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La Mindfulness aiuta a fare scelte più intelligenti (Mindfulness helps you make smarter choices)
La Stampa: Bastano 15 minuti di meditazione Mindfulness (o Consapevolezza) per compiere scelte o prendere decisioni migliori, più intelligenti. Un solo quarto d’ora e ne beneficia dunque non solo il cervello, ma anche la propria vita, dimostrano ancora una volta l’efficacia di questo metodo tanto semplice quanto utile.
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Deep Learning: Teaching Computers To Tell Things Apart
NPR: WhatsApp may be Facebook's latest prize, but it's not the company's most ambitious investment. In recent months, the social networking giant has begun funding something potentially far more revolutionary: artificial intelligence. And it's not alone. Google and as of last week, Netflix, are all getting into a new kind of AI known as . Deep learning programs are able to perceive their world in a way unlike any other computer program, and these companies hope that deep learning programs will one day be able to sort your photos, recognize your voice, and do a whole lot more. Computers can already recognize some things. Take the scanner at the supermarket.
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Society for the Study of Human Development releases special issue of Research in Human Development
The Society for the Study of Human Development (SSHD) has released a special issue of Research in Human Development on "Emergence, Self-Organization, and Developmental Science." The issue, which includes articles such as "Self-Organization and Explanatory Pluralism: Avoiding the Snares of Reductionism in Developmental Science," can be accessed by SSHD members at www.sshdonline.org.
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Overdosing on Incentives
Stock options, gift certificates, and lump sums of cash are the tools of choice that employers use to motivate staff to strive for success. It’s widely assumed that the promise of a monetary bonus improves a worker’s drive, concentration, and performance. But a new study shows that these motivational rewards may have the opposite effect on some people. In these individuals, the potential for a bonus can send the brain’s reward centers into overdrive and interfere with their ability to process information, a team of American and European researchers has concluded. The chemical in question is dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays a variety of roles in the brain.
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A History of Humans Loving Inanimate Objects
Pacific Standard: Around mid-February, someone on Reddit posted a meme that declared the following: “Sometimes, when I grab a cup from my cabinet, I will grab one that’s in the back and never gets used because I think the cup feels depressed that it isn’t fulfilling it’s life of holding liquids.” The sentiment proved popular. “I used to work at a toy store and if anyone ever bought a stuffed animal I would leave its head sticking out of the bag.. so it could breathe,” commented one Redditor. “I actually cried when we switched microwaves when i was a kid. I felt like we should have given it a proper burial or something,” wrote another.
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Taking a Transdiagnostic Approach to Understanding Self-Injury
Millions of people are affected by self-injury, especially adolescents and young adults. Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has been the focus of numerous studies and, yet, there is still a lot to learn about its causes and consequences. NSSI behavior, the most common of which is cutting, can have various short- and long-term consequences and research shows that NSSI is predictive of later suicide attempts. We also know that NSSI co-occurs with many other disorders, including major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and substance use and eating disorders.
