245 posts · 370,309 views
A new cognitive psychology article nearly every day
Dave Munger
245 posts
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- September 17, 2009
- 04:00 PM
- 2,360 views
Could physical exercise help in preventing and treating drug abuse?
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Teens who routinely exercise (especially in organized activities like team sports) are less likely to smoke or abuse drugs or alcohol. This fact alone might make it seem like a no-brainer to include physical activities in substance-abuse prevention and treatment programs, but in fact little research has been done to figure out whether exercising actually causes people to be less interested in drugs and alcohol. It's also possible that potential substance-abusers are just uninterested in exercise........ Read more »
Smith, M., Schmidt, K., Iordanou, J., & Mustroph, M. (2008) Aerobic exercise decreases the positive-reinforcing effects of cocaine. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 98(1-2), 129-135. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2008.05.006
- November 28, 2007
- 04:04 PM
- 2,082 views
"Just smile, you'll feel better!" Will you? Really?
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Do people ever tell you to "just smile, you'll feel better"? If you're like our daughter Nora, you hear it a lot, and you get annoyed every time you hear it. Telling a teenager to smile is probably one of the best ways to ensure she won't smile for the next several hours. But 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 ce........ Read more »
Robert Soussignan. (2002) Duchenne Smile, emotional experience, and automatic reactivity: A test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Emotion, 2(1), 52-74. DOI: 10.1037//11528-3542.2.1.52
- November 23, 2007
- 11:38 AM
- 2,011 views
Does the color red really impair performance on tests?
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
One of the things I was taught in English graduate school was never to grade papers using red ink. Students don't respond well to the color red, I was told -- it's intimidating. I always thought this was a little far-fetched, and my instructors couldn't offer a peer-reviewed journal article that definitively answered the question of whether red ink was harmful.
There is some research on the question of whether red is harmful in an academic setting -- but it's inconclusive, w........ Read more »
Andrew Elliot, Markus A Maier, Arlen C Moller, Ron Friedman, & Jörg Meinhardt. (2007) Color and psychological functioning: The effect of red on performance attainment. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136(1), 154-168. DOI: 10.1037/0096-3445.136.1.154
- September 17, 2008
- 04:07 PM
- 1,990 views
A simple toy, and what it says about how we learn to mentally rotate objects
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
One of Jimmy's favorite toys as a toddler was a simple little bucket of blocks. There were three shapes: a rectangular prism, a triangular prism, and a cylinder. The bucket's lid had three holes: a square, a triangle, and a circle (The picture at right was the only one I could find online -- this sort of toy has gotten much fancier in recent years).
For an adult, it's a simple matter to properly sort the shapes by placing them into the corresponding holes, but for a toddler, it's a real challe........ Read more »
Helena Örnkloo, & Claes von Hofsten. (2007) Fitting objects into holes: On the development of spatial cognition skills. Developmental Psychology, 43(2), 404-416. DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.43.2.404
- January 19, 2008
- 04:00 PM
- 1,949 views
Blurry vision and aging: How older eyes cope
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Take a look at this slideshow (QuickTime required). You'll first see a photo in perfect focus. Then 12 more pictures will flash by, each of them blurred using Photoshop. Finally, the original photo will appear again. Is it the same as before, or slightly blurrier or sharper?
I'll give the answer after a few readers have had a chance to make a guess in the comments. Most people with normal vision will gradually adapt to blurry photos (though it might take a little longer than I'........ Read more »
Sarah Elliott. (2007) Aging and blur adaptation. Journal of Vision, 7(6), 1-9. DOI: 10.1167/7.6.8
- August 27, 2008
- 03:30 PM
- 1,920 views
Escher-themed nurseries? Even four-month-olds can recognize impossible objects
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
"Impossible objects" like the etchings of M.C. Escher have fascinated adults for centuries. You can't help but stare and wonder at a drawing like this, which seems to defy the laws of nature:
The drawing seems strange to us because our visual system tells us that when an object or part of an object occludes another, it's in front. Since the parts of the cube are all connected, it's clear that the vertical bar in the "back" of the cube shouldn't be in front of any other bars.
Some research has ........ Read more »
Sarah M. Shuwairi, Marc K. Albert, & Scott P. Johnson. (2007) Discrimination of Possible and Impossible Objects in Infancy. Psychological Science, 18(4), 303-307. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01893.x
- November 23, 2007
- 11:38 AM
- 1,913 views
Wine and taste: Wine labels also affect our opinions of the food we eat
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Both Greta and I are big wine fans. Despite Jonah's recent extremely popular post, I, at least, believe that I can tell the difference between good and bad wines. I'm still convinced that a good wine is more than just an attractive label (though I'm a sucker for labels with Zinfandel puns like "Zen of Zin" or "Amazin"). That said, the research suggesting that labeling has a lot to do with wine preference is also quite convincing.
Several studies suggest that ........ Read more »
Brian Wansink, Collin Payne, & Jill North. (2007) Fine as North Dakota wine: Sensory expectations and the intake of companion foods. Physiology , 712-716. DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2006.12.010
- March 4, 2009
- 02:30 PM
- 1,913 views
How do you react to an emotional face? Depends on how quickly you see it
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
What's your first reaction on seeing this picture of Nora? Are you excited because she appears to be excited? Or do you react to her intent? Perhaps you think she's cute, or maybe even sarcastic. Ultimately you might have all of those reactions.
There's no doubt we're exceptionally fast at responding to faces, and to the emotions they convey. But reacting appropriately, especially when a face signals danger, could be the difference between life and death.
These two ways of reacting to a facia........ Read more »
Kirsten I. Ruys, & Diederik A. Stapel. (2008) Emotion Elicitor or Emotion Messenger? Subliminal Priming Reveals Two Faces of Facial Expressions. Psychological Science, 19(6), 593-600. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02128.x
- November 26, 2007
- 06:04 PM
- 1,903 views
What's the best way to help kids become good adults? Some possible answers
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
What do most parents want for their kids as they grow into adults? Successful careers? Happy family lives? Or do they simply want their children to be good people? They probably want all of these things -- and a little wealth and fame wouldn't hurt either. The bigger question parents have is about the right way to inspire, motivate, cajole, or prod their kids in the direction they believe is most likely to yield the desired results.
There's been a lot of research about good parenting,........ Read more »
Gustavo Carlo, Meredith McGinley, Rachel Hayes, Candice Batenhorst, & Jamie Wilkinson. (2007) Parenting styles or practices? Parenting, sympathy, and prosocial behaviors among adolescents. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 168(2), 147-176.
- December 29, 2007
- 11:23 PM
- 1,900 views
Is it possible to be too happy?
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Happiness is associated with a lot of good things in life. People who are happier tend to get better job ratings, make more money, be more likely to get married, and be more satisfied with their marriages than people who are less happy, even years after the original happiness assessment.
People around the world rate happiness as more important than intelligence, success, and material wealth. But is it possible to be too happy? An extremely happy person might be less motivated to seek a better ........ Read more »
Shigehiro Oishi, Ed Diener, & Richard Lucas. (2007) The Optimum Level of Well-Being: Can People Be Too Happy?. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2(4), 346-360. DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6916.2007.00048.x
- January 2, 2008
- 12:25 PM
- 1,894 views
Looking down skews distance perception
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
You might think humans are equally good at estimating distances no matter which direction they're looking. After all, we use the same visual tools to make those estimates -- binocular disparity (the different views we see from each eye), occlusion (whether one object is in front of or behind another), and so on. But consider the situation depicted to the right. Nora is inching her way down a steep rock column, with near-vertical drops on either side of her. If she underestimates the distanc........ Read more »
Russell Jackson, & Lawrence K Cormack. (2007) Evolved navigation theory and the descent illusion. Perception , 69(3), 353-362. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/psocpubs/prp/2007/00000069/00000003/art00005
- December 11, 2007
- 03:05 PM
- 1,892 views
We hear different music depending on how we dance to it
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Listen to this short recording:
It's a sequence that repeats every sixth beat. But when we're listening to music, we usually prefer to divide rhythm into two- or three-beat patterns (duple or triple rhythm). In this case, the sequence doesn't make it obvious which pattern is correct. A traditional duple rhythm, like a march, would accent every other beat -- the musicians play every other note a little louder. Similarly, a traditional triple rhythm, like a waltz, accents every ........ Read more »
J PHILLIPSSILVER, & L TRAINOR. (2007) Hearing what the body feels: Auditory encoding of rhythmic movement☆. Cognition, 105(3), 533-546. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2006.11.006
- December 29, 2007
- 11:23 PM
- 1,888 views
If short-term happiness isn't always best, what about long-term?
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Earlier this week we discussed the relationship between life satisfaction and other measures of well-being, finding that for measures such as relative income, the happiest people weren't always the best-off. For relationships, however, the happiest individuals also seem to do better.
But these measures were only taken at an instant in time. What about over longer periods? The College and Beyond study questioned incoming college freshmen in 1976, and included a self-rating of "cheerful........ Read more »
Shigehiro Oishi, Ed Diener, & Richard Lucas. (2007) The Optimum Level of Well-Being: Can People Be Too Happy?. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2(4), 346-360. DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6916.2007.00048.x
- November 19, 2008
- 03:00 PM
- 1,880 views
Seeing shapes in two different ways: how and when it happens
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
A Necker cube is bi-stable figure, meaning that it can be perceived as two different three-dimensional objects, depending on how you look at it:
Cube A is ambiguous -- the true Necker cube. Cube B and cube C show the two ways you can perceive the Necker cube: either the bottom of the cube is in front, or the top is in front. What's interesting about figures such as the Necker cube is that once you're aware of its bi-stable nature, it's impossible to see it only one way. Don't believe me? Then t........ Read more »
J KORNMEIER, C HEIN, & M BACH. (2008) Multistable perception: When bottom-up and top-down coincide. Brain and Cognition. DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2008.06.005
- October 22, 2008
- 05:58 PM
- 1,879 views
Does the use of hand gestures slow language learning?
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Nora was an excellent talker, starting at a very young age, but that didn't mean that she couldn't express herself in other ways. Here, for example, she points to a the item she wants. It's entirely possible that she didn't yet know the word "stick," but she was still quite able to express her desire.
But what happens if a child is particularly successful at expressing her needs using gestures? Does development of spoken language suffer? One approach to this problem is to look language developm........ Read more »
J. M. Iverson, O. Capirci, V. Volterra, & S. Goldin-Meadow. (2008) Learning to talk in a gesture-rich world: Early communication in Italian vs. American children. First Language, 28(2), 164-181. DOI: 10.1177/0142723707087736
- September 3, 2008
- 04:08 PM
- 1,878 views
Is there a separate memory region for location of sound?
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
You may have heard of the idea that people can only remember seven things at a time -- a seven-digit phone number, a license-plate, etc. While the size of working memory actually varies from person to person (it usually ranges from 6 to 8 items), and while people can use strategies like "chunking" to remember more, this observation is basically true.
Except when it's not true. In the 1970s, researchers found that there are actually at least two different and distinct areas of working memory, ea........ Read more »
Lehnert, Günther, & Zimmer, Hubert D. (2006) Auditory and visual spatial working memory. Memory , 34(5), 1080-1090.
- January 15, 2008
- 04:00 PM
- 1,846 views
Kids who won't eat: Is there any hope for changing their preferences?
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
At least once or twice a week at dinnertime, our family has what we call a "harmony meal." Jim and Nora are good eaters with broad tastes, but they both (along with me and Greta) also have some foods they don't like. A harmony meal is a meal where everyone in the family likes every dish we serve. These aren't necessarily the healthiest meals (spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread is a favorite), but it's nice to have a meal where everyone's happy about what........ Read more »
M GUIDETTI, & N CAVAZZA. (2008) Structure of the relationship between parents’ and children's food preferences and avoidances: An explorative study. Appetite, 50(1), 83-90. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2007.06.001
- September 15, 2008
- 03:30 PM
- 1,844 views
Even music played before or after a film character is shown affects our perception of their emotion
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
It's now taken as a given that the musical score of a movie can have huge influence on our perception of the movie. From the pulsating terror achieved in films like Psycho and Jaws, to the triumphant victories in Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean, it's hard to think about a great film without also being influenced by that film's score. Music is such an important aspect of film that when a group of students was asked to rate the emotions evoked by music in six film excerpts, only a third of ........ Read more »
Siu-Lan Tan, Matthew P. Spackman, & Matthew A. Bezdek. (2007) Viewers' Interpretations of Film Characters' Emotions: Effects of Presenting Film Music Before or After a Character is Shown. Music Perception, 25(2), 135-152. DOI: 10.1525/mp.2007.25.2.135
- December 18, 2008
- 01:01 PM
- 1,833 views
Make sure you get some sleep -- or at least some caffeine -- before that test
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
[This is our synchroblogging post in honor of PLoS ONE's second birthday. Why not write your own?]
Ever wonder whether it's better to study all night before a big exam, or to get a good night's sleep, but maybe not have a chance to go over all the material? We know that memory consolidation can occur in sleep, but we also know that those extra hours studying can do some good. And then there's the issue of false memories: who hasn't had the experience of being completely convinced their test ans........ Read more »
Susanne Diekelmann, Hans-Peter Landolt, Olaf Lahl, Jan Born, & Ullrich Wagner. (2008) Sleep Loss Produces False Memories. PLoS ONE, 3(10). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003512
- October 27, 2008
- 06:30 PM
- 1,828 views
Should you let your toddler watch TV?
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
When Jimmy was around 18 months old, Greta and I were both in graduate school. I attended classes at night and Greta taught and worked in the lab during the day. In the late afternoon I'd drive into the city with Jimmy in the car seat, and we'd swap -- she'd drive back home and I'd go to class, taking the train back home when I was done.
At this point, Greta was extremely pregnant with Nora. She was exhausted at the end of her workday, but Jimmy had usually taken a nap in the car, so he was usu........ Read more »
F. J. Zimmerman, & D. A. Christakis. (2007) Associations Between Content Types of Early Media Exposure and Subsequent Attentional Problems. PEDIATRICS, 120(5), 986-992. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2006-3322
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