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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September 28, 2007
Category: Casual Fridays
The U.S. Department of Immigration unveiled its new U.S. citizenship test today. Whenever these tests come out, news organizations inevitably send reporters out to find out if actual U.S. citizens know the answers we expect immigrants to know. The results,...
Posted by Dave Munger at 3:59 PM • 26 Comments
Category: News
You've seen this illusion before, right? The "grid" defining the light gray squares on the left side of this figure seems to get lighter where the lines intersect. The graph on the right shows that the actual reflectance (or brightness...
Posted by Dave Munger at 8:57 AM • 8 Comments
September 27, 2007
Category: Learning and testing • Reasoning • Research • Social
Yesterday, we discussed sex differences at the highest levels of achievement and found that there are some significant differences between males and females. But despite these observations, it's still unclear why the disparity exists, and what can or should be...
Posted by Dave Munger at 5:39 PM • 21 Comments
Category: News
A New York Times article makes the claim that men are now happier than women: Since the 1960s, men have gradually cut back on activities they find unpleasant. They now work less and relax more. Over the same span, women...
Posted by Dave Munger at 7:54 AM • 6 Comments
September 26, 2007
Category: Learning and testing • Reasoning • Research • Social
In yesterday's post, we discussed sex differences in achievement and ability. Few were identified. For the most part, however, this research discussed average differences. The problem with only discussing averages is that people engaged in science and math careers are...
Posted by Dave Munger at 5:26 PM • 11 Comments
September 25, 2007
Category: Research
When Lawrence Summers suggested that the reason there aren't more women in the top academic positions in math and science is that they don't have the aptitude for it, a firestorm was created that may have cost him his job...
Posted by Dave Munger at 2:45 PM • 20 Comments
Category: News
The robots in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds may have been terrifying, but they also had a feature notably lacking in a lot of today's robots: the inherent stability of a tripod. But film realizations of the tripod robots...
Posted by Dave Munger at 8:28 AM • 5 Comments
September 24, 2007
Category: News
Pain is an extremely difficult subject to study, because individuals experience pain differently -- some people have a much greater tolerance for pain than others, and some people just seem to complain more. Doctors typically handle the problem with assessing...
Posted by Dave Munger at 9:03 AM • 12 Comments
September 22, 2007
Category: Fun and games
There's a short interview with me at the Scranton Times-Tribune -- it's their Saturday "Five Questions" feature so it's supposed to be funny rather than serious....
Posted by Dave Munger at 6:14 PM • 2 Comments
Category: General / Site news
Just a quick reminder: The voting on the BPR3 icon contest closes on Monday, September 24. If you haven't voted yet, head on over to BPR3 or this CogDaily post and make sure your voice is heard....
Posted by Dave Munger at 11:51 AM • 1 Comments
September 21, 2007
Category: Casual Fridays
You might have thought we'd have a new study for you to participate in this week. You're half right. If you've read CogDaily, Terra Sigillata, Uncertain Principles, or Chaotic Utopia in the past two weeks, you've actually been participating in...
Posted by Dave Munger at 3:15 PM • 16 Comments
Category: News
I play a pick-up game of soccer for two hours once a week. This game is notorious for causing injuries: one time I twisted my foot and was out of commission for a year. The game has resulted in multiple...
Posted by Dave Munger at 9:01 AM • 4 Comments
September 20, 2007
Category: Development / Aging • Reasoning • Research
Here's a task that four-year-olds can do but three-year-olds have some trouble with. Imagine Sally in the picture below is playing with a ball. She puts the ball in the box and goes to the kitchen to get a drink....
Posted by Dave Munger at 4:56 PM • 24 Comments
Category: Fun and games
Here's a creative way to present a report on sleep disorders: Not bad!...
Posted by Dave Munger at 4:53 PM • 4 Comments
Category: News
Synesthesia is a fascinating phenomenon: It almost seems impossible that some people can see colors associated with sounds, emotions, or letters and numbers. Yet many do -- as many as one percent of people experience some synesthesia. V.S. Ramachandran and...
Posted by Dave Munger at 8:42 AM • 19 Comments
September 19, 2007
Category: News
The headline on Science Daily reads "One-third Of Spam Is 'Health'-related," but the real news comes from the highly readable PLoS Medicine source article, "Will Spam Overwhelm Our Defenses? Evaluating Offerings for Drugs and Natural Health Products." Peter Gernburd and...
Posted by Dave Munger at 9:00 AM • 3 Comments
