All Articles by Chalita Thanyakoop, PhD
Dr. Thanyakoop, PhD, currently works as a postdoctoral researcher in a microbiology laboratory at University of California, Berkeley. She holds a PhD in biochemistry.
Reading between the Blogs
Blogger Lorelle VanFossen got it right when she wrote, "Your blog is your unedited version of yourself." Personal blogs not only reveal bloggers’ opinions on assorted motley topics such as fashion, politics, TV shows, food, pop culture, subculture, whatnots, but also expose the bloggers’ psyche. Psychologists have long suspected links between language and personality, but scientific investigations were restricted to a small number of people tasked to write short essays on a given topic. Recently, Tal Yarkoni, a researcher at University of Colorado at Boulder, analyzed over 80 million words from 694 bloggers and discovered strong, surprising, and sometimes amusing associations between personality traits and word use.
Daytime Napping Improves Memory
Napping sounds like just the thing for babies and elderly, but even healthy adults can rely on a daytime snooze to improve their mood, alertness, and memory. Napping has been shown to enhance memory performance and counteract the effects of fatigue. Firefighters, doctors, astronauts, pilots and other professions that handle complicated procedures for long hours are often advised to take a nap during rest time. While many studies support the notion that napping strengthens existing memory, a recent study suggests that napping also reorganizes memory and links information together to form memory networks for easy retrieval at a later time.
The Psychology of Poker
Imagine you are sitting at a poker table with a stranger whose play strategy -- how he bets and bluffs -- is unknown to you. You are dealt a two-card hand. Your opponent raises. Will you call or will you fold? How do you decide? Conventional wisdom says you look at your hand, gauge the chances of winning based on your cards, and look for clues of bluffing in your opponent’s face and body language. However, recent research published in PLoS One shows that your first impression of the opponent’s trustworthiness influences your decision and that you fold more frequently when the opponent looks trustworthy than when the opponent keeps a neutral expression or a poker face.
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
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- 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
