In recent years there has been increasing interest in research related to cross-modal interactions in music. That is, researchers are starting to wonder how music relates to other senses besides hearing. For example, Western societies generally associate pitches in music with vertical space. We tend to think of lower sounding pitches as lower in space …Read More
An Update on the Myth of Multitasking
Oct 3, 2010
A while back, I blogged about the Myth of Multitasking. Basically, I said that we can’t really do it – we mostly task switch, and this is a very inefficient strategy for working & getting things done. In fact, there is some research to show that those who multitask the most are the worst at …Read More
Helping Your Child Succeed In School II: Sleep
Sep 26, 2010
In this series of blogs I am writing about things parents can do to help their kids succeed in school. In my previous blog in this series I wrote about the importance of a healthy diet and exercise. Today I would like to talk about sleep. Sleep is a very important part of our life. …Read More
Helping Your Child Succeed In School I: Healthy Food and Exercise
Sep 16, 2010
A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about measuring teacher effectiveness. While I was writing this blog, I reflected on how many different factors influence children’s success in school, and how you can’t just pin everything on the teacher. This gave me the idea to write a series of blogs about many of …Read More
The Survival of the Kindest
Aug 13, 2010
When I was training at the Austin Child Guidance Center last year, my supervisors shared with me an article from Science Daily called “Social Scientists Build Case for ‘Survival of the Kindest’”. Evolution theory poses that species survive and evolve through the process of natural selection. This has often been translated as the “survival of …Read More
Pot Smoking Increases the Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Jun 24, 2010
I recently ran into this article on MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37779968/ns/health-addictions/ I know pot smoking is quite common…particularly in Austin! Now, I’m a believer that things in life are mainly in shades of grey – there are very few things in this world that are black or white. With regard to drug use, there many people out …Read More
Do Supplements Help Relieve Depression?
Jun 15, 2010
I ran into the great article on CNN’s website “Supplements for Depression: What Works & What Doesn’t” by Ray Hainer of Health.com. Long ago…well, September 19, 2006 to be exact, I blogged about whether supplements work for depression and anxiety. While I didn’t go into specific details of which supplements have the greatest research evidence …Read More
Video Games: Do They Help Train the Brain?
May 17, 2010
A recent article was published in the April 20, 2010 online journal Nature called into question the idea the video games can enhance cognitive functioning. In the study, 11,430 volunteers between the ages of 18-60 participated in this online study. Participants were randomly divided into one of 3 groups and practiced a series of online …Read More
Preserving Our Memories?
May 7, 2010
A while back, I listened to the unabridged audiobook by Jonah Lehrer Proust Was a Neuroscientist. I have to say this was one of the densest books that I have ever read (er, listened to). Lehrer is a graduate of Columbia University, has studied at Oxford as a Rhode Scholar, and has worked under a famous …Read More
Are Cell Phones Harmful to Your Brain?
May 1, 2010
Now, you first might think I’m an alarmist, but I can assure you that I don’t tend to be. I’ve had a cell phone of some kind since about…1997? I posted about how I love my iPhone, which I acquired in November of 2009. Of course, now that I bought it, a newer version is …Read More