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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 editor of ResearchBlogging.org and a columnist on SEEDMAGAZINE.COM. And yes, he is married to Greta.
Category: Research
How does our visual system decide if something is a face? Some automated face-detecting software uses color as one cue that something is a face. For example Apple's iPhoto has no trouble determining that there are two faces in this...
Posted by Dave Munger at 3:43 PM • 4 Comments •
Category: Research
One of my favorite cartoons as a child was "Speed Racer." It featured an all-American boy (first name, "Speed," last name, "Racer") engaging in that most American of pastimes: driving fast cars. Except that "Speed Racer" wasn't really American; it...
Posted by Dave Munger at 2:34 PM • 39 Comments •
Category: Research
Take a look at this face: Does it look more angry or fearful? It may be rather difficult to tell: About fifty percent of adults say faces like this are angry and fifty percent say it's fearful. However, for children,...
Posted by Dave Munger at 3:53 PM • 3 Comments •
Category: Research
We've discussed attentional blink several times on CogDaily. It's a fascinating phenomenon: if you see a series of images flashing by rapidly, you can normally pick out one of the images (for example, a banana in series of pictures of...
Posted by Dave Munger at 10:50 AM • 1 Comments •
Category: Research
Take a look at these photos of Jim and Nora: They've clearly been distorted (using the "spherize" filter in Photoshop), but in opposite directions. Jim's been "expanded" to make more spherical, while Nora has been "contracted" to look more concave....
Posted by Dave Munger at 4:36 PM • 15 Comments •
Category: Research
The hollow-face illusion is one of the most dramatic and robust illusions I've ever come across. It's been known for well over 200 years, but it never ceases to amaze me, as this video demonstrates: A three-dimensional hollow face mask...
Posted by Dave Munger at 3:15 PM • 13 Comments •
Category: Research
Joe and Michelle are having dinner at a romantic restaurant. It's their first anniversary, and everything is perfect -- until an attractive woman walks past the table. Michelle notices that Joe casts a quick glance at the woman. Michelle flashes...
Posted by Dave Munger at 2:20 PM • 35 Comments •
Category: Research
Last year's movie Changeling tells the story, from the late 1920s, of a mother whose son is kidnapped. Then, six months later, the police say they've found the boy and return him to his mother, who immediately claims that the...
Posted by Dave Munger at 2:46 PM • 8 Comments •
Category: Research
New research identifies individuals with an exceptional ability to identify faces.
Posted by Dave Munger at 3:21 PM • 82 Comments •
Category: Research
The notion that "smiling will make you feel better" has actually been confirmed by research. There are several studies demonstrating that people are happier when they smile, at least in certain circumstances.
Posted by Dave Munger at 11:15 AM • 15 Comments •
