Biocyberpsychology

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Biocyberpsychology

• Evolution, systemising, empathising and digit
  ratio

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The Design of Everyday Things(Norman, 1990)

• The paradox of technology
• The same technology that simplifies life by
  providing more functions in each device also
  complicates life by making the device harder to
  learn, harder to use (p.31)
• Conceptual simplicity in one-to-one matching
  between button and function
• e.g analog vs. digital watch
• Addition of alarm, stopwatch, countdown timer,
  camera but harder to set the time
• Increasing functionality leads to increasing
  complexity
• How this is dealt with determines technophobia

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Emotional Design(Norman, 2004)

• Design of Everyday things logical, usability
• Affect Judgement system
• Damasio Descartes Error
• Attractive things work better
• Aesthetics emotion cognition
• Creative solution
• Error
• - Narrow focus

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• 3 levels of analysis
• Visceral level
• Automatic, prewired (look/ feel)
• Behavioural level
• Control behaviour (performance)
• Reflective level
• Conscious, cultural (meaning)
• Bottom up vs. top down
• Evolution
• We are coevolving with technology
• (Dawkins, 1995)
• Evolutionary psychology

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• Charles Darwin (1859)
• William James (1890) Henry James (1890)
• Principles of The Bostonians
• Psychology
• Which has explained the human condition better?
  (Lodge, 2002)

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Evolutionary Psychology

• The goal of research in evolutionary psychology
  is to discover and understand the design of the
  human mind
• Evolutionary psychology is an approach to
  psychology
• Principles from evolutionary biology are put to
  use in research on the structure of the human
  mind

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Evolutionary Psychology

• It is not an area of study, like vision,
  reasoning, or social behaviour
• It is a way of thinking about psychology that can
  be applied to any topic within it
• Including cyberpsychology

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Human Nature

• Instincts are specialized neural circuits that
  are common to every member of a species and are
  the product of that species' evolutionary
  history.
• Taken together, such circuits constitute (in our
  own species) what one can think of as "human
  nature".

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Instincts

• Our natural competences are possible only because
  there is a vast and heterogenous array of complex
  computational machinery supporting and regulating
  these activities.
• This machinery works so well that we don't even
  realize that it exists.
• We all suffer from instinct blindness.
• As a result, psychologists have neglected to
  study some of the most interesting machinery in
  the human mind.

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Model

• Adaptive Problem
• Cognitive Programs
• Neurophysiological Basis

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Implications of model

• Three complementary levels of explanation in
  evolutionary psychology. Inferences (represented
  by the arrows) can be made from one level to
  another.
• Theories of adaptive problems can guide the
  search for the cognitive programs that solve
  them knowing what cognitive programs exist can,
  in turn, guide the search for their neural basis.

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5 Principles

• Principle 1. The brain is a physical system. It
  functions as a computer. Its circuits are
  designed to generate behaviour that is
  appropriate to your environmental circumstances.

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• Principle 2. Our neural circuits were designed by
  natural selection to solve problems that our
  ancestors faced during our species' evolutionary
  history.

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• Principle 3. Consciousness is just the tip of the
  iceberg most of what goes on in your mind is
  hidden from you. As a result, your conscious
  experience can mislead you into thinking that our
  circuitry is simpler that it really is. Most
  problems that you experience as easy to solve are
  very difficult to solve -- they require very
  complicated neural circuitry

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• Principle 4. Different neural circuits are
  specialized for solving different adaptive
  problems.

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• Principle 5. Our modern skulls house a stone age
  mind.

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Human vs. non-human

• Evolved specialised neurocognitive mechanisms
• Discriminate agents vs non-agents
• Animate inanimate (plants)
• Intentional non intentional
• Social non social
• Intuitive psychology to deduce the cause of
  agents actions Empathising
• Intuitive physics to deduce the cause of
  non-agents actions Systemising
• (Dennett, 1987 Premack, 1990)

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Empathy Definition

• Empathising is the drive to identify another
  person's emotions and thoughts, and to respond to
  these with an appropriate emotion. Empathising
  allows you to predict a person's behaviour, and
  to care about how others feel. (Baron-Cohen, 2002)

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Systemising Definition

• Systemising is the drive to analyse the variables
  in a system, to derive the underlying rules that
  govern the behaviour of a system. Systemising
  also refers to the drive to construct systems.
  Systemising allows you to predict the behaviour
  of a system, and to control it (Baron-Cohen,
  2002).
• Scientists are by their nature good systemisers
  mathematicians representing the ultimate
  systemiser within the normal population.

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Sex differences

• Males tend to be systemisers
• Females tend to be empathisers
• Individuals with autistic qualities have extreme
  systemising skills but poor empathising skills
• Extreme male brain theory (mostly males)

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• Baron-Cohen (2002 72) argues that all the
  sciences utilize systemizing as their basis, and
  all are dominated by men.
• Professoriate (2.5 are female in the UK)
• Fellowship of the Royal Society (3.6 are
  female).
• Life Science/ Social Science bias (Brosnan,
  1998).

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Continuum

• Male Domination
• Extreme male brain Autism
• Asperger Syndrome
• Science/ Maths/ Computer Science
• Social Sciences
• Caring Professions
• Extreme female brain
• Female domination

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Wired (2001)

• The Geek Syndrome
• Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger's
  syndrome - is surging among the children of
  Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame?

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(No Transcript)
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• Understanding the relationship between
  systemising and empathising is crucial
• If Baron-Cohen is correct, those most likely to
  be associated with cyberpsychology will be
  systemisers

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Geeks

• Are Geeks high in systemising and low in
  empathising?
• What is a Geek?
• Are you a Geek?
• Is a Geek different from a Nerd?
• Can you be high in Systemising and Empathising?
• Back to Neuro

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Broader Phenotype

• Both parents also show a masculinised cognitive
  profile
• High male-typical performance on systemising
  tasks
• High association with Science (esp. Maths,
  physics, computer science) and Engineering
  professions
• Hard masters?

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The brain!
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Localization

• Occipital lobes vision
• Parietal lobes spatial
• Temporal lobes memory/language
• Frontal lobes - Abstract thought, organise
  behaviour, inhibition Executive functions

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Contralateral
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Basic neuropsychology

• TASK LEFT HEMISPERE RIGHT HEMISPHERE
• __________________________________________________
  ____________________________
• Vision Translation of letters into
  sounds Recognition of faces
• Hearing Language sounds Non-language sounds
  music
• Memory Verbal memory Visual memory
• Language Grammar Humour, emotional content
• Mathematics Arithmetic Geometry
• Problem solving Problems to be solved
  analytically Problems to be solved
  holistically
• Complex tasks Performed one part at a
  time Performed all parts at a time
• __________________________________________________
  _____________________________

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Lateralised brains

• Cognition has been argued to be lateralised, with
  the left hemisphere dominating for language
  processing and the right hemisphere dominating
  for spatial/ mathematical processing (Bryden,
  1982).
• A sex difference is often reported, indicating a
  tendency in females to be left hemisphere biased
  and a tendency in males to be right hemisphere
  biased (Wisniewski, 1998).

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Maths as an example

• A right hemisphere advantage has been
  demonstrated for abstract numerical relations and
  a left hemisphere advantage for more discrete
  numerical information (Fink, et al., 2006).
• The left hemisphere has been argued to have a
  bias for retrieving arithmetic facts, which may
  reflect the language-based methodology used
  within schools to teach arithmetic rather than
  any inherent bias of these areas for
  number-related information (Geary, 1995).

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Hormones

• Have an organisational and an activational effect
  (Goy and McEwen, 1980).
• Prenatal gonadal hormones (sex steroids) exert
  long-lasting organizational influences on brain
  and behaviour in humans (Collaer and Hines, 1995)
  
• Prenatal organisational
• Circulating activational
• Perinatal around time of birth

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Testosterone and lateralisation

• Higher levels of prenatal testosterone exposure
  may be associated with a greater degree of
  cerebral lateralisation for cognitive functions
  (Hines and Shipley, 1984).

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Hypothesis

• Prenatal testosterone influences brain structure,
  which influences cognition, which influences
  participation within Cyberpsychology.
• But how can you measure prenatal testosterone?

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Digit ratio
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• Index finger (2D) / ring finger (4D)
• Male average 0.98
• Female average 1.0
• Males typically have longer 4D fingers than 2D
  fingers (more testosterone and therefore lower
  digit ratios) than females, who tend to be equal
  (Manning, 2002).

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Preliminary investigations

• The hypothesis is that, for the reasons outlined
  above, success within the computer culture will
  be predicted (at least in part) by exposure to
  prenatal testosterone. Two preliminary
  investigations examine this possibility, relating
  digit ratio with JAVA programming ability and
  computer anxiety.

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Digit Ratio JAVA programming

• 23 Masters students (18 males)
• Both sexes had a mean digit ratio of 0.98 and
  there were no significant differences in JAVA
  marks between males and females.
• The correlation between digit ratio and JAVA mark
  was significant, however r -0.56, p0.003.

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DR JAVA programming 2

• Sample 73 Students undertaking a JAVA
  programming course.
• 60 males and 13 females. Aged 18-41, mean20.6
  (sd5.2)
• There were no sex differences in performance,
  males 66 (sd18), females67 (sd23)
  (t710.21, ns) or digit ratio (males 0.98
  (sd0.04), females 0.99 (sd0.04) (t710.72,ns).
  
• r -0.2, pindicative of greater exposure to prenatal
  testosterone significantly related to a higher
  JAVA score.

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Digit ratio and computer games

• Pilot, N18
• List top 3 computer games currently played
• Rated for violence (1Tetris, Freecell 4mortal
  combat, Resident Evil)
• R-0.52, p0.014
• (not time spent playing)

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Digit ratio and Computer anxiety

• DSM-IV comparison and clinical treatment (Brosnan
  and Thorpe, 2006 2007)
• Again both sexes had a mean digit ratio of 0.98.
• 161 undergraduate students (71 males)
• There was a significant difference in computer
  anxiety, with females registering as more anxious
  than males (t2.55, p0.012).
• For males, there was a significant positive
  correlation (r.24, p.02) and for females there
  was a significant negative correlation
  (r-.22, p0.019).

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Maths again

• Maths ability negatively correlates with digit
  ratio (Fink et al., 2006)
• Reflected in 7 year olds SATs results (Brosnan,
  2008)

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Here comes the but

• The effects are small
• Scientists do not all have low digit ratios
  (Brosnan, 2006)
• Digit ratio does not correlate with systemising
  and empathising (Voracek and Dressler, 2006)
• What about circulating hormones?

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Back to evolution

• There maybe biological factors that influence
  involvement within the computer culture
• There maybe evolutionary factors that influence
  our perceptions of cyberpsychology

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Dualism

• We are natural born dualists
• Bloom (2004)

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Whitaker (2004)

• Cartesian duality - that the soul and the body
  are separate entities - is deeply rooted in
  western culture. It articulates what appears to
  be a readily recognisable truth. I have a body,
  indeed I have a mind but I experience my "self"
  as something distinct, connected with but at the
  same time independent of the sum of my parts.

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Bloom (2004)

• Because we have evolved two separate capabilities
  we are predisposed to dualism
• Do systemising/ empathising and/or digit ratio
  relate to ethopeic perceptions?

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Media Equation

• Computer ethopoeia responding to computers as
  though they were human while realising that such
  responses are not merited (Nass Moon, 2000).
• Not all computer-related anger is preceded by an
  attribution of blame or of agency, as it should
  be according to most theorists (Frijda
  Zeelenberg, 2001).

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• If the right hemisphere is dominant for emotion
  and the left hemisphere dominant for logic, we
  need to link these two aspects to embrace
  cyberpsychology.
• You are the corpus callosum!

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Web readings

• Primer on evolutionary psychology
• http//www.psych.ucsb.edu/research/cep/
• primer.html
• Geek syndrome (Wired)
• http//www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers.
  html
• Origin of species (Darwin)
• http//www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/t
  he-origin-of-species/