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Kooky Kickstarters — Why They Succeed
NPR: Kickstarters give people a sense of belonging "The Internet is this incredibly cluttered space," says Deborah Small, "and advertisers are spending tons of money to capture the attention of consumers." Like Ethan, Deborah is a professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research areas focus on marketing and psychology. Then along comes this random guy "with a silly campaign," Deborah says. "We know that unusual things grab attention — and humor is part of that." Deborah also attributes the odder crowdfunded successes to a sense of wanting to belong. "It's like how people wear certain clothes to fit in with certain groups," she says.
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Can a Jury Believe What It Sees?
The New York Times: LAST week the F.B.I., the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal law enforcement agencies instituted a policy of recording interrogations of criminal suspects held in custody. Only a minority of states and local governments have a similar requirement, but the new rule, which applies to nearly every federal interrogation, will most likely spur more jurisdictions to follow suit. It’s not far-fetched to think that such recordings may soon become standard police practice nationwide. Supporters of the practice present recordings as a solution for a host of problems, from police misconduct to false confessions.
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The Trouble With Brain Science
The New York Times: ARE we ever going to figure out how the brain works? After decades of research, diseases like schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s still resist treatment. Despite countless investigations into serotonin and other neurotransmitters, there is still no method to cure clinical depression. And for all the excitement about brain-imaging techniques, the limitations of fMRI studies are, as evidenced by popular books like “Brainwashed” and “Neuromania,” by now well known. In spite of the many remarkable advances in neuroscience, you might get the sinking feeling that we are not always going about brain science in the best possible way. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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Sleep Deprivation May Increase Susceptibility to False Memories
Not getting enough sleep may increase the likelihood of forming false memories, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. In a study conducted by psychological scientist Steven
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Would Motorcyclists Be Safer If There Were More of Them?
There’s no question that motorcycles pose a particularly potent hazard on the roadways. Bikers are up to 30 times more likely to experience a deadly accident on the road than drivers of passenger cars, according to US government statistics. And more than half of motorcyclist deaths involve at least one other vehicle. One of the primary reasons that motorcyclists are so vulnerable to traffic accidents may be their paucity, according to a recently published study. Psychological scientist Vanessa Beanland of Australian National University and her colleagues found evidence that car-and-truck drivers don’t notice bikes because they encounter relatively few of them on the road.
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What’s Going On In There? How Babies’ Brains Practice Speech
NPR: A baby's first words may seem spur of the moment, but really, the little ones have practiced their "Mamas" and "Dadas" for months in their minds. Using what looks like a hair dryer from Mars, researchers from the University of Washington have taken the most precise peeks yet into the fireworks display of neural activity that occurs when infants listen to people speak. They found that the motor area of the brain, which we use to produce speech, is very active in babies 7 to 12 months old when they listen to speech components.
