Investigating Gender Differences under Time Pressure in Financial Risk Taking

Are men more likely to have serious occupational accidents? Findings of reported cases in Palmas, northern Brazil

To ascertain whether male workers from Palmas, Tocantins state, northern Brazil, are more likely to have occupational accidents compared to female workers, all cases of serious occupational accidents reported between 2009 and 2019 were extracted from the Brazilian Notifiable Diseases Information System and compared with the economically active population according to sex. Men were found to be 6.2 times more likely to have a serious occupational accident compared to women. Therefore, reviewing occupational health and safety policies in predominantly male workplaces is necessary.

The Effect of Subjective Loss in Financial Risk Taking and Negative Emotion

The current research examined the influence of subjective loss on financial risk-taking tendency and negative emotional experience through inducing the experience of subjective loss in auction scenarios. In Study 1, we found that the subjective loss experience (compared to no-loss experience) in an auction scenario induced greater financial risk propensity, especially in gambling, greater negative emotion, and greater decision regret. In addition, we found that the subjective loss experience induced stronger negative emotion but less risk propensity in investment than the actual loss experience did, but these two types of loss did not yield a difference in risk propensity in gambling in Study 2. These results implicate that subjective loss is a distinct experience from no-loss and actual loss experiences, which is reflected by the degree of associated emotional experience and subsequent risk-taking propensity. The current research highlights the complex psychological processes of the experience of loss in decision-making contexts.

Facial features and unethical behavior - Doped athletes show higher facial width-to-height ratios than non-doping sanctioned athletes

Past research has emphasized the role of facial structures in predicting social behavior. In particular the facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) was found to be a reliable predictor for antisocial and unethical behavior. The current study was aimed at examining this association in the field of sports: FWHRs of 146 doping sanctioned athletes in athletics (37 male/38 female) and weightlifting (44 male/27 female) were compared to the fWHRs of randomly chosen non-doping sanctioned athletes of the Top Ten at the World Championship 2017 and Olympic Games 2016 in both sports (146 athletes). The results showed that doping sanctioned athletes due to the use of anabolic steroids had larger fWHRs than non-doping sanctioned athletes. However, doping sanctioned athletes due to other doping rule violations than the use of anabolic steroids, did not show this effect. The study provides empirical evidence for the relation between fWHR and unethical behavior in a real-world setting and contributes to the discussion about fWHR’s biological origin, emphasizing the role of anabolic steroids. A mutual interaction between fWHR and doping behavior is discussed, at which a larger fWHR might signify a higher tendency to behave unethically, whereas the consequential intake of anabolic steroids might also shape individuals’ faces.

The effectiveness of methylphenidate in improving cognition after brain injury in adults: a systematic review

Objective: To conduct a systematic review investigating the effectiveness of methylphenidate in improving cognition following brain injury in an adult population.Data sources: CINAHL, PsychINFO, MEDLINE, and PubMed databases were searched for all relevant articles published from January 1980 up to December 2017.Study selection: Studies were included if participants had a diagnosis of new onset or previous acquired brain injury and were age 16 or over. Studies must have administered methylphenidate and measured its effectiveness on cognition using at least one measure of cognitive function.Data extraction: Data extracted included study design, sample size, participant characteristics, intervention method, outcome measures, and findings. The quality of included randomized controlled trials was assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database. An overall level of evidence was assigned using a modified Sackett scale.Data synthesis: Included studies consisted of seven randomized controlled trials, two pre-post trials, one prospective controlled trial, and one case study. All included studies reported improved cognitive abilities following methylphenidate treatment post-injury.Conclusions: There is the strongest level of evidence (Level 1a) suggesting methylphenidate may alleviate cognitive impairments in adults with brain injury. However, longitudinal studies are warranted examining the effectiveness and safety of long-term methylphenidate use in this population.

Exercise influence on the microbiome-gut-brain axis

The microbiome in the gut is a diverse environment, housing the majority of our bacterial microbes. This microecosystem has a symbiotic relationship with the surrounding multicellular organism, and a balance and diversity of specific phyla of bacteria support general health. When gut bacteria diversity diminishes, there are systemic consequences, such as gastrointestinal and psychological distress. This pathway of communication is known as the microbiome-gut-brain axis. Interventions such as probiotic supplementation that influence microbiome also improve both gut and brain disorders. Recent evidence suggests that aerobic exercise improves the diversity and abundance of genera from the Firmcutes phylum, which may be the link between the positive effects of exercise on the gut and brain. The purpose of this review is to explain the complex communication pathway of the microbiome-gut-brain axis and further examine the role of exercise on influencing this communication highway.

Facts and Misconceptions about 2D:4D, Social and Risk Preferences

We study how the ratio between the length of the second and fourth digit (2D:4D) correlates with choices in social and risk preferences elicitation tasks by building a large dataset from five experimental projects with more than 800 subjects. Our results confirm the recent literature that downplays the link between 2D:4D and many domains of economic interest, such as social and risk preferences. As for the former, we find that social preferences are significantly lower when 2D:4D is above the median value only for subjects with low cognitive ability. As for the latter, we find that a high 2D:4D is not correlated with the frequency of subjects' risky choices.