Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2661 )

• MindBlog's 15th Birthday

  Mindblog has been chugging along for 15 years, it's contents reflecting what I find interesting and am reading about at the moment. It seems a waste to not... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Moonstruck Sleep: Synchronization of Human Sleep with the Moon Cycle

  From Casiraghi et al.: Before the availability of artificial light, moonlight was the only source of light sufficient to stimulate nighttime activity; still,... Read more

  Posted on 04 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Underlying Forces That Are Determining America's Future Governance.

  I want to pass on clips from a few recent commentaries on current dissonances in U.S. politics and governance. I've collected these as background material for... Read more

  Posted on 03 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Brief Afternoon Nap is Probably Good for Your Brain.

  On some days I feel midafternoon drowsyness that makes it difficult for me to think or write. I lie down and do "a 10 minute naplet." After zonking out, I then... Read more

  Posted on 02 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Coup We Are Not Talking About - an Article of Foundational Importance

  In a long, heavy, and scary article Shoshana Zuboff argues, in concert with similar sentiments in Harari's books, that we can have democracy, or we can have a... Read more

  Posted on 01 February 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Experienced Well-being Does Increase Above Incomes of $75,000/year

  A research report from Matthew Killingsworth that contradicts a generally accepted result of past research: Significance Past research has found that experience... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Why Do Our Brains Dream?

  I want to point to a review by Nick Romeo of Zadra and Stickgold's new book "When Brains Dream". The review summarizes important theories about dreams and... Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• What Can Experimental Studies of Bias Tell Us About Real-World Group Disparities?

  Because, in my dim and distant past, I wrote an article that appeared in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (published by Cambridge University Press), I am still... Read more

  Posted on 27 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Languages of Human Smell

  Majid does an interesting review titled "Human Olfaction at the Intersection of Language, Culture, and Biology" that points out there are many languages across... Read more

  Posted on 26 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Broad Approach to Understanding Emotions - Semantic Space Theory

  I recently offered a 14-installment series of posts covering the ideas in Lisa Feldman Barrett’s book “How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. Read more

  Posted on 25 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Paradox of Pleasurable Fear.

  A study by Anderson et al. finds an inverted U-shaped relationship between fear and enjoyment, consistent with the theory that the pursuit of pleasurable fear i... Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Most People Are Good

  You really should read Mark Manson's newsletter for this week. As usual, it makes three main points, I will pass on only a few chunks: 1. One bad apple spoils... Read more

  Posted on 21 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Data-driven Solutions to U.S. Polarization

  Today sees the inauguration of Joe Biden as president of the United States, and seems an appropriate time to pass on in its entirety the following open source... Read more

  Posted on 20 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Third Visual Pathway Specialized for Social Perception.

  

  Fourty years after Ungerleider and Mishkin proposed our current model of the primate cortex as using two major visual pathway along its ventral and dorsal... Read more

  Posted on 19 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Endorsement of Dominant Masculinity Best Predicts 2016 and 2020 Voting and...

  Vescio and Schermerhorn carry out studies of several thousand individuals showing that men’s and women’s endorsement of hegemonic masculinity predicted support... Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Oxytocin Enhances Male Sexual Activity

  

  An article by Oti et al. in Current Biology makes me want to buy an oxytocin inhaler (just google oxytocin nasal spray). I'll pass on the highlights and a... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Technology Destroys Bonding Cultural Narratives

  I am on the mailing list of Mark Manson's weekly newsletter, find myself repeatedly annoyed by its arrogant tone and obscene prose, but then appreciate some... Read more

  Posted on 14 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Mice Feel Each Other's Pain Or Fear

  

  The abstract from Smith et al, who show the brain basis of empathetic behaviors in mice that mirror those in humans: Empathy is an essential component of... Read more

  Posted on 13 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Cults, Cabals, White Power, and Trumpism

  The men of "all men are created equal" in the U.S. Declaration of Independence - white male property owners - have remained the American ruling class for more... Read more

  Posted on 12 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Environmental Noise Degrades Learning and Memory

  Sobering observations from Zhang et al on our hippocampus-related learning and memory:Significance The noise pollution accompanying industrialization is a risk... Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE