Psychology posts
- May 24, 2013
- 09:11 PM
- 22 views
What music do dogs prefer? Bach vs. Snoop Dogg
by Cobb & Hecht in Do You Believe In Dog?
Hey Julie,I hope you've had a fun week. I saw a new in-press publication with your name on it - "Smelling more or less: Investigating the olfactory experience of the domestic dog" - looks like a really great study, and so timely after my last post about dogs and olfactory enrichment! Looking forward to reading it (and all those other cool Learning and Motivation articles) over the weekend. So did you do your homework? Did you watch this clip from the Sydney Opera H........ Read more »
Kogan Lori R., Schoenfeld-Tacher Regina, & Simon Allen A. (2012) Behavioral effects of auditory stimulation on kenneled dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 7(5), 268-275. DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2011.11.002
Wells D, Graham L, & Hepper P. (2002) The influence of auditory stimulation on the behaviour of dogs housed in a rescue shelter. Animal Welfare, 11(4), 385-393. http://www.ufaw.org.uk/v11main.php
- May 24, 2013
- 12:26 PM
- 40 views
People with higher IQ have the ability to get rid of distractions
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main Point:
Researchers have found that people with higher IQ have the ability to get rid of large non-essential background information i.e. distraction. Moreover, they can detect small moving objects.
Published in:
Current Biology
Study Further:
In the study, researchers showed the short video clips of black and white bars to the 53 people, who were also tested for intelligence. The bars were moving across the screen, where some clips were small present in the center of the scree........ Read more »
Melnick, M., Harrison, B., Park, S., Bennetto, L., & Tadin, D. (2013) A Strong Interactive Link between Sensory Discriminations and Intelligence. Current Biology. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.053
- May 24, 2013
- 09:05 AM
- 27 views
Status shifts in groups as extraverts disappoint and neurotics overdeliver
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
New research suggests that the higher status bestowed on extraverts in new groups may drop as their contributions become better understood. In the meantime, neurotic people may see their lower status improve.Corrine Bendersky and Neha Parikh Shah investigated this in two studies. The first examined how 44 student teams working on MBA assignments over 10 weeks attributed status and competence to individual members. One week after forming, each member was asked to rate the other 3 to 5 members' gr........ Read more »
Bendersky, C., & Shah, N. (2012) The Downfall of Extraverts and Rise of Neurotics: The Dynamic Process of Status Allocation in Task Groups. Academy of Management Journal, 56(2), 387-406. DOI: 10.5465/amj.2011.0316
- May 24, 2013
- 07:02 AM
- 21 views
Simple Jury Persuasion: Pictures, Words or Pictures Words?
by Rita Handrich in The Jury Room
“A picture is worth a thousand words”. Most of us think pictures are more persuasive than words. Recently I ran across a sentence in an article saying “it’s commonly believed that we remember 20% of what we hear and 80% of what we see”. Or something to that effect. I don’t know about you but [...]
Related posts:
Simple Jury Persuasion: How pictures infer “truthiness”
Simple Jury Persuasion: Building Trust (but not) in Ten Easy Words
Simple Jury Persuasion: When to hand exhibits ........ Read more »
Richard E. Mayer. (2009) Multimedia Learning, 2nd Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press. . DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511811678
- May 23, 2013
- 01:01 PM
- 22 views
Bach to the blues, our emotions match music to colors
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
Whether we’re listening to Bach or the blues, our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the melodies make us feel, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. For instance, Mozart’s jaunty Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major is more apt to be associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his dour Requiem in D minor is more likely to be linked to dark, bluish gray.... Read more »
Yasmin Anwar. (2013) Bach to the blues, our emotions match music to colors. UC Berkeley News Center. info:/
- May 23, 2013
- 12:00 PM
- 19 views
Very beautiful findings related to Down syndrome
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main Point:
Researchers, in 2011, reported that the parents, siblings and even the people with Down syndrome reported positive experiences about their life and relations.
Published in:
American Journal of Medical Genetics
Study Further:
Down syndrome refers to the condition in which the extra genetic material in the body causes the slow development of the child, mentally and physically. It affects 1 in every 800 babies born in United States.
Researchers, in three different stud........ Read more »
Skotko, B., Levine, S., & Goldstein, R. (2011) Having a son or daughter with Down syndrome: Perspectives from mothers and fathers. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 155(10), 2335-2347. DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.a.34293
Skotko, B., Levine, S., & Goldstein, R. (2011) Having a brother or sister with Down syndrome: Perspectives from siblings. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 155(10), 2348-2359. DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.a.34228
Skotko, B., Levine, S., & Goldstein, R. (2011) Self-perceptions from people with Down syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 155(10), 2360-2369. DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.a.34235
- May 23, 2013
- 09:14 AM
- 31 views
New Reliable Blood Test Can Detect Depression
by Pieter Carriere in United Academics
Depression or Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has multiple genetic and environmental causes. Genetic factors are hard to find and the discovered factors usually are also associated with other mood disorders. Furthermore, twin studies reveal that genetics can predict 37% of the depressions, which is a much lower heritability than in bipolar disorder, a comparable mood disorder (reviewed in Belmaker et al., 2008). ... Read more »
Papakostas, G., Shelton, R., Kinrys, G., Henry, M., Bakow, B., Lipkin, S., Pi, B., Thurmond, L., & Bilello, J. (2011) Assessment of a multi-assay, serum-based biological diagnostic test for major depressive disorder: a Pilot and Replication Study. Molecular Psychiatry, 18(3), 332-339. DOI: 10.1038/mp.2011.166
Pariante, C., & Lightman, S. (2008) The HPA axis in major depression: classical theories and new developments. Trends in Neurosciences, 31(9), 464-468. DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2008.06.006
Raison, C. (2012) A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Tumor Necrosis Factor Antagonist Infliximab for Treatment-Resistant DepressionThe Role of Baseline Inflammatory BiomarkersInfliximab for Treatment-Resistant Depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1. DOI: 10.1001/2013.jamapsychiatry.4
Nibuya M, Morinobu S, & Duman RS. (1995) Regulation of BDNF and trkB mRNA in rat brain by chronic electroconvulsive seizure and antidepressant drug treatments. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 15(11), 7539-47. PMID: 7472505
- May 23, 2013
- 08:28 AM
- 16 views
It’s great to be a woman scientist; it’s challenging to be a woman scientist
by Stephanie Swift in mmmbitesizescience
I recently volunteered to help organise an event run by the Canadian Science Policy Centre that looked at the status of women in science and technology. To be frank, I was mightily fearful about participating in such an event. I … Continue reading →... Read more »
Wenneras C, & Wold A. (1997) Nepotism and sexism in peer-review. Nature, 387(6631), 341-3. PMID: 9163412
- May 23, 2013
- 04:37 AM
- 41 views
The mindbus technique for resisting chocolate - should we climb aboard?
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Imagine you are the driver & your chocolate cravings are unruly passengers
If someone gave you a bag of 14 chocolates to carry around for five days, would you be able to resist eating them and any other chocolate? That was challenge faced by 135 undergrads in a new study that compared the effectiveness of two different "mindfulness" resistance techniques.
To help them, Kim Jenkins and Katy Tapper taught 45 of their participants "cognitive diffusion", the essence being that "you are not y........ Read more »
Jenkins, K., & Tapper, K. (2013) Resisting chocolate temptation using a brief mindfulness strategy. British Journal of Health Psychology. DOI: 10.1111/bjhp.12050
- May 23, 2013
- 04:33 AM
- 18 views
Big data for autism and the promise of newborn bloodspots
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
An episode of the BBC program Horizon on 'Big Data' recently caught my attention. The content was a fascinating insight into how we are living in a data-rich age and how trawling/mining/dredging such data has the ability to advance medicine, predict crime and even make someone a few quid/dollars/euros on the stock market.Gone (data) fishing @ Wikipedia I'm a big believer in big data. In particular how, with the right sources, technology, techniques and people, big data might be able t........ Read more »
Mizejewski GJ, Lindau-Shepard B, & Pass KA. (2013) Newborn screening for autism: in search of candidate biomarkers. Biomarkers in medicine, 7(2), 247-60. PMID: 23547820
- May 23, 2013
- 02:00 AM
- 16 views
Quasi-delusions and inequality aversion
by Artem Kaznatcheev in Evolutionary Games Group
Patient M: It’s impossible —- no one could urinate into that bottle -— at least no woman could. I’m furious with her [these are the patient's emphases] and I’m damned if I am going to do it unless she gives me another kind of bottle. It’s just impossible to use that little thing. Analyst: It […]... Read more »
Fehr, E., & Schmidt, K. (1999) A Theory of Fairness, Competition, and Cooperation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(3), 817-868. DOI: 10.1162/003355399556151
- May 23, 2013
- 01:48 AM
- 20 views
What if 501(c)4 Organizations Had to Disclose Their Donors?
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
The IRS kerfuffle has increased interest in the tax code by about 5700%, and one outcome is that people are starting to put the various exemption groups under a microscope. Dylan Matthews has thoughtful piece on 501(c)4 organizations, the groups at the center of the scandal. Matthews thinks the real issue is disclosure, and it’s [...]... Read more »
Dowling, C., & Wichowsky, A. (2013) Does It Matter Who's Behind the Curtain? Anonymity in Political Advertising and the Effects of Campaign Finance Disclosure. American Politics Research. DOI: 10.1177/1532673X13480828
- May 22, 2013
- 04:45 PM
- 34 views
What is Expertise? The Experts Disagree
by Louise Rasmussen in Head Smart
Everybody’s an expert these days. Pest Control Expert, Plumbing Expert, Weather Expert, and so on. What does it really mean to have expertise? Take a minute to think about what expertise means to you. If ideas like superior intelligence, heightened perceptual skills, and photographic memory come to mind, you may be thinking of superheroes, or [...]... Read more »
Ericsson, K., & Ward, P. (2007) Capturing the Naturally Occurring Superior Performance of Experts in the Laboratory: Toward a Science of Expert and Exceptional Performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(6), 346-350. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00533.x
Hatano, G., & Inagaki, K. (1984) Two courses of expertise. Research and Clinical Center for Child Development Annual Report, 27-36. info:/
- May 22, 2013
- 01:01 PM
- 36 views
Decision Theory Journal Club: Our brains are perfect machines
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
A few of us have started a Decision Theory journal club where we plan on reading papers from a variety of fields that examine how decisions are made. We have people from neuroscience, economics, and cognitive science participating (so far), including people participating through Google+ hangouts!, which will hopefully make lead to some productive discussions. […]... Read more »
Brunton, B., Botvinick, M., & Brody, C. (2013) Rats and Humans Can Optimally Accumulate Evidence for Decision-Making. Science, 340(6128), 95-98. DOI: 10.1126/science.1233912
Znamenskiy, P., & Zador, A. (2013) Corticostriatal neurons in auditory cortex drive decisions during auditory discrimination. Nature, 497(7450), 482-485. DOI: 10.1038/nature12077
- May 22, 2013
- 08:30 AM
- 24 views
Dogs can haz brainscanz and EEG?
by CAPB in Companion Animal Psychology Blog
Canine cognition is a hot topic these days, using experiments and brain imaging as research tools. The trouble with brain imaging work is that it is invasive, to the extent that animals may have to be sedated or anaesthetized for the study. All that changed with the amazing work of Gregory Berns et al and the first-ever fMRI study on awake, unrestrained dogs last year. Now Miiamaaria Kujala et al in Finland have shown that it is also possible to do a non-invasive EEG with dogs.An EEG measur........ Read more »
Berns, G., Brooks, A., & Spivak, M. (2012) Functional MRI in Awake Unrestrained Dogs. PLoS ONE, 7(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0038027
Kujala, M., Törnqvist, H., Somppi, S., Hänninen, L., Krause, C., Vainio, O., & Kujala, J. (2013) Reactivity of Dogs' Brain Oscillations to Visual Stimuli Measured with Non-Invasive Electroencephalography. PLoS ONE, 8(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061818
Ma, H., Qin, L., Dong, C., Zhong, R., & Sato, Y. (2013) Comparison of Neural Responses to Cat Meows and Human Vowels in the Anterior and Posterior Auditory Field of Awake Cats. PLoS ONE, 8(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052942
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- operant conditioning
- human voice
- reward
- vowels
- caudate activation
- awake cats
- Dogs
- feline
- Canines
- cat
- Positive reinforcement
- Cognitive Psychology
- non-invasive electroencephalography
- Comparative Psychology
- visual processing
- fMRI
- EEG
- dogs
- Auditory processing
- positive reinforcement
- meows
- May 22, 2013
- 08:23 AM
- 43 views
Twitter versus the Grim Reaper: Extraverts but not introverts use Twitter to ward off existential anxiety
by Scott McGreal in Eye on Psych
A great deal of Twitter content has been described as "pointless babble." However, an experimental study found that Twitter usage can ward off existential anxiety, at least in extraverts. Even banal tweets might serve a deeper psychological purpose.... Read more »
Qiu L, Leung AK, Ho JH, Yeung QM, Francis KJ, & Chua PF. (2010) Understanding the psychological motives behind microblogging. Studies in health technology and informatics, 140-4. PMID: 20543286
- May 22, 2013
- 07:33 AM
- 43 views
Study Shows How Bilinguals Switch Between Languages
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
Individuals who learn two languages at an early age seem to switch back and forth between separate “sound systems” for each language, according to new research conducted at the University of Arizona.... Read more »
Anna Mikulak. (2013) Study Shows How Bilinguals Switch Between Languages. Association for Psychological Science. info:/
- May 22, 2013
- 07:33 AM
- 20 views
The [Lawyer’s] Billable Hour: How Much Does 360 Seconds Cost? Who Pays?
by Dan DeFoe in Psycholawlogy
Tick – tock. The “billable hour” determines so much in the lives of many professionals, including lawyers. Many have to “keep time”. Time keeping accounts for how many lawyers spend their time doing their work, factors into how much their clients get charged, directly impacts how most large law firms generate income, and plays [...]The post The [Lawyer’s] Billable Hour: How Much Does 360 Seconds Cost? Who Pays? appeared first on Psycholawlogy.... Read more »
DeVoe SE, & Pfeffer J. (2010) The stingy hour: how accounting for time affects volunteering. Personality , 36(4), 470-83. PMID: 20363903
- May 22, 2013
- 07:02 AM
- 27 views
“Ethnic-sounding first names” and getting the job
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
Shuki. Soukias. Raheem. Samir. Jamal. Lakisha. Atholl. Tyronne. Magestic. Did you know that something as simple as a first name makes the difference between whether you even get the interview? Last weekend we were doing a focus group and one of the mock jurors had a very unique first name. One of a kind. She [...]
Related posts:
Is there a relationship between age and ethnic prejudice?
Attractiveness and being fired for poor performance
Everyday racism: A comparison of African American and Asia........ Read more »
Cotton, J., O'Neill, B., & Griffin, A. (2008) The “name game”: affective and hiring reactions to first names. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 23(1), 18-39. DOI: 10.1108/02683940810849648
- May 22, 2013
- 06:19 AM
- 35 views
The Mental Health of Lonely Marijuana Users
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Mr. Lonely 1Does Smoking Pot Offer Relief to the Lonely? A new paper by the original Tylenol and social pain researchers claims that it does (Deckman et al., 2013). Let's take a closer look.Comfortably Numb: Marijuana Use Reduces Social Pain, Research FindsMarijuana use buffers people from experiencing social pain, according to research published online on May 14 in Social Psychological and Personality Science."Prior work has shown that the analgesic acetaminophen, which acts indirectly throu........ Read more »
Deckman, T., DeWall, C., Way, B., Gilman, R., & Richman, S. (2013) Can Marijuana Reduce Social Pain?. Social Psychological and Personality Science. DOI: 10.1177/1948550613488949
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