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Why Forgetfulness Might Actually Help You
Many people worry that forgetting names, facts or tasks on their to-do list is a sign of aging or mental decline. A growing body of research offers a more welcome excuse: Forgetting stuff can actually be a byproduct of rigorous thinking, smooth decision-making or heightened creativity. Forgetting can help us block out useless or outdated information and keep us from fixating on a single set of ideas or thoughts. And contrary to the notion that forgetfulness reflects a withering of brain cells, scientists say it can actually be driven by the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region linked to memory. This doesn’t excuse major memory mishaps.
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Want to Close the Pay Gap? Pay Transparency Will Help
Here’s what we know about salary transparency: Workers are more motivated when salaries are transparent. They work harder, they’re more productive, and they’re better at collaborating with colleagues. Across the board, pay transparency seems to be a good thing. Transparency isn’t just about business bottom line, however. Researchers say transparency is important because keeping salaries secret reinforces discrimination. “From a worker’s perspective, without accurate information about peer compensation, they may not know when they’re being underpaid,” said Emiliano Huet-Vaughn, an economist at U.C.L.A. who ran a study in 2013 that found workers are more productive when salary is transparent.
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The Meandering Path to That ‘Aha!’ Moment
A psychological study suggests that creative professionals may have their most inventive ideas when their minds are wandering.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
A sample of research exploring pain and self-injury, associative activation and false memories, flashbacks in PTSD, and a potential contributor to obesity.
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Waiting game: An extended look at how we queue
Many of us experience multiple queues on an average day. If they move quickly, they're soon forgotten. But a slow line can seem to last forever and can put a drag on an entire day. What separates a good queuing experience from a bad one, however, is not just the speed of the line. How the wait makes us feel and line fairness (nobody likes line-jumpers) can have a greater impact on our perception of a queue than the amount of time we spend in it.
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Liberals and Conservatives React in Wildly Different Ways to Repulsive Pictures
Why do we have the political opinions we have? Why do we embrace one outlook toward the world and not another? How and why do our stances change? The answers to questions such as these are of course complex. Most people aren’t reading policy memos to inform every decision. Differences of opinion are shaped by contrasting life experiences: where you live; how you were raised; whether you’re rich or poor, young or old. Emotion comes into the picture, and emotion has a biological basis, at least in part. All of this and more combines into a stew without a fixed recipe, even if many of the ingredients are known.
