Psychology podcast and resources for students and educators
From the category archives:
You’ve probably heard about these Brain Training games. Do they really help you to keep your mind sharp? Will they prevent cognitive decline or slow the effects of alzheimer’s disease? In this episode I review some recent studies on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of these popular games.
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Everyone can picture one of those phrenology heads with personality traits drawn into different sections of the cranium. Was there anything to that? Well, not exactly. However, with the use of MRI scans researchers today may have located where certain personality traits lie in your brain. Travel with me into a 3D brain and let’s find out where your personality may lie.
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There are many reasons why it is difficult to lose weight, but have you considered how supernormal stimuli might be one of them? In this episode I discuss some of the ideas in the books Waistland and Supernormal Stimuli by Dierdre Barrett. Is it possible that the old saying Everything in Moderation might just be wrong? And will Small Changes really help you to get in shape or are radical changes really the way to go?
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How did you get to be heterosexual? Homosexual? Bisexual? Was it nature or nurture (or both?). Were you born with a sexual orientation or did it develop as you grew? What role did your parents play? In this episode I present the most recent scientific research on the topic of how we develop our sexual preference. You’ll find out whether heterosexual men have more testosterone than homosexual men, how most people know their sexual orientation when they are as young as 10 years old (blame your adrenal gland), how your third intersitial nucleus might be playing a role and finally, could it have something to do with the length of your fingers? Find out in this episode of The Psych Files.
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How does music affect us emotionally? Why do minor chords so sad? In this episode of The Psych Files I explore ideas from Daniel Leviton‘s fascinating book, Your Brain on Music, especially those ideas concerned with what composers do to draw you into their music by first conforming to your musical expectations and then carefully confounding them in order to surprise and delight.
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Memorize the parts of the brain once and for all! Here’s a mnemonic device to help you remember the parts of the brain. You will never forget what the parts of the brain do after you see this video. Improve your grade on your next biopsychology test and learn more about mnemonics at the same time.
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Dr. Ginger Campbell hosts an excellent podcast which I highly recommend. It’s called the Brain Science podcast. In episode 33 she interviews Dr. John Ratey about his new book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
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Why do people engage in those dangerous sports like hang gliding, bungee jumping and rock climbing? Would you believe it might have something to do with neurotransmitters and something called Monoamine Oxidase?
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The gestalt principles of perception – how do they explain how we not only sometimes perceive strange things, but also how we can appreciate works of art? We’ll see images on lemon slices, on Mars, and on building tops. Why do we perceive these things?
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We finish off this series on Erikson by looking at your brain as you develop by examining what is happening in your brain as you age from adolescence to older adulthood.
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What is happening in your brain as you progress through life? In this episode we take a look at some of the changes that occur in your brain from birth to age 12. Be sure to listen to part 3 of this series, which is episode 25.
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I decided that it was time to look at the biology behind the changes that occur in our lives as we grow. As I put my ideas together to do this, I employed a very neat program called Timeliner. It is so cool in fact that I decided to do an episode solely on how to use Timeliner, especially the tool called “merge”. If you are an educator I think you’ll find this episode interesting.
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