Human nature

Here is an interesting article describing research on the distraction caused by talking on cell phones while driving. The important thing is the comparison to talking with a passenger in the car.

Want to drive safely? Talking to passengers may be okay, but talking on the phone isn’t

Fifty percent of the drivers who were talking on the cell phone missed the exit, while only 13 percent of the drivers talking to the passengers did, a number not significantly different from the control condition with no conversation. What’s more, the researchers analyzed the substances of the conversations, and found that in conversations with passengers, the discussion shifted to the traffic / driving situation nearly twice as often than in conversations on the cell phone.

Technorati Tags: driving, cell, distraction, research

When considering magic, or fraud, people often fail to consider the most obvious and devious ways in which the deception could be pulled off. I have often hear statements like: “The couldn’t do it that way, it is too obvious.” But why not do the obvious, if it makes the deception work.

Here is an interesting article from Skeptical Inquirer about deception, improvising, and the Amazing Randi.

The Devious Art of Improvising

The great fake psychics are great improvisationists. This means that a really good pseudo-psychic is able to produce phenomena under almost any circumstance. A quick mind and a good knowledge of the techniques and psychology of deception are all that is needed. Sometimes, only a quick mind is enough.

Technorati Tags: deception, psychics, fraud, magic, James Randi

Bodyhack

Why Adam Sandler is Funny in a Theater

It could play an important role in building strong bonds between individuals in a group.”

Technorati Tags: humor, funny, social, laughter, comedy

For Couples, Reaction to Good News Matters More Than Reaction to Bad

Scientists who study relationships have long focused on how couples handle love’s headaches, the cold silences and searing blowups, the childcare crises and work stress, the fallouts over money and ex-lovers. But the way that partners respond to each other’s triumphs may be even more important for the health of a relationship, suggests a paper appearing in the current issue of The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The study found that the way a person responds to a partner’s good fortune — with excitement or passive approval, shared pride or indifference — is the most crucial factor in tightening a couple’s bond, or undermining it.

Some of the best research is hard to publish, but very profound. This article talks about gathering “cool data”.

Brian Wansink on Research Design

I’m a big believer in cool data. The design goal is: How far can we possibly push it so that it makes it a vivid point? Most academics push it just far enough to get it published. I try to push it beyond that to make it much more vivid. That’s what [Stanley] Milgram did with his experiments. First, he showed obedience to authority in the lab. Then he stripped away a whole lot of things to show how extreme it was. He took away lab coats, the college campus. That’s what made it so powerful.

Here is an interesting article on cognitive principles of aesthetics. Do a search of popular photos on Flickr, perhaps using a neat tool like Flickr Leech, and you will find lots of examples of this technique.

Creating Passionate Users: Cognitive Seduction and the “peekaboo” law

Brains are turned on by puzzles. Brains are turned on by figuring things out. Brains are turned on by even the smallest “aha” moments. And despite what some of you (*cough* men *cough*) might believe, the brain is more turned on by seeing just the arms of a naked woman behind a shower curtain than it is by seeing all of her. So if you’re trying to engage someone’s brain, don’t show everything. Let their brain connect the dots.

Another interesting article on neuroscience.

A Hands-On Approach to Studying the Brain, Even Einstein’s

Dr. Harvey … sent her a handwritten note by fax in 1995 asking simply, “Do you want to study the brain of Albert Einstein?”

She sent a fax back: “Yes.”

Here is a great first-hand account how a student applied principles of cognitive neuroscience while playing the popular television game show — Who wants to be a millionaire?

Who Wants to Be a Cognitive Neuroscientist Millionaire?

Researchers in my department, Cognitive and Neural Systems (CNS), seek to understand the brain’s mechanisms, including three cognitive systems that happen to be essential for a profitable performance on Millionaire: learning, memory, and decision-making. This summer—the start of my final year in the CNS Ph.D. program—I decided to apply my graduate skills to a decidedly practical purpose and auditioned for a turn in the show’s perilous hot seat.

About 12 years ago, my son had surgery for Epilepsy that was completely successful in stopping the seizures. Here is an interesting article on advances in surgery treatments.

One woman’s journey through diagnosis and treatment shows how far we have come in using surgery to defuse seizures

More than 2.5 million people in the U.S. and 600,000 in Germany have epilepsy. About two thirds of them are freed of seizures with drug therapy, but for the rest, surgery is the only other option. Although the operations carry risks, 60 percent of adults and 70 percent of children remain free of seizures afterward. As physicians perform more procedures, the presurgical testing and the final outcomes are helping researchers learn more about the condition and the workings of the human brain.

The modern world killed off the nap

We are a culture that celebrates action, doing, achieving, an attitude that leads to a disdain for sleep in general. We stay up late and get up early. We pull all-nighters. We’ll sleep when we’re dead, and in the meantime there’s always a Starbucks on the corner.

It’s a misguided attitude. A good nap is one of life’s great pleasures, and the ability to nap is the sign of a well-balanced life. When we nap we snatch back control of our day from a mechanized, clock-driven society. We set aside the urgency imposed on us by the external world and get in touch with an internal rhythm that is millions of years old.