Last updated on 4/15/12. (Source)
Los Angeles Times story on synesthesia’s blended senses include the work of graduate student David Brang
ScienceNOW reported on study about how the brain processes metaphors and quoted commentary by V.S. Ramachandran
Study on infants’ cognitive development by Karen Dobkins and graduate student Katie Wagner, suggesting babies may be experiencing something akin to synesthesia, was featured on BigThink
Story in Huffington Post surveying studies on beauty included the golden-ratio work of Stephen Link and alumna Pamela Pallett
Science 2.0 story on training your toddler to have perfect pitch featured Diana Deutsch
Don’t know much about charter schools: Education Week reported on a new paper -- coauthored by Julian Betts of Economics with UC President Emeritus Richard Atkinson of Cognitive Science/Psychology and published in the journal Science – demonstrating that the best, most rigorous (lottery-based) studies of charter schools reflect only the best schools and must be supplemented with “value-added” approaches for all the rest. KPBS and The San Diego Reader, among others, also reported.
New Scientist ran video and blog posts on visual illusion originally developed by Stuart Anstis; the magazine’s “Culture Lab” blog featured V.S. Ramachandran on his favorite place to reflect and seek inspiration.
BBC News ran a feature on the ongoing mirror-therapy work of V.S. Ramachandran, starting with treating the phantom-limb pain of amputees in the mid-’90s and now moving on to osteoarthritis.
Psychological scientists are doing sound research in the quest for the elusive crossroads where words and music meet. Diana Deutsch featured in the cover story of the Association for Psychological Science's Observer.
Now that’s funny: New York Times ran story on research by Psychology alumna and current post-doc Laura Mickes, with Nicholas Christenfeld, showing that, contrary to gender stereotype, men may not be the much funnier sex. Sydney Morning Herald also ran a piece as did UK’s Chortle; and Salt Lake Tribune re-published LA Times editorial
A Discover Magazine article a on study suggesting that finches may have their own grammatical rules included comment from Tim Gentner of Psychology
Stuart Anstis of Psychology explained a “beating hearts” visual illusion to New Scientist blog
Daily Tech covered research coauthored by John Wixted of Psychology finding that the hippocampus may play a larger role in memory than previously thought
KQED’s “MindShift” cited work by Hal Pashler of Psychology that doesn’t find evidence to support the popular notion of learning styles
Larry Squire published in Journal of Neuroscience regarding new understandings of the role of the hippocampus in memory.
Undergraduate Theresa Tran wins 2nd place and an iPad in the Cengage Psychology video contest thanks to student votes. See her humorous and informative entry on youtube.
Diana Deutsch has been awarded the Science Writing Award for Professionals in Acoustics for her article in Scientific American Mind, "Speaking in Tones".
Funny Finding: Men Win Humor Test (by a Hair); research by Psychology alumna and current post-doc Laura Mickes, with Nicholas Christenfeld and New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff – continued to generate coverage and conversation: Good Morning America ran a weekend edition segment; TIME ran a piece and Scientific American broadcast a “60-Second Mind” podcast; Los Angeles Times had an editorial that was also distributed on the McClatchy wire and picked up widely around the nation; UPI piece enjoyed international distribution
New Scientist short with video on a visual illusion referred to Stuart Anstis of Psychology
Spoilers don't ruin stories! Nicholas Christenfeld and Jonathan Leavitt received plenty of attention in the media for his recent findings on story endings. The Colbert Report and MSNBC.
California Watch ran story on report, led by Hal Pashler of Psychology, saying there is little scientific evidence to support the theory of “learning styles”
MSNBC reporting on the arrest of the “Toe Suck Fairy” cited V.S. Ramachandran of Psychology on foot fetishes
Big Think ran piece on recent mirroring research by Piotr Winkielman of Psychology
Leslie Carver and Karen Dobkins of Psychology, coauthors on a big study led by UC Davis showing that autism risk in sibling is much higher than previously thought, were featured on the talk-show KPBS “Midday Edition” and on KPBS News; WebMD and several others mentioned UC San Diego involvement in the study
Study on “mental abacus,” coauthored by David Barner of Psychology, was featured in American Scientist and New ScientistForbes blog, LiveScience and Deccan Herald ran stories on research by Piotr Winkielman of Psychology showing that mirroring another’s body language sometimes reflects poorly on the mimic, as did MSNBC, the French Tribune, the Business Insider and the Daily Mail (UK)
Keith Rayner is awarded the the Carnegie Cetenary Professorship, given to nominees of the highest academic standing who will contribute to academic/scientific developments in the Scottish universities in their particular fields, whether in teaching or research or in both, in emerging as well as established disciplines or in interdisciplinary fields.
New Scientist feature on the link between sounds and particular sensory perceptions cited research by V.S. Ramachandran of Psychology, with alumnus Ed Hubbard, and also the work of Benjamin Bergen of Cognitive Science
Australian science magazine Cosmos referred to starling research by Tim Gentner of Psychology in a story about the evolution of language
MedIndia story on how listening to music while jogging and biking makes you “deaf” quoted Diana Deutsch of Psychology
John Wixted has been awarded Experimental Psychology's most prestigious and oldest award, the Howard Crosby Warren Medal for his research. With this award, he joins the elite company of notable psychologists, such as Karl Lashley, B. F. Skinner and Larry Squire. (see more)
ScienceNews story, appearing in U.S. News & World Report, on how brains guesstimate quoted Ed Vul of Psychology