There is more and more interest in the collective, and a new paper underlines this. In this paper, the authors suggest that efforts to understand human cognition should expand beyond the study of individual brains. I used to joke that you can’t put a whole class at the same time in an fMRI-scanner and that… Read More Neurology should look further than the individual mind
This study is again maybe a bit ‘No shit, Sherlock’, but on the other hand: many parents have tried to make sure their children eat more fruit and vegetables and… failed. Do note the small sample size. From the press release: Filling half of a child’s plate with fruits and veggies isn’t just recommended by… Read More How to let children eat more fruits and vegetables? Give them more…
Your head is spinning, you feel the adrenaline, the situation is tense and… you’ll probably remember this for a long time. When the brain stores memories of objects, it creates a characteristic pattern of activity for each of them. Stress changes such memory traces shows a new paper by researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum. From the… Read More Stressful experiences are usually remembered more easily than neutral experiences, but why?
Yesterday I discovered this new, impressive paper by Barbara Biasi and Song Ma, The Education-Innovation Gap. In this paper they want to answer the question from the title of this post. Or more correct: …we want to measure the distance between the knowledge content of each course – as described in its syllabus – and… Read More How up to date or out of date our your textbooks at the university?
We know that the neighbourhood where you are born and raised can have a positive or negative effect on your academic achievement. But how can you mitigate the negative effects of a low-income neighbourhood? Helping behaviour could, ehm, help. From the press release: Children raised in neighborhoods with low socio-economic status are at risk for… Read More How to overcome a low-income neighbourhood as a young child? Prosocial behavior can help.
I really like the concept of pay it forward, and this study published last summer shows that the concept also is the link between secure family relationships and having empathy for friends as a teen. Do note: I wrote the link, not the causal link as the study doesn’t allow to draw this kind of… Read More “Pay it forward” (about friendships between teenagers)
Read more here about this paper: Previous research indicates that writing practice may be more beneficial than nonmotor practice for letter learning. Here, we report a training study comparing typing, visual, and writing learning conditions in adults (N = 42). We investigated the behavioral consequences of learning modality on literacy learning and evaluated the nature of… Read More Handwriting beats typing or videos for learning to read (video)
We’ve known for a while that being depressed is often linked to a less optimal operating of the working memory. This study takes a more positive route and shows a link between an individual’s sense of purpose and their ability to recall vivid details. From the press release: The researchers found that while both a… Read More Another benefit of having a sense of purpose in life? A better memory.
The very first words of this new study by Marks & O’Connell, published in Intelligence are a very clear question: Does the impact of socioeconomic (SES) on children’s test scores increase as children grow older? This is such an important issue, as we often have learned that there is a Matthew effect in place, making… Read More Does the impact of socioeconomic (SES) on children’s test scores increase as children grow older?
When I first read the title and introduction of the press release I was a bit baffled by the results of this review published in Educational Review as it shows that – in the US – inequalities in income affect how well children do in maths. This is not surprising at all, but more surprising… Read More Huge review study shows link between income inequality in a state and average results on math, but not reading
