readings in psychology for december 14th 2010

the season for remembering: my late brother Leroy Sievers in happier times

here are a few readings for today:

• what mom’s eat can affect their baby’s brain

“Pregnant and nursing mothers have new reason to eat well, suggests a new study. Flavors in a mom’s diet shape her baby’s brain, the study found, and that may alter her child’s lifelong likes and dislikes for certain foods. The findings could help mothers start as early as possible to turn their children into healthy eaters.”

• why do smarter people live longer?

“intelligent people live longer—the correlation is as strong as that between smoking and premature death. But the reason is not fully understood. Beyond simply making wiser choices in life, these people also may have biology working in their favor. Now research in honeybees offers evidence that learning ability is indeed linked with a general capacity to withstand one of the rigors of aging—namely, oxidative stress.”

the thacher illusion

“Most people can still recognise an image of a face that’s been rotated upside-down, and they still do even when altered in rather major ways. In particular, a distortion known as ‘Thatcherization’  often goes unnoticed – that’s where the face is upside-down but the eyes and the mouth are changed to remain the right way up .”