Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2661 )

• The "being Happy" Stress-out.

  Oliver Burkeman (the author of “The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking”) does an engaging article on how deliberate effort on the... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Oxytocin Enhances Brain Function in Children with Autism.

  Fascinating observations from Gordon et al, who find that that intranasal administration of oxytocin enhances activity in the brain for socially meaningful... Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Neural Prosthesis Can Restore Sensory-motor Function After Brain Damage.

  

  Guggenmos et al. use a brain–machine–brain interfaces (BMBIs) to reconnect two active brain regions whose connections had severed by damage to the brain area... Read more

  Posted on 06 January 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• My Aversion to "selfies" and the Demographics of Social Media.

  

  The actor James Franco has done an interesting brief essay on the meaning of "selfies", photos of himself reporting what he is doing relayed via Instagram. Read more

  Posted on 03 January 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Cognitive Control - What You See Depends on How You Look.

  

  Turk-Brown argues for a more expansive approach to understanding various kinds of non-invasive brain imaging data. I relay his abstract, and one figure... Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Our Advanced Capabilities May Have Come from Separation of Our Primary...

  

  Buckner and Krienen put forward the fascinating idea that our advanced human capabilities may be a spandrel (i.e. a byproduct of the evolution of some other... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Your Brain Has Many Genomes.

  Life used to be simple. We had one set of genes, found in all cells of the body. Skin cells, liver cells, and brain cells were different only because different... Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Cognitive Benefits of Music Lessons?

  I’ve done numerous posts on effects that early music training has on the brain. Adults with early music training in general show enhanced capabilities in sensor... Read more

  Posted on 27 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Oxytocin and the Strength of Romantic Bonds in Men.

  Here is an interesting bit from Scheele et al.: Significance: Sexual monogamy is potentially costly for males, and few mammalian species along with humans... Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• In Praise of Failure

  Costica Bradatan offers these thoughts (which I’ve clipped from a longer piece). The design of a superior kind of human being – healthier, stronger, smarter,... Read more

  Posted on 20 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• My Grandsons - Making It in the Brave New World - Part III

  This is the final post in my ramblings on the world my grandsons will face. The first two posts dealt with professional achievement, this final piece touches... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• My Grandsons Making It in the Brave New World - Part II

  The first post in this series dealt with mental capabilities required to be included in the small fraction of future workers who live a comfortable life with... Read more

  Posted on 18 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• My Grandsons - Making It in the Brave New World - Part I

  I will be going soon to Austin Texas, to spend the holiday with my son's family, who live in the same house I grew up in. Every grandfather says this, but I hav... Read more

  Posted on 17 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Sequence Your Microbiome!

  Some months ago I paid 23andMe about a $100 to analyze a mouth swab of epithelial cell and report back information on my genetic makeup, ancestry, health... Read more

  Posted on 16 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Psychobiotics - Gut Bacteria Changing Our Brains?

  Walking through the aisles of my local health food store, the Williamson Street Co-op, I’ve often been tempted by the claims of exotic yoghurts and “probiotic”... Read more

  Posted on 12 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Three Psychological Regions of the U.S. - Economic, Health, Social, Political...

  

  Rentfrow and collaborators probe the possibility of dividing regions of the United States, not in terms of traditional social and economic indicators, but in... Read more

  Posted on 11 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Imaging the the Updating of True and False Memories.

  When we recall, or reactivate a memory, we render it susceptible to alterations such as incorporating relevant new information, so that it might be then stored... Read more

  Posted on 10 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Naked Bodies and Mind Perception.

  

  Numerous studies have found that viewing people’s bodies, as opposed to their faces, makes us judge them as less intelligent, ambitious, likable, and competent. Read more

  Posted on 09 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Unconscious, Not Conscious, Attitudes Predict Relationship Success.

  There has been some recent criticism of 'priming" experiments, in which subliminal presentation, particularly of emotional, stimuli is said to influence the... Read more

  Posted on 06 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Digital Passivity

  This piece by Jaron Lanier is well worth reading. A few clips: I fear that 2013 will be remembered as a tragic and dark year in the digital universe, despite th... Read more

  Posted on 05 December 2013 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE