Alexander Stine

As children age, they can learn increasingly complex features of environmental structure—a key prerequisite for adaptive decision-making. Yet when we tested children ( N = 304, 4–13 years old) in the Children’s Gambling Task, an age-appropriate variant of the Iowa Gambling Task, we found that age was negatively associated with performance. However, this paradoxical effect of age was found only in children who exhibited a maladaptive deplete-replenish bias, a tendency to shift choices after positive outcomes and repeat choices after negative outcomes. We found that this bias results from sensitivity to incidental nonrandom structure in the canonical, deterministic forms of these tasks—and that it would actually lead to optimal outcomes if the tasks were not deterministic. Our results illustrate that changes in decision-making across early childhood reflect, in part, increasing sensitivity to environmental structure.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) (Table 1) has been associated with an increased risk of many adverse health outcomes, including motor vehicle crashes,^7- 9 cognitive impairment,^10,11 cardiovascular events,^12- 14 atrial fibrillation,¹⁵ stroke,^14,16 and mortality.^8,13,14,17 However, there is controversy in the literature regarding the extent to which OSA independently contributes to various outcomes beyond the contributions of age, body mass index (BMI), and other potential confounders. OSA is common, with prevalence around 15% in men and 5% in women (ages 30-70 years), based on either an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of 15 or greater or an AHI of 5 or greater plus symptoms of disturbed sleep.^17,18

Literature suggests that Americans may have higher levels of perceived threat to Ebola than are warranted. We surveyed 1018 U.S. adults from a nationally representative Internet panel about their knowledge, perceived threat, and behavioral intentions during the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Eighty-six percent of respondents knew that Ebola could be transmitted through blood and bodily fluids. However, a large percentage had some inaccurate knowledge and 19 % believed Ebola would spread to the U.S. Respondents favored mandatory quarantine (63 %) and travel bans (55 %). Confidence in the ability of the media and government to accurately report on or prevent a U.S. epidemic was low. Fifty-two percent intended to engage in behaviors such as avoiding public transportation. Despite low perceived susceptibility, half intended to engage in behaviors to prevent transmission and large numbers favored policies not currently recommended by health officials. The extreme nature of Ebola virus likely motivated people to engage in behaviors and favor policies that were not necessary given the low risk of transmission in the U.S. Health officials should ensure the public has accurate information about Ebola and bolster confidence in the government’s ability to control infectious diseases in case of a future outbreak in the U.S.