Loot box spending is associated with problem gambling but not mental wellbeing.

There are emerging concerns that loot boxes-digital video game items that can be purchased for a chance at randomized rewards-are associated with problematic gambling behaviours and, in turn, are potentially harmful. Current research suggests consistent correlations between loot box spending (LS) and problematic gambling symptomology; however, little research has looked at relationships with mental wellbeing. Here, we used a Bayesian hypothesis testing framework to assess the relative strength of evidence for relationships between LS, excessive gaming, problem gambling, mental wellbeing and psychological distress. Two thousand seven hundred twenty-eight participants who reported playing games containing loot box mechanics in the past month answered a survey assessing the above measures, as well as other forms of digital spending. The results showed extremely strong evidence for a positive correlation between LS and problem gambling; however, there was no evidence to suggest relationships between such spending and mental wellbeing or psychological distress. Exploratory results suggested that individuals who spend money on loot boxes also spend more across a range of digital purchases generally. The findings highlight an urgent need to understand what constitutes harm when considering LS effects and provide further context for discussions regarding how best to regulate such mechanisms.

Is screen time associated with anxiety or depression in young people? Results from a UK birth cohort.

BACKGROUND: There is limited and conflicting evidence for associations between use of screen-based technology and anxiety and depression in young people. We examined associations between screen time measured at 16 years and anxiety and depression at 18. METHODS: Participants (n = 14,665; complete cases n = 1869) were from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a UK-based prospective cohort study. We assessed associations between various types of screen time (watching television, using a computer, and texting, all measured via questionnaire at 16y), both on weekdays and at weekends, and anxiety and depression (measured via the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule at 18y). Using ordinal logistic regression, we adjusted for multiple confounders, particularly focussing on activities that might have been replaced by screen time (for example exercising or playing outdoors). RESULTS: More time spent using a computer on weekdays was associated with a small increased risk of anxiety (OR for 1-2 h = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.35; OR for 3+ hours = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.10 to 1.55, both compared to < 1 h, p for linear trend = 0.003). We found a similar association between computer use at weekends and anxiety (OR for 1-2 h = 1.17, 95% CI: 0.94 to 1.46; OR for 3+ hours = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.48, p for linear trend = 0.03). Greater time spent using a computer on weekend days only was associated with a small increased risk in depression (OR for 1-2 h = 1.12, 95% CI: 0.93 to 1.35; OR for 3+ hours = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.10 to 1.65, p for linear trend = 0.003). Adjusting for time spent alone attenuated effects for anxiety but not depression. There was little evidence for associations with texting or watching television. CONCLUSIONS: We found associations between increased screen time, particularly computer use, and a small increased risk of anxiety and depression. Time spent alone was found to attenuate some associations, and further research should explore this.

A weak scientific basis for gaming disorder: Let us err on the side of caution.

We greatly appreciate the care and thought that is evident in the 10 commentaries that discuss our debate paper, the majority of which argued in favor of a formalized ICD-11 gaming disorder. We agree that there are some people whose play of video games is related to life problems. We believe that understanding this population and the nature and severity of the problems they experience should be a focus area for future research. However, moving from research construct to formal disorder requires a much stronger evidence base than we currently have. The burden of evidence and the clinical utility should be extremely high, because there is a genuine risk of abuse of diagnoses. We provide suggestions about the level of evidence that might be required: transparent and preregistered studies, a better demarcation of the subject area that includes a rationale for focusing on gaming particularly versus a more general behavioral addictions concept, the exploration of non-addiction approaches, and the unbiased exploration of clinical approaches that treat potentially underlying issues, such as depressive mood or social anxiety first. We acknowledge there could be benefits to formalizing gaming disorder, many of which were highlighted by colleagues in their commentaries, but we think they do not yet outweigh the wider societal and public health risks involved. Given the gravity of diagnostic classification and its wider societal impact, we urge our colleagues at the WHO to err on the side of caution for now and postpone the formalization.

The Peer Reviewers' Openness Initiative: incentivizing open research practices through peer review.

Openness is one of the central values of science. Open scientific practices such as sharing data, materials and analysis scripts alongside published articles have many benefits, including easier replication and extension studies, increased availability of data for theory-building and meta-analysis, and increased possibility of review and collaboration even after a paper has been published. Although modern information technology makes sharing easier than ever before, uptake of open practices had been slow. We suggest this might be in part due to a social dilemma arising from misaligned incentives and propose a specific, concrete mechanism-reviewers withholding comprehensive review-to achieve the goal of creating the expectation of open practices as a matter of scientific principle.

Prospective Investigation of Video Game Use in Children and Subsequent Conduct Disorder and Depression Using Data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.

There is increasing public and scientific concern regarding the long-term behavioural effects of video game use in children, but currently little consensus as to the nature of any such relationships. We investigated the relationship between video game use in children, degree of violence in games, and measures of depression and a 6-level banded measure of conduct disorder. Data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children were used. A 3-level measure of game use at age 8/9 years was developed, taking into account degree of violence based on game genre. Associations with conduct disorder and depression, measured at age 15, were investigated using ordinal logistic regression, adjusted for a number of potential confounders. Shoot-em-up games were associated with conduct disorder bands, and with a binary measure of conduct disorder, although the strength of evidence for these associations was weak. A sensitivity analysis comparing those who play competitive games to those who play shoot-em-ups found weak evidence supporting the hypothesis that it is violence rather than competitiveness that is associated with conduct disorder. However this analysis was underpowered, and we cannot rule out the possibility that increasing levels of competition in games may be just as likely to account for the observed associations as violent content. Overall game exposure as indicated by number of games in a household was not related to conduct disorder, nor was any association found between shoot-em-up video game use and depression.

Facial width-to-height ratio predicts self-reported dominance and aggression in males and females, but a measure of masculinity does not.

Recently, associations between facial structure and aggressive behaviour have been reported. Specifically, the facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) is thought to link to aggression, although it is unclear whether this association is related to a specific dimension of aggression, or to a more generalized concept of dominance behaviour. Similarly, an association has been proposed between facial masculinity and dominant and aggressive behaviour, but, to date, this has not been formally tested. Because masculinity and fWHR are negatively correlated, it is unlikely that both signal similar behaviours. Here, we thus tested these associations and show that: (i) fWHR is related to both self-reported dominance and aggression; (ii) physical aggression, verbal aggression and anger, but not hostility are associated with fWHR; (iii) there is no evidence for a sex difference in associations between fWHR and aggression; and (iv) the facial masculinity index does not predict dominance or aggression. Taken together, these results indicate that fWHR, but not a measure of facial masculinity, cues dominance and specific types of aggression in both sexes.

Testing a simplified method for measuring velocity integration in saccades using a manipulation of target contrast.

A growing number of studies in vision research employ analyses of how perturbations in visual stimuli influence behavior on single trials. Recently, we have developed a method along such lines to assess the time course over which object velocity information is extracted on a trial-by-trial basis in order to produce an accurate intercepting saccade to a moving target. Here, we present a simplified version of this methodology, and use it to investigate how changes in stimulus contrast affect the temporal velocity integration window used when generating saccades to moving targets. Observers generated saccades to one of two moving targets which were presented at high (80%) or low (7.5%) contrast. In 50% of trials, target velocity stepped up or down after a variable interval after the saccadic go signal. The extent to which the saccade endpoint can be accounted for as a weighted combination of the pre- or post-step velocities allows for identification of the temporal velocity integration window. Our results show that the temporal integration window takes longer to peak in the low when compared to high contrast condition. By enabling the assessment of how information such as changes in velocity can be used in the programming of a saccadic eye movement on single trials, this study describes and tests a novel methodology with which to look at the internal processing mechanisms that transform sensory visual inputs into oculomotor outputs.

The target velocity integration function for saccades.

Interacting with a dynamic environment calls for close coordination between the timing and direction of motor behaviors. Accurate motor behavior requires the system to predict where the target for action will be, both when action planning is complete and when the action is executed. In the current study, we investigate the time course of velocity information accrual in the period leading up to a saccade toward a moving object. In two experiments, observers were asked to generate saccades to one of two moving targets. Experiment 1 looks at the accuracy of saccades to targets that have trial-by-trial variations in velocity. We show that the pattern of errors in saccade landing position is best explained by proposing that trial-by-trial target velocity is taken into account in saccade planning. In Experiment 2, target velocity stepped up or down after a variable interval after the movement cue. The extent to which the movement endpoint reflects pre- or post-step velocity can be used to identify the temporal velocity integration window; we show that the system takes a temporally blurred snapshot of target velocity centered ∼200 ms before saccade onset. This estimate is used to generate a dynamically updated prediction of the target's likely future location.

Turning the other cheek: the viewpoint dependence of facial expression after-effects.

How do we visually encode facial expressions? Is this done by viewpoint-dependent mechanisms representing facial expressions as two-dimensional templates or do we build more complex viewpoint independent three-dimensional representations? Recent facial adaptation techniques offer a powerful way to address these questions. Prolonged viewing of a stimulus (adaptation) changes the perception of subsequently viewed stimuli (an after-effect). Adaptation to a particular attribute is believed to target those neural mechanisms encoding that attribute. We gathered images of facial expressions taken simultaneously from five different viewpoints evenly spread from the three-quarter leftward to the three-quarter rightward facing view. We measured the strength of expression after-effects as a function of the difference between adaptation and test viewpoints. Our data show that, although there is a decrease in after-effect over test viewpoint, there remains a substantial after-effect when adapt and test are at differing three-quarter views. We take these results to indicate that neural systems encoding facial expressions contain a mixture of viewpoint-dependent and viewpoint-independent elements. This accords with evidence from single cell recording studies in macaque and is consonant with a view in which viewpoint-independent expression encoding arises from a combination of view-dependent expression-sensitive responses.