Mind Hacks: Linkage Archives

March 12, 2010

2010-03-12 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The University of California has an interview with space psychiatrist Nick Kanas

There's a thoughtful consideration of the recent New York Times article on whether depression has evolutionary benefits over at Neuron Culture.

Time magazine discusses research finding that deaths from cocaine overdoses rise even when the weather warms up only slightly.

We're slower at processing touch-related words than words related to the other senses, according to new research covered by the BPS Research Digest.

Wired UK discusses a new study on how electrical brain activity recorded from the scalp's surface is enough to support the (rough) reconstruction of 3D hand movements on a computer.

The bizarre double life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted is discussed in a book review over at The Neuro Times.

The Neurocritic welcomes yet another attempt to resurrect Freudian ideas about the brain with a new paper taking the 'but looks at the similarities!' approach.

Male batterers consistently overestimate rates of domestic violence, according to a study covered in e! Science News

Not Exactly Rocket Science on how cooperative behaviour spreads through social networks, but so does cheating.

Asking an experienced stranger predicts our future happiness better than we can ourselves. A nugget from a piece on the work of Daniel Gilbert over at Harvard Magazine.

Neurophilosophy discusses some new lab research suggesting that the immune system response to brain infection may trigger Alzheimer's disease.

The somewhat chilling piece on the rise of 'human flesh search engines' in China is discussed by The New York Times.

Deric Bownd's Mind Blog covers a fascinating study that found thinking about randomness enhanced belief in the supernatural.

The UK's programme to detain and treat people with 'Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder' is heavily criticised in a government report. New Scientist covers the story.

Seed Magazine asks 'is there an evolutionary basis for our religious beliefs?' I for one know that my belief in Thor makes me more attractive to the ladies.

Bigger men are more aggressive when drunk, according to research covered by Science News.

Neuroanthropology discusses why students drink before even leaving the door to party, a practice known as 'pre-gaming'. The site also has an excellent essay on how obesity is discussed as a medical problem.

A variant of gene SCN9A has been linked to pain perception, according to a new study covered by Science News.

The Loom discusses how bacteria could change our behaviour. I expect to see 'the bacteria made me do it' defence in court cases some time soon.

Fat may be detectable as a 'sixth taste' suggest a new study covered by Wired UK.

Newsweek thinks fMRI "proves" addiction is a brain disease (hello neuroessentialism fallacy!) while making an otherwise important point on the need for psychological treatment for addiction.

A long but interesting piece on how to train teachers with simple effective classroom techniques appeared in The New York Times.

RadioLab discusses "a rare but disturbing delusional disorder called Capgras" in one of its excellent short broadcasts. Although it's not actually that rare in people with psychosis and dementia.

—Vaughan.

March 05, 2010

2010-03-05 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Time magazine reports on how darkness can encourage dishonest acts even when anonymity is accounted for.

A study finding a link with aversion to inequality an activity in the ventral striatum is brilliantly covered by The Frontal Cortex.

The Point of Inquiry podcast has an excellent discussion on the psychology of cold reading.

A preview of a special journal issue on 'Neuroscience, power and culture' is covered by Advances in the History of Psychology.

The Globe and Mail covers a study finding that children highly sensitive to stress can excel given the right support and environment.

Nobel-prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman discusses judging happiness and the paradox of experience vs memory in a talk for TED.

Neurophilosophy covers two new studies finding that face recognition ability is partly inherited.

"As for the effectiveness of gay conversion, Core's Dr Davidson acknowledges that there are 'relapses'". Damn those Speedos. The Irish Independent has an article on gay conversion therapy in Ireland.

The Neurocritic has a thoughtful response to the recent NYT article on the possible cognitive benefits of depression.

'Ministrokes' may cause more damage than thought, according to research covered by Science News.

The Neuroskeptic has an excellent piece on the decline and fall of the cannabinoid antagonists, a class of drug supposed to be the next big thing in treating obesity.

Research finding that as pornography has increased in availability, sex crimes have either decreased or not increased in every region investigated is discussed in The Scientist.

Dr Petra looks at the background to the recent report on sexualisation and young people from the UK government with more analysis to follow. After reading the report, I can't help but suggesting someone point out the difference between correlation and causation to its author.

A hay fever medicine that showed early promise as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease does nothing to stave off dementia, a large clinical trial concludes. Coverage from the New Scientist blog.

The Philosopher's Zone programme from ABC Radio National has a good discussion on perception, sensation and consciousness with Nicholas Humphrey.

There's a video profile of an ex-narc who catches bent cops framing people for drugs offences over at Boing Boing.

New Scientist discusses whether brain scans could gives us an objective measure of the intensity of pain.

The excellent Addiction Inbox blog contrasts how the media covers harm reduction services ('they promote drug abuse') and what the scientific studies say (the opposite).

io9 discusses research finding that oxygenated booze gives you less of a hangover. No word on how it affects the beer goggles effect.

UK may end its controversial "dangerous and severe personality disorder" program, according to excellent In The News.

Current Biology has a freely accessible paper on 'archaeogenetics' - the use of genetics to understand human history.

Eric Barker's Barking Up the Wrong Tree blog is full of fascinating and off-beat psychology snippets.

Mental Nurse blog has a funny post classifying types of annoying psychologists, occupational therapists and the like in mental health.

There's a video interview with neurophilosophers Pat and Paul Churchland over at The Science Network.

Women with hour-glass figures activate the neural reward centre of the male brain, according to a study covered by the BPS Research Digest. Women with eye-glasses, even better.

BBC News discusses the cult of Omega-3 and why your life's problems will not be solved by fish oil, despite that the advertisers will tell you.

The Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic Society Dream Films 1926-1972.

When they were drunk, bigger men became especially aggressive when given the opportunity to administer electric shocks to a fictitious opponent in a laboratory contest, according to research covered by Science News

Neuroanthropology links to videos from The Encultured Brain conference which are now available online.

"Only occasionally do studies come out that improve the image of men as more than stubborn, violent and incorrigible beasts with malfunctioning moral compasses. The study I’m about to talk about isn’t one of them." Neuronarrative on a study of male and female guilt.

The Research Blogging Awards finalists have been announced and there's much mind and brain goodness inside. I had the pleasure of judging the the English and Spanish language entries.

—Vaughan.

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February 26, 2010

2010-02-26 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Slate has a little-told story of how the U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition with deadly consequences.

An important study on how video games can hamper reading and writing skills in young boys by displacing other activities is covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

The New Yorker has a long but shallow article on the scientific status of psychiatry. Draws almost entirely on popular books for reasons that aren't entirely clear.

If you want to hear me discussing the recent 'technology scares' article on the radio show On the Media you can find the audio here. The transcript features my misspelt clone self 'Vaughn' Bell.

The Wall Street Journal journal has a great piece on scientific creativity and how science funding is increasingly going to older researchers.

The process of brain development is concisely captured in an award-winning PhD Comics infographic which you can find on Neurophilosophy.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an excellent piece on attention and classroom multi-tasking.

A hilariously bad fMRI neuromarketing 'study' on Facebook pages is covered by The Neurocritic.

The Guardian reports on a talk where universities are told to consider dope tests as student use of 'smart drugs' soars. Although doesn't mention bonus marks for handcapping oneself with illicit drugs.

A blog of Vintage and Anchor book hosts a discussion between neuroscientist David Eagleman and philosopher Rebecca Goldstein about how to marry the limitations of science with literary imagination.

The Globe and Mail discuss the proposed changes to the DSM-V that would make being too interested in sex a mental illness.

A new study published in the British Medical Journal on Dutch patients with chronic fatigue syndrome found no evidence of infection with the XMRV virus. If you're not sure why this is an important piece of a controversial puzzle, read an earlier Mind Hacks post.

Neuroworld reports on a intriguing study finding that the happiness boost from a holiday starts the day you start planning it. As I'm still planning a weekend in Butlins with Shakira, this is welcome news.

As the 60's generation ages, marijuana use is becoming more common in older folks. Don't bogart that joint old friend.

Scientific American discusses how the enteric nervous system, the one in your gut, influences mood and well-being.

A dodgy survey to see how common the made up diagnosis 'Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder' is in women is discussed by Dr Petra. Dodgy survey coincidentally from a drug company trying to promote their 0.7 more satisfying sexual events per month drug. That's 0.023 more satisfying sexual events per day ladies. Spine tingling, I know.

Alison Gopnick's new book 'The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life' gets an extended review in The New York Review of Books.

Science News covers and interesting study finding that white matter tearing and stretching may cause its most serious damage by breaking microtubules.

Interesting new blog Nonessential Reading covers a study finding that students who were made to think about ideas related to disorder and randomness in the world were more inclined than their peers to believe in God or a similar nonhuman entity. Therefore, ghosts are cleary leaving my flat in a mess.

XKCD has a fantastic comic strip about free will and mind reading.

Mathematicians offer tip-offs to LAPD, reports New Scientist. It could have been a lovely story about geeks helping the cops investigate the Riemann hypothesis (imagine an infinite series of donuts...) but turns out to be about mathematical modelling of crime hot spots.

Frontier Psychiatrist has a piece in the BMJ about assessing suicide risk in a gentleman who's experienced a series of unfortunate events.

Singing 'rewires' damaged brain, reports BBC News. Before, everything washed the brain. Now, everything rewires the brain. So who's giving it a lick of paint? Answer me that pointdexter.

The New York Times reports that afternoon naps can increase the ability to learn. Useful to know for when you get fired for sleeping on the job. I don't think I was cut-out for lap dancing anyway.

The keep fit effectiveness of video-game exercise bikes is discussed by The BPS Research Digest.

Scientific American covers an important new meta-analysis on the effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy, although seems to think this is an amazing innovation, when a similar study was published in 2008.

Good vibrations aid mind-controlled steering. Sounds dirty, isn't. A piece on brain-computer interfaces from New Scientist.

—Vaughan.

February 19, 2010

2010-02-19 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neuro-linguistic programming: Cargo cult psychology? An excellent piece debunking NLP from the Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education appears online as a pdf. It always struck me as Scientology without the aliens.

PsyBlog has an excellent round-up of 10 influencers of conformity. Fuck me I will do what you tell me.

The US crime rate has been consistently falling, so why do the US public tend to think it's on the rise? The Boston Globe investigates.

The BPS Research Digest has yet another nail in the coffin for the Freudian idea of repressed memories.

The chairman of the DSM-IV committee writes a stinging attack on the DSM-V for Psychiatric Times.

The Onion gathers the public's view on the draft of the new psychiatric bible. "If they change which planets men and women are from, I'll be pissed."

Some lovely research on how pupil dilation reflects cognitive functions, in this case decision-making, is discussed by the mighty Neurophilosophy.

The LA Times has a story of how a new business model for dealing high purity heroin is targeting the middle-class. A Slate article from '96 notes that this is an often repeated media story.

There's an engaging interview with Iain McGilchrist, who's just written a book about the brain's hemispheres, over at Frontier Psychiatrist.

The Guardian has a short piece on why slot machine gamblers are so hard to study.

Peter Hughes is a psychiatrist blogging about his work on a Haiti mental health programme, over at the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Newsweek has an excellent piece on how we assume neuroscience studies done on Westerners reflect universal human traits and recent efforts to develop local neuroscience resources.

What distinguishes women with unusually high numbers of sex partners? Barking Up the Wrong Tree reports the surprising answer of one study on the topic.

BBC News reports on continuing and mysterious deaths of (mostly) Scottish heroin users from anthrax. Interestingly, almost exactly the same thing happened a decade ago.

There's a good report from the recent Cultural and Biological Contexts of Psychiatric Disorder conference over at Somatosphere.

The Brandon Sun reports that a man is found not responsible for killing a nun during an epileptic fit. The news is now officially complete. Move along.

Film from the original Pavlovian conditioning experiments is dug up by the wonderful Advances in the History of Psychology blog.

Reuters reports on a study finding that beds less visible from the nurses' station in intensive care units have higher death rates.

"do women want to be humped for 13 minutes straight?" asks Neurotopia who is calling for an empirical investigation into the matter.

The Onion reports that the CIA are forced to complete all scheduled torture in one hectic weekend. "We were already way behind on false executions as it was".

Pissed up on booze? Or a hard night on the alcohol breakdown product acetaldehyde? Neuroskeptic, a spectacularly good blog, covers an interesting new study.

The Library of Congress Music and the Brain podcast is excellent.

Oh Christ, Louann Brizendine has written a follow-up to her stereotype-waving book 'The Female Brain' called (can you guess?) 'The Male Brain'. Elle, yes that Elle, has an ass-kicking review and interview.

New Scientist covers a study that used mobile phone signals to track daily movements and finds we're actually very predictable.

The now widely reported genetic overlap between mental disorders should be undermining the diagnostic boundaries of psychiatric diagnoses but don't shake the tree man, because, like, who knows what'll fall out? Wiring the Brain discusses the evidence.

BBC News reports on a dating study that found women prefer 'men who are kind'. No word on whether they prefer men who have more enthusiasm than talent and drink too many energy drinks.

"Placebo treatments stronger than doctors thought". Not sure whether that's a headline or a philosophy puzzle. Either way, it's a story in the Seattle PI.

The Splintered Mind introduces the concept of cognitive shielding. Permits you to shout "They canne hold captain!" when losing an argument.

Sleep is a feminist issue, claim prominent feminists. Noami Wolf disagrees in The Times.

—Vaughan.

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February 17, 2010

A crime, criminality and forensic psychology blog:

Forensic psychology and psychiatry attempt to understand criminality and legal reasoning and are among the most interesting areas of cognitive science, but, sadly, there are few good blogs on the internet which tackle the area. The In The News blog is an exception, however, and regularly has in-depth coverage of the psychological issues behind big legal news stories.

Like forensic psychology itself, it's not the most instantly appealing of destinations, but the writing is fantastic. The author is California-based forensic psychologist Karen Franklin and some of the recent articles give a flavour of what to expect.

For example, coverage of the death of the oldest death row inmate at 94, and the legal battles that centred around his mental competency to appeal and be executed, discussion of whether ad-hoc diagnoses are being created to detain people whose crimes don't amount to long-term imprisonment but are predicted to be a future menace to society, or whether the 'war on drugs' is being quietly abandoned by the Obama administration.

It's probably worth noting that US forensic psychology and psychiatry can be quite different from other places, in that it is more much focused on working with courts, rather than offender treatment focused approaches which are more widespread in Europe.

However, In The News has long been a favourite read of mine and long may it stay so.

Link to In The News blog.

—Vaughan.

February 12, 2010

2010-02-12 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Literary critic Marco Roth discusses the 'rise of the neuronovel' on ABC Radio National's Bookshow. Good discussion except he seems to think all reference to the brain is necessarily reductionist.

PsyBlog looks at research on why the media seems biased when you care about the issue - examining a study finding Pro-Israelis and Pro-Palestinians both report an identical news report is biased against them.

Why won’t the University of Washington release the data showing that 'Baby Einstein' DVDs slowed language development in children? BrainSpin investigates.

New Scientist reports that damage to the back part of the posterior lobe is more likely to lead to feelings of transcendence and spiritual experiences.

More draft DSM-V coverage: an excellent summary of the proposed changes at PsychCentral. Some more comments from New Scientist. It's for psychiatrists only! says a debate in Psychiatric Times. Good coverage on the legal aspects from In the News.

The Washington Post discusses whether 'learning styles' are scientifically supported or a convenient myth.

To the bunkers! Can battlefield robots take the place of soldiers? asks BBC News.

Neurotopia has some excellent coverage of a recent study on the 'cocaine vaccine'.

Can the power of thought stop you ageing? asks BBC News who cover Ellen Langer's famous experiments in an old folks' home. Also tackled briefly in a recent Horizon documentary on ageing *cough*torrent*cough*

The Frontal Cortex has a wonderfully lucid piece on a new study finding that the amygdala may be involved in loss aversion - the effect where we put more energy into avoiding losses than acquiring gains.

The older the age of parents at conception, the greater the risk of autism, according to a new study discussed in The New York Times. Although it's worth saying that even in older patients the chances of your baby developing autism are still very small.

New Scientist reports on a new campaign to get neuroscientists to sign a peace pledge against the militarisation of brain science.

The clean smelling Ed Yong reports on research finding that clean smells promote generosity and fair play while dark rooms and sunglasses promote deceit and selfishness over at Not Exactly Rocket Science.

The Times previews research suggesting that Autism and Asperger's may be underdiagnosed or wrongly diagnosed in women.

Amnesic shellfish poisoning is memory loss that can be caused by a toxin found in shellfish. Neuroskeptic investigates the curious memory baffling poison.

Dr Petra has a great analysis of the changes to sexual disorders proposed in the draft DSM-V.

There's an excellent report on NPR on the history of 'child bipolar disorder' and its slap down in the draft DSM-V by the brilliant Alix Spiegel.

Terra Sigillata has some excellent background on one of the legislation avoiding 'synthetic marijuana' products recently to hit the market.

Bolivia launches Coca Colla, a remake of the popular soft-drink that puts genuine coca-leaf extract back in the recipe, according to The Telegraph.

Slate has an article on how an irrational fear of baby-snatching on maternity wards is driving extreme security measures.

We know you got flow. The BPS Research Digest covers a study on 'social flow', when you're in the zone with your social life.

NHS Choices has a fantastic video where Ben Goldacre explains the placebo effect.

The first prototype of light controlled brain implants for humans is sort-of-announced by a neurodevice company, according to the EE Times.

Neuroanthropology rounds-up a special issue of Psychiatric Times on cross-cultural psychiatry.

Jared Diamond discusses the 'natural experiments' of human history in the ABC Radio National Book Show.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a striking article about the experience of being a university professor during psychosis.

A worry study on the influence on US 'war on drugs' aid in Colombia is discussed over at Slate.

"There is no such thing as sexual intercourse". Pascal Boyer has a stinging critique of post-modern 'de-constructions' in the social sciences over at Culture and Cognition.

BBC News covers the research on time perception and enjoyment.

—Vaughan.

February 05, 2010

2010-02-05 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Sex addiction is a feminist victory, according to an article in Slate, apparently because it allows man shaming. Malevolence-based medicine rears its ugly head.

The BPS Research Digest covers research finding CBT-based self-help books might do more harm than good for people who worry a lot.

The public are asked for their opinion on the recent news that The Lancet retracts the Wakefield autism paper, by The Onion.

Neurophilosophy has an excellent piece on big news that the first evidence for navigation essential grid cells in the human brain.

Why does time fly by as you get older? NPR has a great segment that tackles the cognitive science of changing time perception with age.

Neuroskeptic has an excellent piece on a new fMRI scanning technique that manages 10 scans a second over a thin slice. If you're not reading Neuroskeptic, you should be, it's great.

Any Freemasonry in the family? The Independent has a piece on one man's experience of trying gay 'conversion' 'therapy' in the UK.

The Economist looks to the February 10th release of the first draft of the new psychiatric manual, the DSM-V. Doesn't mention that it is likely to unleash a bun-fight of biblical proportions.

Mind Hacks is a top 30 science blog according to The Times and a top 100 blog for psychology students according to News42. Shakira todavía no me ha llamado.

H+ Magazine covers the announcement that the next $10 million X Prize is for a brain-computer interface. I shall propose 'fingers' as my entry.

There's a thought-provoking piece on whether racism is partly due to perceptual illusions over at The Vision Revolution.

Fora.tv has an excellent talk about the new book 'The Harvard Psychedelic Club' about how the psychedelic revolution emerged from the Harvard psychology department, based on the new book of the same name.

Reactive action is quicker action, according to research covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

Nature has an excellent short article on writer Jorge Luis Borges interest in neuroscience but it's locked behind a paywall because this information can kill! It's for your own good.

"We have buried Trials 15, 31, 56..." The Carlat Psychiatry Blog covers jaw-dropping evidence of drug companies Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca hiding evidence and lying about drug harm.

The Daily Mirror has a poor write-up but a genius headline over the recent internet and depression flap: "Does being inter the net bring you down loads?"

Is Telephony Making Us Stupid? Carl Zimmer's The Loom covers Mark Twain's article about the dangers of the telephone.

NPR has a good short piece on Haiti, imposing Western ideas about trauma and how some treatment can do more harm than good.

Teaching abstinence makes teens delay sex? Dr Petra presents the evidence behind the media hype.

The Washington Post reports that the US Defense Department starts an investigation into military mental health care after an exposé by Salon.

A new London exhibition on the history of the 'Bedlam' hospital and the development of mental health care in the UK is covered by The Guardian. Only runs until February 12th.

In the News is a fantastic forensic psychology blog.

The founder of the Baby Einstein sues the university for access to raw data for a study reporting that the DVDs actually slowed language development, reports Advances in the History of Psychology.

—Vaughan.

January 29, 2010

2010-01-29 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

io9 has a great brief summary of a citation analysis that describe how neuroscience became a major scientific discipline in just one decade. Interestingly, it didn't happen in the Decade of the Brain.

The ability to resist temptation is contagious, according a new study covered by The Frontal Cortex. I suspect this means I am patient zero of giving in to temptation.

Salon has an interview with psychologist Susan Clancy about her new book 'The Trauma Myth' on child abuse, which is likely to be both important and controversial. The comments are a mix of the insightful, angry and loopy.

This chap might have found a photo of Phineas Gage from before his injury.

Radio 4 has a good documentary on 'Super Recognisers' that will disappear off the face of the earth in only a few days if you miss your chance to listen to it.

The Prison Photography blog is excellent.

NPR has a brief segment on new evidence suggesting that heavy drinking in teenage years may have a lasting impact on the brain.

Special therapy bears work through mirror neurons (what else) according to a bizarre claim unearthed by The Neurocritic.

NeuroPod has just released a new edition covering optogenetics, AI cockroaches, stem and grid cells.

Does time dilate during a threatening situation? asks Neurophilosophy.

Science Daily reports that thinking of the past or future causes us to sway backward or forward on the basis of a new study.

C.G. Jung's famous 'Red Book' has finally been published and Brain Pickings has a fantastic review and preview.

The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry has launched a new podcast which is aimed at clinicians and is. a. bit. stilted. but sounds promising.

There's a good piece about the new and not very effective female 'sex drug' flibanserin in Inkling Magazine.

Horizon, the flagship BBC science programme, recently had an episode on the Big Pharma, medicalisation and disease mongering. Apart from some minor pharmacological dodginess (ADHD a 'chemical imbalance', Ritalin a 'clever pill') it's excellent and features our very own Dr Petra. Torrent here.

A new study finding people's personality is reflected in their internet use is covered by the BPS Research Digest. See also a new study finding social behaviour is similar both online and offline.

Quirks and Quarks, the excellent Canadian radio show, discusses kuru disease immunity in cannibals.

Why is there no anthropology journalism? asks Savage Minds.

The Economist covers a new study finding that the more widespread a language, the simpler it is, suggesting that that languages become streamlined as they spread.

Incoming! APA press release forewarns of imminent clinical psychology fight: psychodynamic therapy best says not yet published meta-analysis.

PsyBlog has an excellent round-up of 10 studies on why smart people do irrational things.

The secrets of looking good on the dance floor and research on the psychology of social dance is covered in Spiegel magazine.

Life magazine has a gallery of famous literary drunks and addicts.

The US is quietly abandoning the 'war on drugs' according to an article in The Independent. Does this mean the expansion of military bases in Colombia is to be re-justified as part of a war on salsa music? Kids told to 'just say no' to fake tans and enthusiastic rhythm sections.

The BPS Research Digest reports the development of what could be the first anti-lie detector in neuroscience.

Bootleg Botox, a potent neurotoxin, could be a weapon of mass destruction according to a piece in the Washington Post.

Wired reports on the Jan 25th anniversary of the first recorded human death by robot which occurred in Flint, Michigan, 1979.

The marriage market and the social economics of high-end prostitutes are tackled in a new study discussed in Marginal Revolution.

—Vaughan.

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January 22, 2010

2010-01-22 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Drug Monkey covers a fascinating study finding that mental health workers judge patients differently depending on whether they're described as being a 'substance abuser' or as having 'a substance use disorder'. We covered a similar study on personality disorder previously.

To the bunkers! The robots are coming but are we ready for them? asks Silicon.com. Remember: see a twitch? Check for a switch. Species security is everyone's responsibility.

NPR has a fascinating segment on the relationship between lies and wishful thinking.

To the bunkers! The age of the killer robot is no longer a sci-fi fantasy, says an article in The Independent. Remember: a disabled robot can be rebuilt, leave no component in working order. Clunk, clip, every chip.

Normal face recognition abilities are influenced by genetics finds new twin study reported by Wired Science.

To the bunkers! The Daily Express reports on the unveiling of robot planes hailed as 'the future of warfare'. Remember: robot soldiers have no souls - make a dent, don't repent.

The Neurocritic asks 'Is this aspirin playful or serious?' and covers a curious neuromarketing study that looked at the personalities of products.

To the bunkers! H+ Magazine reports on a nanotechnology robot arm that places atoms and molecules with 100% accuracy. Remember: he may look clean, but have you scanned? Even live humans may have robot parasites.

Neuronarrative reports that making a constant public commitment to lose weight improves dieting success.

To the bunkers! Popular Science reports on a robot that takes surer steps due to 'chaos control'. Remember: see a wire? Open fire. Humans always fight for liberty.

PsyBlog lists the the 7 psychological principles of scams.

To the bunkers! CNET reports that Korean scientists have created a robot housemaid. Remember: Stepford Wives - check the eyes.

Wiley Science puts the first issue of its new Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science magazine online with an impressive list of academic articles freely available to download.

To the bunkers! Toyota predicts robot nurses will care for the frail elderly, according to a story in Wired Gadget Lab. Remember: a family with a robot is a massacre in the making. Take care of the robots, before they take care of you.

BBC News reports on a study finding that video game success is related to brain structure size: nucleus accumbens size predicts initial success, basal ganglia long-term success.

To the bunkers! TG Daily reports on Roxxxy, an AI sex robot that "has personality, and can even answer back". Remember: nothing compares to human sex, don't let the robots get you by the balls.

The Guardian has an excellent eight part summary of Heidegger's 'Being and Time'.

To the bunkers! New Scientist reports on a study finding that exposure to robots in the movies and television could affect our ability to empathise with synthetic beings. Remember: detect a bug? Pull the plug. Even loved ones can be androids.

New Scientist reports on a new study finding a link between symmetry of activity in the brain's hemispheres and susceptibility to hypnosis.

To the bunkers! The New York Times reports that a new generation of ear bud headphones have built in artificial intelligence-based signal processing. Remember: your ears are a backdoor into the brain, don't let the robots in - keep neural tissue pure.

The BPS Research Digest reports on a study finding that early risers are more proactive than evening people. Shortly to be the basis of a new diagnosis and licensing application for modafinil.

To the bunkers! An article in Popular Mechanics argues against the concept of the 'uncanny valley', although neglects to mention a couple of relevant studies that support the concept. Remember: if it's too good to be true, it's robot through and through. Your intuition is the best defence against the robot menace.

The Psychiatric Times blog notes that families of US soldiers who commit suicide do not get condolence notes from the government like other military casualties.

To the bunkers! Geeky Gadgets sells an awesome Google / SkyNet t-shirt. Remember: humans, biology is our heritage. Metabolism pride!

The Telegraph reports that even the founder has given up on the idea of bullshit Blue Monday. Thankfully, we were relatively unafflicted this year although Dr Petra had a good antidote for any remaining infections.

To the bunkers! The Engineer reports on the development of a fire fighting robot. Remember: heat tolerance is a robot trait. No sweat, no soul.

Neuroworld takes apart the 'blonde women get angry' news that was completely made up from a barely related study.

To the bunkers! Entertainment Weekly reports that the next Spike Jonez film is a robot love story. Remember: to a robot, your heart is just a machine. Don't let them capture it.

New Scientist covers and interesting study that mathematically modelled the social effects of monogamy and polygamy.

To the bunkers! USA Today reports on the unveiling of a new anti-terrorism robot at Boston's Logan Airport. Remember: only humans feel fear, anti-terrorism is anti-humanism, fight the robot overlords.

Skeptical Inquirer magazine has an excellent piece on highlights of mass delusions and hysteria from the last millennium.

To the bunkers! The Guardian has an article looking at the history of robots in sport. Remember: sport strengthens human relationships, don't let robots infiltrate your team.

The Economist covers an intriguing study find that power corrupts, but it corrupts only those who think they are entitled to take advantage of the situation.

—Vaughan.

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January 15, 2010

2010-01-15 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Herbert Spiegel, legendary pioneer of hypnosis research, has left the building. The New York Times has an obituary.

Corpus Callosum covers a possible new non-addictive anti-anxiety drug. We have a long history of new 'non-addictive' anti-anxiety drugs turning out to be addictive. Fingers crossed for this one.

Jenny McCarthy dismisses a recent scientific study on autism and demands more anecdotal data, according to a report by Discovery News.

The Smithsonian Magazine has an article on 'Phineas Gage: Neuroscience's Most Famous Patient'.

There's an excellent piece about the history of child bipolar disorder, a culture-bound syndrome specific to American psychiatry if ever there was one, over at Neuroskeptic.

Vox Project is a BBC Radio 4 documentary on the neuroscience of speech and language. Shortly to evaporate into the black hole that is the time-limited BBC archive, so catch it while you can.

There are some beautiful cut-away illustrations of MRI, PET and CT scanners here.

BBC News reports on the second biggest danger associated with taking cocaine, after acting like a cock.

Viewing headless bodies causes changes in how we perceive faces, according to an intriguing study covered by Neurophilosophy.

The New York Times reviews the new movie documentary on the life of Nobel-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel.

The top ten most popular posts on the excellent Addiction Inbox blog are listed for your perusal.

The Splintered Mind notes philosopher of mind Eric Schwitzgebel is doing a UK tour. T-shirts presumably available at the venues.

Jewellery and make-up suggest neanderthals were smart, according to archaeologists who have clearly never been down Watford High Street on a Saturday night. Wired UK covers the story.

Scientific American has an excellent article on online social networks and mental health which is locked behind their newly imposed paywall. Science!

The effect of stereotypes and how the unconsciously influence our behaviour is covered in a great piece on PsyBlog.

The New York Times covers new concerns about human rights abuses in China's drug rehab centres.

An awesome looking book on the history of prion brain disease kuru is reviewed by The Neuro Times.

American Scholar magazine has a quirky A-Z narrative journey through brain science that shouldn't work, but does.

There's a great piece on the history of giving beef flavoured Prozac to dogs for 'canine separation anxiety' over at Frontier Psychiatrist.

The LA Times covers the debate over cognitive behavioural therapy vs traditional psychological treatments that continues to rumble on. I assumed it was all dolphin therapy in LA.

The US Navy wants troops wearing brain-scanners and doing cognitive assessments in the war zone, according to a report by Wired Danger Room.

Neuroethics at the Core has some excellent coverage of the state-of-play with the 'next generation' ampakine cognitive enhancers.

Post-shit-hitting-the-fan morphine cuts combat PTSD rates in half, according to a new study discovered and discussed by Neuron Culture.

The New York Times reports that AI pioneer, Ray Solomonoff, has left the building and has an obituary.

The uncanny valley and the digital Beatles are discussed by the Sensory Superpowers blog.

BBC News reports on a new study finding that angiotensin receptor blocker drugs cut dementia rates.

The latest Brain Science Podcast is an interview with pioneering emotion neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp.

Charlie Rose has part three of his brain series where a cluster of high profile neuroscientists discuss action and the brain.

In a rather timely post, The Frontal Cortex covers a recent imaging study on the neuroscience of charitable giving.

The New York Times has an interesting account of how a judge has tried to reconfigure the court system for low-level drug offenders to promote behavioural change.

A British law automatically sacking MPs who need more than six months out for mental health problems when no such rule exists for physical health problems is being challenged, reports BBC News.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on how Yahoo! is tooling up with social scientists.

The dying art of Braille reading and how the blind community is using technology is covered by an interesting piece in The New York Times.

New Scientist has an interesting piece on 'Five emotions you never knew you had' that tackles various feelings recently classified by psychologists.

An elegant study that helps explain why light makes migraines worse is covered by Science News.

In The Pipeline covers an interesting example of the nocebo effect: residents complain that a new cell phone tower making them ill, company reveals it wasn't switched on.

—Vaughan.

January 08, 2010

2010-01-08 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

New Scientist looks at a new theory of synaesthesia that goes beyond the 'crossed senses' idea.

Looking younger may be a matter of looking less masculine, according to a study covered by the Psychology of Beauty blog.

The Psych Files show interviews psychologist Scott Lilienfeld on his new book on 50 myths of popular psychology.

There's a review of Stanislas Dehaene's new book Reading in the Brain by psychologist Alison Gopnick in The New York Times.

The Neurocritic looks at whether roller coasters cause more brain damage than pillow fights.

How is the internet changing the way we think? asks Edge. Answers from numerous contributors. Beard stroking abound.

The BPS Research Digest covers a study suggesting that prejudice towards migrants stems partly from the fact that they're awkward to think about.

Autism clusters linked to parents' education not environmental factors finds new study covered by Scientific American. Predictable nuttiness in the comments. Also good coverage from NPR.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers a fascinating study on how we get tripped up by the details when trying to see ourselves as others do, who are more likely to focus on the 'bigger picture'.

Cocaine vaccine leads addicts to take 10 times more cocaine according to a new study covered by Popular Science. That'll be the same effect as when addicts prescribed methadone 'top up' with heroin then.

The Times on how regional accents are strengthening in the UK despite predictions that increased mobility would lead to their loss.

A new TED talk shows Ramachandran still sipping the mirror neuron Kool-Aid. They're responsible for building civilisation apparently. I say they also shot JFK.

GimpyBlog has an excellent piece about how media psychologist Aric Sigman has been off on another confused ramble about how product placement apparently damages childrens' impulse control which could lead to violence!

Neuroscientist Curtis Bell has is asking people to sign a "Pledge by Neuroscientists to Refuse to Participate in the Application of Neuroscience to Violations of Basic Human Rights or International Law". Neuroethics at the Core kick off a debate on the issue.

New Scientist has an essay by Ray Tallis on why you won't find consciousness in the brain.

Athletes, doctors, and lawyers with first names beginning with “D” die sooner, according to a study just published in Death Studies.

NPR has a brief segment on how WWII conscientious objectors doing civil service exposed mental ward horrors.

The brain's flexible perception of time is covered in an article for The New York Times.

XKCD has a great parody of the recent 'disappearing g-spot' research.

There's an awesome article at The Boston Globe on how our assumption of how much self-control we have affects our ability to exercise self-control.

BBC News reports that France is considering a law against 'psychological violence'. Paris waiters to be first against the wall.

Straight thinking neuroscientist Lise Eliot is interviewed in Discover Magazine about the evidence for human sex differences in the mind and brain.

The New York Times has a piece on how armodafinil, the right-handed molecule of stay-up-forever drug modafinil (armodafinil = R-modafinil, geddit?) is closer to being approved for jet lag (yes, jet lag). See our piece from last year for more background on the new drug

A film by drug lord Pablo Escobar's son on coming to terms with his father's atrocities and halting the cycle of violence is covered by Time.

The New York Times reviews a new book on psychedelic experiments in the Harvard psychology department of the 1960s.

Psychologist is in America's top 100 jobs (at sexy 69) and with psychiatrist at 98, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal (philosopher is 11th!). Compare recent survey by CNN Money (psychologist 23rd, psychiatrist 24th).

The Times reviews the new exhibition on 'identity' at London's wonderful Wellcome Collection.

A new study in JAMA showing antidepressants only effective for severe depression is covered by The New York Times.

The Sunday Times has a review of the new book 'Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World'. Someone got out of the wrong side of bed this morning.

There's an interesting piece on the psychology of conspicuous consumption over at New Scientist.

Dr Petra has a fantastic A-Z guide to 'sex in the noughties': A-G, H-O and P-Z.

Journalists, lawyers, business people, marketers. Want to get up to speed on the latest neuroscience without the crap? The University of Pennsylvania is running it's Neuroscience Boot Camp again this August.

—Vaughan.

January 01, 2010

2010-01-01 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past two weeks in mind and brain news:

The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article on the psychology of will power in light of the season for New Year's resolutions.

As a follow-up to the review of the year, Dr Petra discusses some sex and relationships predictions for 2010. By the way, Dr Petra just arrived on Twitter. You can follow her @DrPetra

The New York Times discusses 'pleasure procrastination' where people put off pleasurable activities often to the point of never doing them. See also the psychological concept of 'hyperopia'.

An innovative study finding it's possible to treat tinnitus with specially designed music is covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

The LA Times has a brief obituary for Ruth Lilly, heiress to the Eli Lilly fortune and philanthropist, who spent much of her life in psychiatric hospital struggling with depression.

The 12 psychology studies of Christmas are featured on PsyBlog.

Science Daily covers a study finding that lighting can influence how we perceive the taste of wine.

There's an excellent piece on the health effects of television viewing over at Seed Magazine.

The Neurocritic covers one of the brilliant light-hearted studies in the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal. This one on the relationship between the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the value of coins swallowed by children.

The brief history of how psychoanalysis shaped consumer culture via Freud's nephew Edward Bernays is discussed in the APA Monitor magazine.

The Neuroskeptic covers the launch of the free online neuropathology database - the Stanley Neuropathology Consortium brain collection.

Elyn Saks is a law professor at the University of Southern California, a Marshall scholar, and a graduate of Yale Law School, and has a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Scientific American has an interview.

Frontier Psychiatrist has a brief piece on Couvade Syndrome where men show 'sympathetic' signs pregnancy-like when their partners are pregnant.

There's an interview with fear specialising psychologist Daniela Schiller in the latest Discover Magazine.

The BPS Research Digest covers a studying on how doodling can boost memory and concentration.

Why do more women than men still believe in God? asks Double X magazine.

Scientific American has an article on optogenetics or the use of light and genes to probe the brain.

Seeing the humanity in brain-damaged youths. The Boston Globe has a piece on looking beyond the sometimes erratic behaviour of young people with neurological problems.

Psychiatric Times has a good write-up on atypical antipsychotics increasing cardiometabolic risks in children.

The development of the brain in old age and 'how to train the aging brain' is tackled by The New York Times.

If you're a Twitter user and interested in criminology and crime, I recommend following @crime_economist.

Discover Magazine has a brief piece on how child abuse leaves its mark on the victim’s DNA.

There's an articulate, almost poetic account, of living with ALS motor neuron disease in the New York Review of Books.

—Vaughan.

December 18, 2009

2009-12-18 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The New York Times reports that antipsychotics are more likely to be prescribed to children from poorer families in the US.

There's an excellent piece on Tiger Woods, the media, and the selling of sex addiction over at Dr Petra.

Time magazine reports on the climbing suicide rate in the US military with only a third happening in war zones.

UN advisor claims banks knowingly welcomed billions of laundered drug money into the system at the height of the financial crises to prevent collapse, according to a piece in The Guardian.

Wired Science reports on a study finding that geek stereotypes like Star Trek put women off an interest in technology careers. If you think that's bad, Counsellor Deanna Troi nearly put me off a career in psychology.

A fascinating study on actually feeling pain through watching others' discomfort is expertly covered by Neurophilosophy.

The Boston Globe covers the UK government's recent fingers-in-ears la la la not listening firing of their top drugs advisor.

There's a wonderfully in-depth analysis of the motivations of internet trolls over at Culture and Cognition.

New Scientist has an interesting piece on the psychology of saying the wrong thing despite deliberately trying to avoid it.

A fascinating if slightly baffling study on the cognitive effects of cuteness is covered by The Neurocritic.

CNN Money ranks clinical psychologist as the 23rd best job in America, psychiatrist as 24th.

Drug company Glaxo are said to have paid $1 billion to settle law suits over their Paxil antidepressant, according to Bloomberg.

Furious Season's Phil Dawdy, the internet's only crowd-funded investigative mental health journalist is having a fund-raiser and it's been a bit slow. There's still a chance to support his work.

Alzheimer's risk linked to level of appetite hormone, reports BBC News.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers an ingenious study find that even non-verbal hints in TV dramas can perpetuate racial biases.

There's an interesting piece about important subtleties in the reporting of brain surgery for mental illness over at Neuroskeptic.

The Economist has a fascinating piece on a new study finding that stressed mothers are more likely to spontaneously miscarry male foetuses than female ones.

Information deluge will overload the brain, say numerous press stories based on a report funded by AT&T, Cisco, IBM, Intel, LSI, Oracle, and Seagate.

PsyBlog has an excellent summary of the fundamental attribution error and a brilliant study on trainee priests.

A Japanese department store is to sell two humanoid robots modelled on the purchaser, reports Wired UK.

Science Daily reports on a new study finding that a type of psychological treatment called Interpersonal Psychotherapy is useful in preventing obesity in 'at risk' teenage girls.

People really are happier in those US states identified as having better 'quality of life'? asks the BPS Research Digest.

The Splintered Mind light-heartedly considers whether academics should try product placement.

Why do people dance? asks The Guardian covering some curious and intriguing research on the psychology of 'dance confidence'.

The Society for Neuroscience posts the video of a discussion between scientist and professionals magicians on consciousness, cognitive science and the art of magic.

—Vaughan.

December 11, 2009

2009-12-11 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

New Scientist has an excellent piece on homosexuality throughout the animal kingdom.

Action video games "induce a general speeding of perceptual reaction times without decreases in accuracy of performance" according to a scientific review article in Current Directions in Psychological Science. To be widely publicised by Susan Greenfield. Oh no, my mistake.

Wired Science covers an interesting archaeological study finding possible signs of mass cannibalism from 7,000 years ago.

There's well written, competent although slightly behind the curve article in Science News on the difficulties with functional brain scan cognitive neuroscience.

Dr Petra has more on the 'in preparation' and not very effective sex drug for women, flibanserin.

Well lookie here. The Economist uncovers UK government refusal to release its own report on the effectiveness of its anti-drugs strategy because it might 'confuse the public'.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers a fantastic study that found that testosterone made people more selfish, but only if they knew they were taking it.

You can find a working torrent of the recent and excellent BBC Horizon documentary 'Why Do We Talk?' on the psychology and neuroscience of speech and language here.

The New York Times reports on research finding that fathers can also experience post-partum (post-birth of child) depression.

There's a fantastic article on the cognitive benefits of travel by Jonah Lehrer over at his blog Frontal Cortex.

Forbes magazine may be the first mainstream publication to get past the hype of commercial neuromarketing companies with an appropriately skeptical article.

"To a psychologist, climate change looks as if it was designed to be ignored". Interesting article from The Washington Post.

Neuron Culture announces that if you liked the recent Atlantic 'Orchid and the Dandelion' article on how risk genes may really be sensitivity genes, science writer David Dobbs has agreed a deal to write a book riffing on the idea.

Brain structure and circuitry offer clues to consciousness in non-mammals, says an interesting cross-species article in Science News.

New Scientist has a piece on how the gaze of a computer generated disembodied head is being used to study the ability to follow eye direction and create shared or joint attention - a key social skill.

If you've not heard the latest RadioLab do so. A beautiful programme on numbers with plenty of psychology material.

Not Exactly Rocket Science has another great piece on a study finding fear memory associations can be reduced if a reminder of the feared thing is briefly presented a short while before an 'extinction trial' - a string of other reminders.

A blog at The Economist reports that the reported inmate suicides at Guantanamo Bay are unlikely to have been suicides.

Neuroworld is a new and promising looking brain science blog over at recently launched True/Slant network.

The lack of a fully formed prefrontal cortex may help young kids accumulate knowledge rapidly, according to research covered by the LA Times.

The Splintered Mind has news that Eric Schwitzgebel's brilliant study on whether ethicists steal more books has appeared in the journal Philosophical Psychology.

A wonderfully contrarian review of a new book on art and evolution called The Play’s the Thing appears in American Scientist

Science Daily reports that a hidden sensory system discovered in the skin.

Antidepressants linked to personality changes, particularly a reduction in neuroticism, according to new study covered by the LA Times. Which, if you're familiar with Eyesenck's concept of neuroticism is a pretty unsurprising finding.

Science Now reports on study finding that first-borns are less co-operative in an economic bargaining game.

There's a profile of psychologist and Deputy Director of the US Office of National Drug Control Policy who has faced numerous addiction problems in the family in The New York Times.

Metafiler picks up on an interesting new survey on 'what philosophers believe' - tracking everything from political orientation to their take on hot philosophical issues.

My day with the mental health professionals. The Guardian has a life in the day of a community psychiatric team in a tough bit of North London.

New Scientist has a piece on a new brain imaging study looking at the neural correlates of not fulfilling a promise in an investment game. Daft headline, but it turns out the hubris is from the original badly titled original study.

The psychology of social status is discussed in an excellent piece for Scientific American's Mind Matters blog.

—Vaughan.

December 07, 2009

Encephalon 79 ends the year:

The 79th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been published online with this edition appearing on the mighty Mouse Trap blog.

A couple of my favourites include coverage of a fascinating experiment on Neuronarrative that managed to induce false memories of completing certain actions and another on the recent badly reported 'sweets linked to childhood violence' study - Brain Blogger hits the right notes in its coverage.

There's a whole lot more in this fortnight's edition so have a look and see what takes your fancy.

Link to Encephalon 79.

—Vaughan.

December 04, 2009

2009-12-04 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Seed Magazine has a video discussion between linguist Noam Chomsky and sociologist Robert Trivers on the use of language in deception. Predictably political in places.

Great piece from Not Exactly Rocket Science on a study showing that believers tend to think God thinks the same as they do - 'His' beliefs change when theirs do.

Edge has a fascinating talk on consciousness but seem not to realise they are becoming a self-parody: "Edge organized a Reality Club meeting at The Hotel Ritz in Paris to allow neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene to present his new theory on how consciousness arises in the brain to a group of Parisian scientists and thinkers."

A randomised-controlled trial of a behavioural programme reported in New Scientist finds early intervention in autism improves social skills and increases IQ later on. To be widely publicised by Jenny McCarthy. Oh no, my mistake.

Dr Petra's blog was five years old the day after Mind Hacks. She has a fantastic review of the many highlights.

There's a fascinating piece on portrayals of neurosyphilis in the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry. I never knew Conan Doyle did his doctoral thesis on syphilis.

The BPS Research Digest has an interesting piece on cultural differences in how we justify career changes.

The brain of famous patient with amnesia HM is currently being dissected. The New York Times reports on process and you can watch it live here. I warn you though, it's really. very. dull.

The Guardian kicks off a tongue-in-cheek evolutionary psychology agony aunt column.

A study on how watching lots of crime shows on TV skews perception of society is covered by Neuronarrative.

BBC News has video of a neurally controlled robotic cyber hand!

We have difficulty understanding what influences our own judgements, according to a classic experiment covered by PsyBlog.

Wired UK has a piece discussing the expanding drone war in Afghanistan.

I found an odd 1941 article from Time magazine on a psychiatrist teaching magic tricks to patients so they "can become the life of the party".

Cognition and Culture has a thought-provoking piece by anthropologist Pascal Boyer on why we have death and mourning rituals.

An activist gets GlaxoSmithKlein to stop distributing a leaflet promoting the 'low serotonin causes depression' nonsense in Iceland. An interesting episode covered by Neuroskeptic.

New Scientist has a piece on how people with depression show differences in visual discrimination. As always, ignore the headline.

Loneliness is transmittable from person to person, according to a study covered by the Washington Post.

Science News reports that street drug ecstasy is linked to an increase in sleep apnea - temporary stops in breathing during sleep.

A study on our memory for what we've told to whom - 'destination memory', is covered by The New York Times. Not sure this isn't just a variation on source memory, but an interesting article.

Medical News Today reports on a study finding that Facebook profile better reflect your actual personality than your desired personality.

—Vaughan.

November 28, 2009

Encephalon 78 saunters in:

The 78th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has recently appeared on the Providentia blog with the latest in mind and brain writing from the blogosphere.

A couple of my favourites include a piece on The Mousetrap about the self in the eyes of the founding father of cognitive psychology - Ulrich Neisser, and a post that review robots controlled by brain simulations on Brain Stimulant.

There's much more in the latest edition so do have a look.

Link to Encephalon 78.

—Vaughan.

November 27, 2009

2009-11-27 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

There's an excellent analysis of the Blue Brain / IBM rumpus about 'cat brain' simulations and PR hype over at IEEE Spectrums.

Wired covers doubts about the 'awake during 23 years in diagnosed coma' case. NewSci has an subsequent interview with treating neurologist Steven Laureys, who adds little, but to be fair, he's in a difficult position as he is bound by patient confidentiality.

There's an obituary of influential anthropologist and linguist Dell Hymes in the Washington Post "who helped pioneer the study of how people use language in their everyday lives".

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers an surprising study that finds that liberal American students tend to think that lighter photos of Barack Obama are more typical of him, while conservatives think he's best represented by darker photos. Lighter skin judgements predicts voting in everyone.

NPR has an interesting piece on studies showing that the idea of 'multi-tasking' is likely a myth - in fact, we're probably just fast switching between tasks.

Mugged by a one eyed-man? BPS Research Digest covers research on how to make police line-ups fairer for suspects who have an unusual distinguishing feature.

All in the Mind has an interesting piece on piece on the psychology of engaging people with climate change.

Science writer David Dobbs discusses his recent piece on recasting risk genes as sensitivity genes on the Brain Lehrer Radio Show. You can hear the piece on Neuron Culture.

BBC News reports on a new study that has found a crucial gene involved in one of the deadliest forms of brain tumour.

There's an excellent piece on 'the mighty power of the nocebo effect' on Bad Science following recent goverment discussion on the evidence for homeopathy in the UK

Time magazine slightly misses the point by asking 'Female Sexual Dysfunction: Myth or Malady?'. The key issue is not whether it's a difficulty, but whether it's a medical condition. The latter is being hyped now there's a not very effective medication in the pipeline ready to be marketed.

On a similar note, there's a good analysis of the new 'female sex drive pill' trial data that's been released in summary form over at Neuroskeptic.

The Toronto Globe and Mail has an excellent piece about the growing evidence for bloodflow difficulties being involved in multiple sclerosis.

Neuronarrative collects a series of video lectures on the neuroscience of emotion.

Genetic differences in responsiveness to oxytocin are linked face reading ability and success in inferring emotions, according to research covered by The New York Times.

How our skin helps us to perceive speech. No really. Another good write-up from Not Exactly Rocket Science.

Science covers how fMRI evidence has recently been used in sentencing in a US murder case.

Science writer Jonah Lehrer reviews Stanislas Dehaene's book on the neuroscience of reading over at Barnes and Nobel Review.

The Guardian covers a recent study that involving brain scanning actress Fiona Shaw to help understand how actors take on other characters.

A rather poorly controlled new study on brain structure differences related to 'internet addiction' is expertly covered by The Neurocritic.

Addiction Inbox cover the inconvenient truth from the latest survey that the Dutch smoke less cannabis than the majority of other European countries.

Can you be blamed for sleepwalking crimes? asks New Scientist.

Somatosphere has a motherlode of podcasts from a recent neuroethics conference.

—Vaughan.

November 20, 2009

2009-11-20 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neuroanthropology has an excellent piece on the late Lévi-Strauss and the development of the scientific study of cultural cognition and anthropology.

The Book of the Week in the Times Higher Education Supplement is 'What Intelligence Tests Miss'.

Wired UK has a short but sensible piece on 'how to tell if somebody is lying'. In a nutshell, it's more a statistical thing and there are no definite tell-tale signs.

There's been some great posts on oxytocin during the last week or so over at Neurotopia.

New Scientist covers an interesting imaging study on the differences between conscious and unconscious visual processing. As usual, ignore the headline.

Did a lake trigger a deadly disease? The Boston Globe discusses how the rare Lytico-Bodig disease might have emerged in New Hampshire. More on Metafilter.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers an ingenious study on how sounds during sleep can improve previously learnt spatial associations.

Stupid title. Ridiculous picture. Interesting study. BBC News do a badly packaged write-up of a imaging study on the influence of hypnosis on the brain's 'default state'.

The Boston Globe covers some intriguing research on links between the economy and religious belief - particularly, believing in hell.

The BlueBrain project have created a computer simulation with as many neurons as a cat brain, according to The Times. The project is simulating cortical column neurons - almost no media outlets understand that 'as many neurons' does not mean 'as complex as'. No matter how many ankles you simulate, you still haven't created an artificial human.

PsyBlog has an interesting piece on whether 'mirroring' or copying other people's body movements increases liking. Warning: dodgy hypnosis conclusion at the end.

There's an excellent Car Zimmer piece in Discover Magazine on the 'math instinct'.

The Boston Review has an article on the clash between religion and PTSD treatment in the US military.

A study on how infants' behaviour influences how their carers interact with them is covered by the ever-excellent BPS Research Digest.

Bloomberg reports, to paraphrase, that AstraZeneca are in the shit. Judge rules that claims about Seroquel increasing the risk of diabetes can be examined in court.

Lab based cognitive assessment, meet your nemesis - ecological validity. Yahoo! News reports on US military psychology experiments that will try and predict risk factors for PTSD - apart from being in a war that is - which has been concistently shown to be the biggest predictor of trauma in soldiers.

Cognitive Daily reports on a study finding that men are more tolerant of same-sex peers than women.

An artistic is to trigger an epileptic seizure in herself as part of an art show, according to The Independent

—Vaughan.

November 13, 2009

2009-11-13 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Wasting your corporate money on neuromarketing? That's so last season. You should be wasting your money on genomarketing instead. The Neurocritic looks at the birth of an interesting new field which will undoubtedly get inappropriately commercialised any time now.

Not Exactly Rocket Science has an excellent post on how manipulating dopamine levels in the brain changes how much enjoyment we judge a future event to bring.

There's an excellent short article on a new theory of dreaming and lucid dreams over at The New York Times.

The Situationist covers some fascinating research on whether we can judge people's personalities purely from their appearance.

An exciting advance in gene therapy that halted the progression of a fatal neurodegenerative disease in two 7-year-olds is reported by Wired Science.

BBC News reports on government moves to reduce the prescription of antipsychotics to elderly people with dementia, owing to massive increases in short-term mortality (yes, that's death folks).

Another big name article complains that the 'internet is killing storytelling' and mistakes anecdote for evidence. BrainSpin has a good analysis.

Vanity Fair has a Malcolm Gladwell satire: Gladwell explains Christmas.

Narcotecture! Afghan Desk has a photo tour of the opulent Afghan houses built through poppy growing profits.

The Guardian warns of extra heart dangers from mixing cocaine and alcohol.

The 'peeriodic' table of optical illusions is described by veteran vision research Richard Gregory who classifies them according to how they affect perception in a piece for New Scientist.

PsyBlog has an interesting piece on how low mood tend to bounce back after a dip.

Pfizer caught manipulating studies for gabapentin. Busted by the New England Journal of Medicine, reported by MSBNC.

The New York Times discusses combat stress and mental illness in light of the recent Fort Hood shootings.

Carl Sagan explores the brain in his 1980 TV series, thanks to a video found by The Neuro Times. Starts by riffing on McLean's outdated 'triune brain' theory (all that 'reptilian brain' nonsense) but otherwise great.

The BPS Research Digest reports on intriguing research on how performing horizontal eye movement exercises can boost your creativity.

Who says love hurts? Romantic partners alter our perception of pain. Another great piece from Jesse Berring in his Scientific American column.

Counter Punch discusses the controversy over the increasing use of social scientists in the military.

Rejection massively, albeit temporarily, reduces IQ, according to New Scientist who perhaps a little over-sensationalise the distracting effect of feeling shit in their headline.

The New York Times has a piece by Simon Baron-Cohen who argues that Asperger's syndrome should not be removed from the diagnostic manuals (although doesn't address why high functioning autism and Aspergers are different diagnoses despite differing solely in terms of a detail over when someone started talking).

There's a great piece on the long-term effects of day care for kids over at Cognitive Daily.

Lot of places reported variations on the 'being miserable is good for you' theme. You're best of reading the original study summary for a more sensible take.

—Vaughan.

November 06, 2009

2009-11-06 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

What should count as an illness in the DSM-V? Asks Psychiatric Times with a brief discussion on the concepts of mental disorder.

Addiction Inbox is a fantastic blog about drug abuse and addiction.

There's an excellent article on the anthropology of office gossip over at The New York Times.

New Scientist reports on a convicted murderer who got a reduced sentence on appeal owing to the fact he has a version of the MAOA gene that has been linked to an increase chance of aggression. Biological determinism alive and well in the Italian courts. Is that the ghost of Lombroso I see?

Recently sacked drugs advisor to the UK government writes a scathing editorial in New Scientist. There's also some good commentary in the British Medical Journal from ~~psycho~~pharmacologist David Colquhoun.

CNN reports on a case of a women who experiences transient global amnesia after sex.

The highs and lows of transcranial magnetic stimulation are discussed by Inkling Magazine.

The New York Times reports on female soldiers from the US military who have suffered post-traumatic stress.

A recent study that contradicts the child bipolar over-excitement is covered by Furious Seasons.

Neuroskeptic has some excellent coverage of a recent study comparing the effects of real vs placebo coffee.

A vintage public information film on psychoanalysis apparently from the late 1940s makes for fascinating viewing on YouTube.

New Scientist meets Terry Pratchett to talk about his work and his diagnosis of an uncommon form of Alzheimer's disease.

Research on what increases altruism in toddlers in covered by the wonderful BPS Research Digest.

Frontal Cortex muses on several studies showing the mental impact of a bad night's sleep.

Internet pant-wetters take note. A new study from the Pew Research Center finds that internet users are more social offline than non-users and that internet use isn't linked to social isolation. Good coverage from CNET.

Not Exactly Rocket Science has an excellent post on how new born babies' cries have a recognisable 'accent', depending on native language.

A new documentary about psychedelic drugs is previewed by Dr Shock.

New Scientist has a good article on why good decision making and IQ aren't necessarily linked.

What's the best way to take a study break? asks Cognitive Daily with the research to back up the answer. My answer of 'fly to Jamaica' is apparently not evidence-based.

The New York Times discusses how Asperger syndrome may be taken out of the forthcoming revised diagnostic manual and merged into a single autism spectrum diagnosis.

The US airforce apparently want top 'overwhelm enemy cognitive abilities' with something biosciencey, according to a new research effort covered by Wired's Danger Room.

The Guardian has what seems to be the best obituary of legendary and hugely influential anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, probably because it was written by a fellow anthropologist.

Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel has a 'very simple argument against any general theory of consciousness' on his blog The Splintered Mind.

New Scientist has a short news piece on how we can sense our heartbeat with our skin.

Another nice piece on self-deception research, this time on how we over-estimate our ability to resist impulses, is discussed by Neuronarrative. The correct link to the original study is here.

The Neuroscience Boot Camp annual summer crash course held at the University of Pennsylvania is recruiting!

—Vaughan.

October 30, 2009

2009-10-30 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

ABC Radio National's All in the Mind has an interesting discussion on addiction and free will. I recommend the extended version here.

The New York Times has an excellent personal account of psychosis.

There's an awesome post on a new study about how phantom limbs can contort into impossible configurations at Neurophilosophy.

New York Magazine covers songs used in 'war on terror' torture and musicians' protests over the use of their material.

How do we perceive speech after 150 kisses? Talking Brains covers an interesting conference poster.

BoingBoing reviews a new book on the use of psychedelic drugs throughout history.

There's an in-depth review of 'The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better' in the London Review of Books.

Furious Seasons covers a new study [pdf] in JAMA on how atypical antipsychotics cause massive weight gain in children.

A slide show from Discover Magazine outlines the social factors in obesity or 'how to make your friends fat'.

Scientific American Mind has a short report on a randomised controlled trial on how empathy in doctors reduces the duration of the common cold.

The excellent Neuroskeptic has a careful analysis of recent studies and discussion on the best antidepressant.

NeuroPod has just released it's latest podcast. Direct mp3 link here.

Philosopher Gordon Marino writes an excellent piece on melancholy thinker Søren Kierkegaard and issues of despair, depression and meaning in The New York Times.

Dr Petra has a fantastic sex research Q&A that covers a range of unquestioned or misreported pieces of 'common knowledge' and the evidence from the scientific literature.

The mighty BPS Research Digest discusses a fascinating study where a patient had an unexpected panic attack while being brain scanned, allowing an insight into the neural processes of panic.

Scientific American discusses asexuality, people who simply aren't interested in sex. Another great piece from Jess Berring's regular column.

An intriguing study on whether self-deception is genuinely possible is discussed by PsyBlog.

Language Log discusses the hypothesis that words for mother and father (e.g. mama and papa) are so similar across languages because it's the first sounds children make and parents just assume their children are referring to them. As always, read the comments.

There's a good piece on the neuroscience of obesity over at Dana's excellent online magazine Cerebrum.

The New York Times has a good piece on the role of dopamine in motivation and wanting, dismissing the 'reward system' cliché as old hat. Although it is seemingly unaware that this theory is not new and that the media have been mainly responsible for the gross dopamine = pleasure oversimplification.

Recent studies on the inaccurately named 'brain scan mind reading' approach are discussed by New Scientist.

—Vaughan.

October 23, 2009

2009-10-23 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The single best article you'll read on technology and the brain for a while is published in The Times. 300 words of sense.

The Sydney Morning Herald covers an inattentional blindness study in mobile phone users and asks 'Did you see that unicycling clown?' I'm more interested to know whether the unicycling clown saw the psychologist following him around all day.

Apart from the fact that she seems to be labouring under the misapprehension that the right temporal parietal junction is not used for anything else (it is) there's an excellent TED talk by Rebecca Saxe on 'theory of mind' and the neuroscience of inferring others' mental states.

Neurophilosophy covers on how electrodes planted into the open brain of an awake patient reveals the neural dynamics of speech. Accompanied by an equally as awesome image.

The anthropology song is featured on Neuroanthropology.

The Neurocritic finds an intriguing film about a professor who believes she has found a way of determining scientifically whether someone is in love.

Philosopher Stephen Stich gives four lectures on 'Moral Theory Meets Cognitive Science' which are collected at 3 Quarks Daily.

Dr Petra has been upgraded!

Another good TED talk, this time by Beau Lotto on what optical illusions tell us about perception.

Science News on research that a gene involved in vocal cord development may be a factor in a inherited speech disorder.

There's a brief Q&A on the science of persuasion over at Nature.

The BPS Research Digest covers some heart-warming research on how a heated room makes people feel socially closer.

You can read a free taster issue of November's The Psychologist here. Enjoy!

Scientific American's Mind Matters blog has a great piece on making errors and learning.

Another good Neurophilosophy post, on how immediate goal kicking performance in American 'foot' 'ball' affects the perception of how big the goal seems.

Science News reports that 'People can control their Halle Berry neurons'. Neurons? I have enough trouble trying to control my Halle Berry thoughts. Don't think of Catwoman. Damn.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is an American nonprofit, grassroots, self-help, support and advocacy organization of consumers, families, and friends of people with severe mental illnesses that happens to receive 75% of its funding from Big Pharma, according to The New York Times.

Cognitive Daily asks What does it take to get kids to eat healthy foods? Personally, I bribe them with cans of Red Bull.

There's on excellent piece on how antidepressant sales are rising despite depression diagnoses falling in the UK over at Neuroskeptic. Apparently, longer-term treatment is now the norm.

FAILBlog has a hilarious duck phobia fail.

To the bunkers! H+ Magazine reports on robots controlled by human brain cells. Let's hope they're not the Halle Berry neurons.

Slashdot commentor kindly lists all the Doctor Who references to robots controlled by organic brains.

I found this great article on drug counterfeiting from a 1961 edition of Popular Mechanics.

BoingBoing has an interesting snippet on a new NIH study which will deploy robo-calling for boozers and stoners. Press 1 if you're taking a bong hit?

Happy belated Fechner Day.

Language Log asks 'Is irony universal?'. Rather ironically, asked by Americans. Also some interesting observations in the comments from Danny O'Brien.

Insecurity + power = boss rage, according to a new study covered by Neuronarrative.

The New York Times has a piece by David Brooks who marvels at how "damned young, hip and attractive" neuroscientists are. I would just like to disavow this dreadful stereotyping and point out that, like myself, many competent neuroscientists look pretty rough and find being deeply unfashionable quite groovy (by still using words like 'groovy' for example).

—Vaughan.

October 20, 2009

Encephalon 77 teams up:

The 77th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just appeared online, this time ably hosted by Sharp Brains.

This edition is rather special as it's a crossing of the streams with the medical carnival Grand Rounds.

A couple of my favourites include Brain Blogger on whether religion can be understood as a natural phenomenon and Advances in the History of Psychology on some of the early experimental work on emotion.

There's many more links to great writing in the blogosphere so do head over and have a look.

Link to Encephalon 77.

—Vaughan.

October 16, 2009

2009-10-16 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Slate has a brilliant article on the links between face structure and aggression and whether we can see criminality in the face. Contains the wonderful euphemism 'muscular unreasonableness'.

Video games are good for the brain, according to an article from The Boston Globe that reviews evidence for the cognitive benefits of computer games.

The BPS Research Digest has an awesome review of the state of brain scan 'lie detection' research. Punchline: scientifically interesting, practically useless still.

There's a brilliant article on doing cognitive neuroscience experiments with patients during neurosurgery in this week's Nature. Stupidly locked behind a paywall but has been touched by the irony fairy and given the rubbing-salt-in-the-wounds title 'Opening up brain surgery'.

PsyBlog has as excellent piece on 'how rewards can backfire and reduce motivation'.

The tragedy of the commons is really a farce, according to an excellent piece from The New York Times TiernyLab blog that tackles the myth behind the phrase and the latest economics nobel.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers new research on how the placebo effect affects pain signalling in the spine.

The sound of something getting closer increases the sensitivity of the visual cortex – before you're even conscious of hearing it, according to new research covered by New Scientist.

Neurotopia is live blogging the annual Society of Neuroscience gathering of the tribes and has a list of other bloggers covering the proceedings.

An experiment on the neurobiology of fizz, is covered by a carbonated Science News.

Time magazine has a piece on the debates over whether dementia should be considered a terminal illness and new evidence that challenges the traditional view that the brain decline itself isn't fatal.

There's an great piece on placebo side-effects on the increasingly excellent Neuroskeptic.

The New York Times travels into the science of the ear and hearing.

Is Alzheimer's like a strange form of brain cancer? asks Disover Magazine.

APS Observer has an interesting piece on an antique piece on psychology equipment called the 'memory drum'.

New research on Galileo's work in the science of perception is covered by the wonderful Advances in the History of Psychology.

The Times has a breathless piece on the dawn of 'brain to brain communication' which includes "sending messages formed by one person’s brain signals though an internet connection to another person’s brain many miles away". RFC1149 is that you?

—Vaughan.

October 09, 2009

2009-10-09 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Cutting-edge technology has renewed the search for a better lie detector. Some show promise, but they have yet to be tested in court. Excellent piece from law publication ABA Journal.

Newsweek has some remarkable brain images with the low-down on what they mean.

Monitoring your pulse during a gambling task can lead to better decisions, according to a study covered by Frontal Cortex.

Prospect Magazine ponders the relevance of neuroscience discoveries to left and right wing political assumptions about human nature.

Is it possible to visualise sensory impossibilities? asks The Splintered Mind.

The New York Times has a piece on 'How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect' which should be called how reading a short story by Kafka improves implicit learning on a pattern detection task.

The XMRV virus is detected in two thirds of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, according to a great write-up by Not Exactly Rocket Science. Although as chronic fatigue is both a common post-viral symptom and also not tied to any one condition, whether this 'explains' chronic fatigue, as some media reports have claimed, is another matter,

Scientific American updates on one of our earlier posts on the development of a 'cocaine vaccine'. Let's hope they never need eye surgery, where cocaine is used medically. Also, great coverage from Neuroskeoptic.

Cut! The Neurocritic reviews the neurocinema hype.

The LA Times has a piece on the difficulties with assessing and treating 'mild traumatic brain injuries' on the sports field and battlefield.

There's a useful summary of talks on the anthropology of psychiatry over at Somatosphere.

The Guardian has a good Chris French piece on the waking nightmare of sleep paralysis.

The placebo effect works for high definition TVs too, according to research covered by New Scientist.

The Independent has a piece on arachnophobia.

fMRI willy waving or next step in neuroimaging technology? Clearly both. Medill Reports covers the University of Illinois at Chicago's prototype 9.4 Tesla MRI machine.

Nature has an excellent piece on the greatest hits and misses of new genetics technique genome wide association studies, including a discussion of the recent research on schizophrenia.

—Vaughan.

October 02, 2009

2009-10-02 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

USA Today has an interesting piece on how social networking sites are becoming research targets in health and psychology.

The oft-replicated finding in relationship research that, on average, women would be most hurt by romantic betrayal and men by sexual betrayal, is covered by Cognitive Daily.

New Scientist discusses a new imaging study that highlights the importance of the hippocampus in conceptual learning.

Love is a like a zoom lens, according to The Guardian. Sex is like a microscope, or an oscilloscope, depending on what you're in to.

The New York Times has a piece on increased rates of dementia seen in American football players and how the NFL are trying to downplay the data.

Do people really lie three times within 10 minutes of meeting someone new? asks PsyBlog questioning the common statistic.

Time reports on a study finding that social comparisons with thin people who are big eaters can lead people to choose larger food portions.

Gamers are more aggressive to strangers, says New Scientist who clearly haven't read the study which didn't measure aggression to anyone.

Time magazine has another good article on how frequency of email contact can be modelled with a remarkable simple mathematical formula.

Religion protects against drug use in dance. Doping in ballroom dancing, who knew? (apart from Jesus)

Furious Seasons covers a new study finding that the majority of psychiatric drugs are prescribed by family doctors.

I wish I could be at the Encultured Brain conference, organised by the chaps from the excellent Neuroanthropology blog.

The Globe and Mail covers research on how women's attitudes to their genitals is linked to orgasm frequency and health behaviour.

The development of implantable electronic retinas is covered by The New York Times.

Both the British and American psychology associations have just launched their respective history of psychology websites.

New Scientist covers an overly melodramatic promo video by charity Autism Speaks and the spoof videos by people with autism.

The limits of a universal view of mental illness are discussed by Frontier Psychiatrist.

Psychiatric Times has concluded a three part series on the science behind fMRI brain scanning experiments.

Can the right kinds of play teach self-control in children? asks The New York Times as it discusses a radically different approach to child behaviour.

BBC News reports on a new study of treatment for drug addicts in the UK and finds treatment programme successes are encouraging.

Anticipating an interaction with an obese person provokes feelings of social power, reports the BPS Research Digest.

The Neurocritic has a neurogasm which looks more like a shampoo bottle than a drink but Paris Hilton is having one so it must be science, right?

The interesting origins of the British Prime Minister on antidepressants so what poppycock is tackled by Neuroskeptic.

—Vaughan.

September 28, 2009

Encephalon 76 slides home:

The 76th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience carnival has just appeared on the Neuroskeptic blog and is packed full of mind and brain goodness.

A couple of my favourites include an excellent piece from Providentia about the violin prodigy Josef Hassid whose career was cut short by a brain tumour, and another is a great post on AK's Ramblings about counter-intuitive labels in neuroscience.

A whole lot more mind and brain writing awaits, all bang up-to-date and hot off the press.

Link to Encephalon 76.

—Vaughan.

September 25, 2009

2009-09-25 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Is the Internet melting our brains? asks Slate of author Dennis Baron who says no, it's just another cycle in the human history of technology distrust.

Neurophilosophy discusses recent research on how patients in the coma-like persistent vegetative state can show conditioned learning and that those that day are more likely to show recovery.

Psychoanalyst Susie Orbach discusses the psychology and politics of the body on ABC Radio National's Saturday Extra.

TED Blog has an interesting interview with Oliver Sacks relating to his recent talk on hallucinations.

Thank you Developing Intelligence for being of the few places not to fall for the 'fMRI of dead fish is an example of a voodoo correlation' red herring. They're different effects and the DevIntel post discusses the difference.

Neuroanthropology has an excellent and somewhat philosophical post on mind body duality in the treatment of combat-related PTSD.

Free will is not an illusion after all, much to the surprise of New Scientist who report on new research suggesting an alternative interpretation to Libet's famous brain activation before conscious intention to move study.

The BPS Research Digest covers research on how your personality type affects the situations you place yourself in. One of many excellent post from the BPSRD this week.

ABC Radio National's Ockham's Razor discusses the many illness of dictionary creator Dr Samuel Johnson. You may be interested to know that another major contributor was William Chester Minor who wrote many definitions as a patient in Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.

PsyBlog has an excellent post on how long it takes to form a habit.

A photograph of your loved one can reduced pain intensity according to a study covered by Neuronarrative.

New Scientist covers research on how different alleles of the COMT gene are associated with exam performance. Ignore the 'gene for x' nonsense and it's actually quite an interesting article.

Welcome to the rehab center from the future via a humorous photo gallery from Wired.

Neuroskeptic covers a fascinating case study of a man with a missing limbic system.

Another interesting advance in the still limited field of 'brain scan mind reading' is covered by Wired.

Cognition and Culture has a short piece on how to think, say, or do precisely the worst thing for any occasion.

The Wall Street Journal has a piece on the shocking news that treating your employees well increases their productivity.

When does consciousness emerge? The Splintered Mind has a brilliantly thought-provoking post on the emergence of the conscious mind in individuals and species.

The Neurocritic has a piece on a recent but necessarily speculative paper on the neuroscience of torture and the negative effects on accurate memory recall.

—Vaughan.

September 18, 2009

2009-09-18 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neurophilosophy has an excellent piece on how eye movements can reveal the unconscious detection of changes in a 'change blindness' demo that the conscious mind is unaware of.

Illusion Sciences has an an excellent visual illusion that changes direction depending on where you look at it.

The sad case of a 9-year-old girl diagnosed with early onset dementia is covered by The Telegraph.

A new study covered by Science News finds that at least 60% of the population experiences depression, an anxiety disorder or substance dependence by the age of 32 and discusses whether this questions the validity of diagnoses or whether like physical illness, mental illness is actually very common.

The BPS Research Digest has an analysis of Derren Brown's recent lottery prediction stunt and lambasts him for misinforming people about psychology for the purpose of trickery.

The psychology of gay male sex preferences is discussed in an excellent article by Jesse Bering for Scientific American. At this point I normally compliment Bering for his magnificent column, but I shall refrain on this occasion.

In the same vein (oh stop it) Dr Petra look at a recent study that was widely reported as saying that larger penis size means more orgasms. Needless to say, the devil is in the detail.

Cerebrum, Dana's excellent online neuroscience magazine, has an interesting piece on how arts training improves attention and cognition.

Some fantastic talks about the placebo effect from the Harvard Placebo Study Group are featured on The Situationist.

Cognitive Daily covers an intriguing study on change deafness.

Uncovered emails from GlaxoSmithKline suggests they were prepared to bury data if it suggested a link between antidepressant drug Paxil and birth defects. Bloomberg on the case.

Seed Magazine has an excellent short article about what visual illusions tell us about the psychology of perception. By one of the writers for Mind Hacks favourite Cognitive Daily.

There's an article on 'psychocutaneous disorders', psychiatric problems affecting the skin, in Psychiatric Times. Some fairly unpleasant photos. Not safe for work, or lunch for that matter.

Not Exactly Rocket Science has a typically excellent piece on how rowing as a group increases pain thresholds. I suspect this effect might be why meetings are so protracted and tortuous.

A study on employee satisfaction finds that promises can be broken but career progression is golden, according to New Scientist.

Neuroanthropology finds an interesting lecture by Antonio Damasio on art and emotion.

The development of brain surgery through the nose is covered by ABC News

—Vaughan.

September 15, 2009

Encephalon 75 shimmers in:

The 75th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience carnival has just appeared online, as if by magic, at Ionian Enchantement.

A couple of my favourites include an excellent piece from Cognitive Daily on mood and memory and great coverage by Neuronarrative of research showing fake video evidence can be persuasive, even to the people falsely implicated by it.

There are many cognitive rabbits being pulled out of internet hats, so roll up for more at the link below.

Link to Encephalon 75.

—Vaughan.

September 11, 2009

2009-09-11 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neuroanthropology has some great coverage of a well deserved fail on some dismal attempts to research the slash fiction community. The best bit - the two neuroscientists are written into a erotic slash story as poetic justice.

There's an overly wordy piece on hypochondria, high culture creativity and the imagination in The Guardian.

BBC News has an audio slideshow from the Cambridge University archaeology and anthropology department on the changing concept of the body taken from a new exhibition.

There's now a regular round up of psychology and neuroscience posts from ResearchBlogging.org compiled by Cognitive Daily and they're great.

Psychiatric Times has a review of a new book called 'Poets on Prozac'.

A study that claims to predict antidepressant response from EEG readings relies on secret unreleased constants in the formulae. Antiscience with your commerce? Neuroskeptic one of the few places to pick up on this.

Time has a piece on a brain damaged patient who seems to have lost her sense of personal space.

Why do women have sex? asks Dr Petra.

Science News covers the new genome wide association studies that have identified two new risk genes for Alzheimer's disease.

The tracking of mobile phones can lead to insights into our social networks that are equally fascinating and alarming. A new study covered by the excellent BPS Research Digest.

Science News reports on a randomised controlled trial of the effects of playing the computer game Tetris on the brains of adolescent girls shows it leads to grey matter and efficiency increases.

Newsweek has an article on how babies can make judgements based on skin color.

The interaction between individualism and mental distress are discussed by Frontier Psychiatrist.

Spiegel gets behind the brain-computer interface hype and finds the tech isn't actually very useful yet. "My original plan was to write this article with nothing but the power of thought" - how cute - "but..." you can guess the rest.

Psychiatry is broken says psychologist Richard Bentall; it's just a bit rough around the edges says psychiatrist Tom Burns, both in The Guardian.

BBC News reports on a new study by director of National Institute on Drug Abuse's research group, this time on kids with ADHD, finding (can you guess?) differences in dopamine function in the 'reward system'.

Artificial intelligence won't be intelligent if we don't include motivation according to an opinion piece on Technology Review.

Neuroethics at the Core is an excellent blog with a recent article on the use of TMS to achieve cognitive enhancement.

The director of the Kinsey Institute is called Dr Heiman. That is all.

The Independent has an obituary for family therapy pioneer David Campbell.

A lovely study on the effect of hunger on food liking is covered by Neurotopia.

New Scientist has an opinion piece arguing we should legalise illicit drugs by someone called Clare who doesn't sound much like a terrorist but you can't be too sure these days.

A fascinating piece of research on how different types of camera angle alter the believability of children's testimony is covered by Neuronarrative.

Furious Seasons has a great comedy snippet from the Tonight Show taking the piss out of Pfizer for their $2.3 bazillion fine for being shady / endangering the lives of patients through illegal marketing practices.

—Vaughan.

September 04, 2009

2009-09-04 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The New York Times has an article on 'speed shrinking' - like speed dating but with psychologists. Doesn't mention whether it includes any drunken snogging in the bar afterwards.

Drug company Pfizer busted with $2.3 billion fine for illegal promotion of psych drugs, kickbacks and the general shadyness that everyone knows is common practice throughout the industry. Furious Seasons is on the case and is also having a fundraiser.

New Scientist has an article on the project to create artificial limbs controlled by implanted brain chips.

Healthy people with an intense desire to have a limb amputated may have differences in the function of brain areas that represent the body, according to research covered by the BPS Research Digest.

The Washington Post has a first person account of someone who experienced transient global amnesia - a dense amnesia that appears suddenly and typically resolves within a few hours.

When it comes to encouraging people to work together for the greater good, carrots work better than sticks, according to a great write-up of new research from Not Exactly Rocket Science. I suspect it is because carrots are tastier.

The Independent reports on the growing problem of mental health problems in British troops returning from combat missions in Afghanistan. Psychiatric casualties have apparently tripled in the last three years.

Artificial intelligence researcher Noel 'John Connor' Sharkey says AI is a dangerous dream in an interview for New Scientist.

Neuron Culture discusses two new military initiatives to counter PTSD in combat troops.

Wired covers a study finding that adolescent girls randomly assigned to three months of Tetris had thicker cortex in the frontal and temporal lobes. Full text of study here.

An elegant study that manipulated participants perception of free will is covered by the excellent Cognitive Daily.

neuro4kids has fan merchandise from the fantastic Neuroscience for Kids website

You are who you eat with. Time covers the social influences on obesity.

PsyBlog has an excellent article on 'The Acceptance Prophecy: How You Control Who Likes You'. Sounds woolly, actually some fascinating social research.

We covered the news stories about rapper Roxanne Shanté getting a PhD in psychology in 2007. Seems she's been frontin' - Slate investigates the smoke and mirrors.

The Today Programme, Radio 4's flagship news show, has a good discussion on what recent research on brain differences in psychopaths really tell us.

Counter-intuitive research finding that teens with more mature brains are more likely to take risks is discussed by Time magazine.

—Vaughan.

August 28, 2009

2009-09-04 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neuroskeptic reports on a study finding that antidepressant use in the USA has doubled in the last decade. Interestingly, peak use is in 50-64 year-olds.

There's some organic robot art inspired by Rorschach inkblots over an Seed Magazine.

The New York Times has an excellent piece about the role of guilt in regulating behaviour in children.

The effect of our beliefs and expectations on the taste of wine is explored in the Sensory Superpowers blog.

Science News covers a study on how baby girls more quickly associate fear with snakes and spiders than boys.

There are some interesting talks on culture and neuroscience from the Neurocultures Workshop despite the audio being a bit poor. See left hand side bar for links to video and mp3.

The New York Times has a fascinating article on projects that crawl the web and look for indicators of people's mood, creating global emotion maps.

A new antipsychotic, named lurasidone, is likely to be hitting the market shortly, according to Furious Seasons. Promises to improve treatment of psychosis, probably won't.

The Economist covers a study on the role of female testosterone levels in financial risk taking.

Continuing on the testosterone theme, a study covered by New Scientist finds that men with higher levels of the hormone spend less time with their children.

Neuronarrative has a fantastic post on a study finding that during a simulated crime, researchers were able to induce false confessions in nearly everyone using faked video evidence.

Another interesting study into the remarkable self-organising properties of crowds is covered by the ever excellent BPS Research Digest.

Technology Review blog covers an interesting paper arguing that measuring the entropy of reaction times within a psychology experiment may be a better way of inferring cognition.

Neuroscientist Nancy Kanwisher recently gave a keynote talk to the Association for Psychological Science and you can read or watch it via The Situationist.

New Scientist covers an absolutely fascinating study that looked at how different types of dementia break down the small world network of the brain's neural architecture in specific ways.

There's an interesting review of studies on how written language style earlier in life can predict the chance of getting Alzheimer's disease when older at Language Log.

Culture Matters has an interesting post about cultural differences in attitudes to sexual aids like Viagra and penis enlargers in the Arab world.

—Vaughan.

August 21, 2009

2009-08-21 Spike activity:

A slightly belated list of quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Secrets of Hypnosis is a cheap-ass website hawking dodgy-looking hypnosis CDs that has completely ripped off Mind Hacks without attribution.

A four thousand year old violent attack is uncovered through the analysis of a neolithic grave reported in Science News.

The New York Times has an update on the recent episode over the public release of the Rorschach ink blot images on Wikipedia. Quick summary: the poo flinging continues with official complaints.

Neither begging for mercy nor sobbing will prevent a course on 'NeuroPR' from going ahead in London.

The New York Times has a piece on how CBT-style brief training is going to be given to US Army personnel in a bid to prevent trauma. Best of luck with that.

To the bunkers! Wired reports on a group of artificially intelligent robots that evolved deception. No professor, he must have fallen into the incinerator by accident.

The BPS Research Digest covers a fascinating study finding that acquiring a second language affects how people read in their native tongue.

Ghostwriting scandal 1: Drug company Glaxo had a major ghostwriting project to offer authorship to doctors for scientific papers they hadn't written to promote their leading antidepressant. Furious Seasons is on the case.

Ghostwriting scandal 2: Drug company Wyeth had a major ghostwriting project and PLoS Medicine recently had all their documents unsealed by court order and have put all 1500 online.

PsyBlog has an interesting piece on why brainstorming sessions don't work very well and how they can be fixed.

The psychology and neuroscience of human navigation is discussed by New Scientist.

The New York Times has a powerful piece on palliative or end-of-life care for dying patients.

Neurofeminism has arrived and Experimental Philosophy has the announcement. Personally, I'm still waiting for neurovegetarianism.

ABC Science has a brief article on how 'mind-reading' headsets work that gets the basics right but seems to think "each of your thoughts has a particular signature" - even if we can't understand it with our most sophisticated lab equipment.

Obama has bipolar disorder announces the White House via satirical news source The Onion.

New Scientist reports on a study that has found that people who are tone deaf have fewer brain connections in an area involved in language and speech.

A wonderful study on whether people lost in indistinct landscapes really walk round in circles is covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

Scientific American has a short piece on how language analysis programmes are finding links between our linguistic patterns and our personalities.

Emotions are still universal. Thank you Neuroskeptic for the most balanced coverage of the over-exaggerated 'emotion recognition isn't universal' story that hit the headlines this week.

Cognitive Daily has an excellent article on the attention grabbing properties of angry faces.

Brand new $300 a day clinic for 'internet addiction' has a Twitter stream. The irony, it burns!

The Neurocritic looks at a couple of studies that seem to have drawn different conclusions from the same findings depending on the context. Religion, students and neurotocism, oh my!

To the bunkers! Wired reports that the UK government is developing an AI system to detect 'hostile intent' in humans.

—Vaughan.

August 18, 2009

No one expects Encephalon 74:

Edition the 74th of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just hit the net, this time hosted by Neuronarrative with a Monty Python twist.

A couple of my favourites include one from Neurospeculation on a clever clapping test for hemispatial neglect that originated from class of high school students and another from Sharp Brains on preparing society for the cognitive age.

There's a lot more where that came from, and a couple of Monty Python sketches thrown in for good measure. Enjoy!

Link to Encephalon 74.

—Vaughan.

August 14, 2009

2009-08-14 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Why do ethicists steal more books than other people? ABC Radio National's Philosopher's Zone talks to Eric Schwitzgebel about his brilliant philosophical research project.

The New York Times has an article on delusions of identity after brain injury. Doesn't say very much except they exist but an interesting topic nonetheless.

Listen to Ben Goldacre doing a fantastic job of countering Susan Greenfield's scaremongering over internet addiction on ABC Radio National's The Science Show.

To wit: Susan 'digital brain damage / attention span armageddon / generation ADHD' Greenfield take note. Newsweek reports that teen novels are more popular than ever.

Reuters reports on the University of Pennsylvania's Neuroscience Boot Camp.

Chocolate consumption increases in people Parkinson’s disease, according to research covered by Dr Shock.

BBC News covers researching finding that people with more symmetrical faces are less likely to suffer mental decline in old age. See an earlier Mind Hacks piece for more on links between face structure and brain function

Dieting could lead to a positive test for cannabis reports New Scientist, but only if you've been previously smoking cannabis.

The British Medical Journal has a meta-analysis of 372 (wow) double blind antidepressant RCTs finding that they slightly increase suicide risk in younger people. Furious Seasons has great coverage as always.

Radiotherapy for brain cancer has long-term cognitive effects, reports BBC News.

Bad Science has some excellent coverage of a study on how beliefs flow through science literature.

Would have covered this ourselves if it'd not been picked up by the big boys. If you've not read it already, the BPS Research Digest has an excellent piece on how time perception is linked to anger.

Scientific American has an interview with Judith Rich Harris, the influential psychologist who argues that parents have a minimal influence on children's social development in comparison to their peers.

Facebook reinforces jealousy in jealousy-prone people according to a study covered by PsychCentral.

Optimistic women live for longer, according to BBC News who seem to have raised their game this week.

3 Quarks Daily has a first hand account of sleep paralysis. Some slightly shaky neuroscience but well worth a read.

Anthropologist Richard Wrangham mongers his 'the invention of cooking as the cause of hominid brain expansion' theory on Edge.

Dr Petra discusses the American Psychological Association's recent statement on the futility of 'gay conversion therapy'.

A project to map every brain connection in five years time has been announced by the American National Institute of Health. An overview and commentary by Neurophilosophy's Mo Costandi are published in Seed Magazine which brings it down to earth a little.

The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience has an interesting paper on a neurocomputational model for cocaine addiction (thanks Will!). Only runs in the toilets apparently.

Studying babies can tell us about some of the most challenging philosophical questions according to an article in Salon.

Cognitive Daily finds a wonderful study on how adaptation to distorted faces doesn't transfer between male and female faces suggesting they may be processed differently.

Congenitally blind people distinguish between living and nonliving things in the same visual brain areas as sighted people, according to a new study covered by Science News.

The Psychiatric Times has a response by the DSM-V critics accused by the American Psychiatric Association of being motivated by wanting to sell more of their books on the earlier version. It's the debate that keeps on giving.

A study on the neural cartography of the clitoris is covered (if that's the right word) by The Neurocritic.

—Vaughan.

August 07, 2009

2009-08-07 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

I've just discovered the wonders of the Mental Nurse blog, which has a fantastically insightful piece on the dark cultural effects of nurse training.

Harpers Magazine has six questions for Oliver Sacks on music and the brain.

There's a simple but genius demonstration of the innate structure of music by Bobby McFerrin at the World Science Festival.

Dr Petra examines media pressures and the celebrity psychologist in 'A tale of two psychologists'.

The risk of dementia is vastly increased in middle aged people who who smoke, have high blood pressure or diabetes, according to research reported by BBC News.

Neuron Culture investigates suicides in US army veterans and why veteran's mental health care falls short.

New Scientist has an article on 'ten mysteries of you' of which several are mind and brain mysteries.

Can we emulate the architecture of the brain on a microchip? asks H+ Magazine in a roundup of 'silicon intelligence' projects.

The Telegraph reports comments by the lost-the-plot head of the UK's Catholic Church who says that Facebook leads young people to commit suicide. Actually, I didn't think there was an app for that yet.

Kids with imaginary friends have superior narrative skills, according to research expertly covered by the BPS Research Digest.

New Scientist reports on research finding that while watching a film, we subconsciously control the timing of blinks to make sure we don't miss anything important.

There's an excellent analysis of a recent media flap over 'bug spray damages nerves' headlines over at Neuroskeptic.

The Economist has an article on the USA's sometimes bizarre sex offender laws and their ineffectiveness at tackling sex offences.

Public opinion about psychiatric medications have been improving since the 1990s even in 'situations where there might not be a proven benefits', according to a study covered by Somatosphere.

BBC News reports on research finding that we tend to get happier was we live into old age.

A evidence-based approach to teaching psychotherapy styles in covered in an excellent piece by Dr Shock.

The Science Show from ABC Radio National had a segment on 'Darwin on empathy'.

The consistently excellent history of neuroscience blog The Neuro Times has an interesting snippet about a case of a quack neurologist in 1875 Dublin.

—Vaughan.

July 31, 2009

2009-07-31 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Polyamory or having relationships with multiple, mutually consenting partners, is discussed in a feature article in Newsweek.

Copenhagen Business School are running an online survey asking for your opinion on the use of neuroscience in business and marketing.

Experimental philosophy and our moral intuitions are tackled in an article for The Psychologist.

H+ Magazine has more on morality and impressing the rules of war on autonomous soldier robots.

Malcolm Gladwell discusses the psychology of overconfidence in an article for The New Yorker.

Slate has a somewhat polemic article on the recent dust-ups over the DSM-V 'new improved flavour' diagnostic manual due out in 2012. The Psychiatric Times blog also joins the fray.

A quarter of teenage girls mentally ill? Mental Nurse examines a recent article by the statistically challenged psychologist Oliver James.

The Guardian has a review of British psychologist Richard Bentall's new book on the trouble with psychiatry.

NPR Radio's Science Friday has a programme on the science of decision-making.

Neuroskeptic has some excellent coverage of a new Cochrane review finding that common plant St John's Wort is as effective as antidepressants, but seemingly, only if you're German.

A good cry doesn't always make you feel better. The not-always-cathartic process of crying is discussed by Jesse Bering in his great SciAm column.

The Boston Globe tackles the cognitive science of driving and how the ageing brain manages the mental demands of the road.

Sports psychology and the mental preparations of top class swimmers are covered by The New York Times.

Discover Magazine asks what urban sounds do to your brain, init?

Calendar calculating savants with autism - how do they do it? asks the brilliant BPS Research Digest.

The Guardian charts the rise of celebrity psychologists and quotes blogger Dr Petra.

Time-space synaesthesia - A cognitive advantage? Interesting new paper in Consciousness and Cognition.

Artist Kerry Tribe has some excellent photos from an exhibition on famous amnesic patient HM.

Time magazine has a piece on how family doctors can often miss depression in their patients.

TV can reduce loneliness, says research covered by SciAm's Mind Matters blog.

Cognitive Daily has some excellent coverage of an experiment that suggests we remember scenes by creating 3D models of them in our minds.

Psychologist Susan Blackmore has a thought-provoking if not somewhat speculative article in New Scientist on autonomous electronic machine memes.

Channel N finds a TED talk by Alain de Botton on the philosophy of tragedy and success.

The moral associations of colours are explored in research covered by The Economist.

Language Log finds a funny comic strip on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and Eskimos.

—Vaughan.

July 24, 2009

2009-07-24 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neurological injuries from the accident-waiting-to-happen activity 'car surfing' are covered by The Neurocritic.

Technology Review discusses an innovative new neurosurgery technique using ultrasound from outside the skull.

The University of Western Ontario has a list of 'Top Ten Things Sex and Neuroimaging Have in Common'. I would also refer to Lord Chesterfield's multi-purpose quote: "the pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable".

PsyBlog lists Mind Hacks as one of '40 Superb Psychology Blogs'. Still no contact from Shakira, clearly shy.

The UK Government's Cabinet Office release a remarkably good report on the psychology of crowd behaviour.

Psychiatric Times has an interesting debate on the validity of PTSD. For and against and still lots of political arguments.

There's an excellent piece on madness and creativity on the Nou Stuff blog.

SciAm's Mind Matters blog has more on creativity and the benefits of psychological distance.

There's an interesting interview with Mind Wars author Jonathan Moreno over at the consistently excellent Developing Intelligence.

The New York Times has an obituary for influential child psychologist Sidney Bijou.

Speaking without Broca's area was one of many excellent pieces on this week's BPS Research Digest.

Health Report from ABC Radio National had a special on Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Are British men useless at romance? asks Dr Petra as she covers a recent media friendly vapourware study.

New Scientist covers the case of a girl with half a brain who retains full vision. A visual cortex serving both sides of space has developed on one hemisphere only.

A new study potentially solves the mystery of why the problematic protein in Huntingdon's disease is affected in only certain brain cells when it's present throughout the body. Excellent coverage from The Neuroskeptic.

Psychology Today has a feature article by Jonah Lehrer on neuroaesthetics and the brain science of art.

The public place of anthropology and the problems with the meme theory are discussed over at Neuroanthropology. Also see their earlier critique of memes, probably one of the best ripostes to the idea on the net.

Ockham's Razor from ABC Radio National has an interesting opinion piece on why medical diagnoses don't always cut the mustard in people with complex health and psychological problems.

To the bunkers! Press release from robot company: "We completely understand the public’s concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population..."

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers research on the neuroscience of escaping predators. Like corpse feeding futurist robots perhaps?

Exposure to traffic pollution linked to reduce IQ in children, according to a study reported by Science News.

Neuro Times has a brilliant post on Nobel-prize winning neuroscientist Charles Sherrington's classic The Integrative Action of the Nervous System'

The psychology of happiness or the psychology of saying you're more happy? The Splintered Mind looks at the problem of self-reporting mental states in happiness studies.

American Scientist has an excellent review of two new books on embodied cognition and how our minds might extend to our environments.

"...staying in the parental home is a stronger risk factor for young men’s violence than any other single factor". Conclusions from an interesting study covered by Neuronarrative.

Science News has a piece on how a spinal fluid test may help predict who will develop Alzheimer's disease.

—Vaughan.

July 17, 2009

2009-07-17 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

NPR has a good piece on the vagaries of analysing functional brain scans.

Philosopher Pete Mandik features Mind Hacks as a 'Top 10 mind and brain blog' for blogs.com. Shakira yet to call.

The Independent covers the debate on clozapine - the best antipsychotic available that treats mortality-reducing schizophrenia but which causes potentially fatal white blood cell collapse in ~~10%~~ 1-2% of patients. Choose your poison. Discuss.

Psychiatric-service dogs, especially trained to assist patients with mental illness, are discussed by the Wall Street Journal.

BBC News has an opinion piece by always thought provoking against-the-grain psychiatrist Joanna Moncrieff on why psychotropic medication should be considered separately from mental illnesses. Frontier Psychiatrist has a thoughtful response to the debate.

The side-effects from sugar pills nocebo effect is covered by Brain Blogger

Neuroskeptic has a good complimentary piece on the placebo effect in prescribed medication.

There's a good piece on 'How chaos drives the brain' on New Scientist. I always assume chaos is just a sign of caffeine deficiency.

Neurotopia covers a brain imaging study on a 'super memoriser'.

The kazillion dollar war on some drugs is featured in a special issue of Mother Jones magazine.

Schizophrenia Forum has a fantastic discussion from some of the world's leading schizophrenia researchers on the significance of the recent high profile whole genome studies.

Anthropology, teaching and the great student swindle is discussed in an insightful article on Neuroanthropology.

The Wall Street Journal has a piece on the Blue Brain project. Neglects to mention that it becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th.

Crypto ninja Bruce Schneier discusses the interesting concept of privacy salience and the psychology of online service design.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a piece on how autism and academia can go hand in hand, while BBC News covers a software company that specifically looks for employees on the autism spectrum.

A cute but gimmicky sleep monitor is covered by The New York Times. It describes it as recording 'brain waves' but it looks like it uses near infrared spectroscopy to measure blood flow. See what you're missing ladies.

Nassir Ghaemi is a well known research psychiatrist who writes an increasingly excellent blog called Mood Swings

New Scientist covers the "first-ever neurobiological study of honesty and cheating", apparently by a journalist with amnesia for all the other studies.

Ding ding. Round 3. More DSM-V bun fighting on Psychiatric News: "I wish to call attention to the imperiousness, arrogance, and secrecy..."

Neurophilosophy covers researching finding that swearing increases pain tolerance.

Jonah Lehrer reviews 'You Are Here', a new book on spatial perception and intelligence for The New York Times.

The excellent Situationist blog has a fantastic article on the legal implications of implicit biases.

Dr Shock discusses a recent thought-provoking article on neuroscience and architecture.

—Vaughan.

July 14, 2009

Encephalon 73 flickers into life:

The 73rd edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival is here with a specially video enriched version, this time ably hosted on Channel N.

A couple of my favourites include Neurocritic tackling the myth of the depression gene and Providentia on the visionary psychosis surfer Emmanuel Swedenborg.

There's many more excellent articles and a video to match each one so head on over and enjoy.

Link to Encephalon 73.

—Vaughan.

July 10, 2009

2009-07-10 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

PsyBlog covers the numerous studies that have found your name influences your performance or preferences.

Professor Baroness Susan Greenfield thinks that her increasingly bizarre warnings about the 'neurological dangers' of Twitter are equivalent to when people first starting saying smoking caused cancer. Except they had evidence, and understood what they were talking about.

The New York Times has an interesting piece on why some of the counter-intuitive findings of behavioural economics don't work when people have to use their own money.

There's an awesome post on Developing Intelligence about how the famous 40hz 'consciousness' oscillations in the brain may have really been eye movements affecting the signal - the debate continues.

I do is apparently a blog written by someone describing their experience of locked-in syndrome.

Emotional robots: Will we love them or hate them? asks New Scientist. Depends if they know their place, I suggest.

If you don't read Neurophilosophy (and if you don't, why not?) you've missed two excellent articles recently on the evolutionary origins of the nervous system and the neuroscience of hypnotic paralysis.

BBC Radio 4 had an excellent programme on the criminal mind that will shortly be sucked into archiveless oblivion. Enjoy it while you can license paying suckers.

A recent study on how your self-view skews your mood is discussed by Neuronarrative.

Scientific American has an excellent piece on the evolutionary origins on left and right brain hemisphere differences.

There's an excellent post on genius and madness on Frontier Psychiatrist.

Scientists create eerie ambient music using human brains, MRI machines, reports GizModo with video. I'm waiting for musicians to create eerie brain scans using drum machines though.

The New York Times has an excellent piece on the psychology of intrusive perverse thoughts. My favourite type, as it happens.

Employees are promoted until they reach their level of maximum incompetence, according to a new study on arXiv covered by Tech Review.

Psychiatric Times has created an online forum (i.e. mud slinging arena with ring-side seats - hotdog anyone?) to cover the development of the DSM-V.

ABC Radio National's 360 programme has an excellent piece on how the public relations industry works. Eye opening stuff.

New Scientist has an excellent piece on the origins and anthropology of war.

Acid techo. The history of how LSD inspired scientists and tech pioneers is discussed by the HuffPost. Includes a letter from Albert Hoffman to Steve Jobs.

New Scientist has an awesome article on the memristor and the future of artificial intelligence. NewSci is totally on fire this week.

Sweet and salty. Frontal Cortex discuss why they taste so good together.

The Neuroskeptic covers on a study on the effect of affirming statement on people with low self-esteem that has been widely and incorrectly reported as 'self help harms people'.

—Vaughan.

July 03, 2009

2009-07-03 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The 'men agree on female attractiveness, women don't on male attractiveness' story has been a little exaggerated. There was consensus in both groups, just more in men than women.

The British Journal of Psychiatry has started putting fantastic art on its covers with a brief discussion of the piece. This month 'Welcome to my Psychosis'.

A piece from BBC News on psychologists studying their own children to understand language development is clearly ripped off the New York Times, but it's still very good.

The Economist reports on a study finding that depression is linked to how willing someone is to give up their goals.

Divorce rates are dropping. Is marriage being rehabilitated asks The New York Times. Jonah Lehrer also mans the marricades.

New Scientist discusses spite and theories on the function of social punishment.

Ten key studies that tell us about group behaviour are covered by PsyBlog.

Advances in the History of Psychology covers a US legal case that was a key moment in the history of eugenics for mental disability.

There's an excellent neuroimaging study in PLoS One finding that brain areas linked to social cognition (described rather grandly as 'empathy' areas) are activated more by sweat from anxiety than sweat from sport.

Big Picture magazine is an awesome resource for teachers that gives neuroscience activities and materials. Latest issue on 'Music, Mind and Medicine'.

An anthropologist working for Intel discusses her work on ABC Radio National's Future Tense.

In Our Time, the excellent BBC Radio 4 history of ideas programme has a discussion on logical positivism.

Neurotech market analyst Zack Lynch gives an interview on emerging commercial neuroscience markets and participates in a discussion about cognitive enhancers on Canadian TV show The Agenda.

The Frontal Cortex finds an entertaining interview with Oliver Sacks on US comedy programme

A list of Top 10 psychology feeds on Twitter is on PsychCentral and there's also a follow-up with a few more. Mostly therapist focussed but a good collection.

The Independent sends one of its reporters to try out a number of 'legal highs'. But I thought love was the drug?

There's a tale of two suppressed studies at the Neuroskeptic.

Deric Bownds' MindBlog has been excellent recently. Go check it out!

A 'treat violence like a disease' safer streets project is discussed by New Scientist.

Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica has started some surprisingly good psychiatry podcasts.

There's a segment on brain cancer on ABC Radio National's Health Report.

Danvers State Insane Asylum is a wonderful website on the history of this imposing gothic asylum built in 1878.

Two-year-olds possess grammatical insights according to a study covered by New Scientist.

Analysis from BBC Radio 4 has a good programme on experimental philosophy and morality. Grab the mp3 before it gets sucked into the black hole of their butchered archiveless website.

We have larger responses in brain areas linked to social cognition when seeing people of our own race in pain, according to a new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Neuron Culture covers a fascinating study finding that the effect of Ritalin may partly be due to a placebo effect in the parents.

My mate Rich at PC Advisor riffs on the Troublemaker's Fringe and the 'Facebook causes cancer' panic.

Dr Shock has an excellent post on placebo response in transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Picasso or Prosopometamorphopsia? asks a fantastic post on The Neurocritic on a neuropsychological disorder where faces seem distorted.

—Vaughan.

July 02, 2009

Sign O' The Neuro Times:

The Neuro Times is a fantastic new blog about the history of neurology written by a historian with a passion for the development of brain science.

The author is Stephen T Casper, whose own work has focused on how the US-UK collaborations and rivalries during the 20th century shaped our understanding of the brain.

Although the blog has a similar 20th slant it also casts its net a little wider making it a wonderful historical resource.

It has book reviews, profiles of influential neuroscientists from times past, and discussions of key moments and debates.

Excellent stuff.

Link to The Neuro Times (via @mocost)

—Vaughan.

June 26, 2009

2009-06-26 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Wall Street Journal vaguely thinks about the benefits of daydreaming and a wandering mind for creativity.

There's more video of Philip Zimbardo discussing the psychology of time over at Fora.tv

The Independent reveals that some people use drugs to enhance the mind because they've never been used in this way, ever, in history and we are being challenged with a dilemma so new it can barely be conceived by the human mind.

Is it acceptable for people to take methylphenidate to enhance performance? asks the British Medical Journal. A two part debate.

The Boston Globe has an interesting piece on how American college students choice of major is influenced by what their friends have chosen.

Sleeping on a complex decision may be a bad choice, reports New Scientist covering new research aiming to rehabilitate conscious decision-making.

Cognitive Daily covers a rare instance where single language speakers perform better than bilinguals - in spatial negative priming experiments. A chat-up line for a million Italian exchange students is born.

Metafilter collects a bunch of evidence on domestic violence by women suggesting that it happens at an equal rate to domestic violence by men,

Unconscious science stereotype associations predict size of science gender gap across 34 countries, according to a study covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

The Atlantic has an article on technology and the brain which doesn't suck. It's not great - it just assumes that we suffer from information overload without any evidence and doesn't mention a single study in the area - but it doesn't pretend to be anything different.

People are more likely to comply with requests into the right ear, suggests a study in a night club covered by Wired Science. Sadly, the researchers were just asking for cigarettes.

New Scientist reports on a study of business communication that found email exchange patterns can predict impending doom.

Who do senior psychiatrists go to for psychological help? asks The New York Times. To Boston, it seems, where apparently they're all still psychoanalysts.

Is it me, or did this study find that breast implants cure depression? Should make for an interesting randomized controlled trial. I'm trying to imagine the placebo condition.

Somatosphere has a thought-provoking post about why psychiatry researchers are reluctant to reveal their own use of medication.

Language may be key to developing the ability to understand other people's minds, says research on deaf signers covered by New Scientist. There's actually much previous research on this. A great 1999 study on this is available as a pdf.

Bad Astronomy has a fully awesome visual illusion!

ABC Radio National's Late Night Live has a discussion on mind enhancing drugs in universities. Has a funny informal style and a question that starts "If you were trying to become a big swinging dick at Harvard..."

New Scientist discusses a study on how celebrities stay famous regardless of talent. Illustrated with a picture of Paris Hilton, which is more ironic than they realise.

Innovative social psychologist John Bargh is interviewed over at Edge.

Talking of which, Bargh fires the first salvo in a Psychology Today debate on free will. Uber social psychologist Roy Baumesiter takes up the challenge.

Rock Stars of Science PR stunt pairs up biomedical scientists with rock legends for awkward photo shoots. Get me Porn Stars of Science and I might raise an eyebrow.

To the bunkers! Domestic robots built to have a taste for flesh according to New Scientist.

The Smithsonian Magazine discusses whether the cross-species von Economo neurons are specially tuned for social interaction.

US seniors are 'smarter' than their UK counterparts, finds new study reported by New Scientist. Ours make better tea though, and I know what I prefer.

Scientific American has an article on the science of economic bubbles and busts.

Mind Hacks' Tom has a excellent looking article in this month's Prospect Magazine on the links between improvisation and post-brain injury confabulation that been jailed behind a pay wall. Anyone seen a copy in the wild?

—Vaughan.

June 25, 2009

neuro images:

neuro images is a regularly updated website of beautiful neuroscience images run by Neurophilosophy blogger Mo Costandi.

It's a Tumblr blog, so is a pretty no frills affair, but it's the perfect platform just to let the pictures shine.

There are already some stunning images on there, from ancient illustrations to cutting edge scans, so keep an eye on it for more neural eye candy.

Link to neuro images.
Link to Neurophilosophy.

—Vaughan.

June 19, 2009

2009-06-19 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

PsychCentral awards its 2009 Online Mental Health Journalism Awards. Mind Hacks makes the list. Still no word from Shakira.

The wonderful Dr Mezmer's Psychopedia of Bad Psychology is released as a full free edition.

The Economist on a study finding that repeating positive statements to oneself has a negative effect of people with low self-esteem. Is this the death of Émile Coué?

An excellent article on the curious pharmacological properties of the curious hallucinogen salvia divinorum is on Terra Sigillata.

BBC News covers a new call to rethink how courts should handle eyewitness testimony in the light of the science of memory.

Stereotypes about the drivers of certain cars affect our perception of how fast we think the car is going, according to a study covered by BPS Research Digest.

The Guardian Book Club podcast discusses Steve Pinker's The Blank Slate.

There's an excellent special issue of ye olde Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society on predictions in the brain - using our past to prepare for the future.

The Telegraph wees itself in public.

Mental time travel and the importance of remembering forward in time are discussed by the ever excellent Neurophilosophy.

The New York Times has a rough guide to borderline personality disorder.

Patients with schizophrenia least likely to commit suicide after being treated by young female psychiatrists, according to a study in Schizophrenia Bulletin. Via the excellent Spanish language blog Nietos de Kraepelin.

Frontier Psychiatrist has an excellent piece on the complexities and depression and antidepressant prescribing.

Can a lack of sleep drive you mad? asks The Independent. Correlation-causation warning applies for some of the points.

The New York Times reports on a recent study finding a higher rate of mental illness in the Chinese population than previously thought.

Hooked on a feeling. Newsweek discusses the science of placebo.

Rethinking Autism has produced a series of sexy videos to promote sensible science on autism. A strange brew indeed.

Booze to brain in six minutes. Live Science covers a study of people getting pissed in brain scanners.

An article for the ACLU Blog delves into the history of the American Psychological Association's collusion with war-on-terror interrogation / torture / shadyness. You may be interested to know that the APA are currently focussed on backpeddling.

The New York Times tackles the 'a glass of wine a day is good for you' meme, which doesn't actually have a lot of solid evidence backing it up.

There's a good in-depth review of Flynn's new book on intelligence and the Flynn effect over at American Scientist.

The Kinsey Institute has a twitter feed! Make your own coming thick and fast jokes. I'm above that sort of thing.

A dodgy study that, despite its claims, didn't find antipsychotic aripiprazole is particularly associated with increased subjective well-being is tackled in an excellent analysis by Neuroskeptic.

Discover Magazine has an excellent Carl Zimmer article on the benefits of the wandering mind and the brain's 'default network'.

A Harvard psychiatrist writes a spoof article on zombie neurobiology - sadly we only have a secondhand write-up from io9. If only those scientists in Day of the Dead had a copy, maybe it wouldn't have turned out so bad.

Neuron Culture has the best write-up anywhere on the recent metanalysis of the link between the 5-HTTLPR gene and depression: The (Illusory) Rise and Fall of the "Depression Gene".

To the bunkers! New Scientist covers a plan to teach military robots the rules of war. Don't you realise, that's exactly what they want you to believe!

The Splintered Mind has a philosophical dream.

—Vaughan.

June 12, 2009

2009-06-12 Spike activity:

A slightly belated selection of quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

If you're a mental health professional from a low or middle income country you can apply for a grant to attend the Global Mental Health Summit happening this September in Greece. Applications need to be in by June 20th.

The mood we are in affects the way we see things by modulating the activity of the visual cortex, according to a new study expertly covered by Neurophilosophy.

Discover Magazine has a brief look at some EEG kit that aims to integrate both electrical activity from the brain with human action recording.

Altruism may have resulted from a form of natural selection caused by a state of near-continual warfare, according to a study covered by the Independent. Hang on, isn't that the plot of 1984?

Time magazine has an article on complexity theory that doesn't seem to have a punchline as such but is an interesting tour through various studies that can be understood on various level of explanation.

Ignore the title and skip the first line and the Boston Globe has an interesting article on the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation to study the neuropsychology of autism. The 'testing reflexes' bit is a minor part of it.

New Scientist covers a study that finds we prefer advice from a confident source, even when the person has a poor track record.

This is an absolutely fascinating study covered by the BPS Research Digest. We seem to have a 'blind spot' for our own body language.

The New York Times has an brief piece on how new guidelines on whether young athletes should return to play after a concussion are causing controversy.

Anthropology in crisis - what, still? The excellent Culture and Cognition blog looks at why anthropology is still a contested field.

New Scientist covers a wonderfully elegant study on what causes 'tip-of-the-tongue' just can't remember that word experiences.

The excellent Channel N mind and brain video blog has moved. Update your bookmarks!

Neuronarrative covers some interesting research on how fictional depictions of organ donations on medical dramas affect whether people want to sign up for this life saving option.

The work of a burqa wearing Islamic sex therapist who practices in Dubai is covered by The New York Times.

Furious Seasons covers a new study on how antidepressant paroxetine (Serpxat / Paxil) is linked to sperm damage in some men.

An excellent piece by an epilepsy doctor and researcher asking for a better understanding of the seizure disorder is on the BBC News site.

Wired Science reports that the Pentagon are investigating pills for PTSD prevention.

Time moves too slowly for hyperactive boys, reports New Scientist. Don't I just know it.

The excellent philosophy of mind blog Brain Hammer has moved. Update your bookmarks!

Another big name psychiatrist gets in hot water for undeclared payments from Big Pharma. The Wall Street Journal blog has the story.

Search Magazine has an article on the neuroscience of forgiveness. It misses a study on exactly this that recently appeared in Neuropsychologia.

Excessive use of "neuro" in a book title: Neuropsychological Neurology: Neurocognitive Impairments of Neurological Disorders (thanks @sarcastic_f!)

Evidence for Freudian projection inadvertently found in a study of whether dogs can have a guilty expression or not - turns out, owners just perceive the expression when they think the dog has done something wrong but the canine face doesn't change. BBC News is on the case.

Not Exactly Rocket Science finds an intriguing study showing that five-month-old babies prefer their own languages and shun foreign accents.

There's a review of an interesting-looking new book and ethnographic study on heroin injectors and crack smokers on the streets of San Francisco over at Neuroanthropology.

—Vaughan.

June 08, 2009

Encephalon 72 launches new range:

The 72nd edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has seemingly been taken over by Apple and transformed into the iCephalon carnival, which is much the same but costs more and has a hipster fan club.

A couple of my favourites includes a damning review of the new US psychiatric drama 'Mental' from The Neurocritic, and news that while tall people have higher status, high-status individuals also look taller, from Neurotopia.

There's a whole range of shiny new text products being introduced so head on over to Cognitive Daily who are the generous hosts for this fortnight's edition.

Link to Encephalon 72.

—Vaughan.

June 05, 2009

2009-06-05 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Carriers of 5-HTTLPR gene version have higher rates of addiction but teen counselling nullifies the risk, reports Wired Science.

Science News reports on a study finding that people who feel pressure to look attractive are more fearful of being rejected.

Neurotech booster Zack Lynch is summarising the punchlines of his recent academic article on 'The future of neurotechnology innovation'. Part one neuroimaging and disease treatment, part two on crossing the blood-brain barrier.

The Wall Street Journal discusses the highs and lows of nicotine vaporising 'electronic cigarettes'. Will the UK version be called e-fags I wonder?

Antipsychotics for kids effective but with substantial risks according to FDA briefing covered by Furious Seasons.

UK iPlayer viewers can still view BBC documentary 'A World of Pain: Meera Syal on Self-Harm' online.

Confabulatory hypermnesia. A case of a patient who believes, falsely, to have perfect recall, is expertly covered by Neurophilosophy.

68% of task-force members for upcoming DSM-V psychiatric diagnosis manual report taking money from drug companies, report USA Today. Good to see psychiatry cleaning up it's act. Oh no, my mistake.

Reuters covers the latest book by Will Elliott, who wrote an acclaimed debut novel about a clown with schizophrenia. Elliot has apparently been diagnosed with the condition himself.

Staying together 'for the sake of the kids' doesn't necessarily help them, says a study reported by Science Daily.

Talking Brains asks whether fMRI adaptation can demonstrate or refute the existence of mirror neurons in response to Iacoboni's comments on our recent post on the topic.

A new series of BBC Radio 4's All in the Mind has just launched on the newly decimated, information scorched BBC website. Permanent audio archive? Useful programme guides? So last season.

Time magazine looks at the psychology of 'conspicuous altruism'.

The fantastic 'culture and compulsion' series is rounded-up in one handy place on Neuroanthropology.

BPS Research Digest reports that girls attract American men best with direct chat-up lines.

Presumably, this includes the situation when the whole process is reduced to a tick box. Talking of which, during speed-dating women become less choosy when they, rather than men, move from table to table, according to a new study reported on by Nature News.

Scientific American has a brief article on how to tap the wisdom of the crowd in your head. Tap their wisdom? I just want them to stop throwing popcorn at the screen.

Can psychotherapists detect liars? Better than average but only very slightly, according to a study covered in Psychotherapy Networker magazine.

Wired Danger Room reports that the US military still getting funded for their sci-fi science fantasies. This time the Air Force looks for the 'core algorithms' of human thought. As the article says "Good luck with that, guys."

A whole load of great links on how music works, and the psychology of the tune, on Metafilter.

The LA Times reports that a third of US kids with autism are prescribed SSRI drug citalopram while a new study find it's no better than placebo and has worse side-effects.

UK readers. The BPS Research Digest has an excellent Twitter feed that keeps you up-to-date with TV shows, radio programmes and events about the mind and brain.

—Vaughan.

May 29, 2009

2009-05-29 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

HBO launches the awesome Alzheimer's Project online. Video, documentary, facts, stories. Very nicely put together.

Teen mental health and mindfulness are the focus of a recent ABC Radio National Health Report.

The LA Times has more on the ongoing revision of the psychiatrists diagnostic manual, the DSM.

God bless 'em. The British Journal of Psychiatry publish a letter (scroll down) in which I complain about people ignoring research when talking about 'internet addiction' and other fictional monstrosities. The original authors write a lovely reply and I feel a bit sheepish.

The BPS Research Digest has a great post on simulating déjà vu in the lab.

If you haven't seen it somewhere else, the excellent Mary Roach does a fascinating TED talk on '10 things you didn't know about orgasm' (although she doesn't mention that the case of toothbrushing triggered orgasm was due to epilepsy).

People are universally optimistic according to a survey of over 140 countries reported in Science Daily. "At the country level, optimism is highest in Ireland, Brazil, Denmark, and New Zealand and lowest in Zimbabwe, Egypt, Haiti and Bulgaria."

New Scientist has an interesting 'science of the female orgasm' series but drops the ball (if you'll excuse the pun) with a 'brain shuts down during female orgasm because I can't critically evaluate the results of brain imaging studies' piece.

There's an interesting discussion on differing conceptions of the self, Jekyll and Hyde, and the modern of historical concept of criminal responsibility on ABC Radio National's The Philosopher's Zone.

New Scientist has an excellent article on eight ancient writing systems that still haven't been cracked. Where's Fairlight when you need them?

An article on how meditation alters brain activity and structure appears in Scientific American.

Frontier Psychiatrist has an excellent piece on the concept of a rational suicide.

It's raining fantastic essays on mind, brain and culture over at Neuroanthropology!

The New York Times has an article on the recent 'super-recogniser' research on people who have spectacularly good memory for faces.

Graph theory slinging, network mongering, sociologically inclined mathematician Steven Strogatz has an excellent short piece in The New York Times on the mathematics of love.

New Scientist reports on a twin study that suggests intellectual confidence is inherited, predicts grades, and is independent from IQ.

The better trust and communication style between father and daughter, the better it is likely to be between the daughter and her partner, according to research reported by the new-to-me but seemingly excellent Child Psychology Research Blog .

The Times Higher Education Supplement notes concerns over the falling numbers of UK medical students who start training to be psychiatrists.

A big budget TV drama series about psychiatrists called 'Mental' has just launched and you can watch the first episode online. Apparently being filmed in Bogotá, Colombia.

Scientific American has another Jesse Bering column, this time on adolescent girl social aggression, or, in more colloquial terms, bitchyness.

Women are more likely than men to suffer feelings of inadequacy at home and at work and have perfectionist tendencies, according to a US study reported by BBC News.

Cerebrum, Dana's excellent neuroscience magazine, has a great piece on the limits of neuroimaging.

Replicant Roy Kurzweil furiously responds to recent Newsweek article that apparently contained inaccuracies over his predictions, opinions, incept date.

Advances in the History of Psychology discovers that Harvard psychologist Dan Wegner has posted an electrogroove mashup that incorporates sampled snippets of the recordings of Stanley Milgram’s famous obedience experiments of the early 1960s. Like a disturbing social psychology 70's porn soundtrack.

—Vaughan.

May 25, 2009

Encephalon 71 welcomes new diners:

The 71st edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been served in the welcoming surroundings of the stylish Neuroanthropology blog.

A couple of my favourites include a podcast interview with neuropsychologist Chris Frith from the Brain Science Podcast blog, and a post on the development of early language from Babel's Dawn.

There plenty more on the menu, so you should find something to suit every taste. Bon appétit!

Link to Encephalon 71.

—Vaughan.

May 22, 2009

2009-05-22 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neuroanthropology has a great article on identity formation and internet booze show-offs. A neat bit of online anthropology.

Psychopathic traits in children associated with severe deficits in emotional empathy across all ages for males, but not females, finds new study published in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Scientific American has a short but interesting piece on how hand movements during discussion may aid cognition. I would do the 'sounds a bit handy wavy' joke but I suspect I've been beaten to the punch.

Actually, I'd just like to apologise for the pun in the line above while I have the chance.

Science Daily reports that intelligence and physical attractiveness are both related to income. Which explains a lot about my current situation, actually.

Doctor saves young lad's life by drilling into his brain with a power drill, reports the Aussie News site. The embedded video seems to have been made by The Onion though.

PsyBlog rounds up its recent excellent series on functions and dysfunctions of attention in one handy place.

Psychiatrist bemoans the ignorance about the benefits of lithium treatment among junior doctors in The New York Times.

Science News reports another in a long line of studies suggesting the benefits of meditation. In this case, that it's linked to increased grey matter in key emotion areas.

Lacan's florid and Byzantine model of the unconscious is covered in two posts by Somatosphere.

The Harvard Gazette reports on 'super-recognisers', people with exceptionally good face recognition abilities. See this 1999 study for a report of a super-over-recogniser.

Musicians have better memory not just for music, but words and pictures too, according to a study expertly covered by Cognitive Daily.

The Economist looks at a recent study that finds that living abroad can increase creativity.

Risk of violence in schizophrenia almost entirely explained by illicit drug use, finds new study reported on by PhysOrg.

Science News reports that people who have a higher alcohol tolerance are more likely to become alcoholic.

The summer fundraiser for Phil Dawdy, the world's only publicly funded psychiatry-dedicated investigative reporter kicks off on Furious Seasons.

The New York Times has an excellent piece on the 'super memory club', people who live beyond the age of 90 with sharp-as-a-razor cognitive abilities.

A study investigates the typical psychological traits of people who believe in conspiracy theories, which is covered by Science News.

Science Daily reports on a freaky ass robot intended to improve social skills, presumably built by researchers who have spent too much time in the lab.

The excellent Situationst blog has a must-read piece on the controversy over implicit bias, one of the most heavily researched aspects of our unconscious.

To the bunkers! Time magazine reports that replicant Ray Kurzweil is still at large.

—Vaughan.

May 15, 2009

2009-05-15 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The BPS Research Digest covers a study finding that people judged as likeable in the flesh also make good first impressions online.

A short but sweet Jonah Lehrer article on the neuroscience of creativity is published in Seed Magazine.

Dr Petra has more on the recent not very convincing 'emotional intelligence boosts female orgasms' story that got the media's knickers in a twist.

Will designer brains divide humanity? asks New Scientist who seem to like sensationalist headlines about cognitive enhancement.

Furious Seasons asks whether suicidality was covered-up in the landmark STAR*D depression study? A fantastic bit of investigative journalism.

Cruelty and spitefulness are put under the evolutionary spotlight by New Scientist.

Neuronarrative has a good piece on belief in the paranormal and susceptibility to the conjunction fallacy. Interesting in light of Jung's concept of synchronicity.

Halle Berry neurons, visual recognition and sparse coding are discussed by Discover Magazine.

New Scientist has an almost-there article on how beliefs affect how we experience illness.

How mediation improves attention. PsyBlog continues riffing on it's attention theme.

Science News reports that school-age lead exposure is most harmful to IQ.

Summertime blues. The Neurocritic covers a study finding that suicide rates in Greenland are highest during the summer.

The New York Times has an excellent piece on 'high functioning alcoholics'.

A difference between child and adult brains is a switch from local to distributed organisation, suggests a new study in PLoS Computational Biology.

Dr Shock has a good summary of a recent review article on the neuroscience of exercise.

Smiles in yearbook photos predict marriage success many years later according to a study covered in The Economist.

Neurophilosophy covers a fascinating study on how music affects how we perceive facial expressions.

—Vaughan.

May 11, 2009

Encephalon 70 the mysterious:

The 70th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just appeared and is ably hosted on Sharp Brains.

A couple of my favourites include a post on Neurotopia on the elegant logic of dopamine, and a fantastic visual illusion from Dr Deb where a picture of a tree hides some wonderfully concealed faces.

There's a whole stack more great articles in this fortnight's edition so go check out the rest.

Link to Encephalon 70.

—Vaughan.

May 08, 2009

2009-05-08 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The excellent Holford Watch blog has a right-on-target debunking of a Daily Mail article that uncritically reprinted dodgy 'hole in brain' SPECT scans to 'show' we're "wrecking" our brains with caffeine, alcohol, bad living etc.

Harvard Magazine discuss how their neuroscientists are working to 'untangle the brain: from neuron to mind'.

Daniel Lende, co-founder of the brilliant Neuroanthropology blog, wins a university award for his work on the anthropology of drug use, HIV, PTSD and his online writing. I think this is the first time I've ever seen a blog being recognised by mainstream academia. Congratulations!

New Scientist reports on commercial text analysis programmes that rate emotional content.

There's a brief but good infographic about the history and development of 'behavioural economics' in Foreign Policy magazine.

Scientific American on recent revelations that Masters and Johnson may have faked their 'gay cure' case studies.

Eavesdrop on the world! I've just discovered searching Twitter for 'overheard'.

Science Policy magazine has an article about what the recent fMRI 'voodoo' criticisms mean for the role of fMRI in court. This month's Wired UK has an awesome article on similar territory, but it's not available online yet.

Researchers find the earliest signs of autism in infancy, reports Time magazine.

Time magazine reports on the recent STAR*D study that used 'real world' patients for an antidepressant trial, rather than the highly selected samples usually used, and found that rates of improvement were less.

New antipsychotic iloperidone is approved by the FDA, reports Furious Seasons.

New Scientist reports that IQ correlates with health and there are hints that some of the relationship might be explained by common genetic factors.

There's an excellent post about pop stars, drug use, society and double standards at Frontier Psychiatrist.

Cognition and Culture has an interesting piece on cross-cultural variation in creationism.

A genetic study into narcolepsy, a disorder where people suddenly and uncontrollable fall asleep, finds an intriguing link with genes for the immune system. Science News covers the discovery.

Developing Intelligence covers a lovely study finding that physically taking a step back is associated with improved problem-solving.

A concert combining the music of Yo-Yo Ma and the neuroscience of Antonio Damasio is reviewed in The New York Times. There are also some interesting comments from Jonah Lehrer who also saw the performance.

Cognitive Daily cover a study that possibly tells us why it's hard to ignore that attractive stranger that walks past, even when we're with our partner.

Why does the vaccine/autism controversy live on? asks Discover Magazine in an article that discusses the social factors behind the deadly but popular myth.

Advances in the History of Psychology has an interview with the author of a new book on Skinner.

—Vaughan.

May 01, 2009

2009-05-01 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Wired has a great piece on illusionist Teller and how stage magic could help cognitive science.

Some fascinating research on the use of video to give insight to brain injured patients unaware of their own paralysis is covered by BPS Research Digest.

The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry has a case report on restless legs syndrome affecting a phantom limb.

The curious link between the urban environment and schizophrenia is explored by Frontier Psychiatrist.

Channel N finds a video lecture on mental illness and creativity by Kay Redfield Jamison.

Funny or offensive? Probably both. The Onion has a satirical news report on World's Oldest Neurosurgeon Turns 100.

BoingBoing finds an usual vintage comic book series entitled 'The Strange World of your Dreams'.

In 2001, all illicit drugs were decriminalised for personal use in Portugal. Time magazine investigates what happened, it turns out drug use has fallen.

The New York Times has an extended article on the meeting of Zen Buddhism and Freudian psychoanalysis.

A wonderful neurophilosophical quote from Melville's Moby Dick is captured by Brain Hammer.

Cognition and Culture reviews new book 'The Art Instinct'.

Do 'brain training' games really work? asks ScAim. The answer, a bit.

PsyBlog has an excellent post on the psychology of consumption.

The media creates concept of media psychologists, encourages them to be unethical, then acts amazed when they are, says Dr Petra.

Wired talks to psychologist Craig Haney about the mental impact of solitary confinement.

Important new research on the genetics of autism spectrum is covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

BBC News reports on musician Prince discussing his childhood epilepsy and how he revealed it in a coded message on The Love Symbol Album.

—Vaughan.

April 28, 2009

Encephalon 68, 69 and my memory is like a sieve:

The 69th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience carnival has just appeared on Brain Stimulant and... dear God, I just realise I missed the 68th edition on the excellent Ouroboros as well, so here are both for your reading pleasure.

A couple of my favourites include a fantastic post on Neuroanthropology post entitled "Who you callin’ a ‘neuroconstructivist’ punk?!" (actually, I added the punk, but you get the idea), and a Neurocritic article on a curious neurological condition where people lose the ability to correctly point at a named body part.

I always say there's plenty more, but this time there's a whole load more where that came from, thanks to my slightly faulty memory.

Link to Encephalon 68.
Link to Encephalon 69.

—Vaughan.

April 24, 2009

2009-04-24 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The first Neuroanthropology Conference kicks off in October and looks awesome.

Twitter causes immorality nonsense deftly dispatched by bloggers. Most mainstream press lost the plot although Time did a good job and Wired Science were keeping it real.

The Guardian review neurophysiologist Kathleen Taylor's new book on cruelty.

AI system examines mysterious and ancient symbols from the long-lost Indus Valley civilization and suggests that they may represent a spoken language, reports Wired.

The Financial Times has a look at the Wellcome Collection's latest exhibition on 'madness and modernity'.

The links between autism and genius are explored by The Economist.

Not Exactly Rocket Science has a brilliant article on how touch-related brain activity reduces after only a couple of weeks of having your hand in a cast.

There are a couple of wonderful girl-with-exposed-brain paintings here.

The New York Times reports on mental illness, the musical! (thanks Daniel!)

BBC Radio 4's Health Check has a programme on meningitis and supernumeray phantom limbs.

Newsweek has an interesting Q&A on the psychology of memory.

An extended and interesting article on the psychology of how we related to the environment is published by The New York Times.

NeuroImage has an article arguing for community neuroimaging databases. Hallelujah and amen!

Is there a link between autistic traits and anorexia? asks New Scientist.

Frontal Cortex has an excellent piece on the commuters paradox - where we consistently underestimate the pain of a long commute.

Rapid emotional swings could predict violence in psychiatric patients suggests new research covered by Science News.

BBC News on the impressive 'Blue Brain' project but who seem to like talking themselves up rather a lot. Apparently just a "matter of money" to simulate a whole brain (oh, and a good conceptual understanding of how the brain actually works beyond simplified models of the neocortical column).

18 ways attention goes wrong. PsyBlog continues riffing on attention by listing several related problems.

Psychiatric Times has an excellent article on the philosophy of psychiatry and how we define what counts as a mental illness. Bonus 'internet addiction' slapdown included.

Neuronarrative on a study suggesting that TV may be a surrogate for social interaction.

New 'mind reading' consumer EEG headsets about to hit the shelves with dull-looking games, according to New Scientist. They look fantastic, but don't believe the hype - the fun will be in equipment hacks and data aggregation projects.

The Economist has a couple more good articles: one on the cognitive benefits of bilingual babies and the other on preconscious action selection and free will.

Makes of antidepressant Lexapro (escitalopram) may be gearing up for the latest in a long line a heavy weight US government fines for illegal promotion, reports Furious Seasons.

—Vaughan.

April 17, 2009

2009-04-17 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The neuroscience of envy and schadenfreude is explored by Pure Pedantry.

The Economist has an article on connectomics and the project to create a complete white matter map of the brain.

Panic! The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology has an article on drinking on your 21st birthday. Extremely extreme apparently.

O'Reilly Radar has an interesting piece on navigating robots that run on the power of cute.

To the bunkers! US Military wants to offload 'deep learning' to computers according to Wired.

What can stage magic tell us about the brain? Asks Science News.

CNN thinks naltrexone is from "a new generation of anti-addiction drugs". If by new generation they mean from 1974, then yes, they're right.

Are smart drugs the answer to bad moods and a bad economy? ask Discover Magazine. I'm sure you can guess the answer to that one.

Neurotopia has an excellent piece on the neuroscience of amphetamine.

Research on a 'video game' that reduces aggression is covered by Cognitive Daily. Not really a video game, but fascinating research nonetheless.

Medical News reports that increases in psychotic symptoms are more likely to make the person a victim of violence than a perpetrator.

Mind Hacks gets a write-up from Gehirn & Geist magazine. Sadly, I can't read a word of German but I have it on good authority that it is very flattering (thanks Rich!).

Stanford Magazine has an interview with Henry Greely, co-author of the recent Nature article on why cognitive enhancing drugs should be legally available.

A simple psychological intervention that boosts school performance of ethnic minority students is discussed by The BPS Research Digest.

Eric Schwitzgebel mulls whether scientific ideas about moral development are inherently politically biased.

Epilepsy drug valproate during pregnancy can lower babies IQ, reports The New York Times.

Another from The New York Times: "There are no rules of etiquette for dealing with a person who has a neurological disorder." Short personal piece on Parkinson's disease.

The Frontal Cortex has a good piece on the neuroscience of admiration and why Twitter won't make you immoral.

Psychologist Jesse Bering takes a tour through quirky studies on the effects of alcohol in Scientific American.

—Vaughan.

April 10, 2009

2009-04-10 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Tom has a fantastic post and brief radio segment on the psychology of coffee.

Savant and synaesthete Daniel Tammet gives an interesting interview on the neuroscience of exceptional abilities on the Quirks and Quarks radio show.

The New Republic has an extended review of 'Hysterical Men', a new well-regarded book on the neglected history of male hysteria.

Most psychiatrists who wrote clinical guidelines for the American Psychiatric Association had financial ties to drug companies, reports Medical News Today.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers a nice study that shows moral behaviour is more like a balancing act than a recital.

An elegant study of how scratching stops an itch is covered by BBC News.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the much discussed 'Voodoo Correlations in Social Neuroscience' paper, will now be retitled 'Puzzlingly High Correlations in fMRI Studies of Emotion, Personality, and Social Cognition' on its May publication.

There's a great round-up of recent sex and science news on Dr Petra.

An article on the effects of poverty on brain development was published by Economist. You must read an excellent follow-up by Language Log showing all is not what it seems.

BBC News reports on seemingly higher rates of birth defects in babies of women sedated as children in UK care homes.

People with schizophrenia are not susceptible to the hollow-mask illusion, reports New Scientist with cool hollow-mask video.

Scientific American Mind has an interesting piece about mapping the brain circuits in depression for the purpose of modulating them with deep brain stimulation. More background on Neuron Culture.

Investigative journalist Phil Dawdy gives an ass-kicking pharma-sceptical interview on Christopher Lane's Psychology Today blog.

Psychologist Colin Ross wins the James Randi Educational Foundation award for pseudoscience for his claim that he can send electromagnetic beams out of his eyes and capture them with a machine. Gives him something to do when he's not writing articles for Scientology magazines I suppose.

Wired has a short but sweet piece on pioneering neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing.

Even isolated cultures understand emotions conveyed by Western music, suggest research expertly covered by Cognitive Daily.

The Times has a piece on psychiatrist and Big Pharma target / critic David Healy, branded the 'enfant terrible' of psychiatry.

Brain decline reflected in patient's brush strokes, with photos from New Scientist.

SciAm Mind Matters has an interview with free-thinking developmental psychologist Judith Rich Harris on who influences the social development of children.

High-tech hobbit phrenology? Homo floresiensis may have been cognitively advanced suggests skull study reported in Science News.

Salon reports on a US Army psychologist caught on tape saying "I am under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD".

An intriguing new theory on why fever helps autism and how it could finger the brain area the locus coeruleus as key is covered in Time. Scientific paper here.

American Psychological Association Monitor magazine has a two part special on neuroimaging in psychology.

Neuroanthropology finds some vintage Oliver Sacks video footage and discusses the importance of integrating neurobiological and cultural viewpoints.

There's a fascinating piece on the effect of gendered nouns on perception, plus a great experiment testing Shakespeare's maxim 'a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet', on NPR radio.

Wired has a beautiful image gallery entitled 'How to Map Neural Circuits With an Electron Microscope'.

A study on people with Parkinson's disease being bad at lying is covered by Pure Pedantry.

PsyBlog asks whether visual attention can be truly divided.

Mind Hacks thinks about renaming Spike Activity to Spike Train because they're so damn long these days.

—Vaughan.

April 03, 2009

2009-04-03 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Economist has an article on the impact of poverty on the developing mind and brain.

Orange flavour antipsychotics are launched by seemingly self-paradoying pharmaceutical company Otsuka.

The New York Times has an article on the art and science of dreaming in the 17th century.

The future of Big I artificial intelligence is discussed by H+ Magazine in a report from a recent cutting-edge conference.

The BPS Research Digest has a great piece on the limits of the 'paradox of choice'.

An interesting new blog by forensic psychologist Marisa Mauro kicks off on Psychology Today

The Wall Street Journal tackles identity construction on social media. Good piece although the same ground covered by Sherry Turkle 15 years ago.

Music as a possible form of cognitive treatment is discussed by The New York Times.

Not Exactly Rocket Science on how the finding of a deformed skull of prehistoric child suggests that early humans cared for disabled children.

A video of a man with a fishing spear in his head accompanies an article by The Times. Despite the dramatic injury, he survived.

Medical Economics on news that the number of Big Pharma lovin' doctors is dropping in the US.

Autism immerses 2-year-olds in a synchronized world, reports Science News.

Discover Magazine has video from a neuroscientist panel discussion on unlocking the secrets and powers of the brain.

'The nightmares of Puerto Ricans' is an upcoming article in the Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry journal.

The Scientist has several freely available articles on the neuroscience of sleep in it's latest edition.

Philosopher Ned Block puts a pre-print of a paper entitled 'Comparing the Major Theories of Consciousness' online as a pdf.

The New York Times discusses how medical dogma often triumphs over scientific evidence if the data seems to contradict a good story or traditional treatment option.

Sociologist Yochai Benkler discusses social reasoning and the myth of rationality in an article for Edge.

The Onion reports the shocking news that 98% of babies are manic depressive.

Spanking 'brings couples together, says an entirely serious article in New Scientist.

BBC News reports that sleep problems correlate with suicide attempts.

'Voice lie-detector' made by lawyer-happy critic-suing company Nemesysco is found to be no better at detecting lies than flipping a coin in an independent test just published in Journal of Forensic Science.

Psychological Science has a study finding that once practical stress is taken out caregiving is associated with a decreased mortality risk.

The neuroscience of the 'money illusion' is discussed in an excellent piece on Frontal Cortex.

—Vaughan.

April 01, 2009

Encephalon 67 raises a toast:

The 67th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience carnival has just appeared online, this time put together by the Neuroskeptic blog.

A couple of my favourites include Neurophilosophy on the neuroscience of phantom limbs - apotemnophilia, missing after amputation or additional to the normal four, and a couple of good posts on the neuropsychology of religious belief from NeuroWhoa!.

There's plenty more where those came from, so do go and check out the latest edition.

Link to Encephalon 67.

—Vaughan.

March 27, 2009

2009-03-27 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Brain Hammer is on fire at the moment, lots of great posts on philosophy of mind.

Dodgy fMRI 'lie detection' evidence to be submitted as evidence in court, reports Frontal Cortex and piece from Wired. Next in court, lie detection through reading the clouds.

Alzheimer International has an awesome short promo video. In Spanish but you don't need the language to understand it. Beautiful.

Daniel Dennett discusses the risk of robot war in a short video for Big Think.

Technology Review has an article on an exciting new technology to chart human activity, on city maps, on mobile devices, in real time.

The excellent BPS Research Digest is now on Twitter.

PsyBlog has an excellent, and beautifully illustrated, article on the 'attention spotlight'.

The miracle fruit, which changes our taste by interfering with tongue receptors, is discussed on CNN.

Eric Schwitzgebel has more on his compelling exploration over whether philosophical study influences real world behaviour, finding political scientists don't go to vote differently from most other people.

A fantastic study on the genetics of white matter structure and link to IQ is discussed by NPR. Take the stuff about 'thinking faster' with a pinch of salt. They didn't analyse speed of processing directly, they're just inferring 'speed' from white matter integrity.

The Frontal Cortex has a great piece on male female differences, or the lack of them, in the psychology of decision-making.

Philosopher Alva Noe discusses his new book on consciousness and embodiment in an interview for Salon.

Wall Street Journal Blog reports that the Journal of the American Medical Association has created an inadequate new policy after the editors bullied a neuroanatomy professor who pointed out undeclared conflicts of interest in a paper they published. The Economist covers the fall out, patients' group call for editors to resign.

"The medial prefrontal cortex exhibits money illusion" reports paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. I wondered where magicians get all those coins from.

The New York Times reports depression is linked to thinned brain cortex.

The American Psychiatric Association starts to remove the drug company teat from its mouth by halting industry-funded symposia and free lunches at its conferences - according to Medical News Today.

—Vaughan.

March 25, 2009

Encephalon 66 with just the facts, ma'am:

The 66th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival was published a few days ago and I'm only just catching up with the world. However, it's got a great round-up of some of the best mind and brain blogging and is hosted by Ionian Enchantment.

A couple of my favourites include Neurotopia on problems with the popular but wrong serotonin theory of depression, and one from Effortless Incitement on how relatedness influences an individual's knowledge about whether their sibling is alive or not!

There's plenty more, so have a browse through this fortnight's selection.

Link to Encephalon 66.

—Vaughan.

March 20, 2009

2009-03-20 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Wired reports that Japanese 'detergent suicide' technique creeps into U.S.

To the bunkers! BBC News has a video of a creepy but strangely seductive fembot from a Japanese tech firm.

Kraepelin´s Grandchildren is an interesting new Spanish-language brain blog.

Daniel Dennett does an interesting TED lecture on the counter-intuitive link between evolution and psychology.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers a fascinating study finding that musical intervals actually reflect the sounds of our own speech.

I've been digging the Phrenologists Notebook blog recently. Looks plain, reads great.

BBC News has a great video clip from a Horizon documentary showing newborns doing 'maths' and how experiments test such young kids.

Thank you Neurotopia! Contrary to the popular headlines modafinil triggering dopamine activity in the nucleus accumbens does not make it addictive. People getting addicted to it does (which, so far, hasn't happened).

BPS Research Digest has an excellent write-up of a review paper on successful non-drugs treatments for schizophrenia.

Completely false headline hides interesting write-up of study on anterior cingulate activation linked to religious belief in New Scientist.

New Scientist has a much better article on the effect of money on decision-making.

Am I normal? A new series of the wonderful BBC Radio 4 series has programmes on post-natal depression and gifted children.

Neurophilosophy reports on a study finding that brain waves predict successful memory for an event before it occurs.

The New York Times has an interesting article on Dr Alice Flaherty who studies the neuropsychology of empathy and has bipolar disorder.

A bill to promote the neurotechnology industry has been introduced into both the House and Senate of US Congress, reports Brain Waves.

Neuroscientist and author of a recent book on loneliness, John Cacioppo, is interviewed by Neuronarrative.

Scientific American has an interesting interview on delayed onset brain injuries with neurosurgeon Keith Black in the wake of Natasha Richardson's death.

Predicting creditworthiness from photos of faces. The Economist covers another interesting psychological characteristics we can reliably read from the face (if averaged from a group's responses).

PsyBlog has a piece on the 'Cocktail Party Effect', presumably named in the days when psychologists had cocktail parties. Presumably, if discovered today it would be called the Friday after work down the pub effect.

The control centre of the US Army's Human Terrain System and the role of the team in tackling military corruption is discussed by Wired.

The Frontal Cortex has a thought-provoking meditation on the value of neuroscience.

There's been so much eye-opening stuff on Furious Seasons recently, I'll just direct you to the entire blog.

—Vaughan.

March 13, 2009

2009-03-13 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Psychologist has a free bonus edition that collects some of its most popular articles.

A newly released report from the UN argues we should legalise illicit drugs to tackle organised crime.

The New York Times reports 'Religious Thoughts and Feelings Not Limited to One Part of Brain'. No shit Sherlock.

The battle for Broca's Area is expertly covered by Talking Brains.

Neurophilosophy has an excellent piece on the neuroscience of motivated forgetting, related to Freud's theory of repression.

How could MDMA (ecstasy) help anxiety disorders? A neurobiological rationale. A highly speculative but interesting article from The Journal of Psychopharmacology.

The LA Times has a luke-warm article on our sense of time.

Prescribing hormone patches for women with 'female sexual dysfunction' is put under the spotlight by Dr Petra.

The New York Times has an excellent piece on happiness research, or more accurately "a specific type of emotional and behavioral prediction".

Early intellectual gap found for kids of older fathers aged 50 and over at conception, reports Science News.

Science Daily on a study finding that immigrants earn more money if they change their name from an obviously foreign one.

Mental illness doesn't predict violence, finds biggest study to published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

New Scientist has a Q&A on a 'mass hysteria' outbreak in Nicaragua.

A priest jailed for child sexual abuse on the basis of 'recovered memories' is having his case reviewed, reports The Nation.

Neurocase reports a case of a man who can speak without Broca's area after tumor surgery.

A fantastic article on endangered languages with audio samples is available from Seed Magazine.

Seed Magazine also has a fantastic article on art and synaesthesia.

The official journal of the The International Neuropsychiatric Association is open-acess. Kudos to them!

New Scientist has an interview with psychiatrist Simon Wessely on mind-body interactions in illness.

Is Fraud Contagious? asks Newsweek with a look at a recent Dan Ariely study.

SciAm Mind Matters blog has an article on a neat study finding that actions, metaphors and moral judgements can influence each other.

I thoroughly recommend Neurophilosophy for the most sensible coverage on the 'reading perceived position from hippocampal activation study' - badly described in the media as 'mind reading'.

SciAm's Jesse Bering column has an excellent piece on terror management and mortality salience.

CIA Awkwardly Debriefs Obama On Creation Of Crack Cocaine. Conspiracy comedy from The Onion.

—Vaughan.

March 06, 2009

2009-03-06 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Economist discusses whether the famous Dunbar number, the maximum limit of human relationships, holds on Facebook.

A person who experienced the identity loss memory disorder dissociative fugue is interviewed in The New York Times.

BBC News reports that Malaysia is attempting to curb its suicide rate by planning to arrest those who attempt suicide.

Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel asks what is an illusion, exactly?

Neuronarrative reports on a new study finding people tend to view leaders more favourably once they've died!

Drug giant and makers of Seroquel (quetiapine) lied about their data showing that the antipsychotic drug isn't as effective as its competitors, reports the Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry blog.

The New York Times reports on research showing that interrupting an experience, whether dreary or pleasant, can make it significantly more intense.

The US Army's group of 'weaponised anthropologists', the Human Terrain System, get slammed by a Marine Corps major in a military publication. Wired has the story.

The Onion, on news that a Lovecraftian school board member wants madness added to the curriculum. C'thulhu fhtagn!

Science News reports on a new study that links the genetics of Autism and bellyaches.

A long and confusing article on why minds are not like computers is published in The New Atlantis. Would greatly benefit from the insights from philosophy of mind.

Nature has an excellent article on the sociology of science and why we need a third way after the extremes of hard scientific realism and social constructionism. By the always interesting Harry Collins.

Gender effects in children's play are seen in virtual worlds, reports Science News.

Furious Seasons reports on a recent study looking at the (large) placebo effect in studies of antidepressant treatment for adolescent depression.

Is patriotism a subconscious way for humans to avoid disease? asks the always engaging Carl Zimmer in Discover Magazine.

The Guardian reports on research suggesting that some people who suffer stroke develop PTSD after their experience.

Texting is associated with superior reading skills in children, reports the BPS Research Digest.

The New York Times has an interesting article looking at the psychology of rewarding students for study or good performance in light of mixed evidence of how effective the practice is.

ABC Radio National's Ockham's Razor has programme on how errors of grammar, punctuation and inaccurate scientific terminology can complicate important social issues.

Dr Shock covers some interesting research on the pros and cons on using PowerPoint presentations in teaching for learning by students.

Also from Dr Shock an awesome video showing how some stunning 3D illusion street art was created.

The New York Times reports that skin cells from people with Parkinson’s disease have been converted in a test tube to dopamine neurons.

—Vaughan.

March 05, 2009

Encephalon 65 faces the facts:

The 65th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience carnival has just appeared online, this time hosted at Podcat Black and illustrated with some emerging unbidden from the world.

A couple of favourites include a fantastic post on the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus which outlines some Ancient Egyptian brain surgery and a series of posts introducing the principles of evolutionary neuroscience through the Cthulhu mythos.

There's many more engaging articles and the pareidolia face images are great fun as always.

Link to Encephalon 65 on Podcat Black.

—Vaughan.

February 27, 2009

2009-02-27 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

BBC Radio 4's science programme Leading Edge covers memory in the dock, and memory and ageing.

New Scientist discusses virtual autopsies and looks inside the skull of a suicide victim with a medical scanner.

One for Spanish language readers: El Pais discusses the neuroscience of religion and spiritual experience with an article entitled 'Dios habita en el cerebro'.

Seed Magazine discusses the role of the internet in the recent voodoo fMRI controversy with a mention of Mind Hacks.

Beauty affects men's and women's brains differently, reports Wired.

The Times discusses the increasing trend for children with behavioural problems to be given numerous psychiatric diagnoses.

Neuroscientists develop 'wireless' activation of brain circuits, reports press release on EurekaAlert.

Petra Boynton covers the 'Facebook causes cancer' debacle and the subsequent unhelpful and misleading contribution from neuroscientist Baroness Greenfield who should know better.

A study on the social benefits of social networking is covered by The Washington Times. Does this mean Facebook cures cancer too?

New Scientist discusses the psychology and neuroscience of suicide.

BBC's science programme Horizon recently had a programme on the neuroscience of dreaming which is available to view online for another month or so. UK residents only though unfortunately.

The Neurocritic has an excellent critique of a recent imaging study that was rather widely and poorly reported as 'men think of women in bikinis as objects'.

Does mentioning sex help students learn about other stuff too, asks Cognitive Daily with coverage of an interesting study on exactly this.

Science News reports that people who hold negative attitudes toward the elderly have an increased risk of heart-related ailments later in life.

An interesting study on the role of the 5-HTTLPR gene in attention to fearful or positive images is appallingly spun by New Scientist with nonsense about 'happiness genes' and genetic basis for optimism.

The Daily Mash has a satirical take on the 'Facebook causes cancer / rots your brain' nonsense.

Research suggesting a possible genetic flag for brain cancer is covered by Science News.

The New York Times reports on a recent small sample size but interesting study on structural brain changes found in childhood abuse victims.

Brain scans replace job interviews within five years, reports gullible Digital Journal.

Neuroanthropology reviews a bunch of great brain books for kids. Yay!

New kind of epilepsy shakes up memory, reports New Scientist who seem to have no idea that transient epileptic amnesia is not new.

Furious Seasons is essential reading at the moment - e.g. catching AstraZeneca ordering it's Seroquel sales reps to lie about the the drug causing diabetes. In case you didn't know journalist Phil Dawdy is entirely funded by reader donations and he's having a fundraiser at the moment.

First gene discovered for most common form of epilepsy, reports Science Daily.

BBC News reports that Alzheimer's plaques may have a bigger impact on the brain than previously thought.

An interesting study on the interplay between reason and emotion in buying decisions is covered by Frontal Cortex.

—Vaughan.

February 20, 2009

2009-02-20 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

I've just discovered the excellent Psychology of Beauty blog.

3QuarksDaily has an interview with cognitive science philosopher Shaun Gallagher on psychotic delusions and multiple realities.

Missed this a few weeks ago: an interesting article from The New York Times on using social information on energy bills to increase energy efficiency.

Brain Hammer has just sprung into life again with a series of interesting posts.

The Colonization of Pharmaceutical Science by Marketing. Somatosphere covers the interface between medicine and marketing.

The Morning News has a great list of 'Mindfuck Movies' - classics with a psychological twist. Definitely check out La Jetée, awesome original inspiration for 12 Monkeys.

Attendance at religious services, but not religious devotion, predicts support for suicide attacks, reports Not Exactly Rocket Science.

Dr Shock tracks the varying trends in the rise and fall of ECT treatment in Europe.

Think you'd remember the face of your torturer? Unlikely suggests a new study reported by Wired.

The Boston Globe has an article on legal wranglings and human stories related to killings related to the US Army's 'Human Terrain System'. Wired notes the HTS pay scale has been greatly reduced.

Five minutes with the authors of two recent influential psychological studies on TV commercials and East - West facial recognition from the BPS Research Digest.

Seed Magazine briefly covers new research suggesting oxytocin plays a key role in social memory.

Another good one from Not Exactly Rocket Science, one of the few places to correctly report on the latest propranolol trauma dampening study.

Does philosophy tells us about the world or our concepts? Eric Schwitzgebel explores the two key concepts in philosophy.

The Fortean Times has an excellent article on the surprising range of behaviour reported to occur during sleep walking.

Is genius born or can it be learned? asks Time magazine.

Neuroanthropology has a fascinating commentary on measuring basketball success with stats and why traditional stats may reflect little about a player's ability, although it has wider implications for how we understand and measure human abilities.

The New York Times has an article on the emerging neuroscience of envy.

More 'Facebook causes cancer' debunking from PsychCentral.

The Monthly magazine hosts a video lecture by Norman Doidge, author of The Brain that Changes Itself. Presented by Natasha Mitchell of Mind Hacks favourite All in the Mind.

Dodgy war in Afghanistan heroin seizure statistics are subjected to the cold hard light of data by Bad Science.

Furious Seasons tackles a recent 'scary' editorial in the journal Current Psychiatry.

—Vaughan.

February 19, 2009

Encephalon 64 powers up:

The 64th edition of the Encephalon psychology and writing carnival has just appeared on The Neurocritic and is waiting for your rapt attention.

It's a wonderfully put-together edition and a couple of my favourites include an article on the surprising fact that the doctor whose name lives on in 'Tourette's Syndrome' was shot in the back by a patient, and a piece on psychosis, dopamine and salience dysregulation.

There's plenty more (and I mean plenty more, videos and all) in the latest edition, so head over to browse the menu.

Link to Encephalon 64.

—Vaughan.

February 17, 2009

Dungeons & Discourse:

For all your role-playing-cum-philosophy of mind needs, please consult the excellent Dresden Codak. Join an intrepid band of adventurers in the Kingdom of Qualia as they explore Plato's Cave and battle P-Zombies in a desperate hunt for Occam's Razor (also available in original vanilla flavour).

Link to Dresdon Codak's cartoon.

—tom.

February 13, 2009

2009-02-13 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

An interview with a psychologist Meg Barker, who studies polyamorous relationships, is published by Dr Petra.

Neurophilosophy has an excellent piece on the neuroscience of dinosaurs!

What Makes You Uniquely 'You'? Discover magazine discusses the self and consciousness with Nobel prize-winning biologist Gerald Edelman.

The Colbert Report has a funny interview with Jonah Lehrer discussing his new book on the psychology of decision-making.

Shanghai surprise. The Guardian has an excellent personal account of an English teacher's experience of psychosis in China.

Science News covers an interesting study on what people believe about dreams - suggesting that most people think they have symbolic meaning about their life, but mostly when they already agree with what they think.

Another trip on the same old merry go round. BBC News reports UK government's drugs advisory panel recommends legal reclassification of ecstasy based on its relatively low health risk, government ignores them.

New Scientist looks at research on the long-term effects of ecstasy and finds a small but reliable impact on mood and cognition. Shh, don't tell the government.

A very funny satirical news report from The Onion on Despondex, a new pharmaceutical drug for the overly chirpy.

Wired has an interview with Oliver Sacks on the unusual hallucinations of Charles Bonnet syndrome.

Ex-Labour spin doctor, now current Labour spin doctor, meanwhile psychotherapist, Derek Draper threatens legal action over people who question his psychotherapy qualifications. Gimpy has the low down. If they're that obvious, why do you need legal action?

New York's excellent BrainWave festival is back with a host of neuroscience talks and events.

PsyBlog has an excellent piece on how the tip-of-the-tongue effect also affects deaf sign-language users.

Horizon the BBC's science documentary series recently broadcast an interesting but not perfect documentary on cannabis. The torrent for the programme is online.

People in love who think about their objet d'amour are less focused on attractive faces of other people, reports Scientific America.

Science News reports that post-partum (after childbirth) psychosis is most likely in the month directly after giving birth.

Wealthy people use less welcoming and more impolite body language than poorer people, reports Scientific American

Slate has an article discussing the psychology of race and conspicuous consumption.

Research on whether personality and facial structure are linked is discussed by New Scientist.

Science News reports on a recent finding that parenting shapes genetic risk for drug use.

Research on whether the attentional blink effect can be used to test sex offenders is covered by Cognitive Daily.

The whole story of Ben Goldacre being threatened by legal action over his challenging of MMR nonsense is on Bad Science.

—Vaughan.

February 06, 2009

Encephalon 63 hits the jackpot:

The 63rd edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been published online and has the latest from the last fortnight's mind and brain hot topics.

A couple of my favourites include Ouroboros on the link between pessimism and premature ageing, and an article on the commonly discussed relationship between phases of the moon and behaviour from PodBlack.

There's much, much more where that came from, so hit the links to get the full monty.

Link to Encephalon 63.

—Vaughan.

January 30, 2009

2009-01-30 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The BPS Research Digest reports on how the weather can affect our memory.

Hallucinations, psychosis found as rare side-effect of ADHD drugs in children, reports The Washington Post. Study abstract here.

The New York Times reports that coffee intake is associated with a lower risk of developing dementia.

The neuroscience of acalculia, an impairment in understand number and calculation, is discussed in a feature article from New Scientist.

The LA Times reports on a new study finding children who had thimerosal based vaccines are cognitive and neurologically normal later in life. Study abstract here.

There's a great article over at Computer World on building better CAPTCHAs. Sort of an anti-AI science as it has to require something that computers can't easily do.

New Scientist reports that video game conditioning spills over into real life, although actually, it would be much more surprising if it didn't.

Two teenage boys singing about CBT on YouTube. History now officially complete.

Neurophilosophy discusses a lovely study finding that touches to the face when we're trying to understand speech can affect how we perceive what is being said.

An in-depth article on the 'connectome' and the quest to understand the brain's wiring appears in Nature.

American Psychologist published the first replication of the Milgram conformity experiments for 30 years and has lots of commentary.

Nintendo brain-trainer 'no better than pencil and paper', reports The Times.

Neuroanthropology has a brilliantly written piece on veteran's experiences of PTSD and combat trauma.

Reviews of books on AI morality and embodied cognition appear in this week's Nature.

New Scientist reports that overweight seniors who consume fewer calories show improved memory.

An interview with Edward Vul of the 'voodoo correlations' controversy is on SciAm Mind Matters. The latest reply from some of the 'red list' researchers is now online as a pdf.

The Economist reports that we are more like to procrastinate when asked to think in the abstract.

Pharmacy students also have a negative attitude towards mental health patients, reports Dr Shock MD.

Science News reports on a neuroimaging study finding that key emotion areas are involved in empathetic understanding of others' pain.

The neuroscience of legal and courtroom decision making is discussed on SciAm Mind Matters.

ABC Radio National's Ockham's Razor discusses the neurological impact of viral diseases and the history of rabies vaccination.

The Seattle Times reports on the US Army's highest suicide rate since records began.

A new paper that might give a 'theory of everything' for memory is discussed by Developing Intelligence.

Furious Seasons reports on a new head-to-head metanalysis of which are the best antidepressants.

—Vaughan.

January 23, 2009

2009-01-23 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

New Scientist has an interesting piece on progress in human-like interaction by machines. Check the impressive video.

UK psychologist Oliver James discusses his polemic book on the psychological effects of materialism on BBC Radio 4's Bookclub. See programme page and sidebar for listen again.

Discover Magazine has a Carl Zimmer article on the extended mind hypothesis and technology entitled 'How Google Is Making Us Smarter'.

Do you believe in free will? asks PsyBlog.

BPS Research Digest reports on research suggesting it's the quality, not just the length, of sleep that is important for learning.

Articles related to topics and themes in the book Understanding Psychology are collected by Time magazine. Not sure why, but a good collection nonetheless.

The Boston Globe has an article on CBT pioneer Aaron Beck and how the therapy for depression is being updated to include the role of genetics and neurobiology.

The neuroscience of the emotional instability of borderline personality disorder is discussed by Science News.

BBC News has an excellent article on mental health in Afghanistan.

On-the-ball science writer Jonah Lehrer's new book on decision-making, called How We Decide is out now!

PhysOrg has an article on recent research looking at differences in default network activity in schizophrenia.

Research showing differences between men and women in the ability to control hunger is covered by Time magazine.

The Wall Street Journal discusses the emerging role of neuroscience and brain imaging evidence in the legal system.

Psychopaths 'manipulate' their way out of jail, reports New Scientist although the study shows no evidence of 'manipulation', just the fact they get parole more often. Careful with the labelling.

Neurophilosophy has an excellent write-up of a somewhat pedestrian review paper on the neuroscience of delusions after brain injury that concludes with a 'new' theory that already exists.

Dog On Anti-Depressants Mauls Former French President. That, is why Furious Seasons is so good. See David Dobbs' excellent piece for several other good reasons.

—Vaughan.

January 20, 2009

Encephalon 62 - the straight dope:

The 62nd edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just appeared on The Mouse Trap as a remarkably well-written guide to the latest in the last fortnight's online mind and brain discussions.

A couple of my favourites include a nuanced look at the neurobiology and culture of addiction from Neurophilosophy and a look at a recent study on the psychological effects of the first human face transplant from Brain Blogger.

There are plenty of other great articles in this latest edition, all enthusiastically presented by Sandy's engaging write-up.

Link to Encephalon 62.

—Vaughan.

January 16, 2009

2009-01-16 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

A third US Army 'Human Terrain' researcher has died after injuries sustained in the field, reports Wired.

Scientific American Mind Matters discusses the neuroscience of noisy eyeballs - a curious synaesthesia-like condition.

The BPS Research Digest discusses research finding describing wine's flavours helps people recognise specific types.

Channel N finds a fantastic video discussion on psychiatry's clash over meaning, memory, and mind.

Interesting study in the British Medical Journal finds troubled / misbehaving kids have worse longer term health outcomes at a 40 year follow-up.

The New York Times has a brief piece on how tragedy and loss can lead to psychological advantages.

Top 11 compounds in US drinking water described by New Scientist include three psychiatric / neurological drugs - carbamazepine, meprobamate and phenytoin - although the last two are barely prescribed these days.

The Boston Globe has a great infographic explaining some 'try-it-yourself' brain tricks - most of which we've covered previously but handy to have in sketched out.

A psychologist in Gaza takes time out from being shelled to talk to The New York Times about the effect of total war on the population. I think you can guess the rest.

New Scientist has a short piece on a new cognitive model of surprise.

The evolution of manual dexterity is tracked by Neurophilosophy.

Corpus Callosum picks up on research on the possible antidepressant effects of vitamin D.

Death redefined as lack of engagement with the world by bioethicists mulling brain death and organ donation, reports Wired. Lack of engagement? By that definition I'm dead every dead every Sunday morning.

New Scientist discusses whether we're over-medicalising sadness and discusses the benefits of negative emotions.

A brief article in The New York Times considers the possibility of developing an anti-love potion.

Scientific Blogging on research showing that too much TV delays language development in children.

More evidence that antipsychotics increase the risk of death by heart attack is covered by Furious Seasons.

Dr Shock discusses new research on the neurobiology of psychosocial stress and depression.

Probably the best ongoing coverage of the 'Voodoo correlations' controversy is on The Neurocritic. Do check it out.

—Vaughan.

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January 09, 2009

2009-01-09 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

A free Critical Neuroscience conference is being held in ~~Berkeley~~ UCLA on Jan 30th. Check the link for more information or see this jpg poster.

BPS Research Digest looks at interesting research suggesting that Tetris might work as a 'cognitive vaccine' against the development of trauma.

US Government claims futuristic security checkpoints have remarkably terrorist detecting capability on the basis of a Windows desktop shot and an unreleased 'test', reports TechFragments.

The Guardian has an extended book review article where neuroscientist Steven Rose discusses the latest theories about the human brain.

The excellent Developing Intelligence finds an interesting video on 'brain scan mind reading'.

The New York Times profiles Emily Yudofsky who just set up a fledgling 'neuromarketing' company.

Children with developmental language disorder are the topic of a recent Health Report programme from ABC Radio National.

Neuroanimations is a site intended for neurosurgeons that describes various brain pathologies with, unsurprisingly, animations.

The UK is suffering a shortage of people who donate their brains after death for essential research into conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, reports BBC News.

RadioLab just broadcast another one of their wonderfully produced shows. This one on diagnosis. Excellent apart from the slightly over-enthusiastic brain scans to diagnose psychiatric disorders bit.

An essay discussing why kindness is seen in such a bad light in modern times is printed in The Guardian, looks to be an extract from a forthcoming book.

Cognitive Daily examines research on the pain killing effects of your favourite music.

BBC Radio 4's Case Notes has a special on the sense of taste.

Neuroskeptic has an excellent takedown of much of the recent misinformed coverage about 'why men like computer games'.

Gregory Petsko discusses the coming neurological epidemic in a talk for TED.

Furious Seasons casts a skeptical eye over a recent American Journal of Psychiatry paper trying to explain why there's such a large placebo response in antidepressant drugs trials in children.

People overestimate their reactions to racist comments, according to new research covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

—Vaughan.

January 02, 2009

2009-01-02 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neuroanthropology publishes the list of best online anthropology writing of 2008.

A thorough and accessible academic article on Facebook and the social dynamics of privacy is available in draft form from lawyer James Grimmelmann.

PsyBlog has an excellent piece on a simple but evidence-based exercise on gratitude that has been shown to increase well-being.

Average THC content in US marijuana increasing, reports Wired.

Seed magazine has an interesting piece on how maths and sociology can predict the next big thing in music.

Developmental psychologist Elizabeth Spelke and philosopher Joshua Knobe discuss what babies tell us about cognitive development, math and racism in a video discussion over at 3QuarksDaily.

Wired has an short article on the anthropology of YouTube. Stupid title, good write-up.

Nine-month-old babies can tell the difference between happy and sad music, according to research covered by the BPS Research Digest.

Neuronarrative has video of a talk by Terry Pratchett discussing having Alzheimer's disease.

The use of MDMA (ecstasy) to assist psychological treatment for trauma is discussed by The Economist.

Dana has an interesting piece where Eric Kandel discusses the year in neuroscience. Bizarrely, he seems to uncritically accept the 'autism epidemic' shadyness.

A free neuroaesthetics conference is being held in Berkley, California. My Mind on Books has the details.

Channel N has a list of its best videos of 2008.

Drug companies have agreed to stop giving free trinkets to doctors, according to The New York Times, in what seems like a token effort to make themselves more ethical.

The Economist has an interesting article discussing the politics of evolutionary explanations for behaviour.

A study on texting as a sign of cognitive recovery after loss of consciousness is covered by The Neurocritic.

Neurophilosophy has a great piece on a new study showing that the ability to recognise our own faces can de disrupted by touch.

—Vaughan.

December 26, 2008

2008-12-26 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Neurocritic covers an interesting case of sandwich-induced fainting.

Recession can be deadly for domestic abuse victims, reports The Boston Globe as it examines the relationship between the economy and domestic violence.

The New York Times has an obituary for the recently departed and widely respected linguist Carol Chomsky, wife of Noam Chomsky.

A spontaneous experience of a sensed presence caught on EEG. Interesting study with a great write-up from the BPS Research Digest.

New Scientist reports that US police could get 'pain beam' weapons, Mega City One fantasies to follow.

A new book on traffic psychology is reviewed by the excellent Cognitive Daily.

SciAm's Mind Matters blog has an excellent piece on how visual feedback using binoculars alters pain perception and swelling in chronic pain patients.

The endlessly fascinating Cognition and Culture Blog has a engaging piece on the psychology of perceiving cartoon faces.

Science News reports on new research that suggests disturbed sleep may be a sign associated the later development of Parkinson's disease.

A book review and fascinating insight into the indecisiveness of William James is posted on Neuronarrative.

If you've been blogging the world of anthropology or you know a post that really hit the mark, you've got a few more days to get your nominations in for the Best of Anthropology Blogging 2008 to be hosted on Neurophilosophy.

To continue with the theme, Somatosphere has a fascinating piece about microbes and anthropology.

—Vaughan.

December 22, 2008

Encephalon 61 jingles in:

The 61st edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just made a seasonal entrance and has some quality holiday reading from the last fortnights mind and brain blogging.

A couple of my favourites include Cognitive Daily's post on an interesting visual imagery experiment that addresses whether it is sexist to think men are angrier than women, and an awesome (and I mean awesome) visual illusion posted on the excellent Illusion Sciences blog.

This edition has a remarkable number of high quality article, so do wander over and have a look.

Link to Encephalon 61.

—Vaughan.

December 19, 2008

2008-12-19 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The visually unappealing but fascinating Culture and Cognition blog has a fantastic piece on new research showing it's possible to predict hot topics before they become hot, based on an analysis of YouTube videos.

Cognitive dissonance in action: Scientific American reports on a study finding that soldiers who have taken a life more likely to defend Iraq war.

New Scientist has more psychology of soldiering news, reporting that higher IQ WWII soldiers were less likely to survive the war - although the IQ difference is pretty minimal.

An interesting publication in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation on amnesic patient Clive Wearing, discussing whether his persistent experience that he has "awoken for the very first time" is a delusion or coping strategy.

The New York Times has an obituary of Nobel-prize winning neuroscientist and sex offender, D. Carleton Gajdusek.

New technology to monitor the brain could be used to assist fighter pilots, reports Wired.

PLoS One has an interesting paper entitled 'Losing the Big Picture: How Religion May Control Visual Attention'.

If you've not caught the latest Neuropod yet, it's a special report with highlights from the Society for Neuroscience conference.

Neurophilosophy and Ars Technica have two of the best articles on the recent research on images reconstructed from brain activity. Black mark for any one of the news outlets that drivelled-on about brain scans displaying dreams.

The Neurocritic casts a sarcastic eye over recent research on the cognitive neuroscience of crime and punishment. I'm not entirely sure whether 'sarcastic eye' makes sense, but you get the picture.

The '12 laws' of emotions are discussed on PsyBlog.

An interesting article on the cultural construction of disease is published on BBC News as they cover the curiously French diagnosis of 'heavy legs'.

The Wall Street Journal has an op-ed arguing we should end drug prohibition based on the US's previous disastrous experiment with prohibition.

Dr Petra takes down the latest in the long line of fake formula nonsense.

The year in mental health is reviewed by Psych Central.

My Mind in Books previews upcoming philosophy of mind books for 2009.

Antidepressants may damage more sex lives than previously thought, reports The Boston Globe.

Scientific American has an interesting article on visual problems caused by brain damage that has a confusing title that spuriously uses the word 'mind'.

Lyrical and level-headed cognitive science writer Jonah Lehrer is interviewed by The New York Times about his forthcoming book on how we choose.

New Scientist has an online experiment you can take part in as part of a research project being conducted with psychologist Richard Wiseman.

Manipulating customers' credit card repayment behaviour and profit through the use of 'anchoring' to set the minimum repayment. An interesting piece on the NYT's Freakanomics Blog.

Furious Seasons reports how under-fire pharma researcher Charles Nemeroff wrote himself a letter as editor of a psychiatry journal to request an academic article praising a specific antidepressant produced by a drug company he took money from and offering himself $3,000 for his efforts. You couldn't make it up.

Under-fire pharma researcher Fred Goodwin writes to the Trouble with Spikol blog and makes some good points in his defence.

Neuronarrative has an interesting piece on how older people may be better at filtering out negative memories than younger people.

Aren't Spike Activity posts long these days? Compare with the first edition.

—Vaughan.

December 12, 2008

2008-12-12 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Bad Science unclothes the latest in the line of bogus formula-based adverts - this time for the naughtiness of Britney's breasts.

Hello Google porn surfers. Enjoy the neuroscience!

Interesting memory manipulation study reported by New Scientist who include a spurious reference to the brain in the title.

Cognitive Daily has a one two punch on whether seeing objects in a scene help us remember them.

Hypothesis / conclusion confusion hits BBC News as a study on HSV1 virus in Alzheimer's plaques somehow reported as cold sores 'an Alzheimer's risk'.

Neurophilosophy has a good piece on whether the brain's fear response is culture-specific.

[A small amount of the variance in] the quality of a man's sperm depends on [well, correlates with] how intelligent he is, reports The Economist.

Neuroanthropology is one year old and celebrates with their top 10 posts.

The 50 greatest movie drug trips are listed by Den of Geek, although depending on how you read Rosemary's Baby it mightn't be a drug trip at all. She could be becoming psychotic.

Lack of sleep has genetic link with type 2 diabetes, reports Science News.

Advances in the History of Psychology has an excellent piece on systematic disobedience in Milgram's studies.

Daniel Dennett and Andy Clark write in to New Scientist to react to claims of a 'non-materialist neuroscience'. You can guess the rest.

The New York Times explores our sense of touch: primal, acute and easily duped.

Brain-to-computer interfaces are new portable, inexpensive, but are not ready for prime time yet, reports Scientific American.

Science Daily reports on the effects of unconscious constant exposure to adverts.

Some fantastic videos of developmental trajectories in cortical thickening are discussed by Developing Intelligence.

Scientific American Mind Matters blog reports of the role of the serotonin transporter gene 5-HTTLPR in affecting how people are affected by trauma.

Women more like to hand out phone number when most fertile, reports New Scientist.

Channel N finds an interesting video on the irresitible pull of irrational behaviour.

—Vaughan.

December 10, 2008

Encephalon 60 makes an entrance:

The 60th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been published on Living the Scientific Life, as GrrlScientist takes us through the best of the last fortnight's online mind and brain writing.

A couple of my favourites include an interesting write-up on the role of context in the perception of beauty and an excellent piece on attempts to develop an objective test of diagnose ADHD.

There's much more in the latest edition, including everything from gendered computer games to paranormal beliefs and aliens, so do have a look if you're looking for some thought-provoking reading material.

Link to Encephalon 60.

—Vaughan.

December 05, 2008

2008-12-05 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neurophilosophy discusses a newly discovered form of synaesthesia - touch-emotion synaesthesia.

Psychological highlights from the most recent Society for Neuroscience conference are collected by the BPS Research Digest.

Discover Magazine has a punchy bio of Noam Chomsky.

Antidepressants that leak into the water supply affect fishes' brains, according to research covered by Science News.

A whole lotta coverage of the 'body swapping' research has appeared over the last few days. The best has been an article on Not Exactly Rocket Science, a piece from The New York Times and a write-up from Wired.

New Scientist picks up on research suggesting psychopaths have an eye for the underdog.

A review of a new book on the author of Roget's thesaurus sounds fascinating - "The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget’s Thesaurus" - and appears in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Neuronarrative interviews Jonah Lehrer and asks him about the art, mind and brain.

A rather breathless title but an interesting write-up of an experiment finding the same thing seems more painful if someone deliberately inflicts it - from Discover.

The British Journal of Psychiatry has a study showing that IQ predicts likelihood of murder - the higher your IQ, the less likely you are to get knocked off.

The U.N. investigates electromagnetic terrorism - a somewhat bizarre episode reported by Wired.

The Washington Post looks at a recent neuroscience study perhaps suggesting the origins of the 'senior moment'.

Obama invents a new emotion, reports Slate.

NPR Radio has a fascinating short segment suggesting that colour perception switches sides in brain during development.

A letter in the American Journal of Psychiatry discusses web-based communities of possibly delusional people and comes to a similar conclusion as myself regarding the validity of the diagnostic criteria.

The New York Times reports on the politics of looking calm and unruffled vs looking concerned.

Baby boys may show spatial supremacy, have robot army, will crush puny humans under foot, reports Science News. I paraphrased the last two points you understand.

The New York Times has a curious piece on the possible psychological effect (based on nothing but pure speculation it must be said) of which time watches are set to when the appear in adverts.

A follow-up from our piece on Rudolpfo Llinás discusses the role of brain oscillations in schizophrenia (thanks CopperKettle).

—Vaughan.

November 28, 2008

2008-11-28 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Excellent coverage of a fascinating study from both Neurophilosophy and Not Exactly Rocket Science: visual magnification of a painful hand can increase felt pain and swelling in the hand, using a lens to make it look smaller does the reverse.

Edge has an article by Chris Badcock on the autism and schizophrenia as flip-side genetic conditions.

A women with hypermnesic super-memory is interviewed by Spiegel magazine.

BBC News reports that world's only dedicated 'video game addiction' clinic finally comes to their senses and suggests most the problems are social difficulties.

Respected neuropsychologist Sergio Della Salla says 'brain exercises a waste of time' in The Guardian, although it doesn't make clear that he seems to be specifically talking about the Brain Gym nonsense.

AP News has a story on TV-themed paranoid delusions. I get the 'calm down, calm down' quote at the end.

Medicating away drug cravings and the application of neuroscience to treating addicted ex-convicts is discussed by Dana's Cerebrum magazine.

Developing Intelligence looks at some novel and unacknowledged confounds in cognitive psychology in a typically thorough article.

How did a nonstory about bully neuroscience based on an iffy study end up in a New York Times blog? ask Slate.

Newsweek discusses the alarming suicide rate among young black men in light of the recent 'internet suicide'.

A large dictionary of drug slang is archived on argot.com.

Scientific American discusses the psychology of what they call patternicity - aka apophenia, pareidolia, or perceiving meaningful information in random noise.

We're better at spotting fake smiles when we're feeling rejected, reports the BPS Research Digest.

Inside one teenager's struggle with prescription pill addiction with a personal story in Newsweek.

Wired reports that one of the US military's controversial 'human terrain' team of battlefield social scientists has been charged with murder.

A discussion of the pro-ana groups on Facebook hits Newsweek.

Why do men buy sex? asks Scientific American in a somewhat polarised article. Paging Dr Petra...

Science After Sunclipse discusses mathematical models that have attempted to simulate a certain form of hallucination called a form constant.

To the bunkers! Scientific American has video of Israeli soldier robots.

The Rocky Mountain News reports that Denver police are being tested for bias with brain scans. Nothing like alpha-testing techniques that haven't been fully validated yet (thanks Stephanie!).

Eric Schwitzgebel comments on the recent research on how much we dream in colour or black and white on The Splintered Mind.

—Vaughan.

November 24, 2008

The enchanting Encephalon 59:

The 59th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just appeared online on the wonderfully named Ionian Enchantment and has all the latest in the last fortnight's mind and brain writing.

A couple of my favourites include an interesting piece on the development of dance classes for people with Parkinson's disease from the new Dana Press Blog and a great piece on recent research looking at the cognitive neuroscience of poverty from The Mouse Trap.

I've not discovered the Dana Press blog before but it looks really promising with some great posts and offers to review new mind and brain books before they're released.

Anyway, more of the new and interesting in this month's Encephalon.

Link to Encephalon 59.

—Vaughan.

November 21, 2008

2008-11-21 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Situationist has a fantastic video example of a classic experimental philosophy set-up.

The TSA's 'behavior detection' is wrong more than 99 percent of the time, reports USA Today. Maybe that's because it's based on some rather dodgy techniques, as we reported in August last year.

Science Daily reports on an elegant experiment allows who said what to whom to be worked out from the brain scan data. Only from very limited stimuli, but an intriguing study none-the-less.

Can everyone be an Einstein? No, is the short answer, but The Times has a longer one in a nicely balanced article on brain improvement techniques.

Neuroskeptic says Freddie Starr ate my hamster, sorry, it should be Prozac made my cells spiky.

To the bunkers! BBC News reports IBM to build computers that work like brains. Although I'd be more impressed if we could get Microsoft to build software that works like software.

New Scientist reports that coping-with-stress related brain changes occur during menstruation.

Atypical antipsychotics no better than older antipsychotics. We should be used to this headline by now, but this time, it's a study in kids reported by The Psychiatric Times.

BBC News reports heavy drinkers lie to their doctors about how much they drink. Pope still Catholic (and probably still claiming he doesn't masturbate).

There's an excellent interview with Mary Roach, one of my favourite science writers, over at Neuronarrative.

Oprah Magazine has an OK article about neuroscience. Yes, Oprah Magazine. That's it, we're mainstream. Neuroscience is over. What else is cool?

Does involving parents really help students learn? Depends on how they're involved, reports Cognitive Daily.

Science News reports that the brain reorganizes to make room for maths. Which is lucky, because in my brain the space has always been occupied by Batman.

Fred Goodwin, one of the world's leading bipolar researchers has his radio show pulled over undisclosed payments from drug companies, reports Furious Seasons

Not Exactly Rocket Science has an excellent piece on evidence that graffiti and litter strewn environments encourage crime.

A video lecture on the brain's visual system is featured by Channel N.

An interpretative dance inspired by the cerebral activation patterns induced by the inflection of regular and irregular verbs, found by the wonderfully eclectic Frontal Cortex. With video of said dance.

The Guardian has an excellent excerpt from Malcom Gladwell's new book.

—Vaughan.

November 14, 2008

2008-11-14 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Do women get bitchier as they get older? Only if they’re faced with research like this, says Dr Petra.

Cognitive Daily ask another one of their compelling questions: can a blind person whose vision is restored understand what she sees?

Temporarily open-access special issue of Criminal Justice and Behaviour discusses pseudoscientific policing practices and beliefs.

Wired asks what Facebook and steroid use have in common. I thought it was acne but apparently it's social networks.

What makes the human mind asks Harvard Magazine. At Harvard, about $10,000 a term I would say.

BBC News reports on a new analysis of UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson's speeches suggesting that Alzheimer's had started to take effect before his shock resignation.

Can we have consciousness without attention? Asks philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel.

Psyblog reports on gift-giving experiments that suggest women react more positively than men to rubbish gifts - at least at first.

At addiction centres longer treatment programs are proving key to ending the relapse-rehab cycle, reports the LA Times.

USA Today reports on new research suggest that being physically punished as a child may lead to sexual problems later, although I'm not sure I'd classify a preference for S&M as a problem alongside coercion and risky sexual behaviour.

Does religion make you nice? asks Slate who consider friendly atheist Scandinavians.

Neurophilosophy finds a beautiful image of the brain from St Paul's Cathedral architect Sir Christopher Wren.

I think this is a working torrent of The English Surgeon possibly the greatest brain documentary ever made.

The Wall Street Journal discusses new research which highlights the importance of forgetting. The French Foreign Legion have advertised this for years of course.

Stanley Fish for the New York Times blog discusses why it took US psychologists so long to ban participation in torture.

Frontal Cortex discusses new research finding that a bad night's sleep can increase the chance of false memories.

The excellent Somatosphere discusses the culture changes that have meant social anxiety disorder is now more widely diagnosed in France.

Boo Yaa! Karl Friston drops some Bayes-heavy block-rocking maths in an article for PLoS Computational Biology on hierarchical models in the brain.

Speed daters shallow, reports New Scientist.

The BPS Research Digest discusses research on the negative effect of pregnancy on memory for future events.

Late stage Huntingdon's disease includes better auditory signal detection, according to research covered by The Neurocritic.

—Vaughan.

November 10, 2008

Encephalon 58 gets Highlighted:

The 58th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just appeared online, this time hosted by health and science site Highlight Health.

A couple of my favourites include an excellent piece on Combining Cognits on what we know about the development of pain perception in unborn children and an article from Ouroboros on sex and the ageing brain.

This edition has a number of new blogs featured, so it's a great opportunity to what's new and notable on the neuroscience internet. Bit too much alliteration in that last sentence but I think you get the idea. Go check it out.

Link to Encephalon 58.

—Vaughan.

November 07, 2008

2008-11-07 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neurophilosophy has a fantastic '60 Minutes' documentary on brain computer interfaces.

Dana's Cerebrum magazine has an excellent article on 'connectomics' or the neuroscience of tracing the 'wiring' of the brain.

PsychCentral has an excellent piece on the psychological research on 'friends with benefits', less politely known as fuck buddies.

Japanese researchers make brain tissue from stem cells, reports Yahoo News.

Antipsychotic aripiprazol has recently been licensed for depression but previous trials suggest it is more likely to cause akathisia than treat mood problems reports Furious Seasons. As an aside, aripiprazol was nicknamed akathisiol in one hospital I worked in.

PsyBlog discusses recent research that suggests, contrary to popular belief, weather has little effect on mood.

My Mind on Books has a video debate on AI entitled 'Dreaming of an artificial intelligence'.

Eye misalignment may suggest a raised risk for mental illness later in life, reports Reuters.

The excellent Not Exactly Rocket Science notes a recent study which has found that the same gene mechanism underlies two language disorders.

Cognitive Daily reports on a poetic study that found that being excluded from a social group makes you feel cold - literally.

The increasingly impressive Neuronarrative has an interview with brain specialising science writer Rita Carter.

Left-handed people are more inhibited, reports open-access shy New Scientist.

The BPS Research Digest discusses research finding rare, intense positive events won't make you happy, but lots of little ones will.

—Vaughan.

October 31, 2008

2008-10-31 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Mind Apples is a site that aims to share and develop ways of maintaining mental health in innovative ways. A community-based knowledge sharing community focused on mental well-being. Yay!

To the bunkers! Scientific America has a piece on how one research team are trying to personify evil in an AI programme.

Technology Review has some beautiful diffusion spectrum imaging pictures of the brain that illustrates the white matter tracts in glorious technicolor.

Men were better than women at judging infidelity, but are more likely to guess at cheating when there is none, according to research reported by New Scientist. The old high sensitivity, low specificity problem.

The New York Times follows up with an interesting piece asking whether these sorts of studies that rely on people honestly reporting their infidelities are reliable and looking at the changing rates of infidelity.

Guest blogger Becca Trabin writes an interesting piece about body dysmorphic disorder on The Trouble With Spikol.

The BPS Research Digest has a thought-provoking piece questioning whether brain-injured patients who confabulate, who seemingly produce false memories without intending to deliberately lie, are actually attempting to remember at all.

A brief tour through the comedic history of the US military's attempts to create an 'amnesia beam' is provided by Wired.

Neuroanthropology has an interesting piece on the influence of psychologists on the political messages of the belligerents in the US presidential election.

The recent study on the cognitive neuroscience of hate is dryly dissected by The Neurocritic.

The Boston Globe has an interesting piece on the neuroscience of self-control and describes the cool 4-year-olds and marshmallows experiment.

"Eunoia is the shortest word in English containing all five vowels - and it means "beautiful thinking". It is also the title of Canadian poet Christian Bok's book of fiction in which each chapter uses only one vowel." BBC Radio 4 has a sample of each chapter. Reminds me of Gadsby, a whole novel written without the letter e.

Psychology Today bloggers are asked which psychological tests they'd give the US presidential candidates. Strangely, no one mentioned the Stanford Prison Experiment.

Another good BPS Research Digest piece on research showing older people are less optimistic but more realistic.

—Vaughan.

October 27, 2008

Encephalon 57 on Mind Hacks:

Welcome to the 57th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival, where we have the honour of hosting the best in the last fortnight's mind and brain writing, here on Mind Hacks.

We start off with two great interviews. The first is a video interview with pioneering neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinás, known for his radical ideas on consciousness, picked up by Channel N. One of the great names in cognitive science makes an appearance on Sharp Brains as Michael Posner is the subject of a recent interview.

One of Posner's great achievements, along with Marcus Raichle was to invent the subtraction method for the analysis of brain imaging data to allow us to make inferences about how the mind is working. The Neurocritic has an excellent piece on some of the state-of-the-art work which is attempting to advance this technology, almost 30 years after the original breakthrough, by looking at links between electrical activity in the cortex and spontaneous fluctuations in signals from fMRI scanner.

Also on a neuroimaging tip, Pure Pedantry covers a recent study on the neuroscience of hypothesis generation, or how we think up possible explanations to explain causality in our booming, buzzing confusion of a world.

The masters of making sense of out of confusion are, of course, children, and a couple of great articles look at some of the latest research showing how the developing brain seems to work its magic. Looking at the remarkable development of language, the consistently excellent Cognitive Daily discuss a child's use of gesture to communicate and whether it slows language learning. Songs from the Wood has a great piece on infantile amnesia - that curiosity of development where we typically cannot remember anything that happened before the age of 3-4 years.

But if you want to learn more about what makes memories stick, Physiology Physics looks at long-term potentiation - one of the most important neuroscience discoveries in the last fifty years and one of the cornerstones of remembering.

If you're interested in where all this childhood experience ends up, one destination is our personality or personal style of interacting with each other and the world. The Mouse Trap looks at some of the most influential of these theories in three great posts that discuss character traits, emotional maturity and emotional intelligence.

Obviously, if you've been reading the same dodgy research that Dr Shock has, you'll know that one part of emotional maturity is saying no to computer games because THEY BURN YOUR SOUL. Or, maybe they don't and the researchers are trying to spin a positive result into a negative one to get their unsupported point across. Ah, the joys of science.

Entering more unusual territories, Brain Blogger has a brief guide to the syndrome where people lose control of their hands after brain injury, carious known as anarchic or alien hand syndrome. PodBlack stays with the uncanny in a post about sex differences in superstitions and paranormal beliefs. It's actually the last part of the four part series looking at superstitions and all are well worth a read.

Equally mysterious and no less controversial is the placebo effect and Brain Health Hacks has an interesting piece on what the the science of placebo might tell us about the neuroscience of hope. I'm sure there's an election joke in their somewhere but I'll leave that as a exercise for the reader.

Talking of culture in a more general sense, the newly launched Culture and Cognition blog has an interesting piece that discusses a recent Nature paper on culture and the brain and another on what can only be described as culture hacking.

From culture hacking to baseball hacking as sports psychology blog 80 Percent Mental looks at the cognitive science of baseball including some illustrative videos and perfect timing for the World Series.

From the best in baseball, to the best in online writing about Bipolar Disorder (calling Liz Spikol...) as PsychCentral ranks its Top 10 Bipolar Blogs for 2008. Keeping with the positivity, Brain Blogger looks at tetrabenazine, a drug which shows promise in treating Huntingdon's disease.

Finally, we finish with some articles about our animal friends. The always thought-provoking Neuroanthropology which provides two posts with video footage of cooperative hunting in chimpanzees. As they say - "The videos raise questions about our own animal nature, as well as what is the dividing line between our own minds and the minds of some of our closest relatives."

Obviously, none of those chimpanzees have robotic cyber-implants, unlike the monkey discussed in a Pure Pendantry piece on a recent Nature Neuroscience article. But it's not just cyber-monkeys, it's also radioactive mice! Neurotopia has the low-down on the effects of exercise on hippocampal cell proliferation in irradiated mice. I'm sure there's a Marvel comic that starts like that but I dread to think which one.

Along the same lines of a science-fiction plotline become reality, Neurophilosophy looks at recent research on how individual memories were erased in mice. And if your hero needs a daring getaway, there's more from the same source on staggering escape mechanism of the crayfish.

—Vaughan.

October 17, 2008

2008-10-17 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Waves of Mu art project is reviewed by The Neurocritic. Looks as beautiful as it sounds.

BBC News says internet use 'good for the brain'? The scientific article has not yet appeared and the guy has a book out on, er, how good the internet is for your brain. I remain suspicious until I see the hard data.

Fantastic Neurophilosophy piece discusses a new study where a man with a surgically re-attached hand shows brain re-organisation to its pre-amputation state.

The New York Times has another one of its great features on the personal experience of mental illness - this with stories of men and women with eating disorders.

Another fascinating study on the effect of death salience (reminding people of their mortality) finds it can influence environmental concerns - in either direction, according to the BPS Research Digest.

M'Lady, PsyBlog has a short but sweet piece on a study that has found romantic thoughts increase male chivalry.

A conversation between BBC News and a robot - who happens to be the winner of the 2008 Loebner Prize for artificial intelligence. You can have a conversation with the same robot yourself.

H+ Magazine launches for the transhumanist in your life. Full of slightly unrealistic but commendable neuroscience speculation.

Robert Burton, neurologist and author of 'Being Certain', is interviewed by SciAm Mind Matters.

Neuroanthropology has a video segment on what archaeology can tell us about early behaviour (sometimes called 'cognitive archaeology').

A patient left in the coma-like persistent vegetative state after a car crash recovers some function after magnetic brain stimulation, reports BBC News.

My Mind on Books previews an interesting looking tome called 'Obsession: A History'.

The ever-excellent Cognitive Daily tackles whether love and sexual desire are the same.

—Vaughan.

October 15, 2008

Encephalon 56 springs into life:

The latest edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just hit the wires, if you interpret 'just' as meaning three days ago (sorry about that, I can only connect to the internet when sitting in the bathroom for reasons of signal unusualness). However, it's being hosted by the excellent Combining Cognits and is ready for action.

A couple of my favourites include a post from The Neurocritic on a recent study on cortisol and anti-social behaviour and a piece from Sports are 80% mental on psychological momentum and winning streaks in sport.

There's plenty more mind and brain writing, and good to see a few new authors in the latest run-down.

Link to Encephalon 56.

—Vaughan.

October 10, 2008

2008-10-10 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Pfizer have been caught manipulating studies. Again. This time for the drug Neurontin. The New York Times has the full story.

Neurophilosophy discusses a new way of understanding the neurobiology of hallucinations.

An excellent Carl Zimmer article on the genetics of intelligence is available from Scientific American.

Neurotopia examines a case of a phantom erectile penis after sex reassignment surgery.

A wonderful quote from Nobel prize-winning neuroscientist Charles Sherrington starts an excellent piece on calcium imaging from Neurophilosophy.

The BPS Research Digest asks what is it about eye wiggling that helps people recover from trauma in an article on EMDR therapy.

Psychoanalytic Therapy Wins Backing. The New York Times reports on the recent meta-analysis that found that one year or more psychoanalytic therapy helps complex psychiatric patients.

NPR Radio has a short piece on research suggesting we may not be as good at multi-tasking as we think.

A new study [pdf] finding that 44% of children diagnosed with child bipolar disorder go on to have adult bipolar disorder is critiqued by Furious Seasons.

Advances in the History of Psychology has a short but interesting piece asking whatever happened to the male menopause?

A study that used electrodes implanted in the brain to record neural function during remembering is covered by PsyBlog.

—Vaughan.

October 03, 2008

2008-10-03 Spike activity:

A belated and backdated round-up of quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

SciAm Mind Matters has an excellent piece on 'Metaphors of the Mind: Why Loneliness Feels Cold and Sins Feel Dirty'.

Socially isolated people feel physically colder, according to a new study covered by BBC News.

Seed Magazine discusses the recently famous photo of an "uncontacted" isolated tribe in the Amazon and finds they're not quite as they're portrayed.

IQ zealot and author of controversial book the 'Bell Curve' is the subject of a revealing piece by Frontal Cortex.

American Scientist has a good review of a new book entitled 'On Deep History of the Brain'.

Under fire psychiatry researcher Charles Nemeroff resigns after revelations about failures to report industry cash-ins, reports Furious Seasons. Not a moment after the NYT finds more financial irregularities.

Not Exactly Rocket Science has an excellent piece on toxoplasma, the brain parasite that has curious character - and maybe culture - changing psychological effects.

Do we all have some synaesthetic ability? asks New Scientist on the basis of a genuinely fascinating new study that suggests we have.

I've got a list of links as long as my arm from the ever excellent Neurophilosophy which I'll get round to waxing lyrical about soon, but in the meantime if you haven't checked it out recently you're missing out.

Trouble With Spikol on the legal changes that means America has made mental health care legally equivalent to other medical treatments and enters the 21st century (OK, the 20th, but it's still a welcome move). Kinda ironically, it's been tagged onto the recent US bill designed to bailout the banks and prevent a global depression.

Projection, fear, sex, Freud and evolutionary psychology (all vices I note) are covered in a heady post from Cognitive Daily.

New Scientist suggests Francis Crick was right about a possible 'vision filter' in the brain.

The 'BBC Prison study', a project based on Zimbardo's famous Stanford Prison Experiment has a information rich new website.

Neuroanthropology has an interesting aside on 'neuroprospecting'.

A new study on the genetics of dyslexia is covered by Science News.

—Vaughan.

September 30, 2008

Encephalon 55, emeralds, neurons and fine whiskey:

The 55th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just appear online, and as noted by the gracious host, Neuroscientifically Challenged, it's reached its emerald anniversary.

A couple of my favourites include two genuinely exceptional posts: one on targets for deep brain stimulation and their effects, and another on computational neuroscience that was published in Edinburgh University's science magazine.

Some years ago, I spent a compelling couple of weeks at a computational neuroscience summer school in Edinburgh University, who have always been keen on neural simulation and have been AI pioneers for many years.

They had a curious habit of plying all the attendees with fine single malt whiskey before bringing in a distinguished guest speaker for the last lecture of each day. It worked and I've been fascinated with the topic ever since.

The computational neuroscience article is from the excellent Neuronism blog, and if you want something that goes into all the wonderful detail, this month's PLoS Biology has a fantastic review article that discusses all the main concepts in the field.

It turns out that after decades of research, delegates at a conference called the Brain Connectivity Workshop realised that different people used the same terms to mean different things (I suspect this may have also been whiskey related).

They decided to write a definitive article on the subject and this is what just appeared in PLoS Biology.

Link to Encephalon 55.
Link to PLoS Biology article.

—Vaughan.

September 26, 2008

2008-09-26 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Cognitive Daily covers a sobering study on sex education that found "among sexually active teens, actual condom use bears no relationship to intention to use a condom or belief that using condoms is a good idea. The only factors in their study that correlate with using condoms are buying and carrying condoms".

Neurologist Robert Burton discusses why voters tend not to change their when new facts emerge in an article for Salon.

Science News reports on an interesting study that maternal depression can increase the chances of depression in children independent of genetic influences.

A fascinating article on the use of genetics and light to investigate and control brain function has just been published by Scientific American.

The BPS Research Digest looks at a new study which exposes some holes in Libet's classic free will study.

Neurophilosophy discovers a newly developed cyber-eye!

Research on near-death experiences is unlikely to find evidence that human consciousness can survive without a brain, says Susan Blackmore in The Guardian. Pope still Catholic says Vatican.

Channel N finds a fascinating video of how obesity 'spreads' through social networks.

Science Daily has a summary of a new study showing that perception of popularity can be equally as important than actual popularity in social success among teens.

Terrorist detecting 'mind-reading' technology shows promise, reports New Scientist. That's if promise means distinguishing between normal volunteers and those told to act deliberately suspiciously (presumably false beards, cackles etc).

Frontal Cortex has a wonderful discussion on the psychology of magical thinking.

Leading open-access science journal PLoS Biology has an article on 'chandelier' neurons.

Newsweek has an in-depth, largely accurate but uninspiring article on cognitive neuroscience.

A wordy but rewarding essay in The New Atlantis takes a sceptical look at a new book that claims that neuroscience can help resolve the gaps between modern philosophy and everyday reasoning.

Philosophy Bites podcast interviews leading philosopher Barry Smith on how the latest discoveries in neuroscience are forcing conceptual changes in philosophy of mind.

US kids get prescribed 2-3 times as much Ritalin, Prozac and other ADHD meds and antidepressants as kids in Europe, reports Furious Seasons.

Advances in the History of Psychology is back and on fire!

—Vaughan.

September 19, 2008

2008-09-19 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The New York Times discusses the recent case in India where a controversial 'brain scan lie detection' test was used to convict someone for murder.

Screaming energy! A fan site that reviews energy drinks with, rather predictably, excessive levels of enthusiasm.

“Thinking about Not-Thinking”: Neural Correlates of Conceptual Processing during Zen Meditation. Fantastic study published in open-access science journal PLoS One.

Sharp Brains has an interview with the wife of Bob Woodruff, a reporter who has made and written about his recovery from brain injury.

Do recent neurological studies prove once and for all that homosexuality is biological? Salon has an interview with neurologist and gay activist Jerome Goldstein.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers new research suggesting political beliefs can be reflected in more fundamental cognitive processes.

The Frontal Cortex continues the theme with a study that provides a lovely example of motivated reasoning and bias in judging political contradictions.

A reporter for Popular Mechanics throws himself out of a plane as part of an experiment on the psychology of fear.

The New York Times has a surprisingly uncritical article on 'child bipolar disorder'. Furious Seasons has a good counterpoint.

Even music played before or after a film character is shown affects our perception of their emotion. Fascinating piece of research covered by Cognitive Daily.

Time magazine looks at the US Military's plans for advanced brain-computer interface controlled weapons systems.

ABC Radio National's Philosopher's Zone has a great discussion on the concept of love while the The LA Times looks at the psychology of commitment and infidelity.

Neuroanthropology has a video discussion from behavioural economist and 'Nudge' author Richard Thaler.

Neuropsychiatrist and ex-English literature professor Nancy Andreasan is interviewed by The New York Times.

—Vaughan.

September 15, 2008

Encephalon 54 is coming home:

The 54th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just arrived, this fortnight hosted by its originator at the Neurophilosophy blog.

A couple of my favourites include an article by Neuronism on how IBM's 'Blue Brain' large scale neural simulator is showing 40hz gamma band oscillations (oh my God - it's becoming conscious. To the bunkers!), and another from The Neurocritic on how viewing beautiful artwork reduces the perception of pain.

The Neurocritic piece also finishes on the fantastic line "Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder, it modulates pain-related activity in the anterior cingulate cortex".

There's plenty more news, new material and discussion from the last two weeks in mind and brain science, so do check it out.

Link to Encephalon 54.

—Vaughan.

September 12, 2008

2008-09-12 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The theories of the legendary John Hughlings-Jackson are the topic of an excellent post on The Mouse Trap. See also this fascinating paper on the philosophy of JHJ.

The Boston Globe has an interesting piece on the psychological benefits of being a fan.

Triple J's Hack radio show has had some interesting sections on the mind this past week (thanks Michael!) some of which are rounded up by the All in the Mind Blog.

Dr Petra has a great post on the widely reported but hardly definitive study on if you can tell whether a woman has vaginal orgasms by the way she walks.

Chauvinists are less unnerving than ambiguous men, suggests tits in office study reported by New Scientist.

Sharp Brains discusses the future of computer-assisted cognitive therapy.

The way players approach online multi-player games is innately scientific, suggests a new study covered by Wired Games.

BBC News has the amusing story of the British MP stopped by armed police in the Colombian jungle and made to eat coffee whitener to prove it wasn't cocaine.

More from Dr Petra - good summary of two recent sex studies on attraction and eye contact, and the shocking normality of the BDSM folks.

A Wired reporter discusses his experience of taking part in an fMRI experiment on the neuroscience of fear.

An essay on the shaking palsy. One of the foundational studies in neurology and Parkinson's disease is covered by Neurotopia.

The Frontal Cortex discusses an interesting example of financial herd behaviour.

40% of people think they remember film footage of the London 7/7 bombing which has never existed, according to a wonderfully conceived real-world false memory study reported by The Guardian.

The New York Times covers the fact that personality tests show men and women are more different in more egalitarian societies but skates over the fact that some sex-stereotypical characteristics are exaggerated by self-report measures and virtually disappear in observational studies.

Man on a mission US Senator Charles Grassley uncovers yet another psychiatry researcher with undeclared financial payments from drug companies, reports Furious Seasons.

Great chat up lines in science #3: I can see with my skin.

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt asks what makes people vote Republican at Edge and George Lakoff frames the Obama campaign at the HuffPost.

Artist with 'multiple personality disorder' Kim Noble has an exhibition of paintings by each of her alters in London. The Guardian has some of the pictures online.

Brain-Based Lie Detection Leads to Murder Conviction in India? The Neuroethics and Law Blog discusses an interesting case with a comment by the researcher who doubts the reliability of the technique used in this case.

Neuroanthropology covers 'Great Diagrams in Anthropology'. Gotta dig the tree man picture.

—Vaughan.

September 05, 2008

2008-09-05 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

To the bunkers! AI system enables robotic helicopters to teach themselves to fly stunts by watching other helicopters - with video.

The BPS Research Digest covers an interesting neuroimaging study on whether we assign mental states to robots.

I get my four minutes of fame on the Nature podcast [mp3]. Mainly remarkable because I use the words Iron Maiden and temporal lobe epilepsy in the same sentence.

Wired News on a study suggesting humans can learn from subliminal cues alone.

Non-coding DNA section may have contributed to the evolution of manual dexterity, according to New Scientist.

Advances in the History of Psychology returns after its not very well enforced summer break.

Soldier suicide rate in the US Army may set record again, reports AP News.

The Neurocritic has a sarcastic report on a new study that finds that chewing gum may help reduce stress - funded by a chewing gum company.

Great sections of Recollections of My Life by the legendary Spanish neuroscientist Santiago Ramon y Cajal is quoted by Sharp Brains.

BBC News reports that music linked to personality. Not the first time, nor the last I suspect.

Happiness could add 10 years to your life, according to a study reviewed by PsyBlog.

Neuroanthropology discusses how colour is constructed in the brain.

5% of American kids prescribed psychiatric medication, according to new government figures found by Furious Seasons.

Cognitive Daily asks is there a separate memory region for location of sound?

—Vaughan.

September 02, 2008

Encephalon 53 hails from a big continent:

The 53rd edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival comes to us from the beautiful continent of Africa and has all the latest from the last fortnight in mind and brain news.

A couple of my favourites include an article from the appropriately named Brain Stimulant on the experience of a person with Asperger's who took part in a TMS experiment, and another from Neuronism on the expert perceptual judgements of players vs wannabees in basketball.

This fortnite's Encephalon is hosted by Ionian Enchantment a blog which I'd not discovered before but looks very good and is updated remarkably frequently.

Link to Encephalon 53.

—Vaughan.

August 29, 2008

2008-08-29 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Choreography and Cognition is a project examining the cognitive science of dance. Try this for some experimental data. Get down.

The myth of undecided voters is tackled head on by Frontal Cortex.

Gin, Television and Cognitive Surplus. No, not a traditional English weekend, an Edge article by Clay Shirky on the internet and mental aggregators.

PsychCentral's Sandra lists her Top 10 online psychology experiments.

ABC Radio National's Life Matters explores out relationship to colour.

Corpus Callosum has an interesting role reversal art project where a psychiatrist has painted his emotional impression of patients.

Epigenetics or the 'Ghost in Your Genes' is a new TV programme and is linked to and discussed by Neuroanthropology.

The Smart Set review a book on loneliness.

The Guardian's examination of the supposedly mandatory but widely ignored drug company gift registers for UK doctors, shows (can we guess) widespread soul selling.

Be sure to check ABC Radio National's All in the Mind blog for extended comments and extra audio from the recent programme on the mind, markets and morality.

Wired Sciece on why early stone tools suggest Neanderthals were equally as intelligent as early humans, contrary to popular belief. Researchers now exploring lack of style, poor personal hygiene as reason for extinction.

The rubber hand illusion is accompanied by a drop in temperature of the 'displaced' hand. Another from Wired Science.

The BPS Research Digest reports a interesting study that finds we tend to overestimate the size of our own heads, but not those of others.

The three critical techniques for stage magic discussed in the recent paper on the cognitive science of magic are summarised by PsyBlog.

Harvard Magazine has an article on 'A Work in Progress: The Teen Brain'. Due to be completed shortly after Duke Nukem Forever.

July's Neuropod appeared and we didn't even notice. Still, the programme has been eerily quiet since then.

The Times reports that more sex by braver soldiers suggests an evolutionary explanation for rhubarb, hat stands, pink elephants, blah blah blah...

Why Are 'Mama' and 'Dada' a Baby's First Words? Sounds obvious but it's actually an interesting study into developmental phonetics.

BBC News reports that the drug rasagiline may may actually slow down Parkinson's disease according to an early study.

Cool photo on Flickr appropriately called 'applied radiology'.

Cannabis use went down in the UK after it was reclassified as a 'softer' drug, reports of The Guardian. Buckets of urine at the ready to be flung into the wind when government shortly re-reclassifies it as a 'harder' drug.

Interesting experimental philosophy paper makes it into the top 10 philosophy papers of the year.

Furious Seasons catches two interesting antipsychotic news nuggets: Nature Neuroscience editorial says credibility lacking in child psychiatry after recent payments scandal / BMJ reports antipsychotics really, really bad in older folks.

—Vaughan.

August 22, 2008

2008-08-22 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

If you're after a level-headed discussion of the 'contraceptive pill makes girls go for Mr Wrong' story, Dr Petra has a great review.

SciAm Mind Matters has a great article by the Cognitive Daily duo on how tone deafness and bad singing may not go hand in hand.

A gentleman with extensive frontal lobe damage 'loses' his memory and identity, leading to a curious medical mystery - covered by Frontal Cortex.

ABC Radio National's Health Report has a fantastic programme and video report on the ongoing problem of adolescent PTSD after the Bosnian conflict.

PsyBlog finds some vintage 'candid camera' TV footage illustrating social conformity with a too-good-to-be-true ending.

The burgeoning research on the use of psychedelic drugs in the treatment of medical conditions is covered by The Guardian - with brief podcast discussion.

Facial Frontier - sounds like the title of a porn movie but actually an article on the psychology of facial expression from The National Post.

The Guardian has a great podcast about music and the brain.

A number of new doom and gloom books about the effect of the internet on relationships, mind and brain and due out, report Wired. I predict many words, no hard evidence.

Live Science on a new study on how the 'visual cortex' is used in hearing and sound processing.

Another cool example of 'hijacking intelligence' is covered by the Boston Globe that discusses the innovative use of CAPTCHs to solve difficult OCR problems.

We look at faces differently depending on our cultural background, according to new research covered by Wired Science. Full text of study in PLoS One.

The Times has a video of creepily lifelike avatar face animation which apparently 'heralds new era for computer games'

Cool interactive brain games and learning suite from McGill University.

Science News on how dopamine has been a 'forgotten' neurotransmitter for sleep regulation. Forgotten? Huh? Amphetamine?

Levels of aggression can be partly predicted from face structure in ice hockey players, reports New Scientist.

MSN Lifestyle has a spectacularly bad and clichéd article that is full of scientific misappropriation - rather ironically titled 'The Male Brain, Explained'.

—Vaughan.

August 18, 2008

Encephalon 52 raises its hand:

The 52nd edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just arrived, this time hosted by the excellent Ouroboros.

A couple of my favourites include a post on the latest science of 'grandmother cells' at the combining cognits blog (the new name for the excellent 'Memoirs of a Postgrad') and another on neuroimaging and social attachment style on the new-to-me but engaging Neurotic Physiology.

There's plenty more article in this fortnight's edition, so have a look and see what sparks your curiosity.

Link to Encephalon 52.

—Vaughan.

August 15, 2008

2008-08-15 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Sharp Brains has a thoughtful piece on the hoped-for demise of dementia.

Peter Donnelly gives an excellent TED talk on how juries are fooled by statistics.

Channel N finds an interesting video lecture on the conditioned fear response and combat resilience in the armed forces.

Apparently we're a 'Top 100' Mental Health and Psychology Blog.

The Frontal Cortex has an interesting summary of a study on basketball pros and the mirror system. A nice complement to a study on ballet dancers and capoeira experts.

Is being gay in your biology? All in the Mind investigates.

The Situationist has an interesting piece on "The Psychology of Barack Obama as the Antichrist". Cor blimey!

An interesting project to visualise sound to help deaf people interact with sound is covered by BBC News - with video of it in action.

Wired Science picks up on a new study that finds that placebos work better in children.

Cool! Artwork that displays separate images under different lighting conditions - with videos.

Furious Seasons has an excellent investigative piece on the fact that the FDA seem to be validating new psychiatric diagnoses off their own backs.

The most conceptually confused headline of the year? "Nature Or Nurture: Are You Who Your Brain Chemistry Says You Are?" Actually a study on addiction.

Is psychoanalysis equivalent to a spiritual practice? A commonly made link between psychoanalysis and religion is explored rather deftly in an article for The Immanent Frame.

The BPS Research Digest has an interesting piece on disaster psychology and why so many people perish needlessly in emergencies.

More from the Hot Spanish Psychologist. ¡Vaya chica!

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers a fascinating study showing that referees have a tendency to award more points to competitors wearing red.

—Vaughan.

August 08, 2008

2008-08-08 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Language Log has an excellent piece on another reason why the amphetamine methylphenidate (Ritalin) may be popular as a study drug - apart from its boost to wakefulness it might actually improve some forms of learning.

Genes for schizophrenia uncovered. Again!

Scientific American reports on how our moral decision-making can be altered by distraction and additional cognitive effort.

Neurologist Robert Burton has a good piece in Salon on the placebo effect in conventional medicine.

Can cholesterol-lowering drugs reduce the risk of dementia? Newsweek examines evidence from a new study.

Furious Seasons on reports of people faking schizophrenia to get sleep-inducing antipsychotic drug quetiapine (Seroquel). God knows why.

US psychiatrists are deserting psychotherapy in favour of a sole focus on medication management, reports AP News. Original study here.

Edge presents A Short Course in Behavioural Economics. Scroll down past the chummy restaurant photos to get to the interesting bit.

Human brains have evolved a particularly strong capacity to detect what neuroscientists call “errors”. A sentence from a dreadful article on the 'neuroscience' 'of' 'leadership'.

The New York Times discusses the benefits of boredom.

Researchers develop robots that learn to move themselves, reports BBC News. But the video shows they're not just moving, they're break dancing! Hey You The Robot Steady Crew, show em what you do, make a break, make a move.

Neuroanthropology has an excellent article on the sex differences and the 'maths gap'.

Daniel Dennett publishes an extract from his autobiography. No mention of inspiration for Santa-like beard yet.

Scientific American has an article on the neurological basis of genius.

The 'torture debate' among US psychologists rumbles on and is covered by PsychCentral.

NPR Radio has an excellent piece on novelist Virginia Woolf and the psychology of the self, inspired by Jonah Lehrer's recent book. Wonderfully produced in the unique RadioLab style.

Neuroscientist Shitij Kapur does the warm up for Gladys Knight with a lecture on dopamine and psychosis. No really. Channel N has the scoop.

—Vaughan.

August 04, 2008

Encephalon 51 arrives with a flourish:

The rather poetic 51st edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been published online and is graciously hosted by The Mouse Trap.

It has a distinctly poetic theme on this occasion, with a set of cognitive science haikus enlivening proceedings.

A couple of my favourite posts include one on the continuing mirror neuron hype and another on the cultural feedback loop between psychiatry and our expression of mental distress.

Link to Encephalon 51.

—Vaughan.

August 01, 2008

2008-08-01 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Awesome Developing Intelligence post gives a remarkably concise review of cognitive science and discusses what this tells us about the best targets for cognitive enhancement.

BookForum looks at two memoirs that recount the psychological and physical intricacies of illness of the body and brain.

The mighty Language Log has a great analysis looking at the fallacies of yet another popular piece on sex differences in mind and brain.

The Economist has an article on the science of cognitive nutrition.

The ideas behind 'critical neuroscience' are discussed by Neuroanthropology.

Eric Schwitzgebel on the Wittgensteinian puzzle of whether philosophy solves problems with language or problems with the world.

ABC Radio National's The Philosopher's Zone has an interesting discussion on the philosophy of moral dilemmas.

While we're on the subject of morality the NYT Freakanomics blog has two guest posts on moral hypocrisy.

Sharp Brains has a special on mind and brain haikus.

ABC Radio National's In Conversation looks at the anthropology of sisters, mothering and motherhood across the world's cultures.

Dr Petra has the most sensible post you'll read about the recent news reports on Viagra supposedly increasing sexual function in women who take antidepressants.

Advances in object recognition around age 2 may herald symbolic thought, reports Science News.

Pure Pedantry has an interesting commentary on the merits of postponing your alcoholism.

Perpetually falling woman learns to balance with her tongue. The Telegraph has a story about a woman who has lost her sense of balance owing to brain injury.

The Primary Visual Cortex is an excellent new blog on vision science and perception.

A robot that "resembles the love child of a monkey and an iMac". The Times has an excellent piece on robots designed to emotionally interface with humans.

Not Quite Rocket Science looks at a new study on language evolution in the lab and Wired Science has some further in-depth analysis.

A new book called 'Brain Research for Policy Wonks' is reviewed by Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

New Scientist has a special article and video report on the somewhat recursively titled 'Seven Reasons Why People Hate Reason'.

The psychology of motivation - when passionate interest becomes a business - is discussed by The Washington Post.

The New York times examines the methods and motivations of web trolls.

An eye-tracking study that compared how individuals with Williams syndrome ("hyper social") and autism ("hypo social") view pictures of social scenes is covered by The Neurocritic.

—Vaughan.

July 25, 2008

2008-07-25 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neurophilosophy has a beautiful quote from the great Spanish neuroscientist Santiago Ramon y Cajal.

The miseries of losing one's sense of smell are covered by an interesting Slate article on this neglected sense.

Cognitive Daily looks at a study which attempts to answer the question 'Why do more Asians have perfect pitch?'.

Two novels on identity theft are touched on by My Mind on Books.

The New York Times has an excellent multimedia feature on 'The Voices of Bipolar Disorder' where people affected by the condition discuss their experiences.

Delusions reflect Hollywood movie 'The Truman Show'.

Nature reviews the latest Disney animated feature about an artificially intelligent robot Wall-E.

The Female Brain or one female's perspective? Neuroanthropology reports from a recent 'critical neuroscience' conference and a discussion about popular books on sex difference.

Scientific American on why anecdotal evidence can undermine scientific findings for most people.

SciAm's Mind Matters blog on the neural energy drain of decision-making.

The BPS Research Digest looks at a study that reports novelty seekers have a right-sided spatial bias.

The neuroscience of insight is discussed in a tantalising excerpt from a New Yorker by The Frontal Cortex.

Psych Central has an interview with the insightful psychiatrist Daniel Carlat.

BooYaa! Straight-talking judge has some hard words for Eli Lilly in the ongoing court case over antipsychotic olanzapine (Zyprexa).

—Vaughan.

July 21, 2008

Encephalon turns gold at 50:

The 50th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has arrived, with the best of the last fortnight's mind and brain writing ably hosted by the excellent Sharp Brains.

Alvaro stars with a tongue-in-cheek request to remind people of the benefits of participating and hosting Encephalon at your blog.

If there's a particular post your proud of and want to spread the word, or you're interesting in getting exposure for your blog by hosting the high traffic festivities, just drop an email to encephalon dot host at gmail dot com.

A couple of my favourites from this edition include a completely fascinating post on the compulsive collecting of televisions reported in the medical literature, and another on the function of fearful faces.

The next edition will be hosted on the primed and ready Mouse Trap.

Link to Encephalon 50.

—Vaughan.

July 18, 2008

2008-07-18 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

One I missed before - The New York Review of Books has an extended and thoughtful review of a stack of cognitive science books and Neurophilosophy has a great commentary.

The New York Times reports on the challenges of $600-a-session patients. Interesting to note it's all described in terms of psychoanalysis - a therapy strangely ghettoed among the well-to-do.

TV producer creates a video documentary about his brain surgery for Parkinson's disease.

Neuroanthropology discusses the best way of going about studying neuroanthropology and the problems you might face from other researchers worried about this crazy new mix of neuroscience and culture.

The history of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test is covered by Advances in the History of Psychology.

Wired notes that victims of 'mind control' are to gather in Connecticut for a annual conference.

Fluoxetine for Fido. The New York Times examines the growing trend for using psychiatric drugs on pets.

To the bunkers! Channel N has a video on neurorobotics.

The BPS Research Digest finds a video discussion between psychologist Jonathan Haidt and political scientist Will Wilkinson on the psychology of morality.

Research finding memory 'chunking' in infants is covered by the excellent Not Quite Rocket Science.

SharpBrains has one of its bi-weekly round-ups of its interviews and all that's new in the world of cognitive enhancement.

More from The New York Times, this time on the commercial release of the Emotiv Systems 'brain reading' gamer's headset.

Cognitive Daily report on how playing video games can improve visual acuity.

Wall-E and and the evolution of emotion expression is discussed by Frontal Cortex.

—Vaughan.

July 11, 2008

2008-07-11 Spike activity:

Some slightly belated links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Ben Goldacre's Bad Science follows up the piece on the 'mobile network causes suicide' nonsense, plus an interesting additional section on the plausibility effect.

Not Quite Rocket Science discusses the 'Lady Macbeth effect' and how physical cleanliness moral cleanliness are linked.

The recent study on mapping the brain's white matter network is discussed in a short video by Scientific American.

The Boston Globe has an article about the recovery of child psychologist Seymour Papert, who suffered a serious brain injury 18 months ago.

My Mind on Books lists some forthcoming cognitive psychology books for 2008.

A career in forensic psychology is discussed by US psychologist Stephen Diamond.

The science of how melody and harmony combine to produce music is covered by Seed Magazine.

The New York Times reviews the debut novel of medic Rivka Galchen which seems to be about the Capgras delusion.

Better golfers see bigger holes according to research covered by PsyBlog.

Neuroanthropology looks at the work of anthropologist Felicitas Goodman on the connection between trance states and body posture which has some interesting parallels between work on hypnotisability and body posture.

Genes implicated in learning may also be linked to autism, reports Scientific American.

The Situationist has a video of Sam Gosling discussing his new book Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You.

Call-Me-Kenneth prototype the Care-o-Bot is profiled by the AI and Robots blog.

The Neurocritic discovers the ~~newly launched~~ photoshopped 'Journal of Speed Dating Studies'. ~~No, really.~~ No, not at all it seems!

—Vaughan.

July 07, 2008

Encephalon 49 evolves:

The 49th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just appeared online, this time hosted by Neuroscientifically Challenged - a blog that's new to me but looks very good.

A couple of my favourites include a sceptical look at gene therapy in psychiatry and an interesting overview of a theory of how the brain and culture co-evolved.

There's much more where that came from so check it out for the last fortnight's highlights.

Link to Encephalon 49.

—Vaughan.

July 04, 2008

2008-07-04 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Scientific American looks at the neuroscience of dance, and includes one of my favourite studies on ballet dancers and capoeira artists.

War on Drugs bulletin: a World Health Organisation study finds the USA leads the world, by quite a wide margin, in per capita consumption of illegal drugs. Globally, there seems no relation between drug consumption and legal restriction. $500 billion well spent then.

Sharp Brains rounds up some of their recent brain enhancement articles by the SB team and guest scientists.

Separated at birth: celebrity psychologists Linda Papadopoulos and Robi Ludwig. That's just spooky isn't it?

A 2005 paper in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis reports on a man with phantom limb who finds it involuntarily responds to hypnotic suggestions.

The Neurocritic finds the 'watermelon works like viagra' nonsense is, well, nonsense.

The NYT Freakanomics blog has a fascinating piece on why people lie on social welfare applications, in the opposite direction than you'd think.

From deceiving others to a great piece on self-deception, in the International Herald Tribune.

Mixing Memory is doing an excellent in-depth review of Lakoff's new book 'The Political Mind'. Just check the blog and look for the past pieces and forthcoming updates.

Cypress Hill vindicated! Cognitive Daily reports on a study finding that high-pitched voices are generally rated as more attractive.

The BPS Research Digest tracks down a fascinating book on the history and philosophy of jokes.

Enhancing your cognitive ability with electricity makes a comeback. Technology Review looks at transcranial direct current stimulation.

Developing Intelligence has another fascinating piece - this time on how the cognitive benefits of meditation are likely to be available to everyone.

The excellent Advances in the History of Psychology finds a interesting paper on a seemingly apocryphal 1868 dust-up between Paul Broca and John Hughlings Jackson.

—Vaughan.

June 27, 2008

2008-06-27 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

More on experimental philosophy. Scientific America has an excellent piece on the curious new form of conceptual engineering.

The BPS Research Digest looks at new research on 'non-criminal psychopaths'.

How to win friends and influence people. Cognitive Daily covers some recent research on popularity at school.

NeuroScene has monthly podcast interviews with mind and brain researchers.

I'm a Blind Climber Who "Sees" With His Tongue. Not only a perfect chat-up line, but also an article for Discover Magazine.

The 1930s Marital Scale is now available as an online test!

The Immanent Frame discusses Pascal Boyer's cognitive explanation of the evolution of religious thought.

Documentary photographs from institutions for people with learning disabilities from 1960s American, discovered by Neurophilosophy.

If you need an antidote after those somewhat disturbing photos, could I recommend the rocktastic Heavy Load.

How Smart Is the Octopus? asks Carl Zimmer.

The Language Log picks up on some sexual pseudoscience from CNN.

Oxytocin may be a useful treatment for social anxiety, reports The Times.

The Onion radio news reports on a successful case of gay conversion therapy.

NeuroQuantology. Not sure quite what to make of it.

Antipsychotics dangerous and overprescribed in dementia, reports The New York Times.

The mighty Neuroanthropology has a great piece on cybernetic theory and neuroanthropology hot from a recent conference.

The Times has an article on government-by-cognitive-bias book 'Nudge'.

Psychologist Deric Bownds reviews the brain's default network.

The second social scientist from the US military's Human Terrain System is killed in the ongoing conflicts, reports Wired.

Sharp Brains has an excellent interview with psychologist Arthur Cramer about, well, sharpening the brain!

Hot Spanish psychologist talks about psicología y los hombres como mero instrumento de placer. Not the sort of Spanish lessons I remember, sadly.

Advances in the History of Psychology picks up on an intriguing new book on the history of ignorance.

Pharma industry spent $168 million, yes that was $168 million, lobbying US lawmakers in 2007, up by a third from 2006, notes Furious Seasons.

Developing Intelligence has an excellent piece on untraining the brain and the use of meditation and hypnosis to decouple automatic attentional processes.

—Vaughan.

June 23, 2008

Encephalon 48 makes an entrance:

Neuroanthropology has just released the latest edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival, where there's a line-up of the last fortnight's best in mind and brain blogging.

A couple of my favourites include an interesting look at the science of out of body experiences, and another on the Amazonian Mundurucu tribe who have no formal maths but who apparently have a logarithmic mapping of numbers onto space.

It's quite a diverse edition and it seems some of the anthropologically inclined readers of Neuroanthropology have submitted posts as there's some welcome new faces.

Link to Encephalon 48.

—Vaughan.

June 20, 2008

2008-06-20 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Clear thinking science writer Carl Zimmer discusses the evolution of the mind in a video lecture.

Pure Pedantry looks at a new study on serotonin and rejection in the Ultimatum Game.

The increasingly excellent Frontier Psychiatrist has a good post on neurosyphilis.

The New York Times has a brief piece on the neuroscience of schizophrenia with funky animation and auditory commentary.

Developmental language disorder is the subject of a Health Report special.

The Chicago Reader interviews the author of 'Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness' (thanks Melissa!).

Neurophilosophy examines new research on the neuropsychology of confabulations.

Senior moments and the ageing brain are discussed on NPR Radio.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers some fascinating research on the facial expression of fear and the experimental creation of 'anti-faces'.

Illusion Sciences is a great blog about the science of visual illusions.

Popular herbal supplement Ginkgo 'does not treat dementia', according to BBC News.

Research on porn and mirror neurons involves a sloppy reverse inference. Sadly, not as sexy as it sounds.

Furious Seasons on the fact that GlaxoSmithKline are being investigated for allegedly falsifying data on paroxetine and suicide.

People who are sexually attracted to walls, computers and a range of other inanimate objects are featured in an article in Bizarre magazine.

New Scientist suggest that self-obsessed, manipulative and deceitful men have the most sex... oh hang on, it should be 'report having the most sex'. I knew there was a flaw in there somewhere.

Some excellent local news reporting on the brain imaging research of Nottingham neuroscientist Richard Ramsey.

Film content, editing, and directing style affect brain activity. As does popcorn I presume.

The Telegraph looks at the science of why we scream.

Political philosophers seem to vote less often than other philosophers, according to Eric Schwitzgebel's fantastic ongoing project to examine the utility of philosophy.

Discover Magazine has a great short video on research showing that ADHD may be delayed brain maturation that eventually catches up.

The endowment effect and the psychological influence of property is discusses by The Economist.

The Atlantic publishes two pages of absolute drivel about brain scans and FKF Research (who else?). Slate takes them to task for publishing such nonsense.

Rabble rousing psychologist Richard Lynn cites IQ - atheism correlation as causal in the Times Higher Ed.

—Vaughan.

June 13, 2008

2008-06-13 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week or so in mind and brain news:

A fascinating personal account of 'supposed demoniacal possession' from an 1849 edition of the Journal of Psychological Medicine.

'Key to All Optical Illusions Discovered' says over-enthusiastic headline for very interesting article.

An article in Seed Magazine discusses quantum physics and whether we create the world just by looking at it.

Dr Petra looks at new research showing that tackling depression may reduce risky sexual activity.

Six ground-breaking discoveries about the brain are covered by Neurophilosophy.

PsychCentral has a wonderful bit of detective work showing the Scientific American just replaced 'writing' with 'blogging' to re-release an article entitled 'Blogging: It’s Good for You'.

Harvard psychiatrists and child bipolar researchers are caught out not declaring millions in drug company payouts, reports Furious Seasons.

BBC News reports that light therapy 'can slow dementia' and that a new 'dual action' Alzheimer's drug may be on the horizon.

Which Cognitive Enhancers Really Work: Brain Training, Drugs, Vitamins, Meditation or Exercise? PsyBlog is on the case and Sharp Brains follows up with a considered analysis and commentary.

American Scientist tackles the 'Britney Spears Problem', which actually turns out to be about search algorithms.

Archaeologists discover a sacrificed acrobat in ancient Mesopotamian ruins, according to Science News.

Neurophilosophy looks at some proposed DARPA developed neurobinoculars.

A new study on the neuroscience of fairness is covered in a piece from the BPS Research Digest.

Eric Schwitzgebel considers the ability of the mind to self-perceive, with an interesting discussion continuing in the comments.

I love watching point-light motion video and Cognitive Daily has a fascinating research on how viewing motion give us such a clear way of identifying living things.

My Mind on Books previews a list of forthcoming cognitive science books for 2008.

Solomon Asch's famous conformity experiment is recreated in a video hosted by The Situationist. Still just as powerful.

Philosophy Bites has an audio discussion on human agency - i.e. how we can understand when someone is doing something on purpose.

—Vaughan.

June 06, 2008

2008-06-06 Spike activity:

Who says Americans don't do irony? The Neurocritic reports that the next NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction will be held in Las Vegas!

The latest edition of the Santa Fe Institute magazine has some fascinating articles on social networks and terrorism, but is only available as a 6.1 Mb whole-magazine pdf download.

The Economist has a double bill on 'smart drugs' - potential new compounds to improve memory, concentration and learning.

The science of mindfulness meditation is discussed by The New York Times.

The Boston Globe highlights the work of a psychiatric epidemiologist. One of the least glamorous but most important forms of mental health research.

To the bunkers! Skynet sentience and subsequent robot war temporarily postponed owing to faulty software.

Neuropsychologist Martha Farah discusses the future of free will with Wired.

The New York Review of Books has an extensive review of 'Nudge', a new behavioural economics book, and discusses how Obama plans to use the new theories in his policy making.

Optical illusions! Scientific American has a whole series with explanations.

Yahoo! News reports that earlier diagnosis means that people with Alzheimer's are increasingly able and willing to discuss their experience and lobby for research.

The famous University College London 'lunch hour lectures' are now available online as video archives. iTunes users can also download UCL lectures.

The Independent catalogues the weird and the wonderful behavioural disorders / difficulties / fallacies that have been medicated.

Initial study finds that heavy, long-term cannabis use may shrink certain brain structures, according to Science Daily.

Deric Bownds looks at sex differences in judging attractiveness.

Thoughts of death make us eat more cookies. Enough said, although New Scientist has more.

PhysOrg on a paralysed man who takes a walk in Second Life owing to a brain-computer interface.

The newly minted Neuroanthropology.net has a very funny post on an allegory for modern cognitive science.

Dennett vs Fodor. Handbags at 40 paces. "As often before, Jerry Fodor makes my life easier, this time by... providing along the way some vivid lessons in How Not to Do Philosophy." 3 Quarks Daily links to the latest philosophical ruckus.

Jonah Lehrer discusses theories of memory in a short but sweet segment for NPR Radio.

Fox News reports that an Arizona teen becomes sixth victim this year of brain-eating amoeba. Sadly true, it seems.

Yes, we have no bananas! Sorry, I meant no disease in the brain of a 115-year-old woman. Pure Pedantry looks at the eye-opening implications.

SciAm on why unscientific assumptions in economic theory are undermining efforts to solve environmental problems. If only those humans weren't so irrational.

—Vaughan.

May 30, 2008

2008-05-30 Spike activity:

ABC Radio National's The Philosopher's Zone broadcasts part two of its series on the philosophy of suicide.

PsyBlog has been rocking the cognitive biases recently. This is a fascinating article on 'Four Belief Biases That Can Reduce Pleasure'.

Columbia University has an archive of video lectures by some of the 'big names' in psychology and neuroscience.

The BPS Research Digest covers a new study that finds that harsh discipline actually makes aggressive children worse.

Calm Zone. A fantastic UK initiative to encourage young inner city males to get help for mental health difficulties.

"Why we posted epilepsy film to YouTube". The Guardian continues the debate over whether video of people having seizures is education or exploitation.

Time magazine wonder about the possibilities of prescribing our own antidepressants.

Pete Doherty says 'a mind is a terrible thing to waste'. No it's not the Pete Doherty you're thinking of.

The All in the Mind blog finds some interesting commentary on movement, the mind, cognition and the car.

Psychologist David Rabiner asks does mindfulness meditation help adults and teens with ADHD? in an article for Sharp Brains.

The Situationist discusses whether we're living in an age of increasing child anxiety?

Gratingly banal headline obscures an interesting article from The New York Times on the neurobiology of cigarette addiction.

Not Quite Rocket Science covers recent research on how perceived social hierarchy affects cognitive abilities. The Economist on the same.

A fantastic 2002 article from Wired on the curious and death of psychiatrist Elisabeth Targ, who completed the (in)famous prayer healing (not quite so) randomised controlled trials.

Brain Windows is a fantastic looking neuroscience blog that seems to have been dormant for a couple of months. Plenty of good articles there though.

Forgetting Is the New Normal according to an excellent brief article on memory and ageing from Time magazine.

Furious Seasons looks at some new broadsides in the debate over the effectiveness of antidepressants.

Can you teach happiness? ABC Radio National's education programme EdPod examines whether it's possible to teach positive psychology to school children.

Inspirational Kid's Company founder and child therapist Camila Batmanghelidjh is interviewed in The Independent.

Time magazine looks at the psychology of Second Life.

The 'seven challenges of psychotherapy' are discussed by PsychCentral.

—Vaughan.

May 28, 2008

Encephalon 46 arrives:

The latest edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just appeared online, ably hosted by The Neurocritic.

A couple of my favourites include an article on the psychology of superstition from PodBlack and one hot from the Association for Psychological Science convention, where Cognitive Daily report on cognitive influences on calculation.

It's a bumper edition and it even has some video of an intriguing experiment on 'distributive justice'. You'll have to read more to find out.

Link to Encephalon 46.

—Vaughan.

May 23, 2008

2008-05-23 Spike activity:

PLoS Medicine has an eye-opening study on how the local price of alcohol is related to the level of violence in the area.

To the bunkers! Robot removes brain tumour.

BBC News Magazine has an interesting piece on 'celebrities we love to hate' with comments on the phenomenon of celebrity from a number of sociologists.

ABC Radio National's excellent All in the Mind had a great edition on the science of happiness.

Petra Boyton looks at a recent study on how alcohol and drug use among European young people is deliberately and strategically linked to sexual behaviour.

An US Iraq veteran who wrote about his PTSD, sadly, kills himself.

BPS Research Digest picks up on interesting new study that found that women's memories are more speech-filled than men's.

Am I part of the cure, or am I part of the disease? Scientific American looks at the psychological health benefits of blogging, and on the flip side, whether it's driven by pathology.

Those concerned about their blogging habits may want to diagnose themselves with a couple of light-hearted lists of social media related psychopathologies.

PsyBlog reports on a new study that found that online daters site spend seven times longer looking at other people's profiles and sending emails than they did going on real dates.

Frontal Cortex has found a interesting video of someone's speech function being temporarily 'switched off' by TMS.

Getting doctors to routinely enquire about domestic violence may help detect and prevent this vastly under-recognised problem, according to The New York Times.

Psychological Science has an accurate (if not slightly formulaic) article on 'mirror neurons'.

Researcher mull possible use of oxytocin to treat social phobia, reports BBC News.

Computer World asks the somewhat ridiculous question "Asperger's and IT: Dark secret or open secret?". Secret? How about "Asperger's and IT: blessing or gift?"

One of the original internet psychologists, John Suler, has a posse... sorry, blog.

The Wall Street Journal reports "Research shows that people often do get a high from shopping - the brain releases chemicals such as dopamine or serotonin". Oh gag me, please. Release us from these tired, misleading clichés.

Sage Journals are giving away free access on registration to all their academic journals until the end of May (thanks Patricio!).

BBC News reports on unlikely suggestions to bring in testing for brain doping in school students.

Could an Acid Trip Cure Your OCD? The use of psychedelic drugs in the treatment of mental illness is considered by Discover Magazine.

The New York Times has some brief audio interviews of people talking about their experience with ADHD.

Older brains may be slower because they've just got more information to sift through. The advantages and disadvantages of wisdom are considered by The New York Times.

The ironies of peer pressure: smokers give up in groups, reports BBC News.

Drugs, anthropology and embodied cognition. A lost weekend, or a collection of interesting links from Neuroanthropology. You decide.

—Vaughan.

May 16, 2008

2008-05-16 Spike activity:

Frontal lobe damage changes performance on the 'Pepsi challenge'. Isn't the world a better place now we know that?

Philosophy Now reviews 'Freedom and Neurobiology' by John Searle.

In an article for Salon, our recent interviewee neurologist Robert Burton gets stuck into a high-tech huckster promoting expensive SPECT scans to diagnose Alzheimer's and herbal supplements to treat the brain disorder.

Channel N discovers a video lecture by Antonio Damasio on the neuroscience of emotion.

Psychologist Charles Fernyhough turned every moment of the first three years of his daughter's life into a research project notes The Telegraph as they review the resulting book.

Treatment Online on research that has found that variations in serotinergic neuroreceptors may indicate severity of depression.

13 ways to quickly improve your decision-making are discussed by PsyBlog.

The Age has a fantastic article on the psychology of risk and why we're so bad at judging it.

"The Change You Deserve". The slogan for antidepressant drug Effexor, and now, the slogan for the US Republican party!

Furious Seasons notes that a recent study on bipolar disorder being overdiagnosed is being supported by leading bipolar researchers.

APA psychology magazine Monitor has an excellent article on how research with deaf people who can't sign might shed light on the fundamentals of cognition.

Burgeoning research on the neuroscience of mystical experiences is discussed in the The New York Times.

Pictures of brain tumours!

BBC News reports that music can enhance the taste of wine. If only it could do the same for brussel sprouts.

The brain is not modular: what fMRI really tells us. An article in Scientific American Mind discusses limitations of brain scanning.

Deric Bownds covers a study that finds our facial touch sensitivity is enhanced by viewing a touch.

The excellent ABC Radio National's All in the Mind discusses the neurobiology of nicotine addiction and concerns about new anti-smoking drugs.

Developing Intelligence covers a fascinating study on time distortion due to visual flicker.

The Wall Street Journal on the possibility of the US Goverment awarding Purple Hearts, a medal for soldiers wounded in battle, for cases of PTSD (thanks Kyle!).

—Vaughan.

May 12, 2008

Encephalon 45 glides into your mind with a sunny hello:

Edition 45 of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just arrived online, this time ably hosted at PodBlack Blog.

A couple of my favourites include a poem inspired by a new stereoscopic atlas of the body and brain, and an excellent post on the neuropsychology of stalking (with a great bonus Death Cab for Cutie track!).

Coincidentally, the stalking article appears courtesy of Neurocritic where the the next edition of Encephalon is due to appear in two weeks.

Link to Encephalon 45.

—Vaughan.

May 09, 2008

2008-05-09 Spike activity:

Fascinating article in the New York Times on lying, deception and why exaggeration seems the same but is psychologically quite different.

UK government returns to pissing in the wind over drug classification. Prime Minister feels that having wet trousers will "send a message".

New Scientist covers a new study on old news that hallucinations and delusions during intensive care can lead to trauma in children.

Fake tits and heroin, brought to you by HotForWords.

Scientific American Mind has an excellent article on unconscious bias and prejudice and how it affects how we behave.

How LSD rocked the world. The Independent discusses the cultural impact of LSD in light of the recent passing of its creator.

AlterNet discusses the implications of having America's chemically modified 21st century soldiers in the heat of battle.

To the bunkers! Intelligent robot exoskeleton created by a company called Cyberdyne Systems. Cue nervous laughter.

Developing Intelligence has an article on modelling the diffusion of information in the brain.

Where do all the neurotics live? New York apparently. An article in the Boston Globe covers 'Big Five' personality maps created for a new book. The full map is here.

Treatment Online discusses new research showing post-birth depression affects male partners as well.

Interesting New York Times article on why intelligence in animals isn't always an evolutionary advantage.

Neuroanthropology has had a series of great essays recently, on everything from brain imaging to addiction.

Rather breathless article from The Times on possible use of ecstasy for treating PTSD that's more anecdote than hard data but has some interesting personal accounts.

Channel N finds an award winning video report on the neuroscience of the teen brain.

The LA Times has a brief but interesting article on the advantages of 'good enough' evolutionary mind adaptations from the author of 'Kludge'.

In autistic boy's hands, paper and scissors express an amazing spectrum. An article on an remarkably talented boy from The Seattle Times.

PsychCentral discusses the benefits of the usually unintentionally planned 'single session psychotherapy'.

This week's Nature reviews a couple of books on children and neurodevelopment.

Science Daily looks at some interesting findings on the influence of epigenetics on suicide. If you're not familiar with epigenetics, it's well worth checking out. It's the future.

Antipsychotic drug use soars among U.S. and U.K. kids despite an almost complete lack of evidence for its effectiveness or long-term safety.

The New York Times have an article on breaking habits and boosting creativity.

3D brain images! Get those red and green glasses out.

Scientific American's blog Mind Matters looks at evidence on how mobile phones can affect brain function.

Musical hallucinations are covered in a cool article from the BPS Research Digest.

—Vaughan.

May 02, 2008

2008-05-02 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Interesting Scientific American article looks at the how infections can increase risk for mental illness but suffers from some rather irresponsible and sensational statements in the summaries.

A classic study on how children learn the world isn't flat, covered by PsyBlog.

Science Daily reports on research suggesting that the key language areas of the brain 'shift' as we age.

Some wonderful examples of 19th century Japanese brain art are discovered by In Two Minds.

Neuroscientifically Challenged has an excellent short piece on a brain scanning study on social hierarchy in humans.

The excellent Dana magazine Cerebrum has an article on the link between the heart and brain function. Healthy heart, healthy brain.

The Neuroethics and Law Blog rounds up some recent reviews of neuroethics books.

BBC News has a remarkably good article on 'sex addiction' and why it's not an addiction, even if it's a problem.

A coooool visual illusion is discovered by Cognitive Daily.

Booze reduces the brain response to fearful faces finds study reported by Science News who seem to have had a few when they wrote the first rather over-generalised sentence.

The Frontal Cortex has a thoughtful piece on madness and creativity.

Female voices sound sexier when they're at the peak of fertility in the menstrual cycle, reports New Scientist.

The latest research on deep brain stimulation for treatment resistant depression is covered by PsychCentral.

Scientific American has an article on whether age-related cognitive decline may be caused by a breakdown in connections between different brain systems.

The anthropology of Grand Theft Auto! A thinly veiled excuse to play video games at work leads to an interesting article on why Liberty City is such as success.

Furious Seasons on why new data reveals that the famously corrupt Paxil Study 329 is actually worse than we thought. Hard as that is to believe.

McGill University has some funky neuroscience images (thanks Sandra!).

Unix, Lacanian psychoanalysis, anarchy, David Cronenberg, the unconscious and Stanislaw Lem - together at last!

BPS Research Digest covers a curious debate over whether psychotherapy is over-hyped where a frankly delusional psychopharmacologist ignores evidence and seemingly makes up figures about levels of therapist abuse. He references his own paper, which quotes a different figure.

—Vaughan.

April 28, 2008

Encephalon 44 wants you!:

The 44th edition of the psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon has just been released by the ever-excellent Cognitive Daily.

What with the flurry of recent interest in neuroscience studies predicting the imminent death of our concept of free will, this edition has a slyly satirical slant on your ability to resist.

A couple of my favourites include a post by Cognitive Daily on a remarkable study that found that priming students to believe that free will doesn't exist increases levels of cheating (!), and a provocative article from The Mouse Trap on whether God is just the result of humans making a Type I error - i.e. detecting a false positive.

Of course, another alternative is that God is significant but just has a very small effect size. Epicurus is that you?

Link to Encephalon 44.

—Vaughan.

April 25, 2008

2008-04-25 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

BBC science programme The Material World has a great feature on the blood-brain barrier. I love the blood-brain barrier!

In light of the recent resurgence of a penis theft panic in Congo, here's a link to an old article of mine on the psychology of penis theft beliefs.

Sharp Brains rounds up a fantastic series of interviews with neuroscientists.

Professor Semir Zeki has a posse, sorry... blog.

The Times has a review of a new book on the behavioural genetics of personality.

A remarkably comprehensive article on the drug industry's underhand tactics with antipsychotic drugs is published by the St Petersburg Times.

Cognitive Daily looks at the desensitising effect of violent video games.

Research to test human brain implants to control robot arms is submitted for review in Japan, reports Pink Tentacle.

The New York Times has an interview with Daniel Gilbert on the curious psychology of happiness.

Neuroscientist Andrew Newberg writes about brain science and the biology of belief.

ABC Radio National have had a couple of good shows on food and the evolution of the brain; and hearing, lip reading and language perception.

Does language shape cognition? The New York Times re-examines the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in light of new research.

Discover Magazine has an interesting short article on how earthquake prediction algorithms also apply to epileptic seizures.

The 'top ten mind myths' series is concluded by PsyBlog.

Frontal Cortex has a fascinating discussion of how society regards MRI scans, compared to the limits of the science.

Current tools are not very good at identifying 'kiddie psychopaths', reports the BPS Research Digest.

Treatment Online looks at a study that tracked how the balance of genes and environment differs on women's paths to alcoholism.

Some recent books on consciousness are discussed by My Mind of Books.

—Vaughan.

April 18, 2008

2008-04-18 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The economics of MILF! Slate explores how economics and game theory explain the shortage of available, appealing men in the 30s and beyond.

Has a selection bias found in the 'Monty Hall problem' affected findings in certain types of cognitive dissonance research? NYT's TierneyLab blog investigates.

Some old school video footage of B.F. Skinner is discovered by Channel N.

PsychCentral looks at a new study on farm animal therapy. No, really.

I don't smoke that heavy shit. Terra Sigillata on recent poisoning caused by dealers adulterating marijuana with lead.

While we're on the subject of strange trips, Neurophilosophy celebrates the 65th anniversary of LSD.

MIT's TechReview on how new genetic mapping tools are helping understand the neuroscience of autism.

BBC News reports on a nice two way interaction as the anaesthetic sevoflurane gas selectively reduces memory for high-emotion images.

The 'I know I know it but can't bring it to mind' tip-of-the-tongue state gives an insight into the psychology of language, as detailed in an article from American Scientist.

The NYT considers the possibility of having silicon memory chips implanted into our brain to boost our memory capacity.

To the bunkers! The Guardian discusses the future of robots with personalities for everyday tasks. Call-Me-Kenneth is that you?

Treatment Online looks at recent research linking brain size to the chance of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Forensic psychology or medicalisation of a super-villain? You decide as psychologist Tim Stevens looks into the mind of the Green Goblin for Marvel News.

The Boston Herald looks at the behavioural economics of banking and long-term finance.

Better living through neurological self-tampering. The NYT looks at the history of altering our brain chemistry.

The Guardian has a first-person account of one writer's experience of group therapy for depression.

This is your brain on free choice. Mixing Memory has a good retrospective on studies that use brain scanning to 'mind read'.

A couple more good articles on emerging technologies from MIT's Tech Review: one on modelling surprise and another on connectomics.

The BPS Research Digest has a piece on a fascinating but difficult-to-explain finding: fold your arms to boost your performance.

To the bunkers! The Washington Post on artificial intelligence technology being deployed for population monitoring and control.

The Neurocritic has a great roundup of studies that have looked at the effect of sexy pictures of male reasoning.

—Vaughan.

April 15, 2008

Encephalon 43 lands on the virtual doormat:

A beautiful new edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been published on GNIF Brain Blogger and contains the best of last fortnight's online mind and brain writing.

A couple of my favourites include an article on how the brain encodes sound and another one on Alzheimer's disease, and there's plenty more to enjoy in the latest edition.

Link to Encephalon 43 at GNIF Brain Blogger.

—Vaughan.

April 11, 2008

2008-04-11 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The scientist brain doping results are in! Neuroanthropology looks at the findings from the recent Nature survey.

Prospect Magazine has an excellent article on whether the recent upsurge in bipolar diagnoses is due to a better understanding of mood disorders or a new marketing fad.

Science writer Carl Zimmer writes in Wired discussing the remarkable unreliability of ion channels, essential components of neural signalling, and notes what little effect this seems to have on global brain functioning. Viva redundancy!

.CSV has a great post on new techniques in quantitative sociology including social network analysis.

The vagaries of behavioural genetics studies, particularly inlight of a recent study on the genetics of 'ruthlessness' are carefully dissected by Pure Pedantry.

Wired has a run-down of his Top 5 recreational drug studies in the scientific literature (sadly misplacing the brain-scanner bong at number 5).

Like shooting fish in a barrel. Internet addiction nonsense comes in for more criticism from psychologists Petra Boyton and Cory Silverberg.

Newsweek looks at the theory that Western individualism and Eastern collectivism differences may have resulted from adaptive social strategies to deal with different diseases.

My Mind on Books collects some blog reports on the recent conference "Toward a Science of Consciousness".

Cognitive neuroscientist extraordinaire Michael Gazzaniga asks whether human brains are unique in an article for Edge.

Neurophilosophy reports on a man who had his compulsive gambling treated with a deep brain stimulation implant.

Popular social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are a form of participatory surveillance and voluntary social voyeurism, argues an article from First Monday.

Six pack models in men's magazine have a similar negative effect on self-esteem to stick thin models on women's magazine, according to research reported by the BPS Research Digest.

"If we mistrust the real world so much that we're prepared to fill the next generation's heads with a load of gibbering crap about "brain buttons", why stop there? Why not spice up maths by telling kids the number five was born in Greece and invented biscuits?" Very funny article in the The Guardian about Brain Gym foolishness currently sweeping British schools.

PsyBlog has been running a fantastic series on the psychology of money and economic decision-making.

Long-term methamphetamine use has serious long-term neurological effects on the brain, according to new research discussed by Treatment Online.

—Vaughan.

April 04, 2008

2008-04-04 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Economist looks at Jeff Hawkin's work on making computers more brain-like: from palmtops to brain cells.

Yet another study on the benefits of meditation is covered by Scientific American.

Cognitive Daily has a cool summary of a study on how we decide whether to walk or run. Not how busy we want to look apparently.

All in the Mind's Natasha Mitchell reviews a new book on the history of Freudian thought and therapy in The Australian.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers an interesting study where electric shocks were used to increase discrimination between two previously identical seeming smells.

The New York Times has an article describing the important phenomenon of change blindness.

Neuron earrings! Jewellery inspired by our favourite above-the-neck cells (thanks Sandra!).

The Boston Herald looks at research on the psychology of decision-making and poverty.

Sidewalk psychiatry. Although I certainly wouldn't want a psychiatrist who asked these sorts of questions.

The Economist looks at how blood sugar levels can affect decision making.

Daily caffeine 'protects brain', reports BBC News. But who protects your daily caffeine I ask?

The Frontal Cortex has an interesting snippet on the fact that the infinity mongering Argentinian writer Borges had a brain injury.

Poltergeists are due to the quantum effects of brain function, apparently. The freaky ghost cousin of Roger Penrose is invoked in New Scientist.

Wired reports that griefers attack epilepsy discussion board with flashing graphics. Accusations about Anonymous and Scientologists being linked to the attack fly about, but it's happened on a previous occasion, before either were at war, so it's likely just idiots.

Comfortably Numb, a new book on society and depression, is reviewed by Furious Seasons.

The New York Times discuss the runner's high.

The psychology of religion and morality is discussed by psychologist Paul Bloom and philosopher Joshua Knobe on Bloggingheads.tv

Bad Science has video of the Brain Gym nonsense being ably addressed by Paxo and the Newsnight team.

—Vaughan.

April 01, 2008

Encephalon 42 arrives in style:

The latest edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just arrived online, with this issue seemingly hosted by Paris Hilton.

Personally, I don't believe it for a second as we all know that Ms Hilton is largely concerned with physical medicine research.

A couple of my favourites include a history of lithium chloride, the simple salt that is also widely prescribed as a treatment for bipolar disorder, and a short exploration of the science and experience of synaesthesia.

Link to Encephalon 42.

—Vaughan.

March 28, 2008

2008-03-28 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

PsychCentral tackles the recent internet addiction nonsense and asks What's That Smell? It turns out it's Internet Addiction Disorder in The News.

BBC Radio 4's excellent history of ideas programme In Our Time has recently had editions on the philosopher Kierkegaard and early computationalist Ada Lovelace.

The BPS Research Digest explains a new study on frustrating tip-of-the-tongue states with bonus bit on how to overcome them.

Psychedelic artist extraordinaire, Alex Grey, is interviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle about his art and tripping (thanks Laurie!)

Dr Petra Boyton looks at international headlines linking anger, mental illness and Britain and notes that they're based on a rather dodgy market research survey.

The limits of certainty in diagnosis and medicine are explored by The New York Times.

Neurophilosophy looks at a comparative study on the possible evolutionary development of a key language pathway in the brain.

Removing brain tumours can be tricky at the best of times, especially when the operation is on a 7-year-old-girl. The New York Times has an article and video on one such procedure.

Scientific American Mind looks at the effects of the surprisingly common occurrence of postpartum (post-pregnancy) depression beyond the individual effect on the mother.

In praise of booze. The New Humanist shings the praises of the world's favourite fight enabler.

The New York Times has a review of the Willard hospital suitcase exhibition we featured the other day.

The application of shoe smell to epileptic seizures. No really. Neurocritic has some fantastic coverage of an upcoming scientific article on the phenomenon.

New Scientist reports that belly fat linked to increased risk for dementia. Not particularly startling, but emphasises the point that one of the best ways of keeping your brain healthy is to look after your cholesterol, blood pressure and cardiovascular fitness.

The six degrees of autism. Discover Magazine has a funky network analysis of schizophrenia, bipolar and autism comorbidity.

Wired reports that Pfizer computers have been hacked to send out, wait for it, v1agra spam.

A thorough debunking of determining personality from handwriting can be found on PsyBlog.

The New York Review of Books has a megareview of several books on happiness.

Sharp Brains has a fantastic article by neuroscientist Shannon Moffett on sleep, Tetris, memory and the brain.

—Vaughan.

March 21, 2008

2008-03-21 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Medication is the least effective way of treating children with conduct problems, according to a recent review.

Truth serum art chaos! The Arts Catalyst has a secret psychology art-science project you can participate in on March 29th in Liverpool.

The New York Times has a rather timely election themed article on the psychology of rumours.

"You know, just the other day, on this very blog, I swore I would never read another imaging paper again..." Evidence we are helpless to resist (the colours! the colours!) as Mixing Memory discusses a recent brain imaging study on the influence of language on colour perception.

Child-like intelligence created in Second Life. Surely this isn't news?

Treatment Online examines a study which has found differences in a gene linked to neural connectivity in people with autism spectrum diagnoses.

The New York Times has an article on the popularity of sewing wild oats throughout the animal kingdom.

The key Freudian concept of transference captured in the lab, and reported by Cognitive Daily. See an earlier Mind Hacks post for more on the science of transference.

The Guardian reports that the Pentagon delayed mild brain injury screening in an attempt to prevent medicalisation of psychogenic problems.

Sleepwalking is more likely to occur when people are recovering from sleep deprivation, reports BBC News.

As a nice complement to our recent post on authenticity, Psychology Today's Matthew Hutson discusses the psychology of authenticity in the art world.

Is someone at New Scientist trying to win a bet over how many times they can get the word 'telepathy' into print? This time an article about a possible US military 'telepathic' ray gun' that has nothing to do with telepathy. Sadly.

Imminent gnome attack! Wired report on how World of Warcraft could be used to study terror tactics.

Channel N has a remarkably well-explained video introduction to body dysmorphic disorder.

It is better to give than receive. At least in terms of your happiness, reports Not Exactly Rocket Science.

—Vaughan.

March 18, 2008

Encephalon 41 arrives:

The 41st edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been published online, and this time it's ably hosted by Pure Pedantry.

A couple of my favourites include Providentia on one of A.R. Luria's most fascinating cases and the PodBlack Blog on magical thinking in politicians.

There's plenty more, so have a look through for some of the best mind and brain writing of the last fortnight.

Link to Encephalon 41.

—Vaughan.

March 14, 2008

2008-03-14 Spike activity:

Slightly late quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neurophilosophy posts a 'best of' collection of its many excellent articles online.

The Kinsey Institute for sex research have started their own blog and regular podcast on all matters sexual.

Social networks are like the eye. Edge has a video lecture on an evolutionary take on the development of society.

The New York Times reviews the recent discussion on whether it's wrong for scientists to take cognitive enhancers. Not like it hasn't been happening for four millennia already.

When can children make the distinction between jokes and lies? The BPS Research Digest has a piece on some fascinating new research and the APA Monitor has a past article on research on child humour from the same team.

Skeptic magazine has a great review of some of the key concepts in consciousness research in an article entitled 'consciousness is nothing but a word'.

Psych Central discusses the recent news stories about a possible biological test for mood disorders.

To the bunkers! Simple nanotech experiment will one day lead to swarm of microscopic brain creatures, suggests BBC News article.

BBC News reports on a study that found that breathing engine exhaust fumes alters brain function. Full text available from PubMed entry.

Nominative determinism strikes again. The New York Times looks at the limits of the effects of our name on how we're perceived.

Neuroanthropology has a piece on the anthropology of prisons and prisoners.

The New York Times again on differences in the DNA of identical twins, with the newly discovered copy number variations playing a key role.

The joy of boredom. The Boston Globe looks at the most undirectional of mental states.

The increasingly excellent Treatment Online discusses a recent study on genetic interactions in people with depression.

Jealousy in romantic relationships is associated with the height of partner, according to a study covered by New Scientist.

The excellent Simply Psychology has relaunched with a huge amount of psychology resources online.

The brain of Dionysus. Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield discusses what the Ancient Greek tragedies can tell us about the brain in The Telegraph.

—Vaughan.

March 07, 2008

2008-03-07 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Faces in the static. An interesting study looks at brain activation associated with seeing illusory faces in visual noise.

Neuroanthropology discusses recent research looking at the cognitive neuroscience of poverty.

How your name influences your decisions and preferences. The Psychologist has a fascinating article on 'nominative determinism'.

The Phineas Gage Fan Club gives a concise summary of the relatively recently discovered 'grid cells'.

Industrial psychology may have been invented by mistake. Advances in the History of Psychology tracks down the typo.

Carl Zimmer video interviews neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga on how discoveries about the brain are challenging our understanding of law.

PsyBlog discusses why psychology is not just common sense.

The Wall Street Journal asks what makes Finnish kids so smart?

Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder and Time magazine investigates the high suicide rate in people diagnosed with the disorder.

Language Log does another fantastic job of debunking dodgy sex difference research.

Pete Mandik is posting entries from his upcoming book 'Key Terms in Philosophy of Mind'. The first is 'emergence'.

Not Quite Rocket Science has one of the most sensible articles you're likely to read on the recent interesting but over-interpreted 'brain scan mind reading' research.

After the series of recent studies on unpublished drug company data, the UK government intends to bring in a mandatory trials data register. In contrast, the USA seems largely unconcerned.

The Thinking Meat Project has been really good recently. Check it out.

Drunk on water. Frontal Cortex finds a great example of the fantastically powerful influence of suggestion.

Wired has an article on Jill Bolte Taylor, neuroscientist who wrote about her own stroke.

The Neurocritic takes the biscuit, sorry, doughnut, with a write-up of a new study on the neuroscience of eating Krispy Kremes.

—Vaughan.

March 03, 2008

Encephalon 40:

Welcome to the 40th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival.

This edition covers some of the best of the last fortnight's mind and brain writing from around the net, so kick back, relax and see what fires you up.

We start with an announcement of a birth. The neuroscience blogs OmniBrain and Retrospectacle are gone but not forgotten because the two authors have combined forces to jointly write for their new project Of Two Minds which launches today!

While we're enjoying the nostalgia and looking toward to the future what better time to remind ourselves that the history of the cognitive sciences is an essential method for understanding the past, present and the road ahead.

Advances in the History of Psychology has recently had a series examining the limits of what we should include in the history of our collective discipline. A Wikipedia user recently added a huge amount of material on medieval Islamic scientists to the history of psychology entry, inspiring an article and a remarkably thoughtful discussion from historians about what counts as 'our history'.

In a similar vein, Lehrer's recent book, 'Proust was a Neuroscientist', sparked an analysis on whether he's 'doing history', if we can easily say what it means to do history at all.

In an exploration of the more recent past, Channel N hosts a video lecture by Dr. Claudia Wassmann on the history of neuroimaging from the nineteenth century to the present, and its applications in psychiatric research.

Perhaps thinking more about preserving our personal history, Sharp Brains sifts fact from fiction from the recent media hype surrounding cognitive training for the ageing brain with a guest article from Josh Steinerman.

From the same source comes an article on one of the key concepts in understanding how the brain changes and adapts, namely brain plasticity. Remaining mentally flexible is also thought to be important to cognitive fitness and a final article looks at the importance of breaking our mental routines as part of a brain health programme.

While these articles tackle cognitive decline through normal ageing Brain Blogger describes a journey of recovery from brain injury and the process of dealing with the subsequent deficits in a six part series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) that tackles everything from detection to techniques for managing the difficulties.

Remaining in the clinical world, The Mouse Trap tackles some new science surrounding the historical connections between schizophrenia and autism, suggesting that they are opposite disorders of the social brain. Looking this time at addiction, a further post discusses the famous 'rat park' experiment on possible environmental factors in addiction.

Finally, the Mouse Trap looks at the effect of colour labels in Russian on colour perception suggesting a possible re-birth of the hypothesis that language shapes our world.

On a lighter note (excuse the pun) World of Psychology finds a webcomic that touches on the use of light therapy to treat mood disorders and uses the opportunity to discuss some of the scientific research behind this little known but effective treatment.

From sight to scent as The Neurocritic covers a study that used fMRI to investigate the effect of perfume on the brain and its links to sexual arousal. The experiment used the iconic perfume Chanel No. 5, one of the most well-known brands in the world, and in a subsequent post, The Neurocritic tackles the use and abuse of cognitive neuroscience in 'neuromarketing'.

Staying within the corporate realm, Ionian Enchantment takes a critical look at recent attempts to explain corporate behaviour with the principles of evolutionary psychology and concludes that when you have a hammer, everything seems like a nail, even when you might be better off with another tool altogether.

Perhaps more informative might be a study covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science where similar brain activation was found in a brain scanning study of both humans and chimps during vocal communication, suggesting our speech areas might not be quite so unique after all.

On a completely different note, Adam Kolber (who you may know from the Neuroethics and Law blog) has written a couple of guest articles on the psychology of punishing crime. The first looks at whether we should take into account the subjective experience of the punishment on the convicted. For example, should a someone who is claustrophobic be given a shorter prison sentence because it would be additionally unpleasant? The second article discusses what implication follows from the recognition that the same punishment might not be equal for all.

Finally, the mighty Cognitive Daily looks at a whether children are better than adults in their ability to recognise faces from other races. The findings give an interesting twist to the 7 Seconds lyric "And when a child is born into this world, it has no concept of the tone of skin it's living in".

J'assume les raisons qui nous poussent de changer tout,
J'aimerais qu'on oublie leur couleur pour qu'ils esperent.

The next edition of Encephalon will be at Pure Pedantry on March 17th.

—Vaughan.

February 29, 2008

2008-02-29 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

"Chewing gum and context-dependent memory: the independent roles of chewing gum and mint flavour": A lovely forthcoming paper from The British Journal of Psychology.

Bloggingheads.tv has a video debate on natural *cough*, sorry, experimental philosophy.

Pure Pedantry investigates the neurological basis of the "runner's high".

Have you been in psychotherapy doctor? The New York Times has an article on the dying tradition of psychiatrists being in therapy.

A new book on 'neuroarthistory' is picked up by My Mind on Books.

Bolding going back to 1962. The Sunday Herald reports on a recently discovered neuroreceptor link found between psychosis and effects of LSD.

Parapsychologist Dean Radin is interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle.

We respond differently to babies' faces within 150 milliseconds. Cognitive Daily covers a MEG study of face recognition responses in the brain.

BBC News reports that poor diet is linked to bad behaviour in children.

To the bunkers! $24 billion spend predicted to developed autonomous robot armies. You have 20 seconds to comply!

The first human nerve tissue transplant has been completed. Next step, Robocop (we hope).

Wired reports on a psychologist leading the competition to develop a film recommendation algorithm and win the Netflix Prize.

How do psychologists study what we know about ourselves? Psychologist Virgina Kwan writes a guest article for the BPS Research Digest

Against compulsory happiness: The LA Times discusses the miracle of melancholia and BBC News asks is depression good for you?

First Monday ponders whether whether the increasingly media obsessed world needs to be understood as an attention economy.

Deric Bownd's has a primer on executive function in the prefrontal cortex.

—Vaughan.

February 22, 2008

2008-02-22 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The New York Times tackles the debate about whether psychiatric drugs can increase suicide in some instances.

To the bunkers! Agent Kurzweil at work again: Machines to match man by 2029. Virtuality and reality to merge.

Yale psychiatrist Charles Barber argues in the Washington Post that healing a troubled mind takes more than a pill.

PsychCentral covers a new guide on how to apply research findings to treatment with psychological therapies.

How the Media Messes with Your Mind: Scientific American has a brief article on how recognising two common fallacies can help you separate fact from media fiction.

Neuroanthropology asks whether studies on culture and neuroscience are all brain and no culture?

Philosopher and New Mysterian Colin McGinn reviews Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia in the New York Review of Books.

The non-sight senses of blind people are not more acute but they may develop new skills to compensate, reports PsyBlog.

Vivid but inconclusive examples vs ambiguous scientific data: The New York Times on the renewed debate over drug side-effects in light of latest school shooting.

In some very limited circumstances a laser could be used to transmit sound to the ear with a recently uncovered military technology, reports Wired.

Artists create a humanoid robot which uses brainwave activity recorded during sleep to playback an interpretation of your dreams.

Powell's has an in-depth review of 'The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow Into Depressive Disorder'.

The end of the Flynn effect? The BPS Research Digest on a study that found a decline in IQs when measured in 2004.

Cognitive Daily looks at a study which asks whether music preferences are a guide to personality.

—Vaughan.

February 18, 2008

Encephalon: the new dawn:

If you've been wondering what happened to the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival, it's been on a brief hiatus while its management has been passed on to new hands.

It was previously managed by Mo at Neurophilosophy, whose time has now been largely captured as a neuroscience postgrad.

Luckily, the ever capable Alvaro Fernandez from Sharp Brains has taken the helm and just published the first edition of its return.

Fittingly, it's a bumper issue, and contains articles on everything from Renaissance brain look-alikes to whether robots can feel emotions.

The next edition will be hosted on Mind Hacks on March 3rd so if you want to submit an article, just email a link to

encephalon{dot}host{at}gmail{dot}com

and we'll feature it.

Link to new Encephalon.

—Vaughan.

February 15, 2008

2008-02-15 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Psychiatrists and the fashion for corduroy suits - Fronter Psychiatrist says don't do it kids!

Sharp Brains looks at the benefits of teaching kids mindfulness meditation in schools.

Language Log has found the headline of the year. Genius!

Campaigners want to put health warnings about cannabis on Rizla papers. Presumably, we should also put health warnings about crack on Coke cans.

The New York Times on an interesting study that found that girls' self-perception of popularity predicted later weight gain.

An article in the The New York Times discusses the art of persuasion and the psychological research behind it.

Some thoughts really do require language. Cognitive Daily covers a study that tackles the controversial issue of whether thought and language are dependent upon each other.

Yes darling, you're unique. Just like everyone else. Another article on the psychology and speed dating suggests it's a maverick scientific approach when it's already been used many times. This week, Nature joins the list of suitors.

If you're still waiting for PBS's The Lobotomist to appear online, it's become available as a torrent for the impatient.

Deric Bownd's examines a study that developed a computer-based face recognition system with 100% accuracy.

New study attempts to answer why orgasms are better when you love your lover.

More in orgasm news: Frontal Cortex looks at a real-life orgasmatron.

The wonderful Felice Frankel thinks about how to represent ideas visually in American Scientist.

Acceptance, not distraction, is the way to deal with pain. The BPS Research Digest has a fantastic complement to Lehrer's article on the psychology and neuroscience of pain.

Eric Schwitzgebel has more reflections on his fantastic project that asks why don't ethics professors behave better?

Psychoanalysts on love. Treatment Online captures some of their insights.

—Vaughan.

February 08, 2008

2008-02-08 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Is V1agra spam getting you down? Fear not, get more sex with V1tamin C!

OmniBrain discovers a long lost film on 'Frightening Diseases of the Mind'.

How good is Neurofeedback for treating attention deficits? Sharp Brains has a great review of the evidence.

The fantastic Furious Seasons hosts a pdf of a recent academic article on the increasing overdiagnosis of child bipolar disorder.

The New York Times has the shocking news that brilliant discoveries typically need years of hard word.

Subliminal images of drug paraphernalia can trigger cravings in addicts, according to a new study reported by Treatment Online.

Pregnancy 'does cause memory loss' according to a new study covered by The Guardian.

Discover Magazine asks if Osama's only 6 degrees away, why can't we find him? I've asked a similar question about Shakira myself.

10 reasons people lie to their psychotherapists. World of Psychology rounds up an informal survey.

The 'Google generation' a myth according to a new study. Susan Greenfield and chums take note.

A Blog Around the Clock interviews psychologist Vanessa Woods, who goes into the jungle to observe the behaviour of bonobos.

"Colin Blakemore: An organ so complex we may never fully understand it". A poorly worded headline unintentionally describes the head of the Medical Research Council as an organ.

More headline innuendo pleasure from The New York Times: "Drop Down and Give Me More Than She’s Doing". Sadly, about the psychology of exercise.

Metapsychology reviews a book that documents medical complicity in torture during the war on terror. So truly awful that words fail to describe it adequately.

More from The New York Times with an article and audio reading from an upcoming book on obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PsyBlog looks at the limits of cognitive dissonance, one of the most important theories in social psychology.

Don't breath the pig brains. Sound advice from Neurophilosophy.

Developing Intelligence looks at how gestures during speech affect what we communicate.

School of Everything! Want to learn something or have something to share. Fine out who can teach you in your local area.

How to Study. The BPS Research Digest has a guest feature looking at the psychology of optimum learning.

Deric Bownds discusses how blindsight has been created in people without brain damage, using TMS.

—Vaughan.

February 01, 2008

2008-02-01 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Best Life magazine has probably one of the most sensible articles I've yet come across on back pain. Another good read by Jonah Lehrer, who you may know from the Frontal Cortex blog.

Morons and Idiots Buy a Brain! Omni Brain finds an odd hip-hop video that encourages us to purchase a new cerebrum.

Sharp Brains has a fantastic review of its most popular recent articles.

Mobile phones disrupt sleep (lectures, movies, funerals).

The San Francisco Chronicle discusses the new exhibits at the SF Exploratorium that allow you to watch your own mind at work.

People use the internet to confirm their pre-existing beliefs. So, no different from any other source of information then.

SciAm discusses 'evolutionary economics' and what it tells us about how we reason about money.

A fantastically comprehensive article on the treatment of multiple sclerosis made it to the front page of Wikipedia this week.

Cognitive Daily has an article on the cognitive psychology of film. Interestingly, in the Richard Gregory talk I linked to the other day, he notes very little is known about how we comprehend film across shots. This post covers exactly this process!

This history of theories about mind over medical matters and the psychology of illness is covered in an article from Slate.

BBC News reports on a new study that has found that world-wide, the risk of depression peaks at 44, except in America.

The Wall Street Journal look at studies that cite head injuries as a factor in antisocial behaviour, offending and other social ills.

Salon has a polemic piece on antidepressants and the 'medicalisation of misery'.

A special infrared hat that cures Alzheimer's? Respectful Insolence has a rightly sceptical look at the odd contraption.

The Phineas Gage Fan Club discusses a recent study showing suggesting that sleep 'disconnects' the brain's emotional circuits.

National Geographic has a fun and beautiful interactive brain demo.

An article in The Atlantic argues that multitasking is dumbing us down and driving us crazy.

Frontiers in Neuroscience is a new open-access neuroscience journal. Bravo!

—Vaughan.

January 25, 2008

2008-01-25 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The fantastic Claudia Hammond explores the curious psychology of disgust on BBC Radio 4's science programme Frontiers.

Advances in the History of Psychology notes the passing of Paul D McLean, creator the the "Triune Brain Theory". Every time you hear the phrase 'reptilian brain', that's McLean at work.

AI learns to play Ms Pac Man. Presumably, it will soon by driven insane by the annoying music.

To the bunkers! Charmingly wide-eyed transhumanists discuss the 'singularity' - supposedly when computers will overtake the abilities of the human mind.

No really, to the bunkers! Israel intend to deploy an AI-controlled missile system that "could take over completely" from humans. Not that anyone would notice if it went bezerk I guess.

Neurophilosophy looks at a case of epilepsy triggered by hip-hop. As we noted back in October, the Beastie Boys created hip-hop triggered by epilepsy.

Dave Munger of the mighty Cognitive Daily reviews the new book by the Blakeslees on embodied cognition over at The Quarterly Conversation.

Which self-help books for depression do psychologists recommend for depression? PsyBlog looks at an interesting study on the most effective bibliotherapists.

A link between walking speed and mental quickness in the elderly is reported in an intriguing study covered by the BPS Research Digest.

The philosophy of friendship is discussed in a podcast from Philosophy Bites

Cognitive Daily examines the 'remember / know' distinction, one of the most important ideas in long-term memory research.

The myth of the mid-life crisis? An article in The New York Times questions one of our most persistent cultural clichés.

The Frontal Cortex has an interesting meta-piece on whether neuroscience is being overly popularised.

Dr Pascale Michelon writes her first article as one of Sharp Brains expert contributors on neuroimaging and the 'cognitive reserve'.

Scientific American's Mind Matters blog discusses how to create out of body experiences in the lab.

Immanuel Kant, or can he? Fragments of Consciousness has a great post on philosophy teams.

—Vaughan.

January 18, 2008

2008-01-18 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The BPS Research Digest covers some more amazing studies that find that our names are linked to our choices and performance.

Games console chip to be used for MRI analysis reports io9. Mostly cool for the beautiful MRI tractography image.

Furious Seasons covers a new study that finds placebo outperforms antipsychotics in treating aggression in patients with learning disabilities.

A series of studies that suggest we have little conscious access to the workings of our own mind are collected by PsyBlog.

Time magazine has a great article on how siblings of autistic children adapt and interact in the family.

Why should not old men be mad? 3QuarksDaily has a poignant W.B. Yeats poem.

Science News covers two novel studies into the genetics of autism.

Tracing the history of syphilis. Advances in the History of Psychology covers a recent controversy over the origins of what was once one of the major causes of madness.

The Observer covers the case of Howard Dully, who had a lobotomy at the age of 12 and later created a moving, powerful and unmissable radio programme about his experiences.

Deric Bownd's looks at an interesting argument that cooperation and choosiness necessarily evolved together.

Film footage of the ice pick lobotomy, which Dully was subjected to, is discovered by Neurophilosophy, as part of an upcoming documentary.

Phenomenology and Cognitive Science makes a special double issue on Dennett's heterophenomenology freely available online.

The BrainWave neuroscience and arts festival kicks off in New York in April and The Neurocritic has a preview.

The Onion report an astounding case where neuroscientist discover that half of a 26-year-old's memories are Nintendo-related.

Does too much dreaming lead to depression? The Mouse Trap discusses an intriguing hypothesis.

The first chapter of a new book The Philosophy of Social Cognition has been posted online.

My Mind on Books lists some recent and forthcoming books on the self to look forward to.

Can artificial life help us solve the mind-body problem? Brain Hammer investigates with a link to Pete Mandik's full-text paper.

Cognitive Daily has another fantastic demonstration on how older people adapt to blurred vision.

—Vaughan.

January 11, 2008

2008-01-11 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

A neuroimaging study on ESP! The Neurocritic looks at a recent study that investigated parapsychology using brain scanners.

Drug companies approximately spend $30 billion dollars promoting drugs in the US - twice as much as they spend on research and development, according to a new study in PLoS Medicine.

Scientific American reviews the year in robots. To the bunkers!

Sociologist Laura Maria Agustin argues that double standards in how we think about rich and poor people who cross borders is clouding the debate on 'sex trafficking' in Reason magazine.

Harvard Magazine has an article on the genetics of autism and why the condition is being increasingly thought of a spectrum of traits rather than a cut-and-dry diagnosis.

Mirror Neurons - Rock Stars or Backup Singers? Neuroscientist Gregory Hickok argues against the mirror neuron hype on SciAm's Mind Matters blog.

Professor of Robert Sylwester is interviewed on Sharp Brains on the cognitive science of learning.

Could a computers have a conscience? The Buffalo News ponders the possibilities.

PBS has a full programme and website on the debate over the increasing trend for medicating children with psychiatric drugs.

An article in Wired argues that the next victim of climate change will be our minds.

New hope for tinnitus sufferers as BBC News article discusses some new treatments in the pipeline.

Intelligence and working memory may be the key to identifying the genes for schizophrenia, suggests new research.

Furious Seasons has a careful analysis of one of the most important studies of treating depression yet completed.

How do we know we're not dreaming? Eric Schwitzgebel looks at the possibilities.

Cognitive Daily has a fascinating article on whether your name affects your performance and preferences (something known as nominative determinism).

—Vaughan.

January 04, 2008

2008-01-04 Spike activity:

Quick links from (roughly) the past week in mind and brain news:

San Francisco Science Cafe puts video online of a talk on the neuroscience of meditation.

AP News reports US Military apparently not recording suicides in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

Was the development of cooking a kickstart to the evolution of the modern human brain? SciAm investigates.

The New York Times has an interesting piece on the use of dissociation ('splitting off' areas of consciousness) in endurance sports people.

Glossy Autism magazine now available on newsagent shelves (also covers Aspergers, ADHD etc). Not sure how I feel about that.

Retrospectacle has neurosurgical tools of the 19th century! To only be used with a large bottle of brandy (by the patient, not the surgeon, although by the look of the tools, it probably didn't make a huge amount of difference).

Hypothalmus activity may be crucial in migraines, reports BBC News.

The New York Times on a study where researchers stimulated a single dendritic spine in a neuron (wow).

The mighty Fortean Times discusses the Wellcome Collections' new exhibition on sleep and dreaming.

More from the increasingly cognitive New York Times: an article on synaesthesia induced by a brain injury.

The Guardian covers a slightly tongue-in-cheek study that notes the similarities between images in Renaissance paintings and brain structures.

The mind is a control structure for an autonomous agent. The Science and Consciousness Review has a feature article on modelling unconscious perception in artificial intelligence.

Studying the anthropology of depression during motherhood. The New York Times looks at the work of Dr. Marian Radke-Yarrow.

The BPS Research Digest on a study that found that students who endorsed sex stereotypes showed more biased recall of their past exam performance (e.g. girls thought they did worse at maths, boys worse at art, than they actually did).

Cognitive Daily looks at research which attempts to answer the question 'does test-taking help students learn?'

Psychologist Carol Dweck is interviewed about her work on praise, motivation and achievement in children.

Bad Science has an mp3 of Ben Goldacre giving the President's Lecture at the British Pharmacology Society's annual conference: More than molecules – how pill pushers and the media medicalise social problems.

Certain brain injuries (that, unsurprisingly, affect parts of a key anxiety circuit) may prevent PTSD, reports Treatment Online.

Deric Bownds looks at the role of nature vs nurture in the visual cortex.

The Neurotech Industry Organisation both reviews 2007 and looks forward to 2008.

PsyBlog gets philosophical with articles on the relationship between happiness and the work of Schopenhauer and Epicurus.

—Vaughan.

December 24, 2007

2007-12-24 Spike activity:

Quick links from (roughly) the past week in mind and brain news:

BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed has discussions on myths about sex trafficking and the history of hunger.

Science and Consciousness Review has a feature on whether Theory of Mind is dependent on episodic memory?

Omni Brain finds a spoof video on installing a DIY brain-computer interface.

There's a great review of new book 'Freud: Inventor of the Modern Mind' on Metapsychology that looks at some of the skeletons in the psychoanalytic closet.

An article for the Washington Post describes one of Stanley Milgram's lesser known but enormously endearing experiments.

Oliver Sacks describes the case of Mrs O'C and her musical hallucinations for NPR Radio. He first described her in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and updated her story in Musicophilia. He presents the complete version in this short programme.

On the same theme, Scientific American had a good 'music and the brain' article in November's issue that I missed earlier.

Bad headline but interesting sleep study. A better headline would be 'quality of sleep influences how the brain stores memories' - a subtle but important difference.

The New York Times reports that adverts aiming to 'promote awareness' about childhood psychiatric disorders are cancelled after complaints about scaremongering and insensitivity.

A genetic test for genes that may alter response to antidepressant drugs becomes commercially available, and Corpus Callosum has a great analysis of its limitation and significance.

Is it possible to be too happy? Cognitive Daily discusses a study which investigated whether there is an optimal happiness level.

—Vaughan.

December 18, 2007

Encephalon 38 flies in:

The 38th edition of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon has just arrived online and this fortnight it's ably hosted by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

A couple of my favourites include an excellent article (how did I miss it before?) from Pure Pedantry reviewing the evidence that show mental illness is a poor predictor of violence in light of recent shootings in the US, and another on the functions of the hippocampus from Memoirs of a Postgrad.

There's a whole stack more in the same edition, so have a look through for the latest and greatest from the last two weeks.

Link to Encephalon 38.

—Vaughan.

December 14, 2007

2007-12-14 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Novelist A.S. Byatt (who has had a long-standing interesting in brain science) writes an article in The Times arguing that 'neuroscience is helping us to understand how art works – and it may offer us a way out of narcissism'.

We perceive music differently depending on how we dance to it. A completely fascinating study covered by the inimitable Cognitive Daily.

Tonometric is a website where you can take musical perception tests which contribute to studies on the neuroscience of music.

Developing Intelligence looks at work which suggests IQ can be predicted by a simple reaction time test.

How would you complete the word jo_? Students who had been asked to contemplate their own death were more likely to form positive words (like 'joy') than others. More evidence for a positive cognitive bias in the face of death, reported by the BPS Research Digest.

The Literary Review gets stuck into a new book on Freud's last year.

Wired reports that Sega and NeuroSky are to make mind-controlled toys.

SciAm's Mind Matters blog discusses some recent work on 'stereotype threat', an interesting effect where people perform worse if they think the test might confirm a stereotype about them (e.g. black people are academic under-achievers, white men are athletic under-performers etc).

PsyBlog asks you to vote now for your favourite in its weird psychology studies series.

Repeated Exposure to Media Violence Is Associated with Diminished Response in an Inhibitory Frontolimbic Network. Important research published in PloS One.

Corpus Callosum discusses a case of personality change caused by a brain tumour in a 28-year-old male-to-female transsexual patient that was recently reported in the NEJM.

The New York Times discusses the phenomena where parents look back and realise they may have elements of conditions such as autism or ADHD after their children are diagnosed.

The Neurocritic has a fantastic article on altered self-perception in people with body dysmorphic disorder.

Remarkable savant Daniel Tammet, is profiled in The New York Times.

Why do I feel like I'm falling when I go to sleep? Pure Pedantry digs up some fascinating work on this curious and common experience.

Infiltrating the waiting room: 'Information leaflets' in doctor's surgeries could be drug company advertising according to an article in The Guardian.

Crap headline but interesting story about decoding the neural code of neurons involved in visual recognition.

Neurophilosophy collects four parts of his essay on axon guidance in a single post and gets confirmation of what we already knew.

—Vaughan.

December 07, 2007

2007-12-07 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Chewing gum and context-dependent memory: The independent roles of chewing gum and mint flavour. A paper currently 'in press' for the British Journal of Psychology.

Sharp Brains has an interview with Prof Robert Emmons, a psychologist who studies gratitude.

In light of the recent UK case of a supposedly dead man who turned up claiming he couldn't remember the last five years of his life (now under arrest for fraud!) the BBC has an article on why men go missing, and neuropsychologist Dr Eli Jaldow discusses whether this type of amnesia is likely, in The Times.

PsyBlog starts a fascinating series on the unconscious.

A fantastic 'turning tables' visual illusion is discovered by Living the Scientific Life

Science News reports on a new theory on the neuroscience of the organisation of thinking. Abstract of scientific paper here.

The influence of eye disorders on the development of impressionist art is discussed by Neurophilosophy

How America Lost the War on Drugs: a fantastic Rolling Stone article on how billions were spent in a futile attempt to stop people taking drugs.

Frontal Cortex looks at a possible link between business acumen and dyslexia.

Partial Recall: Why Memory Fades with Age. Scientific American looks at the neuroscience behind memory decline in normal ageing.

Guantanamo detainee attempts suicide by slashing himself with a sharpened fingernail. When will these terrorists acts of asymmetric warfare cease?

Cognitive Daily looks at kids' misconceptions about numbers - and how they fix them.

—Vaughan.

November 30, 2007

2007-11-30 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Washington Post has an article on the ongoing trial using MDMA ('Ecstasy') assisted psychotherapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

Babies learn how to make social evaluations in the first few years of life, according to a new study reported by BBC News.

The Guardian has an article on combining a high-flying career with ongoing mental illness.

For men the brain activation in the ventral striatum is dependent not only on the size of reward, but also how it compares to other people's rewards.

Google in your brain? PageRank as a semantic memory model: Developing Intelligence examines an interesting view on memory for facts.

Is the beauty of a sculpture in the brain of the beholder? Stupid headline, interesting study.

A great post from Mixing Memory on a favourite experiment: research on schema (like mental frameworks) for memory.

Is the famous Christian poem 'Footprints' a case of cryptomnesia: the unconscious copying of another creative work? Rachel Aviv for the Poetry Foundation investigates.

Cognitive economics comes to the aid of football goalkeepers, via the BPS Research Digest.

The University of Virginia has a great 'Psychedelic Sixties' online exhibit.

Neurophilosophy finds a wonderful image generated from a supercomputer simulation of brain microcircuitry.

The Dana Foundation has an excerpt from Sandra and Matthew Blakesee's new book 'The Body Has a Mind of Its Own' available online.

Are rocks conscious? Arguing no is harder than you think, and the New York Times covers controversy.

Probably one of the most important emerging fields in biology is epigenetics. Corpus Callosum tackles a new study on the epigenetic transmission of PTSD risk markers.

—Vaughan.

November 23, 2007

2007-11-23 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Glamour model Daisy Thompson-Lake has a forthcoming paper on synaesthesia in the British Journal of Psychology.

Cognitive Daily looks at whether selfishness or competition is the strongest influence on behaviour.

How does physical stress and illness affect mental states and psychopathology? ABC All in the Mind investigates.

PsyBlog examines recent research on achieving sustainable happiness.

Hollywood actor Forest Whittaker hails the pioneering brain surgeon that saved his mother's life.

ABC Radio National's Ockham's Razor looks at the infamous case of Sir Roy Meadow and the debates over the existence of 'Munchhausen's syndrome by proxy'.

The New York Times has an article on South Korean boot camps to cure children of non-existent internet addiction.

Denial and public belief. ABC News covers research showing that highlighting false reports may actually make them more widely believed.

The BPS Research Digest looks at research on why sexism towards females in the workplace has a negative effect on males too.

Interesting post on Action Potential shock! The under-performing Nature blog has two great articles on the genetic control of intelligence and innate social evaluation in children.

—Vaughan.

November 16, 2007

2007-11-16 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

NPR has a radio programme exploring the significance of dreams and nightmares.

The first version of chocolate is discovered to be 500 years older than previously thought

The Washington Post has an article on ways of optimising your brain function.

An artificial speech implant is looked at by Neurophilosophy.

The Neurocritic rounds up the group smack-down to the nonsense election brain scanning 'study' we reported on earlier.

Japan suffers an average of 90 suicides a day, spurring the government into action, according to a report by The Times.

The New York Times has an article by an economist doing the maths on the process of dating and dating success.

Men talk more than women overall, but not in all circumstances, according to a new study covered by Science Daily.

A forthcoming science series called Curious has launched their website with video clips of some interesting neuroscience stuff.

BBC Radio 4's Case Notes has a special on chronic fatigue syndrome.

BBC News report on more evidence that a healthy diet cuts Alzheimer's risk.

PLoS One has an interesting paper on how gene expression in the human hippocampus differs in cocaine users compared to others.

Dr Petra analyses the Sex Addiction Screening Test and discovers it's not been validated despite being widely used.

Teaching children philosophy brings persistent, long-term cognitive benefits, according to a study reported by the BPS Research Digest.

—Vaughan.

November 09, 2007

2007-11-09 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Neurocritic covers a fascinating study that modelled group interest for new web information. Full text: pdf.

Call for a ban on controversial 'Dolphin Assisted Therapy'. Controversial or just completely bizarre?

Brain Waves covers the top 10 neuroscience trends of 2007.

Activity is reduced in visual areas to direct activation toward hearing areas when we're trying to listen to complex sounds, according to a new study covered by BBC News.

The New Republic has an in-depth review of a new book on the biology of altruism.

A study in this month's British Journal of Psychiatry found that people with schizophrenia can be more logical than people without a psychiatric diagnosis.

The Scientific American Mind Matters blog covers some of the highlights of the Society for Neuroscience annual conference.

The BPS Research Digest looks at a study on psychiatrists who treat themselves for mental illness.

The LA Times has an in-depth and important article entitled 'Are we too quick to medicate children?'

Van Gogh and the history of manic depression is discussed by The Neurophilosopher.

BBC News reports on an intriguing new genetic study of epilepsy: two genes are known individually to increase the chance of having a seizure, but carrying both makes epilepsy less likely.

A study finds further evidence that genetics has a role in determining sexual orientation in men.

PsyBlog discusses the false consensus bias and why we all stink as intuitive psychologists.

The Guardian reports on a study that suggest love at first sight is just sex and ego. Presumably, only if you do it right though.

Amygdala abnormalities linked to violent aggression in a study covered by Treatment Online.

Developing Intelligence reports that an artificial intelligence model of speech recognition develops what seem to be the equivalent of mirror neurons.

How we understand what doctors say can be quite different, even when they use the same words, depending on how serious we think the illness is. Cognitive Daily covers a fantastic applied psychology study.

—Vaughan.

November 02, 2007

2007-11-02 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Holy Grail of memory: researchers identify brain waves that distinguish false memories from real ones. The downside, you need to have your skull opened and electrodes implanted into your brain. Full paper: pdf.

ABC Radio has science teacher Dr Berry Billingsley discussing her life with Harry, her nine-year-old son who has Asperger's syndrome.

PsyBlog tackles a bizarre but charming experiment on tickling.

The NYT reviews Sacks's new book Musicophilia.

Brain Dynamics Underlying the Nonlinear Threshold for Access to Consciousness. Rooaaarrrr!! Hardcore consciousness research in PLoS Biology.

Wired go inside the world's only plant-intelligence lab. [Roll your own George Bush joke here].

Video of some of the most fundamental (and smallest) aspects of learning in the brain are captured on video and explained by Pure Pedantry.

A couple on fear:
* Neurophilosophy examines the neurobiology of fear.
* That Nearly Scared Me to Death! Let's Do It Again. Wired looks at why we can enjoy being frightened.

Salon discusses what psychology tells us about our seemingly inbuilt prejudices and how to overcome them.

A cool new visual illusion is discovered by Mixing Memory.

Can you use your 'gut instinct' to find things faster? Cognitive Daily investigates and sports the spiffy new 'blogging on peer review research' icon.

Eric Schwitzgebel has a short, sweet and endearingly appropriate epitaph for a philosopher.

—Vaughan.

October 26, 2007

2007-10-26 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

BPS Research Digest has an article on the secret to remembering material long-term.

Dennis Brain has a posse, sorry, orchestra.

Mixing Memory discusses the psychology of women in maths, science, and engineering.

A transcript of R.D. Laing interviewing Van Morrison in 1986. Personally, I'm still waiting for Thomas Szasz to interview the Spice Girls.

Why do some babies talk sooner than others? The mighty Cognitive Daily investigates.

The Washington Post reports on a US Government committee who have concluded that only exposure therapy is known to be effective in treating PTSD. Presumably the Cochrane report on psychological treatments for PTSD escaped them at the time.

Newsweek has a report and video on a case of 'multiple personality disorder' which is remarkable largely for the fact that it tells us our concepts about the condition have barely moved on since the famous cases in the 70s.

The 'source of optimism' has not been found in the brain, but two brain areas have been identified which are relatively more active when positive events are imagined.

Furious Seasons notes the curios yoga-themed advertising campaign for antipsychotic ziprasidone (aka Geodon).

Lack of sleep makes it more difficult to manage negative emotions. This story got mangled by much of the press. BBC News did the best job, but it's probably best to read the original abstract.

PsyBlog reviews The Most Dangerous Animal, a book on war and human behaviour.

Lovely Francis Crick quote: "Any theory that fits all the facts is bound to be wrong since some of the facts will be misleading". James Watson is probably wishing he remembered this before putting his foot in his mouth about race and intelligence and subsequently losing his job.

The Phineas Gage Fan Club discusses a wonderfully clear schematic map of the visual cortex.

Just beautiful, if not slightly surreal. Neurophilosophy finds an online exhibition of photos from an abandoned soviet brain research lab.

—Vaughan.

October 23, 2007

Encephalon 34:

The 34th edition of the psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon has just arrived with the best in the last fortnight's mind and brain writing.

On this occasion it's hosted by the Distributed Neuron blog, which is part of an ambitious project to create biologically inspired neural network technology.

A couple of my favourites in this edition of Encephalon include depictions of Alice in Wonderland syndrome in migraine-inspired art and an article that considers claims that differences in executive function are almost entirely inherited.

Needless to say, there's much more in the complete edition.

Link to Encephalon 34.

—Vaughan.

October 19, 2007

2007-10-19 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Third time lucky? After the third time time, it's seemingly not luck, because we think it's a pattern, according to research covered by the BPS Research Digest.

Why has Steven Pinker studied verbs for 20 years? Discover magazine publishes an interview and sets up a great feed for a joke. If only I could think of the punchline. Answers on a postcard...

BBC News on findings that fearful faces are recognised faster that happy faces.

The science of truthiness: gossip triumphs over facts in people's financial decision making, reports The New York Times.

The Phineas Gage Fan Club examines the psychophysics of audiophiles and the limitations of human hearing.

Blood flow may be part of the brain's information processing system, suggests a new paper in the Journal of Neurophysiology.

ABC Radio National's Ockham's Razor on the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on doctors.

Neurophilosophy finds more of the wonderful neurology of Alice in Wonderland: depictions of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome in migraine art.

Friends not sympathetic about your hangover? Banish those easily dismissable subjective impressions with the first psychometrically valid hangover scale.

Cognitive dissonance, one of the most important findings in social psychology, is discussed by PsyBlog.

The LA Times looks at research which has found that we get happier as we age, contrary to media stereotypes.

Yahoo! News on a study that finds that swearing at work can boost team spirit and morale. Running in corridors found to improve productivity.

Psychiatric assessments via video link are just as accurate as face to face consultations, reports Treatment Online.

Language Log brings some sense to the Neanderthals had 'speech gene' story that's been doing the rounds.

—Vaughan.

October 12, 2007

2007-10-12 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Alternatives to the 'war on drugs' are discussed by Foreign Policy magazine.

Language Log picks up on a startling new discovery from Dr Alfred Crokus's lab: the corpus callosum is the 'caring membrane' in the brain. Will wonders never cease?

The Neurocritic has a fantastic article on the neuroscience of social norms.

ABC Radio National's The Health Report has a special on drugs and the teenage mind.

Neurophilosophy discovers some beautiful and striking memory art.

Is shyness a mental illness? PsyBlog considers whether diagnosis has gone too far and discusses how to overcome shy feelings.

New Scientist reports on a study that has found that seemingly spontaneous brain activity causes spontaneous mistaykes.

BPS Research Digest reports on an interesting study that differing attitudes about an individual's place in society in Asian and American people can affect reasoning about time and place.

Oliver Sacks's soon-to-be-released book 'Musicophilia' is reviewed by Slate.

PsychCentral has some important information on signs that someone might be suicidal.

Research finds a link between certain genes and risk of suicide after antidepressant use, according to a piece in Science News.

Deric Bownd's discusses an interesting new study on the neuroscience of consciousness.

Fox News headline "Brain Found in Bag Outside Virginia Apartment Complex". Quite unlike all those simple ones that have been found recently.

A recent study on spontaneous laughing and crying that can occur after a stroke is discussed by Corpus Callosum.

Epilepsy drug topiramate helps alcoholics quit the bottle according to a new study picked up by New Scientist.

Treatment Online reports that people with anorexia may have an altered sense of taste.

Video games may reduce gender gap in spatial ability. Cognitive Daily find and explain another cool study.

—Vaughan.

October 10, 2007

Encephalon 33 hits the tubes:

The 33rd edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just appeared on GNIF Brain Blogger and has the latest in the last fortnight's mind and brain debates.

A couple of my favourites include a discussion of a recent study on how doctors learn to control their empathy for others' pain at crucial moments, and one on the possibilities of gene therapy for Huntingdon's disease.

There's plenty more in the latest edition so have a browse through to get the whole range of articles and commentary.

Link to Encephalon 33.

—Vaughan.

October 05, 2007

2007-10-05 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Frederick Frese, legendary Professor of Psychology and Clinical Psychiatry, discusses his life with schizophrenia.

Mathematical modelling of movement finds clear differences between people with and without depression, reports The Economist.

The Moustrap covers a study finding that the brain shows similarities in the way that it handles tunes that violate our expectations of melody, and words that violate our expectations of sentences.

Is Alzheimer's disease a form of diabetes? A striking hypothesis based on new findings in brain physiology.

The New York Times reports on a new study finding that cognitive behavioural therapy is likely to be a key treatment for depressed children and adolescents.

Retrospectacle discusses the curious case of Phineas Gage.

Britain's youngest female brain surgeon, Dr (Ms?) Gelareh Zadeh, 35, introduces day-patient neurosurgery to the NHS.

A fantastic child psychology triple bill:

1) Cognitive Daily has another wonderful try-it-yourself article: Infants perceive language sounds differently by age 6 months.

2) Are infants born with a spider detection mechanism? Mixing Memory continues the child psychology theme.

3) Developing Intelligence finds that children produce less false memories with a method that has a strong effect in adults.

Has the digital word altered how the brain reads text? An article in the International Herald Tribune ponders the question.

I am not a number — I am a free man! Raymond Tallis argues that free will is not an illusion in Spiked Magazine.

Furious Seasons notes that drug company Bristol Myers Squibb pays $515 million to the US Department of Justice to settle a case over unauthorised 'off-label' promotion of its flagship antipsychotic medication.

Can we selectively reduce the impact of traumatic memories? SciAm's Mind Matters blog investigates.

Three-Toed Sloth has an in-depth discussion of the debate over whether IQ is inherited. If you're in a hurry, the summary is at the end.

PsyBlog critiques a recent dodgy news report suggesting that 'conscientiousness' may ward off Alzheimer's.

—Vaughan.

September 28, 2007

2007-09-28 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

TechReview has an article on teaching computers to have meaningful conversations. Presumably, teaching humans is going to be the next step.

Neurons avoid talking to themselves by using 19,000 forms of one gene, reports Ars Technia.

How moving your eyes in a specific way can help you solve a complex problem without even realizing it. An interesting study tackled in an article by OmniBrain and one by Mixing Memory

The Boston News discusses how digital technology gives us an almost permanent and sometimes uncomfortably long surrogate memory.

Neurophilosophy covers a case where a stroke causes a woman to feel sounds.

Happiness is a Warm Electrode. Popular Science magazine discusses deep brain stimulation treatment for severe depression.

Cognitive Daily asks why aren't there more women in science and maths by looking at three key studies.

The New York Times asks why men are happier than women. Language Log asks why the NYT are overselling the statistics.

PsychCentral picks up on what looks like a great event in NYC: Comedians for suicide prevention.

Law professor Elyn Sacks' new book on her experience of psychosis is reviewed on PsyBlog.

Treatment Online features a fMRI technique that may help the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

Is it rational to do no harm? The Phineas Gage Fan Club investigates.

Ouroboros reports back from a Cambridge conference on effective therapies for postponing and treating the problems of human ageing.

What influences false recall? Developing Intelligence looks at a recent study which picks apart the processes.

—Vaughan.

September 24, 2007

Encephalon 32 arrives:

Edition 32 of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been published on Living the Scientific Life.

A couple of my favourites include an article on foreign accent syndrome and another on the cerebellum as the cause of dyslexia.

Head on over for plenty more scientific curiosities from the internet's best mind and brain writers.

Link to Encephalon 32.

—Vaughan.

September 21, 2007

2007-09-21 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

SharpBrains has an interview with cognitive behaviour therapy guru Judith Beck about using CBT for effective dieting.

Wired wonders whether EEG-based brain-to-game interfaces may mess with our heads.

Hard-up students: Aren't there a lot of psychology textbooks on torrent servers these days? Just sayin'

Genes which raise risk for schizophrenia have likely been positively selected for during evolution, reports SciAm.

The BPS Research Digest reports that having a pen in your mouth impairs your ability to recognise emotions in others, as you're not as good at mirroring their facial expression.

Sally Satel discusses the early rumblings over the new DSM (due out 2012) in The New York Times.

NPR has an interesting programme on the the application of mathematics to tracking social networks of terrorists.

A lovely snippet from Cognitive Daily: more evidence that everyone has a little synesthesia.

Pinker's working the crowd: An NPR radio interview on the new book, and Discover Magazine interview on the same.

Can information be directed to different networks in the brain depending on the "transmission frequency", like the channels on a TV? Developing Intelligence investigates.

Forget troubled teens. The New York Times reports on baby boomers behaving badly.

To the bunkers! Further evidence that Skynet is about to become sentient:
* AIs set loose in virtual worlds to 'hone their skills'.
* Reason Magazine will be saying 'I told you so' when AIs keep us as pets!

OmniBrain notes that the 2008 Visual Illusion Contest is open and accepting entries.

Track the performance of the neurotech industry!

Dr Petra discusses a recent study that asked teens about their definition of virginity - which is remarkably variable.

US Government outsources their wacky mind-control fantasies to Russia.

Analyse the negative, bask in the positive. PsyBlog has some evidence-based advice for increasing life satisfaction.

PsychCentral notes that the APA have earmarked $7.6 million ($7.6 million!) to upgrade their website over the next two years. PsychologicalReviewTube to be launched in 2009.

Pure Pedantry has found some beautiful pictures of the pre-synapse.

—Vaughan.

September 14, 2007

2007-09-14 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Female drug reps turn up surprisingly often as contestants on reality TV. Likely due to the fact that pharma companies make a point of hiring persuasively beautiful young women, such as cheerleaders and beauty queens.

Review of Pinker's new book slams 'The Edifice of Pinkerism'. What a great name for a metal band!

BBC News reports on a randomised controlled trial that found that common food additives increase levels of hyperactivity in children.

Also from BBC News, depression associated with worse overall health.

The New York Times looks at some recent studies which show shown a small but significant link between the reduction in antidepressant prescribing and increase in youth suicide. Other data is more mixed, however.

Yahoo! News has a remarkably in-depth article on the difficulties of US soldiers returning home with brain injuries.

The Wilson Quarterly has a review of 'Second Nature: Brain Science and Human Knowledge' by neurobiologist Gerald M. Edelman.

Delusional social networkers: A study I did a while ago gets picked up by Three Toed Sloth.

The Menstrual Joy Questionnaire: The Guardian takes a look at one of the more curious corners of psychology research.

SciAm Mind Matters discusses 'Saying no to yourself: the neural mechanisms of self-control'.

Interesting reading pattern discovered: When reading, each eye is focused on a different letter for approximately 50% of the time.

The LA Times has more on Elyn Saks, a successful law professor who lives with schizophrenia.

Scientists Spot Brain's 'Free Willy' Center. Just the title made me laugh out loud. More from Neurocritic on the neuroscience of free will.

The technique is new, but the finding isn't: 3D face scans show distinctive facial structure for certain genetic syndromes. Media mangle the science, scientist loses his rag.

AddictionInfo has a section of articles on the history of the 'disease model' of addiction.

ScienceDaily with the rather optimistic headline 'brain network related to intelligence identified'.

Brief description of Capgras Syndrome in the NYT. Contrary to the author's surprise it's actually fairly common in older people with dementia and psychosis.

PsychCentral lists the Top 10 bipolar blogs.

Charity Autism Speaks created the traumatic 'Autism Every Day' advert. Some people with autism reply with the sardonic 'Neurotypicalism Every Day' video.

—Vaughan.

September 12, 2007

PsychAntenna switches on:

PsychAntenna is a database of RSS feeds from psychology and neuroscience resources from all over the internet so you can search and gather sites news to create your own custom news channel.

It includes a wide selection of news websites, but also indexes podcasts, academic journals and blogs.

The site has been created by Australian psychologist Dr Gareth Furber - the same person behind the popular PsychSplash website.

Link to PsychAntenna.

—Vaughan.

September 10, 2007

Encephalon 31 pitches up:

Psychology and neuroscience carnival, Encephalon, has just been posted online by Dr Deborah Serani and contains some of the best in the last fortnight's mind and brain writing.

A couple of my favourites include a piece on the possible natural selection of genes that increase risk for schizophrenia and an excellent analysis of the popular but simplistic 'triune brain theory' (it is responsible for the overused and largely meaningless phrase 'reptilian brain').

Whenever I hear something like "every time you get aggressive, your reptilian brain kicks in", I think to myself, "that's weird, I don't own any reptiles".

There's many more insightful articles in edition 31, so have a browse and see what catches your interest.

Link to Encephalon 31.

—Vaughan.

September 07, 2007

2007-09-07 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

ADHD is so last season: 4000% increase in US 'child bipolar' diagnosis.

BBC Radio 4's science programme The Material World spends a week with students at the psychology summer school.

Science News lists caffeine levels in almost all the popular soft drinks.

I've been digging Deric Bownd's MindBlog recently. You should too.

An article in The New York Times reports that a new schizophrenia drug that targets glutamate, rather than the traditional dopamine, shows promise in early trials.

Philosopher Colin McGinn, champion of the New Mysterian school of consciousness (aka the Private James Frazer approach) has a blog.

PsyBlog examines a fascinating study which examined the writing of poets who later killed themselves to get an insight into suicide.

Yet another speed dating study. This one suggests that men select every woman above an obtainable attractiveness threshold, women look for indicators of long-term security.

Science News tackles the effectiveness of school violence prevention programmes.

The BPS Research Digest discovers free full-text access to Sage neuroscience journals.

NPR Radio have a short segment on a recent brain scanning study of the placebo effect.

Time magazine reports that sleep deprivation in early life may lead to future behavioral and cognitive problems.

An article on social engineering tricks drug reps use to persuade doctors to use their drugs. Industry responds with 'other industries do the same' and 'we just present the facts' lines. Well, which is it?

—Vaughan.

August 17, 2007

2007-08-17 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

First online mental illness support group in Hong Kong launches!

Cognitive Daily uncovers a lovely study that finds that conversational partners coordinate eye movements and nose-scratching.

Dr Petra analyses the recent research showing a link between breast implants and suicide.

The Guardian releases mp3s of the originals tapes of Susan Blackmore's 'conversation on consciousness' with Daniel Dennett, Francis Crick and V.S. Ramachandran.

The New York Times beams light to alter brain function.

Flashing the cash or saving the world can both be ways of attracting a mate, reports The Economist.

More from The Economist: a short article on how the brain develops important networks during childhood and adolescence.

The Frontal Cortex picks out some interesting aspects of the Flynn Effect - the fact that IQ seems to rise from generation to generation.

Nick Bostrom's at it again with his simulation argument: The New York Times asks whether we're living in a computer simulation. AI to be renamed AAI.

Not cyber enough for you? The Times looks body and brain mods and labels us the 'Blade Runner generation'.

PsyBlog examines research on the hidden purpose of chat-up lines.

Zen and the Art of Coping With Alzheimer's: The New York Times looks at ways of dealing with challenging behaviour in dementia.

The awkwardly named but excellent Ouroboros has been, well, excellent, recently.

10 out of 10 for the patronising headline: New Scientist reports that 'puppy love makes teenagers lose the plot'.

The Wall Street Journal argues that too many studies use college students as participants.

Low voltage current delivered to the head can cut down alcohol craving, reports Neuromod Blog.

—Vaughan.

August 14, 2007

Encephalon 29 rolls into town:

The 29th edition of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been published on the ever erudite Memoirs of a Postgrad.

A couple of my favourites include a post on an American football team using the discredited 'Mozart effect' to boost performance, and a review of a paper showing that caffeine perks you up more effectively as you get older.

This edition includes a wide range of articles, so check it out if you're interested what's been occupying the minds of cognitive science writers during the last fortnight.

Link to Encephalon 29.

—Vaughan.

August 10, 2007

2007-08-10 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

NPR has a radio show about a new book on 'cognitive dissonance', the process that motivates us to resolve conflicts between our thoughts and actions.

Mixing Memory has a wonderfully insightful look at a recent study on mirror neurons, animacy, and gesture.

This is Your Brain on Love. The LA Times has an article on the neuroscience of attraction and companionship.

Scientific American has an article on how the brain parses music and pays attention.

An unusual skull boosts the human-neandertal interbreeding theory, reports National Geographic.

How optimistic should you feel about having your first baby? Cognitive Daily looks at how well expectant mothers are able to predict post-birth satisfaction.

BBC Radio 4 sociology programme Thinking Allowed investigates friendship networks in Amazon peoples and the social psychology of shame and stigma.

'Brain boosting' educational videos for babies and young children may actually slow vocabulary growth, reports Science.

Car Zimmer writes about cooperation as a principle of evolution in the New York Times.

The Economist profiles evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller

Dr Petra Boynton looks at a recent study that report self-professed reasons people gave for having sex.

Science tattoos! Carl Zimmer is collecting pictures scientists with work-related ink, including this image of a ~~development psychologist~~ auditory neurophysiologist with the Necker Cube on her arm.

In light of recent disturbance in the mortgage market, Frontal Cortex has an excellent analysis on the psychology of subprime mortgages.

—Vaughan.

August 03, 2007

2007-08-03 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

RadioLab has an edition on time, which includes a section with Oliver Sacks talking about patients with altered time perception.

Cannabis likely raises the risk of psychosis. Nothing we didn't already know and best to read the original paper [pdf] as the story went completely bizarre as soon as it hit the press. Also discussed on The Lancet podcast [mp3].

Scientific American covers a new theory about the role of spontaneous genetic mutation in risk for autism.

A Wired columnist tries online sex therapy and reports back.

Neurophilosopher has a great article on reconstructive memory and cinema.

My ex-gay life: New York Edge has an article by someone who went through modern-day 'gay conversion therapy'.

PsychMinded reports that a £16 million campaign to combat stigma related to mental illness has been launched in the UK.

What is guilt for? PsyBlog looks at psychological research which might provide the answer.

Blog around The Clock picks out a great selection of recent psychology news stories.

Verbal reassurance can dull the effect of pain, but only if it's from someone we identify with, reports the BPS Research Digest.

Retrospectacle has an excellent review of the neuroscience of ADHD.

—Vaughan.

August 02, 2007

Encephalon 28 arrives:

The 28th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been published at Bohemian Scientist.

A couple of my favourites include a review of two new books on neuroplasticity and a discussion of art, context and the brain.

There's plenty more diverse and in-depth articles, so head over for the best of the last fortnight's mind and brain analysis.

Link to Encephalon 28 at Bohemian Scientist.

—Vaughan.

July 27, 2007

2007-07-27 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Lifting someone's mood makes them more likely to believe in the supernatural, reports the APA.

New Scientist reports on research presented at a conference suggesting an oxytocin spray can boost the effect of cognitive therapy treatment for anxiety disorders.

A website called We Feel Fine tracks the mood of the internet.

Spatial brain circuits are used to track references during conversation, according to a new study published in Neuroreport.

How we know where our lost keys are. Scientific American investigates new findings on memory.

BBC News reports that the prescription of antidepressant drugs to children soars in the UK.

Obese girls less likely to attend college but weight and body size does not influence college attendance in boys, finds study published in Sociology of Education.

Another good obituary for cognitive therapy pioneer Albert Ellis, this time in the LA Times.

BBC News reports that a study on the health effects of mobile phone masts finds (wait for it) no link between emissions and symptoms (just like all the others).

Scientific American reports obesity more common in people with obese friends, and study finds the strength of friendship seems to be key.

The Guardian has an interesting piece on the difficulty of applying population-derived violence predictions to individuals. Original study abstract here.

New Scientist has a story on a poker playing computer that only narrowly lost to two pros.

Stephen Pinker writes in defense of dangerous ideas.

—Vaughan.

July 20, 2007

2007-07-20 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

NPR has a special radio programme on an Iraqi psychiatrist, now resident in the USA, looking back to his work in the war-torn state.

OmniBrain gathers together a whole list of neuroscience sites for kids. Yay!

New Scientist reports on how a new brain scanning study gives clues to how we suppress traumatic memories.

Neurophilosophy looks at the psychology of Hitchcock's movies.

New research study suggests there may be two distinct brain networks affected by Parkinson's disease and a Science News article investigates why smokers are less likely to develop the condition.

Cognitive Daily looks at research on how children perceive motion.

New Scientist investigates how people from different cultures might differ in their ability to take others' perspective.

I'm not as slim as that girl: The Neurocritic looks at a recent review on the effect of viewing thin models on body image concerns in women.

A Stroke Association survey find that only 33% of people are aware that stroke causes immediate brain damage (in fact, it is immediate brain damage).

Why are people more likely to fight when they're drunk? Pure Pedantry investigates.

Language Log finds some Chomsky-themed breakfast cereal.

—Vaughan.

July 17, 2007

Encephalon 27 dashes by:

A somewhat telegraphic 27th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just been published on the new clean look Neurocontrarian blog.

A couple of my favourites include a brief investigation into a new skin patch to deliver drugs to patients with Alzheimer's disease, and an article on punishment, morality and game theory, which sounds quite kinky now I come to think about it.

Needless to say, there's plenty more kinky-sounding but scientifically respectable articles at the link below.

Link to Encephalon 27.

—Vaughan.

July 13, 2007

2007-07-13 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

For Certain Tasks, the Cortex Still Beats the CPU. Completely banal title obscures quite an interesting article on 'human processing' in computer tasks.

Research suggests the biggest influence on how responsive we feel our partners are is actually how we respond to our partners.

The Washington Post reports on research linking the decline in criminal activity to a reduction in environmental lead poisoning.

People with autism do far better in certain non-verbal cognitive tests than you might expect from their IQ. Actually, similar findings, showing an advantage for visuospatial tasks, have been reported before.

CNN reports that antidepressants are the most prescribed drugs in U.S.

Dr Jerome Groopman writes in The New York Times about the cognitive biases that can lead to medical errors.

More on the 'disease model' of addiction: Dr Nora Volkow talks about the neuroscience of addiction on an NPR radio special.

Can nicotine be modified to make a useful cognitive enhancer? Wired investigates.

—Vaughan.

Hypnosis redux:

Thanks to everyone who came along to discuss the neuropsychology of hypnosis last night. For anyone who wants to investigate further, here's more on the psychology and neuroscience of hypnotic states.

Scientific American has a fantastic article on 'The Truth and the Hype of Hypnosis' that tackles some of the myths and covers some of the key scientific research.

Psychologist and hypnosis researcher Dr Peter Naish did a great talk last year on the science of hypnosis for the Dana Centre which is available online as an archived video webcast.

WNYC's RadioLab had a special on placebo and the power of suggestion, which, to be fair, is light on science and heavy on anecdote, although it does make for an interesting listen.

And finally, Dr Matt Whalley's site is a great guide to science of hypnosis. I keep mentioning it, because, well, it's excellent.

—Vaughan.

July 09, 2007

Wellcome galleries of the mind and brain:

Biomedical research charity the Wellcome Trust have made their image library available online. Searching for 'brain' or 'psychology' images produces hundreds of wonderful pictures from both the cutting edge of cognitive science and neurological investigations from times past.

All the images have been released under a Creative Commons licence, so you can use them without charge for non-commercial purposes.

It's a really wonderful collection from both a scientific and artistic viewpoint and is enormously good fun to explore.

Link to front page of Wellcome Images (via BoingBoing).

—Vaughan.

July 06, 2007

2007-07-06 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Times looks at the effects and treatment of childhood depression.

Sweet smells make pain more tolerable according to research covered by Mixing Memory.

The study that reported that older child had slightly higher IQ than younger children is examined and criticised by Slate.

Is synaesthesia more prevalent than previously thought? asks Cognitive Daily.

Texas prevented from executing (yet another) mentally ill prisoner by the US Supreme Court, reports the The New York Times. Most surprisingly, he was originally allowed to defend himself when obviously psychotic.

New Scientist reports that the current level of testosterone affects men's judgments of fairness

Is there a specific electrical brain signal linked to face recognition? The Phineas Gage Fan Club investigates.

Yawning cools the brain say researchers in The New York Times.

OmniBrain finds some clay models of sensory and motor homunculi. If you don't know what they are, have a look!

BBC News reports that contrary to popular belief, men and women speak roughly the same amount. If you follow Language Log, it's old news of course.

—Vaughan.

July 05, 2007

The REVERB project:

A.k.a part of my day job. I've written a short article introducing the project. The last line summarises it pretty well (I think!)

"The goal is to reverse-engineer the computational principles that the brain uses to multi-task", says Dr Gurney, "and to show that they work in practice, not just in theory, by incorporating them in a robot. In a sense, we're trying to work out the real-time operating system of our own minds."

You can read more about REVERB here and the rest of my article here

—tom.

July 02, 2007

Encephalon 26 - one year birthday:

Issue 26 of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon has just been published on the Neurophilosophy blog, returning to where it first started for its first anniversary.

It also coincides with the blog joining the ScienceBlogs fraternity and what better way to celebrate its new home.

A couple of my favourites include an 1880 article from The New York Times which claims that the right hemisphere of the brain is less developed than the left because babies tend to squash the brain by sleeping on their right sides, and one on the recent publication of the 'cognitive health roadmap'.

There's a whole range of other articles, so check it out to see what else is on the menu.

Link to Encephalon 26.

—Vaughan.

June 29, 2007

2007-06-29 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Couple of good radio shows on philosophy: In Our Time on the history of 'common sense philosophy' and The Philosopher's Zone has a special on the late Richard Rorty.

When do children think wishes can come true? Mixing Memory examines a psychology study that aimed to find out.

Scientific American investigates the neuroscience of irrationality and economic decision-making.

New Hitachi 'brain-machine interface' uses infrared light to read brain activity.

Prospect Magazine has a short article on the psychology of suicide bombers.

Experts say video games are not an addiction. Pope still catholic.

Why do we find it harder to recognise faces of other races than our own? Cognitive Daily looks at the influence of experience.

Supporters of 'child bipolar disorder' champion write to the Boston Herald with a strong defence of his work.

New Scientist covers a virtual world that can be explored through the power of thought (with video).

Wired looks at some of the revelations about behavioural control studies from recently de-classified CIA documents.

When brain damage helps. Developing Intelligence looks at a study that found that patients with frontal lobe damage actually do better on some reasoning tasks.

If there such a thing as photographic memory? Scientific American 'asks the expert'.

The excellent NYC radio show RadioLab has a special on Memory and Forgetting, featuring a well-known science blogger.

—Vaughan.

June 22, 2007

2007-06-22 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Science reports that forced donations activate brain areas associated with altruism.

The New York Times reports that half of all continuing medical education courses in the United States are now paid for by drug companies and are often little more than marketing exercises.

The Neurophilosopher finds some beautiful antique brain anatomy drawings.

Men react more positively to children with facial appearance resembling themselves, suggesting genetic relatedness, while women's reactions are more influenced by healthy looks.

Pure Pedantry has some fascinating analysis of some 80,000 year-old ornaments.

More coverage on the long-term neurological effects of concussion in NFL players from The New York Times.

Did Hitler have syphilis? Wild speculation abounds in a recent psychiatry conference presentation.

Research has consistently found that materialism makes you unhappy, but The New York Times reports that it may not make you better off either.

What makes a movement seem artificial? Cognitive Daily looks at how we perceive movements in computer animations.

Self-effacing people are secretly confident, suggest new study on the differences between declared and inner self-esteem.

Backlash over child bipolar disorder: Scathing articles published in the SF Chronicle and Boston Globe.

Mixing Memory published an gripping article on the psychology of metaphors that generated two great follow-ups.

Discover Magazine looks at the new generation of aptitude measurements in psychology that hope to go beyond IQ.

—Vaughan.

June 15, 2007

2007-06-15 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The New York Times has an article on the controversial diagnosis of sensory integration disorder.

Simon Baron-Cohen writes on The Biology of the Imagination in Entelechy magazine.

Neanderthals were less likely to be mentally ill according to some speculative research.

The Society for Neuroscience has a useful list of online neuroscience databases.

Alzheimer's disease may quadruple by 2050 according to projections in a recent study.

A psychologist claims he spotted a live dinosaur in 1971. You read it here first.

Hugs are more effective for comforting women, words better for men, according to a new study reported in The Independent.

MeFi features the art of Alexander Pavlovich Lobanov, Russian deaf-mute confined to psychiatric institutions for over 50 years.

A funny letter in this week's New Scientist warns about the tragedy of Juvenile Obnoxiousness Disorder.

Developing Intelligence investigates the autobiographical blur between fantasy and reality.

Women are more likely to be attracted to men who share physical similarities with their father but only if they had a good relationship with him, reports Live Science.

PsyBlog covers a curious study on how the speed and flow of men's urination in a public lavatory was affected by invasions of personal space.

BBC News has an article on Couvade syndrome, where men experience physical symptoms associated with pregnancy.

The Phineas Gage Fan Club finds a wonderful demonstration of diffusion tensor imaging - a brain scanning technology that maps white matter connections in the brain.

—Vaughan.

June 08, 2007

2007-06-08 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

A Polish man wakes up from a 19 year 'coma' and is remarkably functional (with video).

New Scientist reports that folic acid could protect against strokes.

From last year's NeuroFest: A puppet show about autism called 'The Boy Who Wanted to be a Robot' is available on YouTube - part 1 and part 2.

The Mouse Trap has an insightful discussion on the psychology and neuroscience of imagination.

Advert for the London 2012 Olympics triggers seizures in some people with epilepsy. No word on the headaches caused by the logo.

Neuroscience video blog Channel N has found some vintage footage of neuroimaging experiments.

Research covered by New Scientist suggests that forgetfulness is a tool of the brain. Also see the case of Solomon Shereshevskii, a man studied by A.R. Luria, who had a problem with not being able to forget.

The Neurophilosopher finds some wonderful antique brain illustrations.

Brain injuries raise risk of Alzheimer's disease, reports New Scientist.

CNN report on advances in neuroprothetics: Surfing the web with nothing but brainwaves.

The US Military are working on a humanoid battlefield robot to rescue fallen soldiers.

Providentia notes that the American Psychological Association are to review gay conversion therapy policy.

Furious Seasons notes Eli Lilly's sudden interest in funding a charity who train dogs to help depressed people since they've released an anti-depressant for canines.

In other animal news: Cognitive Daily find previously suppressed evidence of Pavlov's cat.

—Vaughan.

June 06, 2007

Encephalon 24 is released:

The 24th edition of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon has just been published at psychology blog The Phineas Gage Fan Club.

A couple of my favourites include a post on deep brain electrode recordings from the human nucleus accumbens and a post on a psychological sex differences study run on 200,000 participants (wow).

For more articles, on everything from law to neural information storage, follow the link below for the full edition.

Link to Encephalon 24.

—Vaughan.

June 01, 2007

2007-06-01 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

A disquieting feeling of strangeness?: Just found this great 2001 paper on the 'the art of the mentally ill' on PubMedCentral.

Brain scan can predict response to antidepressants, reports New Scientist.

Neurophilosophy has an excellent article on famous amnesia case HM.

Pesticides 'up Parkinson's risk' according to BBC News.

Scientific American reports that Scottish scientists uncover a striking link between genes for brain size and tonality in spoken language.

Developing Intelligence investigates the neuroscience of imagination.

Forbes profile a cognitive scientist. Still no word from Hello magazine.

The rate of diagnosed clinical depression among retired American football players is strongly correlated with the number of concussions they sustained, reports The New York Times.

Pure Pedantry looks at research on storing computer information in biological neurons.

Young children can crudely add and subtract numbers before they have learned the rules of arithmetic, reports Scientific American.

Brain Ethics highlight a new book by the widely liked and respected neuroscientist, Chris Frith.

—Vaughan.

May 25, 2007

2007-05-25 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The BPS Research Digest reports on yet another study on the cognitive benefits of meditation.

CrimePsychBlog picks up on an interesting study on the etiology of the psychopathic serial killer.

Core cognitive ability is mostly developed before adolescence, reports SciAm.

Accidental Mind has some illustrated brain notecards to download.

ABC Radio National's Health Report has a special on Alzheimer's disease, testosterone and the ageing brain.

Developing Intelligence investigates the neural basis of planning abilities.

The use of oxygen just after a stroke may actually harm the brain rather than help it, suggests a new study reported in SciAm.

Companies tune in to the potential of sound for marketing, reports The Economist.

A couple of interesting news stories on the treatment of mental illness in the US military are picked up by Corpus Callosum.

Wired report on new commercial prototypes for 'home use' magnetic brain stimulators.

A perceptual deficiency may make us better foragers, suggests research expertly covered by Cognitive Daily.

SciAm investigates the effects of having half the brain surgically removed.

—Vaughan.

May 22, 2007

Encephalon 23 arrives:

The 23rd edition of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon has just been published, this time ably hosted by Madam Fathom.

A couple of my favourites include a fantastic article on inducing slow wave sleep by stimulating the brain with magnets - from the wonderfully named Phineas Gage Fan Club, and some excellent coverage from The Neurocritic on an intriguing theory about how higher cognitive functions might be organised in the brain.

If you want more of the latest musings from the internet's keenest mind and brain writers, you know where to go.

Link to Encephalon 23.

—Vaughan.

May 18, 2007

2007-05-18 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Discover magazine interview Marc Hauser about the psychology of moral reasoning.

Mixing Memory picks up on an article tracking the history of the concept of mind.

The Guardian has an opinion piece by an NHS psychologist arguing that psychosis is over-medicalised.

ABC Radio National's discussion programme Ockham's Razor takes an in-depth look at auditory processing deficits.

The Neurophilosopher investigates the curious case of the anarchist's pickled brain.

BBC News reports on research suggesting women have lower sex drives in secure relationships.

People with levels of testosterone are more likely to feel rewarded by other people's anger, reports Science Daily.

What is a neural network and how does its operation differ from that of a digital computer? Scientific American 'asks the expert'.

The sight of the female body is more rewarding for men, than the sight of the male body is for women, according to research reported in The Telegraph.

Madam Fathom looks at the increasing cross over between neuroscience and economics.

Sarin gas may have affected brains of US soldiers, according to The New York Times.

More cool visual illusions from Cognitive Daily.

BBC News notes that antidepressant use in the UK rose 6% during the last year.

—Vaughan.

May 11, 2007

2007-05-11 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

One I missed a while ago: Developing Intelligence looks at a paper that actually attempts to define consciousness (rather than relying on the usual "we all know what we're talking about, don't we?" definition).

The Toronto Globe and Mail reports on research suggesting that doing good deeds improves our health.

Marriages are slightly more likely to end in divorce when the couple have daughters, according to research covered by Slate.

The Globe and Mail investigates the effect of the higher rates of Alzheimer's disease in people with Down Syndrome.

Amateur boxers have higher levels of neurofilament light in their cerebrospinal fluid after fights, suggesting they suffer some level of brain damage despite the protective head gear.

Study shows greater amygdala activity in response to fearful faces in people who were closer to the 9/11 disaster.

Another study on the psychological benefits of meditation: it may fine-tune control over attention.

The LA Times reports that some US states still happy to execute people with intellectual disabilities.

InQuisitive Mind, a new online social psychology magazine has been launched.

—Vaughan.

May 04, 2007

2007-05-04 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Deep brain stimulation research continues with trials of DBS for memory problems and as a way of implanting artificial vision systems.

ABC Radio National's The Philosopher's Zone takes a look at the philosophy of art and emotion.

Cognitive Daily has a demo and explanation of how we learn to keep track of multiple moving objects.

The Observer reports on a study suggesting that girls with more feminine names are least likely to go into maths and science-based professions. See previously for other research on how our names influence behaviour.

Magnetic pulses may be able to trigger slow wave sleep in insomniacs, reports The Independent.

What neural mechanisms underlie "fluid intelligence? Developing Intelligence looks at one of the latest studies.

New Scientist reports that native speakers of Russian, which lacks a single word for "blue", discriminate between light and dark blues differently from native English speakers.

PsyBlog investigates research on sex differences in understanding non-verbal communication.

New Scientist reports that anatomical brain differences have been found in sufferers of the controversial 'Gulf War Syndrome'.

Research investigating implicit racial bias in NBA referees is analysed by Mixing Memory.

Wired has an article on the Pentagon showing their next-generation 'brain interfaced' electronic binoculars.

The Neurophilosopher has some fantastic coverage of the recent study that scanned the orginal brains that led Broca to discover Broca's Area and inspire the science of cognitive neuropsychology.

—Vaughan.

April 27, 2007

2007-04-27 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The BMJ had an fascinating editorial about the role of psychology in physical illness.

Deric Bownds discusses whether recursion a universal aspect of languages.

The Times Literary Supplement has a review of Hofstadter's new book on consciousness.

Scientists debate the limits of action for autonomous robots.

Newsweek on new brain research that may help explain why some people don't seem to learn from their mistakes.

Frontal Cortex discusses inequality and the perception of fairness.

Nature looks at a study that re-examined the two brains Paul Broca used to define the speech area now called Broca's Area, with some surprising results.

Jeremy from PsyBlog reports the results of his study on music and personality we featured previously.

Study finds that although intelligence predicts income, it doesn't predict wealth.

Scientific American ponders the scent of a man: pheromones from human males may be an important aspect of attraction.

The BPS Research Digest looks at a study that asked the question 'Can God make people more aggressive?'.

Cognitive Daily covers a study that used VR in a very creative way to understand the effect of eye gaze. The study created mutually exclusive social situations simultaneously experienced by all participants.

—Vaughan.

April 20, 2007

2007-04-20 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Cognitive Daily investigates the curious psychological effects of self-refilling bowls.

The San Francisco Chronicle discusses OCD from the perspective of a popular radio broadcaster and author who experiences the condition.

OmniBrain finds three auditory illusions you can try yourself.

Recent find of an old paper: Using Social Psychology to Motivate Contributions to Online Communities.

Does having more children make you happier? Frontal Cortex investigates.

BBC News looks at pharmaceutical drugs that may boost your brain power.

The Neurophilosopher commemorates the 64th birthday of LSD.

SciAm Mind Matters has a good review of a recent Science paper on visual processing. Scroll down to section entitled 'Selective Vision' (can't seem to link to individual entries).

Developing Intelligence looks at research on whether children understand time.

Consciousness in the single neuron. A new feature article on Science and Consciousness Review

Madame Fathom investigates part of why smoking may be so attractive despite the health risks: it's cognitive effects on the brain.

—Vaughan.

April 13, 2007

2007-04-13 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

More from Cardiff's Violence and Society Research Group: Wins, not defeats make fans more aggressive.

The New York Magazine has an in-depth article on research that has looked at the psychology of the boss in the workplace.

Retrospectacle examines new evidence that lactate may be a key in understanding how the brain responds to traumatic injury.

American Scientist reviews a series of books on morality, moral evolution and decision making.

A new blog called 'On the Brain' launches, written by a professor of neuroscience.

The genetic contribution to sexual orientation and sexuality is considered by an article in The New York Times.

The Neurophilosopher investigates recent research into alien abduction, reincarnation and memory errors.

Salon has an interview with Cathryn Jakobson Ramin, author of a new book on midlife memory loss.

—Vaughan.

April 09, 2007

Encephalon 20 hits the net:

The 20th edition of Encephalon has just been published containing the best in the last fortnight's mind and brain writing.

This edition is hosted by science writer Orli Van Mourik's blog Neurontic and has everything from a neurologist answering questions on computers and consciousness, to studies suggesting that the brain (particularly in mothers) may be specially attuned to the sound of baby cries.

There's plenty more similarly interesting science stories at the link below.

Link to Encephalon 20.

—Vaughan.

April 06, 2007

2007-04-06 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The New York Times has a fantastic article on non-medical ways of dealing with auditory hallucinations and the growing hearing voices movement.

Steven Pinker has been doing talks recently on the psychology of violence and published and article in Edge outlining his main arguments.

The Neurophilosopher has a great post on how the brain makes sense of complex visual scenes and hybrid images.

Frontal Cortex looks just published research suggesting that depression may be overdiagnosed.

The New York Times has an article and video on how families cope with epilepsy and the stigma which is sadly still attached to the disorder.

The Times reviews Zimabardo's new book The Lucifer Effect.

The Memory Hacker: Popular Science magazine looks at how one man is attempting to develop implantable chips to enhance memory function.

Time magazine is Getting Serious About Happiness in an article on the first PhD programme in positive psychology.

—Vaughan.

April 04, 2007

Review: Freedom & Neurobiology by John Searle:

John Searle will be known to most cognitive scientists as the man behind the famous Chinese Room thought experiment. This is based around the idea that a man in a room translating Chinese symbols with the aid of a rulebook does not understand Chinese, any more than a computer producing intelligent-like (understanding-like, consciousness-like) behaviour due to programming rules has intelligence (or understanding, or consciousness). Since I found this line of argument confused, and ultimately frustrating, I didn't expect to enjoy his new book 'Freedom & Neurobiology: Reflections of Free Will, Language and Political Power'. I didn't expect to, but I did.

This short book is made up of two separate lectures of Searle's, originally published in France, along with an extensive introduction. The introduction is Searle's tour through the history of philosophy, establishing the 'basic facts' as it were, to the point where we are now. A point at which we have dealt with many small problems and can now 'advance very general accounts of mind, language, rationality, society, etc.'. This 'large-scale philosophy' is possible, Searle argues, because of the unity of mind with biology, and, secondly and a consequence of this, the new openness within philosophy to accounting for empirical evidence (for a particularly choice quote from the introduction, see here).

True to this manifesto, Searle's two essays cover lots of ground. The first is 'Free Will as a problem in neurobiology', the second 'social ontology and political power'. Both are very readable, full of strong arguments and interesting observations. IANAP, but there is nothing of a the obtuse Searle of the Chinese Room that I was expecting, in fact 'Freedom & Neurobiology' makes me think that I should go back to the original Chinese Room argument and read it again. If this new book is anything to go by there is sure to be more clarity and subtly there than I remember.

—tom.

Link to this post | Comments (4)

March 30, 2007

psychophysics haiku:

From the Psychophysics Psyber Lab, it's Psychophysics Haiku!

Maybe there was one
But then on the other hand
Maybe there wasn't.

Silence is golden
Gaussian noise is for free
Which do you prefer?

And many more...

—tom.

2007-03-30 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The New York Times asks whether multi-tasking is a myth and explores the psychology of divided attention.

Developing Intelligence highlights 10 important differences between brains and computers.

Body position may affect memory for events, according to a study reviewed by Cognitive Daily

Slate looks at current theories of why we sleep - with podcast.

The BPS Research Digest reports on research indicating that depression is linked to impaired spatial ability.

PsyBlog outlines seven ways in which music influences mood.

The experience of people just diagnosed with Alzheimer's is explored by the New York Times.

Seed Magazine takes a sceptical look at some popular brain fitness software and investigates another claiming a genuine scientific pedigree.

The Neurophilosopher examines research that induced temporary number difficulties using magnets to influence brain function.

Has AI finally arrived with Numenta's new software release? An article from Read/Write Web investigates.

Neurofuture covers recent developments in retinal eye implants used to improve or restore vision.

—Vaughan.

March 26, 2007

Encephalon 19 arrives:

The 19th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has arrived, courtesy of psychology blog Peripersonal Space.

Some of my favourites include coverage of some scientific rough and tumble over the electrophysiology of neurons, and a look at a recent study on frontal lobe damage and moral judgements.

Link to Encephalon 19.

—Vaughan.

March 23, 2007

2007-03-23 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

A man with a sleep disorder that causes him to have violent outbursts in his sleep is discussed by BBC News.

Cognitive Daily asks whether "racing" video games cause reckless driving.

A computer that 'tunes in' to the user's mood and reacts emotionally is covered by New Scientist (with video).

Blog Around the Clock has choice selection of recent Science Daily mind and brain stories.

BBC News on a study suggesting the attractiveness of the accused affects the judgement of the jury.

Strange loops, alpha oscillations and consciousness. Developing Intelligence investigates.

PBS reports on a brain surgeon who has developed brain cancer and has to make critical decisions he usually reserves for his patients.

Neurophilosopher reports that people with damage to areas of the frontal lobes can make moral decisions based on the greater good of the community, unclouded by concerns over harming an individual.

—Vaughan.

March 16, 2007

2007-03-16 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Esquire Magazine has an article on pioneering neurosurgery on Iraq vets to reconstruct large areas of damaged skull.

Cognitive Daily looks at research suggesting that judges may be biased in their belief in the truth of videotaped confessions - depending on the angle of the camera.

Technology Review reviews Marvin Minksy's new book on emotion and the future of AI.

Developing Intelligence asks whether visual binding is an automatic process.

Science and Consciousness Review has a feature article / extended book review on the science of consciousness - where it is and where it should be.

Steven Pinker has been speaking recently on the 'decline of violence'.

Subliminal messages in video games to treat addiction? OmniBrain investigates.

Deric Bownds discusses a study finding that the brain's response to threat is reduced by hand holding.

The Neurophilosopher dissects a notoriously flawed study from 1906 that tried to argue for differences in the 'negro brain'.

Can we wear out self-control? Frontal Cortex examines research that suggests that it might be a resource we can deplete.

—Vaughan.

March 15, 2007

Encephalon 18 at Pharyngula:

The 18th edition of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has been posted online, this time ably hosted on Pharyngula.

PZ has grouped the posts into four categories: understanding brains, fixing brains, improving brains and evolving brains.

A couple of my favourites include a study on how often neurosurgeons accidentally drop bits of the skull when doing brain surgery, and a fascinating article on the brains of gamblers.

Link to Encephalon 18.

—Vaughan.

March 09, 2007

2007-03-09 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Prof Philip Zimbardo, of 'Stanford Prison Experiment' fame, slams the US Government and the Abu Ghraib scandal in his outgoing speech.

Developing Intelligence examines the possible role of dopamine in the binding problem and consciousness.

How I tamed the voices in my head - a fantastic story in the Independent about hearing and dealing with voices.

An amazing demo of what we remember visually, and why is put online by Cognitive Daily.

The BBC reports that the use of hyperactivity drugs for children soars worldwide.

Neurontic ponders why we have a nervous system in our stomachs.

Is Your Memory Erased While You Sleep? asks Scientific American.

OmniBrain discovers that a court ruled that a bankruptcy website passed the Turing test.

Compulsive hoarding in the digital age. A curious form of psychopathology sees its expression in collections of digital media.

Neurophilosopher looks at a brainwave-reading video game controller!

An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea.

Nature reports on research suggesting biblical accounts of violence can spark actual aggression, particularly in believers.

Sex doesn't sell, particularly for women, according to research discussed in the Economist.

—Vaughan.

March 03, 2007

The Young Milgram:

From onegoodmove, a short video about Stanley Milgram and his obedience experiments. Doesn't the young Stanley Milgram look handsome, in a tweed jacket-1970s-professor kind of way?

For more on the man, and to find out about his other groundbreaking experiments, see stanleymilgram.com run by Dr Blass, Milgram's biographer (featured in the video). And also check out this classic from Dan Wegner the 'The Milgram Obedience Song' which features samples from recordings made during the obediance experiments.

—tom.

March 02, 2007

2007-03-02 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

PBS has a TV programme, with online video, about stimulating the brain through nanowires implanted into blood vessels.

Neuroscientist, artist, author and stroke survivor Dr Jill Bolte Taylor is interviewed on Neurofuture.

The brain's visual system can adapt and develop later in life, even if cataracts block all visual input during childhood, reports BBC News.

Mixing Memory reports on a curious study suggesting that the suggestion of a ghostly presence makes people less likely to cheat.

The Washington Post wonders whether teenage multi-tasking and 'flitting from task to task' could affect their long-term ability to focus.

Neural Development is a new open access journal, which is reviewed by Neurophilosopher.

Lack of sleep may impact upon moral judgement, reports New Scientist.

The BPS Research Digest examines research that suggests childhood experiences could increase the risk for PTSD later in life.

Do voters based their choice on facial features rather than message? The Toronto Star considers some recent research that suggests this might be the case.

Edge features Marvin Minsky with an essay on artificial intelligence and the psychology of love.

Another great demo from Cognitive Daily: using word prompts to help change blindness.

—Vaughan.

February 26, 2007

Encephalon 17 ahoy:

The latest edition of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon has been been published, this time ably hosted by Pure Pedantry.

A couple of my favourites from this curiously pirate-themed edition include a demonstration of an effect known as 'boundary extension' and an article on the sometimes paralysing effects of choice.

Head on over if you want more of the latest articles from the online mind and brain community.

Link to Encephalon 17.

—Vaughan.

February 23, 2007

2007-02-23 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Schizophrenia could be 'evolution of the intellect' according to genetic study looking at how traits linked to the disorder may be beneficial in some instances.

"Why do men ignore nagging wives? It's all science". The sexism is optional it seems.

Cognitive Daily looks at research suggesting that video gamers make better surgeons.

In light of the case of a 4-year-old American girl who died from prescribed psychiatric medication, the Boston Globe questions the trend for diagnosing infants with bipolar disorder.

There's been some fantastic neuropsychology videos on Channel N recently.

BBC News reports on a recent discovery of new brain cell growth in adult human brains.

The 2007 USA Memory Championships kick off in a couple of weeks.

SciAm reports that the 'largest ever' autism study identifies two promising genetic factors in the condition.

Developing Intelligence looks at how children develop prospective memory - the memory for remembering to do things in the future.

—Vaughan.

February 16, 2007

2007-02-16 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Could it be magic? Extreme apparent mental causation. Mixing Memory investigates the psychology of magical thinking.

The presence of genes for the immune system can go a little way to predicting how likely couples are to remain faithful.

Corpus Callosum on a study showing that psychotherapy can reduce the adverse effects of psychiatric drugs.

PsyBlog examines the psychology of self-disclosure in the formation of relationships.

A computer system based on the cognitive science of perception can make sense of street scenes. Full paper is online as a pdf.

A fifteen-minute exercise may help overcome a lifetime of racial stereotyping. Cognitive Daily reports on a surprising study.

Researchers have been able to use a brain scan to read people's intentions, albeit in very restricted circumstances.

Trailer for documentary about suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge is online.

Developing Intelligence has a fantastic introduction to the neuroscience of dopamine.

—Vaughan.

February 14, 2007

Cardiac arrest:

Quick links from this year's Valentine's psychology stories:

Early social experiences can influence adult behavior in romantic relationships. More on the same from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Love activates the same brain areas as cocaine, reports the The New York Sun. It also activates the same brain areas as chess, but apparently that isn't worthy of a mention.

Smells like man. A component of male sweat can boost arousal in heterosexual women.

Thinking Meat (excuse the innuendo) has a round up a several studies on love published in the APA's monthly journal. My favourite is an article that looks at the psychology of how romantic love and sexual desire are related.

Sex and relationship psychologist Dr Petra Boyton suggests ways to celebrate.

Psychologist explains the neurochemistry behind romance. Really, this is all there is to this news story. No event, purely a press release.

The award for the most tenuously linked news story: neuroscience of tasting sweetness "fueled [sic] by some powerful biology".

Relationship studies are popular with university researchers. Is this news?

—Vaughan.

February 13, 2007

Extra Senses:

A new five part series called 'Extra Senses' has just started on BBC Radio 4, looking into the science behind sensations beyond the ordinary touch, sight, smell and sound. Today's show was on pain and features some excruciating sounds from a man eating a lightbulb ("the most painful part could be tomorrow morning"!) as well as interviews with neuroscientists who research the neurological basis and functions of pain. Next week the presenter, Graham Easton, looks at balance.

Link: Extra Senses (thanks to Harry for the tip)

—tom.

February 12, 2007

Encephalon 16:

Welcome to the 16th edition of the psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon hosted this time on Mind Hacks.

We've had a flood of articles submitted, covering everything from time perception to sexuality in dreaming, so continue reading for these and more!

Death, sex, dreams and sleep

Alison Tuck covered an article that examines the sensitive topic of terminal illness and preparing for death and discusses the idea that the majority of people who are at the end of their life will be able to judge when they will die over the next day or two, perhaps even to the nearest hour.

Moving from death to dreams about 'la petite mort' as Blog Around the Clock looks at a striking study on the possible biological influences on sexual themes in dreaming. Notably, this research was originally published in Serbian, but as a fluent speaker, Bora has made it accessible to the English speaking world.

Sleep has occupied the thoughts of Sebastian Schaffer over at the PharmacoNutrition blog, who discusses how sleep hormone melatonin might actually protect brain cells from dying.

Taking the line of thought one step further, Chris Patil has been wondering about whether melatonin could be used as an anti-ageing treatment to maintain brain function as we age.

Enhancement: lifestyle, training and electronic implants

Cognitive enhancement is now a popular area, especially for older people, and Sharp Brains looks at what could be a key concept - the idea of cognitive reserves and how lifestyle may impact on them.

Sharp Brains also carries an interview with Professor Bradley Gibson who has done research showing that training may improve working memory and help with the symptoms of ADHD.

If your idea of enhancement is a hardware expansion, Futurologic has a review of recent advances neuroprosthetics - the science of interfacing electronic devices directly to the brain.

Time in mind

How we understand and perceive time is one of the more vexing questions of modern neuroscience although research is starting to uncover some areas and networks in the brain that seem to be crucial for making sense of the passage of time.

The Neurocritic discusses research on 'mental time travel' in three interesting articles on our ability to recall past events and imagine the future.

Pure Pedantry has an alternate view of this research, giving an excellent introduction to the hippocampus as a starting point for discussing its role in supporting imagination of future scenarios.

In contrast, Blog Around the Clock looks at two very different aspects of time perception: one on judging the time between two events, known as interval timing and another on how we respond to time of day. We know about the changes in light cycles, but it seems that some animals respond to changes in temperature as well.

Decisions, decisions

We all have biases when weighing probabilities and making decisions and Developing Intelligence examines recent research looking at the neuroscience of our reasoning biases.

Paul Baxter examines the particular source of bias, namely emotion, and discusses Bachara's and the Damasios' 'somatic marker' model of decision making.

The wayward mind: disorders and disturbance

Deborah Serani looks at research suggesting that an area of the brain called the insula might be crucial in addiction - something that has been a hot topic during the past week or two.

Taking a cognitive perspective on depression and mania, The Mouse Trap analyses the possible cognitive biases that might contribute to distressing or disabling states of mind in these disorders.

Child and adolescent mental illness has occupied the thoughts of both Alison Tuck and Shauna of the Do you Mind? blog.

Alison looks into a promising programme for teenagers with anxiety disorders and Shauna takes a detailed look at a recent study suggesting that problems in coping with stress may be a significant factor in childhood antisocial behaviour.

Eccentricities, music and miscellany

Atomic Airship has a neat post on an informal request for people to note their personal eccentricities.

When we talk about music 'speaking to us', we are often talking metaphorically. Cognitive Daily looks at research which tries to determine how much language-like meaning music can convey.

Continuing the auditory theme, Retrospectacle looks at the hearing at the microscopic level, particularly focusing on cutting-edge research on the structure of the hair-like cells that convert sound into neural impulses.

Retrospectacle also looks at the neuroscience of obesity and the crucial role of neural protein SH2B1 in weight regulation.

If you thought numbers only existed as notional concepts then the wonderfully named Phineas Gage Fan Club looks at fascinating research showing that our mental representation of numbers includes a position in space. Most people will imagine a horizontal line with 1 on the left, and an orderly progression to 9 on the right.

Finally, The Neurophilosopher tackles aspects of cellular neuroscience by discussing how neurons connect to the correct areas when the brain is developing, as well as discussing how prion diseases take hold but might be reversible.

Anyway, that's all for this edition. The next will be hosted by Jake at Pure Pedantry on February 26th. Enjoy!

—Vaughan.

February 09, 2007

2007-02-09 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Three psychiatrists have started producing a regular, engaging and somewhat quixotic podcast called My Three Shrinks.

The Neurophilosopher investigates a new form of artificial limb that feeds back touch sensations.

Approximately 6 out of every 100 words are affected by repetitions, corrections or hesitations. Why does this happen? Mixing Memory is on the case.

Neuroscientist Read Montague discusses his current reads with American Scientist.

Pure Pedantry investigates why speed daters say that selective is hot.

The New York Times has an article on the psychology of the colour red.

Improve your presentation by slagging it off? Cognitive Daily looks at research suggesting that self-deprecating comments may improve audience ratings.

—Vaughan.

February 03, 2007

Furious Seasons:

Furious Seasons is a blog about psychiatry and mental health by a 'long-time psych patient'. What makes this blog different is that the author is also an award-winning investigative journalist.

The blog reports on the good and bad in mental health, keeping tabs on both shady commercial interests and significant treatment advances.

It also looks at personal issues in dealing with mental illness and examines how the mainstream media makes sense of this contentious issue.

Link to Furious Seasons.

—Vaughan.

February 02, 2007

2007-02-02 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Make Beautiful Brain Music. Wired covers the creation of brainwave-based music. Even better it's touring!

MSNBC visits the Newberg lab to discover how researchers are studying the neuroscience of spiritual experience.

The New York Times discusses the psychology of email spam.

Furious Seasons keeps tabs on the ongoing court case concerning the antipsychotic drug olanzapine.

What's going on in George Bush's mind? The New York Magazine speculates.

Developing Intelligence examines research on change blindness and attention.

Explaining piano skills: Deric Bownds discusses a study that suggests that the brain makes specific connections between action and sound areas.

—Vaughan.

January 30, 2007

Encephalon 15 at Sharp Brains:

The 15th edition of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon has just arrived online, this time ably hosted by brain fitness blog SharpBrains.

A couple of my favourites include a wonderfully informative post from Blog Around the Clock on the biological clock and a video of Jonah Lehrer's talk on Walt Whitman's connection to modern neuroscience.

There are many more fascinating pieces, so wander over and have a browse.

The next edition of Encephalon will be hosted here, so if you have any writing you wish to submit, send it in.

Link to 15th edition of Encephalon.

—Vaughan.

January 26, 2007

2007-02-26 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

NPR radio has a special on teenage sleep: how it works and sleeping better.

There's a careful analysis of differences in the structure of the left and right hemispheres of the brain over at Developing Intelligence.

American Scientist has an interview with ergonomist and author Steven Casey.

A new drug seems to show early positive results in treating glioblastomas - one of the most difficult and dangerous forms of brain cancer.

'You are what you expect' according to The New York Times.

Folic acid supplements may help maintain mental abilities in older adults, reports New Scientist.

Activation in an area of the right temporal lobe when viewing others' actions is associated with self-reported altruism - a story that got so muddled in the press it's best just reading the study abstract.

Cognitive Daily examines research that suggests that the brain responds differently to metaphor and irony.

What is it like to be a manbat? (Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel has a blog - cool!).

Pure Pedantry has a wonderful post on perceptual binding and the binding problem.

—Vaughan.

January 19, 2007

Web guide for psychology students:

The BPS Research Digest commissioned PsychSplash founder Dr. Gareth Furber to produce a list of links to psychology resources on the internet. He oblidged in the form of a poem.

This is one of the verses:

I must admit, I have a thing for librarians
Mostly the younger ones, not the octogenarians
My fascination however I assure you is pure
It's their mental health resources that are the lure.

And who can disagree with that?

Link to BPSRD 'Web guide for psychology students'.

—Vaughan.

2007-01-19 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The New York Times reports on effective non-drug treatments and behavioural techniques for children with mental disorder.

BBC News reports that mental health drugs are over-prescribed (is this news?). BBC graphics watchers may note that the standard mental health graphic has changed from a man looking out the window to an attractive girl in white trousers.

PsyBlog's wonderful series on the psychology of emotions continues. Check it out for the latest installments.

The Neurocritic has a fantastic post on a Suzanne Vega song about phantoms limbs (really) and the latest treatments for the post-amputation experience.

See what's hot in consciousness research: Deric Bownds has a list of the most frequently download academic articles on consciousness.

News on an upcoming conference on fMRI lie detection.

A video of psychedelic and imperceptibly shifting artwork generated by neural networks has been tracked down by Neurofuture.

ShrinkRap considers research on treatments for injecting speed users: Abilify (an antipsychotic) or Ritalin (another form of speed).

Is this a sentient machine? Neurophilosopher publishes a follow-up to an earlier post on whether machines can be sentient.

More on childhood amnesia from Developing Intelligence - what is the role of the important memory skill source monitoring?

SciAm reports on research that suggests that daydreaming is a necessary function of the brain.

—Vaughan.

January 15, 2007

Encephalon 14 at Mixing Memory:

The latest edition of neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon has just arrived and covers everything from the philosophy of mind to, er... a neuroscience-themed death metal band.

A couple of my favourites include a post on which type of model of the mind is best for cognitive science from Memoirs of a Postgrad, and Pure Pedantry's article on whether doing crosswords will prevent mental decline in old age.

These two are just a taster. Head on over for the full menu.

Link to Encephalon 14.

—Vaughan.

January 12, 2007

2007-01-12 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Cognitive Daily examines how sound affects our visual perception (with nifty video!).

Does a US Government training cartoon make light of mental health issues in war veterans? Decide for yourself.

Science reports that a new study uncovers exactly how solvent abuse affects the brain.

Ramachandran discusses the neurology of self-awareness in the Edge 10th anniversary essay.

Neurontic considers the links between Capgras delusion, reasoning and the limits of the rational mind.

Is there such a thing as a truth serum? Retrospectacle investigates.

Neurocritic looks at research research applying fMRI brain scanning technology to people making shopping decisions.

New Scientist looks at research on the surprisingly accuracy of snap decisions.

King of the Cortex: the functions of the anterior prefrontal cortex, the very front of the brain, are discussed by Developing Intelligence.

—Vaughan.

January 11, 2007

Architectures of Control blog:

Dan Lockton's Architectures of Control blog is a must-read for anyone interested in the interface between design and psychology. In a recent post welcoming new readers Dan explains what the blog is about:

Most of the posts look at ‘architectures of control‘ designed into products, systems and environments, which seek to force the user to behave in a certain way. It’s something of a broad concept, embodying aspects of computer science, interaction design, architecture, psychology, politics, marketing, economics and counterculture alongside product design and engineering

—tom.

January 05, 2007

2007-01-05 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

A boy who can walk on hot coals offers clues to genetics of pain.

A curious report of 50 Vietnamese schools girls fainting due to 'mass hysteria'.

Research on how you compare yourself with colleagues and happiness at work is investigated by the BPS Research Digest.

A new chemical could provide the first highly accurate living diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

A few articles on exercises for cognitive enhancement:
* The New York Times reports on brain exercises.
* Time magazine discusses 'Nintendo for Grandma'.
* The Washington Post considers keeping sharp with mental exercises.

It seems Freud had a few troubles repressing his innermost desires, as a hotel guest book suggests.

Neurofuture has some wonderful art generated by neural networks.

Anarchic art journal MungBeing has a special issue on 'The Mind'.

The International Herald Tribune argues that neuroscience is now explaining what might cause 'ghosts'.

A (presumably Falafel loving) Israeli scientist argues that chickpeas may have been responsible for the evolution of the human brain.

—Vaughan.

January 03, 2007

oh those little slices of death, how i love thee!:

The webcomic xkcd has a panel that should interest psychologists: 'Sometimes it seems bizarre to me that we take dreaming in stride'. Made me laugh!

—tom.

Psychiatry on the move:

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is now releasing 'continuing professional development' podcasts, which sound dull, but are actually fascinating discussions of new and developing issues in psychology and psychiatry.

CPD is a requirment for clinicians to make sure they keep training throughout their careers. It is designed to update them up with the latest developments in their field.

The CPD podcasts take the form of extended interviews with people who are also interviewed for the British Journal of Psychiatry podcasts we featured previously.

In the CPD podcasts, however, the discussion focuses on related psychological or neuroscientific theories and the how they can be apply to clinical situations.

With the additional material on the site, British psychiatrists can then take an accredited test to demonstrate their learning.

Despite being aimed at qualified psychiatrists, the discussions are remarkably accessible.

Recent programmes have tackled the neuropsychology of empathy, whether trials for psychiatric drugs are truly objective, and making judgements of someone's future risk for violence.

Link to psychiatry CPD podcasts.

—Vaughan.

December 15, 2006

2006-12-15 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The psychology of conjuring is pondered by medical ethicist and semi-professional magician Dr Daniel Sokol.

Moral mazes and human cognition are investigated by The Mouse Trap.

The Guardian has a short article on a case of focal dystonia (localised muscle spasms) caused specifically by praying. The medical journal has a video in mpg format online.

Mixing Memory suggests a candidate for the coolest experiment ever. And it is pretty cool.

Baby psychotherapy. WTF?

Marvin Minksy and Daniel Dennett discuss emotion and artificial intelligence.

The New York Times has a weird interview with neuropsychiatrist Dr. Louann Brizendine on her new book 'The Female Brain'.

The cognitive neuroscience of alexythimia, a condition where people can't describe their emotions, is tackled by The Neurocritic.

A new study attempting to capture the neuroscience of why laughter is infectious is covered by Nature.

The quantum mechanics of smell. How cool is that?

BBC News reports that the first 'brain bypass' operation is performed in the UK.

Cognitive Daily examines the experimental psychology of buying people the right presents.

—Vaughan.

December 12, 2006

Synapse 13 arrives:

Issue 13 of The Synapse psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has appeared online, hosted this week by Neurocontrarian, with the latest in home grown mind and brain news.

Also comes the news that the Synapse and Encephalon carnivals are combining forces in the future, so the new combined version will be released fortnightly.

This issue of The Synapse has everything from radio interviews to notch receptors so catch it while it's hot.

—Vaughan.

December 08, 2006

2006-12-08 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

SciAm has an article on research looking at the mathematical structure of neuroscience. Much more at this pdf.

Antidepressants can can improve your sense of taste, reports New Scientist. Obviously, this more than makes up for the antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction.

The Neurocritic discusses research on memory that has used some cutting-edge neuroscience technology in the process.

Nature reports that the 'fear centre' (the what? oh, they mean the amygdala) is smaller in the brains of people with severe autism.

Neurofuture has a great article on the first neurosurgery-by-wire operation, and how the technique is developing.

The New York Times has an in-depth article on 'seasonal affective disorder'.

Brain Ethics has lept back into life.

New mothers are four times more likely to become mentally ill than other women, reports The Boston Globe.

Dig that old school brain technology over at OmniBrain.

—Vaughan.

December 07, 2006

Encephalon 12 is here:

Francophiles delight! Issue 12 of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon has arrived on French cognitive science blog AlphaPsy.

If you're looking for happiness, want the key to Huntingdon's disease, or want to blame it on your hippocampus, issue 12 is the place to be.

Link to Encephalon Issue 12.

—Vaughan.

December 01, 2006

2006-12-01 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Fascinating article on why the study of watch-makers has linked ambidexterity to self-reflection.

Slate has a skeptical article on the recent research on the neuroscience of 'speaking in tongues'.

Psyblog collects a series of recent internet writing on emotion as part of an ongoing series.

A radio programme on NPR discusses new research that suggests that a gene linked to brain development may influence handedness.

Bookslut has a review of Gerald Edelman's new book on consciousness.

Lots of video clips online from a 60 Minutes documentary on the use of beta-blocker propranolol to prevent disturbing memories and PTSD after trauma.

A blind man reportedly experiences déjà vu - suggesting a sight-based theory of the curious memory effect may be false.

The New York Sun has a fascinating analysis of Freud in light of Nietzsche's analysis of the human mind: Freud's Will to Power.

Developing Intelligence is back after a short break with two fantastic articles on understanding and treating traumatic brain injury.

—Vaughan.

November 24, 2006

2006-11-24 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Our obsession with physical appearance may not be so shallow, after all suggests an article in the Washington Post.

The New York Times discusses how personal space and physical presence in one-to-one communication differs between cultures.

More from PsyBlog's series on emotion: Neural Correlates of Emotional Judgements.

Noonday Demon author Andrew Solomon discusses current progress in understanding and treating depression.

Is this the first self-aware robot? Good analysis and more detail (and video!) from the Neurophilosopher here.

V.S. Ramachandran considers some of the key issues in consciousness research in an article for Seed Magazine.

Study finds new generation antipsychotics are not much better than the old ones (again).

—Vaughan.

November 22, 2006

Mental processes in the human brain (taped):

Video of the Royal Society event on 16th-17th of October - 'Mental processes in the human brain', is now available online. I strongly recommend the first talk, by Dan Schacter, which is about the active, constructive, nature of human episodic memory and why it might be built like that (answer: because it is designed to subserve the flexible recombination of past experiences to predict the future)

—tom.

November 21, 2006

Guerilla neuroscience documentaries online:

Obscured TV is a website that is streaming old TV documentaries. They don't have permission to do it, but they believe the programmes are too educational to be left gathering dust in a TV company warehouse. As they have so many classic psychology and neuroscience documentaries in their archives, I can only agree.

Just a word of warning if you're skeptical about these sorts of things - it requires that you install some ActiveX plugin, which is seems painless to install and works OK, but only works in Explorer.

If you're happy with doing that, have a look at this page which has a list of 'human interest' documentaries - largely taken from UK TV.

7 Seconds is a stunning documentary on densely amnesic patients Clive Wearing who has been the subject of some ground-breaking research on the neuropsychology of memory, but also inspires some profound thoughts on identity and remembering.

The Real Rainman, My Family and Autism and Make me Normal profile a number of remarkable individuals with autism, and Teenage Tourettes Camp is a compelling documentary on some UK children with Tourette syndrome who go to a camp in the USA especially for children affected by the disorder (it is both touching and wickedly funny in places).

Another page with documentaries from the Horizon series, includes The Man Who Lost His Body, a documentary about a man who loses his sense of proprioception - the ability to sense where your limbs are, and God on the Brain which contains a memorable scene where Michael Persinger attempts to give Richard Dawkins a religious experience by stimulating his temporal lobes with magnetic fields.

Get them while they're online, as the site probably won't stay up for long!

Link to 'people' documentaries.
Link to Horizon documentaries.

—Vaughan.

Encephalon 11 hits the virtual shelves:

Issue 11 of Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has arrived, hosted by the ever-capable Mouse Trap blog.

If you want to know the cognitive benefits of turning down the car radio when you're lost, how science is progressing on a possible immunization for Alzheimer's disease, or any number of exciting updates on the fast moving world of cognitive science, head on over and see what catches your eye.

Link to Issue 11 of Encephalon.

—Vaughan.

November 17, 2006

Brain Hammer:

I've been reading mind and brain blog Brain Hammer recently - written by philosopher and cognitive scientist Pete Mandik.

Philosophers are increasingly becoming indispensable, as training in the history and practice of philosophy makes people well-suited to tackling some of difficult problems thrown up by contemporary cognitive science.

If you're not sure what philosophers do exactly, think of them as 'conceptual engineers' - pushing forward new theories and fixing existing ones to make sure they are coherent and fit the data as best as possible.

The majority of mind and brain blogs are written by clinicians, psychologists and neuroscientists and so it is refreshing to see regular writing from someone engaged at the pit-face of the philosophy of mind.

As well as being Mandik's personal blog where he shares his thoughts, it's also where summaries from the Philosophy of Mind and Science Work in Progress group are published.

The PMS-WIP group is an online forum for the discussion of developing ideas and theories in the philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and related areas.

UPDATE: Grabbed from the comments: I also recommend to everyone Gualtiero Piccinini's blog philosophyofbrains.com - thanks Anibal!

Link to Brain Hammer.

—Vaughan.

2006-11-17 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The New York Times looks at the lives of students with autism and Aspergers in an article on 'Students on the Spectrum'.

Two recent stories suggest that applying mild electric currents to the head can aid memory or help with migraine.

One I missed earlier... AlphaPsy has a fascinating post on mental illness viewed from the stance of economic rational choice theory.

Simon Baron-Cohen discusses his theories of systemizing and autism in Seed Magazine.

Cognitive Daily explores cutting-edge research on how children learn cultural values.

BBC News reports on a syndrome of current concern in Japan, nicknamed 'Retired Husband Syndrome'.

Virtual reality system used to 'move' phantom limbs and relieve the associated phantom pain, reports New Scientist.

More from PsyBlog's 'emotional truth' series: the emotional unconscious and doing without feeling.

Couple of fantastic posts from Mixing Memory: why people treat computers as if they had beliefs and intentions, and whether children attribute false beliefs to God.

—Vaughan.

November 14, 2006

Synapse 11 arrives:

The latest edition of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival The Synapse has arrive online, hosted by the fantastic Developing Intelligence.

This edition contains links to articles on everything from mental illness in Bollywood to million neuron 3D animations. Enjoy!

Link to Issue 11 of The Synapse.

—Vaughan.

November 10, 2006

2006-11-10 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Cognitive Daily has a fantastic post on how the brain synchronises sound and vision, even when they're out of sync (including videos!).

Psychology Today argues that mass-media 'beauty' is making people unhappy in Why I hate beauty.

Web pioneers call for a new discipline of 'web science' that combines psychology, economics and law, computer science and engineering.

Developing Intelligence discusses two ways of understanding children who are 'late talkers': the nativist and interactionist approaches.

Having a high IQ protects against developing PTSD after major trauma, finds new study.

Computer modelling of shock waves inside the head suggests that brain injury may occur within one millisecond after the head hits a car windshield.

Neurofuture posts on an freely accessible online sci-fi novel on consciousness uploading, AI and zombies (oh my!)

New Scientist reports that industrial chemicals that seep into the environment may increase risk of developmental brain disorders.

Researchers have developed a 3D map of the human body to allow people to better communicate pain.

Children prefer to be friends with children perceived to be lucky, finds new study.

The Neurophilosopher has written an engaging and wonderfully illustrated article on the history of Alois Alzheimer and the disease that bears his name.

—Vaughan.

November 03, 2006

2006-11-03 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Erotica has a measurable psychological effect even we can't consciously detect it, reports Scientific American. Ironically, the study is published in a journal called PNAS.

Modern gimmick or sensible application of attachment theory? Infant psychotherapy is discussed by the Post Gazette.

A study of Asian elders finds that curcumin, an ingredient in curry, helps keep the brain healthy, reports The Times.

Gene 'flaw' increases autism risk, reports BBC News.

This month's PLoS Medicine is a special issue on social medicine.

Researchers are working on a promising blood test for Alzheimer's disease, reports BBC News.

Alpha Psy has a wonderful guide to sex differences in cognition.

The headline simply repeats a common feature of depression as if it were news but the study suggests a reason why people with depression can have a consistent change in mood during the day (known as diurnal variation).

An intriguing study on the the cognitive psychology of face recognition is tackled by Cognitive Daily.

Concise article from Blog Around the Clock on how babies develop sleep patterns.

The New York Times reviews Marc Hauser's book that argues we have a 'moral grammar'. Commentary on the controversial claims here and here.

Having a positive ethnic identity boosts the happiness of teens, reports Medical News.

—Vaughan.

October 31, 2006

Synapse 10 arrives:

brain mould_image.jpg Issue 10 of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival The Synapse has just arrived on Neurocritic.

This edition has a distinct Halloween theme with an article on the neuroscience of fear and disgust, and instructions on how to make a realistic edible brain (pictured on the right).

Apart from the spookier articles, there's also a collection of recent writing on everything from obsessive-compulsive disorder in Macbeth, to the role of peptides in neural transport.

Link to Issue 10 of The Synapse.

—Vaughan.

October 27, 2006

2006-10-27 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

New Scientist reports that a new surveillance system can distinguish between violent and non-violent behaviour (with video).

Cognitive Daily asks 'do deadlines help procrastinators?'

Review of '23 Problems in Systems Neuroscience' from American Scientist. What is systems neuroscience?

Damage to the brain could unleash artistic talent, reports ABC News, covering a new paper in medical journal Neurology.

Paper in Science on 'stereotype threat' (see previously on Mind Hacks) affecting women's maths performance is covered by Seed Magazine.

Forbes magazine lists some of the physical and psychological benefits of sex.

More on inheriting facial expressions: The Economist has a well-written article on the recent ingenious study.

Review of 'For Matthew and Others: Journeys with Schizophrenia' art exhibition from The Australian.

People who read more fiction have higher levels of empathy, reports Frontal Cortex.

Developing Intelligence has a fantastic review of neuroscience-of-self book 'I of the Vortex'.

UK has 'lowest ever' suicide rate, reports BBC News.

—Vaughan.

October 20, 2006

2006-10-20 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Cooking with sleeping pill Ambien!

ABC Radio's science show Ockham's Razor compares behaviour across the animal kingdom and asks 'What counts as intelligence?'

New Scientist reports on a wonderfully designed study suggesting that facial expressions might be inherited to some degree.

Apparently, I am not pictured smoking a large reefer on mental health blog The Trouble with Spikol.

A correlation between TV watching and autism causes a stir. Original paper here.

Was Agatha Christie's previously unexplained temporary disappearance due to a 'fugue state'? A rare memory disorder.

The Guardian looks at recent research suggesting a link between omega-3 intake and violence.

The New York Review of Books has philosopher John Searle reviewing Humphrey's "Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness".

New Scientist reports that the initial trials for gene therapy reduces Parkinson's disease symptoms.

—Vaughan.

October 19, 2006

BrainsRule!:

BrainsRule! is a neuroscience website for kids.

It's along the lines of the University of Washington's Neuroscience for Kids but focuses more on interactivity and has sections for teachers and professionals.

There's plenty of great resources there, although the talking brain on the front page is a little bit disturbing. Maybe it's the lipstick which does it.

You can even get neuroscience merchandise (some of it for free) including a BrainsRule lunch bag!

Link to BrainsRule! website.

—Vaughan.

October 13, 2006

2006-10-13 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

ABC Radio's All in the Mind has a fascinating discussion on the psychology and philosophy of pain.

American Scientist takes a look at the psychology of scientific reasoning and progress.

ABC Radio's In Conversation interviews Rupert Sheldrake, ex-biologist, now turned parapsychologist.

The psychology and clinical treatment of compulsive shopping is tackled by Science News.

Can social psychology tackle terrorism, international conflict and guerilla warfare? Scott Atran's presentation to the The National Security Council At The White House is online.

Another great article with an appalling headline. The Times examines Martha Farah's work on the cognitive neuroscience of poverty.

Is there a correlation between BMI and cognitive decline? Retrospectacle considers a touch-paper debate.

Spacetime and Linguistic Relativity. Enough said.

—Vaughan.

October 09, 2006

Encephalon University hits the net:

A wonderfully crafted new edition of psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon has just arrived online courtesy of Cognitive Daily.

I'm currently enjoying an exploration of the representation of psychology in the novels of J.G. Ballard from PsyBlog and an analysis of the cognitive neuroscience of attention and memory in the Stroop Task from The Mouse Trap, and there are several more engaging articles to enjoy from the same edition.

—Vaughan.

October 06, 2006

2006-10-06 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

ABC Radio's All in the Mind tackles the mind-body problem in an engaging debate.

Wired Magazine with an appallingly-titled article on the neuropsychology of pathopaths: 'Psychos Need a Little Sympathy'.

On the irony! US Government funded study concludes that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity".

The 'BBC Prison study', a re-run of ~~Milgram's~~ Zimbardo's famous Stanford Prison experiment (doh! thanks Pedro), is written up in The Psychologist: Tyranny revisited.

Developing Intelligence looks at the nature / nurture interaction in language learning theories.

The New York Times has an article on 'compulsive shopping disorder'.

There is a God: curry may be neuroprotective - reports The Neurophilosopher.

—Vaughan.

October 04, 2006

Stephen Fry's 'Secret Life' bittorrent available:

It seems Stephen Fry's two-part BBC documentary 'The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive' on the science, treatment and experience of bipolar disorder is available online as bittorrents (part 1 and part 2).

We reported on the documentary previously on Mind Hacks, and there's more about bittorrent here if you've not heard of it before.

The programme does a fantastic job of breaking down some of the myths and tackling stigma, and contains a remarkable breadth of opinion on all aspects of the condition. Well worth watching.

—Vaughan.

2006 - Essential sites for students:

Following on from last year's successful 'essential sites' round up, Mind Hacks presents our 2006 list of essential websites for mind and brain students, just in time for the new academic year.

Whether you're a future graduate psychologist, a hardened lab-based neuroscientist or are in the midst of studying any of the cognitive sciences, we should have something to help you on your way.

News and information feeds

One thing that is likely to make you stand out from the crowd is if you can include new research in your work, rather than only including studies that are described in textbooks and handouts.

Keeping an eye on the latest news is also one of the most important things for maintaining your motivation. Study is hard work, and learning the fundamentals can sometimes seem a little uninspiring. Discovering that the fundamentals help you understand the latest discoveries in how we think, feel and behave can be a massive high.

The following sites are just a few of the ones that we get a particular kick out of.

New Scientist special reports on the brain and mental health.
As well as containing guides and information resources, these 'special reports' also contain a constantly updated list of all the New Scientist's new reports relevant to the area.

ABC Radio's All in the Mind.
ABC Radio is Australia's national talk radio network, and All in the Mind is their fantastic and fascinating show on everything mind and brain related. It is on every week without fail, you can download the shows as mp3 podcasts or listen online, or you can read the transcripts on the Wednesday after the show has been broadcast. It often tackles some of the most important issues in contemporary cognitive science and shouldn't be missed.

The British Psychological Society's Research Digest.
First let me say that Christian, who writes for this site, writes the BPS Research Digest. However, whereas he writes here for free, he gets employed by the BPS to write fortnightly summaries of scientific research to make psychology research as widely accessible as possible. You can even get it delivered straight to your email inbox to save you having to check the website every two weeks.

The Society for Neuroscience.
As well as having a huge amount of information that will give you all the background on brain and nervous system function, it also has news on the latest scientific developments and upcoming meetings and events.

The ScienceBlogs Brain and Behaviour Channel.
ScienceBlogs is a collection of scientist and science writers who write about what they love. The Brain and Behaviour Channel lists any article, post or opinion piece on psychology or neuroscience from a wide range of blogs. Great for opinion, alternative views of mainstream news stories, or careful analysis of scientific research.

Other great blogs which have a good mix of psychology, neuroscience and mental health news and are regularly updated include Developing Intelligence, Brain Ethics, PsyBlog, Neurocritic and PsychCentral. Actually, there are plenty more, so have a look round to find your most useful reads.

Grey Matters is a online TV station - dedicated to neuroscience!
It's a project of the University of California San Diego, a world centre of neuroscience research, and has a massive video archive of talks and presentations that you can watch online using realplayer.

Other great archives of online psychology and neuroscience video includes Channel N and the NIH Neuroscience archive.

Getting things done

As well as being knowledgable about human nature, academic study involves doing the practical work of conducting experiments, writing reports and analysing data.

These sites should help you with some of these activities that can seem bewildering at first.

Simply Psychology is simply fantastic.
It describes psychological methods in a straightforward way, and there's no better compliment than that. On top of this, it has sections on some of the key debates in psychology. A great introductory guide.

Other resources include All Psych's Guide to Research Methods which is more of an online textbook if you need something a little more in-depth, and if you're a bit more experienced with research and have a query, the Research Companion Message Board is an online watering hole for social science researchers.

Recommending PubMed is like recommending Google for internet users.
It's the world database of medical and related research. It seems obvious, but it's an essential resource and one that's worth learning how to use effectively. There are also services that run a specific search on PubMed every week and email you any new articles that have appeared. I prefer BioMail but you can do this in PubMed itself now.

Google Scholar is an alternative to PubMed.
PubMed can be a bit light on psychology research and a bit intimidating at first. Google Scholar has a very wide range of research indexed and it's a bit easier to use. The only drawback is that sometimes you can't find the articles it lists. Still a useful tool though.

Classic papers in psychology and neuroscience.
These are two great sites which have the full-text of some of the most important mind and brain research in history. Enough said.

Final words

The best internet resources are the one's you have collected yourself because you know they fit your needs, but hopefully this list should give a balance of useful reference material to bookmark, and sites you can check regularly for the latest in news and views.

If you have any sites which you've found particularly useful that aren't included here feel free to add them to the comments below (just remember that you need to paste the web address in as text, as the blogging software disallows direct links to prevent spam).

Apart from that, enjoy! After all, there's nothing more interesting than people.

—Vaughan.

October 01, 2006

The Synapse, Volume 1, Issue 8:

Welcome to the latest instalment of the psychology and neuroscience writing digest The Synapse, hosted this week on Mind Hacks.

The web's mind and brain bloggers have submitted the best of their recent writing, so follow the link below for the latest in online insight.

Erick Fejta has been inspired by Ramachandran's book Phantoms in the Brain to question the link between perceived reality and how the outside world is interpreted by the mind and brain. He follows this up with a try-it-yourself demonstration of how the brain 'fills in' reality to conceal the fact that no visual information is being received by the eye's blindspot.

Dr. Deborah Serani wonders about how our understanding of the world relies on memory, particularly in light of a recent experiment that suggests that memories can be 'erased', at least in rats, by injection of a protein kinase Mzeta inhibitor into the hippocampus. The protein is thought to be essential for long-term potentiation, a crucial process for memory formation.

Michael Anes has been thinking about altered reality of a different kind. In one article he considers the recent paper in Nature by Shahar Arzy and colleagues that reported on the induction of a 'shadow self' by stimulating the brain with an implanted electrode. Michael picks up on a detail I missed first time round, that different experiences were generated by slightly increasing the electrical current to the electrode. In a further article, Michael tackles the way recognition of the self can break down after brain injury, leading to a number of unusual, and scientifically fascinating, syndromes.

The Neurocritic looks at pathology of a different kind by examining the role of perfectionism in anorexia. Perfectionism is a pathological desire to reach excessively high standards and has been linked to a number of cognitive biases. Neurocritic's article looks into the growing number of studies investigating the link between brain function, perfectionism and eating disorders.

Pure Pedantry has picked up on neuroscience research that perhaps gives some explanation for the sort of non-pathological cognitive biases found in teenagers. A recent paper in Nature mapped how the structure of the brain changes from adolescence into adulthood. Jake has embedded the research videos, so you can see the changes for yourself.

OmniBrain takes a critical look at another recently published study on development, but this time on the link between finger length ratios and adult characteristics. The difference in length between the index (pointing) finger and ring finger is a measure of amount of testosterone you were exposed to as a fetus and a recent study suggests that this ratio predicts athletic success in women.

The Mouse Trap tackles another developmental topic, language acquisition, by analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the major theories and then puts forward his own angle on how we learn to communicate with others.

Once we've developed all these astounding cognitive skills we would ideally like to maintain them in as good a working order as possible. Developing Intelligence investigates the "Brain Fitness" movement, which has become popular owing to older people becoming interested in products to help them stay mentally sharp. A subsequent post tackles recent research on task interference in attentional control - the ability to coordinate mental resources. This is something that can show significant decline in old age, and may be boosted by 'brain fitness' programmes.

The Neurophilosopher takes a wander through the animal kingdom and looks at recent research that uncovers the remarkable talents of our animal cousins. Sperm whales seem to be able to use echolocation to forage for food and one of the McArthur 'genius' awards was presented to Kenneth Catania for his work on the neurodevelopment of the star-nosed mole.

Finally, one from the Neurofuture archives. Some beautiful artwork of notional nanobots working away in the brain.

That's it for this edition, but you can submit your blog article to the next edition of the synapse using the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the carnival index page.

—Vaughan.

September 29, 2006

2006-09-29 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Brain Ethics examines evidence for the effect of different types of attachment (early relationship with parents) on the brain.

Everyday magical powers: A paper from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reports on the tendency to attribute magical causes to outside events.

Researchers call for a database of language impairing disorders to help work out the neuroscience and genetics of language.

The Neurophilosopher has found a number of new quality mind and brain blogs.

Similarly, Cognitive Daily has found psychology of music blog Sound and Mind and cognitive anthropology blog Alpha Psy.

Brain scans shows white matter differences in tone deaf people.

PsychCentral looks on the bright side with 'top ten terrific things about bipolar disorder'.

Frontal Cortex has further commentary on the NYT article on hysteria, suggesting it has important implications for how we understand mental illness.

—Vaughan.

September 22, 2006

2006-09-22 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Memory difficulties in older people may signal brain tissue loss in some, reports New Scientist.

GNIF Brain Blogger gives a rundown on the DSM - the diagnostic manual for psychiatric disorders.

The New York Times discusses the psychology of one of the most widely-known but scientifically neglected human motivations - fame.

The Neurophilosopher digs up some beautiful neuroanatomy drawings from the 14th to the 19th centuries.

I don't know why we don't just have a permanent feed to Developing Intelligence...

Recent favourites include:
* Interactions of memory and attention
* Sensory gating by prefrontal cortex
* Two connectionist models of reading

ABC Radio's All in the Mind discusses the Journey Through Madness - a family's story of their experience of mental illness.

—Vaughan.

September 18, 2006

Synapse #7 and BPS Research Digest:

A beautiful-looking edition of The Synapse, the biweekly psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has hit the net, as has another compulsive release of the BPS Research Digest - edited by our very own Christian Jarrett.

Just so you know, Mind Hacks will be the hosting the next edition of The Synapse.

Although I've yet to find out how to get hold of the submissions, it looks like you can submit links to your psychology and neuroscience writing here.

—Vaughan.

September 15, 2006

2006-09-15 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past [few weeks] in mind and brain news:

Michael Crawford discusses The Schizophrenic Symptom of Flat Affect, including insights from his own experience.

Can Freudian ideas help us explain fundamentalism and extremist ideologies? asks the New York Times

Dopamine helps punters spot their 'best bet' according to a recent news story in New Scientist.

The NPR Day to Day radio programme discusses the psychology of why people make false confessions to the police.

Difficulties with engaging areas of the prefrontal cortex may explain why teenagers can be more 'selfish' suggests new research.

Academic doping: Are kids being given drugs like Ritalin by their parents purely to improve their academic performance?

The Neuroethics and Law Blog tackles the legal and ethical implication of the recent study that suggested a coma-like PVS patient had conscious thought.

Do we all mean the same thing when we talk about colors? asks Cognitive Daily.

A drug used for treating Alzheimer's drug may also combat brain injury, reports New Scientist.

—Vaughan.

September 13, 2006

1st September BPS Research Digest and Synapse:

A couple I missed when I was away... A new BPS Research Digest hit the net on 1st September with articles on job performance, season on birth and intelligence and the expert mind of the burglar among others.

Also edition 6 of The Synapse neuroscience writing carnival arrived, with writing on everything from the detection of musical phrases to the history of the discovery of the neuron.

—Vaughan.

September 12, 2006

Cognitive neuroscience free samples:

Psychology Press have put together a slick site to promote and enhance their cognitive neuroscience books, and particularly their new textbook The Student's Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience with sample chapters, downloads and a podcast available online.

The books is written by Dr Jamie Ward who founded the synaesthesia research group at University College London and happened to be my MSc supervisor (and is a jolly nice chap to boot).

Jamie has co-ordinated the MSc in Cognitive Neuropsychology at UCL for several years, and it's good to see he's put together a textbook aimed at covering neuropsychology that is accessible to undergraduate and postgraduate students.

He is interviewed in an mp3 podcast about his own research and the field of cognitive neuroscience in general.

The first chapter of his book is also available online, and covers the history and development of mind-brain studies.

Link to Psychology Press 'Cognitive Neuroscience Arena' (via BrainEthics).
mp3 of interview with Jamie Ward.
Link to sample chapter.

—Vaughan.

August 25, 2006

2006-08-25 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Retrospectacle discusses the famous study on London cab drivers that won an IgNobel Award but has actually provided some important findings on adult brain regeneration.

American Scientist talks to psychologist Marc Hauser on the prospect of a moral instinct.

Research finds 'unique brain gene' - again.

A Blog Around The Clock asks should we rewrite the textbook on neuron regulation channels?

The 'Hobbit' debate rumbles on: New groups of researchers claim that Hobbit was a 'disabled caveman'.

A newspaper article in The Telegraph to accompany a recent TV series looks at the influence of biology and genetics on what makes us human.

How do we keep track of multiple objects? Cognitive Daily investigates the latest research.

Nature talks to Nick 'we're living in a computer simulation' Bostrom about human enhancement and virtue engineering.

A humorous list of logical fallacies in computational neuroscience are unearthed by OmniBrain.

Developing Intelligence looks at the latest research on the tricky problem of visual binding - the ability to combine different sources of sensory information into one conscious perception.

—Vaughan.

August 21, 2006

Synapse #5 and new BPS Research Digest:

Mind and brain writing carnival Synapse has just released issue #5 and is hosted on this occasion by Shelley Batts' Retrospectacle. There's articles on everything from sleep disorders to moral development to keep you glued to the screen.

Also recently released is the new BPS Research Digest which tackles recent research on the effect of drugs on intuition and medically unexplained symptoms; as well as the psychology of love letters, sickies, cats and war.

—Vaughan.

August 18, 2006

2006-08-18 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Philidelphia Inquirer reviews a book on the Philosophy of Boredom.

Is this the most sci-fi sounding article ever? Developing Intelligence unleashes The Argument for Multiplexed Synchrony.

BBC Radio 4 has a half-hour programme on the experience and impact of mild brain injury.

ABC Radio's opinion show Ockham's Razor looks at the world through the eyes of an adult with Asperger's: Profile of a postmodern outsider.

Couple more on the mind and motivations of Philip K. Dick:
* The Guardian examines the role of drugs in PKD's life and novels.
* 3QuarksDaily examines the reality-bending legacies of PKD, Timothy Leary and Hunter S. Thompson.

If you have ever wondered how it is possible to do psychology experiments on babies under 12 months, Cognitive Daily brilliantly outlines one method.

'Your brain boots up like a computer' according to LiveScience. A Sparc Classic in my case.

—Vaughan.

August 17, 2006

Inside medicine: the psychiatrist, the anaesthetist:

The BBC News website has a brief section on medical specialties as part of its health coverage. Each article is a brief interview with a doctor about their work in a certain area.

Two of interest to readers here might be the interviews with the psychiatrist and anaesthetist.

No neurologist or neurosurgeon, but I suspect the list may grow, as there's plenty more schools of medicine not represented.

—Vaughan.

August 14, 2006

Encephalon #4 at Neurocritic:

The 4th Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival is now online! The host for this edition is the excellent Neurocritic.

—Vaughan.

Philip K. Dick video interview:

If you want to hear Philip K. Dick himself discuss the writing of A Scanner Darkly and describe some of the borderline-paranoid ideas that drove the plot, there's a three minute video clip on YouTube.

There's evidence that Dick had reason to be paranoid. It is likely that he was investigated by the authorities during the period of anti-communist McCarthyism because of his anti-government views.

The burglarly he talks about is mystery, and it is not clear whether he was burgled by secret services, drug-using associates or whether he did it himself during a period of psychosis.

The fact that all three are possible candidates says much about Dick's life.

Link to Philip K. Dick interview clip (via PKD Fans).

UPDATE: NPR Radio's Talk of the Nation has a fantastic discussion on PKD's life, work and influences.

—Vaughan.

August 11, 2006

2006-08-11 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Psychiatrist Peter Kramer reviews 'Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity, and the War on Terror' in the Washington Post.

Cognitive Daily on psychedelic sunglasses.

Could 'ketamine therapy' treat depression? asks the Washington Post.

The New York Times reports on the use of the medical lunch as a drug-company marketing tool.

Seed Magazine reports on an experiment using drug induced amnesia to examine the structure of memory.

Can differences in national levels of trust be partly explained by nutrition? Zack Lynch picks up on an interesting research paper that suggests it can.

The Telegraph has a short piece on the nature of consciousness.

Does the amount of email in your inbox say anything about your personality? Let me think...

Maori people may have a higher prevalence of a gene which has been linked to aggression. Restrospectacle analyses the controversy.

Jake Young has more careful analysis on mind and brain gender differences.

PsyBlog springs back into life!

—Vaughan.

August 10, 2006

Did Antidepressants Depress Japan?:

Just found this interesting New York Times article from 2004 about the introduction of the concept of depression in Japan since 1999, a country that had no such concept outside of professional psychiatry and medicine.

In the late 1980's, Eli Lilly decided against selling Prozac in Japan after market research there revealed virtually no demand for antidepressants. Throughout the 90's, when Prozac and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or S.S.R.I.'s, were traveling the strange road from chemical compound to cultural phenomenon in the West, the drugs and the disease alike remained virtually unknown in Japan.

Then, in 1999, a Japanese company, Meiji Seika Kaisha, began selling the S.S.R.I. Depromel. Meiji was among the first users of the phrase kokoro no kaze [common cold of the soul]. The next year, GlaxoSmithKline -- maker of the antidepressant Paxil -- followed Meiji into the market. Koji Nakagawa, GlaxoSmithKline's product manager for Paxil, explained: ''When other pharmaceutical companies were giving up on developing antidepressants in Japan, we went ahead for a very simple reason: the successful marketing in the United States and Europe.''

Direct-to-consumer drug advertising is illegal in Japan, so the company relied on educational campaigns targeting mild depression. As Nakagawa put it: ''People didn't know they were suffering from a disease. We felt it was important to reach out to them.'' So the company formulated a tripartite message: ''Depression is a disease that anyone can get. It can be cured by medicine. Early detection is important.''

Link to article 'Did Antidepressants Depress Japan?'.

—Vaughan.

Neuropsychiatry reviews:

Neuropsychiatry Reviews is a monthly magazine that covers new research and emerging trends in neuropsychiatry and neuroscience and publishes its feature articles online two weeks after the paper edition is released.

The articles are magazine-style, so don't contain references, but typically finish with a list of further readings if you want to expand your interest into the academic literature.

Recent online editions include pieces on the brain and creativity, new approaches to treating combat-related PTSD, and how we understand the expression of emotion in the face.

There's many more on the magazine's homepage.

Link to Neuropsychiatry Reviews.

—Vaughan.

August 07, 2006

New Research Digest, Synapse #4:

During the last few days a new edition of the BPS Research Digest has hit the net and neuroscience writing carnival Synapse #4 has been released.

The Research Digest is a particularly good one with a piece about hyperlexia (early development of reading) in a 4 year-old autistic boy, a post on how psychopaths understand the meaning of emotions, and a short piece on how sound can aid visual learning.

There's plenty more illuminating articles in both the Digest and Synapse, the latter of which is guested-hosted by Neurotopia.

Link to BPS Research Digest.
Link to Synapse #4.

—Vaughan.

August 05, 2006

Stopping crows:

Stop That Crow! is a curiously named website that looks at some of the hottest topics in contemporary philosophy of mind.

The site's writer, Jeff, posts his thoughts and educated analyses on everything from thinking machines to consciousness and metaphor, meaning regular readers are given a thorough grounding in mind and brain philosophy.

This is exactly the sort of philosophy which can have practical day-to-day implications for the working cognitive scientist and dispells the common myths about philosophy as a subject.

Link to Stop That Crow!

—Vaughan.

August 04, 2006

2006-08-04 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Developing Intelligence challenges the accepted wisdom that working memory holds '7 plus or minus 2 items'.

Douglas Hofstadter discusses the philosophy of self on The Philosophy Zone.

Psyche pdf reviews new book 'Mind-Altering Drugs: The Science of Subjective Experience'.

A Brood Comb collects links to online videos of philosophy talks.

Breast-fed babies handle stress better, reports BBC News.

AADT Blog discusses the trial of Andrea Yates who killed her children while suffering from psychotic depression.

Are teens miserable because they are being pushed to compete rather then connect with their peers, asks the Washington Post.

Anxious people are quicker at reading faces that others, but do so less accurately, reports ScienceDaily

PsyBlog discusses how we create theories in psychology.

—Vaughan.

July 31, 2006

Encephalon #3 arrives:

Issue 3 of neuroscience writing carnival has just been published on Thinking Meat and contains articles on everything from whether video games desensitise us to violence to whether spindle neurons will be the next fashionable thing after 'mirror neurons' have lost their media sparkle.

See the complete issue for a raft of other commentaries on current mind and brain issues.

Link to Encephalon #3.

—Vaughan.

Psychology Wiki on recovery from brain injury:

The Psychology Wiki is a wide-ranging Wikipedia-like resource that is edited by psychology professionals and students. It focuses on the mind and brain and contains a number of fantastic articles.

They've just announced their first 'featured article', an comprehensive piece on the science of Recovery from Acquired Brain Injury.

The article examines the neuroscience of brain injury and the mechanisms that support subsequent recovery. It also looks at practical steps and the experience of the recovery process.

There's plenty more fantastic material on the wiki, and if you want to share your knowledge I'm sure they'd be pleased to have you pitch in.

Link to Psychology Wiki.
Link to article 'Recovery from Acquired Brain Injury'.

—Vaughan.

July 28, 2006

2006-07-28 Spike activity:

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Research in PLoS Biology reports that functional connections in the brain transform experience into memory.

Some researchers still not disclosing their conflict of interest in key studies, reports AADT Blog.

BBC Radio 4 programme Leading Edge discusses body clock genes and mind reading machines.

Metapsychology has an in-depth review of Nancy Andreasan's book on the neuroscience of genius (via 3Q).

New autism study shows differences in brain structure.

Seed Magazine reports that brain scanning research that suggests that we can process social outsiders as less than human.

Researchers identify what are possibly the first neurons in the development of the human cortex.

Nature Reviews Neuroscience has an in-depth article on molecular and genetic approaches to brain asymmetry and handedness.

The Psychiatric Times explores the link between conduct problems in adolescence and personality disorders in adulthood.

—Vaughan.

July 25, 2006

July's BPS Research Digest online:

A new BPS Research Digest for the second half of July has been published online; with articles on neural implants, marginalised minorities, judging trustworthiness, the effects of alcohol on noticing gorillas, the effects of mobile phones on the brain, and it asks the question does reading to babies gives them a head-start?

—Vaughan.

July 24, 2006

The Mask of Sanity:

The complete text of the classic book on psychopaths and the psychopathic personality The Mask of Sanity is available online as a pdf file.

The book was written by psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley (pictured on the left) and is one of the classics in the field. It is still highly regarded for its in-depth case studies of psychopaths.

Contrary to most Hollywood depictions psychopaths are not necessarilly people who enjoy causing pain or suffering, but are thought to lack empathy and, therefore, tend to use violence to acheive an end, without concern about the impact of their actions.

There's further information on psychopaths and psychopathy here for those wanting an introduction.

Link to complete text of The Mask of Sanity (1.4Mb).
Link to webpage on psychopathy.

—Vaughan.

July 23, 2006

Synapse #3 now online:

The third installment of neuroscience writing carnival Synapse just hit the net and is hosted at The Neurophilosopher's Blog. Get it while it's hot!

—Vaughan.