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Study Shows Limits on Brain’s Ability to Perceive Multifeatured Objects
New research sheds light on how the brain encodes objects with multiple features, a fundamental task for the perceptual system. The study, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that we have limited ability to perceive mixed color-shape associations among objects that exist in several locations. Research suggests that neurons that encode a certain feature -- shape or color, for example -- fire in synchrony with neurons that encode other features of the same object.
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Is Religion Just an Assortment of Gut Feelings?
The Huffington Post: The vast majority of the planet's seven billion people ascribe to some kind of religious belief -- that is, a faith in things that cannot be proven. This makes no sense from a scientific and psychological point of view, because supernatural beliefs -- in contrast to our evolved thinking in general -- serve no apparent purpose. They don't help us comprehend and navigate the world. Why would the human mind create them, and allow them to persist? ... These are just a few examples of common religious beliefs and practices, drawn from an article to be published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science. There are many more.
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Why Even Radiologists Can Miss A Gorilla Hiding In Plain Sight
NPR: This story begins with a group of people who are expert at looking: the professional searchers known as radiologists. "If you watch radiologists do what they do, [you're] absolutely convinced that they are like superhuman," says Trafton Drew, an attention researcher at Harvard Medical School. About three years ago, Drew started visiting the dark, cavelike "reading rooms" where radiologists do their work. For hours he would stand watching them, in awe that they could so easily see in the images before them things that to Drew were simply invisible. ...
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Feeling anxious? Think again.
Americans' number one fear is public speaking, hands down. Pollsters have reported time and again that the average person dreads speaking more than disease or even death. These polls merely confirm what our sweaty palms and elevated heart beat make undeniable: Standing up and addressing an audience brings out our worst misgivings about performance and failure and the judgment of others. We all experience some measure of social anxiety, but some people suffer much more than others, and not just with public speaking. Dates, job interviews, even idle cocktail chatter—any kind of social encounter can be a source of unbearable dread for people with a social anxiety disorder, or SAD.
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Small Acts, Big Love
The Wall Street Journal: Chris Kline doesn't like to tell his wife of 17 years, Tara, that he loves her. He prefers to show her—by loading her favorite songs on her phone and warming up her car on cold mornings. While she was away on business recently, he surprised her by painting her home office in her favorite colors, Mardi Gras purple and gold. "Saying 'I love you' is just words," says Mr. Kline, a 42-year-old engineer from Shoemakersville, Pa. "I like to do things that require effort, planning and a little bit of sacrifice.
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Love is in the mind, not in the heart
The Washington Post: Nearly 400 years after William Shakespeare asked, "What is love?," brain imaging studies are allowing scientists to give at least a partial answer. As our calendars get closer to Feb. 14, a day when passion is deeply associated with the heart, love will in fact be in the mind. A recent study shows love is a complex emotion triggered by 12 specific areas of the brain — the network of love. Read the whole story: The Washington Post
