Interesting range of online experiments involving bio-motion here
Posts published during December, 2010
A small study of Canadian infants and toddlers found that those who slept most at night were making significantly more progress in executive functions than those who slept less at night, even if the latter group also had daytime sleep. These functions include impulse control, memory and mental flexibility. The researchers controlled for parents’ education and income and children’s general cognition, but the link between night-time sleep and development of cognitive skills remained. These finding support similar research findings on schoolchildren.
Might this also apply to older childern and adults? That would be interesting to know!
Annie Bernier, Stephanie M. Carlson, Stéphanie Bordeleau, Julie Carrier. Relations Between Physiological and Cognitive Regulatory Systems: Infant Sleep Regulation and Subsequent Executive Functioning. Child Development, 2010; 81 (6)
It’s been known for ages that information on light levels is passed from the two retinas via a special small nerve from each eye to the SCN, but the mechanism of this is now more clear. As well as rods and cones, cells which are sensitive to light and give us black-and-white and colour vision there is a third type of light-sensitive retinal cell. These are far less in number than rods and cones, and react to light by expressing the pigment melanopsin, so they are known as mRGCs (melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells). Not only do these cells send information to the SCN but they also control pupil size. And now it seems they also contribute to our visual image formation as axons from the mRGCs have been traced onwards from the SCN to visual processing centres. What does this imply? It gives some idea of how seriously sight impaired people can still detect levels of brightness, plus the possibility in the future of engineering melanopsin-expressing cells to improve or restore sight.
Fred Rieke, Timothy M. Brown, Carlos Gias, Megumi Hatori, Sheena R. Keding, Ma’ayan Semo, Peter J. Coffey, John Gigg, Hugh D. Piggins, Satchidananda Panda, Robert J. Lucas. Melanopsin Contributions to Irradiance Coding in the Thalamo-Cortical Visual System. PLoS Biology, 2010; 8 (12)
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A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder
December 6, 2010 by Adrian Frost.
It is proposed that happiness be classified as a psychiatric disorder and be included in future editions of the major diagnostic manuals under the new name: major affective disorder, pleasant type. In a review of the relevant literature it is shown that happiness is statistically abnormal, consists of a discrete cluster of symptoms, is associated with a range of cognitive abnormalities, and probably reflects the abnormal functioning of the central nervous system. One possible objection to this proposal remains–that happiness is not negatively valued. However, this objection is dismissed as scientifically irrelevant.
via null device
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Evolutionary Psychology explains why men are better at Scrabble
December 2, 2010 by Adrian Frost.
For a quarter-century, women have outnumbered men at Scrabble clubs and tournaments in America, but a woman has won the national championship only once, and all the world champions have been men. Among the world’s 50 top-ranked players, typically about 45 are men.
The top players, both male and female, point to a simple explanation for the disparity: more men are willing to do whatever it takes to reach the top. You need more than intelligence and a good vocabulary to become champion. You have to spend hours a day learning words like ‘khat,’ doing computerised drills and memorising long lists of letter combinations, called alphagrams, that can form high-scoring seven-letter words.
. . .
The guys who memorise these lists have a hard time explaining their passion. But the evolutionary roots of it seem clear to anthropologists like Helen Fisher of Rutgers University.
‘Evolution has selected for men with a taste for risking everything to get to the top of the hierarchy,’ she said, ‘because those males get more reproductive opportunities, not only among primates but also among human beings. Women don’t get as big a reproductive payoff by reaching the top. They’re just as competitive with themselves – they want to do a good job just as much as men do – but men want to be more competitive with others.’”
From New York Times
Images from Adverblog