All Questions
3
votes
1answer
38 views
What is the proper term for the synchronization of eye movements?
In humans and most two eyed species, eye movements synchronize so that both eyes are focused on the same point. This facilitates 3D vision significantly, allowing bifocal cues. I remember reading a ...
2
votes
0answers
32 views
How do humans perceive height or vertical drop?
I'm looking at this video: Neil Burgess: How your brain tells you where you are, which discusses neurons within the brain that help people remember where stuff is in relation to other objects.
I'm ...
13
votes
2answers
618 views
How to reliably measure working memory capacity?
The capacity of human working memory is subject to individual differences. The number of items or chunks a person can retain in their memory may, have profound effects on a variety of other cognitive ...
1
vote
1answer
133 views
What is the scientific term or concept for inner thought control? [closed]
Usually when a thought arises, it seems that we quickly scurry after it, unconsciously getting caught up with whatever everyday thoughts come up. These can be invoked internally or externally.
(No ...
6
votes
1answer
81 views
Is good short term memory correlated with good long term memory?
Is there any link between one's ability to store information in their short term memory, with their ability to store information in their long term memory?
5
votes
1answer
128 views
Desire to climb from evolutionary perspective?
When I go near a hill or dune, I feel desire to climb there and have a wider look on the surroundings. I know a lot of people who love mountains and want to climb higher and higher, but never have ...
1
vote
1answer
74 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 ...
7
votes
2answers
177 views
Best practice to handle double negatives when using the expectancy-value model?
My question is regarding the multiplicative combination rule in the Expectancy-value model developed by Fishbein and Ajzen, and the issues regarding the expectancy value-muddle, or the case of "double ...
6
votes
2answers
102 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* ...
8
votes
1answer
145 views
What is the effect of high expectations on long-term happiness?
Are there any studies about the long term effects of having high expectations of oneself on one's happiness? Does crashing after failing to reach unrealistic goals significantly impact long-term ...
2
votes
0answers
54 views
Why do we seem to have an internal drive to use different expressions(mostly when writing)?
How come we have so many words/phrases that share the same meaning?
I suppose the most obvious answer to this would be that through communication between people with accent/language A and B, new ...
3
votes
1answer
84 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 ...
8
votes
1answer
132 views
What causes short-term dysphoria following intense pleasure?
I'm interested in the phenomenon of short term Dysphoria:
Dysphoria is a state of feeling unwell or unhappy; a feeling of emotional and mental discomfort as a symptom of discontentment, ...
6
votes
0answers
81 views
Are ambidextrous people better at multitasking?
I'm strongly 'one-handed' in that I can barely even write with my left hand. My wife is fairly ambidextrous, in that she's by default left-handed, but can also write with her right hand.
I've ...
12
votes
1answer
125 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, ...
5
votes
1answer
135 views
Is there a lot of redundancy in written and spoken language?
I read years ago in a pop science book that written and spoken language can be shown to have a high level of redundancy. The speculation was that this served to allow error correction because language ...
0
votes
2answers
76 views
Categorization studies with a procedure similar to Shepard et al (1961) and Medin & Schaffer (1978)
I am looking for performance results from categorization studies with discrete stimulus features and reinforcement feedback. I need something like this:
...
3
votes
2answers
176 views
Is the Raspberry Pi capable of operating as a stimulus presentation system for experiments?
I'm outfitting a small behavioural lab with a fiscal-austerity-induced budget. I'm considering trying out a Raspberry pi for individual participant systems. My tentative plan is to run linux and code ...
1
vote
1answer
57 views
What is the definition of pathology?
While trying to get more information for my previous question, I found several different definitions for the terms "pathology" and "pathological." While under normal circumstances I'd be inclined to ...
4
votes
1answer
67 views
Does the Hodgkin-Huxley Model take into account the action of the ion pumps (e.g., Na-K-ATPase)?
After the firing of a neuron, the sodium and potassium concentration differences vanish.
It requires some time for cell to actively transport the ions in and out to re-establish the balance.
Does ...
6
votes
1answer
111 views
How people choose at random
This question is inspired by one asked at MathOverflow. (These questions at Cognitive Sciences and at Cross Validated might also be relevant.)
Are there any studies on what choices humans ...
1
vote
0answers
45 views
How to optimize bi-tasking?
Based on an article on brain laterization, it's said that a lateralized brain can do two tasks simultaneously.
Lateralized chicks could pick food out of the pebbles with one eye and one half of ...
5
votes
2answers
64 views
Minimum duration for presenting a visual stimulus on screen
My experiment involves presenting simple visual stimuli briefly on screen (200 ms to 1000 ms). The stimuli would be simple enough (e.g. a circle and a line) but I want to use a range of durations to ...
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 ...
11
votes
1answer
40k 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:
...
1
vote
3answers
187 views
Why do drivers not slow down when they see signs indicating road work?
I found the following anecdote on Quora
Many years ago, I worked for a gas & electric power company, and had
been a member of a crew installing a road-side gas main. Despite the
signs, ...
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
88 views
Are there statistics about how many assertive people there are in the world?
Based on my own experience, assertiveness is a rather rare commodity to be found among people, which in my opinion causes most of the troubles this world has.
Are there any statistics that attempt to ...
2
votes
1answer
124 views
What's the Frequency of the ringing in my ear?
I have ringing in my ears that has become constant over time. Most of the time I just ignore it, to tell you the truth I can't even remember when it started. Lately I'm curious what the frequency of ...
14
votes
1answer
408 views
Is there experimental support for John Perry's “Theory of Structured Procrastination”?
John Perry's theory of structured procrastination can be summed up as follows:
Some people are inherently predisposed to be procrastinators across a wide range of domains
Such procrastinators are ...
3
votes
0answers
27 views
Is there any study that models the interaction among assertive, passive, aggressive and passive-aggressive people?
Reading up on assertiveness recently, I wondered whether there's any study that attempts to model how passive, aggressive, assertive and passive-aggressive people interact with one another.
3
votes
0answers
55 views
Definition of Affective Cueing
In contrast to Affective Priming, what is Affective Cueing? I'm not sure how to differentiate between the two.
I found a good review on affective priming in Karl Christoph Klauer (1997) in the ...
4
votes
1answer
209 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. ...
2
votes
2answers
187 views
Improving Speed of Thinking
What are some ways one can improve his/her speed of thinking and reasoning ? I am looking for some easy to follow strategies that can be systematically applied. (I am presuming it can be learnt/ ...
2
votes
1answer
53 views
Any research on right-hand/left-hand based preferences when interacting with an interface?
My original question is "Left or right placement of interactive elements on a web page", but only now did I find a place where I think I can find the right people to understand it.
The gist is: is ...
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 ...
5
votes
0answers
73 views
How to teach parents to apply early childhood interventions to improve cognitive outcomes in children?
I've watched the "My Brilliant Brain: Born Genius" documentary where they refer to the Abecedarian Project, in that investigation, a group of children that were exposed to early childhood education ...
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 ...
3
votes
0answers
66 views
Is there any science behind movie/commercial camera angle changes?
Most of the regular waking cognition experiences a continuous visual field. One object of focus flows into another. Objects out of focus are pushed to the periphery. A person may move one's view ...
3
votes
1answer
109 views
How are qualia localized in consciousness?
I understand that evolution incorporated arbitrary qualia into the default network to inform consciousness (the largest cranial global processing information subnetwork) about properties and qualities ...
5
votes
1answer
72 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 ...
2
votes
0answers
73 views
Evidence that qualia are not the same as physical processes?
With regards to the answer posted by @sandygautman in the question Do feelings have a purpose:
Let me first state that I don't have a problem with either the question nor the answer; I'm only looking ...
1
vote
0answers
39 views
Do widespread brain toxins explain violence rates?
Saw this: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/lead-crime-link-gasoline
Lead emissions from tailpipes rose steadily from the early '40s
through the early '70s, nearly quadrupling over ...
2
votes
1answer
49 views
Are there already models for planning and goal-directed behaviour?
I'm interested in planning and how one is able to take action and plan ahead at the same time. I could imagine one could make observations and project these into the future using past experiences. The ...
1
vote
1answer
106 views
Do feelings have a purpose?
A car has dashboard lights, like "check engine" to indicate malfunctions, etc. Do human feelings have some similar, meaningful function (x produces feeling y), or are feelings just random glitches of ...
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 ...
3
votes
0answers
36 views
Structural descriptions of neuronal networks are important for understanding brain dysfunctions; which dysfunctions, in particular?
In a recent paper, we find this quote:
The brain contains vast numbers of interconnected neurons that constitute anatomical and functional networks. Structural descriptions of neuronal network ...
2
votes
1answer
47 views
Is the energy of an action potential divided among multiple axon terminals?
My understanding is that the bulk of an axon is myelinated, greatly adding to the efficiency of transmitting action potentials. However, the axon terminals are not myelinated. I'm wondering if the ...
1
vote
1answer
118 views
Are there any reliable self-tests for autism spectrum disorder?
Are there any reliable tests, on-line or available for download, for auto-diagnosis for autism spectrum disorder (including Asperger syndrome)?
I've found that test: ...
2
votes
0answers
72 views
In what ways can someone increase their brain function while reading
On Facebook, someone posed the following question:
In what ways can someone increase brain function while reading? I like to read but have problems retaining information. Sometimes I get a ...
