appear closer to their real size, and not just the size they have on the retina. This is the basis of illusions such as the corridor illusion or Ames' room.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ames\_room

To go back to your question, when looking at the keyboard through the wrapper you basically eliminate all distance cues (binocular vision, perspective...). Now in an uncontrolled experiment using uncontrolled stimuli it is a bit hard to predict what will happen perceptually, but you can assume that you'll reduce the amount of perceptual constancy and objects will appear smaller (closer to their retinal size), which seems in agreement with your observations. Why does one of your friend perceive it as larger? A similar phenomenon occurs with prisms. With prisms you artificially increase or decrease vergence angle, a cue for distance perception, while preserving the retinal size of an object. Consequently objects appear larger when you decrease vergence (because an object that would elicit the same retinal size but is farther would actually be bigger), or smaller when increase it. However is small subset of the population report perceiving the opposite effect, and as far as I know no one has provided a good explanation of why.

Picture from: Gibson, J. J. (1966). The senses considered as perceptual systems. pp 315.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: cognitive-psychology, perception, vision
---


# Question
Title: What measures are available for calculating big 5 congruence with a collection of profiles?
Say there is a group of OCEAN profiles. How do I calculate how well another profile fits into this group of profiles?

Is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congruence\_coefficient the way to go or are there alternatives?

# Answer
As https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Similarity\_measure states:

> Cosine similarity is a commonly used similarity measure for real-valued vectors, used in (among other fields) information retrieval to score the similarity of documents in the vector space model. In machine learning, common kernel functions such as the RBF kernel can be viewed as similarity functions

Also see: Congruence coefficient

Other measures: Euclidean distance
> 1 votes

---
Tags: personality, big-five
---


# Question
Title: I am looking for the name of a phenomenon where people blindly follow others when they sense a threat
So I am composing a post and I am looking for a name of the behaviour among people that they start running when they see two or more people running in opposite direction sensing a potential threat or when two or more people are looking upwards, others also start looking upwards. Such phenomena is recorded in various funny videos compilations and I would like to know if there is any name of such phenomena or any description of such phenomena that I can refer to in the post?

# Answer
Herd mentality (aka mob mentality) involves people following others without (deliberate) thinking - ie, impulsively or blindly:

> ... describes how people can be influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors on a largely emotional, rather than rational, basis.

Most experiments in herd mentality involve strangers. There are other terms for non-impulsive behaviors (Wikipedia lists group intelligence, crowd wisdom, groupthink, deindividuation, and decentralized decision making).

That is contrasted with swarm behavior. Herd mentality usually refers to individuals conforming to or blindly following others, whereas swarm behavior does not involve individuals doing the same thing:

> ... it is an emergent behaviour arising from simple rules that are followed by individuals and does not involve any central coordination.

Rather, in swarm behavior, individuals make different decisions depending on what others around them are doing, such as avoiding predators based on the reactions of others. Confusingly, "herding" is swarm behavior (in insects it's called swarming; but fish school, birds flock, and mammals herd).
> 5 votes

---
Tags: behaviorism
---


# Question
Title: Software for online psychological experiments that don't require users to download anything
We are currently using Inquisit to conduct Internet experiments.

Ideally, we would like to implement something that is strictly browser-based, **without any extra plug-ins or downloads**. We also require reaction time measurements.

Is there anything open source out there like this?

This question has outlined various methods that don’t fulfill all our requirements.

# Answer
WebExp is a client/server based psychology/linguistics experiment creation/running system written in Java. It is freely available.

A subject types in the appropriate web address and they see the experiment pages that have been created; obviously you have to have access to a server on which the experiment software+configuration files are running. It supports timing and works quiet well.
> 6 votes

# Answer
I think ProjectImplicit will be what you want. It is also Java based and runs fully in the browser. It is by the Harvard guys that did run the IAT via web and collected ten thousand datasets this way.

See here for their services (I am not sure if it is free but seems so at least for non-commerical research). If you like it and use it perhaps you can post some infos afterwards here.
> 4 votes

# Answer
For an open source JavaScript/HTML/CSS solution, check out jsPsych: http://www.jspsych.org. It can be used for reaction time measurement and interactive designs. An article describing the library was recently published in Behavior Research Methods.

de Leeuw, J. R. (2014). jsPsych: A JavaScript library for creating behavioral experiments in a Web browser. Behavior research methods, 1-12.
> 3 votes

# Answer
If you want to deliver visual stimuli with accurate timing, don't use this method as the general consensus is that flat screen monitors can not yet be fully trusted for timing (though tests are being done, and some monitors may be ok, the jury is very much out on this one). For example, if you want a stimulus up for, say 500ms, or some smaller number like 50ms, delivering experiments via the web will not work - or at least, you'll have to throw loads of people out. I could see one method would be to let vast numbers of people take part and then ditch their data if their machine didn't meet certain requirements.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Also, consider lab.js. It's Javascript-based, so no downloads.

> lab.js is a tool for constructing browser-based studies built for (but not limited to) the social and cognitive sciences. Studies can be assembled using a graphical builder, or through code. In either case, lab.js takes care of study presentation, response collection and data storage, while providing the greatest possible flexibility with regard to study design.
> 2 votes

# Answer
I've been developing an online platform to run HTML5/Javascript experiments, recruit participants via email, Facebook, or Twitter, and collect and evaluate results in real time. Neither you nor your participants require anything but a web browser.

I agree with @vizzero that timing behavior is a challenge. I optimized timing by preloading all assets and generally recommend Google Chrome, as its internal clock has the highest resolution of all modern web browsers. However, you have to verify that browser based experiments meet your needs.

Please see stato.de for a demo; it does not require signup.
> 1 votes

# Answer
"We are currently using Inquisit to conduct Internet experiments. Since it is not compatible with non-Windows systems"

As of this time, Inquisit runs on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices for precision-timed psychological testing. It also integrates with Qualtrics, Sona, TurkPrime, and other online participant recruiting platforms.

It does still require that participants download the app, either from directly millisecond.com, the App Store, or the Google Play store.

Details available at https://www.millisecond.com.
> 1 votes

# Answer
You should have a look at otree, "a Django-based framework for implementing multiplayer decision strategy games".

It is manly designed for experimental economics, but it is a very neat and versatile piece of software, and I am sure you could actually run most psychological experiment with it.

Once the experiment is coded, it only requires internet access and a browser on the part of the participant.

**Big plus** : otree comprises functionalities to connect with Amazon Mechanical Turk.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: methodology, software, experimental-psychology, internet
---


title: Do straight people exist?

text:
# Question
Title: Do straight people exist?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.unilad.co.uk/life/straight-people-dont-exist-finds-new-study/amp/

Recent studies show that the eyes dilate when people watch male and female porn in all men and women, regardless of their orientation, which indicates sexual arousal. It turns out all the bisexuals. But how are studies that say that sexual orientation is not a choice; Many factors influence sexual orientation, such as: genes, hormones, culture. Sexual orientation is very stable and is unlikely to change. Statistics say 90% of the heterosexual population. How can this be understood?

# Answer
> 4 votes
The article you link to mentions that the sample used in the research was women, there is a passing mention of males having slight pupil dilation when shown images of male masturbation.

However, the data seems to point to something a bit more complicated, Levay (2017), explains that though women in this area of research typically show stronger signs of bisexuality, even contrary to what they report, men seem to fall into one of two categories, straight or gay, with bisexuality being rarer. It seems that to distinguish bisexual males from straight or gay males requires more careful studies and evaluation, pupil dilation is only one piece of the process. Levay calls the distribution bimodal between the three categories for males, with straight being the heavier end while gay males are a smaller amount with bisexuality running trough between the former and latter. Levay reports that there are two types of bisexual males, ones that are bisexual as measured by objective measures and have personality factors such as higher sex drive, curiosity and sensation seeking and one that claims to be bisexual but has homosexual arousal patterns. The bisexual sample in one study mentioned seemed to be unaware that their arousal was homosexual, despite claims to be attracted to both sexes. Levay believes that there could be issues of cognitive dissonance in the bisexual sample. Levay suggests another possibility, that there is a lack of feedback due to neural circuits mediating genital arousal to cortical circuits involved in the conscious evaluation of arousal in bisexual males.

So it seems that when it comes to bisexuality in males, there is a greater chance that they may actually be gay but have not fully reconciled any qualms they may have with their sexual preferences. Of course, Levay also mentions that the jury is still out on the issue of dissonance and further research can be done on the topic. This contradicts the information presented in the article you posted and shows that male preference is not as fluid as a female preference.

References: LeVay, Simon. Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation. , 2017. Print. https://libgen.pw/item?id=1703978&adblock=true

---
Tags: sexuality
---