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A ‘self’ portrait of an artist with memory loss
The Washington Post: Art, its creators will tell you, is the result of introspection, the often painful process of digging into the past, into dreams of what might be and nightmares of what was. The painter Marc Chagall, for example, never forgot the tiny, mud-spattered village in Eastern Europe where he grew up. Images of it cropped up in the corners of his works throughout his life. William Faulkner could never have produced his doomed Southern aristocrats without his family’s haunted past, nor could Kurt Vonnegut have written about the horrors of war without the experience of being a soldier. But what happens to an artist whose memory is drained, who has almost nothing to draw on?
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How Far Will Dolphins Go to Relate to Humans?
The New York Times: In a remote patch of turquoise sea, Denise L. Herzing splashes into the water with a pod of 15 Atlantic spotted dolphins. For the next 45 minutes, she engages the curious creatures in a game of keep-away, using a piece of Sargassum seaweed like a dog’s chew toy. Dr. Herzing is no tourist cavorting with marine mammals. As the world’s leading authority on the species, she has been studying the dolphins for 25 years as part of the Wild Dolphin Project, the longest-running underwater study of its kind. “I’m kind of an old-school naturalist,” she said. “I really believe in immersing yourself in the environment of the animal.” Immerse herself she has.
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Surprise: Spoilers Make Stories Better
Boston Globe: Reviewers of movies and novels must obey one prime directive: never, ever reveal what happens at the end (or, at the very least, preface the inside info with a warning: SPOILER ALERT!). Now, though, a new study by Jonathan Leavitt and Nicholas Christenfeld at the University of California, San Diego suggests that spoilers aren't so bad. In fact, Leavitt and Christenfeld find that people enjoy stories more when they know the ending in advance. The study, called "Spoilers Don't Spoil Stories" and published in the September issue of Psychological Science, couldn't be simpler.
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Volle Blase, voll konzentriert
Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger: Die Blase drückt, und man will nur noch eins – auf die Toilette. Plötzlich drehen sich alle Gedanken nur noch darum. Je akuter das Bedürfnis, desto stärker wird die Umgebung ausgeblendet. Nun könnte man meinen, dass durch diese Fixierung die Konzentration nachlässt. Ein belgisch-niederländisches Psychologenteam behauptet das Gegenteil. Seine These: Mit voller Blase kann man besser denken. Im Rahmen einer Studie, die in der Fachzeitschrift Psychological Science veröffentlicht wurde, verabreichten die Wissenschaftler freiwilligen Probanden unterschiedliche Mengen Wasser.
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Coffee Break? Walk In The Park? Why Unwinding Is Hard
Wall Street Journal Asia: A college student deep into studying for a big exam might do well to give his brain a break. Just what he does during that break will determine how helpful that pause will be, a growing body of research shows. A stroll in the park could do wonders, for instance, while downing coffee could leave him just as stressed and depleted as before the break. And, sometimes, forcing oneself to simply power through mental fatigue can be more effective than pausing.
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How Devoted Moms Buffer Kids In Poverty
Children raised in poverty often grow up to have poor health in adulthood, from frequent colds to heart disease. But there’s one thing that might buffer them from that fate: a good mom. That is the conclusion of a new study by a multidisciplinary team led by University of British Columbia psychologist Gregory Miller. The findings will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Much research shows that the stresses disadvantaged children undergo affect their physiological development, making them permanently vulnerable to infection and disease.
