While searching for a solution for her broken nights, Lisette de Jonge-Hoekstra takes us to pink noise – a phenomenon that characterizes smooth processes. In addition, she discovers that listening to actual noise of different colors is claimed to benefit certain states of mind. Lisette finds out what science has to say about these claims, and what she found may be a solution for you as well.
The chances are good that you have heard of mirror neurons. They were once thought to be the harbingers of a scientific revolution, and promised to “do for psychology what DNA did for biology” (according to the prominent neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran in an Edge essay in 2000). But the revolution didn’t happen. In fact, […]
Children with motor coordination problems experience problems in controlling balance games, causing lower scores than their peers. Training with active video games enhances better anticipation and faster responses, which not only lead to better game scores but also transfer to other activities needed in gym classes or the schoolyard.
Are you reading this on your smartphone? And is it dark outside? Then, if you care about a good night’s sleep, you really shouldn’t be reading this. But wait, don’t put your phone away just yet! You want to know why you shouldn’t be reading this, don’t you? There are many reasons why using a […]
Compassion has previously been shown to trigger positive feelings and a desire to help others. But there may be more to it. Monday January 29th, dr. Wim Meerholz defended his dissertation in which he explains that compassion needs not have only positive effects.
Last year I wrote a blog post on Blue Monday, an international day which serves to raise awareness for depression. This year, Blue Monday was on January 15. The week before, on January 9, the Dutch Ministry of Public Health started a national campaign with the aim of making it easier to talk about depression, […]
In this piece, prof. dr. Tom Postmes offers his opinion on the safety policy in Groningen. He concludes that in his attempt to prevent a paper-and-pencil disaster, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate ignores an existing disaster.
Choosing a particular career path can be challenging, and comprises many components, situations, people and goals. Moreover, the choice process for a career path differs from individual to individual. In this blog post, Filomena Parada explains how the complex and heterogeneous process of career choice and related education- and work-transitions can be investigated by combining three diverse approaches to study human functioning.
Methodologists had an interesting summer this past year, thanks in part to a bombshell paper by Benjamin and 71 others, shared as preprint on July 22nd, 2017. The authors argued to reduce the ‘default threshold’ α for statistical significance from 5% to 0.5% (i.e., from 0.05 to 0.005). To refresh your memory, null hypothesis significance […]
How does the experience of trauma impact women’s empowerment and economic participation over time? Social and clinical psychologists join efforts to follow the development of Bolivian girls over the next ten years.