-
Head Games: How Visual Illusions Improve Sports Performance
TIME: It’s that time of year again. March Madness is around the corner and athletes — and inspired fans — are aiming to improve their performance on the court. It turns out, the secret to game-time success may lie in players’ imaginations. A new study finds that athletes are more likely to score when they think their target — be it a basket or golf hole — is larger than it really is. Researchers from Purdue University studied 36 college students putting into a golf hole up a ramp. Using a projector, the researchers created an optical illusion that showed a ring of circles around the golf hole which altered its perceived size.
-
Newer states spawn unique names
The Columbian: When Washougal residents Kyle and Dianna Curtis had their first daughter, Brooklynn, they wanted to give her a unique name that would epitomize her personality. “I wanted a unique but not a farfetched, ridiculous name,” Dianna Curtis said. Nationwide, names have become more unconventional in the past 20 years in tandem with an increasing value placed on individualism, according to a 2010 study by researchers from San Diego State University and the University of Georgia. “In recent times, … the culture emphasizes uniqueness more than past eras or eastern states,” said Jean Twenge, psychology professor at San Diego State University, who co-authored the study.
-
The science of touch
Men's Health: Your skin is two square metres of intimate sensory data. And haptics, the branch of psychology that interprets this information, has recently made some interesting discoveries: according to a study published in the journal Psychological Science, just being touched by a member of the opposite sex is enough to turn off your neural response to stress. Read the whole story: Men's Health
-
Größenwahn: Macht verzerrt die Selbstwahrnehmung
Web.de: Dazu gingen die Forscher um Michelle M. Duguid von der Washington University folgendermaßen vor: Sie luden 100 männliche und weibliche Testpersonen zu einem Rollenspiel ein. In einem vorab absolvierten Persönlichkeitstest sollten die Teilnehmer zunächst ihre Führungsqualitäten unter Beweis stellen. Angeblich erhielten sie abhängig vom Ergebnis entweder die Rolle des Bosses - oder die des Untergebenen. Tatsächlich aber wurden die Rollen per Zufall verteilt. Read the whole story: Web.de weiter lesen: http://web.de/magazine/gesundheit/psychologie/14594342-groessenwahn-macht-verzerrt-die-selbstwahrnehmung.html#.A1000145
-
Today in Research: Memory Loss in Combat
The Atlantic: That's a single minute. Or, in other words, a very short amount of time. Think of all the many minutes soldiers or police officers spend using "physical exertion in a threatening situation," as the study defines combat. Now think of all the lost memories. Looking at a group of police officers, researchers determined the effects of these situations on their brains. "As exhaustion takes over, cognitive resources tend to diminish. The ability to fully shift attention is inhibited, so even potentially relevant information might not be attended to. Ultimately, memory is determined by what we can process and attend to," explained Dr. Lorraine Hope. Read the whole story: The Atlantic
-
Throwing Light on the Dark Side
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there may be someone who has not heard of “the dark side.” But I think that’s unlikely. Whether you are a Star Wars aficionado or not, there is no doubt that these hugely popular movies have saturated the culture and the common vocabulary. As Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi explained to the innocent young Luke Skywalker in the original 1977 film, the once virtuous Darth Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force, his destructive power fueled by rage and hate. The dark side is all the galaxy’s evils rolled together. Of course, Star Wars creator George Lucas did not invent the metaphor of the dark side. Not even remotely.
