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Our Brains May Process Silence and Sounds the Same Way
Can you hear the sound of silence? It’s a question that may seem better suited to a philosophy class (or a Simon & Garfunkel concert) than a science lab, but a new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests people really can “hear” the absence of noise. If the finding holds up, it could help researchers better understand the way the human auditory system processes sound, as well as the lack thereof. “We can certainly appreciate silences, cognitively,” says Ned Block, a philosopher at New York University who wasn’t involved in the work.
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Images in the Mind’s Eye Are Quick Sketches That Lack Simple, Real-World Details
Here were the simple instructions given by a Harvard University assistant professor to people participating in a recent cognitive science study: “Imagine the following scene. Visualize it in your mind’s eye, as vividly as you can: a person walks into a room and knocks a ball off a table.” The professor, Tomer Ullman, then asked those in the study about nine properties of their mental images, including the color and size of the ball, the shape and size of the table, and the person’s hair color and height. If you are anything like the people in the study, you only visualized a subset of all of these properties. Did you see how big the ball was? How about the person’s hair color?
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2 Reasons Why We Need to Spend More Time Thinking About Nothing, According to a Psychologist
According to a classic study published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, it is likely that the more we use our brains, the less age-related cognitive decline we experience. But what does this really mean? Does it mean that we all need to become around-the-clock thinkers and information processing machines? Probably not. Humans are expected to keep up with the blazing speed of technological advancement today. This inevitably leads to the fast-paced life we are all familiar with. Given the relentless pace of modern life, it is unsurprising that the prevalence of mental illness is increasing. ...
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The Curious Personality Changes of Older Age
You’ve probably heard the saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” An awful phrase, I know, but it speaks to a common belief about older adulthood: that it’s a time of stagnation. A time when we’ve become so set in our ways that, whether we’re proud of them or not, we’re not likely to budge. Psychologists used to follow the same line of thinking: After young adulthood, people tend to settle into themselves, and personality, though not immutable, usually becomes stabler as people age. And that’s true—until a certain point. More recent studies suggest that something unexpected happens to many people as they reach and pass their 60s: Their personality starts changing again. ...
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Understanding Childhood Adversity Across Time and Cultures
Podcast: Children have faced threats and deprivation at varied levels across time, favoring the ability to tailor development to different conditions. Researchers Willem Frankenhuis and Dorsa Amir discuss their findings.
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Water-Scarce Cultures Value Long-Term Thinking More Than Their Water-Rich Neighbors Do
Even in modern environments with easy access to water, cultural responses shaped by historical water scarcity still influence individuals’ decision-making processes.
