Stories tagged brain
This man is a professional: And his yelling can make anybody learn.
Courtesy xiangdianSo, it turns out that kids aren’t able to learn from their mistakes, at least not until they’re about 12 years old.
That is to say, negative feedback don’t mean a thing to an 8-year-old, as far as learning goes.
Now, don’t start worrying yet. All that time you’ve spent hollering at little children hasn’t been a total waste of time, it’s just been a waste of their time. And kids have time to waste—they’ll be alive for decades, while you could go any day now. With your days as numbered as they are, it’s important that you spend your remaining time living life to the fullest, and part of that involves yelling at young children, doesn’t it? Everybody needs a good yell now and again, and if you were to go around yelling at grown-ups all the time, you’d probably get punched in the mouth all the time. Because yelling at people is disrespectful.
And I don’t want you to walk away from this thinking that you should only yell at young kids. In fact, yelling at kids after they’re about 12, but before they’re old enough to crash your car on purpose, is particularly effective, because those kids can actually learn from negative feedback. This means that they’ll probably learn to provide you with fewer excuses to yell at them—and that makes each rarified yell that much sweeter.
See, it just so happens that kids develop a dramatically different learning style between the ages of 8 and 12. An 8-year-old (and younger kids) will only learn from positive reinforcement—so saying to them “Hey, JGordon Jr, good job bringing me my cigarettes!” is a good strategy, but yelling, “These aren’t my cigarettes, you accident, these are Darla’s!” at them is just going to go over their heads. You may have enjoyed yelling, but that’s not necessarily going to help you get the right cigarettes in the future.
Once they reach the age of twelve, your productive yelling options really open up. So, if you really wanted to, you could probably praise your 12-year-old for the stuff they do right, and they’ll learn. But you could also yell at them, with just as effective results. “Two and a Half Men season 3? What am I supposed to do with this? I wanted Three Men and a Baby! Three Men and a Baby! Charlie Sheen is a kitten killer!” is going to make sure you get what you want next Christmas.
Researchers are still unsure as to whether this change in learning styles is a result of the brain maturing, or if it simply comes from experience. But, as I see it, there’s only one good way to find out.
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Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the brainiest of them all?: A yellowbilled magpie involved in some self-reflection.
Courtesy Vicki and Chuck RogersMagpies can recognize their own reflections in a mirror, according to a new study just out in the PloS Biology journal.
The magpie is member of the Corvidae family of birds, a group that includes crows, ravens and jays, and one that’s regarded as highly intelligent.
The research involved placing colored stickers on a magpie’s body in a place not viewable by the bird. When a mirror was provided, the bird was able to see the sticker and attempted to remove it with its beak or claws.
When a black mark matching the magpie’s dark feathers was used, the bird took no notice, confirming the bird wasn’t just investigating what researchers were doing to it. And when the mirror itself was removed even the colored marks were ignored.
The study raises questions about brain development. Before this study, only mammals such as chimpanzees, orangutans - and to some extent dolphins and elephants - have shown signs of self-awareness. But unlike a mammalian brain, a bird’s brain doesn’t possess a neocortex, an area thought necessary for self-recognition.
"After finding this kind of intelligence in apes, many people thought it had developed once in one evolutionary line with humans at the end. The bird studies show it has developed at least twice,” said Dr Helmut Prior, a psychologist from the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. He and his colleagues used 5 magpies in the study.
SOURCES and LINKS
Science News website
New Scientist site with video
More about the neocortex
Researchers in California have found that people with low levels of the brain chemical serotonin are less likely to accept an unfair deal, whereas those with high levels are more amenable.
Humans are smarter than other animals, partly because of our big brains, but also because of the more complex way our brain cells are wired. British researchers have found that vertebrate brains use many proteins, missing in lower animals, that increase each brain cell’s signaling capacity.
Scientists have long known that bats use sound to locate objects, by listening for the echo of their own high-pitched calls. New research shows that the squeaks also help the bats analyze a scene and remember terrain. These findings may lead to the development of new devices to help the blind.
Researchers in England have found that a primitive area of the brain is more active when people are doing or trying something new. This could explain many things, from thrill-seeking to trying new products to the seven-year itch.
She's actually 60 years old: And look at her huge, weird head.
Courtesy DistortedSmileThe more I learn about meditation, the more intrigued I am by it. I mean, meditation has it all: it can allow you to freeze yourself in a block of ice, walk across a bed of hot coals, and look like you’re asleep without actually being asleep (this is all according to what I learned from television, anyway).
Now there’s a new item, to add to the list of meditation-induced superhuman qualities: a huge, swollen brain. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted? A rippling, throbbing, , Humungus, brain? Now’s your chance.
Researchers at Harvard have shown that regular meditation thickens your cortex. Generally the cortex thins as we age, but this area of gray matter, or, as some scientists call it, “thought goo,” seems to get thicker with age, at least in folks who meditate.
The study took a group of 20 experienced meditators, and compared their brain scans with those of 15 nonmeditators. During the brain scanning, meditators meditated, and nonmeditators “thought about whatever they wanted” (so, like, cigarettes, animals in clothing, detergent commercials, and clouds shaped like stuff. You know: stuff we normals enjoy).
All participants were adults, and came from a range of professions (except for 4 of the meditators, who actually were teachers of meditation or yoga).
The scans indicated that people who meditated an average of 40 minutes a day had gray matter of increased thickness, compared to the nonmeditators. What’s more, people who had been in the habit of meditating for a longer period of time had “the greatest changes in brain structure,” suggesting that meditation was the cause for the increase in gray matter, and not that people with thick gray matter are more inclined to meditate.
The increase in thickness, it should be said, only amounts to 4 to 8 thousandths of an inch—sadly not enough to make your brain bulletproof. The difference was consistent, however between people who meditated and those who did not, and further studies are planned to examine how this change might affect the health of a meditator.
Because meditation seems to counteract thinning of the brain over time, there’s some thought that the practice could slow—or reverse—the aging of the brain.
Monks and yogis, a researcher points out, suffer from the same ailments as they age as the rest of us, but they claim an increased capacity for attention and memory.
It’s still a toss up, as far as I’m concerned. Sure, monks may enjoy a lucid old-age, but that means they sacrificed tons of time meditating in their youth, when they could have been taking hard drugs and listening to rock and roll. I suppose it just depends on where your priorities are.
A new Swedish study reports that brain scans of gay men resembles those of heterosexual women, while the brain scans of lesbians resembles those of heterosexual men. This adds strong evidence to the idea that sexual orientation is established in the fetal stage.
Best. Research. Ever.
in Chemical Reactions, Scientific Inquiry, Forces of Nature, and Human Organism
Why, I’m feeling improved cognition and creativity already!: Now we have scientific proof -- looking at scantily-clad young women makes men smarter. And hungrier, somehow.
Courtesy Roro Fernandez
So, what’s the opposite of “the dismal science”?
A new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research finds that men, after receiving a sexual stimulus – touching lingerie or even just seeing a woman in a bikini – seek immediate gratification.
Why can’t I ever get chosen for research like this?
(The lingerie, the report is quick to point out, was “not being worn during the test.” Still – dude – awesome methodology!)
Now, what’s all this about “immediate gratification”? I mean, we’ve all seen There’s Something About Mary, right? Well, get your minds out of the gutter, people. What they mean is, aroused men are more likely to try to satisfy any appetite – food, alcohol, money, whatever is at hand. So to speak.
To which men everywhere are saying “You paid how much to figure that out?”
It all has to do with the appetite centers in the brain. Seems it’s all one big giant Id. Once it’s aroused by some stimulus, the man seeks to satisfy it any way he can.
To which women everywhere are saying, “No duh.”
Apparently, the smell of fresh baked bread has the same effect, which would explain why you see so many pie shops right next door to strip clubs.
A group of test subjects tragically misinterprets the research findings: All in the name of science, I'm sure.
Courtesy avlxyz
But, most interesting of all, we find, buried in the article, never explained, never elaborated upon, this little gem:
It wasn't that the men were simply distracted by their sexual arousal, which caused them to choose more impulsively. On the contrary, they exhibited improved cognition and creativity after exposure to sexy stimuli.
While this does not comport with the stupid pick-up lines one hears in bars every night of the week, nevertheless, there it is. I mean, this is science, right? Looking at pretty girls actually makes men smarter! Therefore, we should view beer commercials and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, not as crass attempts to move product by appealing to hard-wired neurological instincts, but rather as a public service, a selfless effort to increase intellectual activity and creative achievement by stimulating men’s brains.
But no. That’s not what the liberal media wants you to hear. Men bad. Men can’t control urges. Men barely better than animals. So what we get are prurient headlines, lascivious photos, and sly innuendo like “seek immediate gratification,” wink wink. Why, it’s enough to…
Gutter. Out. Now!
Superstition is logical
Let a smile be your umbrella, and you’ll get a mouth full of rain.: Better safe than sorry, doncha’ know.
Courtesy Christiane Michaud
Up is down. Black is white. Ignorance is double-plus ungood. But a new study shows why this one actually makes a bit of sense.
Professors at Cornell University had groups of students read various different stories. In some, a character acts prudently; in others, the character tempts fate – for instance, failing to bring an umbrella when there’s rain in the forecast. The stories end with something bad happening – it rains – and the students were asked whether or not the conclusion made sense.
The correct answer is “yes,” no matter which story a student reads. But those who read about the person tempting fate responded more quickly.
The professors call this reflexive thinking. An action which “tempts fate” causes out minds, by reflex, to think of the negative possibilities. And while there is no connection between carrying an umbrella and “making” it rain, the superstition does have several benefits:
- By focusing our attention on the possible negative outcome, we are ready for it and better able to respond.
- The actions used to ward off the negative outcome – such as carrying an umbrella to “prevent” rain – often leave us better prepared in the event of the bad thing actually happening.
No word on how this relates to horseshoes and rabbit’s feet.
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