-
The Perils of Trying to Unlearn
There are tons of studies about how to improve learning, but what happens when we want to unlearn is less clear. Research on learning by association goes back to Pavlov’s famous experiments in which he taught a dog to expect food at the sound of a bell, but scientists have found that getting a dog — or human — to forget an association once they’ve learned it is really hard. A new paper published in Perspectives on Psychological Science describes how scientists have attempted to change associations.
-
No Bad Luck This Friday Unless You Think it Will Happen
Have you watched the movie Friday the 13th? Scary, isn’t it? Well, perhaps not quite as scary as the infamous Rebecca Black song, “Friday” - but close enough. If you are one of those who carries around a rabbit's foot and strokes it all day long for good luck or makes a wish after blowing away a fallen eyelash – then you are probably in the midst of bolting your doors, turning on all the lights and hiding under the comforting warmth of your comforter. Tomorrow just so happens to be Friday the 13th and if you have friggatriskaidekaphobia – it’s simply not a day to be trifled with. Frigga what you say? And yes, attempting to say it can just as well be as terrifying as its definition.
-
Cultural Ties
When a child learns to tie her shoes —perhaps using the “bunny ears” method or the “squirrel and the tree” — her parents probably don’t think of the lesson as a moment of cultural reinforcement. But in the midst of a debate over culture and cognition, a group of five psychological scientists at Northwestern University’s MOSAIC lab noticed their shoe-tying methods were as diverse as the countries they represented. The lesson: Culture permeates nearly everything we do, even mundane routines that we think are neutral. For more on culture and science, read the April 2012 Presidential Column Everything is Cultural by APS President Douglas L. Medin.
-
HPA Activation Leads to Sex Differences in Spatial Attention
In case you missed it, the cameras were rolling at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC. Watch Melissa VanderKaay Tomasulo from St. Michael's College present her poster session research. Stressors in your life, such as navigating traffic or doing a public presentation, activate two main biological stress systems: The HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) and the SAM axis (sympatho-adrenomedullary axis). Stress research in humans has generally focused on verbal learning and memory. But Melissa M. VanderKaay Tomasulo of Saint Michael's College, along withAnthony E.
-
A Wandering Mind Reveals Mental Processes and Priorities
Odds are you're not going to make it all the way through this article without thinking about something else. In fact, studies have found that our minds are wandering half the time, drifting off to thoughts unrelated to what we're doing — did I remember to turn off the light? What should I have for dinner? A new study investigating the mental processes underlying a wandering mind reports a role for working memory, a sort of a mental workspace that allows you to juggle multiple thoughts simultaneously. Imagine you see your neighbor upon arriving home one day and schedule a lunch date.
-
How to Beat Bad News
There’s a lot of bad news out there, and sometimes it’s hard not to assume that the next flu pandemic, terrorist attack, or natural disaster is just around the corner. If remembering frightening, high-profile events makes you feel bad, APS Fellow David Barlow suggests that you confront your negative feelings head on. Ten years after the September 11 attacks, Barlow said that ramped-up airport security and color-coded threat assessments from the Department of Homeland Security serve as constant reminders that something terrible could happen at any moment. The consequence, he says, has been an increase in anxiety among Americans.
