"If anyone in Washington is skeptical about these findings, they are in denial."

today the washington post has an interesting article on implicit racial bias and voter preference focusing on research suggesting white conservatives have stronger implicit bias against blacks than do liberals. the study's not published yet, so i can't say much about it except the following: the study seems to be utilizing an outdated - or at best simplistic - understanding of bias. recent studies have shown that, given an additional 500 milliseconds, most implicit reactions disappear and the brain utilizes more advanced regions, such as the frontal cortex, instead of the amygdala which is activated in the shorter-response-time studies (30 milliseconds).

so do these initial amygdala reactions matter at all for behavior? are conservatives in general really more racist? i don't know. either way, let's not forget about the frontal cortex either.

the 500 millisecond article was published in psychological science, but i forget the actual reference - if i find it i'll post it as an update here. i blogged about it before, but archives are temporarily missing b/c of the transition to a new URL.

thanks to nigel for the article.

Labels: ideology

one restaurant in my lovely hometown of newark, ohio is bucking the smoking ban enacted on january 1st. the owner, teri paxson, has refused to comply with the ban despite warnings, dubbing her restaurant a "freedom of choice establishment."

four other restaurants in the area have been caught hosting smokers. violators can face $150 in fines and the loss of their liquor license.

unfortunately ms. paxson did not give comment to the newspaper, so that's about all i know. read the whole story here.

Labels: political

the whole post is worth a read, but here's an exerpt from psych pundit, the blog of a clinical psych professor and therapist:

If, as a psychologist, I can help change a patient's thoughts, I've also (by definition) helped change his brain. Changing behavior changes the brain. Changing feelings changes the brain.

In a nutshell: experience changes the brain.

Why is this important? Because when it comes to mental illness, so many people automatically assume, "Oh, well the doctor said I probably have a 'chemical imbalance' or something wrong with my brain, so that means I have to take drugs to fix it." But if we understand that experience changes the brain - that the mind and brain are flip sides of the same underlying reality - we won't make this logical error.

well said!

related news: meditation makes your brain bigger in areas of attention and sensory input.

Labels: misc. psych, neuroscience

schizophrenia drugs are notorious for, among other things, blunting mental ability. via world of psychology, nicotine may counteract this effect:

nicotine patches boosted schizophrenics’ performance on tests of short-term memory and of mental processing speed abilities with which Haloperidol, the leading antipsychotic drug, interferes. Nicotine also improved participants’ attention spans as they tackled a boring computer task for 14 mind-numbing minutes

Labels: misc. psych

a new study suggests that political decision making and analytical thinking may be opposed, illustrating the neural substrates of confirmation bias (tendency to ignore facts opposing your view and seek those confirming it).

in the study, staunch political party members evaluated data critical of their candidate - george w or john kerry's - position on an issue. brain scans revealed no activity in areas of conscious analytical thought, but instead in emotional circuits including conflict and disgust. reward centers took over when subjects came to their decisions.

we are a jaded polity; most of us (justly) feel that politicians manipulate facts. i'm not sure the study says much more than that. once someone's convinced, by whatever method, that her party or candidate is usually correct, that trust makes her likely to be skeptical of any information contradicting the party tract. it's energy and time efficient; it's farming out work to an institution you trust.

so does this say something horrible about us? should we feel guilty for not being analytical enough? not necessarily. at most, it illustrates one of the dangers of direct democracy. perhaps we aren't really cut out to make decisions for everyone.

unfortunately, the study did not look at independent or swing voters, or even party folks who are less involved. i'd also like to see if brain activity differs between issues of greater or lesser personal and worldwide importance, and unfamiliar issues.

thanks to tenacious jdt for the link.

Labels: decision making, ideology

money magazine has five cool tips on how to control for common errors in investing using lessons from neuroeconomics. a few are common sense and have little to do with neuroecon, but the best piece of advice is probably:

"It's important to realize," says Stanford University neuroeconomist Brian Knutson, "that the magnitude of a long-shot reward is going to drive your behavior far more than the probabilities, which are minuscule."

kiva, which means "agreement" or "unity" in swahili, is a unique microfinance nonprofit that connects individuals with small businesses in the developing world:

By choosing a business on our website and then lending money online to that enterprise, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive monthly email updates that let you know about the progress being made by the small business you've sponsored. These updates include reports on loan repayment progress, photos of new capital equipment, narratives on business growth and standard of living improvements, and more. As loans are repaid, you will get your original loan money back.

anyone with a credit card and paypal account can loan much-needed funds in $25 increments. interest goes to operating expenses only (partly due to massive SEC regulations on interest-bearing loans), so investors receive only their capital investment when the loan is repaid.

so why would a nonprofit choose microfinance instead of donations? insisting that poor entrepreneurs repay their loans seems much colder than handing out grants. yet it seems to me that requiring repayment engenders a feeling of obligation and indebtedness, possibly making entrepreneurs work harder to succeed. kiva's answer is focused on our behavior rather than that of the entrepreneur - we are more likely to give money when we get it back, increasing the number of loans and people they can help:

There is a limit to the amount of money people can give; loans, on the other hand, can be repaid and re-loaned indefinitely. We believe in the power of creating a more sustainable option for people to contribute.

visit kiva's website for more information. the founders also have a blog.

Labels: social

prompted by a recommendation by brain waves, i went to amazon to pre-order myself a copy of the female brain by louann brizendine, MD.

i thought it was absolutely hilarious that amazon was kind enough to suggest i buy the south beach diet along with it.

Labels: neuroscience

guerlain has found the solution to unhappiness: their new happylogy line contains pro-endorphins, meant to trigger endorphins in the skin and promote happiness (for only $80). is effectiveness (i'll wager happylogy lacks it) all that separates this from endorphin drugs such as opium?

endorphin-boosters aside, reserach suggests we should be more strategic about the kinds of things we purchase to make us happy:

In a nationwide phone survey of 1,279 adults, respondents were much more likely to claim that a prior experiential purchase made them happier than a material one—57 percent versus 34 percent—even after accounting for differences in price.

this makes sense, although the study seems methodologically flawed, relying solely on recall of items purchased. it is also difficult to account for life quality improvements, a standard complaint of happiness studies - for example, you may not report that a washer & dryer increases your happiness in the same way that a trip to aruba does, but it reduces hassle and frees up time and money for more enjoyable (experiential) activities, etc.

in addition, as the article notes the distinction between experiential and material goods is a bit blurry. most seem to contain both components, guerlain's happylogy products being a great example.

Labels: well being

parents everywhere may want to stop nagging their kids about their soda consumption. a new report indicates that sugary drinks aid memorization by stimulating the hippocampus. memory is inherently linked to IQ, so have we discovered a true intelligence-enhancer? well, expanded memory lasts only as long as the extra glucose does, and consuming too much sugar may hurt in the long run considering the (albeit tenuous) inverse relationship between IQ and weight. perhaps it just means that diet drinkers are, on net, dumber:

in an age of low-sugar or artificially sweetened drinks, they suggest that too many low-calorie beverages could hamper mental performance.

i sincerely doubt that, considering most of us don't operate constantly with coke-in-hand. regardless, understanding more about the link between glucose and memory it's good news for folks with chronic memory or pancreatic disorders.

who knew good could come out of a colin farrell movie? hollywood director terence malick's greed for glory and money has partially restored virginia algonquian, pocahontas' language, for the new world. the scholar he funded to restore the language for the movie, blair rudes, told MSNBC:

"It might have been done anyway, but it would have taken much, much longer," Rudes said. "This type of work is very time-consuming and expensive. ... There are so many other projects, I probably wouldn't have turned to this one."

details on the restored language from the film, including CDs and scripts, will go to the descendants of the langage. a dictionary is also in-progress. many nations are attempting to reclaim some of the cultural heritage taken from them during assimilation, and language is an important key to this process. so even if the movie sucks, you'll be buying a bit of cultural preservation with your ticket.

Labels: social

A lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.
-- george bernard shaw

psychology today reports that hell-on-earth to others - marriage - may not increase one's every day happiness. we tend to return to our happiness "set point" after time, a process called "hedonic leveling."

this is interesting, but it really misses the point entirely (as with much pop happiness research). as happiness is only one small part of the purported benefits of marriage. finding that marriage doesn't help one cope with severe illness, family crises, child rearing, or other major events - now that would be a relevant study.

update: marriage may increase wealth (and therefore, in my opinion, possibly well-being):

Married people will see an increase in wealth that is more than just adding the assets of two single people, according to the study that was published in the Journal of Sociology.

for more on happiness, see will's excellent blog.

Labels: well being

i've been seeing more and more research on behavioral gender differences lately. i love it; it's both interesting and fabulously politically incorrect.

it makes sense that we derive enjoyment from seeing our enemies suffer. however, a new study suggests that men enjoy watching their enemies suffer more than women do. this could help explain a host of behavioral gender differences, as men may be facing different neural trade-offs. now i want to see a study that measures whether or not men are more willing to "pay" to punish unfair trades in the lab - i'll wager they do.

see other posts gender differences in intelligence, performance on standardized tests, and pain, and the biological mechanism for some gender differences.

ref: Tania Singer, Ben Seymour, John P. O'Doherty, Klaas E. Stephan, Raymond J. Dolan and Chris D. Frith. "Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others." Nature Jan. 18 2006

Labels: decision making

what provokes some people to yawn when others do? new research indicates it is a more active posterior cingulate gyrus, the area thought to be involved in empathy.

individuals who yawned in response to video clips of others yawning showed increased activity in this area. this study may give some credit to the idea that empathy, even when not recognized by the conscious mind, leads to certain behaviors - mimicking in this case. could it also speak to the mystery of altruism as well?

more on:
evolutionary theories for altruism
empathy and mirror neurons

i've been busy writing, but unfortunately not for my blog. so here are a few things from december:

hot and exciting studies in the psychology realm:

• there's a neurological differences between liking and craving sweets. this may hold interesting application to those with drug or eating abnormalities (i.e., liking cocaine may be governed by different neurons than craving it). however, recent evidence also suggests that overeating is often encouraged by social cues rather than cravings. does that mean the rise in compulsive eating support groups is bad? maybe not - it's better to be overweight anyway.


• neural substrates behind the brave lover dueling for his lady's honor: it's all about oxytocin. oxytocin is a hormone thought to be involved with trust, love, breastfeeding, and now with a reduced sense of fear. so, perhaps all we need is a little love to combat those pernicious ad campaigns. (see a previous post on oxytocin and risky decision making)


• the coeval nature of happiness and success exists (PDF). here's an article about the article if you don't have adobe or journal access. will also posted on it.
  
• self-help books will ruin your life (rather, rewarding poor performance in kids, and creating an unrealistically positive self-image and outlook for you, will):

  
  You cannot have a life plan predicated on the belief that everything is equally achievable to you — especially if that same message has been sold indiscriminately to all comers. In the grand scheme of things, knowing one's limitations may be even more important than knowing one's talents.

• could romantic love prevent stroke damage? in separate studies, an increase in nerve growth factor (NGF) has been linked to both the onset of romantic love and reduced damage for stroke victims. thanks to debi for the love/NGF link.


• neural correlates of monogamous relationships found, at least in prairie mice. patterns get "worn" into the brain, and after a while other females don't produce the same neural responses in male brains - i.e., in a monogamous relationship, other females become less something, perhaps we can term it "attractive."

other items:

did the doug bandow story get a little more attention than the armstrong williams one (williams secretly received 240k from bush to strongly advocate no child left behind)? perhaps it's just the world i live in, but it seems so despite many parallels. their defense was similar - "it was something i believed in anyway". the main difference, i suppose, is that williams' payoff was once my money and bandow's was not.

i'm a over halfway into jared diamond's collapse. the book, so far, is rather disappointing (as others have noted) i have not yet seen the words "private" and "property" strung together - very odd indeed for a book on the fall of societies. so far the main lesson is:

• deforestation --> cannibalism

it's good thing the tree cover in the US is expanding (so i hear).

two new and awesome blogs: cato unbound and happiness and public policy.

a really kick-ass post over at cafe hayek on humans' predisposition to look towards a higher authority (e.g., God - or the state). as if you all don't already read it daily. thanks to tenacious jdt for that link.

update: just fixing a ^$&% link.

Labels: links, neuroscience, well being