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How can musicians keep playing despite amnesia?
BBC News: When British conductor and musician Clive Wearing contracted a brain infection in 1985 he was left with a memory span of only 10 seconds. The infection - herpes encephalitis - left him unable to recognise people he had seen or remember things that had been said just moments earlier. But despite being acknowledged by doctors as having one of the most severe cases of amnesia ever, his musical ability and much of his musical memory was intact. Now aged 73, he is still able to read music and play the piano and once even conducted his former choir again.
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Study shows men don’t think about sex as often as thought
USA Today: A new study is challenging the widely held notion that men's minds are preoccupied with one topic: sex. The research in college-age participants suggests that while men do think about sex more often than women, the subject crosses their mind an average of only about 19 times per day, compared to 10 times per day for women. The results seem to disprove the popular notion that men think about sex every seven seconds, which would total more than 8,000 thoughts about sex in 16 waking hours, the Ohio State University researchers said. Read the full story: USA Today
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Ways to Inflate Your IQ
The Wall Street Journal: Many people think of IQ as a genetic trait, like brown eyes or short legs: You're born with it and you're stuck with it. Now, a growing body of research is showing that a person's IQ can rise—and even fall—over the years. Scores can change gradually or quickly, after as little as a few weeks of cognitive training, research shows. The increases are usually so incremental that they're not immediately perceptible to individuals, and the intelligence-boosting effects of cognitive training can fade after a few months.
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Le 20éme Prix de Neuropsychologie Jean-Louis Signoret de la Fondation Ipsen est attribué au Pr. Patricia K. Kuhl
Yahoo! France: Le jury international, présidé par le Pr. Albert Galaburda (Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA), a décerné le 29 novembre 2011 le 20ème Prix de Neuropsychologie Jean-Louis Signoret de la Fondation Ipsen (20.000€) au Pr. Patricia K. Kuhl (Université de Washington, Seattle, États-Unis). Elle a été récompensée pour ses travaux qui ont joué un rôle majeur dans la compréhension de l’acquisition du langage et de son système neuronal. Les nourrissons peuvent distinguer tous les sons de toutes les langues, mais vers la fin de la première année, leurs capacités linguistiques commencent à diminuer.
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Why Do Some Like It Hot?
Scientific American: Why do some like what hot? Well, peanuts, of course. Spicy peanuts What did you think I was talking about? Spicy peanuts, and really, all sorts of spicy foods. Why do some people like and prefer spicy foods to the point where they consume mouth scorching dishes—and ask for more? This was the question posed to me by a coworker, as he reached for the can of spicy peanuts sitting in the communal kitchen area at work. The peanuts are roasted with Habanero peppers and then dusted with those scorchers for good measure. They’re hot for my coworkers, except for the one who found himself snacking throughout the day. I think they’re tingly.
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New questions about the integrity of psychological research
Minneapolis Post: The integrity of psychological research (like medical research) has come increasingly under fire. Earlier this year, a scandal erupted about the work of a prominent and extensively published psychologist, Diederik Stapel, most recently of Tilburg University in the Netherlands. He was found to have committed widespread academic fraud, which called into question his well-publicized findings on a variety of psychological topics, including racial stereotyping and advertising and identity.
