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Appropriate metric(s) for quantifying the accuracy gain obtained from averaging dyads of estimates instead of adopting individual estimates?

Background The question relates to research I am doing into the Wisdom of Crowds effect (Galton, 1907; Page, 2007; Surowiecki, 2004), in which an average of the estimates made by individuals proves to be highly accurate relative to the estimates…
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Is "Karmic Punishment" more effective?

When I was young, my parents consistently used "Karmic Punishments", punishments that had a strong relationship to the misbehavior. They believed that this was more effective. Examples: Swearing or lying was punished by rinsing mouth out with…
Lawton
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Does schizophrenia cause a loss of intelligence?

Does having schizophrenia cause a loss of intelligence (as measured by IQ tests)? How does present research comment on this connection, if it exists? Furthermore, is it possible to recover from this decline in IQ? If so, under what conditions?
user7852
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Are all conscious experiences stored as memories?

There are people with supermemories, called highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM), i.e., the detailed recollection of events that occurred in the distant past. Although the recollection of, say the weather on this day 15 years ago may not…
AliceD
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How can we be formed by our childhood's environment if we don't remember much of it?

Studies with rats have shown that how much a pup is licked during their early childhood predicts their adult personality [1]. Also, many psychologists say that early childhood is the part of our lives where our personality is formed [2]. However,…
Probably
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Predictive Experiments on Neuroscience of Free Will

It seems to be very interesting that we can use modern neuroscience and cognitive science research to inform us about the ages-old question of free-will vs. determinism. The standard experiment was done by Benjamin Libet in 1983 that demonstrated…
Vakalate
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Does adult neurogenesis occur only in the olfactory bulb and the hippocampus?

The scholarpedia article on this subject says: Adult neurogenesis is the process of generating new neurons which integrate into existing circuits after fetal and early postnatal development has ceased. In most mammalian species, adult…
Joebevo
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What do the weights of an artificial neural network represent in biological neurons?

In artificial neural networks the connections between neurons are a assigned numbers called "weights" or "parameters". As new data is fed into the neural net, these weights change. This is how the neural net "learns". I'm trying to understand what…
Alex Ryan
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Why does appreciation make us happy?

Why does one crave facebook likes or a pat on the back. Our actions are always governed by this phenomenon, and I don't understand why.
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Why do we like stories?

Almost everyone likes a good story, the way in which it is delivered matters, but most people love a good story in one form or another, whether it's delivered through conversation, a book, a video game, a movie, or even if it's just them trying to…
Cestarian
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What are the different branches of Psychoanalysis?

I am trying to make a list of the main accepted branches of psychoanalysis to quiz a friend of mine. I don't know much about it and to learn more I need to know the main areas. So far I have Freudian Psychology Object Relations Theory Relations…
Stan Shunpike
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How do cognitive scientists measure creativity?

Einstein said once something like creativity is more important than intelligence. Intelligence as it is measured is really one's speed and efficiency at processing information. How one processes the information is the 'province' of creativity. Are…
201044
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Open magnetic resonance imaging datasets on psychosis?

Are there any open magnetic resonance imaging datasets of normal and healthy adults (as controls) and psychotic subjects? Such as ADNI for Alzheimer's or OASIS for aging.
data
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How do responses to Likert type response scales vary across countries and cultures?

I gave an answer here on stats.stackexchange.com about how to analyse ordinal items, such as those on Likert type response scales (e.g., Strongly disagree to Strongly agree). Someone asked whether there were differences between countries and…
Jeromy Anglim
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What are some examples of controversial themes in psychology?

There are a number of themes that are controversial (provoke debate, are unsettled, polarize opinion, or are reflected by a range of positions) in psychology. One example involves nature vs. nurture: some people think that much of our language…
Justin
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