13
votes
3answers
607 views
Why does neuroplasticity decrease in adults?
Although adult brains are malleable and even undergo limited neuorgenesis, the extent of the neuroplasticiy is much lower than in children. This is most obvious in language acquisition, and recovery ...
13
votes
1answer
173 views
How can I use gamification to encourage people to complete workplace training?
I am looking for ways to improve the likelihood people will perform mundane but required workplace training. I am looking into gamification techniques.
My organisation requires that employees ...
13
votes
0answers
321 views
What neural structures motivate humans to decide to “throw it all away”?
In the original formulation of this question, I was trying to understand what motivates "cut and run" behavior in humans. I was defining this anecdotally to include people that have severed ties with ...
12
votes
3answers
402 views
Research suggesting conscious control over brain region activation?
Has there been any research proving, disproving, or exploring the concept of conscious activation of specific brain regions?
To elaborate on this:
I've read that performing processing tasks causes ...
12
votes
2answers
2k views
Is pedophilia a sexual orientation or a mental disorder?
There are some different claims being made that pedophilia is a sexual orientation rather than a mental disorder.
At the moment there seems to be a growing group of psychologists advocating that ...
12
votes
2answers
567 views
What are popular rationalist responses to Tversky & Shafir?
In the early 90s Tversky & Shafir observed several violations of rationality in human participants, in particular violation of the disjunction effect and sure-thing principle. This has lead to ...
12
votes
2answers
901 views
Is it called something when I can't remember the word I want to say, but I can remember its first letter?
This happens to me frequently. I'll say, "Oh you know that guy... uhh... I can't remember his name. But he starts with a 'Z'." You can remember part of the word but not the whole word.
Is there a ...
12
votes
2answers
326 views
Do we understand the non-subjective mechanisms behind pleasure and pain?
If we are to view pleasure and pain as being essentially synonymous with the more mechanistic concept of reward and punishment (i.e. as a part of learning and motivation system) then do we understand ...
12
votes
1answer
41k views
How valid is Lumosity's Brain Performance Index and what normative information is available?
Background
There is a test called Lumosity's Brain Performance Index.
A sample profile of scores might be:
...
12
votes
3answers
3k views
Positive and negative reinforcement and punishment effectiveness
According to Skinner, positive reinforcement is superior to punishment in altering behavior.
As Skinner discussed, positive reinforcement is superior to punishment
in altering behavior. He ...
12
votes
2answers
236 views
Is there an R implementation of the linear ballistic accumulator model or Ratcliff's diffusion model for measuring response time and accuracy?
I am looking for an implementation of the linear ballistic accumulator model or Ratcliff's diffusion model (e.g. in R, MATLAB, or Python).
12
votes
3answers
385 views
Software for online psychological experiments that don't require users to download anything
We are currently using Inquisit to conduct Internet experiments. Since it is not compatible with non-Windows systems, we lose a lot of potential subjects. Ideally, we would like to implement something ...
12
votes
2answers
218 views
How are autistic savants able to perform certain mathematical computations so quickly?
How do autistic savants (or other people with these abilities) compute equations like $81^{100}$ in 2.5 minutes?
Which algorithms do they use? Is it an efficient one, or do they just have a lot of ...
12
votes
1answer
176 views
What factors improve mood and increase cognitive functioning when people wake up?
I'm a software engineer doing some research in order to figure out if developing some applications are worth the effort. This work is applied to computational devices including mobile devices and even ...
12
votes
2answers
3k views
Free online intelligence test with norm table, high reliability, and must be printable?
I am looking for a general intelligence test which meets the following requirements:
available online for free
there is a table which translates "points" to IQ (I don't want a hidden online ...
12
votes
1answer
265 views
What concepts of perception should designers be aware of when designing?
Visual perception is a huge topic, much of which is relevant to the work of a designer. I have identified topics in visual memory, visual cognition and colour perception that are relevant, and I'm ...
12
votes
1answer
127 views
Does the relationship between positive mood and motivation for sex differ between males and females?
Background:
I recently heard the saying from a doctor: "men are motivated to have sex when they want to feel good and women are motivated to have sex when they already feel good".
(In a side note, ...
12
votes
1answer
209 views
How long can a person stay happy, excited and motivated about something new?
I'm interested in learning more about studies or experiments that determine how long a typical person can stay excited about something new:
...
12
votes
2answers
492 views
Applications of computational learning theory in the cognitive sciences
Computational learning theory (CoLT) is a branch of theoretical computer science associated with the mathematical analysis of machine learning. A lot of the early ideas of the field take inspiration ...
12
votes
1answer
205 views
Computational models of early learning in children
What are currently used biologically plausible computational models/frameworks of early learning in children?
Personally, I have used cascade correlation neural nets to model pronoun acquisition ...
12
votes
1answer
150 views
Is there a reasonably valid and reliable self-measure of computer literacy?
Measuring computer literacy or skill is important when grouping respondents for usability studies and other Human Computer Interaction studies. But for the life of me I can't find a good, simple but ...
12
votes
1answer
183 views
Do only humans spend a lot of time daydreaming (or having “stimulus-independent thoughts”)?
A paper
Killingsworth et al., A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind, Science 12 November 2010: 932 (or a free pdf) starts with the following statement:
Unlike other animals, human beings spend
a ...
12
votes
1answer
237 views
What stimulus features determine the psychophysical power law exponent?
Following the work of Stanley Stevens, psychophysical functions of stimulus intensity are commonly assumed to follow power laws, as illustrated below:
This appears to be true for a wide variety of ...
11
votes
11answers
333 views
Any work being done on Perception, Action, and/or Cognition in Video games?
Call it a nerd crossover, but I've always been curious about how we play games on a mechanistic level. However, even coming from a rational viewpoint video games seem like a fruitful domain of study, ...
11
votes
4answers
237 views
Why is training better when following an easy-to-difficult schedule?
As suggested in the answer to this question, experimental results show that training is most effective when it follows an easy-to-difficult schedule.
What theories and specifically computational ...
11
votes
3answers
229 views
Is it possible for certain people to perceive colors differently?
What if someone perceives a color as 'red' when it is actually 'green'?
Since different people have preferences for different colors, and colors are perhaps constructed in the mind, is it possible ...
11
votes
2answers
354 views
Are spaced flashcards effective for learning?
Several apps and sites offer flashcard-based learning that repeat the cards you do poorly on over a period of time (the more inaccurate the answer the closer to each other the repetitions are). One ...
11
votes
2answers
417 views
Why do humans prefer symmetrical arrangement of objects?
Most of the times, we associate symmetry with beauty. The symmetry may be in architectural/interior design for instance. Why would this be so ?
11
votes
3answers
222 views
Is there a better way to describe brain activity than EEG “brain waves”
I've been reading about EEG brain waves, which are specific waveforms that are observed on the EEG output, and are usually scored by humans. This concept has been around for quite some time.
Is there ...
11
votes
2answers
205 views
How are newly created neurons recruited into existing networks?
As far as I understand, the basics of neurogenesis (abstracted down to the level that makes sense to a computer scientist) is as follows:
Neural progenitor cells differentiate into new neurons that ...
11
votes
1answer
109 views
How is the size of a video related to its perceived quality?
Video is often presented at different sizes. On the Internet, many websites provide quite a few size settings. In the store, you can buy TVs of many different sizes. In both cases, it's the same ...
11
votes
1answer
233 views
What is a validated single-item measure of mood?
Has anyone validated, proposed or tested a single-item state-based positive affect or happiness measure? I am particularly interested in something for tracking mood every day.
11
votes
2answers
453 views
What tasks does Bayesian decision-making model poorly?
Bayesianism has been a relatively successful paradigm for modeling decision-making. However, not every psychologist is a bayesian, and there are tasks such as the Tversky & Shafir (1992) ...
11
votes
1answer
439 views
What was the experiment where you pour liquid from a tall container to a short one and ask a child which has more?
From Developmental psychology 101 I remember an experiment where the person conducting the experiment would pour liquid from a tall, narrow container into a short, narrow container and ask a child if ...
11
votes
1answer
318 views
Subconscious vs Unconscious
From what I know, we use the term 'subconscious' to refer to the things that we can bring into our conscious. and, we use the term 'unconscious' for things that we can't know, they come automatically ...
11
votes
2answers
374 views
Do men and women differ in their desire to have children?
I was reading the comments of the following article on paternal health and birth defects. Someone made the following comment.
The other thing is that mens interest in being a father is nowhere
...
11
votes
1answer
183 views
Does the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis apply to artificial (specifically programming) languages?
As a computer programmer, I have an intuition that the idea "language influences thought" is very relevant to programmers and programming languages.
Is there any research that examines whether ...
11
votes
2answers
434 views
Game-theory strategies to overcome holdout problem?
The hold-out problem often occurs in debt-restructuring or in urban development.
The hold-out problem is defined where an agent, for example a land developer, must negotiate with many lot owners and ...
11
votes
4answers
498 views
Why are people inclined to praise or fear the unknown?
Human beings are inclined to "praise" the unknown, and are often afraid of the unknown. This inclination has led to the creation of mythology and many gods. To this date we are still carrying this ...
11
votes
1answer
68 views
What effect do random visitors have on children in orphanages and people in old age homes?
Leading a volunteering team, I've been to an orphanage where the sister (who did a psychology course) running the orphanage was strict that volunteers should spend a minimum of 3 months teaching the ...
11
votes
1answer
175 views
Does anxiety produce adrenaline or does adrenaline make the person anxious?
Its obvious that both are related(adrenaline and anxiety) but which causes which?
What (I think) I know:
Anxiety accelerates the hearth rhythm due to the feeling of fear. It makes the body believe ...
11
votes
2answers
124 views
How rare is synesthesia?
I visited a neuropsychologist recently who told me I have Synesthesia. I never really knew what it was, but it's fascinating and I can't believe it isn't the norm among people. For me, certain numbers ...
11
votes
1answer
76 views
How does displaying existing votes to a poll influence subsequent voting behaviour?
Some polls involve a question where the existing votes received for each response option are displayed. I have heard that on such polls the existing votes influence the answers provided by subsequent ...
11
votes
0answers
119 views
Development of social cognition as an alternative to the obstetrical dilemma
Human infants are strange in that they are born more helpless than the infants of other great apes. They are born with about 25-30% of their brain developed, compared to the 40-50% of other great ...
10
votes
5answers
974 views
How to analyze reaction times and accuracy together?
Is there a good way to analyze reaction times and accuracy together, other than MANOVA?
I have data from an experiment in which participants had to respond to stimuli in two different conditions in a ...
10
votes
4answers
393 views
If someone becomes a split-brain patient, which side will “maintain” the continuity in their consciousness?
The brain injury might apparently produce two "independent" consciousnesses, and I'm wondering where the original person's "consciousness" would "transfer".
We had a debate on this over at Reddit ...
10
votes
4answers
374 views
Do people have a tendency to stick to one opinion after they formed it?
Scytale's assessment, from the science fiction novel "Dune Messiah" (1969)
When a creature has developed into one thing, he will choose death
rather than change into his opposite.
While ...
10
votes
2answers
429 views
What can we learn from the neural networks of C.elegans to understand human brains?
Recently I am reading some works about Caenorhabditis Elegans. A C.elegans has 302 neurons and we already know the function and connection of every one of their neurons so that we can exactly ...
10
votes
5answers
252 views
Visual search: complexity of positive vs negative search tasks
Thinking about experiments where participants perform visual search tasks, I remember hearing in a Cog Psych lecture that if the instructions of the task were of the form "find the element that has ...
10
votes
4answers
381 views
Running on autopilot
Sometimes, people say that they are "running on autopilot", meaning that they are doing the things that they normally do, without any real conscious involvement. I have read that it is not uncommon ...
