readings in psychology for february 11th 2011

In my family, we compete at everything, even a sudoku game for the iPad! Scoring 100% was kind of fun! 😉

Here is what I am reading today:

• extra testosterone affects your empathy

“A new study from Utrecht and Cambridge Universities has for the first time found that an administration of testosterone under the tongue in volunteers negatively affects a person’s ability to ‘mind read’, an indication of empathy. The findings are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

• what would cupid do?

“Research shows that great passion and romance can be present even in couples married over 20 years. So, how do these happily-in-love couples do it? One technique to keep a great romance going is for the spouses/partners to act like they are having an affair with each other. Yes, with each other.”

• engineering intelligence

“Language is arguably what makes us most human. Even the smartest and chattiest of the animal kingdom have nothing on our lingual cognition. In computer science, the Holy Grail has long been to build software that understands — and can interact with — natural human language. But dreams of a real-life Johnny 5 or C-3PO have always been dashed on the great gulf between raw processing power and the architecture of the human mind. Computers are great at crunching large sets of numbers. The mind excels at assumption and nuance.”

• the brain saving gift of Tumeric! (Laura’s note: Tumeric is the main ingredient in curry flavorings)

“Whether or not you’re fond of Indian, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern food, stroke researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center think you may become a fan of one of their key spices.”

• over weight children can do better in math and think if they exercise

“Regular exercise improves the ability of overweight, previously inactive children to think, plan and even do math, Georgia Health Sciences University researchers report.”