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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October 31, 2005
Category: Development / Aging • Research
One of the most difficult things to demonstrate scientifically is cause and effect. Often a study will show that two items—say, smoking and lung cancer—are associated with one another. But it's another thing entirely to suggest that smoking causes lung...
Posted by Dave Munger at 6:10 PM • 5 Comments
October 28, 2005
Category: Research • Social • Video Games / Technology
More and more human conversations are taking place online. While I don't do instant messaging the way my kids like to, I'm much more likely to contact a friend via e-mail than to pick up the phone. Here at Cognitive...
Posted by Dave Munger at 1:10 PM • 5 Comments
October 26, 2005
I had a friend in college who was a baseball genius. He could offer up the career stats of every player in the hall of fame; he knew which teams had won the World Series in each year since its...
Posted by Dave Munger at 1:10 PM • 7 Comments
October 24, 2005
Category: Music • Perception • Research
Psychologists have known for decades that people perceive music as happier when it's played faster, and in a major key (mode). Take a listen to the following sound clips I created using a synthesized flute. Each plays the same melody...
Posted by Dave Munger at 5:10 PM • 7 Comments
October 21, 2005
Category: Perception • Research
I'm usually disappointed when I try to take a picture of a steep precipice—it never seems as impressive in the photo as it did when I was standing right there. Take this photo, for example. It's a nice shot of...
Posted by Dave Munger at 2:10 PM • 3 Comments
October 20, 2005
Category: Perception • Research
If you're a perception teacher, a great way to show how the vision system adapts is to use prism glasses to shift a volunteer's vision. While various types of glasses are available (the most common is designed to allow a...
Posted by Dave Munger at 3:10 PM • 2 Comments
October 18, 2005
When asked to indicate their "deepest, closest, most intimate relationship," thirty-six percent of college students name a friend (as opposed to a family member or boyfriend/girlfriend) Friendships are clearly important, but there have been many fewer studies of friends than...
Posted by Dave Munger at 12:10 PM • 7 Comments
October 13, 2005
Category: Movement and exercise • Research • Social
Dozens of studies have confirmed both psychological and physical benefits of exercise. The results seem clear enough: a regular program of cardiovascular exercise has been shown not only to promote physical well being, but also to abate depression, decrease anxiety,...
Posted by Dave Munger at 3:10 PM • 1 Comments
October 12, 2005
When 64-year-old teacher Robert Davis was beaten by the New Orleans police for public drunkenness despite the fact that he hadn't had a drink for 25 years, you might expect him to feel angry about it. You wouldn't be surprised...
Posted by Dave Munger at 12:10 PM • 2 Comments
October 10, 2005
Category: Development / Aging • Perception • Research
This weekend, robot cars competed in a challenge that most humans would find trivial: drive 132 miles in 12 hours without crashing. Yet crash, they do. The difficult part isn't so much the steering and acceleration, it's determining the difference...
Posted by Dave Munger at 6:10 AM • 6 Comments
October 6, 2005
Modern biological explanations for disease have not been around for long. Before the nineteenth century, explanations of disease transmittal would never have involved "viruses" or even "germs." Yet today, even the youngest children know that germs can make you sick—at...
Posted by Dave Munger at 1:10 PM • 4 Comments
October 5, 2005
Category: Memory • Perception • Research
The Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee, is a full-scale reconstruction of the rather more famous monument atop the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. We visited it with our daughter Nora a few years back: As you can see, it's a dramatic building,...
Posted by Dave Munger at 12:10 PM • 0 Comments
October 3, 2005
It often doesn't take much to make an eyewitness to a crime change her or his story. While Mafia hardball tactics for intimidating witnesses make the headlines, just seeing or hearing a different version of the "facts" can be enough....
Posted by Dave Munger at 2:10 PM • 6 Comments
