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Navigating Divisive Conversations: Why We Underestimate the Benefits
Podcast: Under the Cortex hosts Kristina Wald to discuss the benefits of talking about divisive topics, even when speaking with those who disagree, and how we can better approach polarized discussions.
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Why You Should Change Your Exercise Routine—and How to Do It
The alarm clock blares, and you reach for your running shoes without thinking about it. Next thing you know, you’re jogging through your neighborhood on the same route as every other morning. ... Katy Milkman, an economist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, studies these types of changes, called temptation bundling. The added pieces “complement your workout in ways that make the activity more enjoyable,” she says, boosting average weekly workouts by 10-12%. When you tire of a podcast, picking a new one is easier than upsetting the whole exercise apple cart. “Variety is created through shifting the bundle,” says Milkman, author of the book How to Change.
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Medical and Psychological Harms of Obesity Depend on Where You Live, Study Indicates
The results of a new study suggest that individuals struggling with obesity face a number of social and health difficulties, but those problems are less severe if they live in areas where obesity is prevalent.
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How Your Brain Detects Patterns without Conscious Thought
The human brain is constantly picking up patterns in everyday experiences — and can do so without conscious thought, finds a study of neuronal activity in people who had electrodes implanted in their brain tissue for medical reasons. The study shows that neurons in key brain regions combine information on what occurs and when, allowing the brain to pick out the patterns in events as they unfold over time. That helps the brain to predict coming events, the authors say. The work was published today in Nature. “The brain does a lot of things that we are not consciously aware of,” says Edvard Moser, a neuroscientist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.
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Combating Misinformation Runs Deeper Than Swatting Away ‘Fake News’
Americans are increasingly concerned about online misinformation, especially in light of recent news that the Justice Department seized 32 domains linked to a Russian influence operation interfering in U.S. politics, including the 2024 presidential election. Policy makers, pundits and the public widely accept that social media users are awash in “fake news,” and that these false claims shape everything from voting to vaccinations. In striking contrast, however, the academic research community is embroiled in a vigorous debate about the extent of the misinformation problem.
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Memory Loss Isn’t the Only Sign of Dementia
... In a study published last year, researchers found that people with dementia experienced slight drops in extroversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness before they showed any signs of cognitive impairment. Those personality changes accelerated as more dementia symptoms emerged, said Angelina Sutin, a professor of behavioral sciences and social medicine at Florida State University, who led the study. While the research was conducted using a standardized personality test, there are a few changes in everyday behavior that you can watch out for. A decrease in extroversion, for example, may look like a person becoming more withdrawn, or a narrowing of their social circle.
