One of the most important functions of perception is to help organisms navigate through their environments. Different animals navigate through very different environments: think of birds flying at thousands of feet above the ground, bats catching moths in pitch darkness mid-flight, whales crossing entire oceans, bees finding nectar-rich flowers, monkeys scampering through dense tree foliage. […]
All aspects of animal behaviour are the result of a choice. By choosing to do one thing an animal is therefore not doing something else. These decisions need to be made in a manner that maximizes the likelihood of survival. Because of this emphasis on survival, decisions are generally studied from an ecological perspective; however, […]
Human beings are not perfect and our cognitive flaws are legendary—for example, we are not aware of how dangerous our distracted driving is and tend to think that it is others who are bad drivers. People can, however, hold an immense amount of information in mind and use this to navigate space more efficiently and accurately than […]
“During the summer of 1979, Bernard Pagano, a Catholic priest, was arrested and put on trial in Delaware for a series of armed robberies. Seven eyewitnesses, ranging from clerks to bystanders, positively identified Father Pagano as the “gentleman bandit,” whose well-tailored appearance and courteous manners always belied his felonious purpose. As the trial was nearing […]
Mavis has aged gracefully. With the beneficent smile of the ailurophile she exits the attorney’s office of Smith & Jones after signing her will, which bequeaths her estate to the local cat sanctuary. Mavis leaves behind a crisp $100 bill to pay for Mr. Smith’s services. A short while later, Mr. Smith discovers that the $100 bill […]
Government should be transparent. Science should be open. Government information belongs into the public domain, and scientific data should be publicly available to permit replication and scrutiny. Few would disagree with those calls for openness, and indeed there has been a flurry of activity within the sciences to upgrade research practices to achieve greater openness […]
Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications Join us in Pasteur’s Quadrant The Psychonomic Society has launched a new journal,Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (CRPI…. pronounced “creepy” …but in a nice way). I am delighted to be the founding editor. Let me tell you what you need to know about this venture: Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications will publish […]
Did you ever wonder why Winnie-the-Pooh tends to close his eyes when he tries to come up with yet another genius idea (like turning himself into a little black rain cloud to trick some bees)? Is he just trying to think really hard despite all the fluff in his head or turning away from the […]
In case you’ve missed it , talking on your cell phone while driving is pretty dangerous. Although distracted driving may be more dangerous than drunk driving, the campaign to raise awareness and create a stigma around cell-phone use during driving chafes against introspection. Despite a large and growing body of work suggesting that distraction from cell phone use impairs reflexes, […]
It gives me great pleasure to introduce our new Digital Associate Editor, Dr. Steven Weisberg, who joined our team a few weeks ago. Steven is replacing Dr. Jason Finley, who had to leave our team for workload-related reasons. So, welcome Steven, great to have you on the team. I aim to gradually replace all Digital Associate […]