Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Punishment in schools and racism
DALLAS – More than 200,000 US public school students were punished by beatings during the 2006-2007 school year, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a joint report released today. In the 13 states that corporally punished more than 1,000 students per year, African-American girls were twice as likely to be beaten as their white counterparts.
link
link
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Monty Hall Problem
The Monty Hall Problem, named after the host of the long-running game show "Let’s Make a Deal," is a statistical puzzle that seems counterintuitive. A recurring deal on the show featured contestants choosing one of three closed doors, with a big prize behind one of them and something else, like a goat, behind each of the others.
NY Times Demo
NY Times Demo
The F word
Feminist.
The sex industry is booming, the rape conviction rate is plummeting, women's bodies are picked over in the media, abortion rights are under serious threat and top business leaders say they don't want to employ women. It all adds up to one thing ... an all-out assault on feminism. But why? And what's to be done about it, asks Kira Cochrane
Guardian
The sex industry is booming, the rape conviction rate is plummeting, women's bodies are picked over in the media, abortion rights are under serious threat and top business leaders say they don't want to employ women. It all adds up to one thing ... an all-out assault on feminism. But why? And what's to be done about it, asks Kira Cochrane
Guardian
Your living 1/10 of a second in the future!
Key to All Optical Illusions Discovered
Humans can see into the future, says a cognitive scientist. It's nothing like the alleged predictive powers of Nostradamus, but we do get a glimpse of events one-tenth of a second before they occur.
And the mechanism behind that can also explain why we are tricked by optical illusions.
Researcher Mark Changizi of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York says it starts with a neural lag that most everyone experiences while awake. When light hits your retina, about one-tenth of a second goes by before the brain translates the signal into a visual perception of the world.
Scientists already knew about the lag, yet they have debated over exactly how we compensate, with one school of thought proposing our motor system somehow modifies our movements to offset the delay.
Humans can see into the future, says a cognitive scientist. It's nothing like the alleged predictive powers of Nostradamus, but we do get a glimpse of events one-tenth of a second before they occur.
And the mechanism behind that can also explain why we are tricked by optical illusions.
Researcher Mark Changizi of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York says it starts with a neural lag that most everyone experiences while awake. When light hits your retina, about one-tenth of a second goes by before the brain translates the signal into a visual perception of the world.
Scientists already knew about the lag, yet they have debated over exactly how we compensate, with one school of thought proposing our motor system somehow modifies our movements to offset the delay.
Human brain appears 'hard-wired' for hierarchy
Human imaging studies have for the first time identified brain circuitry associated with social status, according to researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health. They found that different brain areas are activated when a person moves up or down in a pecking order – or simply views perceived social superiors or inferiors. Circuitry activated by important events responded to a potential change in hierarchical status as much as it did to winning money.
story
story
Being Fat: a stigma or reality?
Half of overweight adults may be heart-healthy
By LINDSEY TANNERAP MEDICAL WRITER
An overweight man is shown in Washington in this 2003 file photo. A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people, about half, have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
CHICAGO -- You can look great in a swimsuit and still be a heart attack waiting to happen. And you can also be overweight and otherwise healthy. A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people - about half - have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity.
story
By LINDSEY TANNERAP MEDICAL WRITER
An overweight man is shown in Washington in this 2003 file photo. A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people, about half, have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
CHICAGO -- You can look great in a swimsuit and still be a heart attack waiting to happen. And you can also be overweight and otherwise healthy. A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people - about half - have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity.
story
Coke versus Pepsi: It's all in the head
The preference for Coke versus Pepsi is not only a matter for the tongue to decide, Samuel McClure and his colleagues have found. Brain scans of people tasting the soft drinks reveal that knowing which drink they're tasting affects their preference and activates memory-related brain regions that recall cultural influences. Thus, say the researchers, they have shown neurologically how a culturally based brand image influences a behavioral choice.
story.
story.
Cognitive dissonance in monkeys
And Behind Door No. 1, a Fatal Flaw
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: April 8, 2008
Some experiments that purport to show cognitive-dissonance effects might be explainable by statistics alone.
Not Really.
NY Times story.
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: April 8, 2008
Some experiments that purport to show cognitive-dissonance effects might be explainable by statistics alone.
Not Really.
NY Times story.
Brain Scanners Can See Your Decisions Before You Make Them
You may think you decided to read this story -- but in fact, your brain made the decision long before you knew about it.
In a study published Sunday in Nature Neuroscience, researchers using brain scanners could predict people's decisions seven seconds before the test subjects were even aware of making them.
The decision studied -- whether to hit a button with one's left or right hand -- may not be representative of complicated choices that are more integrally tied to our sense of self-direction. Regardless, the findings raise profound questions about the nature of self and autonomy: How free is our will? Is conscious choice just an illusion?
Wired Story
In a study published Sunday in Nature Neuroscience, researchers using brain scanners could predict people's decisions seven seconds before the test subjects were even aware of making them.
The decision studied -- whether to hit a button with one's left or right hand -- may not be representative of complicated choices that are more integrally tied to our sense of self-direction. Regardless, the findings raise profound questions about the nature of self and autonomy: How free is our will? Is conscious choice just an illusion?
Wired Story
Fertile women 'have sexier voice'
A woman's voice becomes more alluring when she is at her most fertile, according to US research.
Recordings of women taken at different points in their menstrual cycle were played to people of both sexes.
New Scientist magazine reports that the voices rated as most attractive belonged to women at peak fertility.
BBC story
Recordings of women taken at different points in their menstrual cycle were played to people of both sexes.
New Scientist magazine reports that the voices rated as most attractive belonged to women at peak fertility.
BBC story
Plays well with others
Idea Lab
The Case for Fitting In
By DAVID BERREBY
Published: March 30, 2008
Why nonconformity is overrated
A new look at Asch's line judging experiment.
The Case for Fitting In
By DAVID BERREBY
Published: March 30, 2008
Why nonconformity is overrated
A new look at Asch's line judging experiment.
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