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1500 questions
25
votes
11 answers
How can I create computer based psychology experiments using OS X?
I've used E-prime to create computer based psychology experiments (you know, the kind where you for example show a number of pictures to the participant and record their responses to them, for example keypresses) for Windows. However, I'd now like…
Speldosa
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25
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2 answers
Are spaced flashcards effective for learning?
Several apps and sites offer flashcard-based learning that repeat the cards you do poorly on over a period of time (the more inaccurate the answer the closer to each other the repetitions are). One example of this is Super Memo.
Is there rigorous…
Chris S
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3 answers
Intelligence and marriage satisfaction
A recent letter by a Princeton alumni stated:
Men regularly marry women who are younger, less intelligent, less
educated. It’s amazing how forgiving men can be about a woman’s lack
of erudition, if she is exceptionally pretty. Smart women…
Jeromy Anglim
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25
votes
2 answers
Does language and/or culture affect an individual's cognitive capacity?
Some languages have multiple expressions to identify, address, comprehend, and interpret a single concept and/or experience.
Are limits placed on understanding and describing aspects of cognition due to the finite lexicon being used to explain a…
CheeseConQueso
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25
votes
1 answer
Why is white on black considered higher contrast than black on white?
While researching to answer Why are "Inverted Colors" considered an accessibility feature? I noticed the puzzling claim that "White text on a black background is a higher contrast to the opposite, so the letterforms need to be wider apart, lighter…
Ben Brocka
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25
votes
2 answers
What is the threshold where actions are perceived as "instant"?
In Human Computer Interaction and User Experience there's some oft repeated rules of performance:
0.1 second is about the limit for having the user feel that the system is reacting instantaneously, meaning that no special feedback is necessary…
Ben Brocka
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25
votes
2 answers
Performance of a group solving a cognitive task: How does it scale?
Some intellectual, cognitive and perceptual tasks can be solved collaboratively. It is common knowledge that group performance is better than that of each single individual due to exchange of information (and without going into issues of…
Piotr Migdal
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24
votes
2 answers
Subconscious vs Unconscious
From what I know, we use the term 'subconscious' to refer to the things that we can bring into our conscious. and, we use the term 'unconscious' for things that we can't know, they come automatically to our mind without having to think.
So, I was…
cpx
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24
votes
2 answers
How long do dreams last?
What is the relationship between time perceived in a dream and time in the external world?
Is time running in dreams always faster than the time running in the real world? Is it ratio of real time and dream's time?
Deep-est Shah
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24
votes
3 answers
Is there scientific evidence on the benefits of binaural beats?
When two coherent sounds with nearly similar frequencies are presented to each ear respectively with stereo headphones, the brain integrates the two signals and produces a sensation of a third sound called binaural beat.
I tried to google, but a lot…
KugBuBu
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24
votes
3 answers
Is extreme empathy and compassion considered a disorder?
Can extreme empathy and compassion get to a point where it is considered a disorder?
For example, if someone is so empathetic, when feeling someones pain it negatively affects their life to the same extent as the person they are feeling for?
Or that…
Greg McNulty
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24
votes
4 answers
Why is the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard so intolerable?
I am curious as to what current research shows regarding why scraping noises such as fingernails on a chalkboard, a knife/fork scraping against a plate, metal grinding against metal or stone etc are so intolerable to humans. In doing some initial…
Josh
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24
votes
4 answers
What, if anything, sets humans apart from other species?
As I grew up, I was taught that the difference between humans and animals was that human beings have free will and animals do not. The basis is that animals will act accordingly to the nature of their species. I never fully understood this statement…
user10932
24
votes
2 answers
Is it possible to think in a second language?
Those who have learned a second language are guaranteed to consciously think of words and their corresponding meaning in your native language or vice versa.
This is common with more "complex" sentences, like "My favorite color is green.", rather…
CoonKitteh
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votes
1 answer
Is there experimental support for John Perry's "Theory of Structured Procrastination"?
John Perry's theory of structured procrastination can be summed up as follows:
Some people are inherently predisposed to be procrastinators across a wide range of domains
Such procrastinators are still capable of being productive
They can achieve…
Artem Kaznatcheev
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