Word problems – they’re the bane of many a math students’ existence. But what makes them so difficult? Sometimes, the issue is that our real-world knowledge suggests a way of thinking that is contrary to what the problem requires. For example, people assume that problems including the phrase “more than” will require addition and problems […]
Numerical Cognition
In some parts of New York state, it recently snowed 18 inches (~45 centimeters) following a major winter storm. With every hour, the snow piled higher and higher – but some of the increments in accumulation, especially toward the beginning, felt bigger, while others took longer to notice. You might even have the feeling that […]
What percentage of Americans are Muslim? What percentage of Americans are LGBT individuals? What percentage of Americans are Christian? Think about it and take real guesses. If you are like the average person, your guesses were likely overestimates of the real numbers for the smaller percentages (for Muslims; for LGBT), and underestimates for the larger […]
Learning basic arithmetic is a foundation of early math education. Algebra, trigonometry, and calculus are built on, among other things, the ability to quickly and easily solve math equations. Being able to solve math problems is also important for more general life purposes, like tipping, or paying taxes. For that reason, students should be able […]
How long is a piece of string? This proverbial question is not really intended to have an answer. But what about asking which of two strings is longer? That question is well-defined and has a clear answer. In the laboratory we probably would not use strings but we might present lines next to each other […]
Data is everywhere. Political campaigns, sports teams, and even music streaming sites rely on the collection and analysis of data to win, or to attain customers, and to sell targeted advertisements. Journalists use data to report the news and the public interprets data in consuming that news. Becoming data literate is no longer just a requirement of the scientist or the […]
Eye movements offer unique insight into the functioning of the human mind. We have discussed eye movements on this blog repeatedly. For example, we have learned that while listening to music people move their eyes in a manner that is suggestive of attention being focused inward. Eye movements can also reveal whether or not people are distracted […]
Randomness and human cognition generally do not mesh well. We know that all of us, including James Bond, tend to misperceive randomness in various ways. For example, anyone who has seen a basketball player make three shots in a row is likely to rate the chances of another success to be higher than if the player […]