Have you ever found yourself at the grocery store, facing six choices of rice where you wish there were one? Okay, well, obviously I am talking about myself. I can stand in front of four choices of rice or yogurt or ice cream, or whatever the need of the moment is, for minutes, stuck in indecision. Brand A is definitely […]
Once upon a time there was dead and there was alive. The twain did not meet nor intersect outside of religious miracles. The era of dead-or-alive lasted for millennia until the 20th century when technological advances inserted an in-between state that consisted of alive only because of medical assistance. The first crack in the dead-or-alive edifice started with ventilators, machines that […]
I’ll be talking about the movie Concussion on WTTW, channel 11 here in Chicagoland. I look forward to talking with Phil Ponce on my second stint on Chicago Tonight (on my first visit, I talked about our work with rats and helping behavior). To anticipate talking about concussions (more so than about the movie), I thought I’d get into the spirit and give […]
For those of you who enjoy watching soccer (known as football everywhere outside of the U.S.), there was an unfortunate episode in the semifinal between the U.S. and German teams. As reported in the New York Times, two players inadvertently crashed heads. Both ended up on the ground, holding their heads, for minutes. New York Times reporter Jeré Longman reports that according […]
Saying that FIFA is acting as a proverbial ostrich by putting its head in the sand is a kind way to put it, for FIFA. Not so kind a comparison for ostriches. By the way, I worked with ostriches at the Hai Bar Nature Preserve outside of Eilat, Israel for 3 months and never saw any of them put their […]
I know that I sound like a broken record when it comes to concussions but apparently the message is not being received. So I feel compelled to broadcast again and again and again and again the importance of careful management of head trauma. I did not follow the World Cup but received information about the Pereira incident from a colleague. The […]
On Thursday afternoon at World Cup play, a Uruguayan player was hit in the head, inadvertently, by the knee of another player. The player, Alvaro Pereira, lay motionless and apparently unconscious on the pitch whilst the team doctor signaled for a substitution. Pereira came to consciousness and vociferously objected to being taken out of the game. Two minutes layer, Pereira […]
I was watching the NBA basketball game between the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers when Paul George fell down and suffered at least one blow to his head. I initially saw two blows – one when Dwayne Wade’s knee hit the back of Mr George’s head and one when Mr George’s head hit the floor. Upon looking at the […]
I read with dismay the latest news that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been identified in a young man who played mostly amateur soccer. Patrick Grange played soccer throughout his childhood and in college and even in semi-pro leagues. He developed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in his mid-20s and died at age 29. His brain was studied and the pathology reported is a grade 2 case (out of a 4-point scale) of CTE. Here I want to make two points. First, this news further deepens parents’ and young people’s dilemmas regarding sports. The most commonly played organized sport among youth in the world, even in the latecomer U.S., is soccer (or football in the parlance of the world outside of the U.S.). Much was made of Patrick Grange’s penchant for head-butting the ball. However, it is not clear at all that Mr Grange’s CTE was a result of his head-butting proclivities. His parents report that he suffered from at least 3 serious concussions. Regardless of which injuries were in the straw-pile that broke the camel’s back, I think that most parents recognize that soccer can be a dangerous sport. Weighing the positive physical and social benefits of team sports against the potential for future disability is a personal judgment call. The influence of future harm upon the final decision is greatly impacted by discounting as discussed in a previous post. The second point to be made here is the connection between […]
Discounting is a powerful effect and a constant in our lives. Let’s say that I tell you that I’ll give you $20 if you jump up and down 10 times. I am guessing that you’ll be jumping forthwith. Now consider your response if I tell you that I’ll give you $20 next year if you jump up and down 10 […]
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