Psychology
neurophilosophy | May 21, 2008
The WBUR/NPR programme On Point has a very interesting interview with Jill Price (right), a 42-year-old woman from Los Angeles who has a "non-stop, uncontrollable and automatic" episodic memory.
Known in the scientific literature as A.J., Price is the first documented case of hyperthymestic syndrome, a condition in which autobiographical memories cannot be forgotten. Consequently, Price recalls every miniscule detail of her life since the age of 14, "like a movie" which is played over and over again on a daily basis.
Since Price's case was first reported in 2006, a handful of people have…
clock | May 21, 2008 (First posted on February 5, 2007) Last week I asked if you would be interested in my take on this paper, since it is in Serbian (and one commenter said Yes, so here it is - I am easy to persuade):
Stankovic Miodrag, Zdravkovic Jezdimir A., and Trajanovic Ljiljana,
Comparative analysis of sexual dreams of male and female students (PDF). Psihijatrija danas 2000, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 227-242
Here is the English-language Abstract:
The subject of research is analysis of connection between sexuality as instinctive function and dreams with sexual content as cognitive function. The sample consisted…
neurophilosophy | May 20, 2008
Four representations of Phineas Gage, from Macmillan, M. (2006). Restoring Phineas Gage: A 150th Retrospective. J. Hist. Neurosci. 9: 46-66. [Abstract]
Here's some more neurohistory from the Beeb: following on from last week's episode of In Our Time, which featured a discussion about the history of the brain, is the BBC Radio 4 series Case Study, which looks at - yes, you've guessed it - individual case studies that have made significant contributions to neuroscience and psychology.
In the third episode of the series, which airs tomorrow at 11am GMT is now online, presenter Claudia…
omnibrain | May 20, 2008This gallery is sweet! The Online gallery of modern and vintage psychiatric drug advertising has a large selection of some pretty scary old drug advertisements and packaging.
Like these:
I wonder what the people of the future are going to say about our current psychiatric system?
HT: Dave
edyong | May 19, 2008Feeling powerless is no fun. A lack of control can make the difference between contented and unhappy employees. But new research shows that a lack of power doesn't just make people feel disgruntled. It has a more fundamental effect on their mental skills.
In a series of experiments, Pamela Smith from Radboud University Nijmegen has shown that the powerless actually take a measurable hit to important mental abilities. Even if people are subconsciously primed with the concept of being powerless, they perform more poorly at tasks designed to assess their ability to plan, focus on goals and…
omnibrain | May 19, 2008Really?! Come on...
Molecular and statistical genetic studies in 15 Finnish families have shown that there is a substantial genetic component in musical aptitude. Musical aptitude was determined using three tests: a test for auditory structuring ability (Karma Music test), and the Seashore pitch and time discrimination subtests. The study represents the first systematic molecular genetic study that aims in the identification of candidate genes associated with musical aptitude.
The identified regions contain genes affecting cell extension and migration during neural development. Interestingly…
neurophilosophy | May 15, 2008Four years ago this week, leading neuroscientists and psychologists convened at Columbia University for the Brain and Mind Symposium, "to discuss the accomplishments and limitations of reductionist and holistic approaches to examining the nervous system and mental functions".
Speakers included the Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel, developmental neurobiologist Thomas Jessell, who heads Columbia's new neuroscience research centre, and pioneering child psychiatrist Michael Rutter, whose reassessment of John Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation proved highly influential.
On the…
omnibrain | May 13, 2008 Announcing the 34th annual meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology
June 26-29, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Registration is now open; deadline Thursday, June 5 -- 12:00pm EST
Note that early registration is suggested, as the reserved hotel block is likely to fill quickly.
The 2008 conference will feature presentations by:
George Ainslie, Michael L. Anderson, Louise Antony
Peter Carruthers, Louis Charland, Anjan Chatterjee
David Danks, Felipe De Brigard, Michael Devitt
Marthah Farah, Evelina Fedorenko, Owen Flanagan,
Jerry Fodor, Kenneth R. Foster, Lila R.…
neurophilosophy | May 12, 2008Michael L. Anderson emailed to inform me about this forthcoming event:
Announcing the 34th annual meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology June 26-29, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Registration is now open; deadline Thursday, June 5 -- 12:00pm EST
Note that early registration is suggested, as the reserved hotel block is likely to fill quickly.
The 2008 conference will feature presentations by:
George Ainslie, Michael L. Anderson, Louise Antony, Peter Carruthers, Louis Charland, Anjan Chatterjee, David Danks, Felipe De Brigard, Michael Devitt…
omnibrain | May 12, 2008Right now I'm about to, or already am, standing at a podium to give a talk at the Vision Sciences Society annual meeting (better known as VSS) in Naples Florida.
Wish me luck!
Here's the exciting abstract:
Popping in and out of existence: The effect of gradual and abrupt occlusion on object localization.
J. Stephen Higgins1,2, Daniel Simons1,2, Ranxiao Wang1,2
1Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
2Beckman Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The human visual system typically tracks the position of objects as they move. However, when disruption…
edyong | May 10, 2008
Imagine that you're walking along a quiet street and you see a wallet lying on the pavement. Would you take it? Now imagine a slightly different situation - the wallet has a red circle drawn around it. While many people would be tempted in the first scenario, almost no one would touch the wallet in the second. The key difference is that the lone wallet was most likely dropped accidentally by a passer-by buy the encircled wallet was clearly placed and marked by someone, who may well still be watching. And there is nothing that keeps people more honest than the presence of a watchman.…
edyong | April 24, 2008You all know the score. A train leaves one city travelling at 35 miles per hour and another races toward it at 25 miles an hour from a city 60 miles away. How long do they take to meet in the middle? Leaving aside the actual answer of 4 hours (factoring in signalling problems, leaves on the line and a pile-up outside Clapham Junction), these sorts of real-world scenarios are often used as teaching tools to make dreary maths "come alive" in the classroom.
Except they don't really work. A new study shows that far from easily grasping mathematical concepts, students who are fed a diet of real-…
purepedantry | April 22, 2008The NYTimes has a great interview with Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert:
What we've been seeing in my lab, over and over again, is that people have an inability to predict what will make us happy -- or unhappy. If you can't tell which futures are better than others, it's hard to find happiness. The truth is, bad things don't affect us as profoundly as we expect them to. That's true of good things, too. We adapt very quickly to either.
So the good news is that going blind is not going to make you as unhappy as you think it will. The bad news is that winning the lottery will not make you as…
edyong | April 14, 2008
Financial trading is really risky business for individuals and economies alike. Millions of pounds and dollars rest on the fast decisions of stressed people, working under extreme pressure. With such high stakes, it's worth remembering that traders, regardless of their intellect or experience, are as fallible as the rest of us and their brains and bodies are influenced by the same ensemble of hormones.
Testosterone is one of these, and it's of particular importance to traders for it can influence a person's confidence and attitudes to risk during competitive encounters. While it seems…
omnibrain | April 14, 2008Sexing chicks is a very difficult task for naive people. Expert chick sexers are over 98% successful while the naive sexers can only do it with slightly above chance performance. Are you sufficiently confused/pissed yet?
Ok ok... here's what's really going on:
When chickens are born the chicks are examined by experts to determine what sex they are. This important task is performed in order to save money in feed costs and avoid conflict between the male and female chicks (the men are selfish and don't let the females eat or drink). What they do with the male chickens I'm not entirely sure.…
omnibrain | April 7, 2008 This is clearly false advertising. I don't see any pinging going on. This seems more like Pigeons playing pong.
BF Skinner trains two pigeons to perform a chain of behaviors for the classroom demonstration. As a result, pigeons engage in a competition, the so-called "pigeon Ping Pong". Narrated by B.F. Skinner.
-source-
omnibrain | April 7, 2008 I'm going to be teaching Psych 100 next year and 200 or so lucky kids are going to luck out with me as an instructor. I'm just going to read them previously written blog posts all semester. Maybe I'll read out of a really crappy intro psych text book to them as well. Ok.. just kidding. I really want to make this upcoming year as entertaining as possible for them. There are so many great psychology experiments and stories about classic personalities to share. I think I need a little help with it from you guys though. If you have any suggestions about stories, experiments, or videos you…
omnibrain | April 7, 2008 It looks like one the (if not the) most famous psych hospital in the world is going to be turned into a luxury hotel. The Bellevue Psych Hospital will go under construction some time in 2009. I know The Shining happened in a hotel but it seems like this is along those lines and is prime real estate for a horror film. I'm imagining a combo zombie/ghost film where hoards of crazy dead or undead mental patients goes after the construction crews or something.
Here's the sparse details on the project:
It's true! Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital, previously home to famous names like Normal Mailer,…
clock | April 1, 2008There have recently been several articles in the media about brain enhancers, so-called Nootropics, or "smart drugs". They have been abused by college students for many years now, but they are now seeping into other places where long periods of intense mental focus are required, including the scientific research labs. Here is a recent article in New York Times:
So far no one is demanding that asterisks be attached to Nobels, Pulitzers or Lasker awards. Government agents have not been raiding anthropology departments, riffling book bags, testing professors' urine. And if there are illicit…
omnibrain | March 31, 2008Welcome to the most recent installation of the neuroscience blog carnival, Encephelon, here at Of Two Minds! Steve and I thought we would mix things up a little bit and let a guest blogger summarize the best brain blogging (submitted to us (this week)). That guest is none other that famed socialite Paris Hilton, who wished to take this opportunity to attempt to change her image from fashionista to neuronista. Please welcome Paris!
Hi neurokids, Paris here. While I'm sure that you have already formed an opinion of me due to the massive media coverage of my escapades and foibles, hopefully…