Do thoughts have a language of their own? Read full article Continue reading page |1|2 What is the relationship between language and thought? The quest to create artificial intelligence may have come up with some unexpected answers THE idea of machines that think and act as intelligently as humans can generate strong emotions. This may explain why one of the most important accomplishments in the field of artificial intelligence has gone largely unnoticed: that some of the advances in AI can be used by ordinary people to improve their own natural intelligence and communication skills.
Chief among these advances is a form of logic called computational logic. According to one school of philosophy, our thoughts have a language-like structure that is independent of natural language: this is what students of language call the language of thought (LOT) hypothesis. The LOT hypothesis contrasts with the mildly contrary view that human thinking is actually conducted in natural language, and thus we could not think intelligently without it.
The evolutionary reason why rock music excites us: it reminds us of animal distress calls. Distorted sounds remind us of animals in distress - which excites our body By Eddie Wrenn Published: 16:40 GMT, 13 June 2012 | Updated: 16:44 GMT, 13 June 2012 Jimi Hendrix playing his guitar during his set at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969 Ever wonder why Jimi Hendrix's rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' moved so many people in 1969 or why the music in the shower scene of 'Psycho' still sends chills down your spine? A University of California-based team of researchers has isolated some of the ways in which distorted and jarring music is so evocative, and they believe that the mechanisms are closely related to distress calls in animals. They report their findings in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal Biology Letters, which publishes online June 12.
Blumstein is an authority on animal distress calls, particularly among marmots. They determined that the soundtracks for each genre possessed characteristic emotion-manipulating techniques. No regrets! Old people who learn not to regret the past are happier about the present - and cope better with stress. By Tamara Cohen Published: 18:01 GMT, 19 April 2012 | Updated: 18:07 GMT, 19 April 2012 No regrets? Learning to banish your regrets could be a survival mechanism critical to a happy old age If you HAVE had a few regrets, it might be to best to let them go, as dwelling on what might have been makes for a miserable old age, a study suggests. German scientists say regrets naturally decrease as we get older – as we try to make the most of the time we have left and have fewer opportunities for second chances. Younger people feel them far more acutely, as from an evolutionary perspective it is more important they learn not to repeat their mistakes.
But old people who've learnt to repress them most effectively feel less stress and control OTHER emotions more effectively. Learning to banish your regrets could be a survival mechanism critical to a happy old age. After each box, they could decide to bank the money or carry on in search of more - rather like the gameshow Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Cambridge Uni to complete Charles Darwin's last (and most creepy) experiment into human emotion. By Eddie Wrenn Published: 12:37 GMT, 15 May 2012 | Updated: 07:59 GMT, 16 May 2012 One of Charles Darwin's last experiments - which seems more like a trick the evolutionist enjoyed playing on his dinner guests - has been re-born for the digital age.
The pioneer of the theory of evolution owned a collection of photographs showing a French man having his face contorted via electrical shock treatment into a range of grimaces. So, sometime between dessert and a final drink in Darwin's home in 1868, Darwin would confront his poor dinner guests with the images and ask them to describe the man's expressions in their own words. Darwin then collated the responses from the 24 guests who, instead of walking out or punching him on the nose, answered his questions, and used these 'crowd-sourced' answers to find the definitive description for each face. Darwin was fascinated by the photos taken by French neurologist Duchenne de Boulogne, who referred to facial expressions as the 'gymnastics of the soul'. The look of love? How a woman's glance can tell a man if she's interested (or whether to walk away now)
If she looks down and then moves her eyes in a sweeping motion across the floor it almost certainly means that she is attracted to someoneBut an instant stare into a man's eyes or over his head on meeting is very bad news for a suitor The secrets of a woman's mind are revealed in expert Ali Campbell's new book 'More than Just Sex' By Martin Robinson Published: 10:36 GMT, 16 March 2012 | Updated: 07:48 GMT, 19 March 2012 The female mind has always been a complete mystery to most men and their enigmatic thoughts and actions almost impossible to decode - until now. Finally the closely-held secret of whether a woman fancies someone has been exposed and experts have found it is all in the eyes. A new study looked at how and where women glance after a man makes initial eye contact and found this shows him all he needs to know about his chances of romance.
Great news! About turn: A woman looking sideways was often thought to be a rejection but research has found that in fact she is attracted to you. Why optimists usually win: Simply thinking positive thoughts can lead people to overcome tough challenges. Thinking positively plants a 'suggestion' in the mindCan change behaviour to drive you towards outcome'Suggestion' is much more powerful than thought By Rob Waugh Published: 13:34 GMT, 8 June 2012 | Updated: 13:34 GMT, 8 June 2012 Victory! Simply anticipating something good can gear up hidden circuits in the brain to drive you towards it Thinking positively about something really might make it happen, psychologists say. Simply anticipating something good can gear up hidden circuits in the brain to drive you towards it.
Thinking about a happy outcome plants a 'suggestion' in the mind, in a similar way to a hypnotist. Two psychologists at the University of Victoria, New Zeland said: ‘Once we anticipate a specific outcome will occur, our subsequent thoughts and behaviors will actually help to bring that outcome to fruition.’ It can't work magic, obviously, but researchers say effects of suggestion are more powerful than people think and can change behaviours and even outcomes. How Neuroscientists and Magicians Are Conjuring Brain Insights. Apollo Robbins (right) in action removing the wristwatch of Mariette DiChristina. (Credit: Flip Phillips.) “I see you have a watch with a buckle.” Standing at my side, Apollo Robbins held my wrist lightly as he turned my hand over and back. I knew exactly what was coming but I fell for it anyway.
“Yes,” I said, trying to keep an eye on him, “that looks pretty easy for you to take off, but my rings would be harder.” While I considered the answer, he had already removed my watch and put it on his own wrist behind his back, unseen. Robbins had just skillfully managed my attentional spotlight—that is, the focus of awareness at any given moment. Islands of Subjective Reality We were at the Neuromagic 2012 conference held May 7 to 10, 2012, on San Simón, also appropriately named the Island of Thought, on the north Atlantic coast near Vigo, Spain.
Why are scientists working with sleight-of-hand artists? The conference explored several aspects of attention. Windows of the Soul. Why you proably won't experience your own traumatic death. Exercise will not make you happy. The secret of controlling your anger? Forget meditation - using your 'wrong' hand to stir the coffee could help. By Rob Waugh Published: 15:41 GMT, 9 March 2012 | Updated: 17:20 GMT, 9 March 2012 People who find themselves on the verge of yelling at queue-jumpers or crafty colleagues could be helped by a simple - if slightly odd - exercise. Right handers should get into the habit of using a computer mouse, stirring a cup of coffee or opening a door with their left hand - and left-handers should do the opposite. 'Training' yourself to use the 'wrong' hand seems to act as practice for other kinds of self control, such as being polite.
Just two weeks of the exercises reduce the tendency to act on impulse. Two weeks of using your 'wrong' hand to stir your tea helps you control your anger: 'Training' yourself to use the 'wrong' hand seems to act as practice for other kinds of self control, such as being polite Dr Thomas Denson, of the University of New South Wales, said practising self control is no different from getting better at golf or playing the piano. Are we hard-wired to be rebellious? How part of our brain 'controls whether we fit in with the crowd' By Tamara Cohen Updated: 17:43 GMT, 20 February 2012 As in James Dean’s Rebel Without a Cause, there are always those who refuse to follow the crowd. Now scientists have discovered for the first time that being rebellious may be hard-wired in our brains. Researchers found that the extent to which people changed their minds to fit in with the crowd was directly linked to the size of a specific area of their brains.
Discovery: Scientists have found that the size of an area of the brain, known as the lateral orbitofrontal cortex and located behind the eyes, could be responsible for how much we change our minds to fit in with a crowd A study lead by neuroscientists at UCL used brain scans to show rebellious may not just be a product of your upbringing, but an innate quality. They did scans on 28 people and measured the amount of grey matter in the different regions of the brain. Professor Chris Frith of UCL said: ‘Only this region was affected which was surprising. Brain scan test using 'fake' Rembrandt painting, shows great art is all in the mind. By Rob Waugh Updated: 09:08 GMT, 7 December 2011 Rembrandt's Self Portrait as a Young Man, 1634: Rembrandt was chosen because there are several high-profile fakes of his portraits - but MRI scans show our brains respond differently from thinking a portrait is a fake Being told a painting is fake instantly reduces our sense of 'reward', even if we are looking at the real thing.
Looking at an original stimulates parts of the brain that deal with rewarding experiences such as tasting good food or winning a bet. But when told it was not legitimate the area that is associated with planning and strategy showed a complex range of activity instead. The researchers said that their findings showed how our response to art is ‘not rational’. They also said it showed that there are more than one areas of the brain involved with judgements about art. The experiment involved 14 participants who underwent brain scans as they looked at pictures of Rembrandt portraits.
Scientists identify bits in songs that make you cry. By Damien Gayle Updated: 16:23 GMT, 14 February 2012 She romped home with six Grammy awards on Sunday night, three of them for her hit Rolling In The Deep. Nevertheless it's Someone Like You that has pushed Adele to iconic status, thanks mainly to its power to reduce audiences to tears. But what can explain the emotive effect of the south London girl's tear-jerking power ballad? Psychologists believe they have the answer.
Moved to tears: Adele cries as she accepts her Grammy for Album of the Year. Researchers have long known that certain features of music are consistently able to elicit strong emotional responses from listeners. The British psychologist John Sloboda identified some of these in a simple experiment conducted 20 years ago. Twenty tear-jerking passages were identified, and when Dr Sloboda analysed them he found 18 contained a musical device called an appoggiatura, a note which clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonance.
That's when the tears start to flow. Emblems Of Awareness. This article is part of Demystifying the Mind, a special report on the new science of consciousness. The next installments will appear in the February 25 and March 10 issues of Science News. Michael Morgenstern DEGREES OF THOUGHT | Awareness typically tracks with wakefulness — especially in normal states of consciousness (bold). People in coma or under general anesthesia score low on both measures, appearing asleep with no signs of awareness. Sometimes, wakefulness and awareness become uncoupled, such as among people in a persistent vegetative state. In this case, a person seems awake and is sometimes able to move but is unaware of the surroundings. Stanford Univ.