My colleague and daughter Karen (University of Louisville -- Assistant Professor of Strategic Communications) will be presenting on Social Media at the APS Convention in Chicago this month!
Here is what I am reading today:
“A self-writing diary in one of J K Rowling’s books on Harry Potter has inspired researchers to create a paper that spells out a person’s blood type. “
“As if you needed another reason to despise your alarm clock. A new study suggests that, by disrupting your body’s normal rhythms, your buzzing, blaring friend could be making you overweight.
The study concerns a phenomenon called “social jetlag.” That’s the extent to which our natural sleep patterns are out of synch with our school or work schedules. Take the weekends: many of us wake up hours later than we do during the week, only to resume our early schedules come Monday morning. It’s enough to make your body feel like it’s spending the weekend in one time zone and the week in another.”
“WORDS IN ALL CAPS can be annoying, but since they look larger than their neighbors, they capture our attention. Words displayed in large fonts have a similar effect-and they also elicit stronger emotional responses, according to a new study. Researchers measured brain activity in 25 German adults while showing them 72 emotionally positive, negative, and neutral words. They included German words for gift, death, and chair…. “
“Talking about ourselves — whether in a personal conversation or through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter — triggers the same sensation of pleasure in the brain as food or money, researchers reported.”
““Superwoman has been rumbled,” declared a Daily Telegraph article in 2001 that chronicled how the human brain’s inability to “multitask” undercuts the prospects for a woman to juggle career and family with any measure of success. The brain as media icon has emerged repeatedly in recent years as new imaging techniques have proliferated—and, as a symbol, it seems to confuse as much as enlighten.”
“The Association for Psychological Science’s Annual Convention brings together psychological researchers and academics for an exciting program that covers the entire spectrum of innovative research in psychological science.
We’re pleased to offer you this Online Program with detailed information about every presentation and event at the APS Convention.”
LAURA’S Note: I hope to see you there!!
11 Comments
fnmagno · May 13, 2012 at 2:53 pm
I just read “large fonts…big emotions” and wasn’t too surprised by the findings. Personally, whenever i see something in all caps, I seem to read it as if the person is yelling, either excitedly or angry, depending on the context. I feel this is also why people tend to use big fonts and all caps to capture people’s attention when advertising, to elicit the emotion they are trying to get at.
fnmagno · May 13, 2012 at 2:57 pm
I read “alarm clocks make you fat?” and feel like I disagree. While disruptions in your sleep can result to health problems of sorts, using an alarm clock is not to blame for weight gain. I do agree that poor sleeping habits can result to weight gain, but this can also be caused by poor eating habits and lack of exercise as well.
alimgarrison · May 13, 2012 at 7:57 pm
I read “alarm clocks make you fat?” and it does not surprise me. I have learned from biopsych that you must have a regular sleeping schedule, but I did not think that it affected your health and weight so much. I do not believe that the alarm clocks are the blame for the weight gain, but I believe that the sleep schedule does.
alimgarrison · May 13, 2012 at 8:05 pm
“Using large fonts to elicit LARGE emotions” was very interesting to me because I use all caps very often to express different emotions that I feel. I use caps especially when I am stressed about a test, paper, or midterm, and in college that happens often. It was interesting that it affects the same part that has influence on emotions.
BlaineLeal · May 14, 2012 at 12:53 am
I just read “Harry Potter’s diary inspires self-writing blood paper” and was impressed by the applicability of Rowling’s invention of a self-writing notebook. Allowing people to test their blood type using this smart technology may allow people to learn more about their hematology.
BlaineLeal · May 14, 2012 at 1:01 am
I just read “Neuroscience shows why people love to brag” and was not surprised to discover a neurological basis for bragging. I have wondered why people brag about themselves. It seems like a strange behavior because it is viewed as unappealing to others. Bragging seems to increase one’s confidence, so maybe that’s why we experience a rewarding sensation when we brag. I want somebody to do a correlational study between a person’s bragging tendencies and his actual success in life.
camillephillips3 · May 14, 2012 at 9:31 am
I just read “Harry Potter’s diary inspires self-writing blood paper” and was really intrigued by this idea! Not only has Rowling and the Potter series given rise to an applicable idea, but it could also prevent the error that has been associated with blood typing for so long. This way of blood typing who enable people to take their own blood type without error in the comfort of their home. What a great way to connect a fictional story to science!
camillephillips3 · May 14, 2012 at 9:35 am
In “alarm clocks make you fat” I was slightly shocked by how detrimental setting an alarm can be to your natural biological clock. As a college student, my sleeping patterns differ greatly from the workweek to the weekend and now that I know how many issues this can be causing, I will try to regulate my sleep better. Sleep is an imperative part of being able to function normally, and messing up your biological clock could produce some potentially damaging, lasting effects.
Amir Tadros · May 14, 2012 at 3:04 pm
“ScienceShot: Large Fonts Elicit Big Emotions”
It makes sense that a larger image ellicits a bigger response out of a person. It is an indication that there is something big or something really close and that usually means that there is some kind of quick reaction is needed to deal with the situation. It’s amazing that evolution has fine tuned so many of our sense to allow for as strong of an advantage as possible.
Josh VanVoorhis · May 20, 2012 at 6:37 pm
I just looked at the article “people love to brag”. Best research finding I’ve heard in a while. I mean its obvious that people like to talk about themselves. But to actually see the same part of the brain light up that lights up when receiving a reward (money, food)….thats awesome! I also read that self-disclosure is helpful in making bonds between people. Higher levels of self-disclosure lead to more valued connections. I just think this study is cool because it relates to everyday life. Especially in the age of Facebook!
kdevlugt · May 29, 2012 at 9:29 pm
I read “media distorts, bloggers rule”. I found that in my personal life, I’m more likely to hear news stories through bloggers and facebook feeds, than I am through the original journal article. Instead, I use news in the blogosphere as a jumping off point to refer to other news sources and, in some cases, scholastic papers. The way the news cycle is described in the article reminds me of this PHD Comics strip I saw awhile ago: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1174 It does an excellent job of showing how a scientific discovery is simplified and sensationalized by the media. However, I don’t think this is always a bad thing, since I can bring attention, and funding, to interesting scientific research.
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