A new cognitive psychology article nearly every day
Cognitive Daily reports nearly every day on fascinating peer-reviewed developments in cognition from the most respected scientists in the field.
Greta Munger is Professor of Psychology at Davidson College whose works include The History of Psychology: Fundamental Questions. Dave Munger is co-founder and president of ResearchBlogging.org and a writer whose works include Researching Online. And yes, he is married to Greta.
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July 28, 2005
Category: Perception • Research
Imagine sitting in a coffee shop, having a nice conversation with your friend Dave. If Dave looks at something, your eyes will reflexively move to look at the same item. This is actually quite convenient, because it may help you...
Posted by Dave Munger at 9:07 AM • 3 Comments
July 25, 2005
Category: Movement and exercise • Research • Social
With my high school reunion coming up, memories just seem to well up out of nowhere. One of the most powerful was that of my cross-country coach's booming voice yelling "stride, Munger, stride!" across the track. I wasn't the best...
Posted by Dave Munger at 8:07 AM • 0 Comments
July 22, 2005
Category: Face perception • Memory • Research • Social
I've created a quick animation of distorted pictures of my son Jim, together with some normal ones. Take a minute or so to watch the animation, then decide if the last picture you're shown looks "normal" to you. Click on...
Posted by Dave Munger at 8:07 AM • 13 Comments
July 20, 2005
Category: Development / Aging • Perception • Research
We've posted on boundary extension before, here, here, and here, but we've never written about boundary extension and kids. Boundary extension is when we remember more of a picture than was actually shown to us, as if our mind is...
Posted by Dave Munger at 5:07 AM • 0 Comments
July 18, 2005
Category: Perception • Research • Taste
Baby rats, only 5 days old and still very much reliant on their mothers for food, can be artificially dehydrated by injecting them with a saline hypertonic solution. If a source of water is placed very close to the rat's...
Posted by Dave Munger at 9:07 AM • 0 Comments
July 15, 2005
We've reported on flashbulb memory before, with the Talarico and Rubin study and the MacKay and Ahmetzanov study. First observed in 1977 by Brown and Kulik, flashbulb memories—memories about shocking events—were supposed to be more vivid and long-lasting than normal...
Posted by Dave Munger at 5:07 AM • 1 Comments
July 13, 2005
Category: Perception • Research
Take a look at this picture I took last year when we went to Venice. Look at it fairly closely, because there will be a "test" at the end of this post. We have posted on boundary extension before: it's...
Posted by Dave Munger at 8:07 AM • 7 Comments
July 11, 2005
Category: Perception • Research
There's something about kids and dogs. The phrase "A boy and his dog" brings up quite a range of images: from the sweetness of Norman Rockwell to what sounds like a truly bizarre movie from 1975. Despite not being a...
Posted by Dave Munger at 9:07 AM • 16 Comments
July 8, 2005
Category: Perception • Research
Are attractiveness and distinctiveness related? Are we more likely to remember a pretty face than an ordinary one? This data suggests not: When people are asked to rate faces for attractiveness and deviation from an average face, there's a clear...
Posted by Dave Munger at 11:07 AM • 0 Comments
July 6, 2005
Today's article is one of my all-time favorites. It was originally written by Katherine Kiechel, an undergraduate at Williams College as part of her honors thesis, and could serve as a model for others in its simplicity and ingenuity (the...
Posted by Dave Munger at 1:07 PM • 2 Comments
July 1, 2005
Category: Perception • Research
Take a look at the following two movies. Your job is to determine whether the yellow square is moving faster in the first movie or the second movie. If you're like me, you're probably cynical enough to guess that they...
Posted by Dave Munger at 2:07 PM • 1 Comments
