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So much to do! And so little time!
The Christmas season is a hectic time for many people. There are all those cards to write and mail, presents to buy and wrap and deliver, perhaps a tree to haul home and trim, plus extra baking and cooking for family and friends. Few of these are leisure activities. Indeed, most holiday tasks are extremely time-pressured, with rigid deadlines. It always seems that time is way too short to get it all done. But is this perception true? Are these deadlines really looming, or do we in fact have more time than we imagine?
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Twin Study Helps Scientists Link Relationship Among ADHD, Reading, Math
Children with ADHD can sometimes have more difficulties on math and reading tests compared to their peers. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, used identical and fraternal twins to look at the genetic and environmental influences underlying ADHD behaviors, reading, and math skills in children in an attempt to better understand the relationship among them. Sara Hart, of the Florida State University, and her colleagues used twins enrolled in a long-term study of reading and math. Hart says by focusing on twins specifically, psychological scientists are able to tease out the difference between nature and nurture.
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fMRI Special Section of Perspectives on Psychological Science
Neuroimaging—is it voodoo, new phrenology, or scientific breakthrough? See what the experts have to say in this special section on fMRI in Perspectives on Psychological Science Neuroimaging: Voodoo, New Phrenology, or Scientific Breakthrough? Introduction to Special Section on fMRI Ed Diener In response to the widespread interest following the publication of Vul et al (2009), Perspectives Editor Ed Diener invited researchers to contribute articles for a special section on fMRI, discussing the promises and issues facing neuroimaging. Gregory A.
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People in Jobs Traditionally Held by the Other Sex Are Judged More Harshly for Mistakes
Researchers find that people are likely to be judged more harshly for mistakes if they’re in a high-powered job that’s not normally associated with their gender.
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Exposure to More Diverse Objects Speeds Word Learning in Tots
Two toddlers are learning the word “cup.” One sees three nearly identical cups; the other sees a tea cup, a sippy cup and a Styrofoam cup. Chances are, the second child will have a better sense of what a cup is and—according to a new University of Iowa study—may even have an advantage as he learns new words. Published this month in the journal Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, the research showed that 18-month-olds who played with a broader array of objects named by shape—for example, groups of bowls or buckets that were less similar in material, size or features—learned new words twice as fast as those who played with more similar objects.
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Imitating Someone’s Accent Makes It Easier to Understand Them
In conversation, we often imitate each other’s speech style and may even change our accent to fit that of the person we're talking to. A recent study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that imitating someone who speaks with a regional or foreign accent may actually help you understand them better. "If people are talking to each other, they tend to sort of move their speech toward each other," says Patti Adank, of the University of Manchester, who cowrote the study with Peter Hagoort and Harold Bekkering from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. People don't only do this with speech, she says.
