readings in psychology for 18 July 2013 @PsychScience

We have a new puppy! She is known as an Australian Shepherd (also called a California Shepherd) a dog originating in the Basque country of Spain. Her name is “Ronnie.”

Here is what I am reading today:

• the brain’s green thumb!

“”Although the birth of new brain cells throughout the lifetime is limited to only a few areas of the brain, these cells may hold key information about how the brain adapts following injury or disease.”

• for fans of ZELDA!!

““The Complete History of Hyrule,” follows the order of events of the Zelda series chronologically. Some pages have various translators, and as a result, there are some translations that vary slightly, though none seem to contradict each other.”

• your inner speech

“Whether you’re reading the paper or thinking through your schedule for the day, chances are that you’re hearing yourself speak even if you’re not saying words out loud. This internal speech—the monologue you “hear” inside your head—is a ubiquitous but largely unexamined phenomenon. A new study looks at a possible brain mechanism that could explain how we hear this inner voice in the absence of actual sound.

In two experiments, researcher Mark Scott of the University of British Columbia found evidence that a brain signal called corollary discharge—a signal that helps us distinguish the sensory experiences we produce ourselves from those produced by external stimuli—plays an important role in our experiences of internal speech.

The findings from the two experiments are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.”

• do people spend too much time talking about themselves??

“If you’re like most people, your own thoughts and experiences may be your favorite topic of conversation.  On average, people spend 60 percent of conversationstalking about themselves—and this figure jumps to 80 percent when communicating via social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook.”

• sleep cures many things

“It seems like the worst sort of cycle. The less sleep you get, the less effective you are. Then you have more to do, get more stressed, and stay up trying to get it all done (or lie awake stressing about it). The next day, less sleep, and even more anxiety.

The ironic part is that you might not be quite so anxious…if you could just get some SLEEP.”

• spacial reasoning and creativity

“Exceptional spatial ability at age 13 predicts creative and scholarly achievements over 30 years later, according to results from a new longitudinal study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The study, conducted by psychology researcher David Lubinski and colleagues at Vanderbilt University, provides evidence that early spatial ability—the skill required to mentally manipulate 2D and 3D objects—predicts the development of new knowledge, and especially innovation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains, above and beyond more traditional measures of mathematical and verbal ability.

“We live in the age of human capital,” says Lubinski. “Creativity is the currency of the modern era, especially in STEM disciplines. Having a better understanding of the human attributes that facilitate innovation has clear practical implications for education, training, business, and talent development.””

• grow your own beef from a test tube??

“(Medical Xpress)—Ogilvy Public Relations has announced that a media event will take place on August 5th in London to publicize the results of efforts by Mark Post, a researcher at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands—he has been trying to grow palatable beef in a lab. An unknown person will be invited to taste the beef sample that has been grown from stem cells, in front of an invitation-only crowd of guests.”