From yesterday’s Times comes a treatise On Language used in rock music, specifically the difference between "all right" and "alright".
Judge for yourself!
July 03, 2006
July 02, 2006
More than Déjà Vu?
Some interesting insight into memory, déjà vu, déjà veçu, and more from today's New York Times magazine:
July 2, 2006
Déjà Vu, Again and Again
By EVAN RATLIFF
People with a syndrome called déjà vécu spend much
of their time living through experiences they are
convinced have happened before. Researchers think the
phenomenon may be a clue to some of the enduring
mysteries of memory.
July 2, 2006
Déjà Vu, Again and Again
By EVAN RATLIFF
People with a syndrome called déjà vécu spend much
of their time living through experiences they are
convinced have happened before. Researchers think the
phenomenon may be a clue to some of the enduring
mysteries of memory.
July 01, 2006
Stereo Sue and me
My eye doctor was interviewed by Oliver Sacks last year! He wrote about her in the New Yorker! (that's about as close as I'll come to being published in the New Yorker, so I'm rather excited).
Here's the deal: Dr. Theresa Ruggiero prescribed vision therapy for both "Stereo Sue" and me (tho' not at the same time). We both had miraculous recoveries of our stereo vision. Truly amazing, in my experience -- my biggest revelation was three dimensional vision, especially on paper, and especially with colors.
Stereo Sue had an equally amazing experience, which she shared with Oliver Sacks, who wrote the aforementioned article about it. If you want to read that, you can go to you local library & look it up in Academic Search Premier, LexisNexis, or another database with the full-text of the New Yorker.
Here are the details:
STEREO SUE. By: Sacks, Oliver. New Yorker, 6/19/2006, Vol. 82 Issue 18, p64-73.
She was also recently on NPR's Morning Edition -- read about her experiences on the NPR site, see photos of her (including one with Dr. Ruggiero & Oliver Sacks) then track down the New Yorker article.
Fascinating stuff!
Here's the deal: Dr. Theresa Ruggiero prescribed vision therapy for both "Stereo Sue" and me (tho' not at the same time). We both had miraculous recoveries of our stereo vision. Truly amazing, in my experience -- my biggest revelation was three dimensional vision, especially on paper, and especially with colors.
Stereo Sue had an equally amazing experience, which she shared with Oliver Sacks, who wrote the aforementioned article about it. If you want to read that, you can go to you local library & look it up in Academic Search Premier, LexisNexis, or another database with the full-text of the New Yorker.
Here are the details:
STEREO SUE. By: Sacks, Oliver. New Yorker, 6/19/2006, Vol. 82 Issue 18, p64-73.
She was also recently on NPR's Morning Edition -- read about her experiences on the NPR site, see photos of her (including one with Dr. Ruggiero & Oliver Sacks) then track down the New Yorker article.
Fascinating stuff!
June 03, 2006
Podcasts from MedlinePlus
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.
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.
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
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