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A Closer Look at the Face in Your Toast
Brain research shows why people may be biased to see faces, even when only the slightest hint of facial features exists.
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Great Apes Share Our Ability to Predict Goal-Oriented Actions
Within a year after birth, human infants develop the ability to direct their attention to the anticipated goal of another person’s movement, before it has occurred. So, for example, our eyes move to where we think an object will be based on how we perceive others’ objectives and intentions. The ability to anticipate actions helps us both to cooperate and compete with others.
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Individual Variation in Resisting Temptation: Implications for Addiction
At the 2014 APS Annual Convention, APS William James Fellow Terry Robinson discussed how cues associated with rewards, such as food or drugs, can acquire considerable control over motivated behavior, leading to excessive consumption.
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OCD Linked With Broad Impairments in Executive Function
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), characterized by intrusive and persistent thoughts that are often accompanied by repetitive or ritualized acts, is a serious clinical disorder that can significantly impact a person’s ability to function and go about daily life. Neuroimaging data have hinted at a link between OCD and brain areas that contribute to executive function (EF), a group of critical cognitive abilities that regulate lower-level cognitive processes.
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Typical Items Facilitate Fear Learning, Atypical Items Don’t
Have you ever recoiled at something because it reminds you of something else that you’re genuinely afraid of? Research indicates that people have a propensity to generalize their fear — so, for example, a person afraid of doctors might also feel uneasy at the sight of a hospital or medical equipment. Moreover, typical items in a category seem to lend themselves to generalization more than atypical items do. For instance, we’re more likely to generalize information about mice and apply it to bats rather than the other way around, since mice come to mind more easily when we think of mammals. Bringing these different areas of research together, psychological scientists Joseph E.
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Conference to Focus on Milgram Paradigm
The Obedience to Authority Conference will be held December 9–11, 2014, in Kolomna, Russia. The conference will focus on discussion of research in the field of Stanley Milgram's experimental obedience paradigm. Russian and international researchers with diverse academic backgrounds and career levels are encouraged to register. For more information, visit www.milgram.ru/en.
