Academic literature on the topic 'Two-Choice Discrimination'
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Journal articles on the topic "Two-Choice Discrimination"
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Smith, Philip L., and Douglas Vickers. "The accumulator model of two-choice discrimination." Journal of Mathematical Psychology 32, no. 2 (June 1988): 135–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0022-2496(88)90043-0.
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Suzuki, Shuji, and Tetsuro Matsuzawa. "Choice Between Two Discrimination Tasks in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes )." Japanese Psychological Research 39, no. 3 (September 1997): 226–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-5884.00056.
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Arzounian, Dorothée, Mathilde de Kerangal, and Alain de Cheveigné. "A sliding two-alternative forced-choice paradigm for pitch discrimination." Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 142, no. 1 (July 2017): 167–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4992030.
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Sanders, Joshua I., and Adam Kepecs. "Choice ball: a response interface for two-choice psychometric discrimination in head-fixed mice." Journal of Neurophysiology 108, no. 12 (December 15, 2012): 3416–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.00669.2012.
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The mouse is an important model system for investigating the neural circuits mediating behavior. Because of advances in imaging and optogenetic methods, head-fixed mouse preparations provide an unparalleled opportunity to observe and control neural circuits. To investigate how neural circuits produce behavior, these methods need to be paired with equally well-controlled and monitored behavioral paradigms. Here, we introduce the choice ball, a response device that enables two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) tasks in head-fixed mice based on the readout of lateral paw movements. We demonstrate the advantages of the choice ball by training mice in the random-click task, a two-choice auditory discrimination behavior. For each trial, mice listened to binaural streams of Poisson-distributed clicks and were required to roll the choice ball laterally toward the side with the greater click rate. In this assay, mice performed hundreds of trials per session with accuracy ranging from 95% for easy stimuli (large interaural click-rate contrast) to near chance level for low-contrast stimuli. We also show, using the record of individual paw strokes, that mice often reverse decisions they have already initiated and that decision reversals correlate with improved performance. The choice ball enables head-fixed 2AFC paradigms, facilitating the circuit-level analysis of sensory processing, decision making, and motor control in mice.
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Kikusui, Takefumi, Tonohiro Toshiyuki, and Tsugio Kaneko. "Neuropharmacological Studies on the Two-choice Place Discrimination Task in Rats." Japanese Journal of Pharmacology 76 (1998): 151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0021-5198(19)40714-2.
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Blough, Donald S. "Reaction times identify a Pavlovian component in a two-choice discrimination." Behavioural Processes 81, no. 2 (June 2009): 195–204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2009.01.007.
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Branstetter, Brian K., Rachel Brietenstein, Gavin Goya, Megan Tormey, Teri Wu, and James J. Finneran. "Spatial acuity of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) biosonar system with a bat and human comparison." Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 151, no. 6 (June 2022): 3847–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/10.0011676.
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Horizontal angular resolution was measured in two bottlenose dolphins using a two-alternative forced-choice, biosonar target discrimination paradigm. The task required a stationary dolphin positioned in a hoop to discriminate two physical targets at a range of 4 m. The angle separating the targets was manipulated to estimate an angular discrimination threshold of 1.5°. In a second experiment, a similar two-target biosonar discrimination task was conducted with one free-swimming dolphin, to test whether its emission beam was a critical factor in discriminating the targets. The spatial separation between two targets was manipulated to measure a discrimination threshold of 6.7 cm. There was a relationship between differences in acoustic signals received at each target and the dolphin's performance. The results of the angular resolution experiment were in good agreement with measures of the minimum audible angle of both dolphins and humans and remarkably similar to measures of angular difference discrimination in echolocating dolphins, bats, and humans. The results suggest that horizontal auditory spatial acuity may be a common feature of the mammalian auditory system rather than a specialized feature exclusive to echolocating auditory predators.
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Laming, Donald. "Contrast discrimination by the methods of adjustment and two-alternative forced choice." Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 75, no. 8 (September 13, 2013): 1774–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13414-013-0544-8.
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Williams, Shelly L., Nabil F. Haddad, and David A. Strobel. "Blocking Effects in Two-Choice Discrimination Tasks in Rhesus Monkeys Macaca Mulatta." Psychological Record 39, no. 4 (October 1989): 471–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf03395075.
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Franz, H., and E. Roitberg. "Ein Vergleich des Lernerfolges von Zwergziegen bei simultaner Zweifach- oder Vierfachwahlmöglichkeit in visuellen Differenzierungsaufgaben." Archives Animal Breeding 44, no. 6 (October 10, 2001): 661–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/aab-44-661-2001.
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Abstract. Title of the paper: A comparison of learning Performance of dwarf goats in Visual discrimination tasks with two or four simultaneously offered Stimuli A comparison of learning Performance of dwarf goats in visual discrimination tasks with two or four simultaneously offered Stimuli (two-choice and four-choice design) was carried out with the automatic learning device 'Field Monitor'. One S+ Stimulus and three identical S- Stimuli by the four-choice design, and one S+ Stimulus and one S− Stimulus (the same patterns as by four choice) by two-choice design were offered. In both experimental designs the positions of Stimuli (simple geometric figures) on the screen changed pseudo-randomly after each choice. Since the seventh test day the proportion of successfully learning kids by the four-choice design was substantially higher than that for the two-choice design. Our finding makes it questionable whether the internationally accepted two-choice design is really optimal. In our further experiments in which over 200 animals have been examined for several months the four-choice design has been involved providing a very successful learning.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Two-Choice Discrimination"
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Aineslahti, Emmi. "Training of spider monkeys in a food-rewarded two-choice olfactory discrimination paradigm and assessment of olfactory learning and memory performance." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Biologi, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-157124.
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There is little knowledge about olfactory learning in primates, even though primates are known to use olfaction in several behaviors including food selection and territorial defense. Therefore I assessed the olfactory learning and memory performance in five adult spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) using a food-rewarded two-choice olfactory discrimination paradigm. The spider monkeys acquired the initial odor discrimination in 530-1102 trials and in a series of intramodal transfer tasks they needed 30-510 trials to reach the learning criterion. There was a significant negative correlation between the number of trials needed to reach the learning criterion and the number of transfer tasks completed. Thus, as a group, the animals displayed olfactory learning set formation. The number of trials that the spider monkeys needed in initial olfactory learning was comparable to that of other primate species tested previously but higher compared to that of other mammals such as dogs and rats. The learning speed of the spider monkeys in intramodal transfer tasks was similar to that of other mammals tested, suggesting that primates are less prepared to use olfactory cues in the initial solving of a problem but that once they learn the concept, their learning speed with novel odor discrimination problems is not generally slower than that of non-primate mammals. All spider monkeys tested reached the learning criterion in the memory tasks straight on the first testing day, that is: within 30 trials, suggesting similar long-term odor memory capabilities in spider monkeys and other mammals such as dogs, mice and rats.
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O'Connell, Adam Brett. "Development of an acute excitotoxic model of Huntington's disease in sheep." Thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/127292.
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Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder. The earliest and most severe neuropathological change in HD occurs within the striatum. Exogenous excitotoxic lesioning of the rodent and non-human primate (NHP) striatum is used to model HD. Apart from NHPs, no other excitotoxic large animal model of HD has been established. Sheep have the potential to be an important species for modelling neurodegenerative disease, primarily because of neuroanatomical similarities between the sheep and human brain. This thesis describes the development of an excitotoxic sheep model of HD using the excitotoxin, quinolinic acid (QA). QA is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor agonist that produces pathological changes within the striatum that resemble those seen in HD. Sixteen castrated-male, 18 month old, Merino-Border Leicester cross sheep underwent two surgical procedures, four weeks apart, to infuse 75 μl of 180 mM QA (experimental group) or 75 μl of saline (control group) into the left (first surgery) and then the right (second surgery) caudate nucleus of the striatum. Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of the brains of the sheep was performed on a 3-Tesla scanner pre-surgically, one week after the first surgery, five weeks after the first surgery and sixteen weeks after the first surgery to investigate the neuropathological changes that occur in vivo after QA lesioning of the sheep striatum. The phenotypic consequences of lesioning the sheep striatum with QA were investigated using a veterinary neurological examination, dopamine agonist induced rotation and a two-choice discrimination task. The author / investigator was blind to the treatment group. MRI revealed QA-lesion hyperintensity and dilation of the lateral ventricles, consistent with atrophy of the caudate nucleus. MRS and DTI revealed a significant decrease in the neuronal marker N-acetylaspartate (NAA), and in fractional anisotropy (FA) in the acutely-lesioned (one week after surgery) striatae of the QA-lesioned sheep, followed by recovery in NAA and a significant increase in FA in the chronic (five to sixteen weeks) QA-lesioned striatae. NAA and FA changes are consistent with neuronal loss and structural disruption in the acute lesion, followed by recovery of reversibly impaired neurons, structural reorganisation and gliosis in the chronic lesion. Heterogeneous neuronal loss and damage and gliosis were visible on histological analysis of the QA-lesioned sheep striatae, supporting the in vivo MRS and DTI detected changes. Neurological examination of the sheep revealed evidence of laterality and mild hind limb motor paresis in seven out of eight of the QA-lesioned sheep, however the examination was not informative of lesion characteristics. A directional bias was evident in the QA-lesioned sheep during rotation studies. However, the direction and magnitude of bias in individual sheep at any one timepoint varied markedly, making identification of QA-lesioned individuals difficult. There was no difference between the QA-lesioned and saline-treated sheep in performance of the acquisition and reversal phases of the two-choice discrimination task. The behavioural studies described in this thesis were not suitable for comprehensive identification and characterisation of QA lesions in the striatum of sheep. This is the first description of the development of an acute excitotoxic sheep model of HD. The experiments demonstrate that longitudinal analysis of the neuropathological changes in the QA-lesioned sheep striatum is possible using advanced magnetic resonance modalities performed on a clinically relevant 3-Tesla scanner and that neuropathological changes are consistent with HD-like pathology in other species. Furthermore, phenotypic investigation of the QA-lesioned sheep is possible, however more refined methods than those described need to be utilised. The excitotoxic sheep model of HD is clinically relevant HD model with potential for use in disease mechanism and therapy investigations.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Adelaide Medical School, 2020
Books on the topic "Two-Choice Discrimination"
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Pissarskoi, Eugen. The Controllability Precautionary Principle: Justification of a Climate Policy Goal Under Uncertainty. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198813248.003.0011.
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How can we reasonably justify a climate policy goal if we accept that only possible consequences from climate change are known? Precautionary principles seem to offer promising guidelines for reasoning in such epistemic situations. This chapter presents two versions of the precautionary principle (PP) and defends one of them as morally justifiable. However, it argues that current versions of the PP do not allow discrimination between relevant climate change policies. Therefore, the chapter develops a further version of the PP, the Controllability Precautionary Principle (CPP), and defends its moral plausibility. The CPP incorporates the following idea: in a situation when the possible outcomes of the available actions cannot be ranked with regard to their value, the choice between available options for action should rest on the comparison of how well decision makers can control the processes of the implementation of the available strategies.
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de Bruin, Boudewijn. The Business of Liberty. Oxford University Press, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198839675.001.0001.
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Two key arguments for the value of freedom are that freedom contributes to desire satisfaction and to personal responsibility. But what if we do not know about our freedoms? Or if we do not acknowledge each other’s freedoms? This book shows that what is really of value are the ideals of known freedom and acknowledged freedom. The book demonstrates the importance of these two ideals in many contexts, including neuromarketing, skilled work, discrimination, education, environments with stereotype threats, informed consent, consumer protection, socially responsible investing, climate-related financial disclosure, law, professional oaths, freedom of speech, and privacy. To argue that known freedom is crucial to satisfy our desires and assume responsibility, the book combines work in psychology on choice with work in philosophy on the value of knowledge. It is shown that known freedom is compromised when salespeople deploy consumer obfuscation or when news shows use contextual framing techniques to steer the way their audiences will process the information. And it is shown how carefully developed consumer protection and information disclosure regulation can foster known freedom. Using insights from economics and ethics, the book argues that acknowledged freedom offers protection to our freedoms. It makes our freedoms more stable. Acknowledged freedom embodies an ideal of mutual recognition that underlies informed consent and the ethics of communication, and can also contribute to a flourishing corporate culture. Most books discuss either freedom or knowledge. This unique book shows that when we think about the value of freedom, we should think about the value of knowledge too.
Book chapters on the topic "Two-Choice Discrimination"
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"Two-Choice (or Two-Object) Discrimination Learning Paradigm." In Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior, 7107. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55065-7_302385.
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"Chapter Two. Childrens Rights and Medical Treatment: Issues of Capacity, Choice and Consent." In Age Discrimination and Children's Rights, 45–71. Brill | Nijhoff, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004148277.i-232.13.
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Černý, David. "Autonomous Vehicles, the Badness of Death, and Discrimination." In Autonomous Vehicle Ethics, 20—C2.N24. Oxford University PressNew York, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197639191.003.0002.
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Abstract The aim of this chapter is to address concerns regarding possible discriminatory behavior of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in collision situations. In the first part, the author analyzes paradigmatic cases of direct discrimination and arrives at a semiformal definition of it. The second part is devoted to a thorough investigation into the nature and badness of death and culminates with a defense and characterization of the deprivation account of the badness of death. In the final part, the author sets out to apply the analysis, conclusions, and conceptual distinctions from the previous two parts to the problem of whether distributing harms based on age necessarily involves some form of discrimination. The conclusion is negative: if an AV distinguished between two possible trajectories, each of which would lead to the death of a human person, on the basis of age, its choice and behavior would not be an instance of direct discrimination.
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D’Souza, Radha. "Life or Livelihood? COVID-19 in the UK and the Existential Question of Our Times." In The Deadly Intersections of COVID-19, 54–68. Policy Press, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/policypress/9781529224665.003.0004.
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COVID-19 presented the UK government with the impossible choice between prioritizing lives or livelihoods. This chapter probes the dilemma, arguing that it is undergirded by the structural disjuncture between economy and society in liberal democracies. The chapter draws attention to parallel developments in economic and social regulation in which labour markets are deregulated and at the same time equality and non-discrimination laws are strengthened and codified. The two parallel processes are paradoxical as the legal regime takes away with one hand what it gives with the other. Consequently, marginalized communities remain marginalized despite equality laws. Paradoxes reveal unresolved theoretical problems that require further study. UK’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery plans fail to address the relationship between labour market deregulation and its impact on marginalized communities.
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Lelli, Veronica, Antonio Belardo, and Anna Maria Timperio. "From Targeted Quantification to Untargeted Metabolomics." In Metabolomics - Methodology and Applications in Medical Sciences and Life Sciences. IntechOpen, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96852.
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Metabolomics is an emerging and rapidly evolving technology tool, which involves quantitative and qualitative metabolite assessments science. It offers tremendous promise for different applications in various fields such as medical, environmental, nutrition, and agricultural sciences. Metabolomic approach is based on global identification of a high number of metabolites present in a biological fluid. This allows to characterize the metabolic profile of a given condition and to identify which metabolites or metabolite patterns may be useful in the discrimination between different groups. The use of one mass spectrometry (MS) platform from targeted quantification to untargeted metabolomics will make more efficient workflows in many fields and should allow projects to be more easily undertaken and realized. Metabolomics can be divided into non-targeted and targeted. The first one can analyze metabolites derived from the organisms comprehensively and systematically, so it is an unbiased metabolomics analysis that can discover new biomarkers. Targeted metabolomics, on the other hand, is the study and analysis of specific metabolites. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages, and are often used in combination for discovery and accurate weight determination of differential metabolites, and allow in-depth research and analysis of subsequent metabolic molecular markers. Targeted and non-targeted metabolomics are involved in food identification, disease research, animal model verification, biomarker discovery, disease diagnosis, drug development, drug screening, drug evaluation, clinical plant metabolism and microbial metabolism research. The aim of this chapter is to highlight the versatility of metabolomic analysis due to both the enormous variety of samples and the no strict barriers between quantitative and qualitative analysis. For this purpose, two examples from our group will be considered. Using non-targeted metabolomics in opposite Antarctic cryptoendolytic communities exposed to the sun, we revealed specific adaptations. Instead, through the targeted metabolomics applied to the urine during childbirth, we identified a different distribution of specific metabolites and the metabolic differences allowed us to discriminate between the two phases of labor, highlighting the metabolites most involved in the discrimination. The choice of these two approaches is to highlight that metabolomic analysis can be applied to any sample, even physiologically and metabolomically very distant, as can be microorganisms living on Antarctic rocks and biological fluids such as urine.
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Ahmed, Ben Elfadhl Mohamed, and Ben Abdessalem Wahiba. "Text Classification." In Handbook of Research on Machine Learning Innovations and Trends, 740–61. IGI Global, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-2229-4.ch033.
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In this chapter, a supervised automatic text documents classification using the fuzzy decision trees technique is proposed. Whatever the algorithm used in the fuzzy decision trees, there must be a criterion for the choice of discriminating attribute at the nodes to partition. For fuzzy decision trees usually two heuristics were used to select the discriminating attribute at the node to partition. In the field of text documents classification there is a heuristic that has not yet been tested. This chapter tested this heuristic. The latter was presented in the works of Yuan and Shaw (1995) and was applied in a context different then the textual classification. This heuristic is analyzed and adapted to the author's approach for text documents classification.
Conference papers on the topic "Two-Choice Discrimination"
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Keller, F. Jeffrey, and Ting Wang. "Effects of Criterion Functions on Intermittency in Heated Transitional Boundary Layers With and Without Streamwise Acceleration." In ASME 1993 International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1993. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/93-gt-067.
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Attempting to understand the mechanisms of momentum and thermal transports in transitional boundary layers, has resulted in the use of conditional sampling to separate the flow into turbulent and non-turbulent portions. The choice of a proper criterion function to discriminate between the two flow conditions is critical. A detailed experimental investigation was performed to determine the effects of different criterion functions on the determination of intermittency for application in heated transitional boundary layers with and without streamwise acceleration. Nine separate criterion functions were investigated for the baseline case without pressure gradient and three cases with streamwise pressure gradient. Inherent differences were found to exist between each criterion function’s turbulence recognition capabilities. The results indicate that using a criterion function based on Reynolds shear stress, (∂uv∂τ)2, for turbulent/non-turbulent discrimination in a heated transitional boundary layer is superior to a single velocity or temperature scheme. Peak values in intermittency for the early to mid-transitional region were found to occur away from the wall at approximately y/δ = 0.3 for all cases. To match the universal intermittency distribution of Dhawan and Narasimha (1958), the minimum values of intermittency at y/δ ≈ 0.1 should be used as the representative “near-wall” values.
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Patel, Krishna, Michael Stevens, Suyash Adhikari, Greg Book, Muhammad Mubeen, and Godfrey Pearlson. "Acute cannabis-related alterations in an fMRI time estimation task." In 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Research Society on Marijuana. Research Society on Marijuana, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.26828/cannabis.2022.02.000.26.
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Introduction: Cannabis is widely popular recreational drug of choice in the US. The drug is known to alter the subjective experience of time. However, its effects on time estimation at a brain level are still largely unexplored. Our goal was to investigate acute effects of cannabis on an fMRI time estimation task by evaluating brain activation differences between cannabis and placebo conditions. We hypothesized that participants’ time estimation accuracy and corresponding BOLD response would be altered during the cannabis condition in a dose-related manner, compared to placebo. Methods: In this placebo-controlled, double-blind randomized trial, a total of N=44 participants had 3 dose visits, at each of which they received either high-dose cannabis (0.5 gm of ~12.5% THC flower), low dose cannabis (0.5 gm of ~5.7% flower) or 0.5 gm placebo, using paced inhalation from a volcano via vaporizer. Drug material was supplied by NIDA/RTI. For the current study we analyzed fMRI data from the first of placebo and high dose fMRI sessions throughout each dosing day in which participants performed a time estimation task. Participants were asked to respond with a mouse click as to which box of two boxes displayed for different intervals was displayed on the screen longer. Both sub-second and supra-second temporal intervals were tested, with a range of easy to hard discriminations. We used the Human Connectome Project processing pipeline to prepare fMRI data for GLM modeling of activation using the FSL FEAT toolbox. This model estimated the unique effect sub-second (short) and supra-second (long) interval discrimination, their average effect, and their difference. From these contrasts, the mean activation amplitudes within 387 brain parcels from the Human Connectome cortical atlas were extracted. Robust statistics in R software estimated a paired t test equivalent using the bootdpci function to assess the difference between placebo and the high dose drug conditions for each contrast. Results: Only premotor cortex survived False Discovery Rate corrections for searching all 387 parcels across the entire brain for the average of short and long temporal estimation conditions. Numerous other brain regions differed between placebo and high doses at p<.05 uncorrected for various task contrasts: Short duration stimuli: Premotor cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, medial temporal cortex, visual area, somatosensory cortex, anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex, paracentral and mid-cingular cortex, inferior frontal cortex. Long duration stimuli: Premotor cortex, visual areas, somatosensory motor cortex, paracentral and mid- cingulate cortex, the tempo-parieto-occipital junction, dorsolateral-prefrontal cortex, posterior opercular cortex, medial temporal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, orbito-frontal cortex. Average of short and long duration stimuli: Premotor cortex, somatosensory and motor cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, visual are, medial temporal cortex, paracentral and midcingulate cortex, anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal cortex, tempo-parieto-occipital junction, premotor cortex, somatosensory motor cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, medial temporal cortex, orbital and polar frontal cortex, hippocampus. Difference of short and long duration stimuli: Anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex, ventral stream visual cortex, dorsal stream visual cortex, early visual cortex. Conclusions: The current study elicited multiple brain activation differences for the initial, acute high-dose cannabis vs. placebo condition, but only premotor cortex region survived as significant following multiple comparison correction for short and long duration stimuli contrast. A post hoc power analysis showed that adding 10 additional subjects to this sample would achieve significance with multiple comparison correction for medium effect sizes at alpha=0.05. Future studies on a larger sample can help identify such significant activation differences, and examining all doses and tasks would elucidate unfolding of effects longitudinally post-dose, and dose-dependence of effects.
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Ferrari, Ambra, and Paolo Soraci. "Ludonarrative Dissonance in The Last of Us Part II: Attempting to Create Empathy with a Villain." In 8th International Conference on Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies. AHFE International, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1002709.
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In Story-based videogames, the Author has an intended story he wishes to communicate to the player and carefully constructs it to arouse specific sentiments, such as empathy towards characters, which support the development of the narrative as he had imagined it. However, the main obstacle of interactive narratives is reconciling intended storylines with the players’ always unique sense-making of the narrated events. In this paper, we investigate this matter by analyzing the post-apocalyptic videogame The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog, 2020). The plot unexpectedly sees Joel, the main character of the first installment and fatherly figure to co-protagonist young woman Ellie, killed by a woman named Abby under Ellie’s eyes. After the murder, players suddenly switch from controlling Ellie to playing as Abby for a long section of the game, with the authorial intent to show them her side of the story. After about 10 hours, the game reaches a climax in which the player is forced to attempt to kill Ellie while still controlling Abby.This videogame is particularly interesting in the attempt of creating empathy towards videogames characters, as the intended target of the sympathy (i.e., Abby) was initially introduced as a villain in the story. To study this matter in-depth, we have selected the three most viewed gameplay videos on YouTube commented by English-speaking players and the three most viewed commented by Italian speakers. Successively, performance and discourse analysis were performed on the gameplay sections immediately before and during the climax. We have independently analyzed the six videos and identified shared recurring themes.In the section before the climax, players are shown the bodies of Abby’s friends killed by Ellie: a dog, a man, and a pregnant woman. Remorse was often demonstrated by players at the sight of the dog’s body, yet some players justified the human killings. Interestingly, five out of six players manifested their dissent with the authorial choice of the climax, verbally and physically refusing to harm Ellie. Most players across the two languages engaged in verbal protests and self-sabotage, such as intentionally running out of ammunition, making noise to be discovered by Ellie, and ultimately and deliberately seeking death as Abby, leading to multiple intentional game overs. Besides, most players praised Ellie and her craftiness, skill, and speed. This indicates that these players’ empathy towards Abby, however present to some extent, was apparently not strong enough to justify killing Ellie.These results give relevant insights about storytelling in videogames and the creation of empathy, underlining the importance of discriminating between the creation of cognitive and emotional empathy. That is, even though players cognitively commiserated Abby because of the suffering she endured, they were apparently too emotionally attached to Ellie to let this feeling prevail. Finally, the climax section can act as a starting point for an interesting discourse related to breaking the contract between an author unintentionally disincentivizing the player to do well and a player who refuses to play according to the rules.