Assorted Links

1) The Neuroscience of Music. Gripping article. A bit says: "Why does music make us feel? On the one hand, music is a purely abstract art form, devoid of language or explicit ideas. The stories it tells are all subtlety and subtext. And yet, even though music says little, it still manages to touch us deep, to tickle some universal nerves. When listening to our favorite songs, our body betrays all the symptoms of emotional arousal. The pupils in our eyes dilate, our pulse and blood pressure rise, the electrical conductance of our skin is lowered, and the cerebellum, a brain region associated with bodily movement, becomes strangely active." You can read the rest here.

2) Napoleon Dynamite, your ligers are real, apparently! Read here.

3) When scientists drink on the job, discoveries are made, apparently.... This is good! Read here.

4)My first reaction upon reading this was what, what?!' The name of the product is Crown Jewels: Condoms of Distinction. The new product was inspired by Prince Williams & Kate's upcoming nuptials. A bit says: "Combining the strength of a Prince with the yielding sensitivity of a Princess-to-be, Crown Jewels condoms promise a royal union of pleasure. Truly a King amongst Condoms."

No, I'm not joking. Read more here. Tip of the hat to Tyler Cowan for the pointer.

Full Text of My Newly Published Article

You may now read the full text of my "Gendering Technology: In and Out of the Box. A Theory-informed Reading of the iPod."

Again, my great thanks to Liam, Camille, and Paul for helping me with the music and the mixing.

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New Article Published on Journal of Media Practice

One of the best pieces I have ever written was an article on the nature of new technology, more specifically the iPod, and how it colors and informs daily life.

I am happy to say that the reputable Journal of Media Practice has recently published it. The article appears in Volume 11, Issue 2 of the journal. The title of the piece is: "Gendering technology: in and out of the box A theory-informed reading of the iPod." You may read the details on the piece here and here. You may also hear the new remix by subscribing to the journal or by hearing it on any campus network.

My grateful thanks to my über-talented friends, Liam Hesselbein of Calico and Camille Nelson for allowing their music to be integrated with my written word.

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Assorted Links: Albums, Oscar Film, and Stereotypes

Assorted links:

1) Is "Cellar door" the most beautiful phrase in the English language? More here. Tip of the hat to MR for the pointer.

2) Good article about the psychological effects of touching on the NY Times. A bit says: "“We think that humans build relationships precisely for this reason, to distribute problem solving across brains,” said James A. Coan, a a psychologist at the University of Virginia. “We are wired to literally share the processing load, and this is the signal we’re getting when we receive support through touch.” More here.

3) Rolling Stone's magazine top 100 albums of the decade.

4) I agree, for the most part, with NY Times' Charles M. Blow's take on the film Precious and Tyler Perry's bizarre fascination with problematic female characters. I find Tyler Perry's films too cliché-rich and a bit too self-mythologizing generally. Hence, when I read this NY Times bit on the Oscars and the generously nominated Lee Daniels' film Precious, I found myself agreeing with the premise almost fully. A bit says:

"Then came Tyler Perry with his inexplicable fascination with this cliché, and his almost single-handed revival of it.

In the last five years, he has featured a crack-addicted black mother who leaves her children in two of his films and on his very popular sitcom, “House of Payne.” (In one of the films, the character is referred to but never seen.) In another film, a main character is a drug-addicted prostitute. And in yet another, a mother leaves her family for the drug dealer.

It should be noted that “Precious” is “co-presented” by Perry.

Let it go, Mr. Perry. These never-ending portrayals perpetuate the modern mythology that little has changed when much has. Even for Whitney."

I second the sentiment. Exactly, Mr. Perry, let it go. Hire some good writers and come up with new story lines. And, could an actual female actor play your Madea character instead of you? I mean, we are way past Shakespearean times. Women may play female characters on the stage nowadays.

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graph per ny times

Thinking Negatively Makes One Smarter?

Interesting study. The premise states that bad moods tend to make people less gullible as well as improve their ability to judge others.

""Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, cooperation, and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking paying greater attention to the external world," Forgas wrote.

"Our research suggests that sadness ... promotes information processing strategies best suited to dealing with more demanding situations."

For the study, Forgas and his team conducted several experiments that started with inducing happy or sad moods in their subjects through watching films and recalling positive or negative events.

In one of the experiments, happy and sad participants were asked to judge the truth of urban myths and rumors and found that people in a negative mood were less likely to believe these statements.

People in a bad mood were also less likely to make snap decisions based on racial or religious prejudices, and they were less likely to make mistakes when asked to recall an event that they witnessed.

The study also found that sad people were better at stating their case through written arguments, which Forgas said showed that a "mildly negative mood may actually promote a more concrete, accommodative and ultimately more successful communication style.""

Read more here.

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EmoBracelet?

Hmm. Gripping.

"The Rationalizer system consists of two components - the EmoBracelet and the EmoBowl. The bracelet measures the arousal component of the user’s emotion through a galvanic skin response sensor. This arousal level is rendered as a dynamic light pattern on either the EmoBracelet itself or on the EmoBowl. The higher the arousal level, the more intense the dynamic light pattern becomes: the number of elements increases, the speed increases and the color shifts from a soft yellow, via orange, to a deep red."

More here.

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Hat tip to MR.

Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect?

Interesting piece.

"Brain-imaging studies of people evaluating anomalies, or working out unsettling dilemmas, show that activity in an area called the anterior cingulate cortex spikes significantly. The more activation is recorded, the greater the motivation or ability to seek and correct errors in the real world, a recent study suggests. “The idea that we may be able to increase that motivation,” said Dr. Inzlicht, a co-author, “is very much worth investigating.”

Researchers familiar with the new work say it would be premature to incorporate film shorts by David Lynch, say, or compositions by John Cage into school curriculums. For one thing, no one knows whether exposure to the absurd can help people with explicit learning, like memorizing French. For another, studies have found that people in the grip of the uncanny tend to see patterns where none exist — becoming more prone to conspiracy theories, for example. The urge for order satisfies itself, it seems, regardless of the quality of the evidence."

More here.

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New Study on Overconfidence.

Fascinating bit.
"The puzzle about overconfidence is its ubiquity. Many studies have shown that most people have an exaggerated sense of their own capabilities, an illusion of control over events and an invulnerability to risk. Most people, for example, believe they are above average drivers, a statistical impossibility. We are all overconfident in one way or another."

More here.

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Assorted Links

1) Japanese tourist turns down free holiday offered by Italy as apology.

2) Great tips on research article writing. A paragraph says: "Give the article to a friend, ask him or her to spend 15 minutes looking at it, then ask what they think your message was, and what evidence you have for it. Your friend should read the article as a potential consumer, not as a critic. You can find typos on your own time, but you need somebody else's eyes to get a sense of the message you're sending.
Read more here.

3) Very well-paid and talented photographer Annie Leibovitz hits financial hardships.

4) Maureen Dowd talks with Nora Ephron.

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Picks of the Day

A list of misc. links read today.

1) When should you stop reading a book?

2) A story of a man who's been living without money since 2000.

3) Two different reviews of the new Sam Mendes film Away We Go. One here. Another one here.

4) Tall people are apparently happier according to this new study.

5) A portrait of a favorite actor, Hugh Dancy.

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Science of Sleep

Those who are troubled sleepers value sleep more than those who find themselves in dream-landia two minutes after their head hits the pillow. Why? Well, don't we tend to value the things that come our way with a higher degree of difficulty a tad more?

I also have a theory about general compatibility issues. A troubled sleeper will find her/himself more emotionally comfortable when in relationships with good sleepers than with other malaise-sharers. Misery does not love company, after all. The yang seeks the ying. And so forth. Imo, at least.

Having had sleep troubles since, well, birth, I have an active interest in sleep studies and new research. One of the best gifts I received this past birthday was a computer program called Pzizz. Two of my friends purchased the power nap/sleep program for me and this is a product I heartily recommend.

If you travel a lot as well and find yourselves in different time zones and areas with some measure of consistency, Pzizz will come in handy. It doth work! Turn it on and you will be able to catch a few zzz's. And rather quickly.

The Times had a piece on yet a new sleep-monitoring gadget called Zeo. David Pogue reviewed it and he concludes the piece by noting:

"Just watching the Zeo track your sleep cycles doesn’t do anything to help you sleep better. Plotting your statistics on the Web doesn’t help, either.

But the funny thing is, you do wind up getting better sleep — because of what I call the Personal Trainer Phenomenon. People who hire a personal trainer at the gym wind up attending more workouts than people who are just members. Why? Because after spending that much money and effort, you take the whole thing much more seriously.

In the same way, the Zeo winds up focusing you so much on sleep that you wind up making some of the lifestyle changes that you could have made on your own, but didn’t. (“Otherwise,” a little voice in your head keeps arguing, “you’ve thrown away $400.”)"

Read more here.

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Brand Names and Evolution

One of the authors I've recently discovered and whose work I'll be reviewing shortly, is featured on a piece on the Times. Geoffrey Miller is an evolutionary psychologist whose work investigates the role evolution plays in much of our spending behaviors.

A bit says:

"Suppose, during a date, you casually say, “The sugar maples in Harvard Yard were so beautiful every fall term.” Here’s what you’re signaling, as translated by Dr. Miller:

“My S.A.T. scores were sufficiently high (roughly 720 out of 800) that I could get admitted, so my I.Q. is above 135, and I had sufficient conscientiousness, emotional stability and intellectual openness to pass my classes. Plus, I can recognize a tree.”

The piece continues:

"A Harvard diploma might help get you a date or a job interview, but what you say during the date or conversation will make the difference. An elegantly thin Skagen watch might send a signal to a stranger at a cocktail party or in an airport lounge, but even if it were noticed, anyone who talked to you for just a few minutes would get a much better gauge of your intelligence and personality.
...
“We evolved as social primates who hardly ever encountered strangers in prehistory,” Dr. Miller says. “So we instinctively treat all strangers as if they’re potential mates or friends or enemies. But your happiness and survival today don’t depend on your relationships with strangers. It doesn’t matter whether you get a nanosecond of deference from a shopkeeper or a stranger in an airport.”"

Read more here.

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The Science of Concentration

One of the high-frequency words I have a hard time with is 'multitaksing.' I simply don't buy the core meaning of this word. People cannot do different things at the same time. What they can do, which might give the impression of doing different things simultaneously, is create a hierarchy of importance/relevance and abide by it.
I do think that multitasking is a myth. Which is also the point of the below-quoted article. The premise of the study is informed by William James' quote, "“My experience is what I agree to attend to.”"

A bit says:

"“Multitasking is a myth,” Ms. Gallagher said. “You cannot do two things at once. The mechanism of attention is selection: it’s either this or it’s that.” She points to calculations that the typical person’s brain can process 173 billion bits of information over the course of a lifetime.

“People don’t understand that attention is a finite resource, like money,” she said. “Do you want to invest your cognitive cash on endless Twittering or Net surfing or couch potatoing? You’re constantly making choices, and your choices determine your experience, just as William James said.”

Read more here.

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The Irony of Satire: Study on Colbert

Tip of the hat to my good friend Dimitri for the pointer.

Ohio State's own scientists are publishing a new study on satire which will appear on volume 14 of The International Journal of Press/Politics.

This is a most interesting idea which those of you who are Stephen Colbert fans are bound to enjoy. I look forward to reading this on the journal as, I reckon, it will be a good addition to my current literary [and other] references. Often when asked to tackle the concepts of irony and satire, I tend to rely on the work of Bertolt Brecht, especially his Choräle. Congratulations to Ohio State's faculty members: Heather L. LaMarre, Kristen D. Landreville, and Micheal A. Beam who produced this original study. I will be reviewing it here shortly.

The abstract says:

"This study investigated biased message processing of political satire in The Colbert Report and the influence of political ideology on perceptions of Stephen Colbert. Results indicate that political ideology influences biased processing of ambiguous political messages and source in late-night comedy. Using data from an experiment (N = 332), we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert's political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed that perceptions of Colbert's political opinions fully mediated the relationship between political ideology and individual-level opinion."

You can get more information about this new study here.

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graph per google image

Darwin's Relevance

Good bit on the Times.

Another example of the researcher's need to have and and keep an open mind. Few great things were accomplished without the latter, after all.


"How did Darwin come to be so in advance of his time? Why were biologists so slow to understand that Darwin had provided the correct answer on so many central issues? Historians of science have noted several distinctive features of Darwin’s approach to science that, besides genius, help account for his insights. They also point to several nonscientific criteria that stood as mental blocks in the way of biologists’ accepting Darwin’s ideas."

Read it here.

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Botox Makes One Happy?

Per a report on the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology via discovermagazine.com:

"People with Botox may be less vulnerable to the angry emotions of other people because they themselves can’t make angry or unhappy faces as easily. And because people with Botox can’t spread bad feelings to others via their expressions, people without Botox may be happier too."


Tip of the hat to mr for the pointer
graph per discovermagazne.com

Fruit Flies in France

I was informed by different friends of mine who are in the medical research field and French Studies to check out the following:


I actually managed to see this on my own when Rachel Maddow first commented on it on Friday and my instinct was to ask my scientist and French Studies friends what they thought of it.

The thing is, research money is indispensable to progress. Without innovation, we cannot make any progress in any field, be it autism or literary scholarship. And innovation and progress need to be funded.

Tip of the hat to HDC and Alan for the pointer.

A Nobel Laureate's Words of Wisdom

Tip of the hat to Vipul for the pointer.

Paul Krugman was awarded the Nobel prize for Economics. Business.timesonline writes:
"An American academic was named as winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics today only hours after publishing a column in The New York Times suggesting that Gordon Brown may have singlehandedly saved the world financial system.

Paul Krugman, a professor at Princeton University and columnist for the NYT, won the award for his analysis of international trade and economic geography. He is equally well known for his frequent columns in the newspaper analysing the global financial crisis."

Krugman has a specific way in which he operates. His basic rules for research are:

1. Listen to the Gentiles

2. Question the question

3. Dare to be silly

4. Simplify, simplify

What I mean by this rule is "Pay attention to what intelligent people are saying, even if they do not have your customs or speak your analytical language."

He opens his excellent narrative with the following:

"My formal charge in this essay is to talk about my "life philosophy". Let me make it clear at the outset that I have no intention of following instructions, since I don't know anything special about life in general. I believe it was Schumpeter who claimed to be not only the best economist, but also the best horseman and the best lover in his native Austria. I don't ride horses, and have few illusions on other scores. (I am, however, a pretty good cook)."

A most excellent piece. Read it all here.
graph per business.timesonline

Parapgraph of Note

"With so many scientific papers chasing so few pages in the most prestigious journals, the winners could be the ones most likely to oversell themselves—to trumpet dramatic or important results that later turn out to be false. This would produce a distorted picture of scientific knowledge, with less dramatic (but more accurate) results either relegated to obscure journals or left unpublished."

I'd agree with this for the most part.
via mr

Quotation of the Day

"I'm anxious. The moment I buy an Apple product, I know a newer, better version is right around the corner. Slow down, Steve Jobs. I just ordered the Classic. Let me enjoy it for a while. Like a month or so."

Uttered by a loyal Apple user when Jobs announced the new iPod upgrade.


graph per ny times