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Id | Title * ▼ | Authors * | Abstract * | Picture | Thematic fields * | Recommender | Reviewers | Submission date | |
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04 Dec 2023
STAGE 1
![]() Cerebral laterality as assessed by functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound in left-and right-handers: A comparison between handwriting and writing using a smartphoneChristos Samsouris, Nicholas A. Badcock, Filippos Vlachos, Marietta Papadatou-Pastou https://osf.io/sxhvk?view_only=11f338100ce84a088900a04af325b7eaDoes typing on a smartphone involve the same neural mechanisms as writing by hand?Recommended by D. Samuel SchwarzkopfLanguage production is associated with a distinct lateralised pattern of brain activation biased toward the left cerebral hemisphere. This also applies to writing. It has also been shown to be modulated by handedness, with less pronounced lateralisation in left-handers. However, in recent decades the use of handwriting has declined significantly while the use of smartphones has exploded. To date, no study has explored whether the same neural correlates of written language production found for handwriting also hold for typing on a smartphone.
In the current study, Samsouris et al. (2023) will use functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound (fTCD) to measure blood flow velocity within cerebral hemispheres to investigate this question. This technique is particularly suited for this purpose because it provides better control for the movement confounds associated with a writing task and the technical challenges of using a smart device than other neuroimaging techniques like fMRI or M/EEG. The authors hypothesise that there will be no difference in left cerebral lateralisation for handwriting and typing on a smartphone. They also expect to replicate previous findings of weaker lateralisation in left-handers in written language production when typing on a smartphone. To isolate the effect of written language production, both these conditions will be corrected for their corresponding motor component using control conditions without a linguistic component.
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over 6 rounds of in-depth review by the recommender and two expert reviewers, before issuing in-principle acceptance.
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/j7egz
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Samsouris, C., Badcock, N. A., Vlachos, F., & Papadatou-Pastou, M. (2023). Cerebral laterality as assessed by functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound in left-and right-handers: A comparison between handwriting and writing using a smartphone. In principle acceptance of Version 7 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/j7egz
| Cerebral laterality as assessed by functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound in left-and right-handers: A comparison between handwriting and writing using a smartphone | Christos Samsouris, Nicholas A. Badcock, Filippos Vlachos, Marietta Papadatou-Pastou | <p>Neuroscientific studies of traditional handwriting have revealed a left cerebral lateralization pattern for written language production, with distinct patterns between left- and right-handers. However, no study to date has investigated the cere... | Life Sciences, Social sciences | D. Samuel Schwarzkopf | 2022-11-01 10:27:39 | View | ||
06 Jun 2022
STAGE 1
![]() Causal evidence for the role of the sensory visual cortex in visual short-term memory maintenancePhylactou, P., Shimi, A., & Konstantinou, N. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/64hdxCan the visual cortex maintain information in the short term?Recommended by Zoltan DienesAccording to the sensory recruitment framework, the visual cortex is at least in part responsible for maintaining information about elementary visual features in visual short term memory. Could an early visual area, constantly taking in new information, really be responsible for holding information for up to a second? But conversely, could higher order regions, such as frontal regions, really hold subtle sensory distinctions? It must be done somewhere. Yet the existing evidence is conflicting. Phylactou et al. seek to address this question by applying transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to disrupt early visual areas at intervals up to a second after stimulus presentation to determine the effect on visual short term memory performance. In this way they will causally influence the sensory cortex at relevant times while tightening up on possible confounds in earlier research.
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review by three expert reviewers. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/empdt
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Phylactou, P., Shimi, A. & Konstantinou, N. (2022). Causal evidence for the role of the sensory visual cortex in visual short-term memory maintenance, in principle acceptance of Version 5 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/empdt
| Causal evidence for the role of the sensory visual cortex in visual short-term memory maintenance | Phylactou, P., Shimi, A., & Konstantinou, N. | <p>The role of the sensory visual cortex during visual short-term memory (VSTM) remains controversial. This controversy is possibly due to methodological issues in previous attempts to investigate the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (... | Social sciences | Zoltan Dienes | 2021-10-10 11:44:54 | View | ||
Causal evidence for the role of the sensory visual cortex in visual short-term memory maintenancePhivos Phylactou; Andria Shimi; Nikos Konstantinou https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/64hdxThe visual cortex can maintain information for up to a secondRecommended by Zoltan DienesAccording to the sensory recruitment framework, the visual cortex is at least in part responsible for maintaining information about elementary visual features in visual short term memory. Could an early visual area, constantly taking in new information, really be responsible for holding information for up to a second? But conversely, could higher order regions, such as frontal regions, really hold subtle sensory distinctions? It must be done somewhere. Yet the existing evidence is conflicting. Phylactou et al. addressed this question by applying transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to disrupt early visual areas at intervals up to a second after stimulus presentation to determine the effect on visual short term memory performance. In this way, they causally influenced the sensory cortex at relevant times while tightening up on possible confounds in earlier research.
They found that TMS applied to the occipital hemisphere at each of 200ms and 1000ms after presentation of a brief visual stimulus disrupted stimuls detection on a visual short term memory test. These findings support sensory recruitment, which claims that both perceptual and memory processes rely on the same neural substrates in the visual cortex.
The Stage 2 manuscript was evaluated by two expert reviewers. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 2 criteria for recommendation.
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/empdt
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that was used to answer the research question was generated until after Stage 1 IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Phylactou, P., Shimi, A. & Konstantinou, N. (2023). Causal evidence for the role of the sensory visual cortex in visual short-term memory maintenance, acceptance of Version 13 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/64hdx
| Causal evidence for the role of the sensory visual cortex in visual short-term memory maintenance | Phivos Phylactou; Andria Shimi; Nikos Konstantinou | <p>The role of the sensory visual cortex during visual short-term memory (VSTM) remains controversial. This controversy is possibly due to methodological issues in previous attempts to investigate the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (... | Social sciences | Zoltan Dienes | 2023-01-03 08:47:59 | View | ||
06 Jun 2024
STAGE 1
![]() Causal dynamics of task-relevant rule and stimulus processing in prefrontal cortexJade Buse Jackson Runhao Lu Alex Woolgar https://osf.io/7pxjzFunctional specificity of cognitive updating in human prefrontal cortexRecommended by Chris ChambersOne of the hallmarks of cognitive control is the ability to flexibly update attention and action when goals change. The prefrontal cortex has long been identified as important for such updating, but much remains to be understood about the anatomical and temporal mechanisms that support cognitive flexibility within prefrontal networks. In the current study, Jackson et al. (2024) build upon insights from recent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and neuroimaging studies to investigate the critical role of prefrontal cortex for updating goals and selecting behaviourally-relevant stimuli.
To measure updating, the authors deploy an attentional switching paradigm in which participants selectively attend to one feature of a novel object (colour or form) while ignoring the other feature. On each trial, a symbol (called a rule cue) indicates whether to attend to the colour (green or blue) or to the form (X or non-X) of the upcoming object. By mapping each stimulus response to a separate button press (two buttons for the two colours; two buttons for the two features), the authors can then categorise different types of behavioural errors – focusing especially on attending incorrectly to the task-irrelevant feature (rule error) vs. applying the correct rule but failing to correctly identify the task-relevant feature (stimulus error). If disruption of a specific cortical region causes a selective increase in one type of error, then this would indicate that the stimulated region is important for either rule processing or stimulus processing.
The proposal includes a number of key features that add depth and rigor to the investigation. First, to probe the anatomical specificity of cognitive control, the authors will contrast the effect of TMS delivered to different prefrontal regions that reside within different networks and may have divergent roles in cognitive control: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC, part of the multiple-demand network) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC, part of the default mode network). Moreover, unlike many previous TMS studies, the authors will use electric field modelling to normalise cortical stimulation strength between regions, enabling a more controlled anatomical comparison. Second, since the task involves responding to a rule cue and then selectively attending to a task-relevant feature, it is likely that a particular brain region could be selectively critical at a specific time – for instance, if dlPFC were important for rule processing then it should only be necessary shortly after (or around) presentation of the rule cue. To capture the temporal specificity of cortical involvement, the authors will apply a short burst of TMS at different times, beginning either +150ms after the cue or +700ms during stimulus processing. In a preliminary study, the authors used magnetoencephalography (MEG) in combination with the same behavioural task and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to identify these epochs for TMS. Finally, the experiment includes a range of additional control conditions and quality checks to rule out alternative explanations of potential findings, such as TMS impairing perception of the rule cue rather than implementation of the rule, and the effect of peripheral TMS artefacts. Overall, the study promises to reveal a range of intriguing new insights into the timecourse and anatomical specificity of cognitive updating, with implications for theories of prefrontal cortical function.
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over one round of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' and recommender’s comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/7pxjz (under temporary private embargo)
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA.
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
Jackon, J. B, Runhao, L., & Woolgar, A. (2024). Causal dynamics of task-relevant rule and stimulus processing in prefrontal cortex. In principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/7pxjz | Causal dynamics of task-relevant rule and stimulus processing in prefrontal cortex | Jade Buse Jackson Runhao Lu Alex Woolgar | <p>The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is understood to be important for cognitive flexibility, enabling us to switch between different contexts or rules, and to selectively attend to the relevant aspects of a task. Conversely, the dorsomed... | Life Sciences | Chris Chambers | 2023-09-28 13:13:30 | View | ||
14 Apr 2023
STAGE 1
![]() Can playing Dungeons and Dragons be good for you? A registered exploratory pilot program using offline Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) to mitigate social anxiety and reduce problematic involvement in multiplayer online videogamesJoël Billieux, Jonathan Bloch, Lucien Rochat, Loïs Fournier, Iliyana Georgieva, Charlotte Eben, Marc Malmdorf Andersen, Daniel Luke King, Olivier Simon, Yasser Khazaal, Andreas Lieberoth https://osf.io/hzyvaExpanding the Intervention Potential of Tabletop Role-Playing GamesRecommended by Veli-Matti KarhulahtiThe human capacity and need for play has been recognized as a central psychotherapeutic component for a long time (e.g. Winnicott 1971). More recently, experts have started developing specialized digital gameplay to be used as therapeutic tools and even utilizing existing videogames for similar purposes (see Ceranoglu 2010). On the other hand, the concerns about some players becoming overinvolved in videogames also led the World Health Organization to include “gaming disorder” in the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases, which echoes the nuance required to address human-technology relationships in general.
In the present registered report, Billieux et al. (2023) make use of analog structured role-play in a new intervention aiming to mitigate social anxiety and problematic gaming patterns in online gamers. The authors carry out an exploratory pilot to test a 10-week protocol over three modules inspired by the well-known Dungeons & Dragons franchise. Through multiple single-case design, the authors explore the feasibility of the intervention and its effectiveness on social skills, self-esteem, loneliness, assertiveness, and gaming disorder symptoms. The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds by three experts with experimental specializations in psychopathology and gaming. Based on the comprehensive responses to the reviewers' feedback, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA). URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/h7qat Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals: References
1. Billieux J., Bloch J., Rochat L., Fournier L., Georgieva I., Eben C., Andersen M. M., King D. L., Simon O., Khazaal Y. & Lieberoth A. (2023). Can playing Dungeons and Dragons be good for you? A registered exploratory pilot program using offline Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) to mitigate social anxiety and reduce problematic involvement in multiplayer online videogames. In principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/h7qat 2. Ceranoglu, T. (2010). Video Games in Psychotherapy. Review of General Psychology, 14 (2). https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019439
3. Winnicott, D. (1971/2009). Playing and Reality. Routledge.
| Can playing Dungeons and Dragons be good for you? A registered exploratory pilot program using offline Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) to mitigate social anxiety and reduce problematic involvement in multiplayer online videogames | Joël Billieux, Jonathan Bloch, Lucien Rochat, Loïs Fournier, Iliyana Georgieva, Charlotte Eben, Marc Malmdorf Andersen, Daniel Luke King, Olivier Simon, Yasser Khazaal, Andreas Lieberoth | <p><strong>Background</strong>. Gamers with poor self-concept, high social anxiety, and high loneliness are more at risk of problematic involvement in videogames and particularly in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) than ot... | Social sciences | Veli-Matti Karhulahti | Matúš Adamkovič, Matti Vuorre, Charlotte Pennington | 2023-02-06 11:09:55 | View | |
Can playing Dungeons and Dragons be good for you? A registered exploratory pilot program using offline Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) to mitigate social anxiety and reduce problematic involvement in multiplayer online video gamesJoël Billieux, Loïs Fournier, Lucien Rochat, Iliyana Georgieva, Charlotte Eben, Marc Malmdorf Andersen, Daniel L. King, Olivier Simon, Yasser Khazaal, Andreas Lieberoth, Jonathan Bloch https://osf.io/htbwaExpanding the Intervention Potential of Tabletop Role-Playing GamesRecommended by Veli-Matti KarhulahtiThe human capacity and need for play has been recognized as a central psychotherapeutic component for a long time (e.g. Winnicott 1971). More recently, experts have started developing specialized digital gameplay to be used as therapeutic tools and even utilizing existing videogames for similar purposes (see Ceranoglu 2010). On the other hand, the concerns about some players becoming overinvolved in videogames also led the World Health Organization to include “gaming disorder” in the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases, which echoes the nuance required to address human-technology relationships in general.
In the present registered report, Billieux et al. (2024) make use of analog structured role-play in a new intervention aiming to mitigate social anxiety and problematic gaming patterns in online gamers. The authors carried out an exploratory pilot to test a 10-week protocol over three modules inspired by the well-known Dungeons & Dragons franchise. Through a multiple single-case design with a 3-month follow-up, the authors carried out the pilot with 20 participants (two dropped out), which enabled collecting valuable early data about the feasibility and potential of the intervention. Weekly psychometric assessments indicated that the intervention may support participants and it should continue to be studied in order to comprehensively evaluate its effectiveness. Feedback obtained from participants and other parts of the pilot project enabled identifying elements (e.g., difficulty adjustments), which can be given attention usefully in intervention development. Without question, the study by Billieux et al. (2024) is to be commended for highly transparent documentation of the project, which allows future researchers and intervention developers to learn from the pilot beyond initial results. Among other relevant materials, the supplements provide a detailed case study and item-level psychometric reporting, which can help the development of technical solutions and new hypotheses. Taken together, the study by Billieux et al. (2024) paves the way for open science invention piloting in the field. The Stage 2 manuscript was evaluated by three experts (areas: experimental methods, psychopathology, gaming) via in-depth peer review across two rounds. Based on the authors’ careful responses and revisions, the revised manuscript was judged to meet the Stage 2 criteria and was awarded a positive recommendation. URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/h7qat Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that was used to answer the research question was generated until after IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals: References
1. Billieux, J., Fournier, L., Rochat, L., Georgieva, I., Eben, C., Malmdorf Andersen, M., King, D., Simon, O., Khazaal, Y., Lieberoth, A. & Blocha., J. (2024) Can playing Dungeons and Dragons be good for you? A registered exploratory pilot program using offline Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) to mitigate social anxiety and reduce problematic involvement in multiplayer online videogames [Stage 2 RR]. Acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/z32d5 2. Ceranoglu, T. (2010). Video Games in Psychotherapy. Review of General Psychology, 14 (2). https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019439
3. Winnicott, D. (1971/2009). Playing and Reality. Routledge.
| Can playing Dungeons and Dragons be good for you? A registered exploratory pilot program using offline Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) to mitigate social anxiety and reduce problematic involvement in multiplayer online video games | Joël Billieux, Loïs Fournier, Lucien Rochat, Iliyana Georgieva, Charlotte Eben, Marc Malmdorf Andersen, Daniel L. King, Olivier Simon, Yasser Khazaal, Andreas Lieberoth, Jonathan Bloch | <p><strong>Background</strong>. Gamers with poor self-concept, high social anxiety, and high loneliness are more at risk of problematic involvement in video games, particularly in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). There is... | Social sciences | Veli-Matti Karhulahti | Charlotte Pennington, Matúš Adamkovič, Matti Vuorre | 2024-08-30 11:29:55 | View | |
15 Oct 2023
STAGE 1
![]() Can one-shot learning be elicited from unconscious information?Adelina-Mihaela Halchin, Christoph Teufel, Aline Bompas https://osf.io/xmy7u?view_only=b05c622bfae04562af871bb8ec9a9e52Can unconscious experience drive perceptual learning?Recommended by Vishnu SreekumarUnconscious priming effects have fascinated not just psychologists but also ad-makers and consumers alike. A related phenomenon in perception is illustrated by presenting participants with two-tone images, which are degraded versions of images of objects and scenes. These two-tone images look like and are indeed judged as meaningless dark and light patches. Upon presenting the actual template image, however, the two-tone image is accurately recognized. This perceptual learning is abrupt, robust, and long-lasting (Daoudi et al., 2017). Surprisingly, Chang et al. (2016) showed that such perceptual disambiguation of two-tone images can happen even in the absence of conscious awareness of having seen the template image.
Halchin et al. (2023) in the current study propose to conduct a conceptual replication of Chang et al. (2016) with important modifications to the procedures to address limitations with the earlier work. Specifically, there was no explicit manipulation of levels of conscious awareness of the template images in the original study. Therefore, miscategorization of low-confidence awareness as unaware could have led to an erroneous conclusion about unconscious priors guiding perceptual learning. Such miscategorization errors and how to tackle them are of interest to the broader field of consciousness studies. Furthermore, a conceptual replication of Chang et al. (2016) is also timely given that prior related work suggests that masking impairs not only conscious awareness of visual features but also blocks processing of higher-level information about the images (e.g. object category).
To address the issues identified above, Halchin et al. (2023) propose to experimentally manipulate conscious awareness by masking the template image very quickly (i.e., a short stimulus onset asynchrony; SOA) or by allowing some more time to induce weak and strong conscious awareness, respectively. The SOAs were validated through pilot studies. Furthermore, they include a four-point perceptual awareness scale instead of the original yes/no options to gauge participants’ subjective awareness of the template images. The authors also propose multiple experiments to include different ways of testing participants’ objective ability to identify the masked template images. Last but not least, the proposed design includes a stronger control condition than the original study by using masked images created from related images (e.g. belonging to the same semantic category). Depending on the results obtained in the main experiments, the inclusion of this control allows the authors to conduct a third experiment to investigate whether the results in the first two can be explained by semantic priming. The proposed study is sufficiently powered (as demonstrated through simulations), and Bayesian statistical procedures will be used to test the main hypotheses. In summary, the proposed work offers a significant improvement in terms of experimental procedures over the original study. If the Chang et al. (2016) results are replicated, the stronger design in the current study is likely to lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying unconscious priors guiding perceptual learning. On the other hand, a failure to replicate not just Chang et al. (2016)’s results but also effects across the three experiments in the current study would raise legitimate questions about the reality of unconscious information guiding perceptual learning.
The study plan was refined across two rounds of review, with input from two external reviewers who both agreed that the proposed study is well designed, timely, and scientifically valid. The recommender then reviewed the revised manuscript and judged that the study met the Stage 1 criteria for in-principle acceptance (IPA).
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/juckg
Level of bias control achieved: Level 3. At least some of the data/evidence that will be used to answer the research question already exists AND is accessible in principle to the authors BUT the authors certify that they have not yet accessed any part of that data/evidence. List of eligible PCI-RR-friendly journals: References
1. Daoudi, L. D., Doerig, A., Parkosadze, K., Kunchulia, M. & Herzog, M. H. (2017). The role of one-shot learning in #TheDress. Journal of Vision, 17, 15-15. https://doi.org/10.1167/17.3.15
2. Chang, R., Baria, A. T., Flounders, M. W., & He, B. J. (2016). Unconsciously elicited perceptual prior. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niw008
3. Halchin, A.-M., Teuful, C. & Bompas, A. (2023). Can one-shot learning be elicited from unconscious information? In principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/juckg
| Can one-shot learning be elicited from unconscious information? | Adelina-Mihaela Halchin, Christoph Teufel, Aline Bompas | <p>The human brain has the remarkable ability to make sense of highly impoverished images once relevant prior information is available. Fitting examples of this effect are two-tone images, which initially look like meaningless black-and-white patc... | Life Sciences | Vishnu Sreekumar | 2022-11-30 00:34:07 | View | ||
01 Jun 2024
STAGE 1
![]() Can Imagining Actions as Occurring Involuntarily Cause Intentional Behaviour to Feel Involuntary?Kevin Sheldrake, Zoltan Dienes https://osf.io/74gcnCan the sense of agency and reality be altered by our meta-cognitive models?Recommended by Anoushiravan ZahediAlterations in subjective experience, including alterations in the sense of agency (SoA) and reality (SoR), are commonly implicated in direct-verbal suggestions, such as hypnotic suggestions. Although extensively studied, how direct-verbal suggestions can alter the SoA and SoR is not understood (e.g., see Martin & Pacherie, 2019; Zahedi et al., 2024). One class of theories postulates that the alterations in SoA and SoR are related to meta-cognition. For instance, the intention to move or form a mental image can be kept out of conscious awareness, creating a sense of involuntariness (Dienes & Perner, 2007).
Relying on this theory, in the current study Sheldrake and Dienes (2024) postulate that the metacognitive processes related to these alterations can occur by appropriate use of imagination. In other words, by imagining the movement or object to be hallucinated and further imagining the underlying process was outside of awareness, one can elicit alterations in SoA and SoR. To this end, an intervention is devised whereby the participant is repeatedly asked to consider what might help or hinder them from imagining they are unaware of the relevant intention and thereby adjust their imagination. A control group will be asked to increase the feeling of involuntariness or altered reality simply by repeated practice. Afterward, participants will be asked in a test phase the extent to which the suggested experience felt involuntary. The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over three rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/f8hsd Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals: References 1. Dienes, Z. & Perner, J. (2007). Executive control without conscious awareness: The cold control theory of hypnosis. In G. A. Jamieson (Ed.), Hypnosis and conscious states: The cognitive neuroscience perspective (pp. 293-314). Oxford University Press.
2. Martin, J. R. & Pacherie, E. (2019). Alterations of agency in hypnosis: A new predictive coding model. Psychol Rev, 126(1), 133-152. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000134
3. Sheldrake, K. & Dienes, Z. (2043). Can Imagining Actions as Occurring Involuntarily Cause Intentional Behaviour to Feel Involuntary? In principle acceptance of Version 6 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/f8hsd
4. Zahedi, A., Lynn, S. J., & Sommer, W. (2024). Cognitive Simulation along with Neural Adaptation Explain Effects of Suggestions: A Novel Theoretical Framework. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1388347
| Can Imagining Actions as Occurring Involuntarily Cause Intentional Behaviour to Feel Involuntary? | Kevin Sheldrake, Zoltan Dienes | <p>The cold control theory of response to imaginative suggestions calling for distortions in veridical experience (including hypnotic suggestions) states that behavioural and cognitive responses are generated intentionally, but are perceived as in... | Social sciences | Anoushiravan Zahedi | Zoltan Kekecs | 2023-11-25 16:24:53 | View | |
Breaking Ban: Belgium’s ineffective gambling law regulation of video game loot boxesLeon Y. Xiao https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/hnd7wLoot boxes remain prevalent in Belgium despite their “ban”Recommended by Veli-Matti KarhulahtiSeveral countries currently struggle to legally interpret and deal with loot boxes, i.e. gambling-like mechanisms that have become common especially in contemporary videogame design. One of the few countries to take a clear regulation stance is Belgium, which officially announced that they interpret paid loot boxes as games of chance that violate their Gaming and Betting Act and can thus be criminally prosecuted (Naessens 2018). This announcement four years ago laid the basis for a unique social experiment where companies offering loot boxes in Belgium had to decide whether to modify their games, exit the market, or continue to monetize with loot boxes. In the present study, Xiao (2022) investigated the outcomes of this experiment both via hypotheses testing and exploratory analysis.
Using the 100 highest-grossing iPhone games in Belgium as data and applying comprehensive qualitative mechanical analysis to each title, Xiao (2022) tested three preregistered hypotheses regarding loot box prevalence. None of the hypotheses were confirmed: the prevalence rate of loot boxes in the Belgian App Store was not null but extremely high (82.0%), also among mobile games designed for minors (54.2–80.2%), and significantly more compared to global standards when assessed by a binomial test (p<.001). Corroborating a fourth hypothesis, Xiao was also able to access various UK loot boxes in Belgium. In exploratory research, Xiao received a confirmation from the Belgian Gaming Commission that even “simulated gambling games” (that do not yield monetary wins) also legally constitute gambling in Belgium.
The results are the first to describe outcomes of ban-driven loot box regulation globally. Despite Belgium’s clear statement that “paid loot boxes must be removed from the video games in order to comply with the Belgian Gaming and Betting Act” (Naessens 2018, p. 16), almost all highest-grossing iPhone games in the Belgian App Store keep offering them. The finding is important especially for the legal authorities around the world who are currently assessing their own positions in potential regulation: simple statements are unlikely to have immediate effects on international companies in local markets. On the other hand, it remains unknown how these companies have interpreted the statement and what are their distinct reasons for continuing to offer loot boxes in the Belgian App Store. It would be important in future research to investigate the companies’ perspectives.
This study (Xiao 2022) is important also from a meta-scientific perspective. It paves the way for Registered Reports in new disciplines and methods, and involves an exceptional field experiment that was carefully documented with open data and materials. Three external experts reviewed the Stage 2 manuscript twice, based on which the recommender awarded a positive recommendation.
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/5mxp6 Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that was used to answer the research question existed prior to Stage 1 in-principle acceptance. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Naessens, P. (2018) Research Report on Loot Boxes [English Translation]. Belgian Gaming Commission. URL: https://www.gamingcommission.be/sites/default/files/2021-08/onderzoeksrapport-loot-boxen-Engels-publicatie.pdf
2. Xiao, L.Y. (2022) Breaking Ban: Belgium’s ineffective gambling law regulation of video game loot boxes. Stage 2 Registered Report, acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/hnd7w
| Breaking Ban: Belgium’s ineffective gambling law regulation of video game loot boxes | Leon Y. Xiao | <p>Loot boxes in video games are gambling-like mechanics that players buy to obtain randomised rewards of varying value. Loot boxes are conceptually and psychologically similar to gambling, and loot box expenditure is positively correlated with se... | ![]() | Humanities, Social sciences | Veli-Matti Karhulahti | 2022-07-28 12:29:57 | View | |
07 Apr 2022
STAGE 1
![]() Breaking Ban: Assessing the effectiveness of Belgium’s gambling law regulation of video game loot boxesLeon Y. Xiao https://osf.io/8fvt2/Has the “ban” of loot boxes eliminated them from Belgian mobile games?Recommended by Veli-Matti KarhulahtiPaid loot boxes, i.e. randomised monetization methods that are similar to lottery-type gambling, have become prominent features of contemporary gaming (e.g., Macey & Bujić, 2022). Because the design structures of loot boxes vary and the value of their virtual rewards is not always clear-cut, many countries now struggle how to deal with them legally and in practice (see Drummond et al., 2020). Belgium is one of the few countries that have officially interpreted loot box monetization to widely belong under gambling regulation. Mobile games that monetize with paid loot boxes in Belgium should thus apply for a gambling license, and companies should generally not offer paid loot boxes to local underage players at all.
In this Stage 1 Registered Report, Xiao (2022) has constructed a careful plan for testing whether the “ban” in Belgium has made the local mobile game market distinct in terms of paid loot boxes. The work builds on a rapidly accumulating literature and evolving methods (e.g., Xiao et al., 2021). The author will carry out a systematic qualitative investigation of the country’s top 100 (iPhone) mobile games to investigate whether paid loot box design components have indeed been removed from the products -- and if not, whether related game companies operate with a required gambling license. Additionally, Xiao (2022) will assess Belgium’s overall paid loot box prevalence in comparison to other countries and carry out a field experiment to test whether players can easily circumvent the local regulation by transporting or downloading different versions of software. The study will produce valuable evidence regarding the effectiveness of loot box regulation in general, and more specifically, the results should be of utmost interest to Belgian legal authorities. To ensure the transparency and validity of the chosen methods as well as upcoming interpretations, the registered report format allowed the research design to be reviewed in three rounds before data collection. Three experts, representing the fields of law and gaming, reviewed the Stage 1 manuscript twice and agreed upon the acceptance of all details. Finally, the recommender carried out a third iteration with further requested revisions, which was followed by in-principle acceptance. URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/5mxp6 Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
| Breaking Ban: Assessing the effectiveness of Belgium’s gambling law regulation of video game loot boxes | Leon Y. Xiao | <p>Loot boxes in video games are gambling-like mechanics that players buy to obtain randomised rewards of varying value. Loot boxes are conceptually and psychologically similar to gambling, and loot box expenditure is positively correlated with se... | Humanities, Social sciences | Veli-Matti Karhulahti | 2022-02-07 22:54:50 | View |
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