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Mind Over Matter
Humans are an easily distracted species, but we’ve always longed for ways to regulate our own attention. Psychological science has shed a lot of light on this issue, says APS William James Fellow Michael I. Posner.
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Memory Athletes and Researchers Collaborate to Dissect Feats of Memory
Some of us have a gift for memorization and recall — think Sherlock Holmes. The fictional Holmes was portrayed as having a natural gift, but others train their memories using mnemonic techniques. Although the general
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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
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Ambiguous Situations Make It Easier to Justify Ethical Transgressions
Two experiments show that people are apt to cheat in favor of their self-interest but only when the situation is ambiguous enough to provide moral cover.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Bilingualism Modulates Infants’ Selective Attention to the Mouth of a Talking Face Ferran Pons, Laura Bosch, and David J. Lewkowicz Children who grow up in a bilingual
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Negative Emotional Cues Send Drivers to Distraction
Driver distraction is one of the leading causes of motor vehicle accidents. In 2013 alone, 3,154 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Obvious distractions
