[Cross-posted from Cognitive Daily] Five years ago today, we made the first post that would eventually make its way onto a blog called Cognitive Daily. We thought we were keeping notes for a book, but in reality we were helping build a network that represented a new way of sharing psychology with the world. Cognitive [...]
Category Archives: Psychology
Literature review
Jim and Nora are both taking AP English courses next year (though I think they’re actually taking slightly different classes). What’s cool about this is that their reading lists have taking a sudden turn for the better — there’s some amazing stuff they’ll be reading.
In fact, I’m so inspired by the lists that I’ve decided [...]
This kind of thing really bugs me
I hate it when the popular press leaps on a “new scientific discovery,” and it turns out that the research hasn’t even been published yet. Such is the case with this research on brain patterns in political partisans (update: it’s also in the NYT — thanks for pointing that out, Coturnix). Drew Westen claims that [...]
Also posted in InstaMunger Comments closed
Pinker, research, and race
Steven Pinker has changed. In The Language Instinct he wrote brilliantly about the evolution of language and the means by which humans came to be the only thinking animals. He wrote about how the similarities that bind the different races of humans were vastly more common and interesting than a few paltry racial differences.
A few [...]
Also posted in General Comments closed
Is this the lamest study ever or what?
On Cognitive Daily, we have editorial standards. We won’t post on a study which we don’t think is worthwhile. Fortunately here I have no such restrictions.
Consider this article from Brain and Cognition: “Appearance of Symmetry, Beauty, and Health in Human Faces.” What the researchers did is to show participants pictures of faces and ask them [...]
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Now this is good
I have to say, I’m loving Steven Johnson’s new article in NY Times Magazine (thanks, Ben Vershbow). In fact, I can’t wait to get the book.
I was a little disappointed by his previous book, Mind Wide Open, but that might be just a tad unfair, because, psychologically speaking, I’m probably a bit more sophisticated than [...]
Also posted in General, Technology Comments closed
Happy birthday, Word Munger!
Hard to believe, isn’t it? Just one year ago, Word Munger was a tiny babe, almost too fragile to hold in your arms. That’s right, Word Munger sprouted into existence one year ago today. It’s a very merry Word Birthday today, and to celebrate, I’m going to use a tactic mastered by sitcoms the world [...]
Also posted in General, Marriage, Satire, Technology Comments closed
Introducing Cognitive Daily
I had mentioned a few days ago that I was working on a “secret” blog. Today I can let you know what secret is: a new site called Cognitive Daily. I’m really excited about this site because it combines two of my passions: writing about neat stuff, and my wife, Margaret Munger. Greta and I [...]
Also posted in General Comments closed
What are we doing when we watch a movie?
Most schools of literary criticism suggest that it’s fruitless to attempt to consider what the intentions of the author are; we can only examine the “text” itself: it is the only solid evidence we have. Similarly, critics toss up their hands when trying to comprehend the experience of the reader of a text. While the [...]
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Marshall McLuhan redeemed — sort of
A couple weeks back, I posted a rant about Marshall McLuhan. Basically I was arguing that while the medium may be the message, the medium isn’t the only message. There was a fair bit of commentary on my post, both here at Word Munger and around the blogosphere. As expected, I don’t think I changed [...]
Posted in Psychology Comments closed
Are artists vision experts?
Today’s reading is “Artists as Experts in Visual Cognition,” by Aaron Kozbelt of the University of Chicago (Visual Cognition, 2001).
We need to incorporate many skills in order to make visual sense of the world. We must be able to discern objects even when we have incomplete visual information, pick out shapes from complex environments, and [...]
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What does the shadow know?
How do we tell where an object is in a three-dimensional world when our eye only gives us two dimensions worth of information? Today’s reading (”Moving Cast Shadows Induce Apparent Motion in Depth” by Daniel Kersten, Pascal Mamassian, and David Knill of the University of Minnesota [Perception, 1997]) explores one aspect of that question: the [...]
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Where is the light coming from?
Today’s reading is “Prior Knowledge on the Illlumination Position” by Pascal Mamassian and Ross Goutcher of the University of Glasgow (Cognition, 2001 [PDF link]).
When we see an embossed seal such as a notary stamp, how do we know which parts are convex (bumps) and which are concave (dimples)? When we look at such a seal [...]
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More on sound and vision
Today’s reading is “When Sound Affects Vision: Effects of Auditory Grouping on Visual Motion Perception,” by Katsumi Watanabe and Shinsuke Shimojo of Caltech (Psychological Science, 2001).
In 1997, Sekuler, Sekuler, and Lau discovered a fascinating effect that I’ve attempted to replicate using the crude resources available to me (iMovie). I’ve made two movies (quicktime required) that [...]
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The bizarre world of color vision
How do we see things in color? How do we know objects stay the same color when the color of the light they reflect changes as the lighting changes? We see this effect most dramatically in the theater, where the stage lights cover every color of the rainbow, yet we still know the heroine is [...]
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Troxler — and YOU!
Today’s reading delves deep into the visual system, so hold your breath and get ready to dive in. It’s “Sound-aided Recover from and Persistence Against Visual Filling-in” by Bhavin Sheth and Shinsuke Shimojo of Caltech (Vision Research, 2004). I even found a PDF link for this one.
Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler (1780–1866) was a Swiss physician [...]
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How can we tell where someone is looking?
Today’s reading is “The Influence of Head Contour and Nose Angle on the Perception of Eye-Gaze Direction” by Stephen Langton, Helen Honeyman, and Emma Tessler, of University of Stirling (Perception and Psychophysics, 2004).
We’re exceptionally good at telling where someone is looking, and we’re even better at determining whether they’re looking at us. We can quickly [...]
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Psychblogging
I’m going to try a new concept here at Word Munger today: “psychblogging.” I’m working on a book proposal on cognitive psychology, and as I do the research for it, I’ll include my notes here. It’s a little different from standard blog fare, since typically there’s no online article to link to, but you can [...]
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