Thursday, October 20, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Hilarity of the day
If you're over 40 and don't get the reference click here
If you're under 40 and don't get the reference click here
Friday, October 7, 2011
Essential Answers
I thought it would be interesting to start a series of posts I'm going to call "essential answers" - the things that everybody should be able to prove off the tops of their heads, but maybe they can't. That is, the established facts that remain controversial because of pervasive ignorance. I'll post a topic, along with the clearest evidence I've found, and then maybe other people can help me out by giving their perspectives? Also, I'm pretty sure I have a readership of about four, so this might not work. We'll see.
Some topics I'm considering:
Some topics I'm considering:
- Climate change is happening, it's a threat to our way of life, and it's our fault.
- Species evolve according to Darwinian principles of natural selection.
- The Earth is billions of years old.
- Most religious texts are self-contradictory.
- Humans have walked on the moon.
Monday, September 19, 2011
The emotional cost of mind-wandering
Article here
A Harvard study came to the shocking, almost paradoxical conclusion that we spend about half of our time elsewhere.
It's been known for about ten years that a particular set of brain regions is more active when you're not paying attention to the world around you. This network, called the default mode network, consists mostly of areas along the brain's midline, and is utilized when a person is mind-wandering, ruminating about the past, or thinking about themselves.
The Harvard study, led by Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert, also found that when in this state, people tend to be less happy. This is hardly a surprise, since self-reflection has been shown to be associated with negative emotion, and default mode network activity is associated with troubled, distracted states of mind such as worrying about the future and ruminating on the past.
The flip side of mind-wandering is more likely to produce positive emotions. Buddhists call it mindfulness; we call it paying attention. When our mental faculties are directed toweards processing sensory information and interacting with the world around us, we seem to be at our cognitive best. What activity, according to this article, is most likely to recruit people's full attention while they are engaged in it? You guessed it.
I just can't believe that participants were actually willing to answer the phone.
A Harvard study came to the shocking, almost paradoxical conclusion that we spend about half of our time elsewhere.
It's been known for about ten years that a particular set of brain regions is more active when you're not paying attention to the world around you. This network, called the default mode network, consists mostly of areas along the brain's midline, and is utilized when a person is mind-wandering, ruminating about the past, or thinking about themselves.
The Harvard study, led by Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert, also found that when in this state, people tend to be less happy. This is hardly a surprise, since self-reflection has been shown to be associated with negative emotion, and default mode network activity is associated with troubled, distracted states of mind such as worrying about the future and ruminating on the past.
The flip side of mind-wandering is more likely to produce positive emotions. Buddhists call it mindfulness; we call it paying attention. When our mental faculties are directed toweards processing sensory information and interacting with the world around us, we seem to be at our cognitive best. What activity, according to this article, is most likely to recruit people's full attention while they are engaged in it? You guessed it.
I just can't believe that participants were actually willing to answer the phone.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
Ahhhhhh
http://noquedanblogs.com/arte/the-art-of-clean-up-el-arte-de-ordenar/
...that feels better (for the obsessive-compulsive in all of us)
...that feels better (for the obsessive-compulsive in all of us)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Self-recognition in the rhesus macaque?
Rhesus macaques routinely fail the mirror self-recognition task, the time-honored but beleaguered gold standard of self-consciousness. A new study claims to show that the rhesus is aware of its agency; that is, it recognizes its own actions as belonging to it.
I didn't read the study, mostly because it's not published yet (see J. J. Couchman in the July 2011 issue of Biology Letters), but the article about it makes some pretty bold claims about rhesus metacognition that seem a little premature - all the monkeys seem to be doing is forming an association between efferent motor signals and afferent visual input.
Of course, that association probably helps form the foundation for self-awareness in the first place. But even full-blown agency isn't sufficient for self-awareness. In fact, it might not even be necessary.
I didn't read the study, mostly because it's not published yet (see J. J. Couchman in the July 2011 issue of Biology Letters), but the article about it makes some pretty bold claims about rhesus metacognition that seem a little premature - all the monkeys seem to be doing is forming an association between efferent motor signals and afferent visual input.
Of course, that association probably helps form the foundation for self-awareness in the first place. But even full-blown agency isn't sufficient for self-awareness. In fact, it might not even be necessary.
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