Deric Bownds
These articles, from Deric's MindBlog at http://mindblog.dericbownds.net report new ideas and work on mind, brain, and behavior - as well as random curious stuff.
MY BLOGS
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Deric Bownds' MindBlog
http://mindblog.dericbownds.net/
This blog reports new ideas and work on mind, brain, and behavior - as well as random curious stuff.
LATEST ARTICLES ( 2496 )
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Brain Scans Are Prone to False Positives.
An analysis by Eklund et al. has raised serious doubts about positive correlations reported in many of the 40,000 fMRI studies published in the last 2 decades... Read more
Posted on 27 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
The Intractability of Implicit Beliefs
Caoa and Banaji in the Harvard Psychology Dept. introduce their study: Imagine meeting Jonathan and Elizabeth. One person is a doctor. The other is a nurse.... Read more
Posted on 26 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Our Sociability Correlates with Epigenetic Oxytocin Gene Modifications.
From Haas et al.: Significance Elucidating the genetic and biological substrates of social behavior serves to advance the way basic human nature is understood... Read more
Posted on 25 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Cultural Differences in Music Perception
McDermott et al. find that the isolated Tsimane people, who live in the Amazonian rainforest in northwest Bolivia, have no preference for for consonance over... Read more
Posted on 22 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Oxytocin Both Bonds and Divides the Sexes.
From Gao et al.: Facilitation of social attraction and bonding by the evolutionarily conserved neuropeptide oxytocin is well-established in female mammals. Read more
Posted on 21 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Placebo Effects in Brain Training
Foroughi et al. address the question of whether our desire to become smarter may blind us to the role of placebo effects in brain training regimes. Read more
Posted on 20 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Consciousness is the Brain Messing with Itself.
George Johnson does a nice summary of some current ideas on what consciousness is that were discussed at a recent symposium (live stream here) at The New York... Read more
Posted on 19 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Insurance Makes Sellers of Services Dishonest.
This piece from Kerschbamer et al. really resonates with my experiences in Florida, scam central for health insurance fraud: Honesty is a fundamental pillar... Read more
Posted on 18 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Who Blames the Victim?
Niemi and Young ask What determines whether someone feels sympathy or scorn for the victim of a crime? Is it a function of political affiliation? Of gender? Of... Read more
Posted on 15 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Social Support, Stress, and the Aging Brain
Sherman et al. find that the volume of the amygdala in older adults (a center for stress responses) is positively correlated with stress and negatively... Read more
Posted on 14 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Is Donald Trump's Frontostriatal Connectivity Weakened?
Chester et al. find an interesting correlation between grandiose narcissism and the strength of connections between brain areas that process self-relevant... Read more
Posted on 13 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
The Secrets to a Long and Happy Life.
Going through my queue of references that might become mindblog posts I come across this piece by O'Connor, describing findings from the Harvard Study of Adult... Read more
Posted on 07 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Why We Become More Cautious with Age.
Rutledge et al. find that the decrease in risk-taking that occurs on aging may be related to dopamine-modulated changes in Pavlovian approach behavior, and not ... Read more
Posted on 06 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
A Simple Model for Why Moderate Beliefs Rarely Prevail.
I attend the weekly chaos and complexity seminar at the University of Wisconsin when I am in Madison WI during the summer. I want to pass on the paper by... Read more
Posted on 05 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
How Exercise Enhances Brain Renewal and Growth.
Several studies by now have shown that exercises enhances the production of BDNF (Brain Derived Trophic Factor), which leads to the creation of new nerve cells... Read more
Posted on 01 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Cognitive Fatigue Increases Impulsivity.
Sort of makes sense.. Blain et al. show that if you use your lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) for control process required for an extended intense workday, its... Read more
Posted on 30 June 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Training Our Brains Without Our Awareness.
There is growing interest in the use of neurofeedback (NF) as a tool to study and treat various clinical conditions. The uses of NF are diverse, ranging across ... Read more
Posted on 28 June 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Much Ado About Grit.
Grit seems to have replaced resilience as the psychological virtue du jour, and like resilience (see Sehgal's piece " on "The profound emptiness of... Read more
Posted on 27 June 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Think Less, Think Better.
In an NYTimes piece, Moshe Bar translates the psycho-speak (which caused me to completely miss the point of the work) of an article describing research done wit... Read more
Posted on 23 June 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Confronting the Prejudiced Brain
I want to pass on a clip from an essay published on the greater good science center's website. The article is worth reading in its entirety, and you should... Read more
Posted on 21 June 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE