We study a class of two-player normal-form games with cyclical payoff structures. A game is called circulant if both players’ payoff matrices fulfill a rotational symmetry condition. The class of circulant games contains well-known examples such as Matching Pennies, Rock-Paper-Scissors, as well as subclasses of coordination and common interest games. The best response correspondences in circulant games induce a partition on each player’s set of pure strategies into equivalence classes. In any Nash Equilibrium, all strategies within one class are either (...) played with strictly positive or with zero probability. We further show that, strikingly, a single parameter fully determines the exact number and the structure of all Nash equilibria in these games. The parameter itself only depends on the position of the largest payoff in the first row of one of the player’s payoff matrix. (shrink)

ABSTRACTEmotion differentiation refers to the precision with which people can identify and distinguish their emotions and has been associated with well-being in adults. This study investigated ED and its relation with emotional well-being in adolescents. We used an experience sampling method with 72 participants to assess adolescents’ positive and negative emotions at different time points over the course of two weekends and a baseline questionnaire to assess emotional well-being. Differentiating negative emotions was related to less negativity intensity and propensity, and (...) to the belief that emotions are malleable. Differentiating positive emotions was not related to any of the assessed well-being variables. Together, these results suggest that a detailed awareness of one’s negative emotional states is an important dimension of well-being, also in adolescence. (shrink)

As part of the Dutch national science program “Professional Games for Professional Skills” we developed a stress-exposure biofeedback training in virtual reality for the Dutch police. We aim to reduce the acute negative impact of stress on performance, as well as long-term consequences for mental health by facilitating physiological stress regulation during a demanding decision task. Conventional biofeedback applications mainly train physiological regulation at rest. This might limit the transfer of the regulation skills to stressful situations. In contrast, we provide (...) the user with the opportunity to practice breathing regulation while they carry out a complex task in VR. This setting poses challenges from a technical – as well as from a user-experience perspective. We illustrate how we approach these challenges in our training and hope to contribute a useful reference for researchers and developers in academia or industry who are interested in using biosignals to control elements in a dynamic virtual environment. (shrink)

It is widely recognized that police performance may be hindered by psychophysiological state changes during acute stress. To address the need for awareness and control of these physiological changes, police academies in many countries have implemented Heart-Rate Variability biofeedback training. Despite these trainings now being widely delivered in classroom setups, they typically lack the arousing action context needed for successful transfer to the operational field, where officers must apply learned skills, particularly when stress levels rise. The study presented here aimed (...) to address this gap by training physiological control skills in an arousing decision-making context. We developed a Virtual-Reality breathing-based biofeedback training in which police officers perform deep and slow diaphragmatic breathing in an engaging game-like action context. This VR game consisted of a selective shoot/don’t shoot game designed to assess response inhibition, an impaired capacity in high arousal situations. Biofeedback was provided based on adherence to a slow breathing pace: the slower and deeper the breathing, the less constrained peripheral vision became, facilitating accurate responses to the in-game demands. A total of nine male police trainers completed 10 sessions over a 4-week period as part of a single-case experimental ABAB study-design. Results showed that eight out of nine participants showed improved breathing control in action, with a positive effect on breathing-induced low frequency HRV, while also improving their in-game behavioral performance. Critically, the breathing-based skill learning transferred to subsequent sessions in which biofeedback was not presented. Importantly, all participants remained highly engaged throughout the training. Altogether, our study showed that our VR environment can be used to train breathing regulation in an arousing and active decision-making context. (shrink)

Depressive symptoms and disorders are major public health concerns, affecting many adolescents and young adults. Despite extensive research, depression prevention programs for youth show limited effectiveness. Moreover, the maximal potential of youth psychotherapy — on which depression prevention programs are based — may have been reached. Commercial video games may offer an engaging alternative vehicle for youth to practice emotional and social skills vital to mental health. The current study investigated the potential for the commercial video game Journey to prevent (...) the exacerbation of depressive symptoms. A pre-registered randomized controlled trial tested the effectiveness of Journey as an indicated depression prevention approach compared to a control game condition and a passive control condition. Additionally, potential action mechanisms for depression prevention using video games were examined. Participants aged 15 to 20 years old with elevated depressive symptoms were given 4 weeks to play Journey or the control game, Flower. Results showed no beneficial effects of playing the commercial video game, Journey, on youth’s change in depressive symptoms above and beyond the active and passive control conditions up to 12-months after the intervention. Additionally, no action mechanisms were found specifically for Journey. Nevertheless, over the whole study, participants decreased in depressive symptoms, became less sensitive to rejection, and experienced more hope and optimism. Moreover, participants who during the study decreased in rejection sensitivity or rumination or who increased in hope and optimism or in distraction and problem solving showed the strongest decrease in depressive symptoms. Although results do not support the use of the studied commercial game as an effective indicated depression prevention strategy, our results do suggest that rejection sensitivity, hope, optimism, rumination, distraction, and problem solving are promising targets for future depression prevention efforts. We conclude with important lessons for future research on games to promote mental health. Particularly, encouraging careful consideration of research designs to explore for whom and how potential action mechanisms and associated game mechanics may be effective. (shrink)

The Limits of Cognition and the Shape of Being Based on the Thought of Karl Jaspers The article points out the elements of Karl Jaspers’ epistemological conception that cross out the possibility of a comprehensive account of being. The key issue here is the limits of cognition, which take the form of object cognition. The theme of limits points to the inadequacies of human thinking in the context of quantifiable and absolutist representations of reality. The impossibility of adequately grasping the (...) totality of reality will be illustrated here by means of the criticism Jaspers levelled at absolutising metaphysics. In connection with the description of the structure of cognition proposed by Jaspers, the article points out the conceptual proximity of the issue of worldview and metaphysics in the light of the thought of the cited author. (shrink)

Doktryna świadomej zgody jest moralnym fundamentem współczesnej medycyny i jednym z kluczowych zagadnień bioetycznych. Podstawą tej doktryny jest teza głosząca, że świadoma zgoda pacjenta upoważnia lekarza do podjęcia postępowania medycznego. Teza ta nie podlega w zasadzie dyskusji. Poważne wątpliwości pojawiają się, gdy pytamy o potrzebę takiego upoważnienia. Najczęstsza odpowiedź brzmi, iż zabiegając o świadomą zgodę pacjenta, respektujemy jego prawo do decydowania o sobie, czyli jego autonomię. Autonomia uznana jest za centralną wartość moralną. Jakiekolwiek inne wartości mogą być istotne, ale to (...) autonomia jest kluczem do określenia właściwej relacji pacjent - lekarz. Autor niniejszego artykułu poddaje w wątpliwość taki pogląd. Analizuje dwie główne koncepcje pojęcia autonomii: autonomii działania i autonomii osoby, oraz stawia tezę, że żadna z nich nie wyjaśnia, na czym polega wartość autonomii i w związku z tym nie wskazuje, dlaczego lekarze winni zabiegać o zgodę pacjenta. Ideał autonomii, na podstawie którego zbudowana jest doktryna świadomej zgody, został zapożyczony z obszarów w istotny sposób różnych od tego obszaru, w którym znajdujemy relację pacjent - lekarz. Aby uporać się z problemami wynikającymi z powyższego, autor dystansuje się od idei zgody, a skupia się na pojęciu porozumienia. Próba poszukiwania porozumienia między pacjentem a lekarzem nie jest uzasadniona potrzebą ochrony uprzywilejowanych wartości moralnych (czy to autonomii, czy innej wartości), lecz podyktowana jest potrzebą ustalenia, co jest dobre dla pacjenta, będącego w relacji z lekarzem. Dobro pacjenta ma być wyznaczone za pomocą zasad, które określają granice tego, na co można w sposób uprawniony przystać. Obraz porozumienia przedstawiony jest przez autora w duchu myśli kantowskiej. (shrink)

The message is that physics has an „outward bound” of scientific inquiry in the field of cosmology. I present it in the historical development. Physics and astronomy, developing since the seventeenth century, inherited from the early Greek philosophers the conception that the Universe as a whole is invariable. In nineteenth century this conception in conjunction with the conception of eternity of the Universe gave rise to contradictions with other laws of physics indicating that cosmology is not a branch of physics (...) since the notion of the Universe is not a physical one. Cosmology returned to physics as its important branch due to the advent of general relativity theory and the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Modern cosmology generates fundamental problems creating real limits to inquiries in physics viewed as an empirical science. The very notion of the Universe shows that the scientific method reaches there limits of its applicability. Does „to exist” mean „to be observed by someone”? Should the definition of the Universe be based on a current physical theory, e.g. on Einstein’s general relativity, giving rise to a kind of mathematical instability? Is the fashionable concept of the „multiverse” a physical one or is a purely metaphysical notion in a scientific disguise? If the Universe is unique, is it meaningful to describe it in the framework of physics, which by its method always assumes that the number of objects it describes, is unlimited? Apart from these permanent philosophical problems there are concrete urgent problems generated by cosmology: the nature of dark matter and dark energy. These two species of „substance” appear only in cosmology and do not fit the laboratory physics; contrary to the three centuries long tradition of modern science, now cosmology inspires physics in a troublesome way. A separate class of limits to physics is generated by the theorem in general relativity that the Universe emerged from an initial curvature singularity of the spacetime. At the singularity the whole scientific inquiry breaks down. Cosmology of the very early Universe suggests that in its evolution two specific epochs took place, that of quantum gravity and an inflationary epoch. The underlying them two physical theories are incomplete and seem to be inherently untestable. Furthermore, the experimentally verifiable physics cannot explain the origin of the initial conditions determining properties of the Universe which emerged from the singularity. (shrink)

Teorija samo-modela Thomasa Metzingera nudi okvir naturaliziranja subjektivnih iskustava, to jest perspektive prve osobe. Ovi se fenomeni objašnjavaju referiranjem na reprezentacijske sadržaje za koje se kaže da su međuodnošajni na različitim razinama svijesti i suodnošajni s moždanim aktivnostima. Članak počinje razmatranjem o naturalizmu i anti-naturalizmu u svrhu grubog skiciranja pozadine Metzingerove tvrdnje da njegova teorija drži filozofijske spekulacije o umu ne-nužnima . Posebice, Husserlova se fenomenološka koncepcija svijesti odbacuje kao nekritička i neprimjerena. Pokazat će se da je ta kritika pogrešno (...) usmjerena . Glavni nedostaci Metzingerove teorije osvijetlit će se referiranjem na koncepciju fenomenalne transparencije koja će se usporediti s fenomenološkom idejom transparencije . Tada ćemo povećati naš kritički horizont fokusirajući se na neke implikacije reprezentacionalizma, uključujući reifikaciju svijesti, mozgovni kartezijanizam, te isključivanje socijalne dimenzije . Konačno, primijenit ćemo naše meta-teorijske refleksije na raspravu o naturalizmu. (shrink)

W artykule rozważam następujący problem: czy powinniśmy przykładać taką samą wagę do interesów i dobrobytu ludzi istniejących w przyszłości, jak do interesów i dobrobytu jednostek żyjących obecnie? Staram się wykazać, że traktowanie wymiaru czasowego analogicznie do przestrzennego jest problematyczne, zarówno jeśli chodzi o wymogi moralne, jak i o zasady sprawiedliwości, którymi powinny kierować się instytucje społeczne. Analizuję problem społecznej stopy dyskontowej, a także wskazuję na ograniczenia, jakie napotyka w związku z nim konsekwencjalistyczny rachunek zysków i strat w kontekście sprawiedliwości międzypokoleniowej.

Space, time and probabilities not only form the arena of many physical theories, but also the arena of our everyday life. Therefore, the problem of their ontological status becomes even more interesting. It seems that this problem cannot be solved before we have the final physical theory ("theory of everything"). However, various methods of looking for such a theory lead to converging results, and are able to elucidate the problem in question. We analyze noncommutative algebraic methods, and show that, when (...) applied to model the fundamental level, they suggest a nonlocal regime in which there is no space and no time, in their usual sense, and which is essentially probabilistic (in a generalized sense). In the noncommutative approach there are many probabilistic measures (not just one "probability" as in macroscopic physics), and none of them seems to be distinguished in any way. The tentative conclusion is that space, time and probability are not "absolute categories", but rather aspects of the world structure emergent from the fundamental level. One should expect that the ultimate theory will be well off our traditional philosophical categories. This shows that our mind has a peculiar property allowing it to reach far beyond its usual limitations. (shrink)

Local government is not free from dilemmas arising from ethical but illegal actions as well as legal, however, unethical ones. This breeds situations in which officials must decide whether to be loyal to the government authorities or citizens, whom they are obliged to serve. For instance, they must decide whether to accept the policy imposed by the district council making them change their clerical rules of conduct which, in their opinion, will be less favourably inclined to citizens. Consequently, they will (...) be obliged either to take or refrain from taking certain actions, which stems from the inner imperative. At the root of this dilemma frequently lies a discord between law and ethics. The choice to be made leads to a moral dilemma. What is associated with this matter indeed is the question of revealing the truth about unethical, illegal, immoral or unlawful behaviour in the government that occurs with the employer’s silent approval. The so-called whistleblowing is the means to achieve it. The process is based on informing people or organizations who have the power to influence actions of the criticized individuals or organizations. This creates situations in which officials can no longer take advantage of two values and are made to choose only one of them. (shrink)

The article reviews the book Granice pojęciowe metafizyki [The Conceptual Boundaries of Metaphysics], by Sebastian Tomasz Kołodziejczyk.

Udział kobiet w rozwoju poznania naukowego, uznawanie ich odkrywczości i nowatorstwa są zagadnieniami stosunkowo rzadko podejmowanymi z racji przypisywanego płci żeńskiej życiowego uwikłania w prywatność, codzienność i przeciętność. W artykule opisuję historyczne przypadki polskich wybitnych badaczek, których odkrycia i osiągnięcia zostały uznane za istotne dla różnych dziedzin wiedzy i tym samym zaprzeczają one stereotypom związanym z płcią. Wśród nich są adeptki nauk ścisłych i społecznych, przekraczające historyczną postać czy figurę „niewidzialnej asystentki”: Maria Cunitia, Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Józefa Joteyko, Maria A. Czaplicka, (...) Róża Luksemburg oraz inne podejmujące się ekstremalnego wyczynu poznawczego. Intersekcjonalna analiza biograficzna i generacyjna posłuży do rozważenia zasadniczych, jak się wydaje, uwarunkowań i przesłanek sukcesu kobiet w nauce – w przeszłości i współcześnie – wobec trwającego nieustannie „wyścigu” o palmę pierwszeństwa. (shrink)