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Most Fitness Apps Don’t Use Proven Motivational Techniques
NPR: If you downloaded a fitness app and didn't become a workout ninja, it may be that the app lacked the scientifically tested motivational techniques that would help get you off the couch. Instead, most popular fitness apps focus more on teaching you how to do the exercise, according to researchers at Penn State University who analyzed the 200 top apps. "You need motivational support to turn that knowledge into action," says David Conroy, a kinesiology professor at Penn State who led the study, which was published Tuesday in theAmerican Journal of Preventive Medicine. And that's where most of the 200 apps examined fell flat.
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Doing This And That: Are You A Precrastinator?
This morning, while the coffee was brewing, I walked out my back door, strolled to my mailbox at the curb, and strolled back. Along the way, I picked up not only yesterday’s mail, but also the daily paper, which had been tossed on the lawn, and an empty garbage can. I put the garbage can back where it belongs, near the garage, and brought the mail and paper inside. I did this without a glitch, effortlessly. Or so it seemed. Of course, it was not effortless. I had to lift and walk and carry and lift again, and so forth. I also had to plan. Should I walk all the way to the mailbox, get the mail, then pick up the paper? Or grab the garbage can on the way to the curb?
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The Part of Your Brain That Made You Eat That Doughnut
TIME: If you’re like most people, your brain rarely gets straight A’s when it comes to resisting temptation. We know the dangers of eating too much, of drinking too much, of drugs or gambling or having an extramarital romp. But faced with the food or the drink or the buzz or the fling—faced with the fun, in other words—we too often give in. The problem, it turns out, is not with your brain as a whole, but with a battle for dominance between two parts of it: the nucleus accumbens (where the good times roll) and the inferior frontal gyrus (where the bouncer lives).
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The Best Way To Remember Something? Take Notes By Hand
Fast Company: Headed into an important meeting? Grab a pen. Taking notes longhand will help you remember information better than typing them out, according to new research from a pair of psychologists from Princeton University and UCLA. The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, compared how well more than 300 students retained information after taking notes on 15-minute TED Talks either by hand or with a laptop. Across three different experiments, the researchers found that taking notes with a laptop can be detrimental to learning.
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The Joys Of Spoiling
NPR: In the age of the Internet, the act of spoiling is easier than ever before. Through live-tweeting and message boards and comments sections, the information is out there and spreads quickly. But why do some people enjoy revealing certain information about stories — surprises and finales and more — before others have had the opportunity to experience it? We could tell you what we think now. But that would spoil the rest of this story. Read the whole story: NPR
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The problem with that amazing speed-reading app
Smartplanet: In February, a company called Spritz unveiled an app to dramatically increase your reading speed. The idea is that words are fed to readers one at a time, with each word popping up in the same place to reduce the inefficiency of moving your eyes across a page. It's a fascinating idea and fun to be able read a few sentences at 500 words per minute. But, like us, scientists questioned the reading comprehension level for those who use this type of speed reading app. A new study from the University of California, San Diego addressed this question based on previous knowledge that readers move their eyes to reread text about 10 to 15 percent of the time.
