Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
PsyBlog covers the numerous studies that have found your name influences your performance or preferences.
Professor Baroness Susan Greenfield thinks that her increasingly bizarre warnings about the ‘neurological dangers’ of Twitter are equivalent to when people first starting saying smoking caused cancer. Except they had evidence, and understood what they were talking about.
The New York Times has an interesting piece on why some of the counter-intuitive findings of behavioural economics don’t work when people have to use their own money.
There’s an awesome post on Developing Intelligence about how the famous 40hz ‘consciousness’ oscillations in the brain may have really been eye movements affecting the signal – the debate continues.
I do is apparently a blog written by someone describing their experience of locked-in syndrome.
Emotional robots: Will we love them or hate them? asks New Scientist. Depends if they know their place, I suggest.
If you don’t read Neurophilosophy (and if you don’t, why not?) you’ve missed two excellent articles recently on the evolutionary origins of the nervous system and the neuroscience of hypnotic paralysis.
BBC Radio 4 had an excellent programme on the criminal mind that will shortly be sucked into archiveless oblivion. Enjoy it while you can license paying suckers.
A recent study on how your self-view skews your mood is discussed by Neuronarrative.
Scientific American has an excellent piece on the evolutionary origins on left and right brain hemisphere differences.
There’s an excellent post on genius and madness on Frontier Psychiatrist.
Scientists create eerie ambient music using human brains, MRI machines, reports GizModo with video. I’m waiting for musicians to create eerie brain scans using drum machines though.
The New York Times has an excellent piece on the psychology of intrusive perverse thoughts. My favourite type, as it happens.
Employees are promoted until they reach their level of maximum incompetence, according to a new study on arXiv covered by Tech Review.
Psychiatric Times has created an online forum (i.e. mud slinging arena with ring-side seats – hotdog anyone?) to cover the development of the DSM-V.
ABC Radio National’s 360 programme has an excellent piece on how the public relations industry works. Eye opening stuff.
New Scientist has an excellent piece on the origins and anthropology of war.
Acid techo. The history of how LSD inspired scientists and tech pioneers is discussed by the HuffPost. Includes a letter from Albert Hoffman to Steve Jobs.
New Scientist has an awesome article on the memristor and the future of artificial intelligence. NewSci is totally on fire this week.
Sweet and salty. Frontal Cortex discuss why they taste so good together.
The Neuroskeptic covers on a study on the effect of affirming statement on people with low self-esteem that has been widely and incorrectly reported as ‘self help harms people’.
Mind Hacks 
“Employees are promoted until they reach their level of maximum incompetence, according to a new study on arXiv covered by Tech Review.”
This is the Peter Principle, a well-known management meme. It has been written about for over 40 years.