YOU CAN’T DEFY “READ” SIGNS AND THAT’S TERRIFYING
This is because reading is a passive, unconscious, process.
how does she know that’s even aimed at her that is a public bathroom
Personalization in action.
This week GAB are looking at the benefits of gaming. We’ve almost drowned ourselves in discussing race and geek girls - and it’s high time we had a nice break to feel warm and fuzzy.
Lets remind ourselves of not only why we love gaming, but why it can be good for us.
We’ll be posting and linking things like the one above (source: http://visual.ly/gaming-good-you) here, and on our Twitter, Facebook & Website.
And you can share your questions and stories with us by dropping us an Ask.Merry Gaming :)
you know, i’m a raging lesbian and i was never distracted by what other girls in my classes were wearing in high school. this is a male problem, not an “attracted to women” problem.
This is an “inability to respect women” problem.
Which is a male problem.
I am male. I can personally testify that it is not a male problem. If you’re unable to focus because of what someone’s wearing, you got some serious attention issues. It’s not that hard. A huge chunk of your brain is dedicated to self control. I go to a school where girls basically wear whatever they want and it’s never made it difficult for me or any of my male friends to focus. Respecting women is not a male problem, and I feel insulted that anyone would say that it is. Sweeping generalizations are a shitty thing to make.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There is a time and place for opinion and that is in matters of preference. (It is an opinion that one song is cooler than another) When there is an answer to a question and you don’t look it up, instead erroneously forming an opinion to cover ignorance, you remain ignorant and are more likely to defend the ignorance you’ve now confused with a personally-relevant opinion. Suddenly, anyone’s attempts to correct your misconception is an attack on your personal beliefs.
That said, exposure to the “shocking” or “distracting” stimuli should render it inconsequential. The more you make a big deal about, and try to hide something, the more mental resources will be preoccupied with it.
As a male that has gone to a school where females outnumber men nearly 3 to 1, I have been the distraction. However, I understand the mechanism behind it, and that it isn’t a matter of sex, but primarily of attention.
animaniacs was ahead of its time
Did the Animaniacs do it right, or what?
Get it together, people. That otaku-level effort would be better spent elsewhere.
How Multitasking Can Improve Judgments
Research has revealed that multitasking impedes performance across a variety of tasks. Emergency room nurses that are interrupted multiple times while treating a patient can be more likely to make medication errors. Driving while speaking on a mobile phone significantly increases the probability of an automobile accident. At the same time, however, experienced golfers putt better when distracted than experienced golfers who are focusing on performance. Distractions resulting from the presence of other people can increase an individual’s performance, too. Why?
Addressing the Contradictions
In a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science, one of the world’s top-ranked empirical journals in psychology, a team of researchers from the University of Basel helps to clarify these apparent contradictions. Lead author Janina Hoffmann, a Ph.D. student in Economic Psychology, and her co-authors Dr. Bettina von Helversen and Prof. Dr. Jörg Rieskamp, find that the type of judgment strategy that an individual employs strongly conditions how the “cognitive load” induced by multitasking affects performance. Higher cognitive load can actually improve performance when the task can be best completed using a less demanding, similarity-based strategy that informs judgments by retrieving past instances from memory.The study is supported by the findings of two experiments conducted at the University of Basel. The first study exposed 90 participants to variable cognitive loads as they were asked to solve a judgment task whose solution was best achieved through the use of a similarity-based strategy (predicting how many cartoon characters another cartoon character could catch). Most participants switched to using a similarity-based strategy and produced more accurate judgments. The second study then exposed 60 participants to a linear task whose solution was not conducive to similarity-based strategies but rather rule- based strategies. Those participants who employed a similarity-based strategy made poorer judgments. The experiments were conducted with financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Moving Forward
Cognitive load does not per se lead to worse performance, but rather it can, dependent on strategy choice, lead to better performance. The researchers believe that it is important to decipher cognitive strategies that people choose under given levels of cognitive load. Hoffmann claims, “A better understanding of these cognitive strategies may permit future studies to predict the precise circumstances under which people can solve a problem particularly well.”I plan on doing research on this, in particular, soon.
If a task requires little working memory, wouldn’t not multi-tasking cause the participant to mind-wander more than he would if he were simultaneously working on a task that filled up his WM to the threshold?
Depending on the person’s WMC, they might. If they’re efficient enough and aren’t overdoing it, they’re in the sweet spot where there isn’t any mind wandering. However, if they’re biting off more than they can chew, they will be mind wandering just as if they were multitasking something extremely simple. People’s minds wander more when they’re overwhelmed or underwhelmed. To end mind wandering, find the sweet spot for their WMC.
empathy is not the opposite of autism
empathy is not the opposite of autism
empathy is not the opposite of autism
- empathy is not the opposite of autism
empathy is not the opposite of autismwhat is this even supposed to mean?
this is like me saying breathing is not the opposite of asthma?
???

Ta-Nehisi Coates, on the idea of race. (via theatlantic)
The important thing to realize is that the concept of race has no biological backing. It is entirely eclipsed by ethnicity, a descriptor of cultural heritage. Even then, ethnicity predicts very little, and the lines drawn between ethnicity are man-made, not biological.
How Multitasking Can Improve Judgments
Research has revealed that multitasking impedes performance across a variety of tasks. Emergency room nurses that are interrupted multiple times while treating a patient can be more likely to make medication errors. Driving while speaking on a mobile phone significantly increases the probability of an automobile accident. At the same time, however, experienced golfers putt better when distracted than experienced golfers who are focusing on performance. Distractions resulting from the presence of other people can increase an individual’s performance, too. Why?
Addressing the Contradictions
In a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science, one of the world’s top-ranked empirical journals in psychology, a team of researchers from the University of Basel helps to clarify these apparent contradictions. Lead author Janina Hoffmann, a Ph.D. student in Economic Psychology, and her co-authors Dr. Bettina von Helversen and Prof. Dr. Jörg Rieskamp, find that the type of judgment strategy that an individual employs strongly conditions how the “cognitive load” induced by multitasking affects performance. Higher cognitive load can actually improve performance when the task can be best completed using a less demanding, similarity-based strategy that informs judgments by retrieving past instances from memory.The study is supported by the findings of two experiments conducted at the University of Basel. The first study exposed 90 participants to variable cognitive loads as they were asked to solve a judgment task whose solution was best achieved through the use of a similarity-based strategy (predicting how many cartoon characters another cartoon character could catch). Most participants switched to using a similarity-based strategy and produced more accurate judgments. The second study then exposed 60 participants to a linear task whose solution was not conducive to similarity-based strategies but rather rule- based strategies. Those participants who employed a similarity-based strategy made poorer judgments. The experiments were conducted with financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Moving Forward
Cognitive load does not per se lead to worse performance, but rather it can, dependent on strategy choice, lead to better performance. The researchers believe that it is important to decipher cognitive strategies that people choose under given levels of cognitive load. Hoffmann claims, “A better understanding of these cognitive strategies may permit future studies to predict the precise circumstances under which people can solve a problem particularly well.”
I plan on doing research on this, in particular, soon.
Cannabis is easily the most widely used illegal substance in the world. Although it still illegal at federal level, Washington and Colorado have legalized recreational cannabis use. Studies examining the relationship between marijuana use and neuropsychological function should be taken into consideration when making/reforming laws and health policies. I have received multiple questions regarding the effects of marijuana on memory and health and recently found a longitudinal study on this matter.
Prior evidence suggests that long-term, heavy cannabis use may cause enduring neuropsychological impairment beyond the period of acute intoxication (i.e. being high). Moreover, the magnitude and persistence of impairment depends on several factors including: quantity, frequency, duration and age of onset. Greater quantities, more frequent and earlier onset of use are associated with a poorer neuropsychological outcome. However, studies that compare pre-initiation neuropsychological functioning with longitudinal data on post-initiation functioning are scarce.
Meier et. al investigated the association between persistent cannabis use and neuropsychological functioning (assessed over a 20 year period) in over 1,000 individuals. Subjects received neuropsychological testing prior to onset of use (childhood; 1985-1986) and after some had developed a persistent pattern of use (~38 years old; 2010-2012).
Important findings included:
- Subjects with more persistence cannabis dependence showed greater IQ decline. Those who never experienced cannabis experienced a slight increase in IQ.
- Subjects with more persistent cannabis dependence generally showed greater neuropsychological impairment across different areas of mental function: executive function, memory, processing speed, perceptual reasoning and verbal comprehension. The greatest impairments were in the domains of executive function and processing speed.
- Neuropsychological deficits induced by cannabis use were still significant even when the researchers controlled for: past 24 hour cannabis use, past-week cannabis use, persistent tobacco, alcohol and/or hard drug dependence, and schizophrenia (all of which alternative explanations for poorer neuropsychological function).
- The effect of cannabis dependence on cognitive decline remained significant even after controlling for years of education. Persistent cannabis users with a high school education or less experienced greater IQ decline.
- Subjects who had an adolescent onset of use and were diagnosed with dependence prior to 18 years of age tended to become more persistent users. Importantly, adult-onset cannabis users did not appear to experience IQ decline as a function of cannabis use.
- Within-person IQ decline was apparent regardless of whether cannabis was used frequently or infrequently a year before testing. Thus, cessation of cannabis use did not restore neuropsychological functioning among adolescent-onset former persistent cannabis users.
So it looks like persistent use of cannabis is particularly detrimental with adolescent onset. Some have speculated that this may be due to puberty, a critical period of brain development in which circuits related to decision-making, executive-function, and reward are undergoing reorganization/rewiring. Neurotransmitter systems like dopamine are also vulnerable during this period as they have not fully matured yet. Thus, the authors suggest that cannabis use exerts neurotoxic effects during this developmental period.However, one must remember that although the authors show compelling data, their data correlational and is not sufficient to establish causation. Furthermore, there is no mechanism underlying the negative impact of cannabis use on neuropsychological function- merely speculations (see above). It is also possible that there is another variable related to cannabis use and neuropsychological decline that the authors did not rule out. Another limitation of the study was the heavy reliance on self-reporting measures like self-reported frequency of use. Finally, it is hard to estimate dosages due to the variety of strains and potency of cannabis.
I would personally suggest taking this information for what it’s worth. Neuroimaging studies in adolescents (humans) reveal structural and functional brain differences associated with cannabis use so we know that cannabis use changes the brain. I personally believe that cannabis use has negative effects on memory and general health, but I do not think that it’s as simple as the “Weed will make you stupid.” notion that some adults try to instill in adolescents. After all, we already KNOW about the dangers and costs of alcohol/tobacco use and people still use them. For me, the key is to delay onset of use (if you must use) and to prevent adolescent use of cannabis. If you are a teenager with cannabis dependence, it is never to late to quit and try to remedy the effects.
Source: (Click on the link for abstract)

Human intelligence cannot be explained by the size of the brain’s frontal lobes, say researchers.
Research into the comparative size of the frontal lobes in humans and other species has determined that they are not - as previously thought - disproportionately enlarged relative to other areas of the brain, according to the most accurate and conclusive study of this area of the brain.
It concludes that the size of our frontal lobes cannot solely account for humans’ superior cognitive abilities.
The study by Durham and Reading universities suggests that supposedly more ‘primitive’ areas, such as the cerebellum, were equally important in the expansion of the human brain. These areas may therefore play unexpectedly important roles in human cognition and its disorders, such as autism and dyslexia, say the researchers.
The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) today.
The frontal lobes are an area in the brain of mammals located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere, and are thought to be critical for advanced intelligence.
Lead author Professor Robert Barton from the Department of Anthropology at Durham University, said: “Probably the most widespread assumption about how the human brain evolved is that size increase was concentrated in the frontal lobes.
“It has been thought that frontal lobe expansion was particularly crucial to the development of modern human behaviour, thought and language, and that it is our bulging frontal lobes that truly make us human. We show that this is untrue: human frontal lobes are exactly the size expected for a non-human brain scaled up to human size.
“This means that areas traditionally considered to be more primitive were just as important during our evolution. These other areas should now get more attention. In fact there is already some evidence that damage to the cerebellum, for example, is a factor in disorders such as autism and dyslexia.”
The scientists argue that many of our high-level abilities are carried out by more extensive brain networks linking many different areas of the brain. They suggest it may be the structure of these extended networks more than the size of any isolated brain region that is critical for cognitive functioning.
Previously, various studies have been conducted to try and establish whether humans’ frontal lobes are disproportionately enlarged compared to their size in other primates such as apes and monkeys. They have resulted in a confused picture with use of different methods and measurements leading to inconsistent findings.
The Durham and Reading researchers, funded by The Leverhulme Trust, analysed data sets from previous animal and human studies using phylogenetic, or ‘evolutionary family tree’, methods, and found consistent results across all their data. They used a new method to look at the speed with which evolutionary change occurred, concluding that the frontal lobes did not evolve especially fast along the human lineage after it split from the chimpanzee lineage.
Minocycline, a microglial inhibitor, reduces ‘honey trap’ risk in human economic exchange (via outofcontextscience)
The science of femme fatales!
tumblr would be a playground for psychologists
Because while most people on this site are like

And seeing all the maladaptions can freeze your face like

While there are no shortage of incoherent posts to read like

Every now and then it does get amusing and maybe, just maybe, like

But mostly I’m just like

My, isn’t it awkward that you just fuckin recycled a nearly 40 year old article to shit on this latest generation?
Recession. Student debt. Etc. Lots of people smarter than me have already had some excellent commentary on this (here and here and here not to mention all the great Tumblr commentary).
But I do want to say:
Of all the images you could have picked, you chose one of a teenage girl taking a selfie.
Because of course, girls who have been taught nothing else by their elders except that their appearance is what matters are the reason we are all lazy and narcissistic.
Fuck off. You fucking made us. You raised me and my sister and my female cousin and millions and millions of girls to be self-conscious and obsessed with making ourselves look pleasing to men. You taught us that that was our only worth. And now you shit on us for it.
FUCK OFF, TIME.
I’m sure I’m not the first to bring this up, but every “youth” generation will have a lot of similarities because, cultural differences aside, they’re the same species and are subject to the same linear development.
The adolescent prefrontal cortex isn’t fully developed, and won’t be until around 25 years old. This delay in maturation may help to explain why some adolescents act the way they do. The so-called “executive functions” of the human prefrontal cortex include:
Despite all of this, people are made to make major life decisions at least 7 years before their brains are adequately developed to make them, they are prone to rash behavior, extreme all-or-nothing thinking, and emotional reasoning. This isn’t exclusive to any one generation. This is a universal stage of human development that many people remain ignorant to. As a result, articles like these will continue to be written without an adequately informed perspective.
It is important to keep in mind the source, however. Just as off as this article may be, there can be many more just like it that are easily accepted merely because of reader ignorance. Without sufficient information, readers are often less skeptical, especially when they perceive a source as reputable.
Rather than conceiving of sources as reputable, it is wiser to think of them as fallible, and compare fallibility. This can provide a heuristic safeguard to misinformation.