Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2628 )

• What is Literature Good For?

  I pass on this fetching clutch of points on the usefulness of reading literature (rather than brief tweets, and blog posts like this) from Alain de Botton's... Read more

  Posted on 09 November 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Why Do We Like Sad Music?

  I have earlier noted work on how, in both Eastern and Western music and vocalization, major modes are associated with positive emotions, and minor modes with... Read more

  Posted on 08 November 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Positive Thinking Can Sabotage Desired Outcomes.

  The point is a simple one - imagining success in attaining a goal can make one strive less diligently towards it. Gabriele Oettingen has summarized her... Read more

  Posted on 07 November 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Mechanism Underlying Intractable Political Conflicts.

  Waytz et al. do an interesting piece of work directly relevant to the polarized mid-term election that just occurred, finding a cognitive bias that drives... Read more

  Posted on 06 November 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Aging - Predictors of Cognitive Abilities.

  The Oct. 31 issue of Science Magazine has a special section of articles on the aging brain. I point in particular to Underwood's article, "Starting young", whic... Read more

  Posted on 05 November 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Liberals and Conservatives Have Different Smell Preferences.

  A post faintly appropriate to this election day that is deciding the outcomes of very polarized contests of liberals and conservatives...Arthur Brooks points... Read more

  Posted on 04 November 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Memory Reactivation During Rest Supports Upcoming Learning of Related Content.

  I have found that a brief period of rest, around 20 minutes or so, after I have worked on learning the notes and fingering of a new piano piece, has a huge... Read more

  Posted on 03 November 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Mechanism Underlying Our Current Political Paralysis

  Thomas Edsall points to the fascinating work of Berkeley graduate students Broockman and Ahler, who puncture the common assumption that a large segment of the... Read more

  Posted on 01 November 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Neural and Cognitive Characteristics of Extraordinary Altruists.

  I pass on this fascinating piece from Marsh et al., who find that a larger than average size of the right amygdala in extreme altruists who are very responsive... Read more

  Posted on 31 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Anti-aging Interventions: from Elixirs to Fasting.

  

  de Cabo et al. have done a useful review of different approaches to delaying or reversing aging, and I pass on their abstract and two nice summary graphics.... Read more

  Posted on 30 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Update on ‘fitness Age’ Calculators…

  The research group that originated the fitness age calculator that I mentioned in a post a year ago has tweaked their online calculator just a bit, so I pass... Read more

  Posted on 29 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Brain Resting State Network Stimulation for Psychiatric and Neurological Diseases

  

  Fox et al. do a survey of therapy using either invasive approaches, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS), or noninvasive approaches, such as transcranial... Read more

  Posted on 29 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Amygdala as the Hub of Three Brain Networks Supporting Our Social Life.

  

  I pass on this very useful summary by Bickart et al. that summarizes brain connectivity experiments in rodents, monkeys, and humans to develop a description tha... Read more

  Posted on 28 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Breath Counting as an Objective Behavioral Measure of Mindfulness.

  Another fascinating piece of work from Richard Davidson's group at the University of Wisconsin, evaluating breath counting as a potential objective and... Read more

  Posted on 27 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Power of Play - Portal2 Better Than Brain Training Software?

  My son, who does what I consider to be magic with his coding of internet commercial websites (see Praxisis.com) has been playing computer games since the first... Read more

  Posted on 26 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How to Chill on Aggression...get Blood Glucose Levels Up.

  Here is an interesting and quirky piece by Bushman et al. that has been languishing in my queue of potential posts for quite a while: People are often the most... Read more

  Posted on 24 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Happiness and Well-being Sources.

  I’m passing on three items from my queue of potential posts that touch on well-being and happiness. First, of course, there’s an App for that! Kit Eaton... Read more

  Posted on 24 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Speaking out in a Group Correlates with Gender.

  The effectiveness of group decision-making depends on whether the best informed members actually contribute to the discussion. Read more

  Posted on 23 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Scientific Evidence Does Not Support Anti-aging Claims of the Brain Game...

  MindBlog has done numerous posts on brain training games as possible antidotes to cognitive decline in the elderly. (I've played with both Merzenich's BrainHQ... Read more

  Posted on 22 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Humans and Robots.

  A recent issue of Science magazine has a special section of articles on the social life of robots. The introduction by Stone and Lavine provides links to the... Read more

  Posted on 22 October 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE