Can playing the computer game “Tetris” reduce the build-up of flashbacks for trauma? A proposal from cognitive science.

“Flashbacks are the hallmark symptom of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Although we have successful treatments for full-blown PTSD, early interventions are lacking. We propose the utility of developing a ‘cognitive vaccine’ to prevent PTSD flashback development following exposure to trauma. Our theory is based on two key findings: 1) Cognitive science suggests that the brain has selective resources with limited capacity; 2) The neurobiology of memory suggests a 6-hr window to disrupt memory consolidation. (more…)

“BACKGROUND: Studies using conventional consoles have suggested a possible link between video-gaming and laparoscopic skill. The authors hypothesized that the Nintendo Wii, with its motion-sensing interface, would provide a better model for laparoscopic tasks. This study investigated the relationship between Nintendo Wii skill, prior gaming experience, and laparoscopic skill. (more…)

Knowledge of text message abbreviations as a predictor of spelling ability.

“The relationships of self-reported text messaging frequency and knowledge of text message abbreviations with spelling ability were investigated. Two studies were conducted in which the college student participants provided self-reports of text messaging frequency, responded to a test of knowledge of text message abbreviations, and completed a standardized spelling test. (more…)

Sexpectations: Male College Students’ Views about Displayed Sexual References on Females’ Social Networking Web Sites.

“STUDY OBJECTIVE: Sexual reference display on a social networking web site (SNS) is associated with self-reported sexual intention; females are more likely to display sexually explicit content on SNSs. The purpose of this study was to investigate male college students’ views towards sexual references displayed on publicly available SNSs by females. DESIGN: Focus groups. SETTING: One large state university. PARTICIPANTS: Male college students age 18-23. INTERVENTIONS: All tape recorded discussion was fully transcribed, then discussed to determine thematic consensus. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A trained male facilitator asked participants about views on sexual references displayed on SNSs by female peers and showed examples of sexual references from female’s SNS profiles to facilitate discussion. (more…)

Detecting Some Popular Animals in Online Photos: Learning from Ears and Eyes.

“Robust object detection has many important applications in real-world online photo processing. For example, both Google image search and MSN live image search have integrated human face detector to retrieve face or portrait photos. Inspired by the success of such face filtering approach, in this paper, we focus on another popular online photo category – animal, which is one of top five categories in the MSN live image search query log. As a preliminary attempt, we focus on the problem of animal head detection of a set of relatively large land animals that are popular on the internet, such as cat, tiger, panda, fox, and cheetah. (more…)

Do aggressive people play violent computer games in a more aggressive way? Individual difference and idiosyncratic game-playing experience.

“This study investigates whether individual difference influences idiosyncratic experience of game playing. In particular, we examine the relationship between the game player’s physical-aggressive personality and the aggressiveness of the player’s game playing in violence-oriented video games. (more…)

“BACKGROUND: Increased use of an online educational archive of photographic dermatology case materials (DermAtlas) indicated unexpected pornography-seeking behavior and misuse.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to assess the extent of archive misuse. (more…)

“Sleepwalkers have been described to be involved in complex motor activities like cooking, eating, driving a car, playing an instrument, stabbing and murder [1]. We describe a case of a 44-year-old woman with idiopathic insomnia almost all her life. She tried various medications, psychotherapy and behavioral techniques for the treatment of her insomnia without any significant effects. She was started on Zolpidem 10 mg 4 years ago. She was able to sleep 4–5 h each night, but then the effects started wearing off. She increased the dose of Zolpidem by herself to 15 mg every night; she would take 10 mg tablet around 10 p.m. and 5 mg around 3 a.m. With this regimen she started sleeping for 5 h every night and felt alert during the daytime. After increasing the dose, she began to have episodes of sleepwalking. During one such episode, she went to bed around 10 p.m., she woke up 2 h later, and walked to the next room on the same floor. She turned on the computer and connected to the internet. She logged in by typing her user ID and password to her email account. She sent three emails to her friend inviting her to come over for dinner and drinks (Fig. 1A and B). (more…)

“This work seeks to understand young adults’ motives for online gaming and extends previous research concerning social interaction in virtual contexts. The focus of the study is on Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft. (more…)

Good clean fun? A content analysis of profanity in video games and its prevalence across game systems and ratings.

“Although violent video game content and its effects have been examined extensively by empirical research, verbal aggression in the form of profanity has received less attention. Building on preliminary findings from previous studies, an extensive content analysis of profanity in video games was conducted using a sample of the 150 top-selling video games across all popular game platforms (including home consoles, portable consoles, and personal computers). (more…)