# Question
Title: Why (and how) do people seek acknowledgement?
I don't think I need to give evidence that people do seek acknowledgement; if it's not from parents, it's from lovers or friends. It can be things as big as life ambitions/achievements (e.g. 'I will support your dreams are!', to smaller things like acknowledging you understand ('I understand what you're going through').

Possible pointers:

* What makes us seek acknowledgement? (evolutionarily-wired or socially-induced)
* What is the process that turns this acknowledgement into a good feeling?

I've come across a lot of blogs and opinions, I am interested in seeing if there's any scientific research on this.

# Answer
Freud would say its all your Mother's fault you want acknowledgement! She should have never told you thats a good job. Indeed current pseudo-scientific psychologist say our childhood programming given to us by our guardians and peers are the reason why we seek affirmation through certain means. Their thought is if your parent created an appetite in you for praise and external affirmation then you will seek such from other people.

The thought that children are addicted to parental approval may be valid however I doubt such addictions come through praise alone. I suspect that gifting and rewarding much in the way Prince Horace was spoiled in the Whipping boy or the complete inverse like Lex Luthor's relationship with his father in the Smallville DC universe or Jace Lightwood's relationship with Valentine Morgenstern in the Mortal Instruments Universe. In these cases the parent was cruel to the child demanding an unnatural level of performance. In modern and real life that would be the bad sports scholarship parent vs the good parent involved in the life thier children which includes sports.

Science on the other hand offers a more clear view our desires for affirmation come from a maldeveloped self-esteem. As individuals we should not require the praises of others to remain mentally stable and happy. However when people base their self esteem on the praises and acclamations of others. They create a system which they are not running but an external group must continue and this is counter productive.

> College students who based their self-worth on academic performance did not receive higher grades despite being highly motivated and studying more hours each week than students who did not rate academic performance as important to their self-esteem, Crocker found. Students who based their self-worth on academic outcomes also were more likely to report conflicts with professors and greater stress.
>
> "They feel motivated to do well in academics, but having their self-worth on the line doesn't help their performance," Crocker says. She speculates that students who base their self-worth on academic performance might become anxious and distracted and threatened by feelings of failure, and, as such, their anxiety might then interfere with their memory. Students who based their self-esteem on internal sources--such as being a virtuous person or adhering to moral standards--were found to receive higher grades and less likely to use alcohol and drugs or to develop eating disorders.
>
> "We really think that if people could adopt goals not focused on their own self-esteem but on something larger than their self--such as what they can create or contribute to others--than they would be less susceptible" to some of the negative effects of pursuing self-esteem, Crocker says. "It's about having a goal that is bigger than the self." Crocker's research appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of Social Issues (Vol. 58, No. 3).

-APA Self-esteem that's based on external sources has mental health consequences, study says

The follow is a valid summary of the science behind the previous series of work:

> Authentic self-esteem is not dependent upon others or things external to us. Such self-esteem is a manifestation of our relationship with our self. The essence of self-esteem is that it flows from within. If we lay ourselves bare in our vulnerability and strip away our careers, our families, our friends, our possessions and achievements, what are we left with? And how does that feel? Beyond the obvious losses, do we like and respect who we are, irrespective of the markers of other-esteem?
>
> We modify and mold so much of our behavior and even more, our very personality to achieve other-esteem. We literally create personality masks in this endeavor, presenting to others the person we think they would approve of. In such circumstances we are abandoning our true self to derive approval or recognition from others. Not only is this a self-deprecating experience, it also sabotages our relationships, for they are far from authentic. When we act in this manner we are literally taking our well being and serving it up to other people. It then becomes the other person's to decide if we are worthy. This is not a healthy place to be and it is a soul-defeating exercise. We should never judge ourselves based upon who we think others see us.
>
> Who is the Judge?
>
> The simple truth is that others don't judge us. They may have opinions of us. Yet, to elevate their opinion to the status of a judgment is simply ridiculous. No one can judge you unless you grant him or her the power of being your judge. Why would we put a judge's robes on an ordinary person and confer such power upon them? The only person who you might grant such power to works in a courtroom; all others are people with opinions. With a healthier measure of self-esteem we might more easily tolerate other's opinions without escalating them into counterfeit judgments.
>
> Esteem most be generated from within and can then radiate outward. When we focus outwardly for approval, we are seeking it in the wrong place. And in so doing, we subordinate our authentic being in a vain attempt at happiness. Such fulfillment must be dependent and superficial and undermines our personal evolution. This process of external gratification is other-esteem. Self-esteem is not contingent upon others.
>
> When we set up this drama around approval, we create issues in regard to notions of rejection. The issue of rejection can be misleading. With a healthy self-esteem one doesn't consider rejection. It is actually the rejecting of one's self that inclines people to seek approval from others. In such cases, we're not content with ourselves and so we solicit that acceptance from others. If that approval isn't granted, we have a habit of claiming that we were rejected. In truth, we have rejected ourselves when we set others up as judge. The degree to which we are reactive to other's opinions of us in likely inversely correlated to our level of self-esteem.
>
> A reconsidering of our understanding of self-esteem might be helpful in reframing our cultural expectations of happiness. Almost all parents would claim that they are thoroughly invested in their children's self-esteem. Educators and other professionals place great value on the development of children's self-worth. Yet, I would argue that most don't begin to comprehend self-esteem. If an A student becomes depressed by a B, it is abundantly clear that their grades are a product of other-esteem. As such, the diminishment of other-esteem leaves them feeling devalued. Their sense of well being is dependent upon factors outside of themselves. Similarly, athletic achievement or popularity are things that we understandably encourage in our children. When put into proper perspective we might see that these experiences might enhance their lives. But it is critical that they not be the cornerstones of how they see themselves. For in that case, the average student or the mediocre athlete is relegated to the imprisonment of low self-esteem.
>
> Self-esteem is the legitimate foundation for a healthy relationship with our selves and others. Genuine self-esteem removes the construct of neediness so prevalent in most relationships. And liberates us to thrive, as issues of rejection and judgment recede. If we seek our esteem from outside, we leave ourselves in a tentative and dependent place. When the sense of worth emanates from within, life unfolds in a empowered way.

-Self-Esteem or Other-Esteem?
> 1 votes

# Answer
Looking for acknowledgment is so important trait that some authors extracted specific contruct which can be responsible for this tendency - need for social approval. Polish researchers use Social Approval Questionnaire (by Drwal, 1995) next to the other tests, in order to exclude from their data base unreliable responses. It can be interesting for you what kind of questions are in this Questionarie. They are for example:

* I have never been late for school.
* I have got friends who I don't like. etc.

These questions are obvious for people whose need for social approval is not pathological. ALL of us was late for school, even one time. And there is no person who like everyone. People who are looking for acknowledgment, whose need for approval is very big, answer YES in those questions.

You can also read more in some english sources.

Bibliography

1) Drwal (1995), Kwestionariusz Aprobaty Społecznej KAS (Social Approval Questionnaire)

2) Millham (1980) Need for social approval: Impression management or self-deception?
> 1 votes

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Tags: social-psychology, emotion, evolution
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# Question
Title: Is a person with a psychopathic disorder aware of it?
A (former) friend of mine shows lots of symptoms of a psychopathic disorder.

Years later after we both met the last time, I'm still not sure whether he is/was aware of this disorder or not.

**So my question:**

Is a person with potentially psychopathic behaviour aware of why he behaves like he does or not?

Plus: If he *is* aware, do such persons usually suffer from that knowledge/disorder or like it?

# Answer
It is important for us not to mix up the two words psychopathy and psychosis...

The term “psychosis” has its roots in the ancient Greek words for an aberration or abnormality (osis) of the mind or soul (psyche). Thus, the psychotic mind is literally a mind that has stopped functioning normally. A psychotic person has lost the capacity to think and behave rationally, and this usually results in greatly impaired contact with reality. The most typical manifestations of psychosis are bizarre and false beliefs (delusions), and unusual or false perceptions (hallucinations?).

Certain mental illnesses are commonly associated with psychotic states, especially schizophrenia, and less frequently, bipolar disorder. Their brains are malfunctioning in such a way that they have lost the capacity to correctly judge things in their environment and to relate to others in a coherent, rational fashion.

On the other hand, the term “psychopathy” was first used in the early 19th century to describe a pathology of personality characterized by an extreme lack of empathy that leads to guiltless and remorseless use and abuse of others. Shallow emotions, a chilling lack of fear, extreme manipulativeness, frequent and seemingly nonsensical lying, and behavioral irresponsibility are common, as is the tendency to display superficial charm.But, although psychopaths have a world view greatly aberrant compared to most, they are neither out of contact with reality nor incapable of rational thought. In fact, their thinking is often distinctly rational and goal-oriented.

With that said I'm going to go ahead and assume that you were of course referring to psychopathy in your question, and tell you that virtually all psychopaths know early on in life that they're different from other people. Perhaps not to the extend of knowing about their disorder, but they are in touch with reality and can definitely be able to notice certain differences between themselves and other people such as differences in emotion.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Sometimes they are aware.

For example a manic-depressive is mostly aware of having a psychological problem during his depressive phases, but will usually perceive himself well while manic. Schizophrenics often understand that they have delusions, but many of them can only understand this while they are in a non-delusional phase.

Sadists are often aware of being deviant, but usually enjoy what they do. Manics don't suffer either, but feel grandiose.

**Edit**

Oops, I read "psychiatric disorder" instead of psychopathy. So obviously most of what I wrote is beside the point here. Read what I wrote about sadists and ignore the rest. Sorry.

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Source: Working in a psychiatric ward.
> 2 votes

# Answer
This question essentially addresses the difference between ego-syntonic and -dystonic disorders.
To quote Wikipedia:

> Egosyntonic is a psychological term referring to behaviors, values, feelings that are in harmony with or acceptable to the needs and goals of the ego, or consistent with one's ideal self-image.
>
> Egodystonic...is the opposite of egosyntonic and refers to thoughts and behaviors (e.g., dreams, impulses, compulsions, desires, etc.) that are in conflict, or dissonant, with the needs and goals of the ego, or, further, in conflict with a person's ideal self-image...
>
> Many personality disorders are considered to be egosyntonic and are, therefore, difficult to treat. Anorexia nervosa, a difficult-to-treat Axis I disorder, is also considered egosyntonic because many of its sufferers deny that they have a problem.
>
> Obsessive compulsive disorder is considered to be egodystonic as the thoughts and compulsions experienced or expressed are not consistent with the individual's self-perception, meaning the patient realizes the obsessions are not reasonable.\[2\]\[3\]
>
> The egosyntonic and egodystonic concepts are studied in detail in abnormal psychology; while 'the notion of ego syntony plays an important part in psychoanalytic ego psychology'.

More generally, internalizing / mood and anxiety disorders tend to be ego-dystonic, while externalizing disorders tend to be ego-syntonic. This latter class includes substance abuse and antisocial disorders, such as those that relate to strong dark triad traits. This in turn includes psychopathy, and in the dark tetrad model, sadism as well, which @what has mentioned in his answer. Of course, it would be unwise to speculate about your friend's personal case, but in general, psychopaths are likely to lack some degree of self-awareness. More definitionally, psychopaths lack remorse, and often "suffer" more from megalomaniacal delusions. There is a thin line between primary psychopathy and narcissism, and disorders don't get much more ego-syntonic than narcissism.

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**References**
2. Aardema, F. & O'Connor, K. (2007). The menace within: Obsessions and the self. *International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 21*(3), 182–197.
3. Aardema, F. & O'Connor, K. (2003). Seeing white bears that are not there: Inference processes in obsessions. *Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 17*(1), 23–37.
> 2 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, behaviorism
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title: Binocular rivalry in animals?

text:
# Question
Title: Binocular rivalry in animals?
Are there any experiments on binocular rivalry in animals? (In humans, brain responses to Rubin's vase are for example well studied.)

# Answer
> 3 votes
**Yes! Binocular rivalry has been studied in monkeys** (Logothetis & Schall, 1990; Lehky & Maunsell, 1996)
**and extensively in cats** (Fries, Roelfsema, Engel, König, & Singer, 1997; Sengpiel, Blakemore, & Harrad, 1995; Sengpiel, Blakemore, Kind, & Harrad, 1994; Sengpiel, Bonhoeffer, Freeman, & Blakemore, 2001; Varela & Singer, 1987; Moore, Spear, Kim, & Xue, 1992; Tong, Guido, Tumosa, Spear, & Heidenreich, 1992), to say the least. This is all the further I got into a literature search today, but I'm sure there's much more out there.

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**References**
\- Fries, P., Roelfsema, P. R., Engel, A. K., König, P., & Singer, W. (1997). Synchronization of oscillatory responses in visual cortex correlates with perception in interocular rivalry. *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 94*(23), 12699–12704. Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/94/23/12699.full.
\- Lehky, S. R., & Maunsell, J. H. (1996). No binocular rivalry in the LGN of alert macaque monkeys. *Vision Research, 36*(9), 1225–1234. Retrieved from ScienceDirect.
\- Logothetis, N. K., & Schall, J. D. (1990). Binocular motion rivalry in macaque monkeys: Eye dominance and tracking eye movements. *Vision Research, 30*(10), 1409–1419. Retrieved from http://www.psy.vanderbilt.edu/faculty/schall/pdfs/binmoriv.pdf.
\- Moore, R. J., Spear, P. D., Kim, C. B., & Xue, J. T. (1992). Binocular processing in the cat's dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus III. Spatial frequency, orientation, and direction sensitivity of nondominant-eye influences. *Experimental Brain Research, 89*(3), 588–598.
\- Sengpiel, F., Blakemore, C., & Harrad, R. (1995). Interocular suppression in the primary visual cortex: A possible neural basis of binocular rivalry. *Vision Research, 35*(2), 179–195. Retrieved from ScienceDirect.
\- Sengpiel, F., Blakemore, C., Kind, P. C., & Harrad, R. (1994). Interocular suppression in the visual cortex of strabismic cats. *The Journal of Neuroscience, 14*(11), 6855–6871. Retrieved from http://www.jneurosci.org/content/14/11/6855.full.pdf. \- Sengpiel, F., Bonhoeffer, T., Freeman, T. C., & Blakemore, C. (2001). On the relationship between interocular suppression in the primary visual cortex and binocular rivalry. Brain and Mind, 2(1), 39–54.
\- Tong, L., Guido, W., Tumosa, N., Spear, P. D., & Heidenreich, S. (1992). Binocular interactions in the cat's dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, II: Effects on dominant-eye spatial-frequency and contrast processing. *Visual Neuroscience, 8*(06), 557–566.
\- Varela, F. J., & Singer, W. (1987). Neuronal dynamics in the visual corticothalamic pathway revealed through binocular rivalry. *Experimental Brain Research, 66*(1), 10–20.

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Tags: perception, measurement, experimental-psychology, vision, animal-cognition
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# Question
Title: Origin of the SEEV Model of visual attention distribution
What's the original source of the SEEV (Salience Effort Expectancy Value) Model for predicting the distribution of visual attention? I've seen it mentioned in many papers and presentations but everyone of them lacks a reference to the source of this model.

Does anyone have a valid reference?

# Answer
Wickens et al. (2003) is the earliest I'm aware of:

> Wickens, C. D., Goh, J., Helleberg, J., Horrey, W. J., & Talleur, D. A. (2003). Attentional models of multitask pilot performance using advanced display technology. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 45(3), 360-380.

Actually, in that paper he cites Wickens et al. (2001), but I can't seem to find a copy of this manuscript anywhere, and it has fewer citations:

> Wickens, C. D., Helleberg, J., Goh, J., Xu, X., & Horrey, W. J. (2001). Pilot task management: Testing an attentional expected value model of visual scanning. Savoy, University of Illinois Institute of Aviation.

If you're using N-SEEV, cite one of these instead:

> Steelman-Allen, K. S., McCarley, J. S., Wickens, C., Sebok, A., & Bzostek, J. (2009, October). N-SEEV: A computational model of attention and noticing. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 53, No. 12, pp. 774-778). SAGE Publications.
>
> Wickens, C., McCarley, J., & Steelman-Allen, K. (2009, October). NT-SEEV: A model of attention capture and noticing on the flight deck. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 53, No. 12, pp. 769-773). SAGE Publications.
> 6 votes

# Answer
Hi there had the same problem but i found the original report:

> Wickens, C. D., Helleberg, J., Goh, J., Xu, X., & Horrey, W. J. (2001). Pilot Task Management: Testing an Attentional Expected Value Model of Visual Scanning (Technical Report No. ARL-01-14/NASA-01-7). NASA Ames Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.aviation.illinois.edu/avimain/papers/research/pub\_pdfs/techreports/01-14.pdf

enjoy!
> 1 votes

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Tags: reference-request, cognitive-modeling, vision, attention
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title: is the mind independent of the brain?

text:
# Question
Title: is the mind independent of the brain?
or the mind is a mere collection of memories, experiences stored in the brain?

# Answer
> 5 votes
Of course the mind is not independent of the brain. Otherwise, nobody would do recreational drugs, psychiatric drugs would be useless, and our whole theory of light and color perception, sound perception, and every other sensory perception would be useless and make no predictions. All of these things tell us how signal in the environment are transduced into electrical signals and processed in the brain. And while we don't know exactly how it becomes a mental experience (The Hard Problem), we know that there are many direct relationships between activity in the brain and perceptions and states in the mind.

The mind isn't just memories and experiences stored in the brain though, it's also active processing of current stimuli, which includes spontaneous activity that may randomly draw on memories and experiences, but not in a sensible or meaningful way. That is to say, there are biological processes that aren't really necessary to brain/mind, but to metabolism or long-term evolutionary benefit, yet they still influence brain/mind and we sometimes ascribe meaning to them without merit.

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Tags: philosophy-of-mind
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# Question
Title: What are the predominant cognitive effects that influence textual learning and recall?
I am a rulebook writer and editor, and I have been digging into the literature for cognitive effects and heuristics that affect one's ability to learn and remember complicated concepts from text. For example, the *primacy effect* and *recency effect* show that it's easier to recall information stated at the beginning and end of a list.

What are some other predominant cognitive effects or heuristics that affect learning and recall from text?

# Answer
Both the primacy and recency effects may also be referred to as parts of the serial position effect. Wikipedia has a list of memory biases you may want to peruse. Most entries are potentially relevant:

> * **Cryptomnesia**: a form of misattribution where a memory is mistaken for imagination, because there is no subjective experience of it being a memory.\[\]\[See misattribution of memory.\]
> * **Egocentric bias**: recalling the past in a self-serving manner, e.g., remembering one's exam grades as being better than they were...
> * **Fading affect bias**: a bias in which the emotion associated with unpleasant memories fades more quickly than the emotion associated with positive events.\[\]...
> * **Google effect**: the tendency to forget information that can be easily found online...
> * **Humor effect**: that humorous items are more easily remembered than non-humorous ones, which might be explained by the distinctiveness of humor, the increased cognitive processing time to understand the humor, or the emotional arousal caused by the humor...
> * **Leveling and Sharpening**: memory distortions introduced by the loss of details in a recollection over time, often concurrent with sharpening or selective recollection of certain details that take on exaggerated significance in relation to the details or aspects of the experience lost through leveling. Both biases may be reinforced over time, and by repeated recollection or re-telling of a memory.\[\]
> * **Levels-of-processing effect**: that different methods of encoding information into memory have different levels of effectiveness (Craik & Lockhart, 1972).
> * **List-length effect**: a smaller percentage of items are remembered in a longer list, but as the length of the list increases, the absolute number of items remembered increases as well...
> * **Misattribution of memory**: when information is retained in memory but the source of the memory is forgotten. One of Schacter's (1999) Seven Sins of Memory, Misattribution was divided into Source Confusion, Cryptomnesia and False Recall/False Recognition.\[\]
> * **Memory inhibition**: that being shown some items from a list makes it harder to retrieve the other items (e.g., Slamecka, 1968).
> * **Modality effect**: that memory recall is higher for the last items of a list when the list items were received via speech than when they were received via writing.
> * **Mood congruent memory bias**: the improved recall of information congruent with one's current mood...
> * **Peak-end effect**: that people seem to perceive not the sum of an experience but the average of how it was at its peak (e.g. pleasant or unpleasant) and how it ended...
> * **Picture superiority effect**: that concepts are much more likely to be remembered experientially if they are presented in picture form than if they are presented in word form.\[7\]...
> * **Positivity effect**: that older adults favor positive over negative information in their memories.
> * **Primacy effect**, **Recency effect** & **Serial position effect**:\[10\] that items near the end of a list are the easiest to recall, followed by the items at the beginning of a list; items in the middle are the least likely to be remembered.\[10\]...
> * **Rosy retrospection**: the remembering of the past as having been better than it really was.
> * **Self-reference effect**: the phenomena that memories encoded with relation to the self are better recalled than similar information encoded otherwise...
> * **Source Confusion**: \[Omitted; redundant with misattribution of memory.\]
> * **Spacing effect**: that information is better recalled if exposure to it is repeated over a longer span of time. \[Also mentioned as "lag effect".\]
> * **Stereotypical bias**: memory distorted towards stereotypes (e.g. racial or gender), e.g. "black-sounding" names being misremembered as names of criminals.\[\]
> * **Suffix effect**: the weakening of the recency effect in the case that an item is appended to the list that the subject is not required to recall (Morton, Crowder & Prussin, 1971)...
> * **Testing effect**: that frequent testing of material that has been committed to memory improves memory recall.
> * **Tip of the tongue**: when a subject is able to recall parts of an item, or related information, but is frustratingly unable to recall the whole item. This is thought to be an instance of "blocking" where multiple similar memories are being recalled and interfere with each other.\[\]
> * **Verbatim effect**: that the "gist" of what someone has said is better remembered than the verbatim wording (Poppenk, Walia, Joanisse, Danckert, & Köhler, 2006).
> * **Von Restorff effect**: that an item that sticks out is more likely to be remembered than other items (von Restorff, 1933).
> * **Zeigarnik effect**: that uncompleted or interrupted tasks are remembered better than completed ones.

I've reproduced most of the list, because most could apply for one kind of written material or another (e.g., novels, textbooks, one's own work). I've noted a few redundancies in brackets, but I may have missed others. I've also embedded a few extra hyperlinks to original sources where freely available.

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**References**
1. Schacter, D. L. (1999). The seven sins of memory: Insights from psychology and cognitive neuroscience. *American Psychologist, 54*(3), 182–203. Retrieved from http://nwkpsych.rutgers.edu/~jose/courses/578\_mem\_learn/2012/readings/Schacter\_1999.pdf.
4. Walker, W. R., Skowronski, J. J., & Thompson, C. P. (2003). Life is pleasant—and memory helps to keep it that way! *Review of General Psychology, 7*(2), 203–210. Retrieved from http://goo.gl/zs179s.
6. Koriat, A., Goldsmith, M., & Pansky, A. (2000). Toward a psychology of memory accuracy. *Annual Review of Psychology, 51*(1), 481–537. Retrieved from http://academic.udayton.edu/SusanDavis/PSY%20522/Articles/Towards%20a%20psychology%20of%20memory%20accuracy.pdf.
7. Nelson, D. L., Reed, V. S., & Walling, J. R. (1976). Pictorial superiority effect. *Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 2*(5), 523–528.
10. Martin, G. N., Carlson, N. R., & Buskist, W. (2007). *Psychology* (3rd ed., pp. 309–310). Pearson Education.
\- Craik, F. I., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. *Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11*(6), 671–684. Retrieved from http://www.numyspace.co.uk/~unn\_tsmc4/prac/labs/depth/craiklock.pdf.
\- Morton, J., Crowder, R. G., & Prussin, H. A. (1971). Experiments with the stimulus suffix effect. *Journal of Experimental Psychology, 91*(1), 169–190.
\- Poppenk, J., Walia, G., Joanisse, M., Danckert, S., & Köhler, S. (2006). Why is form information in sentences poorly remembered? An fMRI study on the role of novelty-encoding processes. *Supplement of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18*, (Paper presented at the 13th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, California, USA).
\- Slamecka, N. J. (1968). An examination of trace storage in free recall. *Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76*(4), 504–513. Retrieved from http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/stevesmith/689/Inhibition/Slamecka%201968.pdf.
\- Von Restorff, H. (1933). Über die wirkung von bereichsbildungen im spurenfeld. *Psychologische Forschung, 18*(1), 299–342.
> 3 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, learning, memory
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# Question
Title: What are biologically plausible ways to model binocular disparity?
I figure there is a vast body of literature on stereovision, both neurophysiological and computational studies. Computer Vision also provides some algorithmic insight on implementing binocular disparity. Although a lot of people are doing that and have research the topic in the past, I'm lost to find a simplest/standard yet biologically plausible approach to account for binocular disparity in a neurodynamical model.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Neural Mechanisms of Stereoscopic Vision:
This paper is a 1998 review of the experimental data surrounding stereoscopic vision.

Neural Encoding of Binocular Disparity: Energy Models, Position Shifts, and Phase Shifts:
In this paper, Heeger puts forward computational models of binocular disparity using phenomenological models of neurons (i.e., using receptive fields of neurons, not using biophysical mechanisms).

Neural Models of Stereoscopic Vision:
A 1991 review of computational models of neural responses to binocular disparity.

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Tags: vision, computational-modeling, theoretical-neuroscience
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# Question
Title: Who are the main authors who studied meditation with scientific methods?
I wold like to know who are the main authors (and texts) which studied meditation using a scientific method and reported their results in a text that I can use for reference when I'm talking about meditation. Is there a scientific text which has been used for reference on this topic in the last years or there are only spread articles? An historical prospective is however welcome if is a good reference in the topic for the historical part.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Searching for "meditation" on Google Scholar sorts articles by relevance and provides counts of citations that each has received. From the first page of about 686,000 results, these are the references with over 1000 citations each (I've sorted them by citations, which Google Scholar does not do easily):

* Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. Hyperion.
* Davidson, R. J., Kabat-Zinn, J., Schumacher, J., Rosenkranz, M., Muller, D., Santorelli, S. F., ... & Sheridan, J. F. (2003). Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. *Psychosomatic Medicine, 65*(4), 564–570.
* Kabat-Zinn, J. (1982). An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical considerations and preliminary results. *General Hospital Psychiatry, 4*(1), 33–47.
* Peterson, L. G., & Pbert, L. (1992). Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders. *Am J Psychiatry, 149*, 936–943.
* Kabat-Zinn, J., Lipworth, L., & Burney, R. (1985). The clinical use of mindfulness meditation for the self-regulation of chronic pain. *Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 8*(2), 163–190.

Of course, you can edit the search terms, or set a custom range of publication dates if you want to look for references of more historical relevance. I don't think you should prefer textbooks over articles unless you're really looking to refer your audience to a comprehensive introduction to the topic.

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Tags: reference-request, meditation
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# Question
Title: What theory discusses modes of "Being" vs. that of "Happening"?
Is there a theory (Perhaps Freudian) concerning that of "Being" and that of "Happening"? I vaguely recall learning about it many years ago in H.S. Psych, but of course any search for either of these keywords results in non-relevant returns as both being and happening are common words.

The question is, if there is a theory concerning these concepts - what is the gist? But as importantly, what are keywords that I could use to find useful results?

# Answer
> 4 votes
I believe you are referring to Erich Fromm's work on the "having" (not "happening") and "being" modes. See here

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Tags: psychoanalysis
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# Question
Title: How many thalamocortical relay cells synapse onto each spiny stellate cell in neocortex?
I am curious about how many different thalamocortical relay cells synapse onto each layer IV spiny stellate cell, on average? The answer is likely to be different per region and species, of course. I understand the topographic mapping that occurs, but how narrow or wide is the final projection?

# Answer
From Shepherd's Synaptic Organization of the Brain (5th ed, pg 513):

> In the cat visual cortex, the terminal arbors of each individual thalamic afferent may extend over 1-5 mm of the cortical surface (Fig. 12.11) so that each point in layer 4 is covered by the arbors of at least 1000 separate thalamic relay cells. Thus, the dendritic tree of an average layer 4 neuron, which extends for 200-300 micron, could receive input from many more thalamic afferents. However, the connections are not made randomly between the geniculate afferents and the cortical neurons. Selectivity is expressed in several ways. For example, there is a high degree of precision in the visuotopic map recorded in the first-order cortical neurons in the input layer, i.e., those receiving mono-synaptic activation by the thalamic afferents. This clustering is made according to the eye preference of the arbors. The afferents of those thalamic relay neurons that are driven by the right eye cluster together in regions about 0.5 mm in diameter and are partially segregated from the afferents that are driven by the left eye. This segregation forms the basis of ocular dominance columns.

There are, of course, many other factors in the specificity of thalamocortical projections. Point here being that thalamocortical projections are not necessarily limited to cortical neurons with a shared receptive field in visual space, but may be limited in other ways.

Interestingly, the corticothalamic feedback projection is also not limited to shared spatial receptive fields (Shepherd, p. 321ff.):

> Thus, for the lateral geniculate nucleus, this cortical pathway comes from visual cortex (mostly areas 17, 18, and 19), and likewise, somatosensory and auditory cortex project back, re- spectively, to the ventral posterior lateral and medial geniculate nuclei. One implication of this reciprocity is that the corticothalamic pathway faithfully ad- heres to the map established in the thalamic nucleus. For instance, the corticogenicu- late pathway conforms to the retinotopic map in the lateral geniculate nucleus. However, there is some question as to the extent to which the maps match at the cellular level. This is based on evidence that, in the cat (Murphy and Sillito, 1996), the spread of an individual corticogeniculate axon arbor can be quite extensive, reaching well beyond the region within which receptive fields that match those of the cortical axon can be recorded. The corticogeniculate terminals have a maximal extent of 1.5 mm compared with the spread of a typical retinogeniculate arbor of only about 0.2-0.4 mm (Bowling and Michael, 1984; Sur et al., 1987). The retinogeniculate arbor's expanse roughly corresponds to the size of a geniculate receptive field, implying that the corticogeniculate axonal arbor can contribute to subtle effects on relay responses beyond the "clas- sic" receptive field. However, the majority of the corticothalamic terminals lie in a central core that roughly corresponds to the classical receptive field.
> 1 votes

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Tags: neuroscience
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title: How fast is the visual system?

text:
# Question
Title: How fast is the visual system?
I've heard that the visual system is one of our slowest sensory systems.

How fast is the visual system, and how does it compare to other sensory systems (auditory, mechanosensory, pain, etc.)? For example, how long does it typically take for a visual stimulus from the external world to cause a neuron to fire in the V1 region of the cortex?

# Answer
> 5 votes
researched with "sensory cortex latency" on google:

according nowak et al, latency in macaque v1 is ~75 ms, although there are cells with latency as short as 30 ms. according to camalier at al, latency in macaque A1 is more like 15-25 ms.

Also, see shriki et al for a computational perspective on latency coding in V1.

There is research into the latency of population responses recorded at the skin called "evoked potentials", reviewed by Nuwer. He says that there are evoked potentials over somatosensory cortex 20 ms after stimulus, whereas the potential over V1 is more like 100 ms after stimulus. All taken together, it does seem that the visual system is slower

# Answer
> 0 votes
Ahh, don't forget that there are 576 megapixels by each eye, at 35 frames per second... It's so fast, some researchs show that we need at least 50 milliseconds to process an image

Also it's well known that our auditory system is faster than the visual.

http://www.livescience.com/42666-human-brain-sees-images-record-speed.html

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Tags: neuroscience, vision
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# Question
Title: What functional purpose does a cortical column serve?
The Blue Brain project led by Henry Markram focused on simulating cortical columns under the idea they form basic processing units of the brain/cognitive function.

**What functional purpose does a cortical column serve?**

I am looking for (synapses) of mathematical, conceptual, & scientific models. What is a leading theory, what is the evidence for it, etc?

# Answer
I have worked with the theory that the column is the binary unit involved in all cortical processing and memory for many years. Articles are available at my profile page (Robert Moss) at researchgate.net and academia.com. The first article was published in 2006 with an update in 2012. I have published several non-peer-reviewed, more easily understandable articles that are also posted at those sites. One major paper has been recently published that explains the possible microcircuitry of dynamically formed columns.
> 3 votes

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Tags: neuroscience, theoretical-neuroscience, neural-network
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# Question
Title: Can someone move into cognitive science from a linguistic or philosophical background?
Unfortunately the school I'm starting at this coming fall doesn't offer a cognitive science degree (note: I've just read that they do have a cognitive science lab in the psychology department), but seeing as cognitive science is a multidisciplinary field, I was wondering whether or not it would be unwise to focus on one particular sub-field (say, philosophy or computer science) and try to work my way into cognitive science from there.

The problem is that I have a very strong background in computer science, and I'm up in the air about whether I want to study philosophy or linguistics. Based on my understanding, all of these fall under the umbrella of cognitive science, am I correct?

Is it unheard of for someone to move into cognitive science from a linguistic or philosophical background? What do you suggest I do?

# Answer
> 2 votes
It is common for psychology departments to have a cognitive specialization available at the graduate level. At the undergrad level, I would expect to be forced to choose between psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, or something else. That is, cognitive science does not include philosophy or computer science by most academic systems for demarcating scientific domains. In scientific reality, all these domains bleed into one another of course, but you can probably expect to have to choose among them for any degree program. One can often pursue interdisciplinary study to some extent too (e.g., double-major, minor, or have two graduate advisors).

It is not *unheard of* to approach any degree from any other degree / background as far as I'm aware. Of course it's less likely for a creative writing major to apply for an organic chemistry doctoral program as compared to a biology major, but that's not to say either option is impossible. I don't think it would be exceptionally difficult to transition into a cognitive science from a philosophy background, and I imagine it would be easier still to transition from linguistics to psychology or neuroscience, but it's probably the easiest to stick with a single degree program the whole way. Easiest is not necessarily best, of course.

Consider how competitive you can be for each program, and compare with how badly you want to pursue each and what the world needs most from you. Consider what career options are for each, and which suits you best. Travel into the future and ask your future self what choices you regret...No other method is foolproof, unfortunately. Fortunately, career change is always an option, if not always easy.

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Tags: study-cognitive-sciences
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# Question
Title: How to design an experiment to measure coffee preferences?
Imagine a population of people in an office environment. There is a small war going on about whether *this* brand of coffee machine is better than *that* one.

How would you go about testing which coffee maker is truly most preferred?

My current plan is to take 10 people out of that population and make them each drink two cups of coffee, one made by each machine. People will be given the choice of preparation styles for their individual trial, black, milk, sugar, or both. Both cups will be made in the exact same way for that individual trial. Whether a given cup will have coffee from machine "A" or "B" will be randomized to avoid people's preference for their first taste being taken into account. Neither the participants, nor the administrator of the test will know which cup was made with which machine, to avoid unconscious biases. Lastly, each participant will be independent of each other to avoid a bias forming from everyone else choosing a particular cup. (Though the randomized nature of the study should make this a moot issue, but still.)

Is there anything I'm forgetting to make this a more perfect study? I would love to have a larger sample than 10, but alas, that's not an option. Also, I'm worried that allowing people to choose how their coffee will be prepared will skew the results, but as long as both cups within a trial are made the same way, it shouldn't be a problem, right?

# Answer
The study design sounds pretty good. Some of the good things you are proposing:

* Using a **repeated measures design** will give you more statistical power than a between subjects design, which is particularly useful when your sample size is small.
* Randomising or **counterbalancing for order** should mostly control for order effects.
* **Double blind** will focus the test on taste rather than branding and as you say limit experimenter effects

A few further suggestions:

* You could provide a little bread and water between the two tastings or separate the tastings by some longer period of time to limit any residual taste effects from the first taste.
* And yes, as you say, increasing sample size will increase your statistical power. That said, if your sample is your population (e.g., you have an office of 10 people), then the smaller sample size doesn't matter.
* You should consider how the response scale you will use for rating taste. You could simple get a binary preference. But I think it might be better to use some form of scale that rates preference in addition to an explicit question at the end about preference.
> 7 votes

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Tags: methodology, consumer-psychology
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# Question
Title: What test could I use to measure the short-term memory capacity of a group of people?
I want to start a project about the best schedules for learning activities focused on college students. Since sleeping patterns are totally different in a young adult/teenager, and many of the classes at my university start at 6:00 AM, I had the idea to measure the level of learning capacity or memory an individual between 17–20 years old can achieve at different hours of the day, and assess if it is actually affected by time of day. But first I need to know what kind of tests I could use for this study.

What test could I use to measure the short term memory capacity of a group of "normal" people without any diagnosed learning difficulties?

# Answer
> 3 votes
There are several commonly used measures of **Short Term Memory** (STM).

* **Memory span**: lists of items are presented sequentially and the participant has to repeat each list after it ends. The lists become progressively longer. The most common variant is called **Digit span**, in which the items in the lists are spoken digits. Another common variant is called **Backwards Digit Span**, in which the participant has to repeat the list in backwards order. The WAIS test battery has an implementation of both, along with a standardized scoring method.
* **Free Recall**: a list of stimuli (usually nouns) are presented. After the presentation ends, the participant has to recall, in any order, as many items as possible from the list. The list is typically, 10-15 items long. This task has been used for a long time (e.g. \[1\]) and is still used in current research (e.g. \[2\]). Note that there is another variant of the task that is called Serial Recall, in which participants have to recall the items in the order in which they were presented. This variant is essentially identical to the Memory span described above, except the lists used are usually of constant length, and not successively longer as in the memory span task.
* **N-Back**: a stream of stimuli is presented, and the participant has to respond whenever the stimulus presented is identical to the stimulus presented N steps ago. N usually starts at 2, and increases as the participant performs better. This task has been used for a long time (e.g. \[3\]) and is still used in current research (e.g. \[4\]).

You should also be aware of the close term **Working Memory** (WM). The distinction between STM and WM is not really clear. If there is such a distinction, STM deals with simply holding information in memory "As-Is", and WM deals with the ability to perform mental operations on it (such as comparison to other stimuli, mental rotation, re-ordering, etc.). Backwards memory span and N-back are usually considered tests of WM, while forwards memory span and free recall are considered tests of STM.

As a side note: if you are interested in improving learning/teaching methodologies such as the schedule of classes, I'm not sure why you are interested in measuring STM. I would guess a more relevant property to measure would be the long term retention of what was learned.

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\[1\] Murdock Jr, B. B. (1960). The immediate retention of unrelated words. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60(4), 222.

\[2\] Farrell, S. (2012). Temporal clustering and sequencing in short-term memory and episodic memory. Psychological review, 119(2), 223.

\[3\] Kirchner, W. K. (1958). Age differences in short-term retention of rapidly changing information. Journal of experimental psychology, 55(4), 352.

\[4\] Jaeggi, S. M., Studer-Luethi, B., Buschkuehl, M., Su, Y. F., Jonides, J., & Perrig, W. J. (2010). The relationship between n-back performance and matrix reasoning—Implications for training and transfer. Intelligence, 38(6), 625-635.

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Tags: learning, memory, test
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# Question
Title: Where does instinctual knowledge come from?
From Wikipedia:

> Instinct or innate behavior is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behavior.

The example that I find is the easiest to touch upon is the spider and how it knows how to spin it's web. What are the current theories about the origin of this knowledge without learning in the traditional sense? I understand that all knowledge is encoded somehow within neurons in the brain, but where does this encoding come from?

# Answer
> 6 votes
In my mind there are two main explanations of this kind of instinct behaviours.

* The first one is rooted in **evolution**. There are many examples of human innate behaviours which we can't explain e.g. when we see a lace or tape on the street we automatically jump and feel scared. Although we live in big city our brain associates the lace with a snake. It is an effect of our "prememories", memories of our ancestors.

-\> Buss D., Evolutionary Psychology: the New science of the Mind (1999)

* The second explanation is more connected with your question as it refers to animals' innate instincts such as birds' travels (how do they know where to fly?) etc. Some interesting experiments were conducted on a phenomenon called **epigenetic inheritance**. An example is teaching animals some reactions after specific stimulus (e.g.fear after specific smell etc.). Then we observe the learned behaviours in the descendants of these animals. Offspring of trained animals show the same reaction , although nobody trained them to do that. There is an abstract of such experiment with mice:

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v17/n1/full/nn.3594.html

And there you can read more about it in another article:

http://www.nature.com/news/fearful-memories-haunt-mouse-descendants-1.14272#/b1

-\> Griffiths, Gelbart, Miller. Modern Genetic Analysis.(1999)

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Tags: learning, reference-request, evolution, genetics
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# Question
Title: Free software to run online visual category learning experiment
Is there any open software to support a visualization category learning experiment? It should be open-source, and I can add more functions designed by myself to implement this experiment.

# Answer
> 2 votes
You might want to take a look at jsPsych, which is an open-source JavaScript library for building experiments. There is an example of running a visual categorization task in the documentation for the library.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Here are some open-source software for you:

# Answer
> 1 votes
I've been developing an online platform to run HTML5/Javascript experiments, recruit participants via email, facebook, or twitter, and collect and evaluate results in real time.

The platform itself is not open source but many of the experiments are right now and more will be soon. You may also add your own experiments if you are comfortable developing HTML5/Javascript.

Please see http://statode-demo.herokuapp.com/mental-rotation/ for a demo, it does not require signup.

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, learning, experimental-psychology, software, visualization
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# Question
Title: Psychology test stimuli recommended shapes
Is there any list of or a research of recommended 2D (or eventually 3D) shapes that should be used in psychology test stimuli? For example, circle, square, triangle, star, oval, rectangle etc.

For example, I would like to create a cognitive test with multiple elements. I will pick a circle, a square, a triangle and an oval. However, an oval has some properties similar to the circle and that can possibly lead to some distortion in the data. Do you know of any research that has addressed this issue? Or do you know of any list of recommended shapes?

# Answer
If your goal is to find a set of shapes that are unique and easily distinguishable from each other, you might be interested in stimuli that get used in visual statistical learning experiments (e.g. Fiser & Aslin, 2002; Turk-Browne, Junge, & Scholl, 2005). The same set of shapes tends to get used across multiple studies in this literature. Some examples of these shapes:

There is a repository of some of these shapes on GitHub. You can download the images there.

Note that there hasn't been research on these shapes, just that they are commonly used shapes in the literature when arbitrary 2D shapes are needed. It is likely that some pairs of these shapes are more similar than others, but since there are a couple dozen different shapes, you may be able to control for that by randomly selecting a different subset of the shapes for each subject in the experiment.
> 4 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, test
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# Question
Title: What human limitations are there to object tracking and recognition?
I'm thinking about trying to implement object recognition/tracking using a silicon retina (also known as the Dynamic Vision Sensor) and using the Semantic Pointer Architecture as my cognitive model. However, I want to make sure that it is biologically plausible, that is it respects the experimental limitations observed with human subjects.

Consequently, what human limitations on object tracking and recognition have been observed?

# Answer
I think you will want to look into ecological psychological models for perception.

Some cornerstones include 'the gorila study' show inattentional blindness

Others are among the many sub-phenomenon with Persistence of Vision studies, many of which now focus on the a concept called Iconic Memory. These matters deal with misapprehension of (usually incomplete) visual stimuli due to the action of cognition to create a meaningful recogition (e.g. probably what is 'ready for encoding / memory'). This also generally covers the phenomenology where we receive too-few stilimuli (objects moving too fast), and must cognize the available information to create meaning.

Here are a few good perspectives on human vision. This is far from being a comprehensive set of human vision limitations, but if you dig into their references, you will find much of the community that studies this topic.

* Shaffer, D., Dolgov, I., Maynor, A., & Kelly, K. (in press). *Blind(fold)ed by science: A constant target-heading angle is used in visual and nonvisual pursuit.* Psychological Science.
* Schwark, J., Sandry, J., McDonald, J., & Dolgov, I. (2012). *False feedback in vigilance tasks.* Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74, 1583-1589
* Dolgov, I., McBeath, M., & Sugar, T. (2009). *Evidence for axis-aligned motion bias: Football axis-trajectory misalignment causes systematic error in projected final destinations of thrown American footballs.* Perception, 38(3), 399-410.

(source / disclosure, I know some of the authors of the above papers)
> 1 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, perception, recognition
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title: Bringing dreams to conscious awareness

text:
# Question
Title: Bringing dreams to conscious awareness
**Background:** All of us have dreams at night, and I believe that all of us wonder how a dream of a lapse of seconds could convince our consciousness that this has taken the span of a lifetime. As far as I know, the REM phase – in which we have dreams – does not take more than 20 min, while we can feel after a dream that it's a year after the last time we have been awake...Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Another interesting aspect in dreams is that space and time are subject to distortion, and the capacities of the mind to handle information is far away from its capacities in the awakened state, so the acuity with which someone can paradoxically "resolve" problems while asleep is no wonder, and by that I mention lucid dreaming.

Drugs can alter our capacities to perceive our environments and ourselves, so that someone can ignore even the worst feeling of pain while he is taking barbiturates for instance, and the point of this is that what can be illogical within some context can be possible and therefore logical in another context. Not to mention that hypnosis can bring a hidden aspect of our personality to higher levels of consciousness, make someone think he is another person or even another "thing" and so on...

I wonder if it is possible to provoke a state that is similar to lucid dreaming in a person that is awake...The idea is intuitive, even childish, and I received a comment that it's not logical, as lucid dreaming while awake contradicts the definition of awakened/sleep states...Of course this should be illogical at the first glance, but that is the point of my question. I hope I found the right words to explain my idea...

**My question:** Is it possible to provoke a fusion between dreams and reality so that our brains handle information of the real world in the same way as it happens in dreams?

# Answer
> 5 votes
Just speaking from personal experience, I've never experienced time distortion in my dreams as extremely as you describe. I've experienced moments scattered throughout narratives that would take longer than 20 minutes to elapse in real life, but since I never recall experiencing every single moment of those narratives, I wouldn't assume my sense of time had altered while dreaming. Maybe I'd just skipped around, experiencing only 20 minutes' worth of the dreams' narratives, or maybe I'd only imagined those moments as joined by an implicit narrative and not really experienced time passing during any one of them. I'd love to see empirical research on this, but it's somewhat hard for me to imagine how reliable information on these matters could be collected.

The duration of REM sleep is more objectively observable than the contents of dreams; I was surprised to find that Google produces a reference immediately in response to the query, "duration of rem sleep":

> The first REM period of the night may be less than 10 minutes in duration, while the last may exceed 60 minutes. \[Stevens, 2013\]

While cognitive function is clearly different while dreaming, I'm unaware of any evidence that it's enhanced in any ways that would be desirable during wakefulness. If you or anyone else can find any references to support your ideas, we could probably have a much more productive discussion here. Similarly, I'm skeptical of the comparisons of lucid dreaming to hypnosis and intoxication. These may be very different states of consciousness, and I definitely wouldn't call them "higher states".

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Just to preserve the coherence of your response to my answer, here's the old content worth keeping:

Lucid dreams are by definition both conscious and occurrent during sleep, therefore:

* It's not logically possible to have a lucid dream while awake. If you're trying to refer to a similar state that is not a dream, please define it directly rather than by analogy to a dream state.
* Lucid dreams do not need to be brought to the boundaries of consciousness; they occur within those boundaries by definition. Maybe you mean to ask for ways of making ordinary dreams lucid.

The old "Let me Google Scholar that for you" offers plenty on lucid dreams and means of induction. I'll even copy, paste, and format some below...(I'm absolutely not vouching for their scientific validity BTW. "*Medical Hypotheses*"? Sounds legit...) Looks like there are about 2,878 more where these came from.

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**References**
**·** Barrett, D. (1992). Just how lucid are lucid dreams? *Dreaming, 2*(4), 221–228.
**·** Garfield, P. (1975). Psychological concomitants of the lucid dream state. *Sleep Research, 4*, 184.
**·** Gillespie, G. (1983). Memory and reason in lucid dreams: A personal observation. *Lucidity Letter, 2*(1), 8–9.
**·** Green, C. E. (1968). *Lucid dreams* (Vol. 1). Institute of Psychophysical Research.
**·** Hearne, K. M. (1983). Lucid dream induction. *Journal of Mental Imagery, 7*(1), 19–23.
**·** LaBerge, S. P. (1980). Lucid dreaming as a learnable skill: A case study. *Perceptual and Motor Skills, 51*(3f), 1039–1042.
**·** LaBerge, S. P., Nagel, L. E., Dement, W. C., & Zarcone Jr, V. P. (1981). Lucid dreaming verified by volitional communication during REM sleep. *Perceptual and Motor Skills, 52*(3), 727–732.
**·** Sergio, W. (1988). Use of DMAE (2-dimethylaminoethanol) in the induction of lucid dreams. *Medical Hypotheses, 26*(4), 255–257.
**·** Stevens, M. S. (2013). Normal sleep in adults, infants, and the elderly. *Medscape: Normal sleep, sleep physiology, and sleep deprivation*. Retrieved from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1188226-overview.
**·** Tart, C. (1979). From spontaneous event to lucidity: A review of attempts to consciously control nocturnal dreaming. In B. Wolman, M. Ullman, & W. Webb (Eds.), *Handbook of dreams: Research, theories and applications* (pp. 226–268). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
**·** Tart, C. (1984). Terminology in lucid dream research. *Lucidity Letter, 3*(1), 4–6. Retrieved from http://www.sawka.com/spiritwatch/terminol.htm.
**·** Tholey, P. (1983). Relation between dream content and eye movements tested by lucid dreams. *Perceptual and Motor Skills, 56*, 875–878.
**·** van Eeden, F. (1969). A study of dreams. In C. Tart (Ed.), *Altered states of consciousness* (pp. 145–157). New York: Wiley.

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Tags: consciousness, dreams
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# Question
Title: How is epigenetic memory expressed in neurons?
Epigenetic memory is seen as the most evolutionarily plausible way of learning from experiences and gaining instinctual knowledge accross generations, as established by the answer to one of my previous questions. However, is it known how epigenetic memories are translated from the DNA into neurons? Alternatively, I may be approaching this from the wrong direction and may need to read more papers, so links helping me clarify my question would be appreciated as well.

# Answer
> 9 votes
There are (at least) two ways epigenetic traits are inherited. The important background in both cases is gene expression: there is a misconception that genes are for this or that, where the reality is that most traits come from an overlap of several genes expressing themselves in different ratios. As a simple example, consider two varieties of bird of the same species, but one has a longer beak. One might conclude that the genes involved in the morphology of the beak were expressed longer or in greater quantity in the bird with the bigger beak. Epigenetics describes inherited expression schemes.

The well known method of epigenetic transfer is DNA methylation. The DNA itself is not actually changed, but the methylation sites act like tags, altering the expression rate of those particular genes. Another way is through histones, which are part of packing and unpacking DNA between storage and use. Alterations in histones can also alter gene expression.

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Tags: neuroscience, learning, evolution, genetics
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# Question
Title: How much overlap should I expect between Medline and PsycINFO?
I'm currently conducting a set of broad searches in both Medline and PsycINFO. However, when importing the results into my reference manager, I'm surprised of how little overlap there is between these two databases. That is, when importing a couple of thousand references from each database, both set of results retrieved using the exact same search terms, there's only a handful of duplicates (I'm using a fairly unrestrictive duplicate finding algorithm in EndNote, only looking at year and title of the article and ignoring punctation and spaces). This is, for example, the case if I search for (memory AND sex) and restrict the results to studies with human subjects.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's a quick answer to the exact amount of overlap, but you may be able to get an estimate by comparing the list of journals included in Medline (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/archive/20130415/tsd/serials/lji.html.notice.html) to the list of journals covered by PsycINFO (http://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/psycinfo/coverage.aspx). Also, keep in mind that each database has it's own thesaurus and preferred search terms, and the terms you're using might pull up different results in different databases. You may be able to optimize your results by using search terms specific to each database.

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Tags: publication-process
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# Question
Title: Is there a term for compulsively thinking the whole world "hates" you?
Is there a term beyond 'low self esteem' or 'neurotic' that describes a person that is compulsive in thinking the entire world is looking down on them?

# Answer
Consider persecutory delusion. They are compulsive in that they manifest as extreme, irrational suspicions with little or no basis in reality. The irrational components often involve absurdly elaborate conspiracy theories, so this is probably close enough to "the entire world", but it often goes much further than "looking down" into more severe forms of persecution. I don't know what you mean by "beyond" though. Persecutory delusions will probably enhance neuroticism and may erode self-esteem or arise from problems with it, but they have somewhat separate etiology.

## Response to your comment

Persecutory delusions are a prominent feature of paranoid schizophrenia, but they are not unique to that disorder. IMO, ordinary people may experience them. What you describe in your comment below doesn't sound like a delusion though, or even a compulsion necessarily. It sounds more like projection of the person's own self-deprecating thoughts. I would rather call this a habitual reliance on a classic defense mechanism than call it a compulsion, which has a subtly different technical meaning.

It seems the person is seeking external confirmation of his/her self-perceptions, or maybe seeking help in refuting them somewhat manipulatively. By putting harsh words in your mouth, the person urges you to deny them, and in the process fishes for affirming words to the contrary from you. It's hard to tell whether any of these words represent stable beliefs or just momentary thoughts and appeals for reassurance.
> 6 votes

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Tags: personality, terminology
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# Question
Title: Is the condition Pathological Intoxication recognised as real?
The plot of the movie Final Analysis revolves around a murder committed by a person diagnosed with Pathological Intoxication.

The following study confirms the:

> probable existence of a discrete syndrome of pathological reaction to alcohol without reference to the amount of alcohol consumed.

**The Diagnosis of Pathological Intoxication
Barry M. Maletzky
Volume 37, 1976 \> Issue 09: September 1976
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.**

However there are doubts as raised by the following article.

> The existence of pathological intoxication as an entity must remain in doubt unless the disorder can be reproduced under controlled conditions.

**Pathological intoxication--is there such an entity?
Hollender MH.
J Clin Psychiatry. 1979 Oct;40(10):424-6.**

I can see other conflicting articles; What is the latest position on Pathological Intoxication?

# Answer
Pathological Intoxication was removed as a diagnosis from the DSM-IV (the psychiatric diagnostic manual used by American psychiatrists) when it was published in 1994, but was left in the ICD-10 (the diagnostic manual published by the World Health Organization) which was published in 1992. The decision to remove the disorder from the DSM-IV was based on literature reviews indicating there was no evidence for a separate syndrome of pathological intoxication (Salloum & Mezzich, Psychiatric Diagnosis: Challenges and Prospects, 2009, John Wiley & Sons, pg. 123). The disorder is not included in the DSM-5, which was published in 2013. The ICD-11 draft redirects searches of "pathological intoxication" to the "alcohol intoxication" entry; pathological intoxication is listed as a narrower term, but no additional information is provided (http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd11/browse/f/en#/http%3a%2f%2fid.who.int%2ficd%2fentity%2f1339202943).

A 2012 review (Fuelner, T., The minotaur defense: The myth of the pathological intoxication defense, American Criminal Law Review, 49(i4), pp.1969-1999; https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=264897) provides an overview of the historical and current medical and legal definitions of the condition. The author concludes that the concept has largely been discredited in psychiatry, but has some continued support in legal circles. However, the author argues the use of the condition in criminal defense should be eliminated.
> 2 votes

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Tags: abnormal-psychology, alcohol
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# Question
Title: Technical term for the loss of words in your mother-tongue when speaking a different language
I am basically looking for two words which are, though, related to some degree. It might even be that ultimately the same word is the answer to both parts of this question.
I split them up into two questions. That's the related question.

Anyhow, here's what I'm trying to give it a name.
My mother-tongue is German. I, obviously, speak German very fluently and can convey any kind of ideas. However, if I speak in English for a while and then have to translate something into German, I sometimes fail to come up with German phrases. In that very moment, only English idioms come to my mind. Under different circumstances I certainly could say it in German, but right in that moment I feel like German would be my second language.

Is there a technical term for the inability to express certain things with words or phrases which you actually know by heart and that you would use off-the-cuff under normal circumstances?

# Answer
It seems to me that it'd be a type of a tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon caused by bilingualism. If you don't use German regularly, it might be attributed to language attrition, but this seems unlikely if you're still being exposed to German more than English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip-of-the-tongue\_phenomenon#Effects\_of\_bilingualism
> 3 votes

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Tags: terminology, language, linguistics
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# Question
Title: How are research participants normally divided into equal groups to allow scientific comparison?
I'm neither a academic nor familiar with the proper English choice of words regarding research. However, I would really like to know a few things about the process of doing a research with people itself as a subject, so that I can apply it to my work.

I would like to know how normally the participants are divided into multiple groups, so that the results can be scientifically compared to each other.

I understand this can have detailed answers, I am really looking for a abstract method to achieve this such that I have meaningful results.

# Answer
Adding to Jeromy's answer, the answer to your question would depend on what you want to study.

If you study **normal behavior**, common to all people, you assign your participants randomly to the experimental and control group. The experimental group receives the factor you want to study (e.g. watches some advertising), while the control group does not, and then you calculate the avarage difference in their behavior (do those that watched the advertising buy more of that product?).

If you study **abnormal behavior**, found only in certain people, these certain people (e.g. people suffering from some mental disorder) go into one group, people without this abnormality (e.g. people without that mental disorder) go into another group. Both receive the factor your want to study or are given the same task, and then you calculate the average difference in their behavior.

This, obviously, is not a random assignment. There are different techniques to counter biases (such as more old people with dementia in one group, because dementia usually happens in old age, so that performance differences might be attributable to age, not dementia). For example, you may "match" participants in relevant aspects, so that when you find a participant with, say, dementia, you search for a participant without dementia who has the same age, same sex, same educational background etc., so that their differences are unlikely to result from these secondary factors.

There are also experiments **without control groups**, or any kind of group assignments. For example, if you study something in which all (healthy) people are the same, you do not need a control group. For example, if you want to research human three dimensional vision, you could work with only one participant, because you could rightfully assume that all human beings have two eyes in approximately the same position, so that individual differences would not influence understanding the basic process. Many classic experiments in fundational fields of psycholoy such as perception were done with only one or a mere handful of participants.
> 3 votes

# Answer
It sounds like you are talking about random allocation of participants to groups for the purpose of running a between-subjects experiment.

You can learn more by reading about

In terms of practical details for random assignment, there are many ways that you can do random assignment.

* The Social Psychology Network has an online application that generates random assignments to groups: http://www.randomizer.org/
* You can use your own random number generator
* Most software for running psychological experiments (e.g., Inquisit) will have tools for randomising the allocation of participants to groups
> 1 votes

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Tags: experimental-psychology, methodology
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# Question
Title: What types of sounds do young infants prefer?
I've learned through course lectures that infants can recognize faces shortly after birth (Slater & Quinn, 2001), and have a visual preference for human features as young as 1-month-old (Sanefuji et al., 2011)\[pdf\]. Infants are also known to prefer hearing their mother's voices (DeCasper & Fifer, 1980) and motherese (Fernald,1984). Prefences for higher-pitched singing also suggests that babies may in general prefer higher pitches (Trainor & Zacharias, 1997).

In general I would like to know more comprehensively what types of sound preferences do young infants have? And when is the youngest age for which these preferences are observed?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Quote from article at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23805119

> Infants prefer speech to non-vocal sounds and to non-human vocalizations, and they prefer happy-sounding speech to neutral speech. They also exhibit an interest in singing, but there is little knowledge of their relative interest in speech and singing. The present study explored infants' attention to unfamiliar audio samples of speech and singing. In Experiment 1, infants 4-13 months of age were exposed to happy-sounding infant-directed speech vs. hummed lullabies by the same woman. They listened significantly longer to the speech, which had considerably greater acoustic variability and expressiveness, than to the lullabies. In Experiment 2, infants of comparable age who heard the lyrics of a Turkish children's song spoken vs. sung in a joyful/happy manner did not exhibit differential listening. Infants in Experiment 3 heard the happily sung lyrics of the Turkish children's song vs. a version that was spoken in an adult-directed or affectively neutral manner. They listened significantly longer to the sung version. Overall, happy voice quality rather than vocal mode (speech or singing) was the principal contributor to infant attention, regardless of age.

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Tags: social-psychology, developmental-psychology, perceptual-learning
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# Question
Title: Do we repress aggression the same way we repress sexual urges?
Do we repress aggression the same way we repress sexual urges?

"There is enough treachery, hatred, violence, absurdity in the average human being to supply any given army on any given day" --Bukowski

# Answer
There is at least one somewhat influential theory according to which inhibition of sexual urges, aggressive urges, and many others (such as inhibition of racist behaviour for prosocial reasons) depend on a common pool of resources: the so-called *ego depletion theory*. *Ego depletion* means that inhibiting urges draws from a finite resource, and once it is spend, inhibition becomes harder and harder. Some experiments seem to show that inhibition in one domain (having to do a hard math test) makes it harder to consecutively inhibit in another domain (inhibit racist thoughts).

Even more general, according to *general arousal theory*, there is much overlap between sexual arousal and many possible reasons for aggression, such as fear; entailing that a general competence of arousal management supports both violence control and sexual control.

However, as is, the question is too broad to answer. Aggression is not repressed in only one way, and neither are sexual urges.

# References

Baumeister, R. F. and Vohs, K. D. (2007), Self-Regulation, Ego Depletion, and Motivation. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1: 115–128. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00001.x
> 6 votes

# Answer
The question is a bit vague. If you are asking whether we normally do repress aggression in general, then there is much reason to believe so. In research studies, America and Japan are often used to show cultural differences. One of the bigger differences between these two cultures is how Japanese children are taught to repress anger. Anger, or aggression, is socially unacceptable in Japan, but not in western cultures. ALso, most people easily learn with age that showing anger\aggression is not a good way to get along with other people, and that sooner or later we will need other people's help. We are evolutionary fit for keeping together and cooperating in communities, because that is how our species has survived.

Here's some links related to cultural differences in showing aggression, telling us that some cultures repress aggression more than others:

> Park et al. found that Americans who reported lower subjective social status were more likely to report being angry, with the link between status and anger mediated by level of frustration. Conversely, objectively higher status Japanese were more likely to report anger, with the link between status and anger mediated by decision-making authority. These results suggest culture moderates the link between an individual’s expression of anger and his or her social status. http://thepsychreport.com/research-lead/nov-dec-2013/social-status-and-anger-expression-the-cultural-moderation-hypothesis/
>
> Briggs lived as the daughter of an Utku family describing their society as particularly unique emotional control. She rarely observed expressions of anger or aggression and if it were expressed, it resulted in ostracism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotions\_and\_culture
> 0 votes

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Tags: social-psychology, sexuality
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# Question
Title: Evidence-based best practices for writing a gratitude journal
I was intrigued to read (in the question "What positive writing exercises improve happiness?") the idea of a gratitude diary suggested as an intervention that "causes psychological well-being levels to increase in a lasting way".

Empirical studies suggest that people who use gratitude journals feel better about their lives and report fewer symptoms of illness. (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Doverspike; Emmons Lab.)

However, there's also lots of dubious law of attraction-style writing on the topic, like this:

> "Did you know that appreciation, gratitude and love are the highest forms of vibration? You can only have one vibration at a time, and if you are noticing what you appreciate and noticing what you are grateful for, you can't be noticing what you don't like."

And although studies find gratitude journals to be beneficial, they disagree on the most beneficial ways to keep one. Psychologist William Doverspike says:

> "A daily gratitude intervention (self-guided exercises) resulted in more positive effects tha\[n\] did the weekly intervention."

But Jason Marsh of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley says:

> "Writing occasionally (once or twice per week) is more beneficial than daily journaling. In fact, one study by psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky and her colleagues found that people who wrote in their gratitude journals once a week for six weeks reported boosts in happiness afterward; people who wrote three times per week didn’t."

**So: which is likely to be correct in practice? And what best practices for keeping a gratitude journal can be inferred from other research, either specifically about gratitude or more generally in the cognitive sciences?**

References:

**Update (9th Dec 2013):** I'm continuing to research this question. This article, while not terribly scientific, has some good jumping off points (infographic and links) that may help potential answerers!

# Answer
Empirically supported treatments are specific interventions which controlled (generally quantitative) research has demonstrated to be effective for specific populations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence-based\_practice). The empirical literature on gratitude is rapidly expanding, but, as many of the reviews I will mention note, still emerging. Several recent reviews and meta-analyses address the support for gratitude interventions, including journaling. A 2010 dissertation reviewed 12 gratitude studies and found that letter-writing and list-making (e.g. gratitude journals) were associated with positive psychological outcomes (Borgueta). A 2010 narrative review also looks at 12 gratitude studies, and reports that while most studies find positive results, methodological limitations make it difficult to draw firm conclusions (Wood, Froh, & Geraghty).

A 2009 meta-analysis of 51 studies assessing the impact of positive psychology interventions on depression found small to moderate effects (Sin & Lyubomirsky). That meta-analyses included 20 studies with gratitude or positive writing interventions, and provides a discussion of possible moderators. A 2013 meta-analysis of 39 positive psychology studies found smaller, but still significant, effects for similar interventions on psychological well-being and depression, some of which remained at 3-6 month follow up (Bolier, L. et al). This analysis included at least 12 studies that used gratitude or positive writing interventions.

These studies do note that the interventions are not effective for everyone and discuss some factors (gender, positive affect, length, etc) which may impact receptiveness to and effectiveness of these interventions (Parks, Schueller, & Tasimi, in press). Clear demographic and situational moderators are only beginning to emerge, but these reviews may help you determine the clients for whom these interventions may be most effective. In general, although some studies did not find the interventions to be effective, there is little mention of the interventions being harmful. Additionally, the interventions tend to be easily understood and implemented, requiring few materials and a brief time commitment; thus, they may be worth trying, even if a study has not been conducted on a sample with demographics that precisely matches your clients.

These studies list a range of possible gratitude interventions and the current evidence for each approach. As with most therapeutic interventions, the answers here are not black and white. Practicing evidence-based care involves not only identifying the best available support for those treatments, but then using clinical judgment to determine whether it would be worthwhile to implement the approach with a particular client, given the client’s individual characteristics and the therapist’s competence in providing the intervention (http://www.asha.org/members/ebp/). Hopefully these resources will provide some support for that decision.

Bolier, L., Haverman, M., Westerhof, G. J., Riper, H., Smit, F., & Bohlmeijer, E. (2013). Positive psychology interventions: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies. *BMC Public Health, 13*, 119-129.

Borgueta, A. M. (2010). Adapting gratitude interventions to the practice of clinical psychology: Considerations for treatment selection and implementation. Dissertation, Palo Alto University.

Parks, A.C., Schueller, S. & Tasimi, A. (in press). Increasing happiness in the general population: Empirically Supported Self-Help? To appear in I. Boniwell & S. David (Eds.), *Oxford Handbook of Happiness*. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (http://hiram.us/h/images/pdfs/psychology/parks-increasing-happiness.pdf).

Sin, N. L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2009). Enhancing well-being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: A practice-friendly meta-analysis. *Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65*(5), 467-487.

Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. A. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration. *Clinical Psychology Review, 30*(7), 890-905.
> 4 votes

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Tags: emotion, positive-psychology, positive-thinking
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# Question
Title: Bias towards purchasing tangible vs virtual goods
People may have very little hesitation in spending $3 on a coffee once a week, but when it comes to buying things online, such as virtual goods or services, they are often much more reluctant.

* Is there a block when it comes to buying things online?
* If so, why?
* Is there a name for this phenomenon?
* Is so, how can someone selling something online (e.g. an online service provider or a software company) get around this and make customers less hesitant when shopping online?

# Answer
Grabner-Kräuter et al (2003) suggest that

> Lack of trust is one of the most frequently cited reasons for consumers not purchasing from Internet vendors.

### References

* Grabner-Kräuter, S., & Kaluscha, E. A. (2003). Empirical research in on-line trust: a review and critical assessment. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 58(6), 783-812. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=941185
> 2 votes

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Tags: terminology, decision-making, economics, consumer-psychology
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# Question
Title: Why do we stress over the smallest things?
I'm just curious to know: why do people stress over the smallest of issues? Not only is it common to almost everyone I know, but it is something that can drive people crazy.

For example, getting really stressed when you can't get something to work (even if it's a simple as a new program on your computer), or stressed when you misplace your keys at home and immediately blame your partner.

These rather simple things cause a great deal of stress (even for myself). While looking at my friends or family, stress over them cause me to realise how petty they are. Hasn't there got to be some cognitive reason for this?

I was having a discussion with my friend two days ago, when he told me these small stresses were a good thing, in that they make us forget about the big problems like recent job losses or events such as global warming.

Do we encapsulate ourselves in these petty matters as a means of protecting ourselves, or are we just selfish and ignorant?

# Answer
This is highly individual, and related to the personality trait neurotocism. From wiki:

> Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than the average to experience such feelings as anxiety, anger, envy, guilt, and depressed mood.\[2\] They respond more poorly to stressors, are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroticism
> 2 votes

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Tags: stress
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# Question
Title: What personality traits affect ability to cope with pain?
It has been shown that pain impairs cognitive function, in this question and the following studies on the effects of headaches on cognition. Moor et al write

> It must therefore be emphasised that headache pain appears to impair general task performance, irrespective of task complexity, rather than specific attentional mechanisms. Headache pain has an effect on the core cognitive components necessary for the successful completion of tasks, and in particular those involving the updating of the cognitive system.

Eccleston et al have shown that the degree to which pain disrupts cognitive processes is related to facts regarding the pain and the individuals psycho-social activities.

> The interruptive function of pain depends on the relationship between pain-related characteristics (e.g., the threat value of pain) and the characteristics of the environmental demands (e.g., emotional arousal).

So, it seems that there is physiological and psychological factors that contribute to why pain interferes with cognition.

**Are there personality traits that correlate with an individual's ability to cope with pain?**

### References

# Answer
Gathered from M. Pecina et al., “Personality Trait Predictors of Placebo Analgesia and Neurobiological Correlates,” Neuropsychopharmacology, doi: 10.1038/NPP.2012.227, 2012:

> A recent study has found that personality traits appear to influence how strongly a person responds to a placebo treatment for pain.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/unique-everybody-else/201301/personality-and-pain-relief

> Pain relief tended to be stronger in participants who rated themselves higher in the personality traits of ego resiliency and agreeableness and lower in neuroticism. \[...\] The facets that predicted placebo response most strongly were high altruism and straightforwardness (facets of agreeableness) and low angry hostility (a neuroticism facet that is also related to low agreeableness).

More thorough explanations are found in the link provided. Further information on the same study: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/33300/title/Personality-Predicts-Placebo-Effect/
> 1 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, personality, pain
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# Question
Title: Is there a correlation between online and offline vandalism?
I did some searching but I was not able to find anything substantial on this topic either for or against. I am mainly trying to figure out whether online trolling is a way of redirecting otherwise destructive offline behavior.

So, is there a correlation between online vandalism (trolling) and offline vandalism (damaging/defacing public property)?

# Answer
> 2 votes
According to this study, there really is a correlation: http://www.slate.com/articles/health\_and\_science/climate\_desk/2014/02/internet\_troll\_personality\_study\_machiavellianism\_narcissism\_psychopathy.html

> The research, conducted by Erin Buckels of the University of Manitoba and two colleagues, sought to directly investigate whether people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others).
>
> It is hard to overplay the results: The study found correlations, sometimes quite significant, between these traits and trolling behavior. What’s more, it also found a relationship between all Dark Tetrad traits (except for narcissism) and the overall time that an individual spent, per day, commenting on the Internet.

The research document itself can be found here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886914000324

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Tags: social-psychology, attitudes, forensic-psychology
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# Question
Title: Does writing something on computer help memorize it?
There is an interesting question on this site:

Does writing something down help memorize it?

Now my question is, does writing something on computer (i.e. using Word, Notepad, ...) help memorize it?

I usually learn by rewriting texts I read on computer. I never use copy-paste and always rewrite text myself and change it a little (acording to my needs, also I often translate it).

I use computer mainly because:

* I can write faster on computer than on paper
* I am often lazy to find paper and I don't want to waste paper when I will probably throw it away 2 days later anyway (consider *environment*, please don't consider as a "*throw away exam*")
* It easier to edit text written on computer, can search within it, ...

**So does the writing text on computer have the same advantages as writing down on paper?**

Sub question: Does formatting of text have any influence on this?

# Answer
According to a study by Anne Mangen and Jean-Luc Velay of the University of Stavanger, handwriting is better than typing for learning: http://www.uis.no/research-and-phd-studies/research-areas/school-and-learning/learning-environment/better-learning-through-handwriting-article29782-8869.html

> Mangen refers to an experiment involving two groups of adults, in which the participants were assigned the task of having to learn to write in an unknown alphabet, consisting of approximately twenty letters. One group was taught to write by hand, while the other was using a keyboard. Three and six weeks into the experiment, the participants’ recollection of these letters, as well as their rapidity in distinguishing right and reversed letters, were tested. Those who had learned the letters by handwriting came out best in all tests. Furthermore, fMRI brain scans indicated an activation of the Brocas area within this group. Among those who had learned by typing on keyboards, there was little or no activation of this area.

However, I'm having a hard time finding the actual research paper.
> 1 votes

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Tags: memory
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# Question
Title: Personality traits associated with finishing other people's sentences?
I read in a North American undergrad psychology textbook, that people who tend to finish another's sentences tend to be emotionally intense. I think "emotionally intense" is the wording that they used. The impression that was given is that the type of person tends to swing moods more often or to a larger degree; they're more emotional.

Can someone cite the study? And does anyone know any other traits of people who like to finish another's thoughts?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Several factors may influence a person to finish off other peopla's sentences. \- The person may be stressed (and some people stress more often than others, thus stress may cause some people to do this more often) \- ADHD is said to cause an impatience, making the clients finish off other people's sentences: http://www.healthline.com/health/adult-adhd \- A person may have a lot of energy, spending a bit of this energy on finishing off other's sentences. \- The speaker and the listener might ble close to eachother, and know eachother very well, maybe the listener was "just thinking of just the same thing"..

Whether or not I can find sources on "emotionally intense" people doing this, depends on how one defines being "emotionally intense". You could probably call any of the above examples emotionally intense people...

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Tags: social-psychology, reference-request, emotion, personality
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# Question
Title: Are there any recorded cases of hearing the outside world while in a coma?
There are plenty of stories flying around of people having been in a coma, but able to hear the outside world. They usually include either hearing malicious things said by staff, or encouragement by loved ones. Are **any** of these cases recorded and verified, not just apocryphal?

# Answer
Here's a study on Brain Response to One's Own Name in Vegetative State, Minimally Conscious State, and Locked-in Syndrome: http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=791093

> **Background** A major challenge in the management of severely brain-injured patients with altered states of consciousness is to estimate their residual perception of the environment.
>
> **Objective** To investigate the integrity of detection of one's own name in patients in a behaviorally well-documented vegetative state (VS), patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS), and patients with locked-in syndrome.
>
> **Design** We recorded the auditory evoked potentials to the patient's own name and to 7 other equiprobable first names in 15 brain-damaged patients.
>
> **Results** A P3 component was observed in response to the patient's name in all patients with locked-in syndrome, in all MCS patients, and in 3 of 5 patients in a VS. P3 latency was significantly (P\<.05) delayed for MCS and VS patients compared with healthy volunteers.
>
> **Conclusions** These results suggest that partially preserved semantic processing could be observed in noncommunicative brain-damaged patients, notably for the detection of salient stimuli, such as the subject's own name. This function seems delayed in MCS and (if present) in VS patients. More important, a P3 response does not necessarily reflect conscious perception and cannot be used to differentiate VS from MCS patients.
> 2 votes

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Tags: consciousness, hearing
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