Cognitive
4 Ways Your Brain Can Ruin Your Chances for Success
April 23, 2014
The statistics for startup success can be grim. Approximately 75 percent of all startups fail, and about 90 percent of all products fail. Yet every day, new entrepreneurs dream up products and services and jump into the startup fray. What's really tripping up the ones who barely make it out of the starting gate? The economy, of course, doesn't make things easy. But perhaps there's something much closer to home that increases the challenge. Our brains are powerful processing tools, but just like...
April 23, 2014
The statistics for startup success can be grim. Approximately 75 percent of all startups fail, and about 90 percent of all products fail. Yet every day, new entrepreneurs dream up products and services and jump into the startup fray. What's really tripping up the ones who barely make it out of the starting gate? The economy, of course, doesn't make things easy. But perhaps there's something much closer to home that increases the challenge. Our brains are powerful processing tools, but just like...
Misdiagnosed: Docs’ Mistakes Affect 12 Million a Year
April 20, 2014
At least one in every 20 adults who seeks medical care in a U.S. emergency room or community health clinic may walk away with the wrong diagnosis, according to a new analysis that estimates that 12 million Americans a year could be affected by such errors. Of those misdiagnosis mistakes, about 6 million could potentially cause harm, according to patient safety expert Dr. Hardeep Singh, who is the first to provide robust population-level data on the impact of the problem in outpatient settings.
April 20, 2014
At least one in every 20 adults who seeks medical care in a U.S. emergency room or community health clinic may walk away with the wrong diagnosis, according to a new analysis that estimates that 12 million Americans a year could be affected by such errors. Of those misdiagnosis mistakes, about 6 million could potentially cause harm, according to patient safety expert Dr. Hardeep Singh, who is the first to provide robust population-level data on the impact of the problem in outpatient settings.
A Reality Club Discussion on the Work of Daniel Kahneman
April 13, 2014
Daniel Kahneman turned 80 on March 5th and Edge noted the occasion with a reprise of a number of his contributions to our pages. (See "Kahneman Turns 80"). At that time, Kahneman's longtime colleague, behavioural economist Richard Thaler, suggested that Edge follow up the birthday announcement by doing what it does best, asking Edgies who work in fields including, but not limited to, psychology, cognitive science, behavioral economics, law, medicine, a question. For their responses to...
April 13, 2014
Daniel Kahneman turned 80 on March 5th and Edge noted the occasion with a reprise of a number of his contributions to our pages. (See "Kahneman Turns 80"). At that time, Kahneman's longtime colleague, behavioural economist Richard Thaler, suggested that Edge follow up the birthday announcement by doing what it does best, asking Edgies who work in fields including, but not limited to, psychology, cognitive science, behavioral economics, law, medicine, a question. For their responses to...
Happiness is Contagious and Powerful on Social Media
April 6, 2014
Study of over one billion status updates finds that positive emotions are more contagious than negative. Emotions expressed online — both positive and negative — are contagious, concludes a new study from the University of California, San Diego and Yale University (Coviello et al., 2014). * * * The authors of the study conclude: “These results imply that emotions themselves might ripple through social networks to generate large-scale synchrony that gives rise to clusters of happy and unhappy...
April 6, 2014
Study of over one billion status updates finds that positive emotions are more contagious than negative. Emotions expressed online — both positive and negative — are contagious, concludes a new study from the University of California, San Diego and Yale University (Coviello et al., 2014). * * * The authors of the study conclude: “These results imply that emotions themselves might ripple through social networks to generate large-scale synchrony that gives rise to clusters of happy and unhappy...
Sleep Deprivation: The 10 Most Profound Psychological Effects
April 6, 2014
American Randy Gardner holds the record for the longest ever scientifically documented intentional period without sleep. Without the aid of stimulants, he managed to stay awake for 264.4 hours, or 11 days and 24 minutes. Part of his motivation was to show that sleep deprivation wasn’t that bad for you. He was wrong: it is bad for you. In fact he suffered paranoia, hallucinations, moodiness and a whole host of psychological problems, many described below. It’s just he did not notice...
April 6, 2014
American Randy Gardner holds the record for the longest ever scientifically documented intentional period without sleep. Without the aid of stimulants, he managed to stay awake for 264.4 hours, or 11 days and 24 minutes. Part of his motivation was to show that sleep deprivation wasn’t that bad for you. He was wrong: it is bad for you. In fact he suffered paranoia, hallucinations, moodiness and a whole host of psychological problems, many described below. It’s just he did not notice...
Why Preschoolers Can Outsmart College Students
April 5, 2014
Simple test of logic produces surprising win for 4 and 5-year-olds over college students. Preschoolers can outsmart college students because they are less biased and more flexible than adults, a new study finds. The conclusion comes from research published in the journal,Cognition, which put 170 college undergrads up against 106 four and five-year-olds in a test of learning and reasoning (Lucas et al., 2014).
April 5, 2014
Simple test of logic produces surprising win for 4 and 5-year-olds over college students. Preschoolers can outsmart college students because they are less biased and more flexible than adults, a new study finds. The conclusion comes from research published in the journal,Cognition, which put 170 college undergrads up against 106 four and five-year-olds in a test of learning and reasoning (Lucas et al., 2014).
Intelligent People Are More Inclined to Trust Others
April 5, 2014
Seven ways that trust benefits both individuals and society as a whole. Intelligent people are more likely to trust others, according to a new analysis of US public opinion poll data. This may be because more intelligent people are better judges of character. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, analysed data from the ‘General Social Survey’, which asks a nationally representative sample of Americans about their attitudes and characteristics (Carl & Billari, 2014).
April 5, 2014
Seven ways that trust benefits both individuals and society as a whole. Intelligent people are more likely to trust others, according to a new analysis of US public opinion poll data. This may be because more intelligent people are better judges of character. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, analysed data from the ‘General Social Survey’, which asks a nationally representative sample of Americans about their attitudes and characteristics (Carl & Billari, 2014).
Cool Brain Visualization
April 5, 2014
This is an anatomically-realistic 3D brain visualization depicting real-timesource-localized activity (power and “effective” connectivity) from EEG(electroencephalographic) signals. Each color represents source power and connectivity in a different frequency band (theta, alpha, beta, gamma) and the golden lines are white matter anatomical fiber tracts. Estimated information transfer between brain regions is visualized as pulses of light flowing along the fiber tracts connecting the regions.
April 5, 2014
This is an anatomically-realistic 3D brain visualization depicting real-timesource-localized activity (power and “effective” connectivity) from EEG(electroencephalographic) signals. Each color represents source power and connectivity in a different frequency band (theta, alpha, beta, gamma) and the golden lines are white matter anatomical fiber tracts. Estimated information transfer between brain regions is visualized as pulses of light flowing along the fiber tracts connecting the regions.
The Unconscious Mind Can Spot a Lie Even When the Conscious Mind Fails
April 4, 2014
New study finds that the conscious mind may hamper our abilities to detect lying. It’s remarkably difficult to tell when other people are lying. That’s not just my opinion, that’s the result of many studies on lyingconducted over the years. As, Leanne ten Brinke, the author of a new study investigating lie detection, says: “Our research was prompted by the puzzling but consistent finding that humans are very poor lie detectors, performing at only about 54% accuracy in traditional...
April 4, 2014
New study finds that the conscious mind may hamper our abilities to detect lying. It’s remarkably difficult to tell when other people are lying. That’s not just my opinion, that’s the result of many studies on lyingconducted over the years. As, Leanne ten Brinke, the author of a new study investigating lie detection, says: “Our research was prompted by the puzzling but consistent finding that humans are very poor lie detectors, performing at only about 54% accuracy in traditional...
How to Keep Calm and Carry On
April 3, 2014
One of my scientific heroes, positive-psychology researcher Barbara Fredrickson, published a study a few years ago showing that the largest variable in determining our level of life satisfaction is resilience – the ability to bounce back quickly from life’s small and large upsets. It wasn’t having a great boss or a happy family or regular vacations, but the capacity to get our emotional balance back when we are blown off balance by negative emotions. Easier said than done, you say – “I...
April 3, 2014
One of my scientific heroes, positive-psychology researcher Barbara Fredrickson, published a study a few years ago showing that the largest variable in determining our level of life satisfaction is resilience – the ability to bounce back quickly from life’s small and large upsets. It wasn’t having a great boss or a happy family or regular vacations, but the capacity to get our emotional balance back when we are blown off balance by negative emotions. Easier said than done, you say – “I...
