Psychology
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Forty years after Lance Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon with the Apollo 11 mission, it emerged Nasa had neglected the astronauts on their return.The 2009 report in Time magazine found that although the men were screened extensively for emotional problems before the mission, they were not monitored afterwards. J D Polk, the-then…
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Stanford anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann found that voice-hearing experiences of people with serious psychotic disorders are shaped by local culture – in the United States, the voices are harsh and threatening, in Africa and India, they are more benign and playful. This may have clinical implications for how to treat people with schizophrenia, she suggests. read…
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Imagine the horror of learning that your brother is in a coma as the result of a car crash. Now imagine the relief when he emerges from that coma; a relief that is soon shattered by your brother’s reaction to your presence. He thinks you, his sister, are an imposter. You look and sound just…
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Déjà vu is a startling mental event. The phenomenon involves a strong feeling that an experience is familiar, despite sensing or knowing that it never happened before. Most people have experienced déjà vu at some point in their life, but it occurs infrequently, perhaps once or twice a year at most. read more Can You…
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Last week it was reported that Pope Francis had formally recognised the International Association of Exorcists, a group of 250 priests spread across 30 countries who supposedly cast out demons. The head of the association, Rev Francesco Bamonte, announced that this was a cause for joy because, “Exorcism is a form of charity that benefits…
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New research from Emory University School of Medicine, in Atlanta, has shown that it is possible for some information to be inherited biologically through chemical changes that occur in DNA. During the tests they learned that that mice can pass on learned information about traumatic or stressful experiences – in this case a fear of…
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Just when you were hoping there were no new ways to be racist, it turns out people may be racist against dogs. Black Dog Syndrome is the name shelter workers have given to the tendency of dark-furred pups to languish in kennels while their lighter-furred brethren get adopted. “The effect is very real,” says Mirah…
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The most feared jaws in football have again snapped shut on human flesh. Renowned Uruguayan jerk Luis Suárez appeared to chomp the shoulder of Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini during a World Cup match on Tuesday. The player’s latest chomp raises questions about sportsmanship. Namely, what kind of brain decides it is OK, in the course of…
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Curator Greg Buzwell considers duality in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, exploring how the novel engages with contemporary debates about consciousness, homosexuality and criminal psychology. read more ‘Man is not truly one, but truly two’: duality in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – The British Library.
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We all speculate about the meaning of all kinds of things, from everyday concerns about dealing with a co-worker to our ultimate beliefs about the purpose of existence. Accompanying solutions we find to these problems, there’s a range of satisfied feelings, from “ah-ha” or light-bulb moments upon solving an everyday problem to ecstatic feelings during…
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Arthur Ellison, a professor of electrical engineering and prank enthusiast, decided to end a lecture in an entertaining way. He got a group of volunteers, some of whom were his colleagues, to concentrate on a bowl of flowers on a table. They were to look at it, chant “om,” and attempt to levitate it with…
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Notions of gods arise in all human societies, from all powerful and all-knowing deities to simple forest spirits. A recent method of examining religious thought and behaviour links their ubiquity and the similarity of our beliefs to the ways in which human mental processes were adapted for survival in prehistoric times. read more Caveman instincts…
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You wake up, but you can’t move a muscle. Lying in bed, you’re totally conscious, and you realize that strange things are happening. There’s a crushing weight on your chest that’s humanoid. And it’s evil.You’ve awakened into the dream world… read more Freaky Sleep Paralysis: Being Awake in Your Nightmares | Science | WIRED.
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Last year it was pop superstar Kesha; now it’s actress Natasha Blasick — star of “Paranormal Activity 2″ — coming forward to talk about her sexual experiences.With ghosts. read more What’s Behind Reports of Ghost Sex? : Discovery News.
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Exploding head syndrome may sound like a made-up condition – in fact, it’s a real and frightening medical disorder, and one that a study suggests is surprisingly common.People with exploding head syndrome EHS hear loud noises when going to sleep or on waking up.The type of noise can vary from explosions and fireworks to slammed…
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There’s new signs of life for the study of dream telepathy.A compelling 2013 report published by Carlyle Smith, Lifetime Professor Emeritus at Trent University in Ontario, Canada, found statistically unlikely levels of targeted dream content in two related studies of college students.These 2 new studies are a welcome addition to a field of inquiry that…
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The incidents described may at first glance seem not only irrelevant to ‘ufology’, but merely the ramblings of a madman. Whatever might be the facts of this case, we seem to be presented here with the basis of a ‘flying saucer syndrome’, in which many of the familiar trappings of the UFO myth, as it…
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One warm summer day, I heard the familiar tune of an ice cream truck outside my window. That night as I was going to bed I heard it again, faintly in the distance. But why was an ice cream truck cruising the neighborhood at nearly midnight? It wasn’t. Gradually I realized the jingle was not…
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In this article I intend to address for the present readership the issue of the nature of hypnotism as it relates to the practice of “regression”, “memory enhancement” and “assisted recall”. Particularly in the interrogation of UFO witnesses. In order to do so, I must preface the discussion with a much broader survey of the…
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For hundreds of years spooky noises have emanated from the wooded hills surrounding the village of Moodus, Connecticut. The deep rumblings and jarring cracks seem to come from within the hills themselves and are often accompanied by tremors. Over the years they have inspired a sense of foreboding among the local inhabitants. The original Native…
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This discovery opens up the possibility that environmental and/or genetic factors may hinder or suppress a specific brain activity that the researchers have identified as helping us prevent distraction. read more: Scientists discover brain’s anti-distraction system.
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Two-thirds of us are sleep-deprived, but Richard Wiseman has the answer; no gadgets before bed, more naps, and learning to harness the extraordinary power of dreams read more: Richard Wiseman on sleep deprivation and dreams – The Scotsman.
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Many people swear by the so-called spelunker’s illusion, in which they think they can see their own hands moving even in the total absence of light. You don’t have to see it to believe it: in a recent article in Psychological Science, cognitive scientists based at Vanderbilt University and the University of Rochester have demonstrated…
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Do you like being stared at? Neither does anyone else. We know that for sure, because psychologists have done many experiments on the subject — many, many creepy experiments. Read More: The Many Creepy Experiments That Involved Staring At People.