Can noise help you concentrate?
you have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, it might: BACKGROUND: Noise is typically conceived of as being detrimental to cognitive performance. However, given the mechanism of stochastic resonance, a certain amount of noise can benefit performance. We investigate cognitive performance in noisy environments in relation to a neurocomputational model of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dopamine. The Moderate Brain Arousal model (MBA; Sikström & Söderlund, 2007) suggests that dopamine levels modulate how much noise is required for optimal cognitive…
2 minutes
Do trees prevent robbery?
ere is a relationship between number of trees and crime in an area: The authors estimate the relationship between trees and three crime aggregates (all crime, violent crime, and property crime) and two individual crimes (burglary and vandalism) in Portland, Oregon. During the study period (2005-2007), 431 crimes were reported at the 2,813 single-family homes in our sample. In general, the authors find that trees in the public right of way are associated with lower crime rates. The relationship between…
1 min read
How can you make yourself and two friends happy at the same time?
tchmaking increases happiness. In fact, the more different the two people are, the happier the matchmaker. Via Marina Adshade: In a laboratory experiment and an online survey, the research finds that people who work at bringing others together are over-all happier than those who do not. What is interesting about this research is that an increase in happiness isn’t even dependent on a personal connection to the people being matched – happiness can be found in matching complete strangers. It…
1 min read
Does, um, talking, um, well, like this have, err, any effects?
at you say after hesitation or "disfluency" is more likely to be remembered by others. So choose your moments of awkward speech carefully: Everyday speech is littered with disfluency, often correlated with the production of less predictable words (e.g., Beattie & Butterworth [Beattie, G., & Butterworth, B. (1979). Contextual probability and word frequency as determinants of pauses in spontaneous speech. Language and Speech, 22, 201–211.]). But what are the effects of disfluency on listeners? In an ERP experiment which compared…
1 min read
Do creative people have more sex partners?
s, about twice as many. Via Newcastle University: The more creative a person is, the more sexual partners they are likely to have, according to a pioneering study which could explain the behaviour of notorious womanisers such as poets Lord Byron and Dylan Thomas. The research, by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Open University in the UK, found that professional artists and poets have around twice as many sexual partners as those who do not indulge in…
1 min read
Are sexist people happier?
search indicates that the endorsement of sexist ideology is linked to higher subjective wellbeing for both men and women. We examine gender differences in the rationalisations which drive this effect in an egalitarian nation (New Zealand). Results from a nationally representative sample (N = 6,100) indicated that the endorsement of Benevolent Sexism (BS) predicted life satisfaction through different mechanisms for men and women. For men, BS was directly associated with life satisfaction. For women, the palliative effect of BS was indirect and…
1 min read
Are tragedies worse when we feel responsible — or when we don’t?
a Washingtonian: “We want to believe that if we follow the rules, nobody should get hurt,” says psychologist Ed Hickling, coauthor of Overcoming the Trauma of Your Motor Vehicle Accident. “But all it may take is someone stepping out in front of you, and your ideas of safety and control are shattered.” Hickling has found that drivers who didn’t feel responsible for a crash are at greater risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder than those who did feel at fault.…
1 min read
How can you increase the chance your lost wallet will be returned to you?
t a cute picture of a baby in it. Via The Consumerist: Strangers are more likely to return lost wallets containing photos of cute babies, according to British researchers. The scientists sprinkled 240 wallets across Edinburgh last year with pictures of either a smiling baby, a puppy, a "happy family," or a "contended elderly couple." It turns out nobody cares about your pooch, retired parents, or smugly superior family life. But that cute wittle baby? ...When faced with the photograph…
1 min read
