readings in psychology for december 6th 2010

a few 'confused' roses in our yard and the turning of a Japanese Maple!

Here are a few readings for Monday (FINALS week for us!):

• a healthy brain needs a healthy heart

“When the National Institutes of Health convened a panel of independent experts this past April on how to prevent Alzhei­mer’s disease, the conclusions were pretty grim. The panel determined that “no evidence of even moderate scientific quality” links anything—from herbal or nutritional supplements to prescription medications to social, economic or environmental conditions—with the slightest decrease in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s”

• personality may be affected by season of birth

“That is the conclusion of a new study published online on Dec. 5 by the journal Nature Neuroscience. The experiment provides the first evidence for seasonal imprinting of biological clocks in mammals and was conducted by Professor of Biological Sciences Douglas McMahon, graduate student Chris Ciarleglio, post-doctoral fellow Karen Gamble and two undergraduate students at Vanderbilt University.”

• looking into a spiders EYES!

“Over the next year, spiders watching videos of their prey are going to help biologist Elizabeth Jakob at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her colleagues understand how animals choose which visual elements to attend to in their environments. She believes we are on the verge of gaining important new knowledge about how brains and specialized sensory systems work together to process visual information.”

• weight control: the psychology behind unwanted pounds

“Americans typically gain a pound between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. That may not sound like much to worry about, but the problem is that we don’t lose that pound once the holiday season ends. Instead, we accumulate a pound per season, year after year, for 10, 15, 20 years and more. Looked at that way, it’s no wonder that two-thirds of Americans are now obese.”