For questions focusing on the interaction of many internal mental processes. If your question involves only one of memory, attention, language, decision-making, or perception then use the associated specialized tag instead of cognitive-psychology.
7
votes
0answers
72 views
Is the theory of Information Metabolism a reasonable scientific theory?
Background
I have been checking out various personality typing assessments lately when I came across a Personality typing system known as Socionics which aims at explaining relationships between ...
7
votes
0answers
219 views
How much sleep is required to restore maximum cognitive functioning?
Background: Recently I have really messed up my sleep schedule due to my procrastination. The internet points to some very basic conclusions but I would like to see actual experiments on effects of ...
6
votes
3answers
242 views
How can one find out if he/she is brainwashed?
By brainwashed I mean indoctrinated with some political, religious or other type of propaganda.
I assume that you can't be aware of this, because the lack of that awareness is the point of propaganda ...
6
votes
1answer
128 views
What causes systematic under- or over-estimation of general knowledge quantities?
What psychological theories predict whether individuals will underestimate or overestimate when responding to particular kinds of general knowledge quantity questions?
For instance, I have seen an ...
6
votes
2answers
208 views
What can cognitive psychology tell us about the results of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
One of the experiments that are always taught as prime examples of social psychology in action is the Stanford Prison Experiment
In 1971, Zimbardo accepted a tenured position as professor of ...
6
votes
2answers
282 views
What is the difference between solving a problem and acquiring a skill?
Within the confines of cognitive psychology, what is the difference between these two tasks? In the literature, playing chess is generally seen as the exemplar of problem solving. But recently (thanks ...
6
votes
1answer
55 views
Any research on how we use visual category information in visuomotor tasks?
So I've been reading up on the Two-streams Hypothesis*, and it bothers me that the explanations both sides give only extend to tasks involving one type of visual information. For example, an ...
6
votes
1answer
99 views
Why aren't sleep measures consistently measured as mediators/moderators of cognitive performance?
Knowing that sleep quantity and quality affects cognitive performance across many domains, why aren't pre-test sleep measures or intra-test measures of arousal a standard part of all cognitive test ...
6
votes
2answers
108 views
What is the sleep study that showed that a percentage of humans have a biological clock that is ~28 hours or greater?
There was an article published some years ago about a sleep study (I think from Germany) that showed about 10-20% of people (European's I think) are genetically predisposed to function on a 30-hour* ...
6
votes
1answer
152 views
How does the mind build a model of reality?
I'm interested if there has been any research or experiments that deal with how the human mind creates and perpetuates the idea of knowing something.
I'm struggling to concisely express the question, ...
6
votes
1answer
95 views
How well can a human-generated “random number” be predicted?
For example, if i ask an individual to write a 20-number-long sequence of random numbers from 0 to 10. How well can I predict the 20th number from the initial 19?
More generally,
How well can ...
6
votes
1answer
113 views
What is the effect of mindfulness practice on cognition?
The following article by ScienceDaily reported on a paper in Psychological Science (Mrazek et al., 2013), claiming that mindfulness training led to improved working memory and GRE scores. These ...
6
votes
1answer
154 views
How do people visually recognize their own reflection?
I'm interested in how the brain processes and recognizes the image of the person's own face.
A bit of background:
A while ago I've developed an overlay-camera like app for iPhone that allows me to ...
6
votes
0answers
49 views
Name of the bias where someone really needs something after they find out it exists
I'm looking for the name of the cognitive bias that is expressed in the following story.
A fellow coworker was instrumental in getting a 75 gallon fish tank installed in the lobby of the company that ...
6
votes
0answers
33 views
Are there any rules about masking?
I am currently programming an experiment where participants have to do a divided visual field task. In a paper about the correct methodology about these tasks, it is said that you should use a ...
6
votes
0answers
67 views
Is there evidence for a unique isolated internal representation of loved ones?
Some time ago, I've read that the most significant people in a person's life have their own internal representation/model of within the person's mind. For example:
An internal representation of a ...
6
votes
0answers
140 views
Is there psychoactive music?
Listen to this music for X minutes to observe Y result. Is there something like that that has been demonstrated to work for general public?
The only example of an experiment that is similar that ...
5
votes
1answer
115 views
What's the difference between projecting and mirroring?
In Psychology 101, I learned about Projecting and Mirroring... I know one is where an individual sees his own problems in other people... I always forget the other concept and/or confuse the two. ...
5
votes
1answer
181 views
What is the cognitive cost of switching contexts?
A common reason to use Conventions and standards in Human Computer Interaction is to limit the cost of Context Switching.
I searched to find general evidence of the cognitive costs of context ...
5
votes
2answers
234 views
Are there any laws of memory?
Several years ago, my adviser wrote an article discussing the observation that a hundred years of studying memory had not resulted in the discovery of a "law" of memory. He wrote (p. 247):
When ...
5
votes
1answer
82 views
Can Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) present symptoms from very particular stimuli?
Sensory processing disorder can cause over or under reactions to sensory input, like loud sound. Can those afflicted with this disorder be okay from a particular sound played at a particular volume ...
5
votes
1answer
76 views
Does medication to treat Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder reduce associated cognitive deficits?
Some studies point to existence of cognitive deficits in OCD (it seems that these deficits are not comorbid but have the same neurological roots as OCD). Unfortunately I found no studies with positive ...
5
votes
0answers
91 views
Aesthetic preference for even or odd numbers
In my experience most people prefer the appearance of even numbers or numbers divisible by 5.
Is there any research which proves or disproves my theory?
Is it all about symmetry?
I expect that ...
5
votes
0answers
86 views
Chunking Patterns and Enjoyment of Applying Patterns
I've been reading a book "The Theory of Fun in Game Design" it talks about two concepts of psychology that I wanted to confirm are true. The writer the book isn't a psychologist.
The two concepts ...
5
votes
0answers
80 views
What processes underly confidence ratings in cognitive decision-making?
Many experiments in cognitive psychology and other domains ask for confidence ratings (e.g., on a 0-100 scale, 100 meaning "I'm sure I experienced this stimulus"). What accounts describe how these ...
4
votes
1answer
149 views
Is learning to do a task automatically an example of intuition?
I'm looking for some examples to understand what people call their intuition at work when making their decisions.
For example:
We learn to type and then after some time we begin to type
by ...
4
votes
1answer
241 views
Effect of Physical Exercise on Intelligence/IQ
I am interested in empirical research relevant to answering the following questions:
What is the effect of physical exercise on IQ/intelligence?
Does any such effect vary by type of exercise? e.g. ...
4
votes
1answer
92 views
Is metacognition an affective, cognitive, or behavioural variable?
Is metacognition an affect or cognitive or behaviour variable ?
I want to study variation in metacognition and working memory ability level and its effect on inductive reasoning.
Therefore i am ...
4
votes
1answer
25 views
Relationship between cognitive load and self-indulgent behavior in simple task completion
Background
A subject in an office-building setting is asked to memorize a list of numbers and to write them down on a whiteboard in another room on the opposite side of the building.
The subject ...
4
votes
1answer
59 views
Are there professional cognitive science test subjects?
I'm interested in how cognitive science experiments are designed and executed. Up until now, all of the papers I've seen dealing with cognition use availability of test subjects as one of the major ...
4
votes
1answer
111 views
Why is it common for people to default to a single causal source to explain new phenomena?
I am constantly bombarded by allegations that almost every relatively unusual event is the result/proof of some conspiracy/plan set by a specific powerful entity.
The typical reasoning behind such ...
4
votes
1answer
67 views
A psychological theory that explains why people remember only the outcome?
I've read somewhere about a psychological theory that people often remember the end results or the outcome of a certain situation/discussion/conversation/etc, but not the details of it.
In other ...
4
votes
1answer
189 views
Closure, an actual psychology term relating to filling in information?
I'm currently reading a book called "Understand Comics" and a term has come up called closure. I've understood this concept before and the book describes closure as the process the brain goes through ...
4
votes
1answer
78 views
Psychological research on memorability of passwords?
There are lots of ad-hoc rules that people are happy to propose about passwords, such as:
Pick a phrase you can remember easily, and then use the initial letters.
A random short sequence of letters, ...
4
votes
1answer
36 views
Do different meta-cognitive measurements depend on the same mechanism?
There are different meta-cognitive judgments: feeling of knowing, ratings of warmth, confidence, judgments of learning, tip-of-the-tongue or not, insight or not, etc.
Are these judgments based on ...
4
votes
1answer
47 views
Why different responses to target and distractor in three-stimulus oddball procedure?
In the three-stimulus oddball procedure, there is an infrequent target in a background of frequently occurring standard stimuli and infrequently occurring distracter stimuli. My question is, since the ...
4
votes
1answer
46 views
How can the aversion response be explained neurologically?
If Dopamine and Dopamine D2 receptor is involved in craving, wanting and clinging towards something or incentive salience
Dopamine is closely associated with reward-seeking behaviors, such as
...
4
votes
1answer
142 views
What happens in your brain when a concept “clicks”?
What happens in your mind when the "lightbulb goes off", or a concept "clicks" for you? Why is there such a threshold for human understanding?
Existing searches:
I've searched a good amount for it. ...
4
votes
0answers
34 views
Predicting the landing site of a saccade while the saccade is still in progress
A brief look through the literature didn't reveal any algorithms that have been directly applied to the online prediction of saccade landing sites while a saccade is in progress.
While there would ...
4
votes
1answer
132 views
Can we increase our higher order thinking (HOT) skills by practicing inductive reasoning?
I previously asked about the conceptual links between higher order thinking and inductive reasoning. This question focuses on the potential for improving higher order thinking through practicing ...
4
votes
0answers
41 views
Quantify degree to which non-diagnostic features bias category-present response
I need a measure of the degree to which each of several features biases participants to respond "yes" in a category present / absent task for each of several categories.
I have stimuli defined along ...
4
votes
0answers
81 views
When one activity makes you less distracted doing another activity? [closed]
Background: When I'm coding, I sometimes make tea, and as long as I'm drinking the tea, I find myself more focused. Drinking tea seems to make me focus more. Thus, it seems that while doing something ...
4
votes
0answers
152 views
Obey any command given suddenly, as in the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine
There is behaviour I'm looking for information about, below are two examples of this behaviour, although the 2nd example is from fiction.
The first example is featured on the TV show QI, "Jumping ...
4
votes
0answers
210 views
What are the “Must Know” papers of Cognitive Science? [closed]
What are the works/papers/results/theories any expert in cognitive science should know, even if they're outside his/her specific field of expertise?
One paper/theory per answer please, and state why ...
3
votes
2answers
77 views
Does pain reduce cognitive abilities?
Does subjecting a person to pain reduce his cognitive abilities?
If so, what is the process that reduces the ability? (By process, I mean the changes happening in the nervous system as a result of ...
3
votes
1answer
447 views
What is the difference between IQ and Executive Function?
I was reading an article today that stated that people with high IQ's that have trouble with social skills, memory, being punctual (on time), emotional control, and "growing up" are likely to have ...
3
votes
1answer
172 views
Has the neuro-linguistic programming visual model been scientifically tested?
According to the NLP visual model, fast flickers of the eyes in left/right and the 4 diagonal directions map to simple cues related to how a person is thinking. Thease are "visual constructed", ...
3
votes
2answers
148 views
Is there an accurate online IQ test for measuring 160+ IQs?
Is there some (preferably free) online and accurate IQ test?
One which does not give me an genius IQ and then tries to sell me a diploma.
I need one which measures upto 160 sd15 (or higher). Such a ...
3
votes
2answers
151 views
Is it a good idea to play an instrument while studying? If so, what are the benefits?
We've all heard that listening to classical music and such while studying can be beneficial, but I was wondering about actually playing an instrument? If I were to absentmindedly play my accordion ...
3
votes
1answer
95 views
Dyslexia and IQ
Background Information of my questions:
At the age of eight I was "diagnosed" with Dyslexia, I am now 47. I went from not being able to read and barely able to write to a college reading level in 9 ...
