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What scientists are doing about creepy CGI humans
msnbc: A century ago, psychologists identified "the uncanny" as an experience that seems familiar yet foreign at the same time, causing some sort of brain confusion and, ultimately, a feeling of fear or repulsion. Originally no more than a scientific curiosity, this psychological effect has gradually emerged as a profound problem in the fields of robotics and computer animation. The most familiar things in the world to us — the voices, appearances and behavior of humans — are being replicated with increasing veracity by animators and robotics engineers.
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Parents Urged Again to Limit TV for Youngest
The New York Times: Parents of infants and toddlers should limit the time their children spend in front of televisions, computers, self-described educational games and even grown-up shows playing in the background, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned on Tuesday. Video screen time provides no educational benefits for children under age 2 and leaves less room for activities that do, like interacting with other people and playing, the group said.
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One in 10 ‘Shy’ Kids May Have Social Phobia
Yahoo! : Many kids go through a shy or "awkward" phase at some point in adolescence, but shyness can become more than a stint of social timidity. Twelve percent of youths who call themselves may actually be socially phobic, according to research from the National Institute of Mental Health. The research, published Monday, appears in the journal Pediatrics. Some scholars, however, hesitate to classify social phobia as a mental disorder, suggesting that doing so could "medicalize" normal shyness and lead to overmedication of young people who in the past were merely considered introverted.
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Beauty in the Brain of the Beholder
Why is it that what one art critic considers a masterpiece looks like a child’s finger painting to someone else? Psychological scientists are looking for answers by analyzing art, society, and the human brain. In a paper published in March 2011 by the Journal of Cognitive Psychology, Annukka K. Lindell and Julia Mueller review scientific research addressing subjective visual art appreciation. While Lindell and Mueller acknowledge that science may never be able to predict anyone’s reaction to a piece of art with complete accuracy, they also report that studying the psychology of visual art has allowed scientists to understand which variables contribute to our preferences.
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Experimental Psychological Society 2012 Meetings
The Experimental Psychological Society will hold three scientific meetings in 2012: January 5-6, 2012: University College of London, UK April 12-13, 2012: University of Hull, UK July 11-13, 2010: University of Bristol, UK For more information visit: http://www.eps.ac.uk/index.php/meetings-of-the-society
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The Political Effects Of Existential Fear
Why did the approval ratings of President George W. Bush— who was perceived as indecisive before September 11, 2001—soar over 90 percent after the terrorist attacks? Because Americans were acutely aware of their own deaths. That is one lesson from the psychological literature on “mortality salience” reviewed in a new article called “The Politics of Mortal Terror.” The paper, by psychologists Florette Cohen of the City University of New York’s College of Staten Island and Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College, appears in October’s Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science.
