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In its early days, molecular biology promised to provide us with an explanation of life in terms of physics and chemistry.
A keyboard's arrangement could have a small but significant impact on how we perceive the meaning of words we type.Specifically, the QWERTY ...
Everyone knows that the left-brained are the logical ones, and the right-brained are the creative types. But a new study shows that while creativity is largely a right-brained task, the left hemisphere of the brain plays a part, too.
While distractions are a terrible burden on logical thinking, they may be useful when you're trying to solve insight problems or conjure up creative ideas.
It takes two to tango. Two hemispheres of your brain, that is. USC researchers are working to pin down the exact source of creativity in the brain - and have found that the left hemisphere of your brain, thought to be the logic and math portion, actually plays a critical role in creative thinking. "We want to know: how does creativity work in the brain?" said Lisa Aziz-Zadeh, assistant professor of neuroscience at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. If you paint or sculpt, you may think of yourself as right-brained. The right hemisphere of your brain is often thought to be the creative half, while the left is thought to be the rational, logical side. But a new study from a team led by Aziz-Zadeh demonstrates that while the right half of your brain performs the bulk of the heavy lifting when you're being creative, it does call for help from the left half of your brain.
Morning people have more insights in the evening. ... A recent study by Mareike Wieth and Rose Zacks suggests that innovation and creativity are greatest when we are not at our best, at least with respect to our circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms determine whether you are a “morning-type” person or an “evening-type” person, and are often measured with a short paper-and-pencil test called the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire.
The common belief that the right hemisphere of the brain is the source of creativity while the left brain is responsible for logic and math may well be less true than once thought. In a quest to determine the exact source of creativity in the brain, researchers have found that the left hemisphere of your brain is critical for creative thinking. The finding adds an asterisk to the belief that if you paint or sculpt, you are right-brained. Researchers discovered that while the right half of the brain performs the bulk of the creative process, the left half makes important contributions.
International Cognition and Culture Institute...
Social Cognition, Engagement, and the Second-Person-Perspective
Interdisciplinary Conference When: May 25-27, 2012
Where: University of Cologne
Deadline for submissions (posters only): March 1st What are the psychological processes and neural mechanisms enabling social cognition? How might social cognition be modulated depending on whether one is actively engaged in social interaction with someone or merely observing others interact? What is the impact of this distinction for research methodologies in social psychology and social neuroscience as well as for our understanding of conditions like autism? In particular, this conference brings together experts from various fields to promote the prospects of a second-person approach for future research into the foundations of social cognition.
Michael Anderson remembers a time when his research on cognitive function was rejected for its non-traditional approach. Just a few years later, his work has been published in an exclusive peer-reviewed journal—and has landed him in a prestigious fellowship program at Stanford University. Anderson, assistant professor of psychology at Franklin & Marshall College, has received a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford for the 2012-13 academic year. He will use the award to embark on a book project exploring theories of brain architecture and embodied cognition, building on his research on the evolution of cognitive functions. He will join a community of scholars from a diverse range of disciplines, including anthropology, economics, political science, psychology and sociology.
Diane F. Halpern, Trustee Professor of Psychology and Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College, will present an Invited Address at the 2012 annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association. The title of Dr. Halpern’s address is Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities: What Changed and What Stayed the Same over the Last 25 Years. One of the most controversial topics in psychology is how, how much, and why females and males differ in some cognitive abilities. How can we make sense of the data about cognitive sex differences, and even more importantly, how can we use these data appropriately and guard against their misuse in formulating public policies?
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women on chemotherapy for breast cancer may have tiny memory and thinking impairments compared with cancer-free women more than 20 years after their treatment, Dutch researchers...
It turns out that one way to help keep Grandma's mind fresh might be getting her to battle dragons online... You could always give an elderly loved one a book of sudoku puzzles to keep his mind sharp. But new research suggests it might be more beneficial to get him to summon up his inner Night Elf Hunter and go on a quest. Researchers from North Carolina State University discovered that playing World of Warcraft, the hugely popular online role-playing game, can noticeably improve the cognitive functions of older adults. Here's what you should know:....
In light of recent studies that found that internet usage affects cognition, education is faced with the challenge of adapting to internet minded students.
How true is the idea of the right hemisphere being the creative one? A number of neuroscientists encourage an integration of thinking, using both sides.
Chemotherapy patients have long complained of the mental fog that tends to accompany treatment, but a new study suggests that certain combinations of chemo drugs may have long-term effects on cognition.
Skimping on omega-3 fatty acids -- nutrients found in certain oils, beans and seafood -- may take a toll on brain volume and memory, according to a new study. In it, researchers used MRIs and other markers to help show that adults with lower levels of omega-3 may actually have smaller brains, as well as certain signs of cognitive impairment.
Researchers at the universities of Granada and Jaén, Spain, have discovered why recalling some items from memory reduces our ability to recall other related items.
The new "Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion" is the official journal of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (founded in 2006). Blurb: "The cognitive science of religion is a burgeoning field that finds itself in the center of cross-disciplinary research. Cognition is understood in a variety of ways from bottom-up to top-down models and theories. New insights into cognition, culture and religion are being discovered, new ways of doing research are being established and new methodologies and technologies are being used in the cognitive science of religion. The number of scholars and scientists working in this exciting field are expanding exponentially, and the journal provides a cutting-edge publication channel for this field." Editors: Pascal Boyer, University of Washington in St. Louis; Armin W. Geertz, Aarhus University; Luther H. Martin, University of Vermont. Managing Editors: Ryan McKay, Oxford University; Dimitris Xygalatas, Aarhus University
Tony Osbourne and Judith Sawbridge from Staffordshire West Midlands Probation Trust (SWMPT) spoke at this week’s OR Society Criminal Justice Special Interest Group meeting on the subject of ‘thinking differently about improvement projects’. Over the past couple of years they have been introducing managers and staff to ways of using creative thinking in order to come up with transformational improvements. They described the need for divergent and convergent thinking when solving problems and reminded us that Brainstorming is only one tool in the kitbag. It’s also important to recognise that Brainstorming often simply doesn’t work, but that’s usually due to people not following it’s rules. SWMPT have made us of an NHS Toolkit and adapted it for their use to deliver improvements in operational performance and generate creative solutions to challenging organisational situations.
Mr. Neisser helped lead a postwar revolution in the study of the human mind by advancing the understanding of mental processes like perception and memory.
As rapidly advancing technology becomes intertwined in everyday life, academia is also becoming radically shaped by digital media. Dr. N. Katherine Hayles, a professor at Duke University who is also an author and renowned scholar, lectured on "The Technogenetic Spiral: Implications and Interventions" yesterday. Hayles, an internationally known expert on digital media, spoke on technology's growing pervasiveness in research and teaching as well as the transformative effect it has developed.
Hayles began her lecture with the question, "Where does cognition happen?"
LAST week, I participated in a panel discussion on open questions in economics with professor and economics blogger extraordinaire Karl Smith. We got to talking about inequality, and I ran through a few of the bog standard interpretations of rising income gaps: mismatches between the supply of and demand for skills, superstar effects at the very top, and improved rent-seeking in the financial sector.
What is the relation between language and cognition? On the one hand, researchers like Noam Chomsky thought of language as an independent function with its own rules. However, other people – mainly psychologists – thought that language as a system is embedded in cognition and subject to all models of cognition. How do researchers currently view the relation between language and cognition? Have new techniques for brain research and research on cognitive functions led to a great change in this regard? Here* you can find a recording of a recent debate that was held at the Cognitive Science Center Amsterdam with a panel consisting of Rens Bod, Annette de Groot, Jeannette Schaeffer, and Hedde Zeijlstra all working at the University of Amsterdam.
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