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The Eyes Are the Window to Your Potential Soul Mate
Pacific Standard: John and Stephanie Cacioppo, University of Chicago neuroscientists who are married to each other, study love. And lust. Recently, the couple wanted to find out whether people look at potential mates differently if they perceive a long-term companion as opposed to a temporary sexual partner. Their latest collaboration involved gathering 20 heterosexual college students (13 women and seven men) and showing them black-and-white photos of members of the opposite sex. The researchers used tracking software to record participants’ eye movements and asked subjects to report whether an image elicited feelings of romance or lust. Read the whole story: Pacific Standard
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The Dilemma of the Depressed Mother-to-Be
The Atlantic: Another potentially deadly outcome is persistent newborn pulmonary hypertension (PPHN), a condition that occurs when a newborn’s cardiac system fails to transition normally after birth. Numerous studies have shown that SSRI use late in pregnancy increases the risk of PPHN, some by as much as fivefold. In 2006, the FDA issued a public health advisory based on a study that found six times the risk of PPHN, but then five years later issued a retraction of sorts after subsequent studies did not find an elevated risk. Even in the face of such muddy conclusions, to me the choice initially seemed obvious: Stop taking the meds and tough it out for the sake of the child.
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Bicyclists Beware: The Psychology of Car-Bike Crash Risks
With bike-sharing programs in more than 500 cities worldwide accounting for a combined fleet of over 500,000 bicycles, cars are increasingly sharing urban streets with bicycles. When crashes between bikes and cars occur they are often particularly dangerous for the cyclist. In 2012 alone, 722 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles-- a 6 percent increase from 2011, according to US government statistics. To better understand the cause of crashes between cars and bikes, psychological scientists Nadine Chaurand and Patricia Delhomme of The French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport looked at differences in how cyclists and drivers perceive traffic risks.
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Dan Ariely wants to help manage your time
The Washington Post: Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University who wrote the popular book Predictably Irrational, has a portfolio of apps he helped create for the iPhone. One, called Oranges2Apples, helped illustrate the economic concept of opportunity cost by showing people what else they could buy if they didn't spend money on a selected item. Another, called At A Boy, doled out compliments to the user (presumably to help with his research).
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What Do Great Musicians Have in Common? DNA
Scientific American: At age 13, jazz great Thelonious Monk ran into trouble at Harlem's Apollo Theater. The reason: he was too good. The famously precocious pianist was, as they say, a “natural,” and by that point had won the Apollo’s amateur competition so many times that he was barred from re-entering. To be sure, Monk practiced, a lot actually. But two new studies, and the fact that he taught himself to read music as a child before taking a single lesson, suggest that he likely had plenty of help from his genes.
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Set goals and you just may live longer
Market Watch: Remember the saying "idle hands are the devil's workshop?" And your mother's admonition to "keep busy?" Turns out they may actually be healthful advice to live by. New research published in Psychological Science suggests that having purpose in life can promote healthy aging and increase longevity. While purposefulness has long been known to lower mortality, this is the first study that documents its benefits in younger, middle-aged and older persons. The study also found that setting goals and good interpersonal relationships are key components to healthy aging and increased lifespan. Read the whole story: Market Watch
