Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2628 )

• Why We Itch More with Aging.

  Lewis and Grandl offer context and note the significance of work by by Feng et al.: It is well known that aging is accompanied by the death of specific cell... Read more

  Posted on 25 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Microbiome Regulates Amygdala-dependent Fear Recall.

  Hoban et al. show interaction between the gut microbes and expression of anxiety and fear regulated by the amygdala. Their technical abstract: The amygdala is... Read more

  Posted on 24 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Research on Subjective Well-being.

  Given the drum beat of daily negative news we all face, it is useful to be open to facts about longer term trends showing improvement in different areas of... Read more

  Posted on 23 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Cognitive Underpinnings of Nationalistic Ideology.

  From Zmigrod et al.: Significance Belief in rigid distinctions between the nationalistic ingroup and outgroup has been a motivating force in citizens’ voting... Read more

  Posted on 22 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Brain Changes from Adolescence to Adulthood

  Kundu et al. have used a new fMRI imaging technique to look at shifts in functional brain organization in subjects ranging from 8 to 46 years old, finding that... Read more

  Posted on 21 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Has Artificial Intelligence Become Alchemy?

  Mathew Hutson describes Ali Rahimi's critique of current artificial intelligence (AI) learning algorithms at a recent AI meeting: Rahimi charged that machine... Read more

  Posted on 18 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Status Threat Explains 2016 Presidential Vote

  Niraj Chokshi points to a PNAS article by Diana Mutz. Mutz's abstract: Significance Support for Donald J. Trump in the 2016 election was widely attributed to... Read more

  Posted on 17 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Effort Paradox - Effort is Both Costly and Valued

  Inzlicht et al. do an interesting review article on how we (as well as some other animals) associate effort with reward, sometimes pursuing objects and... Read more

  Posted on 16 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Transparency is the Mother of 'fake News'

  Stanley Fish, writing in the NYTimes "The Stone" series suggests that fake news is in large part a product of the enthusiasm for transparency and absolutely fre... Read more

  Posted on 15 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Industrial Revolutions Are Political and Social Wrecking Balls.

  I want to point to yet another impressive bit of research and writing by Thomas Edsall, who gives one of the most clear pictures I have seen of current politica... Read more

  Posted on 14 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Not to Mind If Someone is Lying...

  Daniel Effron describes the means by which Trump supporters, aware that many of his statements are falsehoods, manage to temper their potential anger. Mr. Read more

  Posted on 11 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• More on the Vagaries of Expertise

  To follow up on yesterday's post on the illusion of having skills, I want to point to two other articles in this vein. Herrera notes work showing that: ... Read more

  Posted on 10 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Illusion of Skill Acquisition.

  Kardas and O'Brien document how watching others perform can foster an illusion of skill acquisition. Their abstract: Modern technologies such as YouTube afford... Read more

  Posted on 09 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Protein Synthesis in Brain Tissue is Much Higher Than Previously Thought.

  Smeets et al. use stable isotope methodology during temporal lobe resection surgery to demonstrate protein synthesis rates exceeding 3% per day, suggesting... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Electrical Brain Stimulation Enhances Visual Memory Performance

  Kucewicz et al. study patients with epilepsy undergoing evaluation for resective surgery to show that stimulation of the lateral temporal cortex, but not the... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Morning Cortisol Pulse is Crucial for Normal Cognitive and Emotional Responses.

  From Kalafatakis et. al.: Significance The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is a critical neurohormonal network regulating homeostasis and coordinating stres... Read more

  Posted on 04 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Sitting is Bad for Your Brain...

  It is well known that sitting for long periods each day correlates with higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, and mortality rate. Siddarth et al. Read more

  Posted on 03 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Brain Signals Predict Who We Will Like in the Future.

  From Zerubavel et al.: Significance When joining a group, we may initially like some individuals more than others. Likewise, certain group members may be... Read more

  Posted on 02 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• You're as Old as You Feel...

  The cliche continues to be backed up by data indicating that it is correct. Marlene Cimons does a piece pointing to recent work on attitude and aging. Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Workshop on Music and the Brain.

  I want to point to this open access article describing an NIH/Kennedy Center workshop on music and the brain, hosted by National Institutes of Health (NIH)... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE