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A Final Goodbye to a Family Home
The Wall Street Journal: I have managed to navigate most trials in middle age (job changes, children leaving home, deceased pets) with a fair amount of grace. But now I find myself strangely unnerved by an event beyond my control: My childhood home is about to be torn down. This summer, my parents sold the 2,000-square-foot split-level they bought in a suburb of New York City in the early 1970s.
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Ellen Langer: Mindfulness And The Power Of Thought
NPR: Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer is known as the “mother of mindfulness.” Her research focuses on the many benefits of purposefully paying attention,and in contrast,the psychological and professional costs of thought patterns that limit awareness. Ellen Langer describes what it takes to become more mindful and why it can have such profound effects on our health, ability to learn and overall well-being. Please join us for a conversation with Ellen Langer on harnessing the power of thought. Hear the whole story: NPR
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Body Movement Selectively Shapes the Neural Representation of Musical Rhythms Baptiste Chemin, André Mouraux, and Sylvie Nozaradan Although movement is thought to shape the processing of sensory inflow, it is still not well understood how or whether movement shapes perception in the auditory system. Participants listened and tapped their hands in time to a repeated rhythmic sequence before and after they underwent a body-movement training session in which they moved their bodies in time to the rhythm in a specific meter.
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Evidence for ‘Bilingual Advantage’ May Be Less Conclusive Than Previously Thought
Study results that challenge the idea that bilingual speakers have a cognitive advantage are less likely to be published than those that support the bilingual-advantage theory, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. This research suggests that a publication bias in favor of positive results may skew the overall literature on bilingualism and cognitive function. “Publishing only ‘successful’ studies means that we do not have access to many valuable studies that could increase our understanding of the actual effects of bilingualism,” says lead researcher Angela de Bruin of Edinburgh University.
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Why the most meaningful birthdays end with 9, as in 29 and 39
The Washington Post: The year before we age into a new decade — at 29, 39, 49 and so on — we’re more likely to back up and take a hard look at our lives. Year nine, that time leading up to a new chapter, can prompt us to take action, making us more likely to run a marathon, cheat on our partners or even take our own lives, according to research published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As one chapter closes and another one opens, research suggests, it’s human nature to start searching for something.
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What Every School Can Learn From Preschools
NPR: Listening. Sharing. Following directions. Making friends. Managing big emotions. Planning for the future. A high-quality preschool program helps children develop in all these ways. But, a new report argues, such matters of the heart shouldn't be left behind just as students are learning to tie their shoes. Melissa Tooley and Laura Bornfreund of the New America Foundation write that schools should focus on these same skills, habits, attitudes, and mindsets with older kids. They say research shows they're just as important as academics. That bears repeating.
