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Decoding the Brain’s Cacophony
The New York Times: ST. HELENA, Calif. — The scientists exchanged one last look and held their breath. Everything was ready. The electrode was in place, threaded between the two hemispheres of a living cat’s brain; the instruments were tuned to pick up the chatter passing from one half to the other. The only thing left was to listen for that electronic whisper, the brain’s own internal code. The amplifier hissed — the three scientists expectantly leaning closer — and out it came, loud and clear. “We all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine ....” “The Beatles’ song! We somehow picked up the frequency of a radio station,” recalled Michael S.
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Mind Your Errors (APSSC Award Winner)
In case you missed it, the cameras were rolling at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC. Watch Hans S. Schroder from Michigan State University present his research “Mind Your Errors: Neural Evidence Linking Growth Mindset to Remedial Action (APSSC Award Winner).” Jason S. Moser Michigan State University Carrie Heeter Michigan State University Yu-Hao Lee Michigan State University Error-related event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and post-error behavioral adjustments were measured in 25 undergraduates performing a flanker task. Participants endorsing a growth mindset evidenced enhanced error positivity amplitude and increased post-error accuracy.
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Happiness Associated With Longer Life
Science: Happy people don't just enjoy life; they're likely to live longer, too. A new study has found that those in better moods were 35% less likely to die in the next 5 years when taking their life situations into account. The traditional way to measure a person's happiness is to ask them about it. But over the past few decades, psychologist and epidemiologist Andrew Steptoe of University College London (UCL) says, scientists have realized that those measures aren't reliable. It's not clear whether they "assess how they're actually feeling or how they remember feeling," he says.
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Training the Emotional Brain (APSSC Award Winner)
In case you missed it, the cameras were rolling at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC.
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Arabs Are Blamed for Car Accidents More Than Caucasians (APSSC Award Winner)
In case you missed it, the cameras were rolling at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC. Watch Allison Skinner from the University of Southern Indiana present her research on "Anti-Arab Prejudice Extends Beyond Terrorist Stereotypes: Arabs Are Blamed for Car Accidents More Than Caucasians." Allison L. Skinner University of Southern Indiana Margaret C. Stevenson University of Evansville Michele Breault Truman State University We investigated the influence of drivers' race (Arab versus Caucasian) on the evaluation of blame in an automobile accident. Participants blamed the Arab driver more than the Caucasian driver, yet participant gender moderated the effect of race.
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The New Science Behind Your Spending Addiction
Newsweek: Like many colleges, Washington University in St. Louis offers children of its faculty free tuition. So Leonard Green, a professor of psychology there, did all he could to persuade his daughter to choose the school. He extolled its academic offerings, praised its social atmosphere, talked up its extracurricular activities—and promised that if Hannah chose Washington he would give her $20,000 each undergraduate year, plus $20,000 at graduation, for a nest egg totaling $100,000. She went to New York University. Read the full story: Newsweek