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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.
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Facial Expressions Aren’t As Universal As Scientists Have Thought
Popular Science: For nearly half a century, social scientists have operated under the assumption that all basic human emotions are universally recognizable. Countless cross-cultural experiments—not to mention a few television shows—have both directly and implicitly referenced the notion that every person on earth expresses facial emotion in the same way. Regardless of cultural context, we can all interpret happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust in the expressions of the people around us. Led by Northeastern University's Dr.
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Word-streaming tech may spell trouble for readers
ScienceNews: In the brave new digital world of reading, words flash by one at a time on the tiny screens of smart watches and phones. This portable, pageless story doesn’t end well for people keen on understanding what they’ve read, say psychologist Elizabeth Schotter of the University of California, San Diego and her colleagues. Rereading words salvages understanding of initially confusing passages, Schotter’s team reports April 18 in Psychological Science. Software that presents words one at a time makes it impossible to scan previously read words and phrases, undermining text comprehension, the scientists say. Read the whole story: ScienceNews
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Discrimination starts even before grad school, study finds
Nature: Most would acknowledge that women and minorities already face more hurdles in academia than their white, male peers. A lack of mentors, occasionally overt discrimination and the academy’s poor work-life balance, are well-documented issues. But now a study has suggested that these groups may be at a disadvantage even before the starting whistle sounds.