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Publication Bias May Boost Findings for Bilingual Brain Benefits
Scientific American: Of studies presented at conferences, those that found a cognitive benefit to bilingualism were almost twice as likely to get published in journals as were studies finding no benefit. Karen Hopkin reports. Over the past 10 years, many scientific papers have shown that speaking more than one language can convey some cognitive rewards. For example, bilingualism seems to boost the brain’s ability to focus, plan, and perform certain mentally taxing tasks. But a few papers show no such advantages. Now a study finds that research that challenges a bilingual benefit is less likely to be published than studies that find one.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Clinical Psychological Science: Tendency to Recall Remote Memories as a Mediator of Overgeneral Recall in Depression David E. Falco, Zehra F. Peynircioğlu, and Timothy J. Hohman Research has shown that people with depression sometimes show a memory deficit called overgeneral memory (OGM). OGM is the tendency to recall less specific and less detailed autobiographical memories and is thought to result in part from rumination and functional avoidance issues. Can the tendency to recall remote events also influence OGM?
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Sleep Deprivation Linked To Inappropriate, Unethical Behavior on the Job
As workers in the United States continue to work more hours every year, the National Sleep Foundation finds that Americans on average are also gradually getting fewer hours of sleep each year. For many workers
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Your computer knows you better than your friends do
Science: Are you a shy person with a snarky sense of humor who secretly craves hugs? You might be able to conceal that from your friends, but not from your computer. A new study of Facebook data shows that machines are now better at sussing out our true personalities than even our closest acquaintances. The idea for the study came together last year when psychologist Youyou Wu and computer scientist Michal Kosinski, then both at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, watched Her, a 2013 science fiction film in which a man falls in love with his computer operating system.
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Todd Kashdan on dancing with the dark side of your personality
Scientific American: Psychologist Dr. Todd Kashdan shares some unconventional research on how we can harness “negative” psychological characteristics to live whole, successful and fulfilling lives. Topics include the dark triad, emotional experimentation, mindfulness, education, evolution and what it means to live well. In this episode you will hear about: How feelings like anxiety, jealousy and selfishness can be beneficial The functional value of exploring different emotional experiences Read the whole story: Scientific American
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To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This
The New York Times: More than 20 years ago, the psychologist Arthur Aron succeeded in making two strangers fall in love in his laboratory. Last summer, I applied his technique in my own life, which is how I found myself standing on a bridge at midnight, staring into a man’s eyes for exactly four minutes. Let me explain. Earlier in the evening, that man had said: “I suspect, given a few commonalities, you could fall in love with anyone. If so, how do you choose someone?” He was a university acquaintance I occasionally ran into at the climbing gym and had thought, “What if?” I had gotten a glimpse into his days on Instagram. But this was the first time we had hung out one-on-one.
