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What Happens To Our Decision-Making Brain As We Age
Huffington Post: It's 2031, and you are among the first humans to set foot on Mars. You and the other pioneering astronauts have discovered that there is actually a small amount of oxygen in the Martian atmosphere, but you need to figure out how to extract it. The future colonization of the Red Planet depends on your success in this task. Imagine you're the leader of this mission, and you have two oxygen extraction systems that might work. You need to pick someone to test the two competing systems, and you have two equally qualified candidates. One is an up-and-comer, just turned 20 and eager to make his mark. The other is 67, a veteran. Which do you put in charge of this crucial job?
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Profanity on TV Linked to Foul-Mouthed Kids
U.S. News & World Report: Is TV turning our kids into fountains of four-letter words? Maybe so, says a new study that finds a link between foul-mouthed inner-city children and profanity-ridden shows and video games. However, the research doesn't confirm that exposure to trash-talking adults directly leads to swearing among kids, nor does it explain why non-aggressive cussing might be a bad thing. And the actual size of the possible effect is unknown, although the study's lead author called it "moderate." "As a society we've gotten pretty lax concerning profanity. We're desensitized to it," said the author, Sarah M. Coyne, an assistant professor at Brigham Young University.
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Spoiler Alert
American Scientist: Movie critics might do their readers a favor by slipping more plot spoilers into their reviews. Far from wrecking a story, revealing a surprise ending makes fiction more enjoyable. Psychologists picked a dozen short stories—including mysteries and tales with clever plot twists—and wrote a spoiler for each. At least 30 people read the original version of each story alone, while another 30 read the spoiler first. Those who knew a story’s ending consistently ranked it as more pleasureable than did naive readers. The authors speculate that people who already knew the endings felt less anxious and enjoyed anticipating events in the story.
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Steve Jobs and LSD: A Q&A on hallucinogenic drugs
The Star-Ledger: In the cascade of news coverage about Apple founder Steve Jobs following his death on Oct. 5, it was reported that he had taken LSD, the hallucinogenic drug popularized in the 1960s. The Apple innovator, who was 56 at the time of his death from pancreatic cancer, said taking the drug was "one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life." In another interview, Jobs said Microsoft would have been a better company had founder Bill Gates "dropped acid." That statement is at odds with the anti-drug message most young people hear from parents and teachers.
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Travel Grant to South Africa for the 30th International Congress of Psychology
The APA-USNC International Travel and Mentoring Program for US scholars announces a call for applications to attend the 30th International Congress of Psychology held in Cape Town, South Africa from July 22-27, 2012. Student – Early Career Applicants The APA-USNC program will award up to 16 $1,500 awards (travel and registration) awards to students and early career psychologists. Awardees will participate in the APA-USNC International Congress program, which includes networking and mentoring activities prior, during and after the Congress in support of enhanced international research and scholarly collaboration.
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Travel Grant to South Africa for the 30th International Congress of Psychology
The APA-USNC International Travel and Mentoring Program for US scholars announces a call for applications to attend the 30th International Congress of Psychology held in Cape Town, South Africa from July 22-27, 2012.
