THOUGHTS and actions are intimately linked, and the mere thought of an action is much like actually performing it. The brain prepares for an action by generating a motor simulation of it, praticising its execution of the movements by going through the motions invisibly. Seeing a manipulable object such as a tool, for example, automatically triggers a simulation of using it - a mental image of rea
13 Vote(s)
July 31, 2010
Motor imagery enhances object recognition
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Feel like I-dosing?
A few months ago my facebook friends in the US started mentioning it. Only a few weeks later it appeared in the news in Europe, generating a lot of noise in Belgium last week when I-dosing or ‘binaural beats' were condemned as a form of narcotics.The phenomenon of ‘binaural beats' was first described in 1839 by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove. It is the sensation of hearing interference beats when two slig
23 Vote(s)
23 Vote(s)
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Earworms: Can They Be Killed?
According to new research around 9 out of 10 of us have experienced earworms lasting an hour or longer.» Reach 30,000 psychology lovers, find out about advertising on PsyBlog.
9 Vote(s)
9 Vote(s)
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Keep Busy To Stay Happy
In Greek mythology, the gods punished Sisyphus by condemning him to roll a rock up a steep hill for eternity. But he was probably better off than if they'd condemned him to sit and stare into space until the end of time, conclude the authors of a new study on keeping busy. They found that people who have something to do, even something pointless, are happier than people who sit idly...
14 Vote(s)
14 Vote(s)
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Men Murdering the Women They Love
The underlying motivation for why 15 men in Israel had murdered or attempted to murder their female partners is explored here with considerable insight and tact by Elisha et al. (2009). The authors call for increased research into the 'types' of men who perpetrate such despicable acts.... Elisha, E., Idisis, Y., Timor, U., & Addad, M. (2009) Typology of Intimate Partner Homicide
11 Vote(s)
11 Vote(s)
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Reality TV, cosmetic surgey linked, says researcher
Research suggests that teens fond of reality TV programs are more likely to join the millions who go under the knife each year. For bodies -- and minds -- still in development, these drastic decisions could have implications way after prom.
14 Vote(s)
14 Vote(s)
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CBT gains more attention in the blogging world
by Joye C. Anestis Dr. Judith Beck has written two articles about CBT that have been published on the Huffington Post. The first is a nice, concise description about what exactly CBT is, and the second answers some of the...
11 Vote(s)
11 Vote(s)
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2010-07-30 Spike activity
Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:Popular Science reports on proposals to study the obscure hallucinogen ibogain as a treatment for opiate addiction.A study on how money restricts life's pleasures is covered by PsyBlog.Yale Alumni Magazine looks at research "which seeks to use robots not to perform tasks for humans but as a means of investigating the inner workings of human be
17 Vote(s)
17 Vote(s)
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July 30, 2010
It takes one to know one?
Are most people nice, happy, trustworthy and interesting? Or do people usually strike you as cold, grumpy and not to be trusted? How you answer can tell us something about you. In a recent psychology article, Wood et al. explore "perceiver effects", or in other words how your own personality affects your perception of others.They show that our personality affects perceptions of others with respec
20 Vote(s)
20 Vote(s)
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