# All Questions

368 views

### What are the neurological and psychological bases for chromophobia

According to this amusing, yet informative Cracked article, Phobia-source article and Chromophobia: do you have a fear of colours website, chromophoba is a fear of bright colours. This condition is ...
541 views

### Why do people get syllables mixed up when trying to recall words?

This question is related to this question. It could be a dupe, but I am more interested in whether this is a form of "dyslexic" thinking (for want of a better expression)? I posted this question on ...
196 views

### Can you retain a large number in your head for an extended period of time without distortion?

If someone where to recite "794 times 869", they might struggle to retain the numbers pitch perfect in their head as I perform the calculations. Are there any exercises one could perform to improve ...
314 views

### Why does alcohol reduce shyness?

I find it very interesting that people who consume alcohol get less shy. Therefore my question: Why does drinking alcohol reduce shyness? And are there any other (legal or illegal) substances who ...
7k views

### Is there a correlation between people who frequently laugh at their own jokes and narcissism?

It is not uncommon for people to laugh at their own jokes. One comedian discusses how he uses this as a benchmark for whether or not a joke is going to be funny for the audience. Psychology Today ...
166 views

### What explains the relative importance of physical versus mental features in human mate selection?

I assume that it is the brain that has put human beings at the top of the food chain (Biped and opposable thumbs aside). Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest suggest that the best specimens of ...
84 views

### Where to find published results of positive psychology cancer treatment study mentioned in Martin Seligman's book?

In Dr. Martin Seligman's book, "Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life", there was mention of a study involving teaching cancer patients to fight learned helplessness. I believe this ...
168 views

### Why neural architecture is not hardwired for N-dimensional vision but hardwired for abstract math?

In The Theoretical Minimum, in lecture 1, Leonard Susskind says that you can only visualize 3 dimentional images. (see yourself). Therefore, he says, in order to deal with N dimensions, you need to ...
4k views

### What is the effect of scolding kids

Is there any harmful effect of scolding kids. Also does that affect more to kids who are 1 year old or to those who are much older like 5 years and so. By the term scolding I mean: Shouting, ...
109 views

### What is the linguistic equivalent of functional fixedness?

Recently, I saw a crossword clue: (5 letters) "They help you after a crash." After going through the list of EMTs, firemen, police officers, etc. I realized that the answer was "IT Guy." This seems to ...
646 views

### How to conduct surveys using facebook?

More and more often I read in papers, that an online survey has been conducted through Facebook. What I have yet to understand is how this can best be done. I understand that Facebook allows the ...
221 views

### Psychometric information on IPIP representation of NEO facets

The IPIP (International Personality Item Pool) website provides a copy of the IPIP representation of the NEO 30 facet form. It also provides some information comparing IPIP NEO with official NEO. ...
308 views

### Is acrophobia connected to falling in dreams?

I'm interested in the link between phobias and related nightmares. Specifically, is acrophobia (i.e., irrational fear of heights) connected to falling in dreams?
340 views

### What are some examples of emergent abilities?

By emergent ability I mean this: suppose that competently performing ability Z is contingent on, and only on, having skill X and skill Y developed to a certain level (that is, ability Z is a ...
61 views

### Stiffing the tip as groups get larger … like the prisoner's dilemma but …?

Is there a game theory analysis or other research or modeling describing the commonly perceived phenomenon whereby the amount by which people underpay a gratuity seems to be proportional to the number ...
211 views

### The feeling a person gets when they finish a series

Take for example, a person reading a good book series that they enjoy. While they are reading it, they typically look forward to finishing each volume, as well as the whole series. However, when they ...
134 views

### Why can a user seamlessly switch from one language input to another on the same keyboard?

The question regards the phenomenon where a user can switch context on the same tool seamlessly, and as it seems without thinking. The only practical use of the phenomenon that I know of is the ...
238 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 ...
60 views

### Can two neurons in the brain be connected more then once?

Can two given neurons in the human brain can be directly connected more than once, either mutually or in the same or direction? Also, can the same neuron have transitive connections to itself (in ...
49 views

### Do dissolving myelinated connections explain learning?

In order to understand how we get rid of established habits/behavior: Can myelinated connections be dissolved or are new connections created that bypass those connections?
69 views

### Paradoxical senses of scale: Are they common or is it just me?

It doesn't happen anymore, but when I was younger I would often get strange sensations regarding scale that I never heard anyone else report. There were two different flavors. One felt like the room ...
60 views

### How much our visual limitations are instrument(eye)-based, and how much are they brain-based?

Are the limitations to our vision like the field of view and singular focus entirely based on the limitations of the eye? It seems like it's possible to feed an artificial signal into the brain ...
60 views

### How does the order of words influence our ability to remember a question once it's asked again?

I'm about to send out surveys that I need for a project and these will be sent out every season - winter, spring, summer, fall - each supposedly having the same questions. It's quite likely some ...
111 views

### Neural nets for cognition

I recently got into Neural networks. As much as I have understood, the learning process is based on the change in weights according to stimulus and algorithm used in learning. Does this in any way ...
27 views

### Where are intrinsically bursting neurons found in the mammalian brain?

There are neurons in the brain that exhibit bursting behaviour. In some cases, this is due to interactions with the surrounding neural network. In other cases, it is due to intrinsic biological ...
29 views

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### Obsessions: Synopsis and Effects

I've been thinking about this topic quite a lot recently. What exactly is obsession ? Is it a good trait indicating perseverance for a goal ? Or is it a sign of a psychological disorder ? Is it a sort ...
53 views

### How does Parkinson's disease result in tremors?

From what I understand, Parkinson's disease is caused by the death of dopamine producing cells in the substantia nigra, however I don't understand how that causses the symptoms of Parkinson's. I am ...
34 views

### Are there theories on how vocabularies for the Semantic Pointer Architecture are created?

The semantic pointer architecture is a vector symbolic architecture where high-dimensional sparse vectors represent concepts. These concepts can be mathematical, linguistic or sensory. In all of the ...
25 views

### Why superimposing PET data on MRI scan images instead of doing fMRI scans?

I'm currently reading this paper: Savic & Lindström (2008). PET and MRI show differences in cerebral asymmetry and functional connectivity between homo- and heterosexual subjects. It certainly ...
43 views

### How can I structure this question to check for availability bias?

I'm preparing a survey right now and one of the questions I'm looking to answer is: How much does availability bias effect the decision making process for [given behaviour]? My question is: What's ...
33 views

### How to engage in the conceptualization process to measure a psychological construct such as femininity?

I am in class for Research Methods and I am having troubles with a conceptualizations process. The question is to describe the conceptualization process you would employ to measure femininity. How ...