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 31, 2007
Category: Intentionality • Movement and exercise • Perception • Research • Social
Take a look at this movie (QuickTime Required): The moving object is exactly the same in each picture, but the background is different. If you're like most people, you'll see one object as an ice skater, and the other as...
Posted by Dave Munger at 11:44 AM • 6 Comments
Category: News
Here's an interesting question: If we shipwrecked a boatload of babies on the Galapagos Islands--assuming they had all the food, water, and shelter they needed to survive--would they produce language in any form when they grew up? It comes from...
Posted by Dave Munger at 7:34 AM • 33 Comments
July 30, 2007
Category: News
You might think the best way to make a robot seem more "human" is to reproduce human features as precisely as possible, like in this YouTube video: But most people are creeped out by robots this "real." We're actually more...
Posted by Dave Munger at 8:33 AM • 10 Comments
July 27, 2007
Category: News
CBS News has a pretty good video describing the prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse in the workplace. Perhaps most shocking is the statistic depicted in this info-graphic: Our friend Suzanne Greenlee is the benefits director for the food service...
Posted by Dave Munger at 1:57 PM • 3 Comments
Category: News
When I was in college, Ronald Reagan was president, and his wife Nancy Reagan gained a lot of media attention with her project to end drug abuse. Here campaign followed the mantra "just say no," suggesting that kids should be...
Posted by Dave Munger at 9:11 AM • 10 Comments
July 26, 2007
Category: News
Fox News has a very detailed review of the so-called $100 laptop, officially called the XO. The technology sounds quite impressive: Even though bright sunshine is beating down upon the laptop screen, you're having no trouble reading the display. But...
Posted by Dave Munger at 10:53 AM • 7 Comments
July 25, 2007
Category: Reasoning • Research • Social
Imagine you're taking a test--just for fun--to see how fast you can add numbers and alphabetize letters. Would it help you complete the test faster if you had a warning before each item indicating whether you'd be adding or alphabetizing?...
Posted by Dave Munger at 2:32 PM • 2 Comments
July 24, 2007
Category: News
Greta and I have been back from Europe for about 36 hours now, and we're slowly adapting to life back in the US. Sure, the olive oil's not as good, and wine costs a fortune, but amazingly we're finding that...
Posted by Dave Munger at 10:47 AM • 3 Comments
July 22, 2007
Category: General / Site news
I'm sitting in an Athens hotel with a cup of coffee pondering my last few hours in Europe. We've had a fabulous vacation, the longest I've ever taken in my life. At the same time, I'm looking forward to getting...
Posted by Dave Munger at 12:51 AM • 2 Comments
July 19, 2007
Category: Intentionality • Reasoning • Research
[originally posted January 26, 2006] Kids in America grow up in a society that overwhelmingly believes in life after death. At the same time, these same kids grow up learning more and more about the nature of living organisms, and...
Posted by Dave Munger at 9:53 AM • 48 Comments
July 17, 2007
Category: Opinion
Let's suppose you're the proprietor of a European tourist attraction. We're not talking about a Louvre or Uffizi here, or even a Leaning Tower of Pisa. No, you're in charge of a hidden gem: the scenic Church of the Saint...
Posted by Dave Munger at 9:55 AM • 9 Comments
July 16, 2007
Category: Development / Aging • Language • Perception • Research
This is a guest post by Laura Younger, one of Greta's top student writers for Spring 2007. Take a look at these static images from a video clip. Can you tell what the person is doing? It might be hard...
Posted by Aaron Couch at 9:53 AM • 4 Comments
July 14, 2007
Category: Perception
A continuation of our "greatest hits" from past Cognitive Daily postings: [originally posted on September 27, 2005] All this talk about stereotypes can get you thinking. Perhaps some stereotypes reflect actual differences. Take color vision, for example: men often refer...
Posted by Aaron Couch at 9:51 AM • 12 Comments
July 12, 2007
Category: Attention • Learning and testing • Research
This is a guest post by Daniel Griffin, one of Greta's top student writers from Spring of 2007. Does anything seem stick out about this sentence? I'm sure that if I told you to keep looking for yellow highlighted words,...
Posted by Aaron Couch at 9:53 AM • 5 Comments
July 11, 2007
Category: Perception
A continuation of our "greatest hits" from past Cognitive Daily postings: [originally posted on July 11, 2005] There's something about kids and dogs. The phrase "A boy and his dog" brings up quite a range of images: from the sweetness...
Posted by Aaron Couch at 9:54 AM • 16 Comments
July 10, 2007
Category: Fun and games
We've been away from the internet for a while now, but finally have a slow connection here in rainy Prague. While in Pisa, however, we were able to avail ourselves of a unique opportunity. The favorite trick of the amateur...
Posted by Dave Munger at 9:49 AM • 7 Comments
