Posts archived in Biological rhythms and sleep
May 6, 2010 by Evie Bentley.
Recently published sleep research suggests that
- adolescents who cut down on sleep risk an increase in body weight, and
- sleeping less than 6-8 hours a night leads to a 12% increase in the risk of dying early, and
- even short periods e.g. one night of very reduced sleep can lead to resistance to the hormone insulin and potentially to developing type 2 diabetes.
These studies’ conclusions do not, however, mean that a few nights of reduced sleep will make you fat, develop type 2 diabetes or die in the near future; the message seems to be that 6-8 hours sleep a night is not just the norm, but really, really good for us !
May 1, 2010 by Cara Flanagan.
I showed this video at a number of recent psychology conferences when I was talking about research methods, and thought I would share it on this site because it is quite entertaining.
Change blindness describes how people are quite poor at noticing change, something demonstrated in a number of studies (see also Daniel Simon and Daniel Levin’s classic ‘door study‘ or Richard Wiseman’s colour changing card trick or just look up change blindness).
Change blindness is different from inattentional blindness where people do not see things which are in plain sight – famously demonstrated in this video (and by Daniel Simons) this one from Richard Wiseman.
You may ask why I was using the video when talking about research methods – I suggested that students might think of ways to further test these phenomena. For example there is evidence that people are more likely to notice change if the other people are the same age as themselves.
April 26, 2010 by Evie Bentley.
A study from Decode Genetics in Reykjavik, published in Nature Genetics, suggests that four genes have now been identified – two linked to nicotine dependence and another two linked with nicotine metabolism. These findings, if valid, could lead to better understanding of addiction to smoking and how to treat this addiction.
March 20, 2010 by Adrian Frost.
Loads of interesting material for sale on Ebay, including this IQ picture puzzle test from 1918.
February 14, 2010 by Adrian Frost.
February 12, 2010 by Adrian Frost.
Little films of clever folk (including Zimbardo and Oliver Sacks) talking about how the mind works…
December 4, 2009 by Jean Marc Lawton.
Perhaps the most influential change in society in recent years has been the vast involvement of technology in our everyday lives; such as mobile phones, digital cameras and the many practical uses of computers, such as data compiling, e-mailing and so forth. This has reached such a level that some see no reason for physical copies of music, such as records and cds, or even books on printed-paper. In California there has Read the rest of this entry »
November 30, 2009 by Adrian Frost.
You know I keep thinking about the face on that cheese toastie that Jean Marc wrote about a while back. We seem to have an immensely strong urge to see faces everywhere: on the moon, in clouds, even in the most abstract of shapes and doodles. In our minds, the most random of patterns or stimuli seem to readily coalesce into two eyes a nose and a mouth. Every Read the rest of this entry »
September 7, 2009 by Adrian Frost.
Out of body experiences, scary rubber hands, kidding folk they have three arms, mind / body swaps……. I don’t know if this stuff is on the specification, but it should be, shouldn’t it?
August 10, 2009 by Adrian Frost.
An interesting article here.
It would be nice to ask students whether they felt that they could explain these behaviours – a useful little introduction to the types and levels of explanation that psychologists put forward.
