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The problem with that amazing speed-reading app
Smartplanet: In February, a company called Spritz unveiled an app to dramatically increase your reading speed. The idea is that words are fed to readers one at a time, with each word popping up in the same place to reduce the inefficiency of moving your eyes across a page. It's a fascinating idea and fun to be able read a few sentences at 500 words per minute. But, like us, scientists questioned the reading comprehension level for those who use this type of speed reading app. A new study from the University of California, San Diego addressed this question based on previous knowledge that readers move their eyes to reread text about 10 to 15 percent of the time.
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Facial Expressions Aren’t As Universal As Scientists Have Thought
Popular Science: For nearly half a century, social scientists have operated under the assumption that all basic human emotions are universally recognizable. Countless cross-cultural experiments—not to mention a few television shows—have both directly and implicitly referenced the notion that every person on earth expresses facial emotion in the same way. Regardless of cultural context, we can all interpret happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust in the expressions of the people around us. Led by Northeastern University's Dr.
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Word-streaming tech may spell trouble for readers
ScienceNews: In the brave new digital world of reading, words flash by one at a time on the tiny screens of smart watches and phones. This portable, pageless story doesn’t end well for people keen on understanding what they’ve read, say psychologist Elizabeth Schotter of the University of California, San Diego and her colleagues. Rereading words salvages understanding of initially confusing passages, Schotter’s team reports April 18 in Psychological Science. Software that presents words one at a time makes it impossible to scan previously read words and phrases, undermining text comprehension, the scientists say. Read the whole story: ScienceNews
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Discrimination starts even before grad school, study finds
Nature: Most would acknowledge that women and minorities already face more hurdles in academia than their white, male peers. A lack of mentors, occasionally overt discrimination and the academy’s poor work-life balance, are well-documented issues. But now a study has suggested that these groups may be at a disadvantage even before the starting whistle sounds.
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See Jane Evolve: Picture Books Explain Darwin
The Wall Street Journal: Evolution by natural selection is one of the best ideas in all of science. It predicts and explains an incredibly wide range of biological facts. But only 60% of Americans believe evolution is true. This may partly be due to religious ideology, of course, but studies show that many secular people who say they believe in evolution still don't really understand it. Why is natural selection so hard to understand and accept? What can we do to make it easier? A new study in Psychological Science by Deborah Kelemen of Boston University and colleagues helps to explain why evolution is hard to grasp.
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Gratitude Is the New Willpower
Harvard Business Review: Patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to building capital. But as with most virtues, it’s not always easy to muster, since it usually requires resisting temptations for gratification on the sooner side. Should you put the extra $1,000 earned this month in your retirement savings or use it to buy a new suit? Should you approve money from the firm’s “rainy-day” fund to cover travel for senior executives (yourself included) to a lavish conference this summer or let it continue to accrue as a buffer for future challenges?
