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Distraction Is Good for Learning, Sometimes
Scientific American: Distraction can be a good thing for learning under the right circumstances—namely when you will be tested or have to perform under similarly distracting contexts. Those distracted during just one phase performed poorly when tested, but those who had done the letter-counting task during both training and testing performed just as well as those who had trained and been tested without distractions, according to the results published in February in Psychological Science. Read the whole story: Scientific American
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Here’s the Best Time to Schedule Your Next Job Interview
TIME: Early in the morning. You want to be the first interview. Two reasons why: 1) Research shows college admissions interviewers who have said yes to many applicants in one day are less likely to approve another that day, despite the arbitrary distinction. Most people use similar informal groupings in their head for comparisons. Best to be first and not be on the losing end of such considerations. Read the whole story: TIME
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Headed to the grocery store? Try this one trick to avoid temptation
TODAY: Grocery shopping on an empty stomach can be a big mistake - you may end up with a cart full of cookies, chips and ice cream. But there's an easy solution — eating an apple before grocery shopping encourages people to buy healthier foods, a recent study finds. "Just having a small health snack before shopping can help you steer people toward healthier choices," writes Aner Tal, a research associate at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, via email. Read the whole story: TODAY
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Hot Sauce Is Main Course at New York Showcase
The New York Times: NEW YORK — New Zealand chef-turned-entrepreneur Chris Cullen seems to have hot sauce running in his veins, judging from the passionate way he speaks about one of America's hottest food trends. "I had a love of food and all things hot and spicy ever since I can remember," says Cullen, one of 50 or so vendors offering their interpretations of the spicy condiment at this weekend's New York City Hot Sauce Expo in Brooklyn. ...
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Can Your Relationship Handle a Trip to IKEA?
The Wall Street Journal: In therapy, so many couples mention fighting while shopping at IKEA or while assembling what they buy there that clinical psychologist Ramani Durvasula has started embracing the retailer as a tool for a communications exercise. The Santa Monica, Calif., therapist often tasks couples with putting together a large piece of furniture at home and reporting back on how it went. IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer with 367 stores in 47 countries, can look like a domestic wonderland. Its walkable showrooms offer a path through sleek model bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms and children’s rooms.
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Finding the Way to a Better Sense of Direction
Some people just seem to have an innate sense of direction; they never need to ask how to get somewhere or forget where they parked. Then there’s those of us who would be utterly lost in our own neighborhood without the help of GPS and turn-by-turn directions. A team of psychological scientists from Tufts University and the U.S. Army may have found one way to improve a shaky sense of direction: applying an electric current to the brain. The research team, led by Tad T.