psychology

Showing 36 posts tagged psychology

Sad Music Can Help Mend Broken Heart New research suggest an aesthetic experience that reflects a person’s mood can help calm emotional turmoil. Thus, sad music or books may help someone get through heartbreak. “Emotional experiences of aesthetic products are important to our happiness and well-being. Music, movies, paintings, or novels that are compatible with our current mood and feelings, akin to an empathic friend, are more appreciated when we experience broken or failing relationships,” write the study authors. image via flickr:CC | shainelee High-res

Sad Music Can Help Mend Broken Heart

New research suggest an aesthetic experience that reflects a person’s mood can help calm emotional turmoil. Thus, sad music or books may help someone get through heartbreak.

“Emotional experiences of aesthetic products are important to our happiness and well-being. Music, movies, paintings, or novels that are compatible with our current mood and feelings, akin to an empathic friend, are more appreciated when we experience broken or failing relationships,” write the study authors.

image via flickr:CC | shainelee

In Digital Age, Breaking Up May Be Even Harder to Do A new research study investigates how an individual can manage the digital records of an ex, across multiple devices, applications, web-services, and platforms “People are keeping huge collections of digital possessions,” said Dr. Steve Whittaker, a psychology professor at the University of California – Santa Cruz who specializes in human-computer interaction. “There has been little exploration of the negative role of digital possessions when people want to forget aspects of their lives.” image via flickr:CC | Mr Miyagi High-res

In Digital Age, Breaking Up May Be Even Harder to Do

A new research study investigates how an individual can manage the digital records of an ex, across multiple devices, applications, web-services, and platforms

“People are keeping huge collections of digital possessions,” said Dr. Steve Whittaker, a psychology professor at the University of California – Santa Cruz who specializes in human-computer interaction.

“There has been little exploration of the negative role of digital possessions when people want to forget aspects of their lives.”

image via flickr:CC | Mr Miyagi

How Multitasking Can Improve Judgments Research has revealed that multitasking impedes performance across a variety of tasks. Emergency room nurses that are interrupted multiple times while treating a patient can be more likely to make medication errors. Driving while speaking on a mobile phone significantly increases the probability of an automobile accident. At the same time, however, experienced golfers putt better when distracted than experienced golfers who are focusing on performance. Distractions resulting from the presence of other people can increase an individual’s performance, too. Why..? Higher cognitive load can actually improve performance when the task can be best completed using a less demanding, similarity-based strategy that informs judgments by retrieving past instances from memory. image via flickr:CC | CarbonNYC High-res

How Multitasking Can Improve Judgments

Research has revealed that multitasking impedes performance across a variety of tasks. Emergency room nurses that are interrupted multiple times while treating a patient can be more likely to make medication errors. Driving while speaking on a mobile phone significantly increases the probability of an automobile accident. At the same time, however, experienced golfers putt better when distracted than experienced golfers who are focusing on performance. Distractions resulting from the presence of other people can increase an individual’s performance, too.

Why..? Higher cognitive load can actually improve performance when the task can be best completed using a less demanding, similarity-based strategy that informs judgments by retrieving past instances from memory.

image via flickr:CC | CarbonNYC

How Does Multitasking Change the Way Kids Learn?

Concern about young people’s use of technology is nothing new, of course. But Rosen’s study, published in the May issue of Computers in Human Behavior, is part of a growing body of research focused on a very particular use of technology: media multitasking while learning. Attending to multiple streams of information and entertainment while studying, doing homework, or even sitting in class has become common behavior among young people—so common that many of them rarely write a paper or complete a problem set any other way.

But evidence from psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience suggests that when students multitask while doing schoolwork, their learning is far spottier and shallower than if the work had their full attention. They understand and remember less, and they have greater difficulty transferring their learning to new contexts. So detrimental is this practice that some researchers are proposing that a new prerequisite for academic and even professional success—the new marshmallow test of self-discipline—is the ability to resist a blinking inbox or a buzzing phone.

Bonding With Your Virtual Self May Alter Your Actual Perceptions A group of students who saw that a backpack was attached to an avatar that they had created overestimated the heights of virtual hills, just as people in real life tend to overestimate heights and distances while carrying extra weight, according to Sangseok You, a doctoral student in the school of information, University of Michigan. “You exert more of your agency through an avatar when you design it yourself,” said S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory, Penn State, who worked with You. “Your identity mixes in with the identity of that avatar and, as a result, your visual perception of the virtual environment is colored by the physical resources of your avatar.” image via flickr:CC | Dr._Colleen_Morgan High-res

Bonding With Your Virtual Self May Alter Your Actual Perceptions

A group of students who saw that a backpack was attached to an avatar that they had created overestimated the heights of virtual hills, just as people in real life tend to overestimate heights and distances while carrying extra weight, according to Sangseok You, a doctoral student in the school of information, University of Michigan.

“You exert more of your agency through an avatar when you design it yourself,” said S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory, Penn State, who worked with You. “Your identity mixes in with the identity of that avatar and, as a result, your visual perception of the virtual environment is colored by the physical resources of your avatar.”

image via flickr:CC | Dr._Colleen_Morgan

Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers Laptops are commonplace in university classrooms. In light of cognitive psychology theory on costs associated with multitasking, we examined the effects of in-class laptop use on student learning in a simulated classroom. We found that participants who multitasked on a laptop during a lecture scored lower on a test compared to those who did not multitask, and participants who were in direct view of a multitasking peer scored lower on a test compared to those who were not. The results demonstrate that multitasking on a laptop poses a significant distraction to both users and fellow students and can be detrimental to comprehension of lecture content. If you’re lecturing you’re doing it wrong…but this is an interesting study with many good citations on multitasking and learning in classroom environments. photo via flickr:CC |  Enokson High-res

Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers

Laptops are commonplace in university classrooms. In light of cognitive psychology theory on costs associated with multitasking, we examined the effects of in-class laptop use on student learning in a simulated classroom. We found that participants who multitasked on a laptop during a lecture scored lower on a test compared to those who did not multitask, and participants who were in direct view of a multitasking peer scored lower on a test compared to those who were not. The results demonstrate that multitasking on a laptop poses a significant distraction to both users and fellow students and can be detrimental to comprehension of lecture content.

If you’re lecturing you’re doing it wrong…but this is an interesting study with many good citations on multitasking and learning in classroom environments.

photo via flickr:CC |  Enokson

Clenching Right Fist May Give Better Grip On Memory Clenching your right hand may help form a stronger memory of an event or action, and clenching your left may help you recollect the memory later, according to research published April 24 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Ruth Propper and colleagues from Montclair State University. The group that clenched their right fist when memorizing the list and then clenched the left when recollecting the words performed better than all the other hand clenching groups. This group also did better than the group that did not clench their fists at all, though this difference was not statistically ‘significant’. “The findings suggest that some simple body movements — by temporarily changing the way the brain functions- can improve memory. Future research will examine whether hand clenching can also improve other forms of cognition, for example verbal or spatial abilities,” says Ruth Propper, lead scientist on the study. image via flickr:CC | DenisGiles High-res

Clenching Right Fist May Give Better Grip On Memory

Clenching your right hand may help form a stronger memory of an event or action, and clenching your left may help you recollect the memory later, according to research published April 24 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Ruth Propper and colleagues from Montclair State University.

The group that clenched their right fist when memorizing the list and then clenched the left when recollecting the words performed better than all the other hand clenching groups. This group also did better than the group that did not clench their fists at all, though this difference was not statistically ‘significant’.

“The findings suggest that some simple body movements — by temporarily changing the way the brain functions- can improve memory. Future research will examine whether hand clenching can also improve other forms of cognition, for example verbal or spatial abilities,” says Ruth Propper, lead scientist on the study.

image via flickr:CC | DenisGiles

» Coming of Age Linked to Activity in Specific Brain Area

Moms and dads can take heart; new research suggest adolescence angst is merely a normal biological program of reorientation.

As parents know, adolescence is often a turbulent period when children consider their identity and social status. Research now suggests that during this transition period a specific region of the brain shows increased activity.

Giving Good Praise to Girls: What Messages Stick

“My research shows that praise for intelligence or ability backfires,” said Dweck, who co-authored a seminal research paper on the effects of praise on motivation and performance. “What we’ve shown is that when you praise someone, say, ‘You’re smart at this,’ the next time they struggle, they think they’re not. It’s really about praising the process they engage in, not how smart they are or how good they are at it, but taking on difficulty, trying many different strategies, sticking to it and achieving over time.”

But what some might not know is that this paradox is strongest for girls.

» New Research Says Up to 10% of Children Affected by Learning Disabilities

Up to 10 percent of the population is affected by specific learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and autism, which translates to two or three students in every classroom, according to new research.

According to the researchers, specific learning disabilities (SLD) arise from “atypical brain development with complicated genetic and environmental causes,” causing conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, and language impairment.

While each of these conditions provide a challenge for educators, those challenges are magnified because learning disabilities often “co-occur far more often than would be expected,” the researchers said.

Teens' Brains Are More Sensitive to Rewarding Feedback from Peers

Teenagers are risk-takers — they’re more likely than children or adults to experiment with illicit substances, have unprotected sex, and drive recklessly. But research shows that teenagers have the knowledge and ability to make competent decisions about risk. So what explains their risky behavior? Scientists argue that this risky behavior may reflect the unique effect of peer influence on the still-developing teenage brain.

Teachers’ Gestures Boost Math Learning A study published in Child Development, the top-ranked educational psychology journal, provides some of the strongest evidence yet that gesturing may have a unique effect on learning. Teachers in the United States tend to use gestures less than teachers in other countries. “Gesturing can be a very beneficial tool that is completely free and easily employed in classrooms,” said Kimberly Fenn, study co-author and assistant professor of psychology at Michigan State University. Students who learned from the gesture videos performed better on a test given immediately afterward than those who learned from the speech-only video. photo via flickr:CC | art makes me smile High-res

Teachers’ Gestures Boost Math Learning

A study published in Child Development, the top-ranked educational psychology journal, provides some of the strongest evidence yet that gesturing may have a unique effect on learning. Teachers in the United States tend to use gestures less than teachers in other countries.

“Gesturing can be a very beneficial tool that is completely free and easily employed in classrooms,” said Kimberly Fenn, study co-author and assistant professor of psychology at Michigan State University. Students who learned from the gesture videos performed better on a test given immediately afterward than those who learned from the speech-only video.

photo via flickr:CC | art makes me smile