(Press-News.org) How is cooperation affected when people can receive secondhand information about what others are contributing? Ashley Harrell and Tom Wolff investigated this question through an online cooperation game. Participants were recruited from a large subject pool of university students and other adults, maintained by the Interdisciplinary Behavioral Research Center at Duke University. Over 200 participants were placed in groups of 6–10; however, each participant was only linked to some of the other participants. In the control condition, players could only see the contributions of their direct network ties, but in the experimental condition, each player could choose to send information about their ties’ contributions to their other ties. Overall, groups that could share information contributed more than control groups. Participants commonly chose to share information and, when they did, were most likely to share information about contributions that were significantly lower than average. When a participant’s contribution information was shared, the exposed participants were aware of the sharing, and tended to contribute more on the next round. A second study with 165 participants replicated the main finding that information sharing increases contributions. The second study also found that a fully transparent game with all contributions visible to all players did not significantly increase contributions above the information sharing condition. According to the authors, information-sharing prevents selfishness from becoming contagious by reminding participants of the possible reputational consequences of low contributions.
END
Information sharing and cooperation
2023-12-19
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
How big events can disrupt public transit over an entire city
2023-12-19
COLUMBUS, Ohio – New technology has allowed scientists to see how a major sporting event can disrupt public transportation in an entire city for hours before and after the event.
Researchers conducted a case study in Columbus on days that The Ohio State University had home football games, attracting more than 100,000 fans to Ohio Stadium on the university’s campus.
Findings showed that bus service across the entire city was significantly less reliable for more than 7 hours on game days compared to other days, meaning that even bus riders who were not traveling near the university ...
Can AI think like a human?
2023-12-19
In a perspective, Athanassios S. Fokas considers a timely question: whether artificial intelligence (AI) can reach and then surpass the level of human thought. Typically, researchers have sought to measure the ability of computer models to accomplish complex goals, such as winning the game of Go or carrying on a conversation that seems human enough to fool an interlocutor. According to Fokas, this approach has a key methodological limitation. Any AI would have to be tested on every single conceivable human goal before anyone could claim that the program was thinking as well as a human. Alternative methodologies are therefore needed. In addition, the “complex goal” focus does not ...
AI in medical research: promise and challenges
2023-12-19
In an editorial, Monica M. Bertagnolli assesses the promise of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to study and improve health. The editorial was written by Dr. Bertagnolli in her capacity as director of the National Cancer Institute. AI/ML offer powerful new tools to analyze highly complex datasets, and researchers across biomedicine are taking advantage. However, Dr. Bertagnolli argues that human judgment is still required. Humans must select and develop the right computational models and ensure that the data used to train ...
First comprehensive medical guideline on management of pouchitis released
2023-12-19
Bethesda, MD (Dec. 19, 2023) — The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has released the first comprehensive evidence-based guideline on the management of pouchitis, the most common complication people with ulcerative colitis experience following surgery to remove their colon.
Between 150,000 and 300,000 people with ulcerative colitis in the U.S. live with a surgically created internal reservoir or “pouch” created from their small intestine as an alternate way to store and pass ...
A neuromuscular model for drug development
2023-12-19
Scientists have so far identified around 800 different neuromuscular diseases. These conditions are caused by problems in the way muscle cells, motor neurons and peripheral cells interact. These disorders, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy, lead to muscle weakness, paralysis, and in some cases death.
“These diseases are highly complex, and the causes of the dysfunction can vary widely,” says Dr. Mina Gouti, head of the Stem Cell Modeling of Development and Disease Lab at the Max Delbrück Center. The problem might lie with the neurons, the muscle cells or the connections between the two. ...
Chilean researchers pledge for transformative change to tackle climate action
2023-12-19
Addressing climate change has become a central issue in Chile’s public policy. As part of that debate, Dr. Maisa Rojas, researcher in Atmospheric Physics, who currently serves as Chilean Minister for Environment and Marco Billi of the Centre for Climate and Resilience Research, Universidad de Chile, propose a new model of governance at the country level to facilitate the changes needed. The proposal – written before Dr. Rojas’ appointment to the Chilean government – is published in IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research Letters.
The model proposed places climate action ...
A new inactive form of p38a protein discovered
2023-12-19
p38a protein, which is associated with cancer and other diseases, adopts a previously unknown structure regulated by cellular redox conditions.
The finding may have implications when designing new drugs to block it.
The work developed by IRB Barcelona, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona and the company Nostrum Biodiscovery, has been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Barcelona, 19 December 2023 - p38a protein, a key enzyme in the regulation of various cellular functions, plays a crucial ...
Childhood trauma increases risk of chronic pain in adulthood, research to-date highlights
2023-12-19
Physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, or neglect, either alone or combined with other types of childhood trauma, increases the risk of chronic pain and related disability in adulthood, according to new research.
These new findings underscore the urgency of addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) – potentially traumatic events that occur before 18 years of age – and taking steps to mitigate their long-term impact on people’s health.
The study ...
Pandas active posters on social media
2023-12-19
Pandas, long portrayed as solitary beasts, do hang with family and friends – and they’re big users of social media. Scent-marking trees serve as a panda version of Facebook.
An article in the international journal Ursus paints a new lifestyle picture of the beloved bears in China’s Wolong Nature Reserve, a life that’s shielded from human eyes because they’re shy, rare, and live in densely forested, remote areas. No one really knows how pandas hang, but a new study indicates pandas are around others ...
Air pollutants commonly found indoors could have an impact on creativity, NTU Singapore scientists find
2023-12-19
Air quality in the office may affect our level of creativity at work, scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have found.
Working with the global air filter manufacturer Camfil on a shared research project, the NTU Singapore scientists found in a study that high levels of volatile organic compounds – gases released from products such as detergents, pesticides, perfumes, aerosol sprays and paint – affected the study participants’ creativity when they were asked to build 3D models with LEGO bricks.
Using a statistical analysis, the NTU team estimated that reducing total ...