Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2628 )

• People Listening to the Same Story Synchronize Their Heart Rates.

  Several studies have shown that people paying attention to the same videos or listening to the same stories show similar brain activity, as measured by... Read more

  Posted on 29 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• What Are Our Brains Doing When They Are (supposedly) Doing Nothing?

  Pezullo et al. address the question of this post's title in an article in Trends in Cognitive Sciences: "The secret life of predictive brains: what's spontaneou... Read more

  Posted on 27 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Scientific Fields Don't Advance If Too Many Papers Are Published.

  Fascinating work from Chu and Evans: Significance The size of scientific fields may impede the rise of new ideas. Examining 1. Read more

  Posted on 25 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Metabolism Modulates Network Synchrony in the Aging Brain

  Wow, this work from Weistuch et al. temps me to reconsider my decision to stay away from the various mitochondrial metabolism stimulating supplements I have... Read more

  Posted on 22 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Debate Over Stewardship of Global Collective Behavior

  In this post I'm going to pass on the abstract of a PNAS perspective piece by Bak-Coleman et al., a critique by Cheong and Jones and a reply to the critique by... Read more

  Posted on 20 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Paws for Thought: Dogs Have a Theory of Mind?

  In a very simple experiment, Schünemann et al. appear to demonstrate that dogs can attribute thoughts and motivations to humans, distinguishing intentional... Read more

  Posted on 18 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Dark Side of Eureka: Artificially Induced Aha Moments Make Facts Feel True

  Fascinating observations from Laukkonen et al: Some ideas that we have feel mundane, but others are imbued with a sense of profundity. We propose that Aha! Read more

  Posted on 15 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• National Religiosity Eases the Psychological Burden of Poverty

  From Berkessel et al.: Significance According to a fundamental assumption in the social sciences, the burden of lower socioeconomic status (SES) is more severe... Read more

  Posted on 13 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Precision and the Bayesian Brain

  I've been studying and trying to understand the new prevailing model of how our brains work that is emerging - the brain as a Baysean predictive processing... Read more

  Posted on 11 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Reconsolidation of a Reactivated Memory Can Be Altered by Stress Hormone Levels.

  Stern's summary in Science Magazine of work by Antypa et al.: Reactivation of a memory can make it malleable to subsequent change during reconsolidation. Read more

  Posted on 08 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Perceived Voice Emotions Evolve from Categories to Dimensions

  Whether emotions are best characterized as discrete catagories (anger, fear, joy, etc.) or as points on continuums of valence (positive/negative) and arousal... Read more

  Posted on 06 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Music Can Be Infectious Like a Virus - the Same Mathematical Model Works for Both

  Rosati et al. find that a standard model of epidemic disease, called the SIR model, fitts trends in song downloads over time: Popular songs are often said to... Read more

  Posted on 04 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Can We Get Human Nature Right?

  

  Iris Berent does an interesting Perspective artice in PNAS that considers the strong intuitions that laypeople hold about human nature. People's attitudes... Read more

  Posted on 01 October 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How the Unvaccinated Threaten the Vaccinated for COVID-19: A Darwinian...

  From the current issue of PNAS that just appeared I want to immediately pass on the entire text of the open source piece by Emanuel Goldman. Read more

  Posted on 29 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Models of How Political Polarization Happens

  

  I want to recommend the article "Modeling the power of polarization" by Waldrop in the Sept. 14th PNAS (open source). I pass on just a few fragments: There are... Read more

  Posted on 27 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Asymptomatic Infection is the Pandemic’s Dark Matter

  

  Fisman and Tuite do a commentary on the article by Sah et al. (open source) that includes a great graphic showing how estimated asymptomatic COVID can be... Read more

  Posted on 24 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Is Self Awareness a Mirage?

  David Brooks does a brief psychological essay - a sequel to one described in MindBlog's Sept. 10 post. One of the most unsettling findings of modern psychology... Read more

  Posted on 22 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Secure Human Attachment Can Promote Support for Climate Change Mitigation

  From Misa et al.: Significance Attachment theory focuses on the primal form of emotional bonding between humans. Attachment is conceptualized as an innate... Read more

  Posted on 20 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Monday Morning Tonic - A Modern Folk Song About Your Brain

  

  Ryan Stotland, a song writer from Montreal, has pointed me to a few of his engaging pieces, and I pass on one of them to you. It rhapsodizes about what differen... Read more

  Posted on 20 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Social Mindfulness and Prosociality Vary Across the Globe

  

  From Van Doesum et al. (open source) I pass on the abstract, one figure, and a clip of the discussion: Significance Cooperation is key to well-functioning group... Read more

  Posted on 17 September 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE