Category: Psychology

…but there’s a silver lining for those over the magic age.

New research based on 3,305 players of an online game suggests that the peak age for cognitive motor performance is 24-years-old.

The finding comes from one of the first ever studies to utilise the power of so-called ‘big data’: datasets which are so large that they require specialised computers to crunch the numbers (Thompson et al., 2014).

The game analysed was StarCraft 2, a strategic real-time war game — something akin to speed chess in space.

The data came from thousands upon thousands of hours of playtime, all of which has been collated to look at how long players took to react to their opponents.

The study’s lead author, Joe Thompson, explained the results:

“After around 24 years of age, players show slowing in a measure of cognitive speed that is known to be important for performance.

This cognitive performance decline is present even at higher levels of skill.”

However, there was a silver lining for older people who, despite being slower, managed to keep up with their younger counterparts.

Compared with younger players, the older players were more likely to use sophisticated short-cuts to make up for their slower reaction times.

Thompson continued:

“Older players, though slower, seem to compensate by employing simpler strategies and using the game’s interface more efficiently than younger players, enabling them to retain their skill, despite cognitive motor-speed loss.”

The authors conclude that these results contribute towards a more nuanced and dynamic view of the age-related changes in cognitive performance:

“The veneer of stable competence in mid-life masks genuine adult development; cognitive-motor decline begins even in the midst of continuing brain growth.

Rather than stability, we have lifelong flux.

Our day-to-day performance is, at every age, the result of the constant interplay between change and adaptation.” (Thompson et al., 2014).

These findings are in line with much other research showing that our cognitive powers decline with age.

What’s relatively new is the relatively young age this research suggests the decline starts to set in.

On the other hand, not everyone agrees that this decline is real: these findings are in contrast to recent research claiming that age-related cognitive decline is a myth.

Image credit: cinnamon_girl

How memory works, what visual illusions reveal, the price of happiness, the power of introverts and more…

1. Peter Doolittle: How “working memory” works

“Life comes at us very quickly, and what we need to do is take that amorphous flow of experience and somehow extract meaning from it.”

In this funny, enlightening talk, educational psychologist Peter Doolittle details the importance — and limitations — of your “working memory,” that part of the brain that allows us to make sense of what’s happening right now.”

2. Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work?

“What motivates us to work? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it isn’t just money. But it’s not exactly joy either. It seems that most of us thrive by making constant progress and feeling a sense of purpose.

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely presents two eye-opening experiments that reveal our unexpected and nuanced attitudes toward meaning in our work.”

3. Michael Shermer: Why people believe weird things

“Why do people see the Virgin Mary on a cheese sandwich or hear demonic lyrics in “Stairway to Heaven”?

Using video and music, skeptic Michael Shermer shows how we convince ourselves to believe — and overlook the facts.”

4. Al Seckel: Visual illusions that show how we (mis)think

“Al Seckel, a cognitive neuroscientist, explores the perceptual illusions that fool our brains. Loads of eye tricks help him prove that not only are we easily fooled, we kind of like it.”

5. Barry Schwartz: Our loss of wisdom

“Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for “practical wisdom” as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.”

6. Benjamin Wallace: The price of happiness

“Can happiness be bought? To find out, author Benjamin Wallace sampled the world’s most expensive products, including a bottle of 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc, 8 ounces of Kobe beef and the fabled (notorious) Kopi Luwak coffee. His critique may surprise you.”

7. Susan Cain: The power of introverts

“In a culture where being social and outgoing are prized above all else, it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert. But, as Susan Cain argues in this passionate talk, introverts bring extraordinary talents and abilities to the world, and should be encouraged and celebrated.”

8. Daniel Wolpert: The real reason for brains

“Neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert starts from a surprising premise: the brain evolved, not to think or feel, but to control movement. In this entertaining, data-rich talk he gives us a glimpse into how the brain creates the grace and agility of human motion.”

9. Charles Limb: Your brain on improv

“Musician and researcher Charles Limb wondered how the brain works during musical improvisation — so he put jazz musicians and rappers in an fMRI to find out. What he and his team found has deep implications for our understanding of creativity of all kinds.”

10. Helen Fisher: The brain in love

“Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? To learn more about our very real, very physical need for romantic love, Helen Fisher and her research team took MRIs of people in love — and people who had just been dumped.”

Genes which influence social behaviour enable some ‘nice’ people to overcome feelings of fear.

A recent study finds that at least part of people’s ‘niceness’ is in their genes.

The research from the University at Buffalo and the University of California, Irvine, published in Psychological Science, tested the genes of 711 people (Poulin et al., 2012).

They were also asked about their donations to charity, whether they see other people as generally good or bad and other factors that contribute to the idea of ‘niceness’.

The study’s lead author, Michel Poulin, explained the results:

“The study found that these genes combined with people’s perceptions of the world as a more or less threatening place to predict generosity.

Specifically, study participants who found the world threatening were less likely to help others — unless they had versions of the receptor genes that are generally associated with niceness.”

[The nice genes] …allow you to overcome feelings of the world being threatening and help other people in spite of those fears.”

The crucial genes influence receptors for two vital hormones: oxytocin and vassopressin.

Both of these have been linked to social behaviour and may be crucial in how and when humans care for each other.

Poulin continued:

“The fact that the genes predicted behavior only in combination with people’s experiences and feelings about the world isn’t surprising because most connections between DNA and social behavior are complex.

We aren’t saying we’ve found the niceness gene.

But we have found a gene that makes a contribution.

What I find so interesting is the fact that it only makes a contribution in the presence of certain feelings people have about the world around them.”

In this study, ‘nice’ people were able to get over their fears to volunteer their time.

Image credit: Andres Rodriguez

Study finds that two-day-old infants prefer word-like basic linguistic building blocks.

A new study finds evidence that we are born with fundamental knowledge about language, helping to explain one of our greatest abilities.

Researchers in the US and Italy have found that newborn infants between two- and five-days-old already prefer syllables which are more ‘word-like’ over those not usually found in human languages (Gomez et al., 2014).

In the study, the researchers played back ‘good’ and ‘bad’ words to the newborns while using near-infrared spectroscopy to monitor the oxygenation of the blood in their brains.

An example of a ‘good’ syllable is ‘bl’ which is found in many languages around the world: there’s blando in Italian, blusa in Spanish and blink in English, amongst many, many other examples.

In contrast, a ‘bad’ syllable is ‘lb’ which is a much less frequent combination found in low frequencies in few languages (including Russian).

The idea is that we have an inbuilt tendency to prefer particular basic building-blocks of language over others.

In the example above we prefer ‘bla’ over ‘lba’.

The question is whether we are born with this preference or is it something that we learn with exposure to language over time.

The new study supports the idea that these preferences for certain types of syllables are inborn.

Infants who haven’t even learned how to babble yet seem to be born with a sense of how words should sound.

One of the study’s authors, Professor Iris Berent said:

“The results of this new study suggest that, the sound patterns of human languages are the product of an inborn biological instinct, very much like birdsong,”

This helps explain similarities in the structure of many languages, since they are likely based on common inbuilt preference for how languages should sound at a very basic level.

That’s why babies can arrive in the world and be confident that whatever language those around them speak, they will be able to pick it up.

Image credit: Paolo Marconi

Amazing glass brain fly-through, the effects of cocaine, and more…

1. Glass brain fly-through

“This is an anatomically-realistic 3D brain visualization depicting real-time source-localized activity (power and “effective” connectivity) from EEG (electroencephalographic) signals. Each color represents source power and connectivity in a different frequency band (theta, alpha, beta, gamma) and the golden lines are white matter anatomical fiber tracts.”

2. 3-D tour of intact mouse brain

“CLARITY makes possible this 3D tour of an entire, intact mouse brain. It was imaged using a fluorescence technique that previously could only be performed with thinly-sliced brain tissue, making it difficult to relate micro-level findings to macro-level information about wiring and circuitry.”

3. Neurotransmitter synapse 3D animation

“Neurotransmitter synapse 3D animation.”

4. How does cocaine affect the brain?

“This CGI animated sequence demonstrates how cocaine effects the user’s brain.”

Image credit: Glass Brain Project, Adam Gazzaley

Whether you’re choosing between job offers or deciding which car or house to buy, this region is probably involved.

One of the smallest parts of the brain has a vital role in decision-making, a new study suggests.

The area of the brain, the lateral habenula, near the centre, has previously been associated with avoidant behaviour and depression, but is now being looked at again.

Professor Stan Floresco, one of the study’s authors said:

“These findings clarify the brain processes involved in the important decisions that we make on a daily basis, from choosing between job offers to deciding which house or car to buy.

“It also suggests that the scientific community has misunderstood the true functioning of this mysterious, but important, region of the brain.”

The results come from a study of mice in which they were trained to choose between larger and smaller rewards (Stopper & Floresco, 2013).

The trick was that the larger rewards appeared less frequently, while the smaller rewards were more consistent.

Think of it like the difference between the entrepreneur betting everything on their company going public and the less glamorous wage-earner taking home a regular pay-packet.

Like humans, the mice usually preferred the smaller rewards when the risks for reaping the larger rewards were greater.

However, when the lateral habenula was turned off the rats showed no discrimination, they just chose an option seemingly at random.

This was not what would have been predicted from previous theories.

Scientists had thought that turning off this area of the brain would cause the rats to take more risks and go for the larger reward.

The study may have important implications for the way that depression is treated.

Professor Stan Floresco explained:

“Deep brain stimulation — which is thought to inactivate the lateral habenula — has been reported to improve depressive symptoms in humans.

But our findings suggest these improvements may not be because patients feel happier.

They may simply no longer care as much about what is making them feel depressed.”

Image credit: Life Mental Health

New micro x-ray imaging study suggests Neanderthals had vocal apparatus for speech.

Although we like to think of human language as being unique, new research suggests that Neanderthals may have spoken a language not too dissimilar to those used today.

Scientists have long thought that Neanderthals — who shared the Earth with our human ancestors for thousands of years — had neither the physiological equipment nor the cognitive capacity for language.

However, a new insight has come from micro x-ray imaging of a Neanderthal’s hyoid bone, a bone that is central to tongue movement and swallowing.

The 60,000 year old Neanderthal remains were originally found in Israel in 1983.

While the shape of the hyoid bone was virtually identical to our own, with the technology available then it wasn’t possible to show this meant they may have been able to talk.

Now, though, a new analysis published in PLoS ONE, suggests language may be much older than was previously thought (D’Anastasio et al., 2013).

One of the study’s authors, Stephen Wroe, explains:

“By analysing the mechanical behaviour of the fossilised bone with micro x-ray imaging, we were able to build models of the hyoid that included the intricate internal structure of the bone.

We then compared them to models of modern humans.

Our comparisons showed that in terms of mechanical behaviour, the Neanderthal hyoid was basically indistinguishable from our own, strongly suggesting that this key part of the vocal tract was used in the same way.

From this research, we can conclude that it’s likely that the origins of speech and language are far, far older than once thought.”

Evidence of similarities in the hyoid bone don’t prove that Neanderthals could talk, of course. For that, more concrete evidence would be required.

Nevertheless, it’s an intriguing finding that Neanderthals had some of the basic vocal hardware required.

Whether or not they had the requisite cognitive capacity is another question altogether — one that the passage of time has made very difficult to answer.

Image credit: Erich Ferdinand

Our ability to remember and learn is powered by a crucial molecular change.

A new study has identified an important molecular change which takes place in the brain when we learn and remember (Brigidi et al., 2014).

Learning changes the way a fatty acid in the brain attaches to a protein called delta-catenin.

This change is essential in adjusting the connectivity between brain cells, which enables us to learn.

One of the study’s authors, Shernaz Bamji, explained:

“More work is needed, but this discovery gives us a much better understanding of the tools our brains use to learn and remember, and provides insight into how these processes become disrupted in neurological diseases.”

The results come from the study of an animal model.

They found that after learning about new environments, the levels of modified delta-catenin were almost doubled.

Delta-catenin has been previously identified as playing an important role in memory, but this is the first study to show the molecular mechanism at work.

The study’s lead author, Stefano Brigidi, said:

“Brain activity can change both the structure of this protein, as well as its function. When we introduced a mutation that blocked the biochemical modification that occurs in healthy subjects, we abolished the structural changes in brain’s cells that are known to be important for memory formation.”

The findings may also shed light on why people with some mental disabilities find it hard to learn.

For example, people with a rare genetic disorder called Cri-du-chat syndrome–named after the distinctive cry of affected infants–have a gene deletion which disrupts delta-catenin.

There have also been links made between delta-catenin and the severe mental disorder schizophrenia.

Image credit: MR McGill

Studies reveal ironic mental processes, our love of secrets, why robots are creepy and more…

Some psychology experiments are so wild and wacky that, at first glance, you can’t help wondering if the experimenters are unhinged.

Harvard psychologist Daniel Wegner, who sadly passed away last year, was dedicated to making his experiments interesting to take part in and having them produce deep psychological insights.

He usually succeeded on both levels.

Below are five studies he and colleagues carried out and what they tell us about being human.

1. What putting can tell you about mental control

Putting golf balls might not seem the most psychologically revealing activity but I can assure you it is!

In this study participants were ushered into room lit only by a UV light. Some were given a putter that glowed orange, others a black one so they couldn’t see it (Wegner et al., 1998).

They were then told to shoot a yellow ball at a glowing target and sometimes specifically asked not to overshoot the hole.

Sometimes while putting they were also told to keep a six-digit number in their heads.

A weird thing happened: when people tried particularly hard not to overshoot the hole, that was when they tended to overshoot it the most.

If participants were told to try and keep a six-digit number in their heads at the same time, they overshot the hole even more.

The purpose of the different coloured putter was to look at the influence of self-monitoring. The study found people’s putts became even worse when they could see the putter in their hands.

Interpretation: known as an ‘ironic process’, sometimes the harder we try not to do something, the more likely we are to do it.

This seems to be particularly true in sports where it’s vital to let the body do what it’s good at, rather than trying to take conscious control.

Anyone who has ever tried to push something out of their minds (cake, cigarettes, a forbidden lover…) knows it’s apt to come back even stronger.

2. What footsie reveals about secret relationships

Participants in this study were told to engage in a little footsie under the table with a stranger (Wegner et al., 1994).

However, some pairs were told to keep their footsie secret from another couple who were also sat at the table, while other pairs did not keep their footsie a secret.

When they were asked afterwards, the participants who’d been keeping their footsie secret were significantly more attracted to each other than those who’d been conducting their footsie openly.

Interpretation: People love secrets: even the simplest things can become exciting if only they are kept secret. People obsess over secrets way more than things that are well-known to others.

3. What creepy robots tell us about being human

People were shown a video of a lifelike robot, either from the back so that they could only see a bunch of wires, or from the front (below) so they could see its childlike face (Gray & Wegner, 2012).

The robot–which was called ‘Kasper’ and designed to help children with autism–simply moved around in the video.

‘Kaspar’

What they found was that adults found the robot particularly creepy when they could see its human-like face, but much less so when all they could see was a bunch of wires.

Interpretation: People find robots creepy because we associate experiencing thoughts and emotions with being human. When a human-like robot appears to be experiencing things we get creeped out.

Experiencing the world through our senses may be even more fundamental to being human than our sense of having control over ourselves.

4. How nakedness changes perceptions of mind

People were shown pictures of both men and women with their shirts on and shirts off, with all their clothes on or completely naked (Gray et al., 2011).

They were then asked questions that examined how we think about people based on whether or not they are wearing clothes.

What they found was that when people are naked, we tend to think of them as having less control over themselves but more access to experience.

Interpretation: When people are naked, it’s not accurate to say that we just objectify them, seeing them purely as physical objects without minds. However, we do change how we think about their minds.

When naked, we see other people less as moral agents capable of competent actions and more as feeling beings.

5. The psychology of pain

Participants in a study by Gray and Wegner (2008) were told the experimenters were investigating ‘psychophysical perception’; in fact it was all about pain.

They were paired up with someone who was actually in on the experiment, but who participants thought was just another innocent like them.

One part of the study involved the real participants receiving electrical shocks to their hand.

It was set up so that some participants thought the other person had deliberately chosen to give them the pain perception test when there was another option that didn’t involve pain.

For other participants, though, it appeared that the other person had no choice but to administer the pain perception test.

Participants who thought the other person was deliberately inflicting the pain on them experienced the pain as more intense than those who thought the other person had no choice.

Interpretation: pain has a large psychological component and part of that component can be social. When we are physically hurt it feels more intense if the other person meant to do it.

Image credit: Tom Lin

Here are 10 of the best talks about psychology from some of the superstars of this and related fields.

1. Philip Zimbardo: The psychology of evil

“Philip Zimbardo knows how easy it is for nice people to turn bad. In this talk, he shares insights and graphic unseen photos from the Abu Ghraib trials. Then he talks about the flip side: how easy it is to be a hero, and how we can rise to the challenge.”

2. Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice

“Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz’s estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.”

3. Alison Gopnik: What do babies think?

“Alison Gopnik takes us into the fascinating minds of babies and children, and shows us how much we understand before we even realize we do.”

4. Steven Pinker: Human nature and the blank slate

“Steven Pinker’s book The Blank Slate argues that all humans are born with some innate traits. Here, Pinker talks about his thesis, and why some people found it incredibly upsetting.”

5. Rebecca Saxe: How we read each other’s minds

“Sensing the motives and feelings of others is a natural talent for humans. But how do we do it? Here, Rebecca Saxe shares fascinating lab work that uncovers how the brain thinks about other peoples’ thoughts — and judges their actions.”

6. Elyn Saks: A tale of mental illness — from the inside

“Is it okay if I totally trash your office?” It’s a question Elyn Saks once asked her doctor, and it wasn’t a joke. A legal scholar, in 2007 Saks came forward with her own story of schizophrenia, controlled by drugs and therapy but ever-present. In this powerful talk, she asks us to see people with mental illness clearly, honestly and compassionately.

7. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the secret to happiness

“Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi asks, “What makes a life worth living?” Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of “flow.””

8. Dan Ariely: Why we think it’s OK to cheat and steal (sometimes)

“Behavioral economist Dan Ariely studies the bugs in our moral code: the hidden reasons we think it’s OK to cheat or steal (sometimes). Clever studies help make his point that we’re predictably irrational — and can be influenced in ways we can’t grasp.”

9. VS Ramachandran: 3 clues to understanding your brain

“Vilayanur Ramachandran tells us what brain damage can reveal about the connection between celebral tissue and the mind, using three startling delusions as examples.”

10.Elizabeth Loftus: The fiction of memory

“Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus studies memories. More precisely, she studies false memories, when people either remember things that didn’t happen or remember them differently from the way they really were. It’s more common than you might think, and Loftus shares some startling stories and statistics, and raises some important ethical questions we should all remember to consider.”