Personality traits and risky decision-making in a controlled experimental task: an exploratory study

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886906000547

In this study, we examined decision-making to rewarding or punishing stimuli in individuals with psychopathy (n = 21) and comparison individuals (n = 19) using the Differential Reward/Punishment Learning Task. In this task, the participant chooses between two objects associated with different levels of reward or punishment. Thus, response choice indexes not only reward/punishment sensitivity but also sensitivity to reward/punishment level according to inter-stimulus reinforcement distance. Individuals with psychopathy showed significant impairment when choosing between objects associated with differential levels of reward but also significantly greater impairment when choosing between objects associated with differential levels of punishment. However, the two groups were comparably affected by inter-stimulus reinforcement distance. The results are discussed with reference to current models of psychopathy.

Double-Fine finds success through Kick starter

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure

Prospect Theory

http://www.hss.caltech.edu/~camerer/Ec101/ProspectTheory.pdf

Expected utility theory was widely considered as the normative model of ration choice concerning making decisions under risk, until an alternative model “Prospect Theory” was proposed in 1979 by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky [4]. Prospect theory expands on expected utility theory, overcoming shortcomings that are outlined in the paper that presented prospect theory: “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk” [4]. One of the sole inadequacies of expected utility theory discussed was that most people will prefer outcomes of higher probability than those with lower probability. This suggests that outcomes with the highest utility may still be less desirable than those with lower utility based on the perceived probability of each outcome; this tendency is called the certainty effect. Under this model a person may be risk-averse or risk-acceptant depending on the amount of possible gain, under expected utility theory a gambler would take the risk with the highest value, but with prospect theory a gambler may decide to be risk-aversive and take a lower value outcome with a higher chance of realization than the highest value outcome with a lower chance of happening.

PS Vita Hopes To Prevent Piracy with Closed Memory Format

http://kotaku.com/5896965/sony-killing-psp-games-to-prevent-vita-piracy

*Outrage over expense of Sony’s new card, but Sony say it prevent piracy

*Substitutes for internal memory, hold game saves dlc and other files, ensure security

*Plans to not allow users to hook it up to pc as mass storage, unlike SD cards

*PSP sticks could be mass storage, which led to hackers loading custom firmware, circumvent security protections

*Shimada argues that this will be more convenient for users, and they won’t have to deal with folder systems, similar to programs like iTunes

*Bad for mac users as the software will only be available for Pc when it launches, although mac version in the works

*Prices considerably higher than standard memory: $24.99 for 4GB, $39.99 for 8GB, $69.99 for 16GB, and $119.99 for 32GB. PS Vita system purchases ($249 for Wi-Fi only, $299 for 3G) will not include the cards.