“I am an island” (Simon & Garfunkel) Consider the lyrics from Simon & Garfunkel’s “I am a Rock,” A winter’s day In a deep and dark December I am alone Gazing from my window to the streets below On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow I am a rock I am an island I’ve built […]
Learning and Memory
Have you ever said hello to someone who looked familiar, but then realized that they are a complete stranger? It’s embarrassing, sure. But the cost of mistaking someone for another person is much greater if you made this error as an eyewitness to a crime. This type of error is made when an eyewitness identifies an […]
I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Allie Sinclair to chat about her latest paper published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. True or False? Diamonds are formed when coal undergoes high pressure. Coffee reduces the influence of alcohol. Sunflowers turn to track the sun across the sky. All are false. If you happened to […]
Have you ever been hit on the head? How long it’s been since you did? Blows to the head are not uncommon, they can happen in sports, accidental falls, fights, and in plenty of other ways. Heck, they can happen sometimes just because you crouch down looking for something and then miscalculate your distance when […]
Professor David Rapp is one of the Guest Editors for a special issue in Cognitive Research: Principles & Implications (aka CR:PI) on the Psychology of Fake News. The submission deadline has been extended, so if you think that you missed your chance to submit your work on this important topic in what is sure to […]
TikToks are short videos that typically show a set of movements. Doing the Macarena requires remembering a sequence of movements to make up the dance. Our communications are full of hand gestures and body movements. These “co-speech” hand gestures are meaningful and often relate to the content of our speech. Co-speech gestures enhance the understanding of a listener, help a […]
I met with Annika Boldt and Sam Gilbert (pictured below) to interview them about their paper recently published in the Psychonomic Society journal Cognitive Principles: Research and Implications called “Confidence guides spontaneous cognitive offloading.” When we do something to minimize cognitive demands, we are offloading. This is especially common when we write notes and set alerts, for […]
Jennifer Coane and I chatted about how her life as an academic has changed as a result of COVID-19, her recent paper with Kimberly Bourne, Sarah Boland, and Grace Arnold (pictured below) published in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, and what the results of that research may mean during these challenging times. The paper is called “Reading […]
Have you paid any mind to the growing popularity of mindfulness? It seems everywhere I look there is a new promotion or app touting the benefits of this meditative practice. But what exactly is mindfulness and how might it benefit us? Mindfulness is a state of being that is characterized by a nonreactive awareness of […]
We have become experts at remembering pieces of information that share no natural relationships. For example, your friend may have just started a new job, and it is easy for you to remember where she works because the company’s logo and her favorite color are both red. When thinking about remembering two pieces of information, […]