Category: Linkage

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

The BPS Research Digest covers a study finding that people judged as likeable in the flesh also make good first impressions online.

A short but sweet Jonah Lehrer article on the neuroscience of creativity is published in Seed Magazine.

Dr Petra has more on the recent not very convincing ’emotional intelligence boosts female orgasms’ story that got the media’s knickers in a twist.

Will <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227083.700-will-designer-brains-divide-humanity.html
“>designer brains divide humanity? asks New Scientist who seem to like sensationalist headlines about cognitive enhancement.

Furious Seasons asks whether suicidality was covered-up in the landmark STAR*D depression study? A fantastic bit of investigative journalism.

Cruelty and spitefulness are put under the evolutionary spotlight by New Scientist.

Neuronarrative has a good piece on belief in the paranormal and susceptibility to the conjunction fallacy. Interesting in light of Jung’s concept of synchronicity.

Halle Berry neurons, visual recognition and sparse coding are discussed by Discover Magazine.

New Scientist has an almost-there article on how beliefs affect how we experience illness.

How mediation improves attention. PsyBlog continues riffing on it’s attention theme.

Science News reports that school-age lead exposure is most harmful to IQ.

Summertime blues. The Neurocritic covers a study finding that suicide rates in Greenland are highest during the summer.

The New York Times has an excellent piece on ‘high functioning alcoholics‘.

A difference between child and adult brains is a switch from local to distributed organisation, suggests a new study in PLoS Computational Biology.

Dr Shock has a good summary of a recent review article on the neuroscience of exercise.

Smiles in yearbook photos predict marriage success many years later according to a study covered in The Economist.

Neurophilosophy covers a fascinating study on how music affects how we perceive facial expressions.

The 70th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival has just appeared and is ably hosted on Sharp Brains.

A couple of my favourites include a post on Neurotopia on the elegant logic of dopamine, and a fantastic visual illusion from Dr Deb where a picture of a tree hides some wonderfully concealed faces.

There’s a whole stack more great articles in this fortnight’s edition so go check out the rest.

Link to Encephalon 70.

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

The excellent Holford Watch blog has a right-on-target debunking of a Daily Mail article that uncritically reprinted dodgy ‘hole in brain’ SPECT scans to ‘show’ we’re “wrecking” our brains with caffeine, alcohol, bad living etc.

Harvard Magazine discuss how their neuroscientists are working to ‘untangle the brain: from neuron to mind’.

Daniel Lende, co-founder of the brilliant Neuroanthropology blog, wins a university award for his work on the anthropology of drug use, HIV, PTSD and his online writing. I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a blog being recognised by mainstream academia. Congratulations!

New Scientist reports on commercial text analysis programmes that rate emotional content.

There’s a brief but good infographic about the history and development of ‘behavioural economics‘ in Foreign Policy magazine.

Scientific American on recent revelations that Masters and Johnson may have faked their ‘gay cure’ case studies.

Eavesdrop on the world! I’ve just discovered searching Twitter for ‘overheard‘.

Science Policy magazine has an article about what the recent fMRI ‘voodoo’ criticisms mean for the role of fMRI in court. This month’s Wired UK has an awesome article on similar territory, but it’s not available online yet.

Researchers find the earliest signs of autism in infancy, reports Time magazine.

Time magazine reports on the recent STAR*D study that used ‘real world’ patients for an antidepressant trial, rather than the highly selected samples usually used, and found that rates of improvement were less.

New antipsychotic iloperidone is approved by the FDA, reports Furious Seasons.

New Scientist reports that IQ correlates with health and there are hints that some of the relationship might be explained by common genetic factors.

There’s an excellent post about pop stars, drug use, society and double standards at Frontier Psychiatrist.

Cognition and Culture has an interesting piece on cross-cultural variation in creationism.

A genetic study into narcolepsy, a disorder where people suddenly and uncontrollable fall asleep, finds an intriguing link with genes for the immune system. Science News covers the discovery.

Developing Intelligence covers a lovely study finding that physically taking a step back is associated with improved problem-solving.

A concert combining the music of Yo-Yo Ma and the neuroscience of Antonio Damasio is reviewed in The New York Times. There are also some interesting comments from Jonah Lehrer who also saw the performance.

Cognitive Daily cover a study that possibly tells us why it’s hard to ignore that attractive stranger that walks past, even when we’re with our partner.

Why does the vaccine/autism controversy live on? asks Discover Magazine in an article that discusses the social factors behind the deadly but popular myth.

Advances in the History of Psychology has an interview with the author of a new book on Skinner.

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

Wired has a great piece on illusionist Teller and how stage magic could help cognitive science.

Some fascinating research on the use of video to give insight to brain injured patients unaware of their own paralysis is covered by BPS Research Digest.

The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry has a case report on restless legs syndrome affecting a phantom limb.

The curious link between the urban environment and schizophrenia is explored by Frontier Psychiatrist.

Channel N finds a video lecture on mental illness and creativity by Kay Redfield Jamison.

Funny or offensive? Probably both. The Onion has a satirical news report on World’s Oldest Neurosurgeon Turns 100.

BoingBoing finds an usual vintage comic book series entitled ‘The Strange World of your Dreams‘.

In 2001, all illicit drugs were decriminalised for personal use in Portugal. Time magazine investigates what happened, it turns out drug use has fallen.

The New York Times has an extended article on the meeting of Zen Buddhism and Freudian psychoanalysis.

A wonderful neurophilosophical quote from Melville’s Moby Dick is captured by Brain Hammer.

Cognition and Culture reviews new book ‘The Art Instinct’.

Do ‘brain training‘ games really work? asks ScAim. The answer, a bit.

PsyBlog has an excellent post on the psychology of consumption.

The media creates concept of media psychologists, encourages them to be unethical, then acts amazed when they are, says Dr Petra.

Wired talks to psychologist Craig Haney about the mental impact of solitary confinement.

Important new research on the genetics of autism spectrum is covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

BBC News reports on musician Prince discussing his childhood epilepsy and how he revealed it in a coded message on The Love Symbol Album.

The 69th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience carnival has just appeared on Brain Stimulant and… dear God, I just realise I missed the 68th edition on the excellent Ouroboros as well, so here are both for your reading pleasure.

A couple of my favourites include a fantastic post on Neuroanthropology post entitled “Who you callin‚Äô a ‚Äòneuroconstructivist‚Äô punk?!” (actually, I added the punk, but you get the idea), and a Neurocritic article on a curious neurological condition where people lose the ability to correctly point at a named body part.

I always say there’s plenty more, but this time there’s a whole load more where that came from, thanks to my slightly faulty memory.

Link to Encephalon 68.
Link to Encephalon 69.

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

The first Neuroanthropology Conference kicks off in October and looks awesome.

Twitter causes immorality nonsense deftly dispatched by bloggers. Most mainstream press lost the plot although Time did a good job and Wired Science were keeping it real.

The Guardian review neurophysiologist Kathleen Taylor’s new book on cruelty.

AI system examines mysterious and ancient symbols from the long-lost Indus Valley civilization and suggests that they may represent a spoken language, reports Wired.

The Financial Times has a look at the Wellcome Collection’s latest exhibition on ‘madness and modernity’.

The links between autism and genius are explored by The Economist.

Not Exactly Rocket Science has a brilliant article on how touch-related brain activity reduces after only a couple of weeks of having your hand in a cast.

There are a couple of wonderful girl-with-exposed-brain paintings here.

The New York Times reports on mental illness, the musical! (thanks Daniel!)

BBC Radio 4’s Health Check has a programme on meningitis and supernumeray phantom limbs.

Newsweek has an interesting Q&A on the psychology of memory.

An extended and interesting article on the psychology of how we related to the environment is published by The New York Times.

NeuroImage has an article arguing for community neuroimaging databases. Hallelujah and amen!

Is there a link between autistic traits and anorexia? asks New Scientist.

Frontal Cortex has an excellent piece on the commuters paradox – where we consistently underestimate the pain of a long commute.

Rapid emotional swings could predict violence in psychiatric patients suggests new research covered by Science News.

BBC News on the impressive ‘Blue Brain‘ project but who seem to like talking themselves up rather a lot. Apparently just a “matter of money” to simulate a whole brain (oh, and a good conceptual understanding of how the brain actually works beyond simplified models of the neocortical column).

18 ways attention goes wrong. PsyBlog continues riffing on attention by listing several related problems.

Psychiatric Times has an excellent article on the philosophy of psychiatry and how we define what counts as a mental illness. Bonus ‘internet addiction’ slapdown included.

Neuronarrative on a study suggesting that TV may be a surrogate for social interaction.

New ‘mind reading’ consumer EEG headsets about to hit the shelves with dull-looking games, according to New Scientist. They look fantastic, but don’t believe the hype – the fun will be in equipment hacks and data aggregation projects.

The Economist has a couple more good articles: one on the cognitive benefits of bilingual babies and the other on preconscious action selection and free will.

Makes of antidepressant Lexapro (escitalopram) may be gearing up for the latest in a long line a heavy weight US government fines for illegal promotion, reports Furious Seasons.

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

The neuroscience of envy and schadenfreude is explored by Pure Pedantry.

The Economist has an article on connectomics and the project to create a complete white matter map of the brain.

Panic! The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology has an article on drinking on your 21st birthday. Extremely extreme apparently.

O’Reilly Radar has an interesting piece on navigating robots that run on the power of cute.

To the bunkers! US Military wants to offload ‘deep learning’ to computers according to Wired.

What can stage magic tell us about the brain? Asks Science News.

CNN thinks naltrexone is from “a new generation of anti-addiction drugs”. If by new generation they mean from 1974, then yes, they’re right.

Are smart drugs the answer to bad moods and a bad economy? ask Discover Magazine. I’m sure you can guess the answer to that one.

Neurotopia has an excellent piece on the neuroscience of amphetamine.

Research on a ‘video game’ that reduces aggression is covered by Cognitive Daily. Not really a video game, but fascinating research nonetheless.

Medical News reports that increases in psychotic symptoms are more likely to make the person a victim of violence than a perpetrator.

Mind Hacks gets a write-up from Gehirn & Geist magazine. Sadly, I can’t read a word of German but I have it on good authority that it is very flattering (thanks Rich!).

Stanford Magazine has an interview with Henry Greely, co-author of the recent Nature article on why cognitive enhancing drugs should be legally available.

A simple psychological intervention that boosts school performance of ethnic minority students is discussed by The BPS Research Digest.

Eric Schwitzgebel mulls whether scientific ideas about moral development are inherently politically biased.

Epilepsy drug valproate during pregnancy can lower babies IQ, reports The New York Times.

Another from The New York Times: “There are no rules of etiquette for dealing with a person who has a neurological disorder.” Short personal piece on Parkinson’s disease.

The Frontal Cortex has a good piece on the neuroscience of admiration and why Twitter won’t make you immoral.

Psychologist Jesse Bering takes a tour through quirky studies on the effects of alcohol in Scientific American.

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

Tom has a fantastic post and brief radio segment on the psychology of coffee.

Savant and synaesthete Daniel Tammet gives an interesting interview on the neuroscience of exceptional abilities on the Quirks and Quarks radio show.

The New Republic has an extended review of ‘Hysterical Men’, a new well-regarded book on the neglected history of male hysteria.

Most psychiatrists who wrote clinical guidelines for the American Psychiatric Association had financial ties to drug companies, reports Medical News Today.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers a nice study that shows <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/04/our_moral_thermostat_-_why_being_good_can_give_people_licens.php
“>moral behaviour is more like a balancing act than a recital.

An elegant study of how scratching stops an itch is covered by BBC News.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the much discussed ‘Voodoo Correlations in Social Neuroscience’ paper, will now be <a href="http://chronicle.com/news/article/6236/a-much-debated-neuroscience-paper-has-lost-its-voodoo
“>retitled ‘Puzzlingly High Correlations in fMRI Studies of Emotion, Personality, and Social Cognition’ on its May publication.

There’s a great round-up of recent sex and science news on Dr Petra.

An article on the effects of poverty on brain development was published by Economist. You must read an excellent follow-up by Language Log showing all is not what it seems.

BBC News reports on seemingly higher rates of birth defects in babies of women sedated as children in UK care homes.

People with schizophrenia are not susceptible to the hollow-mask illusion, reports New Scientist with cool hollow-mask video.

Scientific American Mind has an interesting piece about mapping the brain circuits in depression for the purpose of modulating them with deep brain stimulation. More background on Neuron Culture.

Investigative journalist Phil Dawdy gives an ass-kicking pharma-sceptical interview on Christopher Lane’s Psychology Today blog.

Psychologist Colin Ross wins the James Randi Educational Foundation award for pseudoscience for his claim that he can send electromagnetic beams out of his eyes and capture them with a machine. Gives him something to do when he’s not writing articles for Scientology magazines I suppose.

Wired has a short but sweet piece on pioneering neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing.

Even isolated cultures understand emotions conveyed by Western music, suggest research expertly covered by Cognitive Daily.

The Times has a piece on psychiatrist and Big Pharma target / critic David Healy, branded the ‘enfant terrible’ of psychiatry.

Brain decline reflected in patient’s brush strokes, with photos from New Scientist.

SciAm Mind Matters has an interview with free-thinking developmental psychologist Judith Rich Harris on who influences the social development of children.

High-tech hobbit phrenology? Homo floresiensis may have been cognitively advanced suggests skull study reported in Science News.

Salon reports on a US Army psychologist caught on tape saying “I am under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD“.

An intriguing new theory on why fever helps autism and how it could finger the brain area the locus coeruleus as key is covered in Time. Scientific paper here.

American Psychological Association Monitor magazine has a two part special on neuroimaging in psychology.

Neuroanthropology finds some vintage Oliver Sacks video footage and discusses the importance of integrating neurobiological and cultural viewpoints.

There’s a fascinating piece on the effect of gendered nouns on perception, plus a great experiment testing Shakespeare’s maxim ‘a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet’, on NPR radio.

Wired has a beautiful image gallery entitled ‘How to Map Neural Circuits With an Electron Microscope’.

A study on people with Parkinson’s disease being bad at lying is covered by Pure Pedantry.

PsyBlog asks whether visual attention can be truly divided.

Mind Hacks thinks about renaming Spike Activity to Spike Train because they’re so damn long these days.

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

The Economist has an article on the impact of poverty on the developing mind and brain.

Orange flavour antipsychotics are launched by seemingly self-paradoying pharmaceutical company Otsuka.

The New York Times has an article on the art and science of dreaming in the 17th century.

The future of Big I artificial intelligence is discussed by H+ Magazine in a report from a recent cutting-edge conference.

The BPS Research Digest has a great piece on the limits of the ‘paradox of choice’.

An interesting new blog by forensic psychologist Marisa Mauro kicks off on Psychology Today

The Wall Street Journal tackles identity construction on social media. Good piece although the same ground covered by Sherry Turkle 15 years ago.

Music as a possible form of cognitive treatment is discussed by The New York Times.

Not Exactly Rocket Science on how the finding of a deformed skull of prehistoric child suggests that early humans cared for disabled children.

A video of a man with a fishing spear in his head accompanies an article by The Times. Despite the dramatic injury, he survived.

Medical Economics on news that the number of Big Pharma lovin’ doctors is dropping in the US.

Autism immerses 2-year-olds in a <a href="http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/42316/title/Autism_immerses_2-year-olds_in_a_synchronized_world
“>synchronized world, reports Science News.

Discover Magazine has video from a neuroscientist panel discussion on unlocking the secrets and powers of the brain.

‘The nightmares of Puerto Ricans’ is an upcoming article in the Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry journal.

The Scientist has several freely available articles on the neuroscience of <a href="Sleep article
http://www.the-scientist.com/toc/2009/4/”>sleep in it’s latest edition.

Philosopher Ned Block puts a pre-print of a paper entitled ‘Comparing the Major Theories of Consciousness’ online as a pdf.

The New York Times discusses how medical dogma often triumphs over scientific evidence if the data seems to contradict a good story or traditional treatment option.

Sociologist Yochai Benkler discusses social reasoning and the myth of rationality in an article for Edge.

The Onion reports the shocking news that 98% of babies are manic depressive.

Spanking ‘brings couples together, says an entirely serious article in New Scientist.

BBC News reports that sleep problems correlate with suicide attempts.

‘Voice lie-detector’ made by lawyer-happy critic-suing company Nemesysco is found to be no better at detecting lies than flipping a coin in an independent test just published in Journal of Forensic Science.

Psychological Science has a study finding that once practical stress is taken out caregiving is associated with a decreased mortality risk.

The neuroscience of the ‘money illusion‘ is discussed in an excellent piece on Frontal Cortex.

The 67th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience carnival has just appeared online, this time put together by the Neuroskeptic blog.

A couple of my favourites include Neurophilosophy on the neuroscience of phantom limbs – apotemnophilia, missing after amputation or additional to the normal four, and a couple of good posts on the neuropsychology of religious belief from NeuroWhoa!.

There’s plenty more where those came from, so do go and check out the latest edition.

Link to Encephalon 67.

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

Brain Hammer is on fire at the moment, lots of great posts on philosophy of mind.

Dodgy fMRI ‘lie detection’ evidence to be submitted as evidence in court, reports Frontal Cortex and piece from Wired. Next in court, lie detection through reading the clouds.

Alzheimer International has an awesome short promo video. In Spanish but you don’t need the language to understand it. Beautiful.

Daniel Dennett discusses the risk of robot war in a short video for Big Think.

Technology Review has an article on an exciting new technology to chart human activity, on city maps, on mobile devices, in real time.

The excellent BPS Research Digest is now on Twitter.

PsyBlog has an excellent, and beautifully illustrated, article on the ‘attention spotlight‘.

The miracle fruit, which changes our taste by interfering with tongue receptors, is discussed on CNN.

Eric Schwitzgebel has more on his compelling exploration over whether philosophical study influences real world behaviour, finding political scientists don’t go to vote differently from most other people.

A fantastic study on the genetics of white matter structure and link to IQ is discussed by NPR. Take the stuff about ‘thinking faster’ with a pinch of salt. They didn’t analyse speed of processing directly, they’re just inferring ‘speed’ from white matter integrity.

The Frontal Cortex has a great piece on male female differences, or the lack of them, in the psychology of decision-making.

Philosopher Alva Noe discusses his new book on consciousness and embodiment in an interview for Salon.

Wall Street Journal Blog reports that the Journal of the American Medical Association has created an inadequate new policy after the editors bullied a neuroanatomy professor who pointed out undeclared conflicts of interest in a paper they published. The Economist covers the fall out, patients’ group call for editors to resign.

“The medial prefrontal cortex exhibits money illusion” reports paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. I wondered where magicians get all those coins from.

The New York Times reports depression is linked to thinned brain cortex.

The American Psychiatric Association starts to remove the drug company teat from its mouth by halting industry-funded symposia and free lunches at its conferences – according to Medical News Today.

The 66th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience writing carnival was published a few days ago and I’m only just catching up with the world. However, it’s got a great round-up of some of the best mind and brain blogging and is hosted by Ionian Enchantment.

A couple of my favourites include Neurotopia on problems with the popular but wrong serotonin theory of depression, and one from Effortless Incitement on how relatedness influences an individual’s knowledge about whether their sibling is alive or not!

There’s plenty more, so have a browse through this fortnight’s selection.

Link to Encephalon 66.

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

Wired reports that Japanese ‘detergent suicide‘ technique creeps into U.S.

To the bunkers! BBC News has a video of a creepy but strangely seductive <a href="Female robot
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7946780.stm”>fembot from a Japanese tech firm.

Kraepelin´s Grandchildren is an interesting new Spanish-language brain blog.

Daniel Dennett does an interesting TED lecture on the counter-intuitive link between evolution and psychology.

Not Exactly Rocket Science covers a fascinating study finding that musical intervals actually reflect the sounds of our own speech.

I’ve been digging the Phrenologists Notebook blog recently. Looks plain, reads great.

BBC News has a great video clip from a Horizon documentary showing newborns doing ‘maths’ and how experiments test such young kids.

Thank you Neurotopia! Contrary to the popular headlines modafinil triggering dopamine activity in the nucleus accumbens does not make it addictive. People getting addicted to it does (which, so far, hasn’t happened).

BPS Research Digest has an excellent write-up of a review paper on successful non-drugs treatments for schizophrenia.

Completely false headline hides interesting write-up of study on anterior cingulate activation linked to religious belief in New Scientist.

New Scientist has a much better article on the effect of money on decision-making.

Am I normal? A new series of the wonderful BBC Radio 4 series has programmes on post-natal depression and gifted children.

Neurophilosophy reports on a study finding that brain waves predict successful memory for an event before it occurs.

The New York Times has an interesting article on Dr Alice Flaherty who studies the neuropsychology of empathy and has bipolar disorder.

A bill to promote the neurotechnology industry has been introduced into both the House and Senate of US Congress, reports Brain Waves.

Neuroscientist and author of a recent book on loneliness, John Cacioppo, is interviewed by Neuronarrative.

Scientific American has an interesting interview on delayed onset brain injuries with neurosurgeon Keith Black in the wake of Natasha Richardson’s death.

Predicting creditworthiness from photos of faces. The Economist covers another interesting psychological characteristics we can reliably read from the face (if averaged from a group’s responses).

PsyBlog has a piece on the ‘Cocktail Party Effect‘, presumably named in the days when psychologists had cocktail parties. Presumably, if discovered today it would be called the Friday after work down the pub effect.

The control centre of the US Army’s Human Terrain System and the role of the team in tackling military corruption is discussed by Wired.

The Frontal Cortex has a thought-provoking meditation on the value of neuroscience.

There’s been so much eye-opening stuff on Furious Seasons recently, I’ll just direct you to the entire blog.

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

The Psychologist has a free bonus edition that collects some of its most popular articles.

A newly released report from the UN argues we should legalise illicit drugs to tackle organised crime.

The New York Times reports ‘Religious Thoughts and Feelings Not Limited to One Part of Brain’. No shit Sherlock.

The battle for Broca’s Area is expertly covered by Talking Brains.

Neurophilosophy has an excellent piece on the neuroscience of motivated forgetting, related to Freud’s theory of repression.

How could MDMA (ecstasy) help anxiety disorders? A neurobiological rationale. A highly speculative but interesting article from The Journal of Psychopharmacology.

The LA Times has a luke-warm article on our sense of time.

Prescribing hormone patches for women with ‘female sexual dysfunction‘ is put under the spotlight by Dr Petra.

The New York Times has an excellent piece on happiness research, or more accurately “a specific type of emotional and behavioral prediction”.

Early intellectual gap found for kids of <a href="http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/41529/title/Early_intellectual_gap_found_for_kids_of_older_fathers
“>older fathers aged 50 and over at conception, reports Science News.

Science Daily on a study finding that immigrants earn more money if they change their name from an obviously foreign one.

Mental illness doesn’t predict violence, finds biggest study to published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

New Scientist has a Q&A on a ‘mass hysteria‘ outbreak in Nicaragua.

A priest jailed for child sexual abuse on the basis of ‘recovered memories‘ is having his case reviewed, reports The Nation.

Neurocase reports a case of a man who can speak without Broca’s area after tumor surgery.

A fantastic article on endangered languages with audio samples is available from Seed Magazine.

Seed Magazine also has a fantastic article on art and synaesthesia.

The official journal of the The International Neuropsychiatric Association is open-acess. Kudos to them!

New Scientist has an interview with psychiatrist Simon Wessely on mind-body interactions in illness.

Is Fraud Contagious? asks Newsweek with a look at a recent Dan Ariely study.

SciAm Mind Matters blog has an article on a neat study finding that actions, <a href="Metaphors of cleanliness
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=embodied-metaphor-moral”>metaphors and moral judgements can influence each other.

I thoroughly recommend Neurophilosophy for the most sensible coverage on the ‘reading perceived position from hippocampal activation study’ – badly described in the media as ‘mind reading’.

SciAm’s Jesse Bering column has an excellent piece on terror management and mortality salience.

CIA Awkwardly Debriefs Obama On Creation Of Crack Cocaine. Conspiracy comedy from The Onion.

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

The Economist discusses whether the famous Dunbar number, the maximum limit of human relationships, holds on Facebook.

A person who experienced the identity loss memory disorder dissociative fugue is interviewed in The New York Times.

BBC News reports that Malaysia is attempting to curb its suicide rate by planning to arrest those who attempt suicide.

Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel asks what is an illusion, exactly?

Neuronarrative reports on a new study finding people tend to view leaders more favourably once they’ve died!

Drug giant and makers of Seroquel (quetiapine) lied about their data showing that the antipsychotic drug isn’t as effective as its competitors, reports the Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry blog.

The New York Times reports on research showing that interrupting an experience, whether dreary or pleasant, can make it significantly more intense.

The US Army’s group of ‘weaponised anthropologists’, the Human Terrain System, get slammed by a Marine Corps major in a military publication. Wired has the story.

The Onion, on news that a Lovecraftian school board member wants madness added to the curriculum. C’thulhu fhtagn!

Science News reports on a new study that links the genetics of Autism and bellyaches.

A long and confusing article on why minds are not like computers is published in The New Atlantis. Would greatly benefit from the insights from philosophy of mind.

Nature has an excellent article on the sociology of science and why we need a third way after the extremes of hard scientific realism and social constructionism. By the always interesting Harry Collins.

Gender effects in <a href="http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/41304/title/Playing_for_real_in_a_virtual__world
“>children’s play are seen in virtual worlds, reports Science News.

Furious Seasons reports on a recent study looking at the (large) placebo effect in studies of antidepressant treatment for adolescent depression.

Is patriotism a subconscious way for humans to avoid disease? asks the always engaging Carl Zimmer in Discover Magazine.

The Guardian reports on research suggesting that some people who suffer stroke develop PTSD after their experience.

Texting is associated with superior reading skills in children, reports the BPS Research Digest.

The New York Times has an interesting article looking at the psychology of rewarding students for study or good performance in light of mixed evidence of how effective the practice is.

ABC Radio National’s Ockham’s Razor has programme on how errors of grammar, punctuation and inaccurate scientific terminology can complicate important social issues.

Dr Shock covers some interesting research on the pros and cons on using PowerPoint presentations in teaching for learning by students.

Also from Dr Shock an awesome video showing how some stunning 3D illusion street art was created.

The New York Times reports that skin cells from people with Parkinson’s disease have been converted in a test tube to dopamine neurons.

The 65th edition of the Encephalon psychology and neuroscience carnival has just appeared online, this time hosted at Podcat Black and illustrated with some emerging unbidden from the world.

A couple of favourites include a fantastic post on the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus which outlines some Ancient Egyptian brain surgery and a series of posts introducing the principles of evolutionary neuroscience through the Cthulhu mythos.

There’s many more engaging articles and the pareidolia face images are great fun as always.

Link to Encephalon 65 on Podcat Black.