Here is what I am reading today:
“”By showing that African elephants spontaneously understand human pointing, without any training to do so, we have shown that the ability to understand pointing is not uniquely human but has also evolved in a lineage of animal very remote from the primates,” says Richard Byrne of the University of St Andrews, noting that elephants are part of an ancient African radiation of animals, including the hyrax, golden mole, aardvark, and manatee.”
“Kissing in human sexual relationships is incredibly prevalent in various forms across just about every society and culture,’ says Rafael Wlodarski, the DPhil student who carried out the research in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University. ‘Kissing is seen in our closest primate relatives, chimps and bonobos, but it is much less intense and less commonly used.
‘So here’s a human courtship behaviour which is incredibly widespread and common and, in extent, is quite unique. And we are still not exactly sure why it is so widespread or what purpose it serves.’
To understand more, Rafael Wlodarski and Professor Robin Dunbar set up an online questionnaire in which over 900 adults answered questions about the importance of kissing in both short-term and long-term relationships.”
“A research team headed by Tania Singer from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences has discovered that our own feelings can distort our capacity for empathy. This emotionally driven egocentricity is recognised and corrected by the brain.”
“The research focuses on dendrites, the string-like extensions of sensory nerves that penetrate tissues of the skin, eyes and other sensory organs. “The formation of dendritic branches—’arbors’ as we call them—is vital for allowing sensory nerves to collect information and sample the environment appropriately,” said Hannes Buelow, Ph.D., senior author of the Cellpaper and associate professor of genetics at Einstein.”
“”This is the first study to find that this genetic variation can significantly affect how people see and experience the world,” says Prof. Rebecca Todd of UBC’s Dept. of Psychology. “The findings suggest people experience emotional aspects of the world partly through gene-coloured glasses – and that biological variations at the genetic level can play a significant role in individual differences in perception.””
“The team, based at U-M’s Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, used an innovative approach to make its findings. They combined advanced brain scanning that can track chemical release in the brain with a model of social rejection based on online dating. The work was funded by the U-M Depression Center, the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research, the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, the Phil F Jenkins Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.”
“Pictures of food. Snapping photos of meals is one of the less expected viral social media trends. That megaburger, the cheesy burrito, the strawberry shortcake, captured forever as an object of desire.
But food photography can backfire. Because a recent study finds that looking at a lot of photos of food can make foods similar to those pictured less enjoyable to eat. Due to what scientists call “sensory boredom.””
“2014 WMHDAY THEME –
“LIVING WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA”’
More information will be available in early 2014
If you prefer to have the material emailed to you – please send your contact details to – wmhday@wfmh.com”
ttfn
9 Comments
Sarahvais · October 12, 2013 at 4:33 pm
In response to “predisposed to see the negative” after reading this i feel like this makes sense. There are people who have a genetic predisposition to be gloomy constantly. Not necessarily that these type of people are depressed, but they seem to never believe good things happen to them. They believe the world is against them rather than with them. It is interesting because I feel like I know people like this. They could have everything they wanted but it is never what they need or want from life. If there can be more evidence produced that there is a gene that influences this rather than an environmental influence or how a person was raised then I would be interested to see it.
Anewman1188 · October 23, 2013 at 11:47 am
That may be just the thing however. I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder a few years back and it was definitely something that took time to understand. I had a girlfriend, played sports, had several very close friends and came from a loving family. I hadn’t a worry in the world but every now and again, usually towards the end of the month, every couple months, I would feel very down and hopeless. My dad would often say why are you depressed, you have nothing to be depressed about. Finally one day it occurred to me, I wasn’t feeling depressed, I am depressed. Therefore, from my personal experience I think genetics plays a huge role.
Anewman1188 · October 23, 2013 at 12:08 pm
In the kissing article I believe that kissing is seen as important before sex because it is used as a catalyst. However, people in long term relationships view it just as important after sex because it is used as a sign of loyalty and love. Kissing is very versatile as it can be used to represent passion, love, care and lust.
JessicaZacarias · October 26, 2013 at 1:04 pm
In response to “Kissing and relationships”
I’ve always wondered why we kiss. It’s funny when you think about it. Who was the first to decide that putting our mouths and tongues together would have such a positive reaction? I think kissing is important during and after sex for people in long term relationships because it releases oxytocin which makes you attached to that person. I think in short term relationships kissing is ranked as less important because you may be trying to protect yourself from being attached to that person. I watched a youtube video that relays the same statistics and some other cool facts about it as well. The link is below.
http://youtu.be/iJjl9gHQ5FU
neirani · November 3, 2013 at 8:37 pm
In response to “kissing and relationships”
I found this article very interesting. I think something like kissing is taken for granted as a cultural norm without looking at the biological understandings behind it. I liked that the article separated and explained the importance of kissing in different types of relationships. I’ve never explicitly thought of kissing as an “assessment” phase but it makes sense with the context of the article.
bcolli05 · November 11, 2013 at 5:44 pm
In response to “how science can make you a better cook”
Such a fun article to read! It gives tons of tips for you to be a better cook without what seems to be any extra work. The biggest thing it stressed was to just pay attention to what you are doing. Many people try to do 1000 other things while they are cooking and then wonder why their food doesn’t turn out the way they would like. The article suggesting spending a few minutes a day meditating in order to improve cognitive functioning. I appreciated the cooking tips a lot. I have always considered myself a pretty good cook for a college aged student, yet all too often my food comes out slightly different from how i expected. These tips were not only interesting, they were actually very helpful!
Alina Parga · November 12, 2013 at 10:49 pm
Reading “kissing and relationships” really opened my eyes to the biological and psychological reasons to kiss. I really liked how the researchers compared and contrasted the views from people in long and short term relationships as well as people that find themselves more attractive. I thought it was interesting that, “… kissing may allow people to subconsciously assess a potential partner through taste or smell, picking up on biological cues for compatibility, genetic fitness or general health.” I never thought that simply kissing someone would be able to pick up clues on genetic fitness.
Alina Parga · November 12, 2013 at 11:00 pm
After reading the article “predisposed to the negative?” it makes sense to why there are some people that often see everything in their life as being negative. The fact that some of this behavior due to this gene variant gives me a better perception of these “glass half empty” people because they can’t help being this way. It is unfortunate that people have this gene variant but if they get tested and find out that this is the reason they are so negative, maybe it can help them improve their outlook on things.
JuliaSpalding · November 29, 2013 at 6:24 pm
In response to “teaching an elephant to point?”:
Elephants are by far my favorite animal. I didn’t realize that elephants “live in an elaborate and complex network in which support, empathy, and help for others are critical for survival. It may be only in such a society that the ability to follow pointing has adaptive value, or, more generally, elephant society may have selected for an ability to understand when others are trying to communicate with them, and they are thus able to work out what pointing is about when they see it.” I think it’s interesting that they are able to pick up on pointing, but primates aren’t. I remember learning that elephants are very intelligent and I like how the article said “Elephants seem to understand us humans in a way most other animals don’t.” I think that’s really sweet. It’s also interesting that this ‘pointing’ learned by elephants could mean that it’s not unique to our language.