readings in psychology for november 17th 2010

Do YOU know what Friday is? or better yet, what Thursday nite is ni America? CLICK on the picture for the answer!

Here are a few readings for today:

• card trick illusion

Did you see it?

• amphetamines and the developing brain

“Amphetamine abuse during adolescence permanently changes brain cells, according to new animal research. The study shows drug exposure during adolescence, but not young adulthood, altered electrical properties of brain cells in the cortex.”

• binge drinking

“Alcohol exposure during adolescence alters the body’s ability to respond to stress in adulthood, according to new research in rats presented at Neuroscience 2010, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, held in San Diego. Because problems regulating stress are associated with behavioral and mood disorders, the findings may indicate that binge drinking in adolescence leads to increased risk of anxiety or depression in adulthood.”

• language encourages creativity?

 “The language we speak may influence not only our thoughts, but our implicit preferences as well. That’s the finding of a study by psychologists at Harvard University, who found that bilingual individuals’ opinions of different ethnic groups were affected by the language in which they took a test examining their biases and predilections.”