Category: Linkage

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The Pentagon jumps on the brain implants for everything bandwagon but suggesting they could be a treatment for trauma, according to a piece in Wired. Shorter tours of duty like other coalition forces apparently not an option.

The Neurocritic has CASES OF INJURY OF THE HEAD, ACCOMPANIED BY LOSS OF BRAIN (oozing from the skull). Dig those old skool neurology cases.

Some of the best visual illusions are rounded in a gallery by Scientific American.

Overcoming Bias has a fantastic follow-up to our post on the ‘unskilled and unaware of it’ effect on subsequent studies that show the effect’s limitations and ways of manipulating it.

The psychological aftershocks of the Haiti earthquakes are covered in a powerful piece from the LA Times.

Science News on a study finding how bereaved relatives are helped by chance to view body after sudden loss, even in cases of violent death.

Independent walking robots made of DNA at Not Exactly Rocket Science. Yeah you heard, Mr ‘I Think You’ve Seen Terminator One Too Many Times’. Bunkers, now!

The Telegraph covers a case of a woman unable to recognise people by their voice.

Doctors are desensitised to other people’s pain, says a study covered by the BPS Digest. Can’t wait for the follow-up on dentists.

The New York Times discusses the science of a happy marriage. Doesn’t mention the difficult to achieve ability of noticing new female haircuts without prompting.

Near misses fuel gambling addiction according to a new study covered by Neurophilosophy.

There’s a video of the Best Illusion of the Year over at Scientific American. Clearly came out after the UK coalition government formed.

Faculty of 1000 discuss a paper finding that MRI affects brain activity. Let the weeping commence.

Want a career in social neuroscience? The Science careers blog has a post especially for you.

The Guardian reports that BBC4 are to screen a documentary following patients as they are sectioned (‘committed’) to psychiatric hospital. Wow.

There’s an interesting discussion on the philosophy of illness and our relationship to our bodies over at ABC Radio National’s Philosopher’s Zone.

Wired covers a recently released document giving some new information on the origins of the CIA’s MKULTRA ‘mind control’ project.

So, like what’s happened to Furious Seasons?

BBC Radio 4 has a great series on lie-detection and lie-detectors.

Men, teaching may be bad for your marriage, at least according to a study covered by NCBI ROFL. Being surrounded by beautiful women apparently.

The Wall Street Journal discusses Carl Jung’s mysterious ‘Red Book’ and an exhibition currently based on the tome. Article has awesome first paragraph.

Olivia Judson discusses if its possible to enhance the placebo effect at The New York Times.

Scientific American Mind’s Twitter feed has just become awesome.

Married neuroscience tag team Chris and Uta Frith discuss their life and work on BBC Radio 3’s Night Waves.

The Guardian has a piece on how mental illness is a low development priority despite it being a major cause of disability in the developing world.

A study raises questions about the role of brain scans in courtrooms and is ably covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Wired Science covers a rather nasty case of the consequences of long-term laughing gas abuse.

Washing your hands reduces cognitive dissonance according to a new study covered by the Brainstorm blog.

Scientific American has another one of Jesse Bering’s excellent columns – this time on the mystery of pubic hair.

Different types of synaesthetic experiences involve different brain mechanisms. Great coverage of a new study by Neurophilosophy.

New Scientist covers a new study finding that methylation markers used in protein expression from immune system genes were different in people diagnosed with PTSD.

Forgiving yourself eases procrastination, according to the BPS Research Digest. I’ve put it on my list for tomorrow.

Lingua Franca, the ABC Radio National language programme, discusses the psychological links between our written names and our identities.

Apparently there is a working torrent for PBS behavioural economics documentary Mind Over Money here.

BoingBoing has the cognitive bias song. I assume everyone is singing it these days.

Simon Baron-Cohen writes an article for The Guardian saying that it’s not sexist to accept that biology affects behaviour. Although he does seem to have a bit of an odd definition of determinism.

Neuronarrative has an excellent interview with cognitive scientist Mark Changizi. “Everything We Knew About Human Vision is Wrong”.

Optogenetics and the control of the brain with fibre optics is the focus of an article in this week’s Nature.

Ingenious Monkey reports on a study finding that a touch from a woman increases financial risk taking in both sexes.

Another study finding that computer games damage the brain. No wait, my mistake, it’s another one finding cognitive benefits. This time for multisensory processing.

Sensory Superpowers blog discusses how blind people can play ‘beep baseball‘.

Data-logging your life is covered in an article from The New York Times on obsessive personal empiricism.

Inkling Magazine discusses technology-related delusions and paranoia, partly inspired by one of my first academic papers.

What do English speaking philosophers study? The Splintered Mind has the low down.

The Science Network has a streamed version of the neuroscience and philosophy documentary ‘The I of the Vortex’.

Another study finding detrimental effects for toddlers watching lots of television is covered by BBC News. As have been found previously.

The Economist sounds a note of caution on television viewing studies, however, as measures of TV viewing time are notoriously unreliable.

A study comparing the DNA of identical twins with multiple sclerosis finds little to explain why the disease develops according to an article in Science News.

Scientific American tackle a study finding that men can suppress food cravings better than women. Just think of England honey.

Although autism is usually thought of as a disability, a New Scientist article discusses the fact that the condition can be associated with various cognitive advantages.

To the bunkers! BBC News reports on a study on robot-inflicted injuries. Next, a study on spanner-inflicted malfunction.

The Loom has great coverage of the recent study finding evidence for ‘Neanderthal genes‘ in our DNA.

There’s a great short article on the origin of the ‘disease model‘ of addiction over at Addiction Inbox.

PLoS One has a remarkable scientific paper “on the existence of a sort of second law of thermodynamics for sentimental relationships”. Our love ‘aint nothing but tamed chaos baby.

The talents of the middle-aged brain are explored on the New York Times well blog.

New Scientist discusses the evolution of handedness.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The New York Times discusses how a belladonna hallucination could have been the start of alcoholics anonymous.

Dream rehearsal helps remembering, according to a study covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

The Times covers breezy people who go around saying yaka-wow. Some yaka-wow socks are also in progress.

An interesting in-scanner set-up for live face-to-face interaction during brain imaging experiments is covered by the BPS Research Digest.

The Smithsonian Magazine has an in-depth article on the neuroscience of how our brains make memories.

There’s an excellent discussion how to delay instant gratification and offset delay discounting with future thinking over at The Frontal Cortex.

Nature News covers genetic evidence suggesting that neanderthals may have interbred with humans.

To the bunkers! New Scientist covers the development of robots with sensing skin.

Neurophilosophy covers an interesting embodied cognition experiment where body movement influenced memory and emotions.

How should we explain the origins of novel behaviors? asks American Scientist.

Neurotopia discusses the neuroscience of ‘photic sneezing‘ or why we sometimes sneeze when we look at the sun.

Evidence on the link between obesity and dementia is discussed in The New York Times.

PsyBlog has an absolutely fascinating post on our tendency to be over-cynical about trusting other people and how it can be overcome through accurate feedback of others’ trustworthiness.

Is there search for extra-terrestrial life missing the most likely signs of <a href="Alien intelligence
http://www.economist.com/science-technology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15905827″>alien intelligence? asks The Economist.

Minds of the Edge is a powerful documentary and online resource about mental health in the states. You can view all online.

I keep forgetting how good BrainBlogger is. Note to self: remind me more often please.

New Scientist has an article on Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, the ‘predictioneer‘, whose game theory based model of political prediction has been remarkably accurate.

Visions of the brain. The Beautiful Brain blog has a fantastic podcast that talks to three artists about their approach to visualising inner landscapes.

Popular Science have video of the autonomous garbage collecting ‘dustbot‘ designed to wander your neighbourhood. To the bunkers!

Is memory for music special? Asks Dr Shock. Apparently it is not.

Wired has excellent piece on the history of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies and how the scientific research organisation stands in relation to the drugs counter-culture.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Should kids be bribed to do well in school? asks Time magazine. Oldest trick in the book tested out by researchers.

Neurophilosophy covers a study finding that wrinkle smoothing Botox injections may diminish the experience of emotion owing to their paralysing effect on facial muscles.

There’s an article that traces the history of placebo controlled studies back through tests of mesmerism into their origin in Christian exorcism rites in The Lancet.

Not Exactly Rocket Science has the best coverage of the headline making study that shows reduced racial biases in children with William’s syndrome – a genetic condition that is linked to virtually absent social anxiety.

Emotion’s Alchemy: how emotional expression and emotional feeling are handled differently by the brain are discussed in a great article for Seed Magazine.

Savage Minds, the excellent anthropology blog, is looking for an assistant editor to join the team.

ABC Radio National’s All in the Mind has an excellent programme on personal construct psychology and its possible application to understanding serial killers. A few straw men thrown in by the interviewees but a compelling programme.

The New York Times has an article on the recently revived and ongoing clinical research into the potential of hallucinogenic drugs.

‘Sleeping Beauty Paraphilia’ and body image disturbance after brain injury. The Neurocritic covers a fascinating case from the medical literature.

Prospect Magazine has a brief article on psychology of voting and the curious things that can influence the electability of candidates.

“I have decided that my campaign against Strunk and White’s toxic little compendium of unfollowable dumb advice, bungled grammar claims, and outright mendacity must be taken directly to America’s colleges”. Language Log rallies the troops.

The Independent has a brief piece on the development of the forthcoming DSM-V psychiatric manual.

Essential reading from The Neurocritic that evaluates the new study that claims to have found the first direct evidence for mirror neurons in humans.

The Fortean Times has an excellent article on the ‘Dream Machine‘ – essentially a rotating lampshade that can induce hallucinations in some people that was directly drawn from neurophysiology research from neurology research.

There are six psychological reasons consumer culture is unsatisfying over at the mighty PsyBlog.

Eurozine has a piece on ‘neurocapitalism‘ that notes that neuroscience “aggressively seeks to establish hermeneutic supremacy”. Bless. Actually, if you can wade through the jargon actually not too bad an article.

“If it wasn’t for war, porn and fast food, we might all still be living in caves”. ABC Radio National’s Counterpoint discusses the role of competition in technology development.

Not So Humble Pie has instructions on how to make the most delicious looking brain cupcakes ever.

There’s an article on the observation that some people with movement disorder Parkinson’s disease can ride bikes perfectly well in The New York Times.

Pharmalot covers a new study finding that there is no difference among antidepressants in raising a youngster’s risk of suicidal thoughts.

The [average] friendship patterns of [American] men are discussed in an article for the Wall Street Journal.

DrugMonkey has a classic interview about the effects of street drugs from Ali G.

There’s a review of the G.tec intendiX at-home mind-reading kit over at Wired UK. Only ¬£8,500. Doesn’t read minds.

The latest edition of RadioLab discusses the limits of endurance, human memory and artificial intelligence in a particularly good programme from the top tier science show.

The section on human endurance looks at the competitors in the Race Across America, an 800km bicyle race where the cyclists sleep on an hour or two a night and eventually start hallucinating as they race.

The story of Mr S, a case of someone with a seemingly limitless memory who was documented in A.R. Luria’s book The Mind of a Mnemonist, is compared with modern day memory competitors. And an AI system that derived a mathematical law that we don’t understand tests the limits of science.

Not to be missed.

Link to RadioLab edition on ‘Limits’.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

New Scientist has an excellent piece on theories of how deep brain stimulation treats mental illness. Ignore the stupid title.

A study found by Barking Up the Wrong Tree finds higher intelligence is a “protective factor” against teenage sexual activity. Geek you say?

Slate has a fascinating article on cognitive distortions in how we think about geography and how they affect our judgements.

Noam Chomsky answers questions on cognitive science and anarchism on, er, reddit. Next week, Britney interviewed on PubMed.

NPR Morning Edition has a section on how ageing brains are slower but more shrewd.

There’s some excellent straight thinking coverage of the recent discovery of bones of an apparently new species of hominid over at Laelaps with Carl Zimmer using the opportunity to straighten out the ‘missing link’ fallacy.

The New York Times reports on how Google now return a crisis hotline when you do searches on how to commit suicide but only in English it seems. Half a billion Spanish speakers Рuna versión castellana por favor.

Spank me nanny, spank me! Not Exactly Rocket Science covers a study that explains how pain can be experienced as pleasurable. It’s all. about the. timing apparently.

The Guardian has a piece on an ‘anatomy of a media drug scare’ about the misreporting of UK drug deaths linked to currently legal drug mephedrone.

The New York Times visits a sanctuary for the exotic animals of dead drug lords in Colombia.

‘Supertaskers‘ or people who can multi-task without performance drop off are discussed in Time magazine.

Living the Scientific Life on What do Great Tits Reveal about the Genetics of Personality. Gutted.

There’s an excellent discussion of Allan Hobson’s neuroscientific theory of why we dream over at The Neuroskeptic.

Contemporary Psychotherapy magazine has just released it’s latest edition online.

There are some wonderful embroidered cellular scale neurobiology creations over at Bioemphemera.

The Neurocritic covers the American Academy of Neurology’s Neuro Film Festival which has some fantastic entries.

Is art the highest form of sanity? The Times has an intelligent discussion of the old ‘art and madness’ trope looking the misuse of the clich√© in recent writing.

The Guardian has a video interview with David Eagleman, neuroscientist and author of short stories about fantastic after-life possibilities. “We won’t die ‚Äì our consciousness will live forever on the internet”.

A new study on impulsivity, dopamine and addiction is covered by the splendid Addiction Inbox.

BBC News has an excellent piece by consistently excellent Mark Easton on the UK government’s failure to assess how effective their billions on drugs treatment services work.

Synthetic Neurobiology: Optically Engineering the Brain to Augment Its Function. A talk by MIT neural engineer Ed Boyden from The Singularity Summit 2009.

The Splintered Mind muses on people who come across as smart and how this relates to genuinely being smart. By the way, if you don’t read the blog, it is a public fountain of emerging philosophical thinking.

The New York Times discusses the ‘The Myth of Mean Girls‘ contrasting public concerns about the behaviour of girls and the fact that every major index of crime shows that violence by girls has been plummeting for years.

The mighty Language Log has an evolutionary psychology bingo card. Eyes down for a full house.

The Onion has a brilliant video report: DEA Official Announces Successful Drug Bust on Son.

The ever-awesome BPS Research Digest discusses a still not completely convincing study that reports to have found the direct evidence for mirror neurons in the human brain using depth electrodes, including in the, er, hippocampus.

The Frontal Cortex has been excellent lately.

Following up on our discussion of the ‘psychological typhoon eye’ phenomenon, the Extreme Fear blog discusses how a similar effect was found during the World War Two London Blitz.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The LA Times reviews a new book on how ‘The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’, originally a 60s hippie collective who became America’s biggest drug dealers.

Magnetic stimulation of an area in the right hemisphere alters our sense of morality, according to research expertly covered by Neurophilosophy.

The Nursing Times has an article on the recent ‘Facebook causes syphilis’ nonsense by our very own Dr Petra.

How blind is double-blind? Asks Neuroskeptic in a discussion on how easy it is for patients to work out whether they’re taking placebo or the Mickey Finn.

Nature News discusses the coming illegalisation of mephedrone in the UK. A few days later a UK government drugs advisor quits over the process. I think that makes eight resignations in the last few months.

A case of epilepsy causing the sensation of ‘multiple presences‘ is brilliantly covered by The Neurocritic.

MIT Tech Review discusses new research that examines how stroke damages the network of communication in the brain and what this can tell us about real-world disability.

There’s a brief but interesting post on the relationship between teeth-grinding and neurotocism over at Paracademia. The medical term for teeth-grinding is bruxism which I always think sounds quite endearing.

The Psychologist has an interesting Jesse Bering article on the question of whether some religious thinking could be a side-effect of cognitive process selected by evolution.

“The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting“. The Frontal Cortex tackles travel and the economics of happiness.

New Scientist has a special issue on ‘Nine Neural Frontiers‘ that includes articles on everything from mirror neurons to the subconscious.

Scientists discover gene and part of brain that make people gullible, according to stunning new research covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

NPR discuss a Harvard economist’s study on projected tax from legalised weed and coke, which could be much less than many people assume.

Scary health messages can backfire, according to research covered by the newly beautiful BPS Research Digest.

The Point of Inquiry podcast has an interview with skeptical psychologist Scott Lilienfeld on ’50 Myths of Popular Psychology’.

Treating serious mental illness with psychotherapy is the topic of an interesting discussion on ABC Radio National’s Life Matters.

PsyBlog looks at seven unusual psychological techniques for boosting creativity.

There’s a review of ‘Manufacturing Depression’ by Gary Greenberg over at The Guardian.

New Scientist discussed research on how paralysed limbs could be revived by hacking into nerves.

Video from a debate over ‘voodoo correlations’ in fMRI is available on the website of UCLA’s Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab.

The Economist discusses whether it’s possible to build in ethical behaviour to pilotless drone warplanes.

Screening for postpartum <a href="http://brainblogger.com/2010/03/27/screening-for-postpartum-depression-not-worth-the-time-or-money/
“>depression is not worth the time or money, according to a new study covered by Brain Blogger.

Ockham’s Razor, the ABC Radio National essay programme, discusses ‘the wise delinquency of decision makers’.

An invention by author Margaret Atwood to allow for remote paper signing appears in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.

The Guardian meets an Amazonian tribe that can only count up to five and discusses what different conceptions of numeracy mean for the psychology of maths.

Neuroscientist David Eagleman is in conversation with author Will Self in a video event for Intelligence Squared.

New Scientist has a brief but worthwhile introduction to ‘embodied cognition’.

A recent documentary on the psychology of anti-gay hate crime is featured on the excellent forensic psychology blog, In the News, with an interview with the blog’s author about her research on motivations for anti-gay violence.

Barking up the Wrong Tree is a minimalist blog that posts some amazing studies about human behaviour.

If you were interested in whether taking out health insurance encourages obesity, which countries have the most emotionally distant people or how female-directed porn movies differ from male-directed porn movies the blog has found a peer-reviewed study to answer these and many other questions, many of which you never even thought of asking.

The author, Eric Barker, also posts some great stuff to Twitter on the @bakadesuyo account which is well worth following.

Link to Barking up the Wrong Tree blog.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

New Scientist has an excellent article on the ‘global workspace’ theory of consciousness.

Fast food logos unconsciously speed up our behaviour, according to new research covered by the old Not Exactly Rocket Science.

Not Exactly Rocket Science, just moved to Discover Blogs, asks ‘when is attempted murder more acceptable than harming someone by accident?’

Why are so many soldiers on antipsychotics? asks Pharmalot.

CNN considers the interesting question of whether school memorials for pupils who have killed themselves risk suicide contagion.

The fact and fiction behind the myth-attracting drink absinthe are discussed by Neuroskeptic.

Wired UK have another of their monthly columns by the brilliant Dan Ariely. This on the effect of anger on decision-making.

Facebook linked to rise in syphilis according to a dodgy press story debunked by Dr Petra.

The New Republic has a review of ‘Addiction: A Disorder of Choice’ by conservative psychiatrist Sally Satel.

A fossilized 13th century brain with intact cells was discovered, analysed, and Neurophilosophy has the low down with a remarkable image.

The New York Times has a short but sweet piece on why we need to dream by science writer Jonah Lehrer.

The excellent Addiction Inbox asks whether ‘meth babies‘ are fact or fiction in light of new research finding brain abnormalities to newborns exposed to speed in the womb.

Brainspin has more debunking of the scientific dodginess in the dreadful ‘why men obsess over sex’ article.

In societies with higher levels of disease, more masculine male faces are considered more attractive, more feminine male faces become more attractive when there’s less disease about, at least according to research covered in The Economist.

“I rather welcome the twang of bluegrass… from a patient‚Äôs cellphone during a psychotherapy session”. Insights into patients’ extra-therapy lives through one-side of a cellphone conversation considered by a therapist writing in The New York Times.

Psychiatry Fun looks like a promising new blog.

‘Pathways to and from violent extremism: the case for science-based field research’, just published in Edge.

The New York Times has a troubling piece about the mental health system in post-earthquake Haiti.

The award winning BPS Research Digest discusses research on how the sight of their own blood is important to some people who self-harm.

Frontier Psychiatrist has a fascinating post on how the ‘critical period’ in child development may be a result of modern family structure that differs from the collective childcare of times past.

The psychology of how certain issues become ‘sacred’ in negotiations is discussed in Scientific American.

The New York Times has a brief article on body dysmorphic disorder or BDD, where affected people come to believe that a part of their body is grossly unattractive or misshapen despite it seeming normal to others.

Study published in Frontiers in Cognition finds superior cognitive flexibility in first person shooter gamers. I have come here to chew bubble gum and switch tasks… and I’m all out of bubble gum.

When you feel weak, restating your core values can be a quick and easy self-control booster according to research covered by PsyBlog. “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.” I feel better already.

Neuroworld asks the interesting question of why sex has never been offered as a legitimate public prize for doing good.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

New Scientist has an interesting piece on several conditions somewhat clumsily cobbled together as disorders of ‘extreme empathy’ although it’s still a good read.

Ace t-shirt blogger Coty Gonzales turns out the be a cognitive neuroscientist in an interview for Hide Your Arms.

The Guardian have a video interview with evolutionary anthropologist Robin Dunbar on social group size and social networking websites. No word on poking.

The latest research on using fMRI to ‘read’ subjective mental states, this time during memory recall, is expertly covered by Neurophilosophy.

The Economist discusses the latest advances in brain-to-machine connections. Great photo caption.

Food induced seizures. Neuroskeptic covers a case of a woman who had seizures triggered by eating.

Time magazine covers research finding that psychopaths show greater reward system and reward expectation-related dopamine release. This cued lots of vague musing on the personalities of psychopaths in the press.

A Carl Zimmer talk on his excellent book ‘Soul Made Flesh’ on the beginnings of neurology and neuroscience is available on C-SPAN.

Scientific American have released a feature article that isn’t locked behind a paywall. Read the piece on how the brain handles colours and contours before they change their minds.

The UN recently warned of the effects of drug dependence on developing countries and Addiction Inbox covered the debate. Lots of other good posts on AI recently.

BBC Radio 4 had a documentary on the human library, a scheme where instead of borrowing books, you borrow a person to have a conversation with.

Eight studies demonstrating the power of simplicity are covered by the excellent PsyBlog.

Reuters reports that a French reality TV programme recreated the Milgram conformity experiments. Replaces scientist with a Parisian waiter who tuts when the person doesn’t want to continue.

Reminders of disease primes the body and mind to repel other people, according to new research covered by the BPS Research Digest.

Wired Science cover a new neuroimaging study that aims to understand ‘Gulf War Syndrome‘.

Lip reading for the FBI. Sensory Superpowers covers the use of lip reading by the feds and how we all do it to some degree.

New Scientist discusses the use of torture and the future for interrogation.

During recovery, a brain injured man is building an astounding doll universe with himself as a central character, Henry Darger-like in its scope. The blog of the Marwenocol project has lots of detail.

Biologist Lewis Wolpert reviews Greenberg’s ‘Manufacturing Depression’ in The Guardian.

Science News report on a cross-cultural study finding that sharing money on the ‘ultimatum game’ is related to the extent to which the person lived in communities with market economies.

Kids prefer friends whose speech sounds similar to their own, regardless of race, according to research covered by Scientific American Mind.

Psychological Reports has a paper on graffiti addiction!

Some empirical evidence for the ‘extended mind hypothesis’ (we become our tools) is discussed by Wired Science.

The Times reports on the case of a researcher being sued for libel after criticising bogus lie-detector technology. Please sign the petition at LibelReform.org to keep libel law out of scientific arguments.

A bogus TV report of a Russian invasion panics Georgia, according to a report from BBC News.

The Guardian reports on protests in Colombia by people outraged by narco-soaps glamorising cartels.

Thoughts of randomness enhance supernatural beliefs, according to a research covered in a great post from Deric Bownd’s Mind Blog.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The University of California has an interview with space psychiatrist Nick Kanas

There’s a thoughtful consideration of the recent New York Times article on whether depression has evolutionary benefits over at Neuron Culture.

Time magazine discusses research finding that deaths from cocaine overdoses rise even when the weather warms up only slightly.

We’re slower at processing touch-related words than words related to the other senses, according to new research covered by the BPS Research Digest.

Wired UK discusses a new study on how electrical brain activity recorded from the scalp’s surface is enough to support the (rough) reconstruction of 3D hand movements on a computer.

The bizarre double life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted is discussed in a book review over at The Neuro Times.

The Neurocritic welcomes yet another attempt to resurrect Freudian ideas about the brain with a new paper taking the ‘but looks at the similarities!’ approach.

Male batterers consistently overestimate rates of domestic violence, according to a study covered in e! Science News

Not Exactly Rocket Science on how cooperative behaviour spreads through social networks, but so does cheating.

Asking an experienced stranger predicts our future happiness better than we can ourselves. A nugget from a piece on the work of Daniel Gilbert over at Harvard Magazine.

Neurophilosophy discusses some new lab research suggesting that the immune system response to brain infection may trigger Alzheimer’s disease.

The somewhat chilling piece on the rise of ‘human flesh search engines’ in China is discussed by The New York Times.

Deric Bownd’s Mind Blog covers a fascinating study that found thinking about randomness enhanced belief in the supernatural.

The UK’s programme to detain and treat people with ‘Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder’ is heavily criticised in a government report. New Scientist covers the story.

Seed Magazine asks ‘is there an evolutionary basis for our religious beliefs?’ I for one know that my belief in Thor makes me more attractive to the ladies.

Bigger men are more aggressive when drunk, according to research covered by Science News.

Neuroanthropology discusses why students drink before even leaving the door to party, a practice known as ‘pre-gaming‘. The site also has an excellent essay on how obesity is discussed as a medical problem.

A variant of gene SCN9A has been linked to pain perception, according to a new study covered by Science News.

The Loom discusses how bacteria could change our behaviour. I expect to see ‘the bacteria made me do it’ defence in court cases some time soon.

Fat may be detectable as a ‘sixth taste‘ suggest a new study covered by Wired UK.

Newsweek thinks fMRI “proves” addiction is a brain disease (hello neuroessentialism fallacy!) while making an otherwise important point on the need for psychological treatment for addiction.

A long but interesting piece on how to train teachers with simple effective classroom techniques appeared in The New York Times.

RadioLab discusses “a rare but disturbing delusional disorder called Capgras” in one of its excellent short broadcasts. Although it’s not actually that rare in people with psychosis and dementia.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Time magazine reports on how darkness can encourage dishonest acts even when anonymity is accounted for.

A study finding a link with aversion to inequality an activity in the ventral striatum is brilliantly covered by The Frontal Cortex.

The Point of Inquiry podcast has an excellent discussion on the psychology of cold reading.

A preview of a special journal issue on ‘Neuroscience, power and culture’ is covered by Advances in the History of Psychology.

The Globe and Mail covers a study finding that children highly sensitive to stress can excel given the right support and environment.

Nobel-prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman discusses judging happiness and the paradox of experience vs memory in a talk for TED.

Neurophilosophy covers two new studies finding that face recognition ability is partly inherited.

“As for the effectiveness of gay conversion, Core’s Dr Davidson acknowledges that there are ‘relapses'”. Damn those Speedos. The Irish Independent has an article on gay conversion therapy in Ireland.

The Neurocritic has a thoughtful response to the recent NYT article on the possible cognitive benefits of depression.

‘Ministrokes‘ may cause more damage than thought, according to research covered by Science News.

The Neuroskeptic has an excellent piece on the decline and fall of the cannabinoid antagonists, a class of drug supposed to be the next big thing in treating obesity.

Research finding that as pornography has increased in availability, sex crimes have either decreased or not increased in every region investigated is discussed in The Scientist.

Dr Petra looks at the background to the recent report on sexualisation and young people from the UK government with more analysis to follow. After reading the report, I can’t help but suggesting someone point out the difference between correlation and causation to its author.

A hay fever medicine that showed early promise as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease does nothing to stave off dementia, a large clinical trial concludes. Coverage from the New Scientist blog.

The Philosopher’s Zone programme from ABC Radio National has a good discussion on perception, sensation and consciousness with Nicholas Humphrey.

There’s a video profile of an ex-narc who catches bent cops framing people for drugs offences over at Boing Boing.

New Scientist discusses whether brain scans could gives us an objective measure of the intensity of pain.

The excellent Addiction Inbox blog contrasts how the media covers harm reduction services (‘they promote drug abuse’) and what the scientific studies say (the opposite).

io9 discusses research finding that oxygenated booze gives you less of a hangover. No word on how it affects the beer goggles effect.

UK may end its controversial “dangerous and severe personality disorder” program, according to excellent In The News.

Current Biology has a freely accessible paper on ‘archaeogenetics‘ – the use of genetics to understand human history.

Eric Barker’s Barking Up the Wrong Tree blog is full of fascinating and off-beat psychology snippets.

Mental Nurse blog has a funny post classifying types of annoying psychologists, occupational therapists and the like in mental health.

There’s a video interview with neurophilosophers Pat and Paul Churchland over at The Science Network.

Women with hour-glass figures activate the neural reward centre of the male brain, according to a study covered by the BPS Research Digest. Women with eye-glasses, even better.

BBC News discusses the cult of Omega-3 and why your life’s problems will not be solved by fish oil, despite that the advertisers will tell you.

The Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic Society Dream Films 1926-1972.

When they were drunk, bigger men became especially aggressive when given the opportunity to administer electric shocks to a fictitious opponent in a laboratory contest, according to research covered by Science News

Neuroanthropology links to videos from The Encultured Brain conference which are now available online.

“Only occasionally do studies come out that improve the image of men as more than stubborn, violent and incorrigible beasts with malfunctioning moral compasses. The study I‚Äôm about to talk about isn‚Äôt one of them.” Neuronarrative on a study of male and female guilt.

The Research Blogging Awards finalists have been announced and there’s much mind and brain goodness inside. I had the pleasure of judging the the English and Spanish language entries.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Slate has a little-told story of how the U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition with deadly consequences.

An important study on how video games can hamper reading and writing skills in young boys by displacing other activities is covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

The New Yorker has a long but shallow article on the scientific status of psychiatry. Draws almost entirely on popular books for reasons that aren’t entirely clear.

If you want to hear me discussing the recent ‘technology scares’ article on the radio show On the Media you can find the audio here. The transcript features my misspelt clone self ‘Vaughn’ Bell.

The Wall Street Journal journal has a great piece on scientific creativity and how science funding is increasingly going to older researchers.

The process of brain development is concisely captured in an award-winning PhD Comics infographic which you can find on Neurophilosophy.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an excellent piece on attention and classroom multi-tasking.

A hilariously bad fMRI neuromarketing ‘study’ on Facebook pages is covered by The Neurocritic.

The Guardian reports on a talk where universities are told to consider dope tests as student use of ‘smart drugs’ soars. Although doesn’t mention bonus marks for handcapping oneself with illicit drugs.

A blog of Vintage and Anchor book hosts a discussion between neuroscientist David Eagleman and philosopher Rebecca Goldstein about how to marry the limitations of science with literary imagination.

The Globe and Mail discuss the proposed changes to the DSM-V that would make being too interested in sex a mental illness.

A new study published in the British Medical Journal on Dutch patients with chronic fatigue syndrome found no evidence of infection with the XMRV virus. If you’re not sure why this is an important piece of a controversial puzzle, read an earlier Mind Hacks post.

Neuroworld reports on a intriguing study finding that the happiness boost from a holiday starts the day you start planning it. As I’m still planning a weekend in Butlins with Shakira, this is welcome news.

As the 60’s generation ages, marijuana use is becoming more common in older folks. Don’t bogart that joint old friend.

Scientific American discusses how the enteric nervous system, the one in your gut, influences mood and well-being.

A dodgy survey to see how common the made up diagnosis ‘Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder’ is in women is discussed by Dr Petra. Dodgy survey coincidentally from a drug company trying to promote their 0.7 more satisfying sexual events per month drug. That’s 0.023 more satisfying sexual events per day ladies. Spine tingling, I know.

Alison Gopnick’s new book ‘The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life’ gets an extended review in The New York Review of Books.

Science News covers and interesting study finding that white matter tearing and stretching may cause its most serious damage by breaking microtubules.

Interesting new blog Nonessential Reading covers a study finding that students who were made to think about ideas related to disorder and randomness in the world were more inclined than their peers to believe in God or a similar nonhuman entity. Therefore, ghosts are cleary leaving my flat in a mess.

XKCD has a fantastic comic strip about free will and mind reading.

Mathematicians offer tip-offs to LAPD, reports New Scientist. It could have been a lovely story about geeks helping the cops investigate the Riemann hypothesis (imagine an infinite series of donuts…) but turns out to be about mathematical modelling of crime hot spots.

Frontier Psychiatrist has a piece in the BMJ about assessing suicide risk in a gentleman who’s experienced a series of unfortunate events.

Singing ‘rewires’ damaged brain, reports BBC News. Before, everything washed the brain. Now, everything rewires the brain. So who’s giving it a lick of paint? Answer me that pointdexter.

The New York Times reports that afternoon naps can increase the ability to learn. Useful to know for when you get fired for sleeping on the job. I don’t think I was cut-out for lap dancing anyway.

The keep fit effectiveness of video-game exercise bikes is discussed by The BPS Research Digest.

Scientific American covers an important new meta-analysis on the effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy, although seems to think this is an amazing innovation, when a similar study was published in 2008.

Good vibrations aid mind-controlled steering. Sounds dirty, isn’t. A piece on brain-computer interfaces from New Scientist.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Neuro-linguistic programming: Cargo cult psychology? An excellent piece debunking NLP from the Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education appears online as a pdf. It always struck me as Scientology without the aliens.

PsyBlog has an excellent round-up of 10 influencers of conformity. Fuck me I will do what you tell me.

The US crime rate has been consistently falling, so why do the US public tend to think it’s on the rise? The Boston Globe investigates.

The BPS Research Digest has yet another nail in the coffin for the Freudian idea of repressed memories.

The chairman of the DSM-IV committee writes a stinging attack on the DSM-V for Psychiatric Times.

The Onion gathers the public’s view on the draft of the new psychiatric bible. “If they change which planets men and women are from, I’ll be pissed.”

Some lovely research on how pupil dilation reflects cognitive functions, in this case decision-making, is discussed by the mighty Neurophilosophy.

The LA Times has a story of how a new business model for dealing high purity heroin is targeting the middle-class. A Slate article from ’96 notes that this is an often repeated media story.

There’s an engaging interview with Iain McGilchrist, who’s just written a book about the brain’s hemispheres, over at Frontier Psychiatrist.

The Guardian has a short piece on why slot machine gamblers are so hard to study.

Peter Hughes is a psychiatrist blogging about his work on a Haiti mental health programme, over at the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Newsweek has an excellent piece on how we assume neuroscience studies done on Westerners reflect universal human traits and recent efforts to develop local neuroscience resources.

What distinguishes women with unusually high numbers of sex partners? Barking Up the Wrong Tree reports the surprising answer of one study on the topic.

BBC News reports on continuing and mysterious deaths of (mostly) Scottish heroin users from anthrax. Interestingly, almost exactly the same thing happened a decade ago.

There’s a good report from the recent Cultural and Biological Contexts of Psychiatric Disorder conference over at Somatosphere.

The Brandon Sun reports that a man is found not responsible for killing a nun during an epileptic fit. The news is now officially complete. Move along.

Film from the original Pavlovian conditioning experiments is dug up by the wonderful Advances in the History of Psychology blog.

Reuters reports on a study finding that beds less visible from the nurses’ station in intensive care units have higher death rates.

“do women want to be humped for 13 minutes straight?” asks Neurotopia who is calling for an empirical investigation into the matter.

The Onion reports that the CIA are forced to complete all scheduled torture in one hectic weekend. “We were already way behind on false executions as it was”.

Pissed up on booze? Or a hard night on the alcohol breakdown product acetaldehyde? Neuroskeptic, a spectacularly good blog, covers an interesting new study.

The Library of Congress Music and the Brain podcast is excellent.

Oh Christ, Louann Brizendine has written a follow-up to her stereotype-waving book ‘The Female Brain’ called (can you guess?) ‘The Male Brain’. Elle, yes that Elle, has an ass-kicking review and interview.

New Scientist covers a study that used mobile phone signals to track daily movements and finds we’re actually very predictable.

The now widely reported genetic overlap between mental disorders should be undermining the diagnostic boundaries of psychiatric diagnoses but don’t shake the tree man, because, like, who knows what’ll fall out? Wiring the Brain discusses the evidence.

BBC News reports on a dating study that found women prefer ‘men who are kind’. No word on whether they prefer men who have more enthusiasm than talent and drink too many energy drinks.

“Placebo treatments stronger than doctors thought”. Not sure whether that’s a headline or a philosophy puzzle. Either way, it’s a story in the Seattle PI.

The Splintered Mind introduces the concept of cognitive shielding. Permits you to shout “They canne hold captain!” when losing an argument.

Sleep is a feminist issue, claim prominent feminists. Noami Wolf disagrees in The Times.

Forensic psychology and psychiatry attempt to understand criminality and legal reasoning and are among the most interesting areas of cognitive science, but, sadly, there are few good blogs on the internet which tackle the area. The In The News blog is an exception, however, and regularly has in-depth coverage of the psychological issues behind big legal news stories.

Like forensic psychology itself, it’s not the most instantly appealing of destinations, but the writing is fantastic. The author is California-based forensic psychologist Karen Franklin and some of the recent articles give a flavour of what to expect.

For example, coverage of the death of the oldest death row inmate at 94, and the legal battles that centred around his mental competency to appeal and be executed, discussion of whether ad-hoc diagnoses are being created to detain people whose crimes don’t amount to long-term imprisonment but are predicted to be a future menace to society, or whether the ‘war on drugs’ is being quietly abandoned by the Obama administration.

It’s probably worth noting that US forensic psychology and psychiatry can be quite different from other places, in that it is more much focused on working with courts, rather than offender treatment focused approaches which are more widespread in Europe.

However, In The News has long been a favourite read of mine and long may it stay so.

Link to In The News blog.

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Literary critic Marco Roth discusses the ‘rise of the neuronovel‘ on ABC Radio National’s Bookshow. Good discussion except he seems to think all reference to the brain is necessarily reductionist.

PsyBlog looks at research on why the media seems biased when you care about the issue – examining a study finding Pro-Israelis and Pro-Palestinians both report an identical news report is biased against them.

Why won‚Äôt the University of Washington release the data showing that ‘Baby Einstein’ DVDs slowed language development in children? BrainSpin investigates.

New Scientist reports that damage to the back part of the posterior lobe is more likely to lead to feelings of transcendence and spiritual experiences.

More draft DSM-V coverage: an excellent summary of the proposed changes at PsychCentral. Some more comments from New Scientist. It’s for psychiatrists only! says a debate in Psychiatric Times. Good coverage on the legal aspects from In the News.

The Washington Post discusses whether ‘learning styles‘ are scientifically supported or a convenient myth.

To the bunkers! Can battlefield robots take the place of soldiers? asks BBC News.

Neurotopia has some excellent coverage of a recent study on the ‘cocaine vaccine‘.

Can the power of thought stop you ageing? asks BBC News who cover Ellen Langer’s famous experiments in an old folks’ home. Also tackled briefly in a recent Horizon documentary on ageing *cough*torrent*cough*

The Frontal Cortex has a wonderfully lucid piece on a new study finding that the amygdala may be involved in loss aversion – the effect where we put more energy into avoiding losses than acquiring gains.

The older the age of parents at conception, the greater the risk of autism, according to a new study discussed in The New York Times. Although it’s worth saying that even in older patients the chances of your baby developing autism are still very small.

New Scientist reports on a new campaign to get neuroscientists to sign a peace pledge against the militarisation of brain science.

The clean smelling Ed Yong reports on research finding that clean smells promote generosity and fair play while dark rooms and sunglasses promote deceit and selfishness over at Not Exactly Rocket Science.

The Times previews research suggesting that Autism and Asperger’s may be underdiagnosed or wrongly diagnosed in women.

Amnesic shellfish poisoning is memory loss that can be caused by a toxin found in shellfish. Neuroskeptic investigates the curious memory baffling poison.

Dr Petra has a great analysis of the changes to sexual disorders proposed in the draft DSM-V.

There’s an excellent report on NPR on the history of ‘child bipolar disorder’ and its slap down in the draft DSM-V by the brilliant Alix Spiegel.

Terra Sigillata has some excellent background on one of the legislation avoiding ‘synthetic marijuana’ products recently to hit the market.

Bolivia launches Coca Colla, a remake of the popular soft-drink that puts genuine coca-leaf extract back in the recipe, according to The Telegraph.

Slate has an article on how an irrational fear of baby-snatching on maternity wards is driving extreme security measures.

We know you got flow. The BPS Research Digest covers a study on ‘social flow’, when you’re in the zone with your social life.

NHS Choices has a fantastic video where Ben Goldacre explains the placebo effect.

The first prototype of light controlled brain implants for humans is sort-of-announced by a neurodevice company, according to the EE Times.

Neuroanthropology rounds-up a special issue of Psychiatric Times on cross-cultural psychiatry.

Jared Diamond discusses the ‘natural experiments’ of human history in the ABC Radio National Book Show.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a striking article about the experience of being a university professor during psychosis.

A worry study on the influence on US ‘war on drugs’ aid in Colombia is discussed over at Slate.

“There is no such thing as sexual intercourse”. Pascal Boyer has a stinging critique of post-modern ‘de-constructions’ in the social sciences over at Culture and Cognition.

BBC News covers the research on time perception and enjoyment.