MetaFilter posts tagged with brain and psychology

What's The Question About Your Field That You Dread Being Asked?

the man of twists and turns — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 07:19:35 -0800

"Maybe it's a sore point: your field should have an answer (people think you do) but there isn't one yet. Perhaps it's simple to pose but hard to answer. Or it's a question that belies a deep misunderstanding: the best answer is to question the question."

Intelligence Tests

kliuless — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:40:00 -0800

Is Psychometric g a Myth? - "As an online discussion about IQ or general intelligence grows longer, the probability of someone linking to statistician Cosma Shalizi's essay g, a Statistical Myth approaches 1. Usually the link is accompanied by an assertion to the effect that Shalizi offers a definitive refutation of the concept of general mental ability, or psychometric g." Myths, Sisyphus and g - "Over the years I have not encountered a single endorser of Shalizi's article who actually understands the relevant subject matter. His article is loved for its reassuring conclusions, not the strength of its arguments. I am sure many 'thinkers' resisted Darwinism, the abandonment of geocentrism, and even the notion that the Earth is a sphere, for similar psychological reasons." Nuthin' but a 'g' thang

So I've always had the intuitive hypothesis that there are different types of intelligence; that different people tend to process information in different ways, whether due to habit or nature. But then there are all those people who say that intelligence can be boiled down to a single factor, the mysterious "g" (which I assume stands for either "general intelligence" or "gangsta"). Since this went against years of casual observation, I was somewhat pleased to see the eminent Cosma Shalizi write an essay debunking the notion of "g". But then I saw this blog post defending the notion of "g", and claiming that Shalizi makes a bunch of errors. Basically, the disagreement revolves around the question of why most or all psychometric tests and tasks seem positively correlated with each other. Shalizi points out that this correlation structure will naturally lead to the emergence of a "g"-like factor, even if one doesn't really exist; his opponent points out that if no "g" exists, it should be possible to design uncorrelated psychometric tests, which so far has proven extremely difficult to do. The latter post, by a pseudonymous blogger calling himself "Dalliard", contains a bunch of references to psychometric research that I don't know about and have neither the time nor the will to evaluate, so I'm a bit stumped. Normally I'd leave the matter at that, shrug, and go read something else, but I realized that my intuitive hypothesis about intelligence didn't really seem to be explicitly stated in either of the posts. So I thought I'd explain my conjecture about how intelligence works. In a nutshell, it's this: What if there are multiple "g's"? ...just imagine several dozen hyperplanes, and project them all onto one hyperplane... Remember that psychometric tests are simple mental tasks, but most of the mental tasks we do are complex, like computer programming or chess or writing. And for those tasks, learning and practice matter as much as innate skill, or more (for example, see this study about the neurology of chess players). Therefore, everyone can be "smart" in some way, if "smart" means "good at some complex mental task".

also btw To Make Mice Smarter, Add A Few Human Brain Cells (previously)

the squidgy 1.5kg lump of pink stuff in our heads

cthuljew — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:23:58 -0800

NeuroBollocks: Debunking pseudo-neuroscience so you don't have to.

Grape Apes: The Origins of Morality

kliuless — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 07:41:59 -0800

Chimp Fights and Trolley Rides from Radiolab's morality episode: "try to answer tough moral quandaries. The questions--which force you to decide between homicidal scenarios--are the same ones being asked by Dr. Joshua Greene. He'll tell us about using modern brain scanning techniques to take snapshots of the brain as it struggles to resolve these moral conflicts. And he'll describe what he sees in these images: quite literally, a battle taking place in the brain. It's 'inner chimp' versus a calculator-wielding rationale."

Debunking the Myth of Intuition

vidur — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 19:54:48 -0800

"Can doctors and investment advisers be trusted? And do we live more for experiences or memories? In a SPIEGEL interview, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman discusses the innate weakness of human thought, deceptive memories and the misleading power of intuition."

Can Sex Ever Be Casual?

reenum — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:43:16 -0800

Psychology Today delves into the societal and psychological issues raised by casual sex.

The Brain on Trial.

Eideteker — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:43:18 -0800

The Brain on Trial. Advances in brain science are calling into question the volition behind many criminal acts. A leading neuroscientist describes how the foundations of our criminal-justice system are beginning to crumble, and proposes a new way forward for law and order.

"We may someday find that many types of bad behavior have a basic biological explanation—as has happened with schizophrenia, epilepsy, depression, and mania."

[Charles Whitman] requested in his suicide note that an autopsy be performed to determine if something had changed in his brain—because he suspected it had. "I talked with a Doctor once for about two hours and tried to convey to him my fears that I felt [overcome by] overwhelming violent impulses. After one session I never saw the Doctor again, and since then I have been fighting my mental turmoil alone, and seemingly to no avail." Whitman’s body was taken to the morgue, his skull was put under the bone saw, and the medical examiner lifted the brain from its vault. He discovered that Whitman’s brain harbored a tumor the diameter of a nickel. This tumor, called a glioblastoma, had blossomed from beneath a structure called the thalamus, impinged on the hypothalamus, and compressed a third region called the amygdala. The amygdala is involved in emotional regulation, especially of fear and aggression. . . . Whitman’s intuition about himself—that something in his brain was changing his behavior—was spot-on.

You all need to have your heads examined

hat_eater — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:28:28 -0800

The epidemic of mental illness plaguing the Americans and the overmedication of psychiatric patients are in part artifacts of the diagnostic method. Is the DSM working as designed? Marcia Agnelli, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, dissects the current "bible of psychiatry". previously, previously.

The Soul Niche

0bvious — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 02:46:10 -0800

Swimming around in a mixture of language and matter, humans occupy a particular evolutionary niche mediated by something we call 'consciousness'. To Professor Nicholas Humphrey we're made up of "soul dust": "a kind of theatre... an entertainment which we put on for ourselves inside our own heads." But just as that theatre is directed by the relationship between language and matter, it is also undermined by it. It all depends how you think it.

Believing is seeing, seeing is hearing

philipy — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 20:00:14 -0800

Is seeing believing? BBC Horizon looks at sensory perception, illusions and the interplay of our different senses. (Full program for UK viewers here). Makes you feel like you've entered The Twilight Zone. It turns out that pretty often believing is seeing, that what you see can completely alter what you hear, that trained chefs totally misidentify food tastes when the color cues are wrong, and hearing different sounds piped through headsets can make food feel crispier or less crisp in their mouths. If you can watch the whole show, there are many fascinating and funny examples of how senses and perception don't work the way that most of us thought. And there's a blind guy that rides a bicycle while sensing his surroundings bat-like via echolocation.

You Dirty Chicken Plucker

nola — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:09:03 -0800

Howard Bloom: Exercising the Animals in the Brain Howard Bloom is the author of: "The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History" ("mesmerizing"-The Washington Post), Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From The Big Bang to the 21st Century ("reassuring and sobering"-The New Yorker), and How I Accidentally Started The Sixties ("a monumental, epic, glorious literary achievement." Timothy Leary). The Genius of the Beast

Me Tarzan. You Jane. He Skeptic.

grumblebee — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:02:46 -0800

This article, about differences between male and female brains, is doing the rounds on various blogs. (I found it via reddit.) Meanwhile, debunkers are doing their best to rip the author a new asshole.

DSM-5

emilyd22222 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:12:34 -0800

At midnight tonight, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) released a proposed draft of the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Some notable changes: -Addition of dimensional assessments -Addition of standardized way to assess disorder severity - Binge Eating Disorder added to eating disorders - Asperger Syndrome removed and folded into the autism spectrum disorder umbrella -Addition of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury It appears that no changes were made to Gender Identity Disorders, which had been a focus of concern. The APA is seeking public comment from health professionals, consumers of mental health services, and family members of people with mental disorders until April 20, 2010. The DSM-5 will be published in May 2013. Previously

Wait, wait, I almost have it!

CaptKyle — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:22:45 -0800

Why do we get "tip of the tongue" moments?? We’ve all experienced the tip of the tongue moment where we wanted to say something but just couldn’t remember the word. But what causes this momentary lapses in vocabulary?

Neuroscience of Nostalgia

homunculus — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:10:31 -0800

Neuroscience and Nostalgia. [Via]

Long-term effects of ecstacy

homunculus — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:13:05 -0800

Ecstasy's long-term effects revealed. "Enough time has finally elapsed to start asking if ecstasy damages health in the long term. According to the biggest review ever undertaken, it causes slight memory difficulties and mild depression, but these rarely translate into problems in the real world. While smaller studies show that some individuals have bigger problems, including weakened immunity and larger memory deficits, so far, for most people, ecstasy seems to be nowhere near as harmful over time as you may have been led to believe." [Via]

Extending the Mind

homunculus — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:50:55 -0800

How Google Is Making Us Smarter: Humans are "natural-born cyborgs," and the Internet is our giant "extended mind."

A New Theory Of Mental Disorders

grumblebee — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:49:06 -0800

"Their idea is, in broad outline, straightforward. Dr. Crespi and Dr. Badcock propose that an evolutionary tug of war between genes from the father’s sperm and the mother’s egg can, in effect, tip brain development in one of two ways. A strong bias toward the father pushes a developing brain along the autistic spectrum, toward a fascination with objects, patterns, mechanical systems, at the expense of social development. A bias toward the mother moves the growing brain along what the researchers call the psychotic spectrum, toward hypersensitivity to mood, their own and others’. This, according to the theory, increases a child’s risk of developing schizophrenia later on, as well as mood problems like bipolar disorder and depression."

Neural Correlates of Hate

homunculus — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:21:20 -0800

Brain's 'Hate Circuit' Identified. "People who view pictures of someone they hate display activity in distinct areas of the brain that, together, may be thought of as a 'hate circuit', according to new research by scientists at UCL (University College London)."

I Contain Multitudes

homunculus — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:00:10 -0800

First Person Plural. "An evolving approach to the science of pleasure suggests that each of us contains multiple selves—all with different desires, and all fighting for control. If this is right, the pursuit of happiness becomes even trickier. Can one self bind another self if the two want different things? Are you always better off when a Good Self wins? And should outsiders, such as employers and policy makers, get into the fray?" [Via]

Dopamine

homunculus — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:30:25 -0800

A New State of Mind. "New research is linking dopamine to complex social phenomena and changing neuroscience in the process."

My brain hurts.

farishta — Tue, 27 May 2008 03:57:07 -0800

Unusual penetrating brain injuries, via neurophilosophy. Related: an article on Prehistoric Inca Neurosurgery and a BBC radio 4 program on the contribution of Phineas Gage to psychological research.

Mental Illness Might Be Caused By Microbes

amyms — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:05:11 -0800

Are you batshitinsane? Viruses and/or bacteria may be the cause.

The Case Against Adolescence

912 Greens — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:05:34 -0800

"Imagine what it would feel like—or think back to what it felt like—when your body and mind are telling you you're an adult while the adults around you keep insisting you're a child." An interview with psychologist Robert Epstein, who argues that American teens are far more intelligent, capable, and moral than we give them credit for. His new book, The Case Against Adolescence, suggests that infantilization of teens leads to psychological problems. See also Epstein's article "The Myth of the Teen Brain" [PDF] from Scientific American Mind.

The Art of Psychiatry

Gyan — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 11:48:48 -0800

Dictionary of Disorder - shaping the DSM