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Why Names Are So Easy to Forget
The Atlantic: Once, at a party, I was introduced to a friend of a friend. We shook hands, I told her my name, she told me hers. Then she did something that I was ever so grateful for. "Hang on," she said. "Can you say your name again? I wasn't really listening." She saved me from having to later—possibly even at the same party—sheepishly admit that I, too, had already forgotten her name. An informal poll of fellow Atlantic staffers confirmed my suspicion that this is something that happens to even the most kind and conscientious among us. No sooner does someone utter the most fundamental factoid about themselves than the information flees our brains forever.
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Can Where the Wild Things Are Teach Kids Empathy?
New York Magazine: Kids who spend their early years lost in the imaginary worlds of children’s fiction —Where the Wild Things Are, Corduroy,Beatrix Potter’s stories of Peter Rabbit — may be getting more out of the stories than pure entertainment. Narrative fiction seems to make young children more empathetic, according to research presented at this weekend’s American Psychological Association convention in San Francisco. Fiction, of course, lets you see the world through another set of eyes, and that isn’t lost on young children, argued York University psychologist Raymond Mar.
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Children’s Drawings May Indicate Later Intelligence
How 4-year-old children draw pictures of a child is an indicator of intelligence at age 14, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Researchers studied 7,752 pairs of identical and non-identical twins (a total of 15,504 children) from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) in the UK, and found that the link between drawing and later intelligence seemed to be influenced by genes. At the age of 4, children were asked by their parents to complete a ‘Draw-a-Child’ test, i.e. draw a picture of a child.
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One of science’s most baffling questions? Why we yawn
BBC: Mid-conversation with Robert Provine, I have a compelling urge, rising from deep inside my body. The more I try to quash it, the more it seems to spread, until it consumes my whole being. Eventually, it is all I can think about – but how can I stop myself from yawning? Provine tells me this often happens when people are talking to him; during presentations, he sometimes finds the majority of his audience with their mouths agape and tonsils swinging. Luckily, as a psychologist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and author of Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, and Beyond, he isn’t offended. “It makes a very effective lecture,” he says.
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On the road to happiness, a pleasant surprise beats a sure thing
The Washington Post: Do you remember the last time you were dreading something, only to have it turn out to be a pleasant surprise? Maybe it was a bad summer blockbuster you were forced to watch, or a blind date set up by your parents. You turn up, grumbling and prepared to hate every second of it. But then a funny thing happens: You crack a smile--laugh out loud, even--and before you know it, you're having a grand old time. It turns out that the element of surprise has a big impact on how we feel from moment to moment and that we're happier when satisfied unexpectedly instead of certain of a positive outcome in advance, according to a new mathematical model of happiness.
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Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain
The New York Times: This month, many Americans will take time off from work to go on vacation, catch up on household projects and simply be with family and friends. And many of us will feel guilty for doing so. We will worry about all of the emails piling up at work, and in many cases continue to compulsively check email during our precious time off. But beware the false break. Make sure you have a real one. The summer vacation is more than a quaint tradition. Along with family time, mealtime and weekends, it is an important way that we can make the most of our beautiful brains. Read the whole story: The New York Times
