Cognitive Daily
A new cognitive psychology article nearly every day
Escher-themed nurseries? Even four-month-olds can recognize impossible objects
"Impossible objects" like the etchings of M.C. Escher have fascinated adults for centuries. You can't help but stare and wonder at a drawing like this, which seems to defy the laws of nature:The drawing seems strange to us because our visual sys...
~ published: Wednesday at 13:30 ~ permalink
Experts' memory: Not as expert as they think
Take a look at this short video -- it's a list of animals. Try to remember as many animals as you can.If you're like me, you're pretty confident that you will remember the entire list, even after ten minutes or so. In my case, that's not so much because t...
~ published: Monday at 10:04 ~ permalink
What conductors are doing when they wave their hands around -- and what we get out of it
As a child (and like most children, I imagine) I used to think conducting an orchestra entailed something like what Bugs Bunny does in this video:Waving the hands, as conductors frequently do, seemed largely for show. The conductor appeared to me to be mo...
~ published: 08/21 at 12:32 ~ permalink
What's wrong with this magazine cover?
The current issue of WIRED reveals an interesting quirk of the human perceptual system:Can you spot what's wrong? Read the comments on this post......
~ published: 08/19 at 06:52 ~ permalink
Music and memory: How the songs we heard growing up shape the story of our lives
One of the first things I did after my 90-mile hike with Nora in the North Cascades was play some music on the car stereo. We'd been in the wilderness for seven days, and other than birdsong, we hadn't heard so much as a note for the entire time.Matching ...
~ published: 08/18 at 11:43 ~ permalink
Testosterone and aggression, or what Frank's Red Hot Sauce has to do with handgun violence
[This article was originally published in December, 2006]As parents of a 1516-year-old, Greta and I are very interested in what causes people to behave aggressively. We know a lot about specific causes of aggression -- violent media, testosterone, guns, a...
~ published: 08/14 at 09:19 ~ permalink
Tone deafness and bad singing may not go hand in hand
Over at Sciam's Mind Matters blog, Greta and I have written a guest post about tone deafness and bad singing:Although there have been many studies of perceptual tone deafness, or amusia, few have compared people's ability to hear differences between music...
~ published: 08/13 at 11:50 ~ permalink
Do you choke under pressure? Depends on what you're trying to accomplish
[This article was originally published in December, 2006]Take a look at these two images. Do they belong in the same category or different categories?You say the same? Wrong -- they're different! The one on the right is a little blurrier.What about these ...
~ published: 08/11 at 09:15 ~ permalink
If you want to persuade a woman, look straight at her
[This article was originally published in April, 2007]There is a considerable body of research showing that eye contact is a key component of social interaction. Not only are people more aroused when they are looked at directly, but if you consistently lo...
~ published: 08/07 at 09:21 ~ permalink
When the color of your vehicle can mean life or death
[Originally posted in May, 2007]"I just didn't see him" is a claim that's repeated over and over in accident reports. Drivers earnestly claim that they simply didn't notice the bicycle/pedestrian/motorcycle they crashed into. The claim is made s...
~ published: 08/04 at 09:25 ~ permalink
Most researchers don't understand error bars
[This post was originally published in March 2007]Earlier today I posted a poll [and I republished that poll yesterday] challenging Cognitive Daily readers to show me that they understand error bars -- those little I-shaped indicators of statistical powe...
~ published: 07/31 at 09:57 ~ permalink
I'll bet you still don't understand error bars
Cognitive Daily gets a lot of complaints about graphs, mostly from readers who say the graphs are useless without error bars. My response is that error bars are confusing to most readers. But perhaps I'm wrong about that. Last year I posted about this iss...
~ published: 07/30 at 10:41 ~ permalink
Joint Attention and Social Compentence, or what a baby pointing at a toy says about well-behaved toddlers
One of the key components of "normal" child development is social competence. We expect kids to become gradually better at behaving respectfully towards peers, to comply with requests made by others, to understand the thoughts of others, to play...
~ published: 07/28 at 08:42 ~ permalink
Out of town for three weeks: A request for our readers
I'm about to head out of town for three weeks. You may have noticed posting getting lighter the last couple weeks as I attempted to tie up loose ends before the trip. Posting will be getting even lighter for the next three weeks as I head west to visit fa...
~ published: 07/25 at 11:23 ~ permalink
Why do more Asians have perfect pitch?
Several recent large-scale studies have confirmed a curious finding: Asians are much more likely to have "perfect pitch" than non-Asians. Perfect pitch, more properly called "Absolute pitch," is an extremely rare phenomenon, but it's s...
~ published: 07/24 at 14:47 ~ permalink
Why are older people worse at only some visuospatial tasks?
A number of studies have found that older adults aren't as good at certain visual tasks compared to younger adults. Mental rotation, for example, is both slower and less accurate. But other studies have found that for certain types of mental rotation, old...
~ published: 07/21 at 15:42 ~ permalink
One more way video games might be good for you
When we're in a crowded space, making visual judgments becomes more difficult. But it doesn't take much to trigger a crowding effect. Clicking on the picture below will take you to a quick movie (QuickTime required) that should demonstrate the effect. Foc...
~ published: 07/17 at 13:21 ~ permalink
Interesting analyses of monumental scientific research
Bora's hosting the first-ever edition of a new history of science carnival, "The Giant's Shoulders," which promises to focus attention on great research from years past, once a month.All participants review a journal article or other report of s...
~ published: 07/16 at 09:50 ~ permalink
Tracking the location of objects in your mind: It depends on what you believe
Imagine yourself in a room surrounded by eleven objects arranged in a circle. You memorize the position of the objects, then you close your eyes, and rotate a third of the way around (120°). Keeping your eyes closed, can you point to the object that was ...
~ published: 07/15 at 07:00 ~ permalink
Police (usually) are able to curb racial bias in shooting suspects
In 2005, E. Ashby Plant and B. Michelle Peruche tested 48 Florida police officers and found that they were initially more likely to shoot unarmed Black "suspects" in a crime-fighting simulation than White people holding similar objects. Interest...
~ published: 07/09 at 13:57 ~ permalink
Euro-update update: Is a photo about whether science is art, art?
Last year when the family was in Europe I snapped this photo of Jim looking at a triptych of three blank canvases:The accompanying blog post generated heated discussion about whether the work depicted in the photo was "art" (the discussion becam...
~ published: 07/08 at 13:31 ~ permalink
Will video games solve sex-discrimination in science?
Last year we discussed a great deal of research about the gender disparity in math and science. Even while women are more successful overall in school than men, in certain fields there is a very large deficit in the number of women participating. We menti...
~ published: 07/07 at 14:03 ~ permalink
High-pitched voices are most attractive -- with a few exceptions
Have you ever seen Singin' in the Rain? One of the movie's most hilarious moments is when the beautiful silent movie star Lina Lamont is asked to start making "talking pictures." As soon as this gorgeous screen siren opens her mouth, the illusio...
~ published: 07/03 at 11:17 ~ permalink
Are MMORPGs "addictive"?
In our discussions of violence associated with video game play, we've frequently noted that there appear to be different effects depending on the type of video game. Some games are more violent than others, and some games reward violence while others disc...
~ published: 06/30 at 12:13 ~ permalink
Casual Fridays -- Summer break
This is just a brief note to let our loyal Casual Friday readers know that we'll be going on a break for the summer. We should be able to maintain a semi-reasonable pace with the regular Cognitive Daily posts, but with all of our travel, it generally beco...
~ published: 06/27 at 14:02 ~ permalink
How do you make a reputation for yourself?
My high school experience, like that of nearly everyone who attended my school, was a perplexing one. It seemed there were only a few "popular" people -- those that everyone knew and liked -- and wanted to be like. Everyone else was much like me...
~ published: 06/26 at 11:35 ~ permalink
Help generate the initial list of subtopics for v.2 of ResearchBlogging.org
We're still working hard on getting the next version of ResearchBlogging.org ready to go. I know this is taking a long time, but since we have a (semi) working system right now, we really want to get this right. It shouldn't be too much longer. A few week...
~ published: 06/25 at 13:48 ~ permalink
Multi-tasking, task-switching, and humans -- or why I didn't finish writing this post three hours ago
Do you multitask? I'm not talking about literally doing two things at once, like emailing while talking on the phone, or playing the trombone while washing the dishes. I'm talking about the more common phenomenon of starting one project before you're fini...
~ published: 06/23 at 14:03 ~ permalink
Casual Fridays bonus round: Does anyone like Brazil nuts? Anyone?
One of the things that motivated Nora and me to conduct the Casual Friday nuts study was our intense ambivalence toward the Brazil nut. It's so much bigger than the other nuts that it tends to dominate any mixture, even when present in small quantities. A...
~ published: 06/21 at 09:00 ~ permalink
Casual Fridays: Do grocery stores give us the right mix of nuts?
Last week we asked our readers what their favorite types of mixed nuts were. Does the mixture that comes in the can actually approximate real-world preferences, or are the nut-packagers just giving us the cheapest nuts, with no allowances for our actual l...
~ published: 06/20 at 15:24 ~ permalink
Does music help us learn language?
One of the first steps to learning a language is figuring out where one word ends and the next one begins. Since fluent speakers don't generally pause between words, it can be a daunting task. We've discussed one of the ways people do it in this post -- ...
~ published: 06/19 at 07:32 ~ permalink
New insight into what makes things appear "glossy"
What makes something look glossy? At first, it doesn't seem like a difficult question -- it's something smooth and reflective. But if you were to attempt to draw something that looked glossy, how would you to it? Now, the problem suddenly gets a lot more ...
~ published: 06/17 at 14:00 ~ permalink
What sound are you hearing? It may depend on the words you read
Listen to this short audio clip:The clip plays two notes that are two full octaves apart. That's a greater range than many people can produce vocally. It should be easy for anyone to tell the difference between these two notes, even when heard in isolatio...
~ published: 06/16 at 13:22 ~ permalink
Casual Fridays: The right mixture of nuts
Last weekend Nora and I went on a hike in the Smoky Mountains. Whenever we go hiking, we make trail mix -- usually just cashews and raisins. This time, however, we had some mixed nuts left over from a party so we decided to use those instead.But there's a...
~ published: 06/13 at 10:49 ~ permalink
Babies have boundary extension, too
Boundary extension -- misremembering the boundaries of a scene as wider than they really are -- has been observed in adults as old as 84 and children as young as 6. But for kids much younger than 6, the phenomenon becomes quite difficult to study. How do ...
~ published: 06/12 at 10:50 ~ permalink
Insight into how we tell whether something's alive
Take a look at these three pictures. Can you tell which is a human, which is a cat, and which is a pigeon?How about these three pictures? A little easier?It would be even easier, of course, if the pictures were in motion, like in this movie (QuickTime req...
~ published: 06/11 at 14:33 ~ permalink
Office noise: Are your homicidal thoughts about your noisy office-mate justified?
A reader recently emailed to ask us if there's been any research about whether poor working conditions such as a noisy or overheated office affect motivation and efficiency. Wouldn't it be great if you could document to your employer that the guy in the n...
~ published: 06/10 at 14:11 ~ permalink
Body position affects memory for events
This article was originally posted on March 27, 2007When we see a familiar face, or even a photo of a favorite car or pet, we're often flooded with memories from our past. Sometimes just seeing a person or object that's similar to the ones in our memory w...
~ published: 06/05 at 12:53 ~ permalink
What's more convincing than talking about brains? Pictures of brains!
Not long ago we discussed work led by Deena Skolnick Weisberg showing that most people are more impressed by neuroscience explanations of psychological phenomena than plain-old psychology explanations. Talking about brains, it seems, is more convincing th...
~ published: 06/04 at 12:00 ~ permalink
Objects changing right before our eyes -- and still not being seen
Take a look at the short movie I've linked below (Click on the picture to play. QuickTime required). The movie shows a virtual gripping device (two red balls) lifting rectangular objects and placing them on a conveyor belt. Do you notice anything unusual ...
~ published: 06/03 at 15:03 ~ permalink
How hints help speed up math performance -- and what this says about memory
The link below will take you to a short movie (QuickTime Required). You'll see a series of seven easy addition problems, which will flash by at the rate of one every two seconds. Your job is to solve the problems as quickly as possible (ideally, you shoul...
~ published: 06/02 at 14:35 ~ permalink
Casual Fridays: Mac users don't like people touching their technology
A few weeks ago, Greta got a new iPod. I was, naturally, interested to see how it worked since it was supposed to be the latest technology, but Greta would hardly let me touch it: "It's mine, and I want to learn how to use it before you do," she...
~ published: 05/30 at 13:30 ~ permalink
History Week: Gestalt-o-mania!
Inspired by this post, we've decided to devote a week to the analysis of studies from the history of psychology.Gestalt theory hit the psychology world by storm in the 1920s, and the Gestalt school's unquestioned leader (though probably not the originator...
~ published: 05/29 at 14:44 ~ permalink
History Week: A baby's psychological development at age 6 months
Inspired by this post, we've decided to devote a week to the analysis of studies from the history of psychology.Today we consider the work of Millicent Washburn Shinn, one of the first women admitted to the University of California, Berkeley (in 1874), an...
~ published: 05/28 at 16:03 ~ permalink
Encephalon is up at Neurocritic
The biweekly neuroscience / psychology carnival Encephalon is now live over at the Neurocritic. There are tons of great posts but one of my favorites has to be this one: Would you vaccinate your kids against drugs? Read the comments on this post......
~ published: 05/28 at 05:19 ~ permalink
History Week: The origins of the study of memory
Inspired by this post, we've decided to devote a week to the analysis of studies from the history of psychology.Today's post discusses a small fraction of the work done by Hermann Ebbinghaus, a pioneer in the study of memory. Ebbinghaus spent two excrucia...
~ published: 05/27 at 14:45 ~ permalink
APS 2008: Doing algebra -- it's the little things that count
Quick, solve this problem3 + 5 * 7 = ?If you still recall high school algebra, you'll remember that you should be doing the multiplication problem first. So the answer would be 35 + 3, or 38. But if you just punch the numbers into your calculator (or if y...
~ published: 05/24 at 12:19 ~ permalink
APS 2008: The persistence of racism even among the well-intentioned
Negative stereotypes about Blacks in the U.S. have declined dramatically since the 1930s -- practically no White person to will say that Blacks are lazy, or superstitious, or many other stereotypes, when these views were common 80 years ago.Yet huge rac...
~ published: 05/24 at 12:15 ~ permalink
APS 2008: Can we learn from errors? What if we're running a nuclear power plant?
Just a few quick notes about Michael Frese's talk, "Learning from Errors by Individuals and Organizations."Frese gives a rule: "You make about 3-4 errors per hour no matter what you're doing."If errors are so ubiquitous, maybe it makes...
~ published: 05/23 at 11:51 ~ permalink
APS 2008: What Chutes and Ladders has to do with learning Math
This morning I attended a session on the Science of Learning, and heard a bunch of great talks.I was especially impressed by "There's Nothing so Practical as a Good Theory," by Robert Seigler.Siegler discussed his work with children's learning o...
~ published: 05/23 at 11:49 ~ permalink