Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2661 )

• Competition Does Not Improve Quality of Work.

  I have always been phobic about competition, especially in my scientific laboratory work, because I could feel its toxic effects on my risk taking, spontaneity... Read more

  Posted on 03 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Turn-taking Skills Unique to Humans?

  In yet another "humans are unique with respect to...." type article Melis, Tomasello and collaborators do experiments showing that humans differ in their abilit... Read more

  Posted on 02 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Zapping Your Brain at Home.

  Mindblog has done a number of posts on transcranial electrical stimulation, usually reporting some beneficial cognitive or emotional effects (enter 'transcrania... Read more

  Posted on 01 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Worldwide Internet Access from Light Based Wireless Communication

  Under the "random curious stuff" category in MindBlog's subtitle, I want to point to this NYTimes piece that fascinated me by using some simple analogies to... Read more

  Posted on 29 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Abstract Thinking in Newborn Ducklings!

  

  Martinho and Kacelnik have shown that duckings imprint on the relational concept of "same or different." From Wasserman's perspective on the work: Adhering to... Read more

  Posted on 28 July 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• 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