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Tasting Alcohol Helps Our Bodies Process It
It’s not just alcohol that makes us drunk — our thoughts about what we’re drinking can also influence our level of intoxication. That’s what Shepard Siegel of McMaster University concludes in a recent issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science. Siegel focuses on Four Loko, the fruity alcoholic beverage that was once caffeinated — until the addition of caffeine to alcoholic beverages was banned by the FDA. Four Loko has been linked to a spike in alcohol-related hospitalizations on college campuses, but Siegel argues that caffeine was not responsible for the beverage’s dangerous effects.
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Why Remember What You Can Find Online?
Where do you store important information? According to psychological scientist Betsy Sparrow, the answer isn’t always “in your brain.” Sparrow says that we allow ourselves to forget information that we are confident the people around us (our spouses and friends, for example) will remember. Increasingly, we rely on technology as well. This phenomenon is called transactive memory. To highlight transactive memory, Sparrow and her colleagues asked participants to type 40 facts — such as “an ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.” Half of the participants were told that the computer would save their lists and half were told it would not.
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OppNet Request for Applications for Three-year Research Projects: Basic Research on Decision Making(R01)
OppNet, NIH’s Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network, released a new RFA for three-year research projects: Basic research on decision making: Cognitive, affective, and developmental perspectives (R01). Basic research on decision making: Cognitive, affective, and developmental perspectives (R01) Deadlines Letter of intent: December 18, 2011 Application: January 18, 2012 This OppNet Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages research grant applications that propose to increase understanding of the basic cognitive, affective, motivational, and social processes that underlie decision making across the lifespan.
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Rethinking Giftedness and Gifted Education: A Proposed Direction Forward Based on Psychological Science
Read the Full Text While promising future athletes and musicians tend to be identified and actively supported from an early age in the United States, the same intense support is not always provided to children who display academic promise – thus hurting the ability of our most talented individuals to compete in the global economy. This major new report explores the reasons for this disconnect, and brings psychological science to bear on the question of how to better nurture young talent across all fields of endeavor. Academic giftedness is often excluded from major conversations on educational policy as a result of misconceptions about what academic giftedness is and how it arises.
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2012 SOMAS in the Neurosciences Grants
SOMAS (Support of Mentors and their Students in the neurosciences) intends to award four grants for $8,000 apiece to junior neuroscience faculty so that they can launch research programs at their home institutions and hone their skills at mentoring undergraduate students. The SOMAS grant application receipt deadline is December 1. For more information visit: http://www.somasprogram.org/
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Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Inc. Annual Conference
This is the premier event in industrial-organizational psychology, the 3-day conference features more than 300 sessions, an exhibit hall, social activities, one theme track of programming, and a job placement center. Location: The Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego Dates: April 26-28, 2012 For more information visit: http://www.siop.org/confpart.aspx
