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Your Spouse’s Voice Is Easier to Hear – And Easier to Ignore
With so many other competing voices, having a conversation on a bustling subway or at a crowded cocktail party takes a great deal of concentration. New research suggests that the familiar voice of a spouse stands out against other voices, helping to sharpen auditory perception and making it easier to focus on one voice at a time. “Familiar voices appear to influence the way an auditory 'scene' is perceptually organized,” explains lead researcher Ingrid Johnsrude of Queen’s University, Canada. Johnsrude and her colleagues asked married couples, ages 44-79, to record themselves reading scripted instructions out loud.
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Science Reveals the Benefits of an Aging Workforce
The over-65 set is not only increasing in numbers (by 2030 the percentage of people age 65 and older is expected to increase from almost 13 percent to almost 20 percent, according to data from the Stanford Center on Longevity). They are also healthier and more active than in previous generations. That means many of them will be working longer than a generation ago. Does their increasing presence in the workplace predict an increase or decrease in ageism? Psychological researchers are stepping up research on bias against older adults as part of an effort to break stereotypes on aging and curb age discrimination.
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Nudged to the Produce Aisle by a Look in the Mirror
The New York Times: Samuel Pulido walked into his local grocery store on a sweltering day, greeted by cool air and the fantasy-world ambience of the modern supermarket. Soft music drifted. Neon-bright colors turned his head this way and that. “WOW!!!” gasped the posters hanging from entranceway racks, heralding the sugary drinks, wavy chips and Berry Colossal Crunch being thrust his way. Then he looked down at his grocery cart and felt quite a different tug. Inside the front of the buggy, hooked onto its red steel frame, was a mirror. It stretched nearly a foot across, and as Mr. Pulido gripped the cart a little more tightly, it filled with the reflection of his startled face. ...
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Researchers Study Self-Knowledge (Literally)
The Wall Street Journal: How well do people know their bodies and how does that help them function day to day? The attempt to understand how humans make sense of all the complex feedback they receive from the eyes and ears down has taken off and reached a new level of understanding in the last decade. ... Tapping into the brain's ability to detect and integrate complex sensory information may also be useful therapeutically.
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Just Thinking about Science Triggers Moral Behavior
Scientific American: Public opinion towards science has made headlines over the past several years for a variety of reasons — mostly negative. High profile cases of academic dishonesty and disputes over funding have left many questioning the integrity and societal value of basic science, while accusations of politically motivated research fly from left and right. There is little doubt that science is value-laden. Allegiances to theories and ideologies can skew the kinds of hypotheses tested and the methods used to test them. These, however, are errors in the application of the method, not the method itself.
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Study: Disgusting Sweaty Palms Sometimes Help With Business Deals
The Atlantic: According to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, what seems like an unfortunate physical quirk may put people at an advantage when negotiating, if they like negotiating. If they don't, it may make things way worse. The researchers wanted to see if people’s prior positive or negative attitudes toward negotiation would be affected by physical arousal (not that kind, guys, the kind you get from exercising). First they surveyed a group of 247 undergrads about how much they dreaded or looked forward to negotiating. Read the whole story: The Atlantic
