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New insight into how children learn maths
BBC: Eight-year-olds gained a deeper understanding of mathematical principles by using their hands as well as their brains, say US psychologists. Children were taught to solve formulae such as: "4 + 2 + 6 = _ + 6" by making a V-point beneath the numbers to be added, then pointing at the blank. The actions helped in generalisation, a report in Psychological Science says. Previous studies have shown that gesture helps learning. Psychologists think that when children move and make gestures, they are able to express ideas physically, which helps the learning process.
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Surprise! The Subconscious Mind Is Super Lie Detector
LiveScience: Human beings are abysmal at detecting lies consciously, but their subconscious mind may have a better nose for deceit, new research suggests. People who are asked to detect people lying about a theft do no better than chance when asked to explicitly sniff out the liars, but are more likely to link liars with words like "untruthful," according to a study published online March 21 in the journal Psychological Science. ... Scores of studies have shown that humans are bad lie detectors.
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So You Think You’re Smarter Than A CIA Agent
NPR: The morning I met Elaine Rich, she was sitting at the kitchen table of her small town home in suburban Maryland trying to estimate refugee flows in Syria. It wasn't the only question she was considering; there were others: Will North Korea launch a new multistage missile before May 10, 2014? Will Russian armed forces enter Kharkiv, Ukraine, by May 10? Rich's answers to these questions would eventually be evaluated by the intelligence community, but she didn't feel much pressure because this wasn't her full-time gig. "I'm just a pharmacist," she said. "Nobody cares about me, nobody knows my name, I don't have a professional reputation at stake.
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Feeling Grateful Makes You A Better Saver And Investor, Study Shows
Forbes: How were you feeling the day you had to turn in the form telling your benefits department what percent of your salary you wanted to set aside for your 401K? Or the time you were deciding to rack up $5,000 in credit card debt so you and your spouse could take a two-week cycling vacation in the south of France? What mood were you in when you got that $10,000 check from your late aunt’s estate and were debating whether to invest it all in your Vanguard index fund or spend$1,500 on that leather jacket you’d been coveting?
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Taking Notes by Hand Benefits Recall, Researchers Find
The Chronicle of Higher Education: Distractions posed by laptops in the classroom have been a common concern, but new research suggests that even if laptops are used strictly to take notes, typing notes hinders students’ academic performance compared with writing notes on paper with a pen or pencil. Daniel M.
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Why do humans laugh? (Hint: It’s rarely because something’s funny.)
Slate: On Jan. 30, 1962, three schoolgirls started giggling in a boarding school classroom in the northeastern corner of what is now Tanzania—and touched off a very strange epidemic. The three couldn’t stop laughing—and soon the uncontrollable cackles spread to their classmates. The laughing attacks lasted from a few minutes up to a few hours; one poor girl reportedly experienced symptoms for 16 straight days. Victims couldn’t focus on their schoolwork, and would lash out if others tried to restrain them. When 95 of the school’s 159 pupils had come down with what came to be known as omuneepo, the Swahili word for laughing disease, the school shut down.
