-
My Sister Is Autistic and Nonverbal. Here Are 3 Ways I Connect With Her
... “It’s a mess,” said Catherine Lord, the George Tarjan Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Education in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, whose work focuses on autism and related disorders. Part of the confusion is that some people who can say a handful of words are still classified as nonverbal, though the term minimally verbal may be more appropriate, Lord said. Some disability advocates also argue that nonspeaking is more accurate, as it pertains to words rather than other verbal noises or vocal stimming, a common self-soothing technique for people with autistic that involves making repetitive sounds or noises. ...
-
People Love Working From Home. But Does It Love Them Back?
Remote work has soared in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic. But, a new study suggests the practice has made workers more socially isolated, anxious and depressed compared to people who work in-person in offices and other settings. ... The findings suggest that "people might be choosing poorly," when it comes to their well-being, says Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, who wasn't involved in the study.
-
Touching Grass
Do you check the daily screen time on your phone? The number can be jarring. ... It may be uncomfortable at first to be alone with your thoughts. But to get the most out of this in terms of reduced stress, better sleep, higher levels of focus and sharper memory, “you do have to unplug,” said Marc Berman, a psychologist at the University of Chicago and the author of “Nature and the Mind.”
-
The High Cost of Silent Classrooms
... The cost of this silence is both cognitive and social. When artificial intelligence anticipates every step before a student even recognizes a hurdle, it strips away the productive struggle on which learning depends. Students need to wrestle with confusion to build their own understanding. The neuroscientist Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and her colleagues have shown that deep learning, the kind that sticks, happens when students connect what they are learning to bigger ideas and to their own lives. Replace dialogue and struggle with isolated screen time, and we disrupt the neural circuits that allow students to build knowledge. ... Doubling down on isolation is dangerous.
-
To Fight Fraud, Psychological Scientists Issue a Call to Arms
Scams are now one of the most common crimes in the world. In the most recent issue of PSPI, real-life accounts are used to illustrate how pervasive and indiscriminate fraud can be.
-
Want to ‘Optimize’ Your Happiness? This Happiness Expert Says: Don’t
Are you happy? It’s a deceptively simple question, but for me, at least, a difficult one to answer. Another tough question: Why is it so hard to be happy for so many? Despite a culture full of wellness influencers with their happiness hacks and mind-set tricks, all of the indicators show that we Americans are less happy than ever. It’s as if the more energy we focus on trying to feel happy, the harder it is to achieve. So what is going on and what can we do about it? I put these questions to Laurie Santos. Santos is a cognitive scientist and professor whose class on happiness quickly became the most popular in Yale’s history.
