Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2661 )

• Emergence of Communities and Diversity in Social Networks

  Two edited chunks from the introduction of Han et al. (open source), followed by the significance and abstract statements: Han et al. Read more

  Posted on 21 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Materialism Alone Can't Explain Consciousness? A Flawed Argument.

  Adam Frank does an interesting piece at aeon.co in which he suggests that since the materialist position in physics appears to rest on shaky metaphysical ground... Read more

  Posted on 20 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Half of the Conclusions in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Papers Are...

  I want to add to MindBlog's archive (see here, here, and here) of articles that document the fact that half or more of the scientific studies that are... Read more

  Posted on 17 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Well-being Increased by Imagining Time as Scarce.

  You have surely heard the homilies "Live each day as if it were your last." or "Would you be doing what you are doing now if you knew you had only a year to... Read more

  Posted on 16 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Minding the Details of Mind Wandering.

  Mind wandering happens both with and without intention, and Paul Seli, in Schecter's Harvard psychology laboratory, finds differences between the two in terms o... Read more

  Posted on 15 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Humans Can Do Echolocation

  Flanagin et al. find evidence for top-down auditory pathways for human echolocation comparable to those found in echolocating bats. Sighted humans perform bette... Read more

  Posted on 14 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Exercise Slows the Aging of Heart Cells.

  Ludlow et al. find (in female rats) that exercise slows the loss of caps (telomeres) on the end of chromosomes that prevent damage or fraying of DNA. (Shorter... Read more

  Posted on 13 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Meditating Mice!

  Here is an interesting twist from Weible et al., who find that inducing rhythms in the mouse anterior cingulate cortex similar to those observed in meditating... Read more

  Posted on 10 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Higher-order Theory of Emotional Consciousness

  LeDoux and Brown offer an integrated view of emotional and cognitive brain function, in an open source PNAS paper that is a must-read for those interested in... Read more

  Posted on 09 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• We Look Like Our Names.

  An interesting bit from Zwebner et al.: Research demonstrates that facial appearance affects social perceptions. The current research investigates the reverse... Read more

  Posted on 08 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Trump Vortex - Social Media as a Cancer

  Manjoo does a piece on his effort to spend an entire week without watching or listening to a single story about our 45th president. I discovered several truths... Read more

  Posted on 07 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Crony Beliefs

  I want to mention a rambunctious essay by Kevin Simler, "Crony Beliefs," that a MindBlog reader pointed me to recently. It deals with the same issue as the... Read more

  Posted on 06 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Evolutionary Psychology Explains Why Facts Don't Change People's Minds.

  A number of articles are now appearing that suggest that the ascendancy of Donal Trump, the devotion of his supporters, their indifference to facts (which are... Read more

  Posted on 03 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Opposite Effects of Recent History on Perception and Decision

  Here is a fascinating bit of work by Fritsche et al.: Highlights •Recent history induces opposite biases in perception and decision •Negative... Read more

  Posted on 02 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Theory of Cortical Function

  

  Heeger presents a simple and lucid framework for a unified theory of cortical function that he suggests should be useful for guiding both neuroscience and... Read more

  Posted on 01 March 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Universality of the Cognitive Architecture of Pride.

  An international collaboration of evolutionary psychologists suggests that a universal cognitive architecture underlies the emotion of pride, and that the... Read more

  Posted on 28 February 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Monday Morning Schubert

  

  On Sunday Feb. 19 I gave a recital dedicated to the memory of David Goldberger, who I had performed with in several four hands recitals several years ago. Read more

  Posted on 27 February 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Vitamin B3 (Niacin) Protects from Glaucoma

  A number of anti-aging elixirs contain vitamin B3, or niacin, which is a precursor of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), a key molecule in mitochondrial... Read more

  Posted on 24 February 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Scientific Curiosity Counters Politically Motivated Reasoning.

  Jasny points to work by Kahan et al. (open source) showing that science curiosity (of the sort shown by MindBlog readers!) promotes open-minded engagement with... Read more

  Posted on 23 February 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Will the “Anthropocene Era” Concept Slow Or Accelerate Human Impact on Our...

  Wesley Yang does a nice piece in the NYTimes Magazine, which notes that the concept of an anthropocene era, as a new stage of the geological time scale leaving... Read more

  Posted on 22 February 2017 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE