Music has long been the inspiration for many directions of cognitive science research. Music has a special connection with the brain that makes us ask pivotal questions, such as: How do we know that music is music when we hear it? Why does music evoke emotional responses? And why do we associate Mariah Carey and […]
As human beings, we are often moved to action based on moral messages. Adding a single moral-emotional word to a tweet (hate, greed, fight, safe, shame, etc.) increases the number of retweets by approximately 20% and moral content captures our attention. However, as researchers, deciding whether a particular newspaper article or social media post has a moral message […]
Do you sometimes hear words that are entirely different from what was said? And how about mishearing the lyrics to popular songs, as demonstrated in the video below? If you answered yes to these questions, you are not alone! False hearing is a common phenomenon that happens to people of all ages. For the record, […]
I’m pleased to introduce you to the newest Psychonomic Society Digital Associate Editor, Christie Chung (pictured below). Christie is a Professor at Mills College in Oakland, California where she investigates the impact of cultural differences and aging on emotional memory. As a memory researcher myself, I must say that I wholeheartedly agree with her response to my […]
Last January 2020, I stepped into the position of the Psychonomic Society Digital Content Editor. My very first post in that role was titled “New Year New Cognitive Science,” and with optimism, the post began with, We have much to look forward to in the New Year, including reading and hearing about new cognitive science […]
According to a report published by a task force on Women in Psychology through the American Psychological Association in 2006, about 47% of candidates receiving post-baccalaureate degrees (doctoral and masters) in cognitive psychology in 2004 were women (Table 6). And although 75% of the students in graduate psychology programs are women, many barriers continue to […]
Consciousness is the awareness that we have of our own existence. It is the awareness of our sensations, thoughts, feelings, and the environment that surrounds us. Since at least the time of Aristotle, people have debated the meaning and origins of consciousness. We can now study consciousness at the neural level. A popular belief is that some brain […]
Everyday scenes in bilingual cities can be simultaneously perplexing and fascinating when experienced for the first time. Imagine sitting in a café and eavesdropping on a casual conversation between two friends at a nearby table. They can both speak in a different language, and do so smoothly and naturally, engage in code-switching where they transition from one to […]
One of the most legendary players to ever have played the game of professional football (soccer) was Diego Maradona (October 30, 1960 – November 25, 2020). Maradona was a professional Argentinian football player and manager, and a joint winner (along with Pelé) of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award. The news of Maradona’s […]
The Psychonomic Society’s first virtual conference (#psynom20) has come to an end. We go to the Psychonomic Society Annual Meeting to collectively forward our understanding of cognition. There are all sorts of other reasons to attend, including: to be inspired by the latest research of current and future leaders in our field to reaffirm collaborations […]