Are You a “Pre-crastinator”?
The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American. Each of us, at times, can be a procrastinator, putting off something that is hard to do or that we don’t want to do. But three researchers at Pennsylvania State University think we humans may also be precrastinators—hurrying to get something done so we can cross it off our mental to-do list, even if the rush ends up being wasteful. The researchers also claim to have coined the term “precrastination.” Psychology professor David Rosenbaum and his two collaborators reached their conclusion after asking 257 students to complete a bucket challenge. Almost all of the students chose the bucket that was closer to them—meaning, farther from the end of the alley, requiring more physical work to complete the task. Rosenbaum actually designed the experiment to investigate aspects of walking and reaching; he is an expert in human perception and motor control.
The Human Brain - Relieve Stress
Exercise not only defuses a stressful situation, it better prepares you to cope with future stress and helps to fight depression . The World Health Organization warns that by the year 2020, depression will be the second leading cause of death and disability in the world – primarily due to more stressful lifestyles, poverty, and violence. When University of California at San Diego researchers kept track of more than 900 older adults whose average age was 70, they found that those who exercised regularly had the best moods a decade later. One of the study's authors, Dr.
Health - Do we all see the same colours?
Are the colours you see the same as the ones I see? Future's resident psychologist has a moment of doubt and wonders if science can help ease his worries. Imagine the two of us, arm in arm, looking at a sunset, where the horizon is fretted with golden fire and the deep blue night encroaches from the opposite side of the sky. "What beautiful colours", I say, and you agree. And then, in the space of the following silence, I am struck by a worry. Now I admit that this worry lies in the realm of philosophy, not neuroscience. How green is my valley? Our colour vision starts with the sensors in the back of the eye that turn light information into electrical signals in the brain – neuroscientists call them photoreceptors. At the other end of the scale, some people have a particularly heightened sensitivity to colour. So yes, as we share this sunset, perhaps I am seeing something you cannot see, or you are seeing something I cannot see. Behind blue eyes
Perfectionism, Procrastination, and Distress | Psychology Today
Excessive concerns about making mistakes, pernicious self-doubt, harsh self-criticism, impossibly high standards or expectations for performance, a strong and chronic tendency to evaluate one’s performance as not measuring up to levels expected by oneself or others - these are features of maladaptive perfectionism that predict psychological distress. In a longitudinal study across the semester of a sample of predominantly female undergraduate students, Kenneth Rice, Clarissa Richardson, and Dustin Clark from the University of Florida examined the relations between measures of perfectionism, procrastination, and psychological distress. They explored a number of different potential models that might explain the relation among these variables, with a particular emphasis on a model where perfectionism leads to more procrastination that increases psychological distress. Interestingly, this isn’t what they found. Perfectionism and Procrastination Results Implications The authors write, References
LBD Medical Alert Wallet Card | Lewy Body Dementia Association
Click here to download a PDF of LBDA's Medical Alert Wallet Card. This Medical Alert Wallet Card has been developed to help you quickly inform Emergency Room medical professionals of important medication sensitivites in LBD. Present this card any time you are hospitalized, require emergency medical care, or meet with a new physician for the first time. To request a printed copy, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope with first class postage along with your request to LBDA, 912 Killian Hill Road SW, Suite 202C, Atlanta, GA 30047. For multiple copies, click here. The card contains the following message to physicians: Emergency Treatment of Psychosis in LBD Psychotic symptoms such as visual hallucinations of people or animals, or misidentifying one’s spouse or one’s home are common in LBD. 1. 2. 3. 4. A more comprehensive physician’s guide to treating behavioral disturbances in LBD patients can be found at www.lbda.org/go/ER.
Why Humans Like to Cry
Mind & Brain :: Mind Matters :: January 29, 2013 :: :: Email :: Print The anguished tear, a British scientist argues in a new book, is what makes us uniquely human By Gareth Cook Michael Trimble Image: Courtesy of Michael Trimble Michael Trimble , a British professor at the Institute of Neurology in London, begins his new book with Gana the gorilla. Cook: How did you first become interested in crying? Cook: What is known about crying in the animal world? Cook: How is crying different in humans? Cook: What do you find most interesting about the neuroscience of crying?
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We are Wired to Respond to Cannabis
CANNABIS Cures Cancer… and Everything Else… …which is the real reason it’s illegal! How cannabis works “Cannabinoids” is a blanket term covering a family of complex chemicals (both natural and man-made) that lock on to cannabinoid receptors—protein molecules on the surface of cells. Humans have been using cannabis plants for medicinal and recreational purposes for thousands of years, but cannabinoids themselves were first purified from cannabis plants in the 1940s. “We’re all born with a form of cannabis already in our bodies. The CB1 and CB2 receptors We have two different types of cannabinoid receptor, CB1 and CB2, which are found in different locations and do different things. The Endocannabinoid System Also: Cannabis Cures Cancer! MORE AND MORE we are beginning to understand that marijuana is far more than a street-level ‘drug’. One of the latest methods of reaping its benefits is juicing, as one woman learned the hard way. 1Czbe1ty2UQNHYxvpJqfJEdeaL2cYmzc5T
What does this smell like? Wine snobbery made easy | Oscillator
We can see millions of variations in color but we split up the rainbow into just six main colors when trying to describe what we see–red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. For the thousands of odors that we can smell we have barely any words at all, usually resorting to simile–smells like fresh cut grass, lemon, wet dog, stinky cheese. Chemists, sensory psychologists, and snobs of all types have been trying to define and categorize smells for decades, settling on seven main categories: musky, putrid, pungent, campohoraceous, ethereal, floral, pepperminty. These categories do a good job for most things, but every kind of smelly thing can have its own connoisseurs and its own categories, none more so than wine. Armed with the aroma wheel and the reference smells you can train your nose to identify all the subtle flavors and aromas of wine:
