RANDOM FACT OF THE DAY
Most older
monitors support 256 colour settings
(psst...
there's another random fact hidden in your news
below!)
TODAY's GLIMPSE
(top headline from each source)
YOUR FRIENDS
You have 2 friends that you are
sharing news with.
To see what your friends & associates
are reading, add new friends here. | |
| IQs, help keep SimplyHeadlines
free. Click
here to tell a friend about
SH. |
|
|
The
IQ Brain Clock blog - recent posts of
interest
Regular readers of IQs Corner may want
to routinely visit my new sister blog (Tick Tock Talk:
The IQ Brain Clock). The last two posts dealt with the
role of mental time percption in ADHD and information
regarding Aurhtur Jensen's new book "Clocking the
Mind".Technorati Tags: psychology, educational
psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, cognition,
cogntive, intelligence, IQ, g, general intelligence,
reaction time, temporal processing, temporal g, mental
clock, mental time keeping, interval time, brain [...] | |
|
|
Arthur
Jensen's "Clocking the mind" book
Thanks to an
annonymous commenter for reminding me of the publication
of Arthur Jensen's new book: Clocking the Mind: Mental
Chronometry and Individual Differences.As mentioned in a
prior post (click here), Jensen is "the" name associated
with the use of reaction time measures in the search for
the essence of g (general intelligence). Although my
prior post was in reference to an "in press" article
that suggested that measures of temporal processing (vs.
[...] |
Is
ADHD related to a poor internal mental clock?
I
just ran across a 2004 study that examined prospective
(reproducing a 30 second time interval) and
retrospective (how long did a task take?) time
judgements in children with reading disorders and ADHD
(RD and ADHD groups).Although prior research with ADHD
subjects has implicated deficient mental/interval
time-keeping (at the milisecond level--see
introduction/review of lit in actual article--see below)
as a potentail causal mechanism for ADHD, the current
study attempted to determine if ADHD subjects,
consistent [...] | |
|
|
Brain
Fitness Programs, “Brain Gyms”…Explained
Thanks
to MindHacks for the link to a good Washington Post
article, ‘Pumping Neurons’. A couple of quotes: “Recent
research shows that the brain remains plastic, or
basically trainable, throughout life. In a study
published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association in 2002, significant percentages of the
2,802 participants age 65 and older who trained
[...] | |
|
|
Men
Have Greater General Intelligence?
At least on
this latest review of the SAT, these Canadian
researchers suggest so... Using individual SAT subtest
scores to estimate general cognitive ability,
researchers found that 17-18 year old males averaged
3.63 IQ points higher than their female counterparts.
The authors also make this interesting observation: "Age
turns out to be an important factor for determining sex
differences in IQ because the male advantage does not
emerge until the late adolescent growth spurt when the
brain size [...] | |
|
|
What
Matters for Theory of Mind?
At around 5 years of
age, most children are able to demonstrate they
understand that others' can have lasting counter-factual
beliefs. For example, if 5-year-olds are told that
Joey's mom moved a candy that Joey had previously placed
on the counter, they can correctly state that Joey
thinks the candy will remain on the counter. 3-year-olds
will tend to say that Joey thinks the candy is wherever
his mother had moved it, even though Joey [...] |
Language
Disorders, Modularity, and Domain-General
Mechanisms
Yesterday I discussed how
domain-general mechanisms can explain several features
of language acquisition, including phonology and some
aspects of grammar. However, developmental disorders of
language pose a slightly stronger challenge to
domain-general theories of language.Perhaps the
strongest argument for a specialized grammar mechanism
comes from grammatical specific language impairment
(G-SLI), a condition in which a selective grammar
deficit occurs alongside mutations in a single gene,
leaving intact nonverbal, auditory, and articulation
abilities (van der [...] | |
|
|
New
BPS Research Digest
For those wanting their
fortnightly hit of studies from the British
Psychological Society Research Digest, a new edition has
just been released and is welcoming eager readers... |
The
psychology of rumours
BoingBoing has alerted me
to the fact that a book on psychology of rumours has
just been published. The book is by two psychologists,
Profs Nicholas DiFonzo and Prashant Bordia who have been
researching the topic and have consulted on legal cases
where rumours have been involved. It is entitled Rumor
Psychology (ISBN 1591474264) and tackles the function
and structure of rumour and gossip, and distringuishes
between these two forms of social communication. Exactly
what is rumor, and [...] |
Talking
here and there
During the coming week, artist
Simon Pope and I will be giving a couple of talks on
Walking Here and There - an art / science collaboration
project that aims to investigate the interaction of
place and memory in psychosis, and particularly
reduplicative paramnesia, the delusional belief that a
place exists in two or more locations simultaneously.
The first will be at 4pm this Friday (20th) at the
Chapter Gallery in Cardiff, as part of Simon's [...] | |
|
|
The
brain's great connector
Pick two people off the
street at random, put them in a brain scanner, and look
at the thickness of their corpus callosums – that’s the
massive bundle of nerve fibres that connects the two
halves of the brain. In all likelihood, you’ll find it’s
much thicker in one person than the other. Indeed, some
people can have up to three times as many nerve fibres
in their corpus callosum compared with the next person.
According [...] |
Are
mental disorders real?
How do the public view
mental disorders? Do they see them as real entities with
some kind of essence, or do they see them as the
invention of human culture? And how does their take
differ from that of mental health professionals? To find
out, Woo-kyoung Ahn and colleagues asked 30 university
undergrads and 30 experts to answer questions about the
nature of a selection of familiar and unfamiliar
psychiatric diagnoses, such as ADHD and undifferentiated
[...] |
They
didn't even say thank you
You sacrificed your
Saturday afternoon, you faced the high-street crowds,
but after unwrapping the present you so generously
bought for them, they didn’t even say thank you.
According to Catherine Roster of the University of New
Mexico, when it comes to the future of your relationship
with them, that’s the worst thing an unhappy gift
recipient can do. Roster interviewed 186 people who were
able to recall a recent occasion when they gave someone
a present [...] |
Reading
novels linked with increased empathy
"'Oh! it is
only a novel!' or, in short, only some work in which the
most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest
delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusion of
wit and humour are to be conveyed to the world in the
best chosen language." From Northanger Abbey (1818) by
Jane Austen. The more fiction a person reads, the more
empathy they have and the better they perform on tests
of social understanding and awareness. [...] |
Skydiving
used to mimic effect of trauma on
memory
Following a traumatic experience, people
often have a persistent, yet strangely incomplete,
memory for what happened to them. One explanation is
that in times of hyper-arousal, such as during trauma,
our attention becomes extremely focused on the most
relevant details of what’s happening, thus impairing our
memory for more peripheral aspects. To test this idea,
Tamara Cavenett and Reginald Nixon recruited a group of
70 skydivers. Half of them learned a list of words in
the [...] | |
The Pentagon has twice as many
restrooms as necessary. When it was built, segregation was
still in place in Virginia, so separate restrooms for blacks
and whites were required by law.
|
|
|
Can
electrical stimulation assist in recovery from semi
conscious state?
Deep brain stimulation has been
reported to be effective in restoring functioning to
persons in a semi conscious state according to research
presented at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience
in Atlanta on Sunday. The research at this time is
extremely limited and much more investigation needs to
be undertaken to determine if, indeed this is a viable
treatment. Apparently, this is the first time that this
form of therapy has been tried on [...] |
More
research and validation is needed for brain injury
rehabiltation programs
In 1998, the National
Institutes of Health sponsored a Consensus Conference on
Rehabilitation of Persons With Traumatic Brain Injury.
The conference identified 30 different areas areas of
research that needed to be addressed in order to guide
the rehabilitation of persons with TBI. (The full
conference report's findings and conclusions can be
found in the Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA) 1999; 282; 994-983.) Since that report was
published, much research and attention has [...] |
Support
The Needs of Children With Brain Injury & Their
Families
A one day symposium is being sponsored
by the Brain Injury Association of New York State for
professionals working with children with brain injury
and their families. The educational program is scheduled
for November 8, 2006 from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM at North
Shore University Hospital, 300 Community Drive,
Manhasset, New York. As President of the Brain Injury
Association of New York State, I am pleased to have been
asked to deliver the opening [...] |
New
treatment for post concussion syndrome
Working
under the theory that a little exercise may be a good
thing following a sports related concussion, researchers
at The University at Buffalo's Sports Medicine Institute
have developed a new method for treating athletes who
sustain post-concussion syndrome. Approximately 10 to 15
percent of the population who experience a concussion
have symptoms that persist beyond six weeks. These
people are diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, or
PCS. Previously there has been no treatment for the [...] |
Traumatic
Brain Injury Legislation Update
Here is a recap
of the latest legislation dealing with traumatic brain
injuries from around the country. Special thanks to the
National Association of State Head Injury Administrators
(NASHIA) for compiling this list. Expands Advisory
Council - NH and RI: Rhode Island Governor Donald L.
Carcieri signed H.B. 7546 on July 7 that changes the
composition of the permanent advisory commission on
traumatic brain injuries and identifies the type of
expenditures that can be paid [...] | |
|
|
Links
for 2006-10-17 [del.icio.us]
BBC NEWS | UK |
Human species 'may split in two' Humanity may split into
two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by
HG Wells, an expert has said. Evolutionary theorist
Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a
genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to
emerge. Th Boing Boing: Psychology of rumors Psychology
of rumors Nicholas DiFonzo is one of the world's leading
experts on gossip. Well, [...] | |
|
|
Genetic
contributions to human brain morphology and
intelligence
This interesing paper just came out
in The Journal of Neuroscience: Variation in gray matter
(GM) and white matter (WM) volume of the adult human
brain is primarily genetically determined. Moreover,
total brain volume is positively correlated with general
intelligence, and both share a common genetic origin.
However, although genetic effects on morphology of
specific GM areas in the brain have been studied, the
heritability of focal WM is unknown. Similarly, it is
unresolved whether there [...] |
Sunni
vs. Shia (again)
By now most of you have read The
New York Times piece about the inability of some
government officials and representatives to distinguish
between Sunni & Shia Muslims. I can't say I'm that
surprised. Steve Sailer has been saying for years the
phonetic similarity is probably part of the problem.
There are two major issues:1) The substantive
theological differences between Sunnis and Shias, and
within Sunnis and Shias.2) The distribution of [...] | |
|
|
Men
Do Suffer from Compulsive Shopping
Compulsive
shopping is not just a problem that some women have - it
seems that men are just as likely to suffer from it, say
researchers from Stanford University, USA. About 5% of
adults in the USA say they cannot refrain from shopping
for stuff they probably don't want or need. |
Emotions
Are in the Head Not the Heart
In our normal, day
to day life everyone has to deal with distracting
emotions, from the teenager taking his first driving
test to the footballer taking a kick at the goal amid a
screaming crowd. Researchers have now discovered that
the brain is able to prevent emotions from interfering
with mental functioning by having a specific "executive
processing" area of the cortex inhibit activity of the
emotion-processing region. |
Women
Suffering From PMS May Benefit From
Anti-Depressant
Some women who experience
moderate-to-severe premenstrual syndrome may benefit
from treatment with low doses of anti-depressant
medication, according to a new study led by a Virginia
Commonwealth University researcher. Researchers reported
that low doses of sertraline taken for two weeks before
the onset of the menstrual period may be an effective
and well-tolerated treatment [...] |
Exercise
& Mental Health
The psychological benefits of
physical exercise continues to get substantial
attention. Regular activity regardless of demographic
variables can produce an array of physical and mental
benefits, leading some researchers to encourage
physicians to prescribe specific physical activities as
part of treatment for a variety of conditions. “The
authors give doctors the “how-to” of prescribing
exercise,
[...] | |
|
|
Cow
tipping (professional version)
Cow tipping, by
legend, is a pastime for adventuresome youths in bucolic
settings. But for professionals in New England, cow
tipping is a serious, semi-veterinary endeavor. James M.
Patterson’s narrated slide show, for Valley News,
explains. (Thanks to Janice Brown for bringing this to
our attention.) |
Rob
MacLeod joins the LFHCfS
Rob MacLeod has joined
the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. His
research interests include electrocardiographic mapping,
cardiac electrophysiology, computational
electrophysiology, scientific visualization and
bioelectric signal processing. Professor MacLeod was
nominated by Chris Johnson, PhD, LFHCfS. Rob MacLeod,
PhD, LFHCfS Associate Director Scientific Computing and
Imaging Institute University of Utah Salt Lake City,
Utah, USA (Click on the photo to [...] |
Swan
song for cat-cats
Genetic Savings and Clone, a
biotechnology company that sold cloned pets, sent
letters to its customers last month informing them it
will close at the end of the year because of little
demand for costly cloned cats. The company had recently
reduced the price from $50,000 to $32,000. The letters
said the Sausalito company was not
[...] | |
| |
