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.

Calamities of Nature - Blog Archive: Magenta is Only in Your Mind and Other Colorful Facts

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.

Brain doping

Deric Bownds' MindBlog: More on Brain Boosters

Great infographics at the link.

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:

FuturePundit: Pretty Women Make Guys Dumber

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.

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.

Sugar's Power Over Humans Traced : Discovery News

Nature vs. Nurture: the debate rages on

Great new research on the intersection between genes and environment on determining intelligence.

How Hereditary Can Intelligence Be?: Studies Show Nurture at Least as Important as Nature - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

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:

Paired-pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation For Smarties : Developing Intelligence

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:

The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy: You Are Not So Smart

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:

How the Mind Counteracts Offensive Ideas — PsyBlog

Why do we sleep?

It is actually a very complex, and incompletely understood subject. Here is a fantastic primer on the subject.

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:

Brain Power - Studying Young Minds, and How to Teach Them - Series - NYTimes.com

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:

Mind - Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - NYTimes.com

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.

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:

Deric Bownds' MindBlog: Multitasking - bad for the brain?

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 Surprising Situation of Video Game Players � The Situationist

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:

The Mouse Trap: Common mechanisms for learning (past), navigation(present) and dreams (future?)

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.

Is Tetris good for the brain?

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:

Child's play may revolutionize video gaming, police work

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).

Brain Power

Check out this very fun infographic about the abilities of the human brain:

Superhuman: the Incredible Savant Brain