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Learning and Memory May Play a Central Role in Synesthesia
People with color-grapheme synesthesia experience color when viewing written letters or numerals, usually with a particular color evoked by each grapheme (i.e., the letter ‘A’ evokes the color red). In a new study, researchers Nathan Witthoft and Jonathan Winawer of Stanford University present data from 11 color grapheme synesthetes who had startlingly similar color-letter pairings that were traceable to childhood toys containing magnetic colored letters. Their findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
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People Seek High-Calorie Foods in Tough Times
Bad news about the economy could cause you to pack on the pounds, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study shows that when
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In the Land of the Free, Interdependence Undermines Americans’ Motivation to Act
Public campaigns that call upon people to think and act interdependently may undermine motivation for many Americans, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Americans are repeatedly exposed to messages urging them to think and act with others in mind, telling us, for example, to act sustainably by bringing reusable bags to the grocery store or to act responsibly by getting a flu shot. Researchers MarYam Hamedani, Hazel Rose Markus, and Alyssa Fu of Stanford University wondered what impact these kinds of appeals have in a culture that stresses independence.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research on visual perception published in Psychological Science. Linguistic Representations of Motion Do Not Depend on the Visual Motion System Andrea Pavan and Giosuè Baggio How is the meaning of a verb phrase describing motion constructed? Some theories say the construction relies on representations of motion in the sensory cortex, but others disagree. Participants were adapted to actual leftward or rightward motion or implied leftward or rightward motion.
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Want to Ace That Interview? Make Sure Your Strongest Competition Is Interviewed On a Different Day
Whether an applicant receives a high or low score may have more to do with who else was interviewed that day than the overall strength of the applicant pool, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Drawing on previous research on the gambler fallacy, Uri Simonsohn of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School hypothesized that admissions interviewers would have a difficult time seeing the forest for the trees.
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Implicit Race Bias Increases the Differences in the Neural Representations of Black and White Faces
Racial stereotypes have been shown to have subtle and unintended consequences on how we treat members of different race groups. According to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, race bias also increases differences in the brain’s representations of faces. Psychological scientists Tobias Brosch of the University of Geneva in Switzerland and Eyal Bar-David and Elizabeth Phelps of New York University examined activity in the brain while participants looked at pictures of White and Black faces. Afterwards, participants performed a task that assessed their unconscious or implicit expression of race attitudes.
