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Preschool can provide a boost, but the gains can fade surprisingly fast
The Washington Post: States and the federal government spend more than $15 billion a year on preschool education. With that hefty price tag, we want early-childhood programs to work. And to reduce long-standing educational inequalities, we need them to work. So it’s encouraging when studies show that these types of interventions can give children a boost by the time they enter kindergarten. Unfortunately, our investments in many early-childhood programs may be based on an inflated sense of their promise. Even our best efforts often produce only ephemeral gains. Read the whole story: The Washington Post
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When Children Beat Adults at Seeing the World
The Wall Street Journal: A few years ago, in my book “The Philosophical Baby,” I speculated that children might actually be more conscious, or at least more aware of their surroundings, than adults. Lots of research shows that we adults have a narrow “spotlight” of attention. We vividly experience the things that we focus on but are remarkably oblivious to everything else. There’s even a term for it: “inattentional blindness.” I thought that children’s consciousness might be more like a “lantern,” illuminating everything around it. ...
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Ya Had to Be There: Science Confirms We’re Bad at Telling Stories
Live Science: Go ahead: Tell that same story about your college shenanigans the next time you're out with your friends. They'll thank you for it. A new study finds that people prefer hearing familiar stories to new ones, probably because people are generally such bad storytellers that brand-new tales are just confusing. "When our friends try to tell us about movies we've never seen or albums we've never heard, we usually find ourselves bored, confused and underwhelmed," study researcher Daniel Gilbert, a psychologist at Harvard University, said in a statement. Read the whole story: Live Science
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
A sample of new research exploring nonsuicidal self-injury and mood, atypical neural oscillatory activity in dyslexia, and ADHD-related working memory deficits.
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Leaping into Corruption
Scientific American: It is widely accepted that when popular figures descend into corruption, they do so a little at a time. Consider the case of Bernie Madoff, the perpetrator of the largest Ponzi scheme in history. According to some accounts, his far-reaching fraud began with making up a few figures on some client investment reports. Over time, this seemingly minor peccadillo snowballed into a $65 billion swindle. But is this “slippery slope” view of corruption really accurate?
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Mal racontées, vos histoires de vacances n’intéressent personne (Your stories don’t interest anyone)
Slate fr: Votre voyage au cœur de l'Indonésie est fascinant, on n'en doute pas. Pourtant, selon une étude publiée dans la revue Psychological Science, vos anecdotes n’intéresseront que ceux qui ont déjà vécu la même expérience que vous, comme le relève le New York Magazine. Les rédacteurs de l’étude, Timothy D. Wilson (Université de Virginie), Gus Cooney et Daniel T. Gilbert (tous les deux de l’Université d’Harvard) sont partis d’un constat simple, explique ce dernier au site EurekAlert! Read the whole story: Slate fr
