-
Agreed, Baby Pandas Are Cute. But Why?
NPR: Xiao Liwu made his public debut Thursday at the San Diego Zoo. Fans crowded around the exhibit, their camera lenses extended, hoping to catch a glimpse of the 5-month-old giant panda cub. If they're lucky and actually do see the 16-pound panda (his Chinese name means "Little Gift"), there'll be much oooing and aaahing. You'd have to be heartless not to agree that pandas, especially the youngest of them, are as cute as all get-out. Right? But why? Read the whole story: NPR
-
Learning and Memory May Play a Central Role in Synesthesia
People with color-grapheme synesthesia experience color when viewing written letters or numerals, usually with a particular color evoked by each grapheme (i.e., the letter ‘A’ evokes the color red). In a new study, researchers Nathan Witthoft and Jonathan Winawer of Stanford University present data from 11 color grapheme synesthetes who had startlingly similar color-letter pairings that were traceable to childhood toys containing magnetic colored letters. Their findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
-
Counseling center cares for people with ‘complicated grief’
The Washington Post: Cindi Day cheered as the bus carrying 6-year-old Tai-Vaughn Moore home from camp pulled up. The sole guardian of her grandson, she hadn’t found it easy to surrender him even for the weekend. But Tai-Vaughn had been acting up in school, and Day hoped the three-day camp for youths who had lost a close relative would help him. She greeted him with a huge grin, asking how he was. ... For decades, much of the literature on bereavement was not based on science, said George Bonanno, a clinical psychology professor at Columbia University. Around the 1980s, researchers finally began studying grief rigorously. The results?
-
Wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst (First come, first served)
ORF Austria: Ob man bei einem Vorstellungsgespräch erfolgreich ist oder nicht, hängt nicht nur von der eigenen Leistung ab. Entscheidend ist, wie gut die Kandidaten sind, die sich davor vorgestellt haben. Wer als erster drankommt, hat statistisch bessere Chancen, zeigt eine neue Studie aus den USA. Menschen, die an einem Tag viele ähnliche Entscheidungen treffen müssen, verlieren leicht den Überblick. Sie treffen jede Entscheidung für sich und sind nicht in der Lage, die Konsequenzen der einzelnen Entscheidungen miteinander zu verknüpfen. Dieser Umstand wird in der Psychologie auch als "narrow bracketing" bezeichnet.
-
Facebook Chitchat Is Unforgettable
Science: One day in 2011, a Facebook user professed a love for clean sheets, ending the humble status update with a smiley face. Little did this person realize, the post would inform our understanding of memory. Scientists have found that, when it comes to mental recall, people are far more likely to remember the text of idle chitchat on social media platforms like Facebook than the carefully crafted sentences of books. The researchers happened upon the findings by accident.
-
Train a Parent, Spare a Child
The New York Times: SOMEONE asked me recently what my New Year’s resolution was as a parent. Without thinking, I said, “more creative bribing.” I find the issue of bribing children — or to be more precise, the giving of blunt, uncreative rewards for desired behavior (“If you just stop kicking that seat in front of you on the plane, I’ll give you 10 minutes of iPad time”; “Clean your room this weekend, I’ll give you 10 bucks”; “If you use good manners at Grandma’s house, I’ll let you have an extra brownie”) — to be one of the more nagging challenges of being a parent.
