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When Taking a Break Could Be a Matter of Life and Death
Knowledge@Wharton: The so-called “secondary tasks” that many professionals are expected to attend to at work can become big problems when ignored over time — think about a trucker constantly forgetting to obey the speed limit, even if only by a few miles per hour. But new Wharton research shows for the first time that those little things can begin to slip through the cracks due to fatigue that develops even within a single work day. In some cases, that drop-off can cost tens of thousands of lives and cost billions of dollars a year. Wharton operations and information management professor Katherine L. Milkman and Wharton Ph.D.
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How Diversity Makes Us Smarter
Scientific American: The first thing to acknowledge about diversity is that it can be difficult. In the U.S., where the dialogue of inclusion is relatively advanced, even the mention of the word “diversity” can lead to anxiety and conflict. Supreme Court justices disagree on the virtues of diversity and the means for achieving it. Corporations spend billions of dollars to attract and manage diversity both internally and externally, yet they still face discrimination lawsuits, and the leadership ranks of the business world remain predominantly white and male. It is reasonable to ask what good diversity does us.
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Can Memories Be Implanted and Then Removed?
The New Yorker: At the turn of the twentieth century, Ivan Pavlov conducted the experiments that turned his last name into an adjective. By playing a sound just before he presented dogs with a snack, he taught them to salivate upon hearing the tone alone, even when no food was offered. That type of learning is now called classical—or Pavlovian—conditioning. Less well known is an experiment that Pavlov was conducting at around the same time: when some unfortunate canines heard the same sound, they were given acid.
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Can we wire children’s brains to not crave junk food?
PBS: A study published in Psychological Science says it is possible to train children’s brains to resist craving junk food. The cognitive strategy was developed by researchers at Columbia University, who took MRI brain scans of 105 children, adolescents and young adults while they looked at images of “unhealthy but appetizing” food. The participants rated each picture by how much it made them want to eat it. When asked to visualize the food far away, as well as focus on the shape and color (versus imagining the food up close, in addition to its taste and smell), researchers saw a 16 percent drop in response, i.e., cravings.
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Companies That Provide Job Training May Earn Greater Employee Loyalty
There’s one thing that the United States Congress can agree on: the potential of job training. This summer, in a rare act of bipartisanship, Congress approved new legislation focused on increased funding for job training for US workers. The hope is that providing workers with more job training opportunities will help kickstart the US economy by getting more unemployed Americans back in the workforce. Congress isn’t alone in seeing job training as a beneficial tool. A new study from a team of European researchers found that job training may also be a good strategy for companies looking to hire and retain top talent.
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Brain Wave May Be Used to Detect What People Have Seen, Recognize
Brain activity can be used to tell whether someone recognizes details they encountered in normal, daily life, which may have implications for criminal investigations and use in courtrooms.
