Our awareness of our own bodies is determined by integrating information from our senses. The complexity of this interaction leads to the feeling of “owning” our unique bodies, but a new study published in PLoS ONE has shown that we can be tricked into feeling ownership of other bodies, as well. Participants in the study…

When does a large crowd become a dangerous mob? Where should architects put emergency exits to best anticipate how people will react under sudden fear? It’s hard for scientists to answer these questions, mostly because the environmental situations that incite crowd behaviors can’t be simulated in real life. As Arizona State University geographer Paul Torrens…

Starting today, ScienceBlogs is introducing a new-and-improved feature that allows you, dear reader, to tap into the brain-power and expertise of the ScienceBlogs collective mind—all to answer your most burning questions about matters scientific. Every couple of weeks, a ScienceBlogs blogger will craft a succinct, specific answer to a question from his or her area…

Feeling irritated? Getting blown off course by the emails pinging into your inbox, or the six open tabs in your web browser? Take a deep breath…but also, if you can, take a nap. A Dutch researcher named Harm Veling has conducted research into distraction and concluded that the state of being tired compromises the ability…

Have you ever blown it on a standardized test? Had your mind go blank during a job interview? Faced a situation of enormous urgency and…totally underwhelmed yourself? If you’ve ever been puzzled by your inability to do under pressure tasks that you usually find a snap, you can now soothe yourself with the thought that…

Nobody likes being told they’re dumb. But being praised up and down for one’s intelligence carries its own price, according to research by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck and her research team. In the current issue of New York Magazine, writer Po Bronson summarizes Dweck’s work, which indicates that children who are frequently told that they…

His January 24 lecture in Toronto is sold out, but Steven Pinker fans can get a sneak preview of the cognitive scientist’s forthcoming book, The Stuff of Thought, and his current work on metaphor, indirect speech, and the the neuroscience of swearing, in this Toronto Star profile. From the article: “As it turns out, people…

Piers Steel, a professor at the University of Calgary’s school of business, knows why you procrastinate. And he’s got the formula to prove it. Steel has just published his mathematical model for procrastination, and it looks a little something like this: Utility = E x V / Γ D Where utility is the desirability of…