-
How researchers are teaching AI to learn like a child
It's a Saturday morning in February, and Chloe, a curious 3-year-old in a striped shirt and leggings, is exploring the possibilities of a new toy. Her father, Gary Marcus, a developmental cognitive scientist at New York University (NYU) in New York City, has brought home some strips of tape designed to adhere Lego bricks to surfaces. Chloe, well-versed in Lego, is intrigued. But she has always built upward. Could she use the tape to build sideways or upside down? Marcus suggests building out from the side of a table. Ten minutes later, Chloe starts sticking the tape to the wall. "We better do it before Mama comes back," Marcus says in a singsong voice.
-
Why Delayed Gratification in the Marshmallow Test Doesn’t Equal Success
If you give a kid a marshmallow, she’s going to ask for a graham cracker. And maybe some milk. Eventually, she’ll want another marshmallow. (Or so the popular children’s book goes.) But if you ask a kid to wait 15 minutes before eating that marshmallow, promising a second if she holds out, she’s going to have a hard time complying. This dilemma, commonly known as the marshmallow test, has dominated research on children’s willpower since 1990, when Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel and his colleagues published their groundbreaking study on the topic.
-
Feeling Burned Out? Here Are 3 Things That Can Help
Here’s a confession: For the last week or so I’ve felt a little drained. Low energy, low motivation, a sense that something is a little off. It’s nothing serious, but one of those passing phases we’re all familiar with when things feel overwhelming. As an old editor of mine used to put it: My mojo is a little off. There are countless reasons we get in these funks, ranging from tough deadlines and scheduling conflicts to problems with co-workers or new stressors at home. Sometimes there isn’t even a reason and you’re just having one of those weeks. It’s normal to go through these phases. According to a recent study, one in five highly engaged employees is at risk of burnout.
-
Your Participation Requested: International Gender Gap Project Survey
The US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and other groups have issued a survey to learn more about the problems social and behavioral scientists, as well as other researchers, face around the world. Click here to learn more about the Global Survey of Scientists. The survey is part of a larger international project called “A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences: How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?” The project aims to address the gender gap in science and study barriers to achievement for women scientists.
-
“Myth-Busting” Can Impair, Rather Than Correct, Consumers’ Health Knowledge, Study Suggests
Powell writes that many educational materials are designed with the best intentions but should be tested empirically to ensure people understand the information correctly.
-
A New Approach to the Marshmallow Test Yields Complicated Findings
A new study on the classic “marshmallow test” suggests that the widely studied link between children’s ability to delay gratification and their life outcomes is heavily influenced by social and economic backgrounds.
