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Attention and Awareness Aren’t The Same
Paying attention to something and being aware of it seem like the same thing -they both involve somehow knowing the thing is there. However, a new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that these are actually separate; your brain can pay attention to something without you being aware that it’s there. “We wanted to ask, can things attract your attention even when you don’t see them at all?” says Po-Jang Hsieh, of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore and MIT. He co-wrote the study with Jaron T. Colas and Nancy Kanwisher of MIT.
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Facebook spreads emotions among friends
San Jose Mercury News: Next time you feel like broadcasting some gloomy tale of woe on Facebook, you might want to think twice. Your friends could catch your feelings. Psychologists have long known that emotions, just like germs, are contagious. People exposed to a person experiencing strong emotions may experience similar feelings, catching them through facial expressions, tones of voice or some other means. But now there is a new means of transmission -- social media. Facebook data scientist Adam D.I.
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Depression linked to negative thoughts
Times of India: A new study has revealed that people suffering from depression get stuck on bad thoughts because they're unable to turn their attention away. Such people keep brooding over a fight with a friend, a divorce or the loss of a parent. Though a majority of the population is able to pull out of the negative thoughts caused by these situations, some fail to do so. This leads them to develop major depression. "They basically get stuck in a mindset where they relive what happened to them over and over again," said Jutta Joormann of the University of Miami. Read more: Times of India
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Mental health issues rise among US troops
Boston Globe: American troops in Afghanistan are suffering the highest rates of mental health problems since 2005, and morale has deteriorated, the Pentagon said yesterday. Military doctors said the findings were no surprise, given the dramatic increase in fighting, which was at its most intense level during the survey period since officials began battlefield mental health analyses in 2003. The grim statistics illustrated the psychological cost of a campaign that US officials say has reversed the momentum of the insurgency in the war-ravaged country. Read more: Boston Globe
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New Republic: Let Them Eat Cake Or Don’t Bake At All
NPR: Flannery O'Connor once described the contradictory desires that afflict all of us with characteristic simplicity. "Free will does not mean one will," she wrote, "but many wills conflicting in one man." The existence of appealing alternatives, after all, is what makes free will free: What would choice be without inner debate? We're torn between staying faithful and that alluring man or woman across the room. We can't resist the red velvet cake despite having sworn to keep our calories down. We buy a leather jacket on impulse, even though we know we'll need the money for other things. Everyone is aware of such inner conflicts. But how, exactly, do we choose among them?
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Too much coffee and stress can lead to hallucinations, La Trobe University study warns
Herald Sun: A La Trobe University study has found stressed people who have consumed five cups of coffee can exhibit signs of hallucination. Professor Simon Crowe from the School of Psychological Sciences examined the effect of stress and caffeine on 92 participants. Prof Crowe found stressed people who had consumed about 200mg of caffeine during the day were more likely to imagine hearing things. "What we did is we brought people into the lab while listening to White Christmas and then told them we were going to play some white noise," he told mX. Read more: Herald Sun
