STUDY ALERT: The Mere Anticipation of an Interaction with a Woman Can Impair Men’s Cognitive Performance
The Mere Anticipation of an Interaction with a Woman Can Impair Men’s Cognitive Performance
Sanne Nauts • Martin Metzmacher • Thijs Verwijmeren • Vera Rommeswinkel • Johan C. Karremans
Abstract
Recent research suggests that heterosexual men’s (but not heterosexual women’s) cognitive performance is impaired after an interaction with someone of the opposite sex (Karremans et al., 2009). Read More
STUDY ALERT: The Association between Resting Functional Connectivity and Creativity
Title: The Association between Resting Functional Connectivity and Creativity
Authors: Hikaru Takeuchi, Yasuyuki Taki, Hiroshi Hashizume, Yuko Sassa, Tomomi Nagase, Rui Nouchi and Ryuta Kawashima
Abstract
The analysis of functional connectivity at rest (rFC) enables us to know how brain regions within and between networks interact. In this study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and a creativity test of divergent thinking (DT) to investigate the relationship between creativity measured by DT and rFC. Read More
STUDY ALERT: What No Child Left Behind Leaves Behind + Bonus
TITLE: What No Child Left Behind Leaves Behind: The Roles of IQ and Self-Control in Predicting Standardized Achievement Test Scores and Report Card Grades
AUTHORS: Angela L. Duckworth, Patrick D. Quinn, Eli Tsukayama
ABSTRACT
The increasing prominence of standardized testing to assess student learning motivated the current investigation. We propose that standardized achievement test scores assess competencies determined more by intelligence than by self-control, whereas report card grades assess competencies determined more by self-control than by intelligence. Read More
STUDY ALERT: Role of test motivation in intelligence testing
TITLE: Role of test motivation in intelligence testing
AUTHORS: Angela Lee Duckwortha,1, Patrick D. Quinnb, Donald R. Lynamc, Rolf Loeberd, and Magda Stouthamer-Loeberd
ABSTRACT
Intelligence tests are widely assumed to measure maximal intellectual performance, and predictive associations between intelligence quotient (IQ) scores and later-life outcomes are typically interpreted as unbiased estimates of the effect of intellectual ability on academic, professional, and social life outcomes. The current investigation critically examines these assumptions and finds evidence against both. Read More
STUDY ALERT: How Smart Do You Think You Are?
TITLE: How Smart Do You Think You Are? A Meta-Analysis on the Validity of Self-Estimates of Cognitive Ability
AUTHORS: Philipp Alexander Freund and Nadine Kasten
ABSTRACT
Individuals’ perceptions of their own level of cognitive ability are expressed through self-estimates. They play an important role in a person’s self-concept because they facilitate an understanding of how one’s own abilities relate to those of others. People evaluate their own and other persons’ abilities all the time, but self-estimates are also used in formal settings, such as, for instance, career counseling. Read More
STUDY ALERT: Training the Brain: Practical Applications of Neural Plasticity
Title: Practical Applications of Neural Plasticity From the Intersection of Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology, and Prevention Science
Author: Richard L. Bryck and Philip A. Fisher
Abstract
Prior researchers have shown that the brain has a remarkable ability for adapting to environmental changes. The positive effects of such neural plasticity include enhanced functioning in specific cognitive domains and shifts in cortical representation following naturally occurring cases of sensory deprivation; however, maladaptive changes in brain function and development owing to early developmental adversity and stress have also been well documented. Researchers examining enriched rearing environments in animals have revealed the potential for inducing positive brain plasticity effects and have helped to popularize methods for training the brain to reverse early brain deficits or to boost normal cognitive functioning. Read More
STUDY ALERT: High-Stakes Testing: Does It Increase Achievement?
TITLE: High-Stakes Testing: Does It Increase Achievement?
AUTHOR: Sharon L. Nichols
ABSTRACT
I review the literature on the impact on student achievement of high-stakes testing. Its popularity as a mechanism for holding educators accountable has triggered studies to examine whether its promise to increase student learning has been fulfilled. The review concludes there is no consistent evidence to suggest high-stakes testing leads to increases in student learning*. Read More
STUDY ALERT: Intelligence: New Findings and Theoretical Developments
This is an important update to Ulric Neisser et al.’s seminal 1996 article Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. Read More
Introducing “STUDY ALERT”: Fluid insight moderates the relationship between psychoticism and crystallized intelligence
Truth is: I’ve become increasingly agitated by most science reporting of psychological studies. Somewhere along the way, something usually gets misrepresented. Maybe it’s the sensational title. Maybe it’s the misquoting. Maybe it’s a misunderstanding of what a correlation means or what constitutes a large or meaningful effect size or the equating of a gene with […]
