Visual Imagery Technique Boosts Voting, Study Finds:
Registered voters who used a simple visual imagery technique the evening before the 2004 election were significantly more likely to vote the next day, a new study found. It was all a matter of the visual perspective people took when they imagined themselves voting.
It was all a matter of the visual perspective people took when they imagined themselves voting.
Researchers asked some Ohio college students to picture themselves voting the next day from a third-person perspective - as if they were observers viewing their own actions. Others were told to picture themselves voting in a first-person perspective, through their own eyes.
A full 90 percent of those who pictured themselves voting from a third-person visual perspective reported later that they did indeed vote, compared to only 72 percent who took the first-person viewpoint.
"When participants saw themselves as others would, they were more motivated to actually get out and vote," said Lisa Libby, co-author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University.
"They saw themselves as more likely to vote and that translated into action.
"The strength of the results were particularly noteworthy given that the experiment was conducted in Ohio during the 2004 election, when there were unprecedented efforts to mobilize voter turnout in a crucial swing state," she said.
Why The Best Things Come To Those Who Wait:
Pushing to the front of the queue is not the best ploy for males who want to propagate their genes according to scientists from the University of Exeter. Dr. David Hodgson and Dr David Hosken from the University of Exeter's School of Biosciences studied female mating with multiple males, especially species who mate with more than one partner in rapid succession, and discovered why the last male in line is most likely to impregnate the female.
Population Trends, Practices And Beliefs Could Have Adverse Effect On HIV Rates:
A review of research on the prevalence of HIV in the Middle East and North Africa has found that whilst cultural and religious practices may be behind a low prevalence of HIV in the region, they could potentially contribute to increasing the spread of HIV.
'Drunk' Fruit Flies Could Shed Light On Genetic Basis Of Human Alcohol Abuse:
Fruit flies get "drunk," just like humans, when exposed to large amounts of alcohol and may in future help to explain why some people are genetically predisposed to alcohol abuse. Humans and fruit flies respond to alcohol in a very similar way at the gene level, according to a study published today in the open access journal Genome Biology.
Researchers Find Food-free Route To Obesity:
Can people get fat -- and risk debilitating diabetes -- without overeating? The answer may be yes, according to Timothy Kieffer, a University of British Columbia researcher, who has found that imbalance in the action of a hormone called leptin produces obesity and major disturbance in blood sugar levels, even when food intake is at normal levels.
Protective Jelly Layers And Hatching Early Help Amphibian Embryos Avoid Dangerous Molds:
Boston University (BU) scientists have discovered that several species of amphibians use defense mechanisms to protect themselves against deadly water molds found in vernal pools of New England. Using both field observations and laboratory experiments, Ivan Gomez-Mestre, a research associate in Professor Karen Warkentin's laboratory in the Department of Biology at BU, describes the various methods used by the spotted salamander, wood frog, and American toad to help avoid and survive water mold infections. The results appear in the October issue of the journal Ecology.
Scientists Prove That Parts Of Cell Nuclei Are Not Arranged At Random:
The nucleus of a mammal cell is made up of component parts arranged in a pattern which can be predicted statistically, says new research. Scientists hope this discovery that parts of the inside of a cell nucleus are not arranged at random will give greater insight into how cells work and could eventually lead to a greater understanding of how they become dysfunctional in diseases like cancer.
In Early Embryos, Cilia Get The Message Across:
How a perfectly symmetrical embryo settles on what's right and what's left has fascinated developmental biologists for a long time. The turning point came when the rotational beating of cilia, hair-like structures found on most cells, was identified as essential to the process. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies take a step back and illuminate the molecular process that regulates formation of cilia in early fish embryos.
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