3
votes
0answers
43 views
Why does speaking disrupt rhythm?
I've noticed that while playing rhythm games--games where I must press buttons precisely in step with a musical accompaniment--I can either play or I can talk. If start talking, I'll almost ...
3
votes
1answer
31 views
Are cortisol measures more reliable than self-reported fear measures for looking at difference scores?
I was sent an email by a researcher with the following question:
You wrote that difference scores are okay to use if measurement error
is
minimised.
Does that imply that biological ...
2
votes
0answers
64 views
How effective are high audio frequencies in commercials in getting audience attention?
Does anyone know of a peer reviewed article that describes how commercials will often contain high audio frequencies in order to attract the viewer's attention?
Referrals to commercials using any ...
0
votes
0answers
61 views
Subtle manipulation in commercials - Kindle Fire HD [closed]
I was watching the new kindle commercial and I noticed a few things that seemed to make me lean towards the NEW Kindle Fire HD (They emphasize "new" a lot)
One of the things that stood out to me the ...
-1
votes
1answer
47 views
How to tell a diagnosis from an actual state?
Since diagnoses merely represent what a doctor is thinking, how can a mental patient know the difference between de facto "reality" and what decisions a doctor is planning?
We know planning is not ...
3
votes
1answer
135 views
Free online survey and diary software for conducting experience sampling studies
Are there any open source online survey software that enable researchers to use experience-sampling methods, e.g. online diaries (where people answer similar survey questions repeatedly and are ...
9
votes
1answer
71 views
Can we draw conclusions about content of thoughts from neural firing patterns?
Can the neural firing patterns of animals be associated with specific kinds of thoughts? (ie Thoughts related to food, mating, or neighborly aggression?)
I am curious about the speculations in ...
9
votes
3answers
4k views
Can sleep become addictive?
Can a person become dependent on sleeping (more than they otherwise physically need) in a way that fits the definition of addiction, in the same way some psychology professionals may describe a person ...
4
votes
0answers
44 views
EEG correlates of handedness
Can any one suggest a good article about features of EEG of left-handed people? I was surprised when find that there are only few old articles about it. I find only one new article by Propper, Ruth ...
12
votes
1answer
78 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 ...
4
votes
1answer
57 views
What was the experiment where a person is given something and then has to share it with another person
Bob is given a bar of chocolate by the experimenter. Then he is to propose how he will share the chocolate with Emilly. If Emilly agrees with Bob's proposal, the kids will each get their share. If ...
-2
votes
1answer
70 views
Is there a name for the tendency to use proper nouns often in conversation? [closed]
I think it may happen with people who have lack of confidence, for example shy people. So in conversation they often add proper nouns (eg. names of persons or countries) to give "evidence" and weight ...
1
vote
0answers
26 views
Are “diagnostic” senses/feelings for brain study possible?
Modern science has quite an array of methods trying to localize and analyze brain activity, trying to get down to individual neurons firing: EEG, fMRI, CT, etc. This requires very expensive machines ...
5
votes
2answers
111 views
What is the standard error of measurement for teacher made multiple choice tests?
Assume a teacher constructs a four-choice multiple choice test. Each item has only one correct response. The test is scored from 0 to 100 representing the percentage of items answered correctly.
I ...
7
votes
1answer
116 views
Any attempts at testing or modeling the 'cognitive conception' of language?
For those unfamiliar, the 'cognitive conception of language' refers to a claim made by some theorists that, in the words of Carruthers:
"besides its obvious communicative functions, language also ...
2
votes
1answer
58 views
Which branch of psychology deals with decision making under stress?
Our decisions are usually based on a system of perspectives, which in turn are based on one's own set of values. However there are traumatizing situations where this system of perspectives is turned ...
-1
votes
1answer
85 views
Most common cognitive biases?
I'm a amateur student of cognitive biases and psychological traps and have been reading some of the work of Kahneman, Tversky, Gilovich et al along with more popular books like Cialdini's "Influence." ...
5
votes
4answers
348 views
How to explain emoticons to an autistic person?
I am currently chatting in an IRC and there is one girl (i think she's about 18 years old) and she has Asperger syndrome and therefore is unable to understand countenance and feelings. She told me ...
4
votes
1answer
93 views
What effects does spending a lot of time in online communities have on interpersonal skills?
There are quite a few users who are pretty much addicted to the Stack Exchange network and spend over 3-4 hours per day here. Time spent here will result in lower amount of social interactions, and ...
3
votes
1answer
93 views
How to compute Chi-square value and degrees of freedom in Excel?
I am trying to understand the statistical test of the chi-square in Excel. I already made the test but I still don't know how to compute the χ² value and what it means, how to compute the degrees of ...
4
votes
2answers
105 views
Does associating a color with numbers improve math learning?
I have heard a number of reports that some mathematical savants associate particular colors with numbers. It got me wondering, if colors are associated with numbers during mathematical teaching, ...
11
votes
2answers
132 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 ...
2
votes
1answer
199 views
Is StackExchange.com Addiction Dangerous?
I recently looked at the meta.math.stackexchange.com and found the second anniversary was celebrated. As in the last year's Happy-Birthday post (linked therein) , some people declared the addiction to ...
3
votes
3answers
248 views
What factors influence a person's perceived expertise?
For example, some people believe they are excellent human lie detectors. But, research shows that the average person is only able to detect deception about 54% of the time. What techniques could be ...
5
votes
2answers
373 views
Is variation in human brain size related to mental functioning?
It seems that the head size of human beings has evolved to be relatively similar, yet there is still some amount of variation. While I'm sure the correlation is not absolute, I read that larger heads ...
-4
votes
1answer
203 views
Why we can't read in dreams? [closed]
Why we can't read texts in dreams? I mean, we can do everything in dreams, but read it's impossible. I'm a layman in this area, actually I study computer science and probably because of this, my ...
6
votes
1answer
70 views
Is there a metric of the overall excitation of the brain or nervous system?
I'm thinking of a way to describe what's happening to a single channel EEG/MEG sensor output. I've noticed that there is significant difference in the readings from a quiet observations, versus a ...
3
votes
0answers
54 views
In what order do people notice another person's attributes (race, age, gender, etc.)
I seem to recall reading some research years ago about what people notice in the first second or so of seeing someone else, and in what order they notice those things. It's something like gender, ...
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 ...
0
votes
0answers
39 views
Autism: Social Skills: Body Language and Facial Expressions [closed]
What is the most effective (research proven) way to teach body language and facial expressions to autistic children?
1
vote
3answers
116 views
Is fear rational? [closed]
Let's suppose a big ugly monster thingy wants to eat you. While you're running away from it, you're feeling fear. Can this situation be considered one where fear would be rational?
3
votes
1answer
81 views
Should fantasy distractors be avoided in multiple choice questions
Is there any reason not to include fantasy distractors (made-up wrong answers) in multiple choice tests.
Examples:
What is the name of the compound HCl?
a) Hydrochloric acid
b) Chlorohydride acid
...
4
votes
1answer
80 views
Why do people feel the need to make changes to a solution presented by another person?
There is an interesting phenomenon I have come across several times when working with groups, and that is the need some people have to make changes to a solution that someone else created.
The ...
2
votes
0answers
35 views
How much information does the somatosensory system produce?
Are there any approximations of how many bits of information human somatosensory system produces? Especially mechano-receptors as measured in average number of bits per area of skin per second?
I've ...
9
votes
1answer
110 views
In C. elegans, which neuron has the largest span, and why is it this large?
The model organism C. elegans is about 1 mm in length. This is quite small. In fact, some C. elegans neurons span >25% of the length of its body (ref.).
This observation leads me to the following ...
3
votes
1answer
58 views
What is a test called that involves indicating whether a line has the same slope as a previous image?
I would like to know the name of the following test:
Participants were asked to memorize the slope of a line of a target image.
Then different images (lines with varying slopes) were presented ...
10
votes
1answer
82 views
Learning of new concepts being impeded by an error in previous work
Note: I'm framing this question in terms of tutoring math since that's what I tutor most, though it applies to a wide range of subject matters.
I do a decent amount of tutoring, and this is one ...
8
votes
0answers
76 views
What is the bias/thought process that results in distrust of “formal” knowledge in favor of “folk” knowledge?
An interesting effect I've noticed is that certain groups of people seem to accept "folk knowledge" and value it over significantly better founded "formal" or scientific knowledge. In particular this ...
1
vote
2answers
86 views
How does knowledge about a subject aid in its recall?
I've experienced it many times with my students and also with myself. Let me illustrate with example:
When I'm teaching, I say something like this:
Gastrointenstinal Track has following sections
...
8
votes
1answer
217 views
Why are most people right handed?
How did right handedness win over left handedness in numbers?
Is it only a coincidence that there are more right handed people than left handed ones? Or, has some effect in nature explicitly made ...
3
votes
3answers
144 views
How much information is lost when conveying an experience or emotion to another person?
Certain languages have words that do not literally translate into any another language. There is already a small loss of information in this sense.
Emotions are a personal experience and the ...
3
votes
2answers
243 views
What is the fastest language to think in?
If you think in any language you're never misstaken on what word you mean even if there are many words that are spelled/pronounced the same. This causes a language with only one word meaning every ...
2
votes
0answers
55 views
What is the upper bound on rate of learning in young adults?
I was wondering how a normal adult in their 20s could best structure their life to make best use of their capacity to learn. (I am no expert in cognitive science, so I assume just a really common ...
0
votes
1answer
90 views
What causes someone to feel anxious and lacking in confidence when outside the home? [closed]
Background Context:
When at home, I feel like being myself - calm, free, productive, clearly thinking and wise person making logical decisions. But should any contact be made with outside world, ...
12
votes
2answers
257 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).
3
votes
0answers
49 views
Test-retest reliability of Iowa gambling task performance and Expectancy Valence Model parameters
I've just been learning about the Expectancy Valence Model of the Iowa Gambling Task (see Busemeyer & Stout, 2002; Yechiam et al 2005). The model includes three parameters: motivation, ...
3
votes
1answer
245 views
What part of the brain locks up when a man is in the presence of an extremely attractive female?
This question is specifically about the male brain and its lack of cognition in the presence of a highly attractive female.
This is in contrast to regaining cognitive ability in the presence of an ...
8
votes
0answers
81 views
Can the Philosophy thought game “The experience machine” be answered by Positive Psychology?
In Philosophy, a thought game exists called "The experience machine" {1}. In summary, it's a machine you plug into that enables you to always experience positive events, and never negative ones.
One ...
5
votes
2answers
108 views
Do humans mentally discretize numbers?
It seems reasonable to me that humans discretize numbers: this number is bigger than than number, or when faced with a series of numbers that range from 0 - 100, 50 is "middling", 10 is "low" and 90 ...
6
votes
1answer
141 views
Bayesian models of faking in selection and recruitment settings
I'm doing some research looking at applying Bayesian models to faking personality tests in selection and recruitment.
I'm interested to know:
What existing work has applied Bayesian models to ...
