ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections

Editor's Selections: Computer as Therapist, Nicotine and Body-Mass, and Another DSM-5 Proposal - Gambling Addiction

jgoldman — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Editor's Selections: Computer as Therapist, Nicotine and Body-Mass, and Another DSM-5 Proposal - Gambling Addiction

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week.

To start us off this week, Neuroskeptic discusses a new study that attempted to use a computer to translate therapists' notes into psychiatric diagnoses. Could it be that certain language used by therapists or their clients could predict the severity or duration of a mental illness? The study has problems, but it's an interesting idea to consider, more generally. Machine-Readable Psychiatry.
It is well known, according to Daniel Ocampo Daza of the Ego Sum Daniel blog, that "smokers tend to have a lower body-mass than non-smokers, and that smokers who quit have a tendency to gain weight." Until recently, the mechanism behind the relationship of body-mass and nicotine addiction was unknown, but some new studies shed some light. Nicotine, Appetite, and the Brain.
Here's the next in our continuing coverage of new proposals for DSM-5. Dirk Hanson at Addiction Inbox discusses the proposal for the inclusion of a "problem gambling" diagnosis.

That's it for this week... Check back next week for more great psychology and neuroscience blogging!

jgoldman Tue, 06/28/2011 - 05:05

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ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections

Editor's Selections: Social Hierarchies, ADHD and Athletics, and Pain in Fish

jgoldman — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Editor's Selections: Social Hierarchies, ADHD and Athletics, and Pain in Fish

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week.

Social hierarchies are pretty complicated to navigate...so why have them at all? Read about The Status Paradox at Psych Your Mind.
ADHD well known, but how might an ADHD diagnosis interact with being an athlete? What should practitioners of sports medicine know about it? Bill Yates discusses this at his Brain Posts blog: ADHD and the Athlete.
Do fish feel pain? It's not a trivial question, especially if you are aware of what is on the dinner table. At the Fish Addict blog, grad student David discusses a new report on pain and nociception in fish.

That's it for this week... Check back next week for more great psychology and neuroscience blogging!

jgoldman Tue, 06/21/2011 - 05:05

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ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections

Editor's Selections: Methodology, Autistic Pigs, Invasive Brains, and OCD

jgoldman — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Editor's Selections: Methodology, Autistic Pigs, Invasive Brains, and OCD

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week.

"Most neuroscientists would subscribe to the sensorimotor hypothesis, according to which brains mainly evaluate sensory input to compute motor output," writes Bjorn Brembs. But is it possible that the sensorimotor hypothesis is just the result of some laboratory artifacts?
"What happens to a pig if it has a gene for autism?" This is the question that Neuroskeptic addressed earlier this week. Do Pigs Get Autism?
What is it that makes an invasive species so successful at invading a new ecosystem? At NeuroDojo, Zen Faulkes asks if the brain could be involved. "Normally, we think of invaders as being able to turn out lots of babies, or having defenses that natives don't, or all sorts of other factors. But could invaders be winning because they are smarter?"
How are OCD behaviors formed? Historically, it was thought that there was no physiological basis for this mental illness, but this week at B Good Science, Ben Good discussed some new research that sheds some light on the biological etiology for OCD.

That's it for this week... Check back next week for more great psychology and neuroscience blogging!

jgoldman Tue, 06/14/2011 - 05:05

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ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections

Editor's Selections: Moral Disgust, Experimental Controls, Smoking Addiction, and another DSM-5 Proposal

jgoldman — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Editor's Selections: Moral Disgust, Experimental Controls, Smoking Addiction, and another DSM-5 Proposal

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week.

Snacking on fertilized duck eggs features prominently in the first editor's selection for this week. Food-related disgust and moral disgust: are they related? Find out at this Genealogy of Religion post, Foreign Ideas & Moral Indigestion
Jon Brocks outlines a proposed change for the upcoming DSM-5, which would recategorize kids who were previously given a "Pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified" as having "social communication disorder." Well worth the read, at Cracking the Enigma.
"Many studies in clinical psychology and psychiatry are making the mistake of using healthy controls who are too healthy," writes Christian Jarrett at BPS Research Digest. Find out just what he means: beware the super-well.
"No one has voted to make cigarette smoking illegal. But the public space in which this legal activity can be pursued is disappearing." Another fantastic post by Dirk Hanson of Addiction Inbox: For Smokers, Nowhere to Run and Nowhere to Hide.

That's it for this week... Check back next week for more great psychology and neuroscience blogging!

jgoldman Tue, 06/07/2011 - 05:05

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ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections

ants are good animals

Editor's Selections: Video Games, Reality TV, and Fantasizing

jgoldman — Tue, 31 May 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Editor's Selections: Video Games, Reality TV, and Fantasizing

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week.

You're running down a corridor in a castle that's under attack by terrorists. Or are their neuroscientists, trying to figure out just how it is that people get involved in the narrative "flow" of a video game? Neuroskeptic explains how your brain gets in on the game.
Reality TV might be good for more than just entertainment. Is it possible that reality TV could actually engender romance among the participants, even on shows (like American Idol) that aren't about romance itself (like The Bachelor)? At the new PsySociety blog, Melanie calls on social psychology to explain this phenomenon. Is Reality TV a soulmate machine?
Another new psychology blog has a post about TV as well, this week. Over at Psych Your Mind, Amie asks if the extent to which we daydream about our favorite TV, book, or movie characters can be captured by a psychological measure, and if so, what that means. Are you a fantasizer?

That's it for this week... Check back next week for more great psychology and neuroscience blogging!

jgoldman Tue, 05/31/2011 - 05:05

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ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections

Editor's Selections: Physics Education and Autism

jgoldman — Tue, 17 May 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Editor's Selections: Physics Education and Autism

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week.

The first selection this week comes from Chad Orzel at Uncertain Principles. "But wait," you say. "A psychology post in a physics blog?" Yes! Active Engagement Works: "Improved Learning in a Large-Enrollment Physics Class"
Autism diagnosis in cultural context. Dorothy Bishop reviews a recent book on autism, and in doing so, reviews quite a bit about autism itself. A great read!

That's it for this week... Check back next week for more great psychology and neuroscience blogging!

jgoldman Tue, 05/17/2011 - 05:05

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ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections

Editor's Selections: Superheroes, Time Perception, and Choices

jgoldman — Tue, 10 May 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Editor's Selections: Superheroes, Time Perception, and Choices

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week.

Are you an inattentive superhero? Bradley Voytek thinks so, and explains why in this fantastic post at Oscillatory Thoughts.
Does visual perception for the actions of others alter perception of the passage of time? Mo Costandi at Neurophilosophy describes a recent paper addressing this very question.
Can having lots of choices in life make us more selfish and less empathic towards others? At Not Exactly Rocket Science, Ed Yong writes about a series of experiments that suggest the answer is yes. Also, there's bacon.

That's it for this week... Check back next week for more great psychology and neuroscience blogging!

jgoldman Tue, 05/10/2011 - 05:05

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ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections

Editor's Selections: Spinal Cords and Jellyfish Eyes

jgoldman — Tue, 03 May 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Editor's Selections: Spinal Cords and Jellyfish Eyes

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week.

What can the spinal cord teach us about learning and memory? A lot, it seems. Bjorn Brembs has the scoop.
How do box jellyfish hunt their prey? With each of their TWENTY-FOUR eyes! Mo Costandi explains at Neurophilosophy.

That's it for this week... Check back next week for more great psychology and neuroscience blogging!

jgoldman Tue, 05/03/2011 - 05:05

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ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections

Editor's Selections: Phobias, Dancing, and Retinas in Dishes

jgoldman — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Editor's Selections: Phobias, Dancing, and Retinas in Dishes

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week.

To start with, is there anything that might help with exposure therapy for specific phobias? Michelle from C6-H12-O6 describes a paper that suggests that the administration of cortisol might!
While many people claim to not be able to dance, if pressed, most could dance to a beat. Nearly all of us can at least identify when others are on or off rhythm. Over at Neuropoly, DJ discusses a newly discovered form of congenital amusia: beat deafness.
If there is anything cooler than a retina grown in a dish, I'm not sure what it is. Ambivalent Academic has the details in a killer guest post at Neurotic Physiology.

jgoldman Tue, 04/26/2011 - 05:05

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ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections

Editor's Selections: Shoes, Gay Caveman, Schizophrenia, and Neurocitation

jgoldman — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:55:43 +0000

Editor's Selections: Shoes, Gay Caveman, Schizophrenia, and Neurocitation

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week:

To start things off, Krystal D'Costa of Anthropology in Practice discusses the science of women's shoes.
Was the "Gay Caveman" really gay? Or even a caveman? Eric M. Johnson takes his blog tour to David Dobbs's Neuron Culture blog: The Allure of the Gay Caveman.
It is often suggested that differences in neural connectivity or wiring may underlie some psychopathologies. Here's some evidence from Neuroskeptic that this may indeed be the case, at least for schizophrenia. Maybe.
What are the ten most cited papers in Neuroscience? Well, that depends on what you mean by 'neuroscience,' to start with. But Bradley Voytek has some interesting data porn over at Oscillatory Thoughts. (And, on a similar subject, BPS Research Digest points out that psychologists like to cite themselves.)

jgoldman Tue, 04/19/2011 - 06:55

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ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections

Here we go again. gay everything. Even if the caeman chose to be gay, so what. Ever since the fall of man in Eden, gayism has been Satan's idea for man. It wasn;t menat to be. God created a WOMAN for the MAN that was made in HIS image.

Besides, how can we even tell if a skeleton was gay? Did it have mammoth bone up his butt or soemthing? What was the giveaway?