It's finally entered the public consciousness, but here is a good discussion of the academic background.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Playing with your kids
I'm all about fostering play as a medium for learning. When we play with our kids are we really fostering learning, or are we simply "playing"? Is there a difference?
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Bad Leadership
Here is a trio of articles that talk about the same thing: recent findings that self-doubt and the need to maintain authority and control make managers into bullies:
Incentives: they aren't what you think they are
Motivation experts have known about this stuff for some time - but yet it still has yet to permeate the collective consciousness of the public, or even the narrower field of business.
More here: 10 Myths about incentives.
Culture and the brain
This has been a long-time interest of mine. Some anthropologists and sociologists say that culture has no effect on our brains. I call BS. Shared cultural experience shapes different kinds of cognitive bias we may have. If you're talking about if there is a difference in the structure or general function of brains, then yes - culture makes little difference. But on a cognitive level it surely makes some differences.
Brain doping - negative effects
Brain doping, just like anabolic steroids, can have negative effects (which should not be a surprise to anyone).
But more drugs and even gene therapies are being discovered all the time. It's the long-term use where you pay the price.
Brain Gene doping
Speaking of which - yes, there may be a way to get some brain-doping effects from gene modification.
More on study habits
There is just all kinds of stuff that we teach people about how to effectively study that is straight-up wrong. Good thing it's still a topic of research:
Schizophrenia is contagious?
Six diseases you never knew you could catch - New Scientist
Apparently a type of parasite can cause schizophrenia-like symptoms.
Who knew?
The crux of the current Free Will debate
The big kerfuffle recently over whether or not we have free will centers on recent findings using various types of brain scans that show our brains making a decision (or indicating action) before we are cognitively aware of such decisions.
This article does a great job in explaining all of that:
Good news for the netizens
‘Net Surfing Is Good for the Brain...at Any Age | Psychology Today
I should clarify and say that it is good for the brain in specific domains.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Socially based intelligence?
The introductory paragraph of this article is what has my brain spinning right now. The author is entirely correct, every objective measure of an individual's intelligence is based entirely on that: the individual.
The ensuing research example only seems to highlight the idea. Does social interaction boost intelligence or creativity? I think he's on to something. Introspectively I completely agree with him, but I'd LOVE to see some experimental or observational data on the subject.
Milgram experiment on TV
If you're not familiar with Stanley Milgram's experiments on obedience to authority, go hit up YouTube and educate yourself.
For those that are familiar with the experiment - check this out:
Apparently the Milgram experiment has been used as the basis for a Reality show. Honestly, I think this is genius. I can't believe this hasn't been done sooner.
Nature vs. Nurture - what effect do genes have?
Turning off a particular gene in mice makes them smarter. Cool.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
How to antidepressants really work?
I wouldn't necessarily go so far as the title of the article suggests, but now we have a better understanding of the vector the drugs take to affect the neurons. If we really understood how they work we would be able to create drugs that were more effective than a meager 30% of the time.
The Zen of Yoda
Striving for success, not attempting with the expectation of failure is the key to success. "Do or do not. There is no try."
Guilt and Shame
Excellent article discussing the differences between two emotions that people seem to confuse all the time.
Learning in different modes
This is not an article about the now thoroughly debunked "visual-auditory-kinesthetic" learning theories. This more about how different techniques have greater or lesser effects on specific types of memory.
Self-regulation: a critical skill
For all you students out there, remember this: self-regulation is the key to success in ALL your endeavors, so learn it while your in school and the pressure is still reasonably low.
Free will studies are wrong?
Nice article that looks a little more critically on the Libet experiments on motion control that have proven so inflammatory on the whole free will debate:
How to be a hottie!
For all you lonely hearts out there, here are some things you can do right now!
More on positive psychology
Deric Bownds' MindBlog: A new positive psychology website
Another site to add to my list to research.
Work sucks your willpower away...
Well, not literally, but this study seems to indicate that there might be something to that:
EVERYTHING is controlled by your brain
The headline itself should make you want to read this article:
Zimbardo's test of future succes
Dr. Deb: The Marshmallow Test
The marshmallow test is one of the more famous experiments in psychology, not for the experiment itself, which is rather uninteresting, but in the follow-up studies that tracked behavior over the long term.
One of the most fascinating subjects you'll ever study.
Can you see magenta?
I would be doing a disservice to try and describe this article - but for sake of a headline, our visual receptors shouldn't be able to record the color magenta, and there might be some people out there with the genetic ability to see MORE colors than the average person.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Sounds of the office....
The Best Sounds for Getting Work Done
Most people have a really poor sense of how effective they are with "background" music.
Eyewitness testimony: not very effective
FuturePundit: Half Of Eyewitnesses Can Be Fooled By Doctored Video
Again, not really new, but the result is pretty intriguing.
Turning education on its ear...
Moving toward a new vision of education
I like what they have to say. I also like this article about a $99 a month college education as well.
Night owls last longer
Morning Types Crash Faster Than Night Owls, Study Says
As a night owl, I'm gratified by this finding.
Pretty Women Make Guys Dumber
This is certainly not news:
Still, it is interesting nevertheless.
I. Can't. Forget!
Scientists Prove Your Brain Still Contains Forgotten Memories
So this means that my memory of every embarrassing act I've ever performed is lurking about in there somewhere.
Fabulous.
Still more on free will
Bargh and Baumeister and the Free Will Debate – Part II � The Situationist
Another great addition to the debate.
More on the Placebo effect
Deric Bownds' MindBlog: The placebo effect is hard wired into the brain
The placebo effect just gets weirder and weirder.
Money won't buy happiness
Well, this is a fine thing to tell me: Money won't buy happiness
We've known this for years, but academic research is starting to catch up to what many have thought for a long time.
Monday, September 13, 2010
mmmm......Sugar.....
Sugar: in many ways it is more addictive than cocaine. True story. I prefer it in the form of Dr. Pepper and Dark Chocolate.
Nature vs. Nurture: the debate rages on
Great new research on the intersection between genes and environment on determining intelligence.
We can zap your brain!
Magnetic stimulation of your brain is ultra-cool. Seriously, there is very little brain research that compares with it for sheer freaky-coolness.
Check it out:
It just CAN'T be a coincidence!
Astrology, graphology, conspiracy theories in general....all have an attractive force cognitively because of this very simple, yet very powerful principle:
There are variations of this same principle such as Confirmation Bias and Hindsight Bias, but they all have the same root in our cognitive predisposition to look for patterns that fit our expectations.
Also, if you're not subscribed to "You Are Not So Smart" - you should be.
Are you offended?
If you are, don't worry! Your mind has its own way of defending you against offensive ideas so that you can continue on your merry way:
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Why do we sleep?
It is actually a very complex, and incompletely understood subject. Here is a fantastic primer on the subject.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Young minds
After reading the previous article by Benedict Carey I looked at the list of articles he's written for the NYT, wherein I found another little gem:
Mr. Carey does a good job in summarizing many of the leading theories and highlighting the history of where we were or are and where we are going. The only critique I have is that it is just that, summaries. As with most journalistic writing he is obliged to stick with short sound-bites of information and therefore leaves a great deal of detail out of the narrative.
Nothing he presents should be regarded as "truth" or even as a dominant position. Still, the information causes you to think...and that's a good thing.
Study habits: not what you think
With a hat-tip to my colleague Suzy Horton who passed this excellent article along:
I have to say that this caught me a little off-guard. I teach some of these "wrong" techniques to my students! However, there are some assumptions that have been made based on prior studies. Such as the environment in which you study. Prior studies have shown that recall in an environment that is similar to where the learning occurred helps boost recall. It is interesting that the article points out a subtle variation of that principle that, when considered, makes sense.
Excellent article that should be read by students, teachers, parents and administrators.
Friday, September 03, 2010
More on free will
"Free choice" may not be as free as it seems : Cognitive Daily
There are times when this particular argument starts to sound a lot like the "Chicken or Egg" quandary.
Reward, don't punish
Carrots are better than sticks - life - 03 September 2009 - New Scientist
Again, not really news. But, any new research that acknowledges or reinforces this idea can only be a good thing.
Your mind colors perception
This is far from newsworthy: Believing is seeing
We've known for years that expectations in particular can color perceptions. The article is still pretty good though.
Placebo effect is getting stronger?
Why Are Placebos Getting More Effective? - The Consumerist
This is something I highlight in my class. It strikes right at the heart of the mind/body dilemma: how big of a role does our mind play? The placebo effect says lots, but current trends in medical care as well as psychological care (psychopharmacology anyone?) are trending the opposite direction.
Multitasking - more bad news
If you think you're a good multitasker, not only are you wrong, but you probably lack other cognitive controls as well:
And yet, in our technologically oriented society it is the ne-plus-ultra to declare yourself as an effective Multitasker. Heck, it's practically a requirement! Just look at nearly any job posting out there and they all say something like "must be good at multitasking." Maybe the new standard should be "must be good at focused attention" - you'd certainly get better cognitive results.
Video Game Players both stereotypical and not
I'm very interested in seeing the methodology of the study referenced in this article:
The greater value is in the list of "related posts" that are linked at the bottom. That is a whole lot of information that I need to go and read. I'm excited just thinking about it.
Planning and reviewing in the brain
First of all, this is an excellent article that highlights how animal research can inform how our own brains operate:
However, there is one thing I want to know: how did they know the mice were daydreaming? or reviewing? I'm not doubting the results, I am genuinely interested to know the answer to questions like that.
Is Tetris good for the brain?
There is a very large budding industry around the idea of "training" your brain (and an excellent blog that is a proponent of the idea at SharpBrains.com) - but the idea needs a lot more research.
As with most things brain related, at first blush the idea of training your brain sounds perfectly reasonable, but there is quite a bit of research out there that says it is a non-starter at best. I'm still on the fence.
Child's play
As a BIG proponent of the use of Play in learning and education in general, I absolutely love to hear stories like this:
It's not specifically related to play, but the idea that "gaming" is not just a throw-away pass-time is an idea I've been promoting for a long time. It's good to see research that shows how we can learn from gaming (an incredibly complex and difficult activity).
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Brain Power
Check out this very fun infographic about the abilities of the human brain:
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Supercharge your study habits
Just in time for the start of the semester, here is something for all of you students out there:
Psychoactive drugs in medical use
There have been a few articles about this popping up recently.
It seems that there is a resurgence in the interest around using "recreational" drugs as a part of psychiatric medication. LSD, for example, was used in the 1950s and 60s as a drug to help aid in Freudian psychotherapy both here and in Europe.
Apparently current experiments are finding that there are indeed practical uses and in fact potential medical benefits for using psychoactive drugs in certain types of disorders.
Email’s Dark Side
This was just too good to pass up.
Who knew? Well, everyone knows if you sit down and really think about it.
Good news for all you doodlers out there
FuturePundit: Doodling While Listening Improves Memory Recall
Good news indeed! Although, the caveat is that the doodling was as "non-conscious" as possible, so distracted doodling is better than directive doodling of specific designs as drawn from an individual's imagination.
Bring a coloring book to class!
US Life Expectancy Up To 77.9 Years
In a growing trend the current life-expectancy for people in the United States has gone up:
The rate of increase is about 1.5 years increase every decade. That means that for todays college students they will potentially have a life expectancy of 86 years or so.
BUT, if you add on that the rate will probably increase at a faster rate as medical advances progress, you might be looking at an average life expectancy rate of over 90.
I even saw one author who projected the life expectancy rate for todays 20 year olds could be will into the century mark.
Multitasking: I don't think it means what you think it means
I've posted plenty about this before, but a good reminder now and then doesn't hurt.
What we actually engage in could be better described as "switch-tasking". Cognitively speaking our brains simply aren't wired for handling what most people define as "multitasking" - and only a very small minority of people are capable of efficient switch-tasking.
Changing education
Here is a wonderfully thoughtful article by the truly essential Zen Habits blog authored by Leo BaBauta:
I wish everyone gave the kind of careful consideration he gives to the needs and outcomes of education. What he is describing is a model of cognitive education that has been theorized about and put into limited practice in a number of places over the years since at least the 1960's (Jerome Bruner was one of the early advocates of this type of learning). There are even a limited number of universities that use this model.
I'd love to see it implemented to a larger degree but that is a fight against a culture that is resistant to change, and a system that is even entrenched and even more resistant to change.
Cognitive Enhancement via Pharmacology AND Neuropsychology
The debate rages on: would you willingly take drugs to enhance your cognitive ability if it meant getting a significant edge over the competition?
It is absolutely no different from the steroid debate. We're not 100% sure of the side-effects of most of the psychoactive drugs out there, and they differ dramatically between individuals as well. How big a price are you willing to pay later for that extra edge now?
Is religion good for your health?
The author is correct: there is not a clear "Yes" or "No" answer to this question:
As with most things it depends on the type of behavior you engage in. Fanatical religious behavior probably leads to unhealthy behavior in most cases, whereas a moderate approach to religion probably leads to more overall health.
The moderate behavior I'm speaking about is actually coming out more and more to be related to most health benefits as almost any activity, when taken to the extreme, leads to unhealthy behaviors or results. Moderation in all things seems to be a pretty healthy way to go.
No such thing as ethnic groups, genetically speaking
While not technically about psychology, this does speak to psychological behavior such as prejudice and racism. I always try to tell my students that between any given culture there are FAR more similarities than differences. We do, however, focus on the outward obvious differences which are generally superficial.
It would be nice to be able to move past the superficialities.
Guilt and atonement in child development.
Most people look at guilt as a bad thing. Recent research points out that the development of guilt happens alongside other mechanisms of self-control and may, in fact, aid in the development of overall self-control
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