Health & WellnessS


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"Now You See It, Now You Don't"


E! Science News
Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:29 UTC
Queen Mary scientists have, for the first time, used computer artificial intelligence to create previously unseen types of pictures to explore the abilities of the human visual system.

Writing in the journal Vision Research, Professor Peter McOwan, and Milan Verma from Queen Mary's School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science report the first published use of an artificial intelligence computer program to create pictures and stimuli to use in visual search experiments.

They found that when it comes to searching for a target in pictures, we don't have two special mechanisms in the brain - one for easy searches and one for hard - as has been previously suggested; but rather a single brain mechanism that just finds it harder to complete the task as it becomes more difficult.
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Perception of time pressure impairs performance


Science Daily
Mon, 16 Feb 2009 09:00 UTC
Ask anyone working on a project, and the biggest complaint one hears is "There's not enough time." But instead of more time, maybe what they need is a change of perception.

"Research has shown that it's not necessarily the time pressure, but it's the perception of that time pressure that affects you," says Michael DeDonno, a doctoral student in psychology at Case Western Reserve University. "If you feel you don't have enough time to do something, it's going to affect you."

DeDonno recently studied 163 subjects performing the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a popular psychological assessment tool, to investigate the effect of perceived time pressure on a learning-based task. His study, the first to look at the relationship between perceived time pressure and IGT performance, was published in the December issue of Judgment and Decision Making.
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Blue if you want to be creative, red if you want to be diligent

Steve Connor
The Independent
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:22 UTC
Scientific study reveals the different effects that colours have on the brain.

color psychology
Blue, associated with a clear sky or an open ocean, is the colour of calmness, and peace. It encourages us to think outside the box
Paint it red if you want attention to detail, paint it blue to prompt creative thinking. This is the conclusion of a study into how colour is likely to spark the various passions and sensibilities of the human mind.

Scientists who monitored the performance of more than 600 people as they underwent a battery of psychological tests found that red stimulated a person's attentiveness, whereas blue fertilised the imagination and inspired a more risk-taking attitude.

The researchers found that the study's subjects were unaware of the effect that colour had on their thinking, and suggest that the findings could be used for anything from designing the interior decoration of a school or university to the marketing of products and services.
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Insights on Economic Choices From Game Theory and Cognitive Psychology


ScienceDaily
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 10:00 UTC
How game theory and insights from cognitive psychology can shed light on the economic choices people and corporations make will be the focus of a topical lecture presented by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) behavioral economist Colin Camerer at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).*

"Economics is the field that has used game theory the most broadly to understand bargaining, pricing, firm competition, incentive contracts, and more," explains Camerer, who is the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics in Caltech's Division of Humanities and Social Sciences. "Almost all the analysis, however, assumes people plan ahead and carefully figure out what others will do, which often results in mathematical claims that are highly unrealistic cognitively."

Comment: Camerer states in the article that based on his research, "[t]he cognitive hierarchy theory finds that people only do a few steps of this kind of iterated thinking", but falls short at exploring and identifying who are those who follow this type of thinking. We here have a clue - the psychopaths. Back in 2003, Laura Knight-Jadczyk wrote in Official Culture in America: A Natural State of Psychopathy?
Psychopathic behavior seems to be on the rise because of the very nature of American capitalistic society. The great hustlers, charmers, and self-promoters in the sales fields are perfect examples of where the psychopath can thrive. The entertainment industry, the sports industry, the corporate world in a Capitalistic system, are all areas where psychopaths naturally rise to the top. Some observers believe that there is a psychological continuum between psychopaths (who tend to be professionally unsuccessful) and narcissistic entrepreneurs (who are successful), because these two groups share the highly developed skill of manipulating others for their own gain. It is now being thought that they are actually the "same" but that the "unsuccessful" psychopath is merely flawed in their calculating abilities. They are unable to recalculate based on new actuarial data. Successful Narcissists might seem to be perfectly able to add to their actuarial database and "recalculate" and shift course and develop new subroutines based on ongoing input.

In general, the successful psychopath "computes" how much they can get away with in a cost-benefit ratio of the alternatives. Among the factors that they consider as most important are money, power, and gratification of negative desires. They are not motivated by such social reinforcment as praise or future benefits. Studies have been done that show locking up a psychopath has absolutely no effect on them in terms of modifying their life strategies. In fact, in is shown to make them worse. Effectively, when locked up, psychopaths just simply learn how to be better psychopaths.

Since the psychopath bases their activities designed to get what they want on their particular "theory of mind," it is instructive to have a look at this issue. Having a "theory of mind" allows an individual to impute mental states (thoughts, perceptions, and feelings) not only to oneself, but also to other individuals. It is, in effect, a tool that helps us predict the behavior of others. The most successful individuals are those who most accurately predict what another person will do given a certain set of circumstances. In the present day, we have Game Theory which is being used to model many social problems including psychopathy.


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Dating choice may be directed by personality types, says anthropologist


China Daily
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:37 UTC
Personality types directed by your brain's neurochemicals may unveil who you are and whom you love, said professor of anthropology Helen Fisher Saturday, the Valentines's Day.

Fisher, a Rutgers University anthropologist and author of Why We Love, presented her latest research results on human mating choice, at the American Academy or Arts and Sciences (AAAS) 2009 annual meeting.

Fisher has devoted 30 years of research and five books to the study of human attraction. She believes that DNA dictates the chemical makeup of brains and determines to whom people are most attracted.

After examining the personality type and dating choices of about 28,000 individuals by a questionnaire on the online dating site Chemistry.com, Fisher reported how one's primary neuro-driven personality type guided the initial dating choice.
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Attention

New Fight to Stop Mass Fluoridation

James Meikle
The Observer
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:00 UTC
Girl
© Chev Wilkinson/Cultura RF/GettyGirl drinking water.
Government drive to add the chemical to water supplies hinges on Hampshire test case.

Opponents of the mass fluoridation of water will next week try to stop a government drive to add the chemical to supplies used by millions of people in England and Wales.

The verdict on a small scheme covering 200,000 people in Southampton and southwest Hampshire will help shape public attitudes to far bigger proposals countrywide, and the South Central Strategic Health Authority's decision could potentially make ministers rethink plans to implement fluoridation. Authorities in northwest England are among those next in line to bring forward proposals.

Comment: Fluoride is toxic and danger to one's health. See the following:

Exposure to fluoride induces early puberty

Further dumbing down of the masses: Australia seeks comment on fluoride in bottled water

Fluoride in Drinking Water may Negatively Affect Health of Fetuses and Infants

Small Amounts Fluoride Destroy The Will To Resist

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Author Pratchett Blames His Alzheimer's on Mercury Fillings

Denis Campbell
The Observer
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:00 UTC
Terry Pratchett has reopened the controversy about the safety of mercury-based tooth fillings by blaming them for his Alzheimer's disease.

The author of the Discworld series describes the fillings - which millions of Britons have - as "toxic waste".

"Having something like mercury in your mouth seemed to me to be a really bad idea and I got rid of the stuff," said Pratchett.
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People

Researchers shed new light on connection between brain and loneliness

William Harms
University of Chicago
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:40 UTC
Work is part of emerging field examining brain mechanisms.

Social isolation affects how people behave as well as how their brains operate, a study at the University of Chicago shows.

The research, presented Sunday at a symposium, "Social Emotion and the Brain," at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is the first to use fMRI scans to study the connections between perceived social isolation (or loneliness) and activity in the brain. Combining fMRI scans with data relevant to social behavior is part of an emerging field examining brain mechanisms - an approach to psychology being pioneered at the University of Chicago.

Researchers found that the ventral striatum - a region of the brain associated with rewards - is much more activated in non-lonely people than in the lonely when they view pictures of people in pleasant settings. In contrast, the temporoparietal junction - a region associated with taking the perspective of another person - is much less activated among lonely than in the non-lonely when viewing pictures of people in unpleasant settings.
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Study Takes Step Toward Erasing Bad Memories

Michael Kahn
Reuters
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 18:28 UTC
Human Brain
© ReutersAn image of the human brain taken through scanning technology.
A widely available blood pressure pill could one day help people erase bad memories, perhaps treating some anxiety disorders and phobias, according to a Dutch study published on Sunday.

The generic beta-blocker propranolol significantly weakened people's fearful memories of spiders among a group of healthy volunteers who took it, said Merel Kindt, a psychologist at the University of Amsterdam, who led the study.

"We could show that the fear response went away, which suggests the memory was weakened," Kindt said in a telephone interview.
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Ways to Minimize Tinnitus - Troublesome Noises in the Ears


ScienceDaily
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:00 UTC
Ringing, whining, whistling, hissing or whooshing. Any of those sounds in one or both ears when there is no external noise present could be a sign of tinnitus.

The February issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource provides an overview of this common condition. It's estimated that 10 percent to 15 percent of adults have prolonged tinnitus that often requires medical evaluation. This form of the problem can interfere with sleep, concentration and daily activities.

Tinnitus - pronounced as either TIN-i-tus or ti-NIGHT-us, often is caused by age-related hearing loss. Exposure to loud noises also can damage hearing and lead to tinnitus. Tinnitus can be caused by something as simple as a buildup of wax blocking the ear canal.
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