Tom Stafford's Blog, page 140

Coming out of left field

[image error]The Health Editor of The Independent has written a baffling article where he seems to confuse transcranial magnetic stimulation, a technique used in cognitive neuroscience to induce current in the brain through the use of large electromagnets, and dodgy 'magnet therapy' which involves wearing magnetic pendants that are advertised as curing various ailments.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS is a technique that takes advantage of the fact that if you move a magnetic field over a...

Holidays through rose tinted sunglasses

[image error]The Boston Globe has a counter-intuitive piece on the psychology of holidays, noting, among other things, that overall enjoyment is not what makes a break likely to feel better and that we often enjoy planning the vacation more than taking it.

The article speculatively (but reasonably) applies findings from the behavioural economics of pleasure but also discusses research that specifically addresses our experience of taking time off.

But research looking at how people actually feel about their...

Cycling for the Insane

[image error]The delightful conclusion to an 1890 article on 'Cycling for the Insane' published in The Journal of Mental Science:

For most of us the exquisite loveliness and delight of a fine summer's day have a special charm. The very life is luxury. The air is full of sound and sunshine, of the song of birds, and the murmur of insects; the meadows gleam with golden buttercups, we almost fancy we can see the grass grow and the buds open; the bees hum for very joy; there are a thou sand scents, above all...

The scientific method - lego robots edition

At the University of Sheffield we've been teaching psychology using lego robots. This isn't as peculiar as it might sound. You can learn a lot about your theories by trying to build them into a machine or computer programme. But while teaching the course, I discovered that you can also learn a lot about the methods used in experimental psychology by trying them out on robots.

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This is one of the lego robots we were using. They are built using a Lego Mindstorms set and inspired by a book by...

Whack on, whack off

[image error]Psychologist Jesse Bering has written an absolutely remarkable article about the psychology of masturbation for his latest Scientific American 'Bering in Mind' column.

I realise it's now impossible to write anything about the piece without dropping innuendos like a nurse in a Carry On film but it's worth checking out for the fact it's both full of surprising findings and is very funny.

The article covers everything from monkey sex to wet dreams (it has ick and wow in equal measure) but this...

Technology and the brain: the words as they were spoke

[image error]I've just noticed that the complete transcript of my House of Lords committee debate with Susan Greenfield on 'What is the potential impact of technology, such as computer gaming, on the brain?' is now online as a pdf file.

The debate was for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Scientific Research in Learning and Education and, handily, the transcript has all the slides included next to the relevant text.

As with all direct transcripts it has the fluency of frozen mud: "And we saw a thing...

Combined animal death delusions

[image error]The Journal of ECT has a case report of patient who endured the terrifying delusion that her body was rotting away and being replaced by parts of a pig.

The lady concerned was admitted to hospital for surgery but later developed psychosis:

Approximately 4 weeks after the surgery, she started expressing somatic delusions that her entire body was slowly rotting away. She claimed that the bones in her body were replaced by those of a pig and her own body parts were decomposing. She expressed that...

A brief glance in Jacques Lacan's mirror

[image error]I've just found a very funny YouTube video that attempts to explain everything you need to know about French psychoanalyst and philosopher Jacques Lacan in one minute. It's not entirely safe for work, which is part of its charm.

Clearly, it's not intended to be taken too seriously, which I first suspected when it introduced Lacan's ideas as "like Freud on high grade cocaine mixed with hallucinogens - and we mean that in the most admiring sense".

The creator of the Lacan video, writer Mark...

Smells like retail

[image error]Business Week has a fascinating article on the rise of 'ambient scenting' - a type of smell-based marketing used in High Street stores to alter the buying behaviour of shoppers.

There is now a small but determined scientific literature on the effect of scents on consumer behaviour. These studies have found, for example, that a well-chosen perfume can increase people's liking of products, improve memory for aspects of the product, and when combined with similarly evocative music, can boost

The sound of seduction

[image error]If you've ever wondered whether romantic music will enhance your chances of getting a date with a girl with the girl you fancy, wonder no more - science has the answer (and it turns out to be yes).

'Love is in the air': Effects of songs with romantic lyrics on compliance with a courtship request

Psychology of Music, Vol. 38, No. 3, 303-307 (2010)

Nicolas Guéguen, Céline Jacob, Lubomir Lamy

Previous research has shown that exposure to various media is correlated to variations in human behaviour...