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Brain finds pleasure in processing abstract art
The Irish Times: A new discipline called neuroaesthetics was founded about 10 years ago by Semir Zeki of University College London. It aims to discover the neurological basis for the success of artistic techniques. Most people find the blurred imagery of Impressionist paintings appealing and the new studies show that these images stimulate the amygdala, the area in the brain geared to detect threats in our peripheral vision. The amygdala plays a big role in our emotions, which may explain why we find Impressionist paintings so moving. The images in abstract paintings do not directly picture anything in the real physical world.
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Perspectives Article Wins 2011 Best Paper Award
A paper published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, “The situated inference model: An integrative account of the effects of primes on perception, behavior, and motivation” was awarded the 2011 Best Paper Award from the International Social Cognition Network. In the article, authors Chris Loersch (University of Missouri, Columbia) and Keith Payne (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) introduce the situated inference model of priming, which suggests that a prime’s separate effects on judgment, action, and motivation can all be produced through the same basic process. According to Melissa Ferguson, Cornell University, the paper was selected among numerous excellent submissions.
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What Is Logical Isn’t Always True
In logic, an argument can be invalid even if its conclusion is true, and an argument can be valid even if its conclusion is false. It’s a confusing concept, and people are easily fooled when an argument’s validity and believability don’t match up, especially in the case of invalid arguments with conclusions that are believable. Psychological scientists call this phenomenon belief bias. For example, consider this argument. All psychological scientists conduct empirical research. William James conducts empirical research. Therefore, William James is a psychological scientist. All of the premises are true, and so is the conclusion, but it’s not a valid argument.
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Wisdom is matter of culture
Zee News: Do we really get wiser with age or does culture shape wisdom? Having wisdom implies that one is also good at resolving conflict. But conflict is not handled the same way across cultures. Americans are known to emphasize individuality and solve conflict in a direct manner. Conversely, the Japanese place a greater emphasis on social cohesion, and tend to settle conflict indirectly, relying on mediation through another person. Psychological scientist Igor Grossmann of the University of Waterloo, Canada and his colleagues investigated how the resolution of conflict and, by extension, wisdom, differs between Japanese and American cultures, the journal "Psychological Science" reports.
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Self-Control May Not Be a Limited Resource After All
So many acts in our daily lives – refusing that second slice of cake, walking past the store with the latest gadgets, working on your tax forms when you’d rather watch TV – seem to boil down to one essential ingredient: self-control. Self-control is what enables us to maintain healthy habits, save for a rainy day, and get important things done. But what is self-control, really? And how does it work?
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Teaching Kids A Second Language Isn’t A Waste Of Money
Business Insider: Children growing up in low-income households often fall behind their peers in just about every category––from school testing, college exams and even their mortgage rates later in life. What if learning a second language could change that? It sounds far-fetched, but a team of University of Luxembourg researchers say they've found strengths in low-income bilingual children that may help them surpass the challenges of poverty––namely how they quickly and efficiently they learn to process information early in life. Read the whole story: Business Insider
