It seems that I love to read, especially on my iPad!
Here are are a few stories that I have found interesting and I hope you will, too!
“Epidemiological studies first revealed an inverse association between the chronic consumption of caffeine and the incidence of Parkinson’s disease…”
“Where do food cravings come from? Many research studies suggest that mental imagery may be a key component of food cravings — when people crave a specific food, they have vivid images of that food.”
“If you keep staring, the curves can seem to revolve vertically around a static rod, first in one direction, then the other. The animation can also look like a series of bouncing dots, but this is very hard to perceive without overlaying vertical bars on top of it.”
Dopamine system in highly creative people
“High creative skills have been shown to be somewhat more common in people who have mental illness in the family. Creativity is also linked to a slightly higher risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Certain psychological traits, such as the ability to make unusual pr bizarre associations are also shared by schizophrenics and healthy, highly creative people. And now the correlation between creativity and mental health has scientific backing.”
Newborns learn while they sleep
The findings give valuable information about how it is that newborns are able to learn so quickly from the world, when they sleep for 16 to 18 hours a day, Byrd said. “Sleeping newborns are better learners, better ‘data sponges’ than we knew,” she said.
5 Comments
kjchin · May 18, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I really enjoyed reading the pyschology of food cravings! It is definitely something everyone can relate to. I know I have food cravings every day and agree that it is so hard to concentrate when all I can think about is eating cookies and ice-cream. I do know that even if I am craving a certain food, if I am busy doing a task, I almost forget about the craving and focus on the task at hand. But once that task is over, it always reverts back to the craving. Maybe next time I am craving food, I should watch flickering patterns of black and white dots on a monitor?
KanikaL · May 19, 2010 at 2:50 pm
The fact that infants learn while they sleep is extremely interesting, especially now that we have completed the sleep chapter in biopyschology and have discussed the plasticity of the brain. I wish I could learn biopsychology in my sleep…wishful thinking on my part. Whats amazing is that now they could potentially use this technology to discover whether a newborn could have the potential for developmental risks (autism and dyslexia).
EspieW-PSY340 · May 22, 2010 at 6:04 am
This article is very interesting. As I was reading, at first I thought that the results only concluded that the new borns had learned a “reaction” to how they were being tested and were not necessarily “learning” anything. After reading further I read and understand that, “Learned eyelid movement reflects the normal functioning of the circuitry in the cerebellum, a neural structure at the base of the brain.” This is encouraging news. How do (or how will) doctor’s find parents who are considering having another baby who already have a child with autism or dyslexia to study?
MeredithS · May 23, 2010 at 6:44 pm
The article about food cravings was really interesting. It kind of reminded me a Pavlov… in the sense that when the dog heard the bell, he would begin to salivate. I learned that even humans have increased salivation when they see, smell, or envision food. I’ve never heard of distracting people from their vision of the food they crave though… I think most people don’t realize they are picturing a burger or BBQ chips… I’m gonna try distracting myself the next time a certain food craving comes to mind to see how it helps.
bcollis · May 27, 2010 at 2:59 pm
I’ve never given much thought to why I have food cravings so I found that article pretty interesting. I definitely agree that when I have food cravings I usually have a pretty specific image of the food or drink in my head and sometimes it can be hard to think about anything else. I’m interested to try picturing other objects the next time I have a food craving so I can see if that makes it less intense. I think researching more on lessening cravings could be very beneficial if the tactics can be applied to alcohol or drug cravings as well.
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