The main purpose of this blog is to showcase current research that has appeared in the journals of the Psychonomic Society. Anyone who publishes in a Psychonomic Society journal is invited, in the acceptance letter, to contact the Digital Content Editor to nominate their article for a blogpost. This is the principal process by which […]
Visual working memory (VWM) refers to our ability to hold in memory, for relatively brief amounts of time, an array of arbitrary shapes or colors that are not easily verbalized. For example, consider the stimulus below: When this is shown for 1/10th of a second, and is then replaced by a blank screen or some […]
Have you ever had a conversation with someone who constantly averted their gaze? Why do you think that is? If you are like most people, you might suspect a myriad of reasons, with most being categorically not good. You might suspect that your conversational partner is socially uncomfortable, disinterested in the conversation, hiding something, or […]
Language and music unfold in time in similar ways. Just like we do not produce an arbitrary sequence of words, music follows a set of principles, and notes that fail to follow them can sound “ungrammatical.” Both language and music also often show hierarchical structure, with the pace of speech and music often having what […]
If you have ever asked a stranger for directions, especially in a place where people speak in a wonderful Scottish accent, you may relate to the experience of the driver in this video: It may not be such a challenge to remember directions if your memory span—that is, the number of items you can recall […]
Cogito ergo sum. Thus spake René Descartes, usually translated into English as “I think, therefore I am.” Thinking is what makes us human—quite literally so because homo sapiens means “wise man”. So what does it mean to think, let alone to be wise? Much debate can be had about that question, but it seems safe […]
Asking your waiter what beers are on tap should come with a trigger warning, because the simple question may trigger a cognitive challenge. From Heineken to Becks and some other local boutique IPAs whose names you cannot even pronounce, the list can be so extensive that you are put into frantic rehearsal mode just to […]