Ok, so I'm still en vacanes a little, but I just saw this podcast (featured on iTunes' "New & Notable" pages, so you might have seen it too) from MedlinePlus. It's called Director's Comments, and it showcases new sites on the web site.
If you haven't seen MedlinePlus yet, you're in for a treat in the consumer health information department. They say
"MedlinePlus brings together authoritative information from NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations. Preformulated MEDLINE searches are included in MedlinePlus and give easy access to medical journal articles. MedlinePlus also has extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and latest health news."
The podcast highlights new government web sites on MedlinePlus, and episodes cover Flu Vaccine; Body Maps; Bird Flu; Detached Retina; and Eye Infections; Genetic Testing; NIH MedlinePlus Magazine. They’re available via iTunes, on the MedlinePlus web site, and you can read transcripts from the web site, too.
June 03, 2006
May 28, 2006
en vacances
Going to Montreal! Woo hoo!!
Then to Knoxville for the Ex Libris Users Group. Hmmm.
Anyway, probably no new posts until mid-June.
Happy trails!
Then to Knoxville for the Ex Libris Users Group. Hmmm.
Anyway, probably no new posts until mid-June.
Happy trails!
May 26, 2006
Near to my heart ... but not technically cog sci or librarian
... is Entertainment Weekly's list of the 25 Best Music Websites. The CogSci Librarian likes music quite a bit, and this list includes some old favorites and possibly some new ones.
To wit:
iTunes Music Store quoting EW "well, duh."
EMusic $9.99 a month for 40 iPoddable downloads from independent bands such as Hem, Apollo Nove, and Josh Rouse. 2006 Emusic favorite is Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins.
Pandora (blogged here earlier as the Music Genome Project)
and
Radio David Byrne
Smithsonian Global Sound
BBC Radio
Happy long weekend (in the US)!
To wit:
iTunes Music Store quoting EW "well, duh."
EMusic $9.99 a month for 40 iPoddable downloads from independent bands such as Hem, Apollo Nove, and Josh Rouse. 2006 Emusic favorite is Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins.
Pandora (blogged here earlier as the Music Genome Project)
and
Radio David Byrne
Smithsonian Global Sound
BBC Radio
Happy long weekend (in the US)!
May 24, 2006
Memory: biography, essay, and podcast with Eric Kandel
Scientific American's podcasts are interesting. I heard an interview with Eric Kandel, recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine (for his work on memory) in the most recent podcast.
Scientific American editor and columnist Steve Mirsky interviewed Dr. Kandel, and the discussion covered Kandel's research, his personal background and their intersection. Kandel spoke "about what kinds of scientific investigation he [found] most interesting and worthwhile and where he would concentrate if he were beginning his research career today."
Synergy abounds, so Dr. Kandel is promoting his new book In Search of Memory / The Emergence of a New Science of Mind (review from J. Clin. Invest) , an excerpt of which you can read in the April/May issue of Scientific American Mind (online = abstract only).
Scientific American editor and columnist Steve Mirsky interviewed Dr. Kandel, and the discussion covered Kandel's research, his personal background and their intersection. Kandel spoke "about what kinds of scientific investigation he [found] most interesting and worthwhile and where he would concentrate if he were beginning his research career today."
Synergy abounds, so Dr. Kandel is promoting his new book In Search of Memory / The Emergence of a New Science of Mind (review from J. Clin. Invest) , an excerpt of which you can read in the April/May issue of Scientific American Mind (online = abstract only).
May 21, 2006
Synethesia, the Stroop Effect, and ... Football?
According to last Wednesday's New York Times, NFL players might be able to choose jersey numbers beyond the numbering system devised in the 1970s. This requires, for example, that linebackers can have numbers in the 50s, and quarterbacks may select any number between 1-20.
This year, Reggie Bush, running back (destined for a number from 20-49), wants the numeral 5 as he starts his #1 draft pick career with the New Orleans Saints. This isn't new, as a few players in the past few years have questioned the system. John Branch's article talks about the details, and if you like football & numbers, you'll enjoy the article.
My questions are more of a cognitive nature. If a running back gets a quarterback's number (Kerry Collins, former NY Giants QB, wearing jersey #5, for instance), will the fans think he's a running back or a quarterback? The Stroop Effect suggests that if words are presented in colors that aren't the same (ie, the word "blue" in red letters), it will take a long time for you to realize that the color is red rather than blue. So, I predict that fans will be more likely to ... well, they'll be confused by someone wearing a number that's not "right."
This got me to thinking about how players choose numbers, which led me to think of synethesia, where people see letters as colors (a = red) or feelings as color (pain = orange) for example. Do (some) football players & other athletes "see" themselves as a certain color in the same way a synesthetes see colors when they hear vowels? Maybe Reggie Bush "sees" himself as number 5 and nothing else will do.
You can take the girl out of the Cog Sci department, but you can't take cognitive science out of the girl.
This year, Reggie Bush, running back (destined for a number from 20-49), wants the numeral 5 as he starts his #1 draft pick career with the New Orleans Saints. This isn't new, as a few players in the past few years have questioned the system. John Branch's article talks about the details, and if you like football & numbers, you'll enjoy the article.
My questions are more of a cognitive nature. If a running back gets a quarterback's number (Kerry Collins, former NY Giants QB, wearing jersey #5, for instance), will the fans think he's a running back or a quarterback? The Stroop Effect suggests that if words are presented in colors that aren't the same (ie, the word "blue" in red letters), it will take a long time for you to realize that the color is red rather than blue. So, I predict that fans will be more likely to ... well, they'll be confused by someone wearing a number that's not "right."
This got me to thinking about how players choose numbers, which led me to think of synethesia, where people see letters as colors (a = red) or feelings as color (pain = orange) for example. Do (some) football players & other athletes "see" themselves as a certain color in the same way a synesthetes see colors when they hear vowels? Maybe Reggie Bush "sees" himself as number 5 and nothing else will do.
You can take the girl out of the Cog Sci department, but you can't take cognitive science out of the girl.
May 17, 2006
Chatting As A Girl ...
... can be scary. APM's Future Tense reports that chat rooms can be hostile to girls. In some ways this isn't a surprise, but the magnitude of the hostility is striking.
"A study by the University of Maryland's School of Engineering finds that female-name users of Internet Relay Chat are subjected to a barrage of sexually abusive language and violent verbal attacks. In the study, chatroom users with names like 'Kathy' or 'Irene' received 25 times more malicious messages than users with names like 'Bob' or 'Jack.'"
More info is at physorg.com (*very* commercial, but interesting), which reports that the "results will be published in the proceedings of the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers International (IEEE) Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN '06) in June."
You can listen to the Future Tense piece in RealAudio or as a podcast through iTunes.
"A study by the University of Maryland's School of Engineering finds that female-name users of Internet Relay Chat are subjected to a barrage of sexually abusive language and violent verbal attacks. In the study, chatroom users with names like 'Kathy' or 'Irene' received 25 times more malicious messages than users with names like 'Bob' or 'Jack.'"
More info is at physorg.com (*very* commercial, but interesting), which reports that the "results will be published in the proceedings of the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers International (IEEE) Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN '06) in June."
You can listen to the Future Tense piece in RealAudio or as a podcast through iTunes.
May 16, 2006
More news from Com Sci
Here's another new article by two of my Communication Science colleagues:
Measuring State and Trait Aggression: A Short, Cautionary Tale (ebsco link). By: Farrar, Kirstie; Krcmar, Marina. Media Psychology, 2006, Vol. 8 Issue 2, p127-138. Abstract: Ample evidence exists suggesting that exposure to television and film violence (Paik & Comstock, 1994) and playing with violent video games (Sherry, 2001) contribute to increases in aggressive behavior; however, the magnitude of the effect ranges from small to moderate. In this study, we argue that in some cases, use of trait, rather than state, aggression can serve to attenuate effects. We report the results of a study in which a trait aggression scale is reworded slightly to create a state measure. The state and trait scales are then compared in high- and low-aggression priming conditions. Results suggest that though both scales are reliable and both have construct validity, the reworded state aggression scale responds more to the high prime than to the low prime. More important, it also responds more than the original trait scale does. Therefore, minor variations in studies of media's effect on aggression, such as variations in scale wording, can serve to attenuate effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
How do I find out about these articles? I'm glad you asked! I did a search in EBSCO's Academic Search Premier database for author affiliation = Department of Communication Sciences, University of Connecticut. They send me new articles weekly. I send a congratulatory email to the faculty member (s), along with the EBSCO blurb -- and if the article is available online, I tell 'em that, too.
This is good on so many levels!
Measuring State and Trait Aggression: A Short, Cautionary Tale (ebsco link). By: Farrar, Kirstie; Krcmar, Marina. Media Psychology, 2006, Vol. 8 Issue 2, p127-138. Abstract: Ample evidence exists suggesting that exposure to television and film violence (Paik & Comstock, 1994) and playing with violent video games (Sherry, 2001) contribute to increases in aggressive behavior; however, the magnitude of the effect ranges from small to moderate. In this study, we argue that in some cases, use of trait, rather than state, aggression can serve to attenuate effects. We report the results of a study in which a trait aggression scale is reworded slightly to create a state measure. The state and trait scales are then compared in high- and low-aggression priming conditions. Results suggest that though both scales are reliable and both have construct validity, the reworded state aggression scale responds more to the high prime than to the low prime. More important, it also responds more than the original trait scale does. Therefore, minor variations in studies of media's effect on aggression, such as variations in scale wording, can serve to attenuate effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
How do I find out about these articles? I'm glad you asked! I did a search in EBSCO's Academic Search Premier database for author affiliation = Department of Communication Sciences, University of Connecticut. They send me new articles weekly. I send a congratulatory email to the faculty member (s), along with the EBSCO blurb -- and if the article is available online, I tell 'em that, too.
This is good on so many levels!
- Good service to my faculty
- I keep up with what they're doing
- I promote the value of library databases to the (perhaps) uninitiated
Thanks to Qwest
This came through my ComSci mailing list & I thought others might be interested as well:
Say Thanks to Qwest!
"It’s not often these days that we have occasion to laud corporate behavior, but the stance taken by the telecom Qwest in resisting the Bush Administration’s covert program to ensnare every single American citizen in a vast web of telephone surveillance deserves our thanks.
"Every other telecom sold out the privacy of its customers – literally so, taking money to turn over their phone records to the National Security Agency – but Qwest alone insisted on having a court order before complying with Bush’s unprecedented and “indefensible” (as Newt Gingrich put it) invasion of Americans’ personal lives and business affairs."
Website created by Richard Kastelein
Text by Chris Floyd and Richard Kastelein
Say Thanks to Qwest!
"It’s not often these days that we have occasion to laud corporate behavior, but the stance taken by the telecom Qwest in resisting the Bush Administration’s covert program to ensnare every single American citizen in a vast web of telephone surveillance deserves our thanks.
"Every other telecom sold out the privacy of its customers – literally so, taking money to turn over their phone records to the National Security Agency – but Qwest alone insisted on having a court order before complying with Bush’s unprecedented and “indefensible” (as Newt Gingrich put it) invasion of Americans’ personal lives and business affairs."
Website created by Richard Kastelein
Text by Chris Floyd and Richard Kastelein
May 14, 2006
The Dread Zone
I encountered this research about the neurobiology of dread twice recently — in the New York Times and on Science Friday (mp3).
Science Friday interviewed Gregory Berns (professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory), who used fMRI to determine the areas of the brain that are activated when we experience dread — and then suggests that the anticipation of something unpleasant or painful (ie, dread) has an effect on the decisions we make. He's combining neurobiology with economic behavior theories.
The Emory press release quotes Dr. Berns: " 'Most people don't like waiting for an unpleasant outcome, and want to get it over with as soon as possible,' explains Dr. Berns, an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. 'The only explanation for this is that the dread of having something hanging over your head is worse than the thing that you are dreading. It is a commonplace experience, but standard economic models of decision-making don't deal with this issue. So, we decided to take a biological approach and see what happens in the brain that might cause people to make such rash decisions.' "
This is getting lots o' press:
Health: Study Points to a Solution for Dread: Distraction
by Sandra Blakeslee
New York Times, May 5, 2006.
Scientists have found that dread does not involve fear and anxiety in the moment of an unpleasant event, but rather the attention that people devote to it beforehand.
Is Dread Driving Your Decisions?
Study: Dread Roosts in Brain, Often Prompts 'Get It Over With' Attitude
by Miranda Hitti, WebMD Medical News, May 4, 2006.
And the article itself:
Neurobiological Substrates of Dread (no free access)
ScienceMay 5 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5774, pp. 754 - 758
by Gregory S. Berns, et al.
Deciding between two choices can be difficult, particularly when they are separated in time. Economic theory accommodates the calculation by discounting the future outcome by the amount of time, most simply via a hyperbolic function. An additional factor is the cost of waiting, which can be represented clearly when the outcomes are unpleasant (electric shocks to one's foot), and the choice is between a stronger shock in a few seconds versus a weaker shock a half minute later. Many people will opt to "get it over with," primarily, one assumes, to avoid the anticipation of future pain, which is used as an operational definition by Berns et al. in examining the neural basis of dread. Areas within the cortical pain matrix respond in a fashion that can be associated with the extent of dread expressed across individuals.
Science Friday interviewed Gregory Berns (professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory), who used fMRI to determine the areas of the brain that are activated when we experience dread — and then suggests that the anticipation of something unpleasant or painful (ie, dread) has an effect on the decisions we make. He's combining neurobiology with economic behavior theories.
The Emory press release quotes Dr. Berns: " 'Most people don't like waiting for an unpleasant outcome, and want to get it over with as soon as possible,' explains Dr. Berns, an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. 'The only explanation for this is that the dread of having something hanging over your head is worse than the thing that you are dreading. It is a commonplace experience, but standard economic models of decision-making don't deal with this issue. So, we decided to take a biological approach and see what happens in the brain that might cause people to make such rash decisions.' "
This is getting lots o' press:
Health: Study Points to a Solution for Dread: Distraction
by Sandra Blakeslee
New York Times, May 5, 2006.
Scientists have found that dread does not involve fear and anxiety in the moment of an unpleasant event, but rather the attention that people devote to it beforehand.
Is Dread Driving Your Decisions?
Study: Dread Roosts in Brain, Often Prompts 'Get It Over With' Attitude
by Miranda Hitti, WebMD Medical News, May 4, 2006.
And the article itself:
Neurobiological Substrates of Dread (no free access)
ScienceMay 5 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5774, pp. 754 - 758
by Gregory S. Berns, et al.
Deciding between two choices can be difficult, particularly when they are separated in time. Economic theory accommodates the calculation by discounting the future outcome by the amount of time, most simply via a hyperbolic function. An additional factor is the cost of waiting, which can be represented clearly when the outcomes are unpleasant (electric shocks to one's foot), and the choice is between a stronger shock in a few seconds versus a weaker shock a half minute later. Many people will opt to "get it over with," primarily, one assumes, to avoid the anticipation of future pain, which is used as an operational definition by Berns et al. in examining the neural basis of dread. Areas within the cortical pain matrix respond in a fashion that can be associated with the extent of dread expressed across individuals.
Progress on hiring women science faculty members stalls at MIT
Bummer. Science magazine reports that "[t]he number of women faculty members at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge has declined or remained flat in five of its six science departments since 2000, whereas the number of women in other areas, such as engineering and architecture, increased significantly during the same period."
The rate for women in the brain / cognitive sciences fell slightly, to 8 / 33 — which is, according to this chart, the highest percentage of women in any of the science departments at MIT.
In his lecture (mp3 file) at Hamline University School of Law last fall, Malcolm Gladwell recounted a story of how more women got hired by symphony orchestras. It used to be that music auditions were face to face, and so the male orchestra leaders could tell the gender of the musicians. Oddly (snark), male musicians were consistently rated WAAAAAY better than female ones, and so they got hired in disproportionate numbers. However, in 1980, "blind auditions" were implemented (for privacy reasons, not to reverse gender bais) in which the conductor could not see the musicians. Shortly thereafter, the number of women in orchestras increased dramatically. (read more about that on Aaron's blog or in blink itself.
Would it be possible to conduct blind job interviews? Might that solve the problem? If there aren't women in science departments now, there won't be any more in 20 years ... just my humble opinion.
Rare for me to jump on my soap box, but sometimes it has to be done.
The rate for women in the brain / cognitive sciences fell slightly, to 8 / 33 — which is, according to this chart, the highest percentage of women in any of the science departments at MIT.
In his lecture (mp3 file) at Hamline University School of Law last fall, Malcolm Gladwell recounted a story of how more women got hired by symphony orchestras. It used to be that music auditions were face to face, and so the male orchestra leaders could tell the gender of the musicians. Oddly (snark), male musicians were consistently rated WAAAAAY better than female ones, and so they got hired in disproportionate numbers. However, in 1980, "blind auditions" were implemented (for privacy reasons, not to reverse gender bais) in which the conductor could not see the musicians. Shortly thereafter, the number of women in orchestras increased dramatically. (read more about that on Aaron's blog or in blink itself.
Would it be possible to conduct blind job interviews? Might that solve the problem? If there aren't women in science departments now, there won't be any more in 20 years ... just my humble opinion.
Rare for me to jump on my soap box, but sometimes it has to be done.
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