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2008-08-29 21:00:09
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Psychology
I've always been a fan of literary studies -- I was an English major in college and I continue to blog about literature on my personal blog. But when I first learned about the concept of alliteration (I must have been in middle school), I was unimpressed. Obviously making a poem rhyme requires some serious skill, since not just one sound but a series of sounds must be repeated at the same point in the poem's meter. Alliteration, by contrast, only requires the repetition of a single consonant sound at the beginning of a few words. Clearly, creating clever combinations of consonant sounds was...more
2008-08-29 19:15:18
by eHarmony Labs in eHarmony Labs Hot Science Blog
Psychology
Did you know that the politics and the economy can influence who you are attracted to? A recent study explains why the sociopolitical environment may be affecting your love life. ...more
- Spencer S. J. (2008) Loving Those Who Justify Inequality: The Effects of System Threat on Attraction to Women Who Embody Benevolent Sexist Ideals. Psychological Science, 19(1), 20-21. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02040.x
- He Y. (2007) Climate Change and War Frequency in Eastern China over the Last Millennium. Human Ecology, 35(4), 403-414. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-007-9115-8
2008-08-29 12:06:46
by Translating Autism in Translating Autism
Psychology
A review of: Losh, M., Sullivan, P.F., Trembath, D., Piven, J. (2008). Current Developments in the Genetics of Autism: From Phenome to Genome. Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology, 67(9), 829-837. DOI: 10.1097/NEN.0b013e318184482d
Dr. Molly Losh and a team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill just published a comprehensive review of the scientific literature on the genetics of autism. Here I present the cliffsnotes version of the article, although I highly recommend that everyone with access to this manuscript should read it, for it is a very well craf...more
- Piven J. (2008) Current Developments in the Genetics of Autism: From Phenome to Genome. Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology, 67(9), 829-837. DOI: 10.1097/NEN.0b013e318184482d
2008-08-29 06:03:16
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Psychology
Armchair commentators take note: when it comes to predicting whether players are going to make a shot, it really does make all the difference if you currently play the sport yourself.
Salvatore Aglioti and colleagues filmed a player attempting to throw a ball into a basketball hoop, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. They then showed portions of the film to elite basketball players, non-playing experts (coaches and journalists) and novices. Rather than being shown in full, the video was paused at various stages of the player's attempt, either before or after he had released the ...more
- Urgesi C. (2008) Action anticipation and motor resonance in elite basketball players. Nature Neuroscience, 11(9), 1109-1116. DOI: 10.1038/nn.2182
- Billon P. L. (2001) The political ecology of war: natural resources and armed conflicts. Political Geography, 20(5), 561-584. DOI: 10.1016/S0962-6298(01)00015-4
2008-08-27 23:07:37
by Marc Dingman in Neuroscientifically Challenged
Psychology
As the popularity of antidepressant medication has burgeoned over the past few decades, serotonin has become one of the more publicly recognized neurotransmitters. Along with that popularity has come a trend of attributing a wide variety of behaviors (especially depression) to “serotonin imbalances”. While this is a gross simplification in most cases, it does seem to be clear that there is a correlation between serotonin transmission and behavior.
A group of researchers at Case Western Reserve University has recently shown that the disruption of serotonergic function in mi...more
- Deneris E. S. (2008) Serotonergic transcriptional programming determines maternal behavior and offspring survival. Nature Neuroscience, 11(9), 1001-1003. DOI: 10.1038/nn.2176
2008-08-27 19:00:04
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Psychology
"Impossible objects" like the etchings of M.C. Escher have fascinated adults for centuries. You can't help but stare and wonder at a drawing like this, which seems to defy the laws of nature:
The drawing seems strange to us because our visual system tells us that when an object or part of an object occludes another, it's in front. Since the parts of the cube are all connected, it's clear that the vertical bar in the "back" of the cube shouldn't be in front of any other bars.
Some research has suggested that young babies don't have the same ability a...more
2008-08-27 14:25:33
by Mark Brandt in Social Psychology Daily
Psychology
If you have an iPhone or some other fancy handheld electronic gadget you may be checking this blog while standing in a line. Perhaps you are waiting in line for lunch, a movie, or to see your academic advisor. How would you respond if someone cut right in front of you? Seven people in front of you? In back of you? How would you expect others to react? Who would be responsible for telling the intruder to go to the end of the line? Is there any legitimate reasons to cut?
In a classic and fun study Schmitt, Dube, and Leclerc argued that the reactions to people who cut in line is due to...more
- Leclerc F. (1992) Intrusions into waiting lines: Does the queue constitute a social system?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(5), 806-815.
2008-08-27 05:03:15
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Psychology
The idea that social breakdown in a neighbourhood can increase the risk that some residents will develop schizophrenia may not come as too much of a surprise, but the notion that too much social cohesion might also be a risk factor, probably will.
James Kirkbride and colleagues sent questionnaires to over 16,000 people in South London to obtain their views on the social cohesion of their neighbourhoods. For example, participants answered questions about how much graffiti was in their area, how many thefts there were and whether someone was likely to help their neighbours. Just over ...more
- Jones P. (2008) Testing the association between the incidence of schizophrenia and social capital in an urban area. Psychological Medicine, 38(08), DOI: 10.1017/S0033291707002085
- Billon P. L. (2001) The political ecology of war: natural resources and armed conflicts. Political Geography, 20(5), 561-584. DOI: 10.1016/S0962-6298(01)00015-4
2008-08-25 12:00:15
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Psychology
Take a look at this short video -- it's a list of animals. Try to remember as many animals as you can.
If you're like me, you're pretty confident that you will remember the entire list, even after ten minutes or so. In my case, that's not so much because the list names animals that most of us are familiar with. After all, there are plenty of other animals not on my list. How would I remember the precise animals that were included from the thousands of possibilities?
Well, I would remember them -- or think I would -- because they are all names of football teams that ...more
2008-08-23 10:08:19
by Doctor Spurt in Effortless Incitement
Psychology
There's a body of data, some of it contested, relating eye colour, or eye colour at some ages, with personality traits. Among other things its been reported that there are associations between dark eyes and traits like extroversion (Gentry et al, 1965), and that among kindergarten children below certain ages blue-eyed children were disproportionately likely to be extremely withdrawn (Rubin and Both 1989). Apparently researchers in the area came to agree that eye colour had very little to do with adult personality (e.g. Rubin and Both, 1989).*
There are some speculations regarding me...more
- STATTIN H. (2007) Associations between iris characteristics and personality in adulthood. Biological Psychology, 75(2), 165-175. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.01.007