Monthly Archive for June, 2010
Female Teachers’ Math Anxiety Negatively Affects Female Students
For a long time it was believed that males have better spatial and numerical abilities resulting in their greater aptitude for mathematics compared to females. But research in cognitive development of human infants and children has failed to support these claims. Instead, scientists now have enough evidence to conclude that the same set of biologically based cognitive capacities is responsible for mathematical and scientific reasoning in both the sexes. However, stereotypes that girls and women lack mathematical ability persist and are still widely held by the society. Gender differences in mathematical performance and ability remain a concern as scientists seek to address the under representation of women at the highest levels of mathematics, physical sciences and engineering fields.
Antidepressants Carry Equal Risks
For nearly a decade, the public has heeded warnings of suicidal behavior related to antidepressant use in children and adolescents. However, the use of antidepressants in this population is still increasing. Initially, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the most common class of antidepressants prescribed for children, were the only drugs associated with the increase in suicidal behavior. Now, a large cohort study published in a recent issue of Pediatrics reports that there is no difference in the risk of suicidal behavior among different SSRIs or difference classes of antidepressants.
Trick of the Light – Optical Illusions Can’t be Beat
You know ‘em, you love ‘em: Suddenly, pictures bulge out in three dimensions, or static dots begin to swirl, or you see colors that aren’t really there. Tricking your eye is as easy as the well-known “finger sausage” maneuver: Hold out your arms, point your index fingers toward each other, then move them slowly together while gazing at a loosely focused spot behind them. Suddenly, a floating blimp appears between the two fingers. It isn’t there. But there it is. (A phenomenon known to neuroscientists as “cognitive impenetrability.”)
Exercise – It Works For Depression
I’m currently reading with great pleasure Tony Schwartz’s new book, The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working – The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance. Schwartz’s main premise is that we need balance -- between activity and rest on the physical level, between performance and renewal on the emotional level, between left and right brain on the mental level, and between inner and outer work on the spiritual level. If we don’t have this balance, we tread water -- we may look like we’re high performers but compared to what we are capable of when we have balance, we don’t produce much, are not very creative, and don’t have as much fun, or as much impact, as we could have.
Popular Posts
- Mind Games - Science's Attempts at Thought Control
- The Science of Stuttering
- Intelligence - Are You Holding Back Your Brain?
- Risks of Personalized Medicine
- Is Grief a Mental Illness?
- The Brain's Buying Power
- The Cost of a Good Night's Sleep
- Risk Factors for Recurrence of Depression
- Salvia Divinorum - DEA Control over Magic in the Mint
- The Many Emerging Roles of Astrocytes
Future Posts
Latest Posts
- Thinking Fast Equals Risky Business
- A Gateway to Weight Loss?
- Intelligence – Do You Need it to be Successful?
- A Trip for Terminal Patients
- Memory Ain’t What It Used to Be – And That’s Good for Psychotherapy
- The Science of Stuttering
- Are Your Friends Making You Fat?
- Beer – The Smarter Drink
- Macroeconomics and Suicide
- From Nymphomania to Hypersexuality
Comments
- Dr. Linda Vu: I consider the plasticity in r
- karir: Hello there, just became aware
- akas: The rate of fashionable experi
- Ryan: Great post! I agree with the p
- : I have used heroin for 20 year
- Lino Baine: I am not aware that people wit
- Lulu Jones: Hmm....this is interesting. I
- Robert A. Yourell, MA: Hi Stephanie...OR they tried a
- Stephnie: Based on the facts in the arti
- Sammy: I was a test subject for one o
- Veronica Pamoukaghlian, MA: Thank you for your insightful
- Richard Kensinger, MSW: I agree w/ Howard Gardner's pe
