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What scientists are doing about creepy CGI humans
msnbc: A century ago, psychologists identified "the uncanny" as an experience that seems familiar yet foreign at the same time, causing some sort of brain confusion and, ultimately, a feeling of fear or repulsion. Originally no more than a scientific curiosity, this psychological effect has gradually emerged as a profound problem in the fields of robotics and computer animation. The most familiar things in the world to us — the voices, appearances and behavior of humans — are being replicated with increasing veracity by animators and robotics engineers.
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Parents Urged Again to Limit TV for Youngest
The New York Times: Parents of infants and toddlers should limit the time their children spend in front of televisions, computers, self-described educational games and even grown-up shows playing in the background, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned on Tuesday. Video screen time provides no educational benefits for children under age 2 and leaves less room for activities that do, like interacting with other people and playing, the group said.
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One in 10 ‘Shy’ Kids May Have Social Phobia
Yahoo! : Many kids go through a shy or "awkward" phase at some point in adolescence, but shyness can become more than a stint of social timidity. Twelve percent of youths who call themselves may actually be socially phobic, according to research from the National Institute of Mental Health. The research, published Monday, appears in the journal Pediatrics. Some scholars, however, hesitate to classify social phobia as a mental disorder, suggesting that doing so could "medicalize" normal shyness and lead to overmedication of young people who in the past were merely considered introverted.
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The Political Effects Of Existential Fear
Why did the approval ratings of President George W. Bush— who was perceived as indecisive before September 11, 2001—soar over 90 percent after the terrorist attacks? Because Americans were acutely aware of their own deaths. That is one lesson from the psychological literature on “mortality salience” reviewed in a new article called “The Politics of Mortal Terror.” The paper, by psychologists Florette Cohen of the City University of New York’s College of Staten Island and Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College, appears in October’s Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science.
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The Kids Are Actually Sort of Alright
New York Magazine: My screwed, coddled, self-absorbed, mocked, surprisingly resilient generation. Every generation finds, eventually, a mode of expression that suits it. Cavemen drew lines on their cave walls. Sixties kids marched. My generation, we Gchat, a million tiny windows blinking orange with hopes and dreams and YouTube links, with five-year plans and lunch plans. So as I began to search for a single phrase that could, preposterously, describe our entire cohort, post-crash, I did what I always do in moments of crisis. I Gchatted my 24-year-old sister Clare, who happens to be living back at home with our parents while she looks for a job. Read the whole story: New York Magazine
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Breakthroughs in Diagnosing, One Day Preventing Autism
Education Week: New research says it's possible to help diagnose autism in babies as young as a year old, and an early diagnosis could allow for earlier intervention or potentially stop a child from developing autism. Autism typically isn't diagnosed until a child starts to show delays in talking and other milestones that occur after age 2. A study published in this month's Current Directions in Psychological Science says the medical community has new clues about what to look for in even younger children. For example, children who will later develop autism are less likely to show "joint attention behaviors"—paying attention to both a toy and another person.
