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10 Ways We Get Smarter As We Age
TIME: As we age, the brain‘s processing speed begins to slow, and memory may sometimes slip. But there are other ways that our mental powers grow as we get older. In the current issue of the journal Psychological Science, researchers report that older people (over 65) showed less variability in their cognitive performance across 100 days of testing than did younger people aged 20 to 31. The older adults’ greater consistency “is due to learned strategies to solve the task, a constantly high motivation level, as well as a balanced daily routine and stable mood,” notes one of the scientists, Florian Schmiedek of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany.
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For Disappointed Sports Fans, Defeats Increase Consumption of Fat and Sugar
On the Monday following a big football game, fans of the losing team seem to load up on saturated fats and sugars, whereas supporters of the winning team opt for healthier foods.
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Why Can’t My Computer Understand Me?
The New Yorker: Hector Levesque thinks his computer is stupid—and that yours is, too. Siri and Google’s voice searches may be able to understand canned sentences like “What movies are showing near me at seven o’clock?,” but what about questions—“Can an alligator run the hundred-metre hurdles?”—that nobody has heard before? Any ordinary adult can figure that one out. (No. Alligators can’t hurdle.) But if you type the question into Google, you get information about Florida Gators track and field. Other search engines, like Wolfram Alpha, can’t answer the question, either. Watson, the computer system that won “Jeopardy!,” likely wouldn’t do much better.
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Kids Involved in Bullying Grow Up To Be Poorer, Sicker Adults
NPR: Bullied children and kids who bully others have more health problems when they grow up than kids who aren't part of the bullying cycle, a study finds. They're also more likely to have financial problems, including difficulty keeping a job. The findings run counter to a still-widespread notion that bullying is a childhood rite of passage with little lasting harm, the researchers say. "These kids are continuing to have significant problems in their lives, years after the bullying has stopped," says William Copeland, an associate professor at Duke University School of Medicine and a co-author of the study, which was published in Psychological Science.
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Having a messy desk makes you ‘more creative’
The Telegraph: Working at a messy desk may actually help you think more creatively, according to a new scientific study. Scientists found that being surrounded by clutter can promote creative thinking and stimulate new ideas. In contrast, working at a clean and prim desk may promote healthy eating, generosity and conventionality. The new study was conducted by psychological scientist Professor Kathleen Vohs and fellow researchers at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. They mapped the behaviour of people working on messy and clean desks with a series of experiments. Read the whole story: The Telegraph
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Why do we feel schadenfreude?
CNN: When other people suffer misfortunes, we feel sorry for them. Or do we? More than we probably want to admit, we sometimes are secretly pleased. Does a Red Sox fan feel happy to see a Yankee fan miserable over a humiliating loss? Would a Democrat ever tire of watching replays of Mitt Romney's Etch A Sketch moments? Do you find yourself consuming the tabloid news, riveted by coverage of disasters in the gossip columns? ... Social neuroscientists Mina Cikara, Matthew Botvinick, and Susan Fiske in a study published in Psychological Science provided more corroborating evidence for schadenfreude using sports fans rather than political junkies. Read the whole story: CNN
