Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2661 )

• The ‘social Genomes’ of Friends Are Correlated.

  Here is an interesting study from Domingue et al.: Significance Our study reported significant findings of a “social genome” that can be quantified and studied... Read more

  Posted on 23 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Much Can We Change Our Aging?

  I'm using this post to point to the notes for a lecture on aging that I recently gave to a senior group in Austin Texas. It begins with a list of things over... Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Improving Ourselves to Death

  Alexandra Schwartz notes a number of self help books and considers how their advice reflects the beliefs and priorities of our era. Read more

  Posted on 19 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Explanation of Fraternal Birth Order Effect on Sexual Orientation.

  A number of studies have by now confirmed that the probability of a boy growing up to be gay increases for each older brother born to the same mother, the... Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Benefits of Talking to Yourself.

  Talking to ourselves either internally or out loud we can switch from 1st person voice (I can do this) to second person (you can do this) or third person voice... Read more

  Posted on 17 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Old Brains Come Uncoupled in Sleep.

  From Helfrich et al.: Highlights •Precise coupling of NREM (Non-rapid-eye-movement) slow waves and spindles dictates memory consolidation •Aging... Read more

  Posted on 16 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How to Detect That Someone is Sick.

  

  Alexsson et al. do a study suggesting that you should look first for droopy eyelids and corners of the mouth, then also check for pale skin and lips, how puffy... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Two-System Framework for Understanding Fear and Anxiety.

  LeDoux and Pine note that extensive study and understanding of how mammalian brains, including our own, detect and respond to threats has not led to... Read more

  Posted on 12 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Demonstrating Reciprocity on a Global Scale.

  In this age that seems characterized by increasing domestic and international chaos, I like to pass on any work that shows potential buffering or stability in... Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Forget About Major Life Extension - Aging is a Fundamental Feature of...

  Nelson and Masel, present a theoretical argument summarized by Wagner in his brief essay on their paper. From Wagner: Paul Nelson and Joanna Masel present a... Read more

  Posted on 10 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Exercise Alters the Microbiome, Enhancing Immune Function.

  Reynolds points to interesting work by Allen et al. showing that exercise by lean, but not obese, subjects enhances microbial production of short chain fatty... Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Memories Are Stored by the Extracellular Matrix Surrounding Brain Cells.

  Fascinating work from Thompson et al., who show that degrading the extracellular matrix structure with local injections into visual cortex area 2L of bacterial... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Narcissism Epidemic is Dead?

  

  An interesting piece from Wetzel et al., who find no evidence for a commonly reported narcissism epidemic over the past 10-20 years, based on the perception tha... Read more

  Posted on 05 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Temporal Organization of Perception.

  Ronconi et al. do interesting work suggesting that whether we perceive two visual stimuli as being separate events or a single event depends on a precise... Read more

  Posted on 04 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Facebook Admits Its Sociopathic Side. Are Social Media the Drug Epidemic of Our...

  An article by Farhad Manjoo notes that Facebook itself has pointed to work by Shakya and Christakis showing that overall the use of Facebook is negatively... Read more

  Posted on 03 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Early Stress Exposure Influences Adult Decision Making.

  From Birn et al.: Individuals who have experienced chronic and high levels of stress during their childhoods are at increased risk for a wide range of behaviora... Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Pax Technica - the New Web of World Government

  Some clips from an Op-Ed piece by Roger Cohen: ...the puzzle remains. A year of Trump and the world has not veered off a precipice. Read more

  Posted on 01 January 2018 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• When Intuition Overrides Reason.

  Gilbert Chin points to work by Walco and Risen showing that a third to a half of us will elect to rely on gut feelings even after having demonstrated an accurat... Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• On Gratitude...

  I want to pass on this bit from an essay by Philip Garrity in the New York Times Philosophy Forum "The Stone". On recovering from the vibrancy and trauma of... Read more

  Posted on 28 December 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Mind the Hype - Mindfulness and Meditation

  Smith et al. point to and summarize an article by Van Dam et al. I pass on the Van Dam et al. abstract: During the past two decades, mindfulness meditation has... Read more

  Posted on 27 December 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE