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When We Forget to Remember – Failures in Prospective Memory Range From Annoying to Lethal
A surgical team closes an abdominal incision, successfully completing a difficult operation. Weeks later, the patient comes into the ER complaining of abdominal pain and an X-ray reveals that one of the forceps used in the operation was left inside the patient. Why would highly skilled professionals forget to perform a simple task they have executed without difficulty thousands of times before? These kinds of oversights occur in professions as diverse as aviation and computer programming, but research from psychological science reveals that these lapses may not reflect carelessness or lack of skill but failures of prospective memory.
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Awe therapy ‘could make us nicer’
The Sydney Morning Herald: A jaw-dropping moment really can make time appear to stand still - or at least slow down, new research suggests. Regular "awesome" experiences may also improve our mental health and make us nicer people, claim psychologists. The findings raise the prospect of "awe therapy" to overcome the stressful effects of fast-paced modern life. Awe is the emotion felt when encountering something so vast and overwhelming it alters one's mental perspective. Examples might include experiencing a breathtaking view of the Grand Canyon, taking in the ethereal beauty of the Northern Lights, or becoming lost in a dazzling display of stars on a clear, dark night.
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Volunteering Our Time Makes Us Feel Like We Have More Time: Study
The Huffington Post: We don't have enough time to do this, we don't have enough time to do that. But a new study suggests that when we give our time away, it helps us feel like we have more time. Researchers from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Business School and the Yale School of Management found that when a person volunteers his or her time, it makes us feel more efficient, and therefore like we are less stressed and hurried. The study included results from a number of experiments. In one of the experiments, 218 students at a university were asked to do one of two five-minute activities.
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Quick Tip: Give It a Rest to Boost Memory
Men's Fitness: Studying for exams or a big presentation? Don’t forget to give it a rest … your brain, that is. New research shows that even a quick 10-minute break after learning can boost your memory—up to a week later. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland asked healthy elderly men and women to listen to two stories, and remember the details later. After one story, participants rested with their eyes closed for 10 minutes in a dark room. After the other story, they looked for differences between two images, an activity meant to distract their minds.
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Sexy Movies Sway Teens to Have Earlier and Riskier Sex
LiveScience: The amount of sex kids see in movies could influence their sexual behavior later in life, a new study says. In the study, young teens who watched movies with more sexual content tended to become sexually active at an earlier age, and engaged in riskier sexual behaviors, compared with those who watched movies with less sexual content. The study found an association, and not a cause-effect link. However, "sensation seeking, or the tendency to seek more novel and intense sexual stimulation, does seem to increase in young people who watched more movies with sexually explicit content," said study researcher Ross O'Hara, a researcher at the University of Missouri.
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Pressed for time? Take a moment to feel awe
NBC: If you're feeling pressed for time, try hiking to a mountain vista or listening to a masterful symphony. New research suggests that the resulting awe may leave you feeling less rushed. Experiencing awe makes people feel as if time is plentiful, according to a new study to be published in the journal Psychological Science. Not many emotions make people feel that way, study researcher Melanie Rudd, a graduate student in business at Stanford University, told LiveScience. "We kind of run around with these very hectic day-to-day lives," Rudd said.
