-
The neuroscience of inequality: does poverty show up in children’s brains?
The Guardian: With its bright colours, anthropomorphic animal motif and nautical-themed puzzle play mat, Dr Kimberly Noble’s laboratory at Columbia University in New York looks like your typical day-care centre – save for the team of cognitive neuroscientists observing kids from behind a large two-way mirror. The Neurocognition, Early Experience and Development Lab is home to cutting-edge research on how poverty affects young brains, and I’ve come here to learn how Noble and her colleagues could soon definitively prove that growing up poor can keep a child’s brain from developing. Read the whole story: The Guardian
-
There are 3 types of smile – reward, affiliation, dominance
Wired: There are three distinct types of smile, a new study has revealed. People switch between 'reward', 'affiliation' and 'dominance' smiles, using different facial muscle combinations to make them, according to researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ... "When distinguishing among smiles, both scientists and laypeople have tended to focus on true and false smiles," said Paula Niedenthal, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Read the whole story: Wired
-
Turning Up the Heat on Prosocial Behavior
Studies dating back to the 1940s have shown that the temperature can shape emotions and perception.
-
Guess What? We’re All Born With Mathematical Abilities
NPR: As an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, Kristy vanMarle knew she wanted to go to grad school for psychology, but wasn't sure what lab to join. Then, she saw a flyer: Did you know that babies can count? "I thought, No way. Babies probably can't count, and they certainly don't count the way that we do," she says. But the seed was planted, and vanMarle started down her path of study. The person who made that flyer, Karen Wynn, became her mentor and they have since co-published several studies together. ... We know now that numeracy at the end of high school is a really strong and important predictor of an individual's economic and occupational success.
-
The Case for Cursing
The New York Times: You know when you stub your toe and involuntarily utter an expletive? You probably didn’t give it much thought, but you might have been on to something. As children we’re taught that cursing, even when we’re in pain, is inappropriate, betrays a limited vocabulary or is somehow low class in that ambiguous way many cultural lessons suggest. But profanity serves a physiological, emotional and social purpose — and it’s effective only because it’s inappropriate. “The paradox is that it’s that very act of suppression of the language that creates those same taboos for the next generation,” said Benjamin K.
-
Being Neurotic May Help You Live Longer
TIME: Neuroticism isn’t generally considered a desirable attribute, and many studies have linked the personality trait to poorer health and an increased risk of mental disorders. But a new study in Psychological Science suggests that for some people, neurotic tendencies may actually reduce the risk of dying early. The new paper analyzed data from more than 500,000 people in the UK, ages 37 to 73, who answered questions about their lifestyle behaviors, medical conditions and how healthy they felt. They also completed a personality assessment to measure levels of neuroticism.
