Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2661 )

• How Biased Are Our Brains?

  Kristof reviews some recent work on unconscious bias, particularly racial bias. Scholars suggest that in evolutionary times we became hard-wired to make... Read more

  Posted on 28 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• After Phrenology: Neural Reuse and the Interactive Brain

  I've been reading through an interesting article by Michael Anderson, a précis of a book accepted for publication and available as a PDF through BBS. Read more

  Posted on 27 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Neural Basis of Anxiety Reduction by Placebo.

  Meyer et al. directly measure neural consequences of expecting a placebo treatment to be effective in relieving anxiety: The beneficial effects of placebo... Read more

  Posted on 26 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Alarm Amplifies Through Social Networks.

  We've all probably played the parlor game with 10 or more people sitting in a circle, with one whispering a word into the ear of the person to their right,... Read more

  Posted on 25 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Modulating Movement Intention and the Extended Present with tDCS.

  Douglas et al. do a fascinating bit of work on the 'extended present' in which our brains function, during which our experienced intention to make a movement... Read more

  Posted on 22 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Brain Correlates of Loving Kindness Meditation.

  Garrison and collaborators extend their work on brain correlates of meditation practice, noting again a central role for the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneu... Read more

  Posted on 21 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Essentialism

  I pass on some clips from Richard Dawkins' brief essay, and suggest you also take a look at Lisa Barrett's comments on essentialist views of the mind:... Read more

  Posted on 20 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• What to Do with Brain Markers That Predict Future Behaviors?

  

  An interesting review from Gabrieli et al. suggesting how predicting individual futures with neuromarkers might make a pragmatic contribution to human welfare. Read more

  Posted on 19 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• More Comment on Anti-aging Regimes

  A recent brief review by Jane Brodie points to work showing a small effect of cognitive training programs engaging memory, reasoning, or speed of processing. Read more

  Posted on 18 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Grasp Posture of Our Hands Biases Our Visual Processing.

  Fascinating observations from Laura Thomas: Observers experience biases in visual processing for objects within easy reach of their hands; these biases may... Read more

  Posted on 15 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Literary (like Musical and Athletic) Expertise Shifts Brain Activity to the...

  Erhard et al. find that creative writing by expert versus amateur writers is associated with more activation in the caudate nucleus, the same area that become... Read more

  Posted on 14 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Human Purpose

  The recent NYTimes David Brooks Op-Ed piece “What is your purpose?” has drawn a lot of feedback and comment. He laments the passing the era of lofty authority... Read more

  Posted on 13 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Trust and the Insula

  From Belfi et al: Reciprocal trust is a crucial component of cooperative, mutually beneficial social relationships. Previous research using tasks that require... Read more

  Posted on 12 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Immensity of the Vacated Present.

  The title of this post is a phrase from a recent essay by Vivian Gornick, "The cost of daydreaming," describing an experience that very much resonates with my... Read more

  Posted on 11 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Yet Another Self Therapy Electrical Widget.

  I've done a number of posts on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Entering 'transcranial' in MindBlog's search box takes you to posts on tDCS... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Observing Brain Correlates of Social Interactions.

  

  Bilek et al. look at coordinated brain activity during social interactions between two people in a joint attention paradigm, using a hyperscanning procedure in... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Early Environment and Stress Systems in Children.

  Most of the detailed work on the long term effects of adverse early life environment on stress response systems has been done with rodent models. McLaughlin et... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Cognitive Training Enhances Intrinsic Brain Connectivity in Childhood.

  A fascinating open access article from Astle et al., who found changes in brain connectivity in 8-11 year old children who completed 20 sessions of... Read more

  Posted on 06 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Ideology Distorts Perception of Social Mobility in the U.S.

  I find it interesting that I share the same misperception of social mobility changes that are noted in this piece of work by Chambers et al.: The ability to mov... Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Economic Origins of Ultrasociality

  Gowdy and Krall, in a manuscript under review by Behavioral and Brain Sciences, argue that the transition to agriculture in ants, termites, and our humans... Read more

  Posted on 04 May 2015 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE