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1500 questions
22
votes
2 answers
How rare is synesthesia?
I visited a neuropsychologist recently who told me I have Synesthesia. I never really knew what it was, but it's fascinating and I can't believe it isn't the norm among people. For me, certain numbers just have had personalities.
For some reason,…
Genevieve
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22
votes
1 answer
How long can a person stay happy, excited and motivated about something new?
I'm interested in learning more about studies or experiments that determine how long a typical person can stay excited about something new:
New job
new project
new relationship
new idea
new purchase/toy
Is there any evidence to support the…
Alex Stone
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22
votes
2 answers
What tasks does Bayesian decision-making model poorly?
Bayesianism has been a relatively successful paradigm for modeling decision-making. However, not every psychologist is a bayesian, and there are tasks such as the Tversky & Shafir (1992) experiments that are hard to reconcile with the bayesian…
Artem Kaznatcheev
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22
votes
5 answers
Why do we prefer visually aligned objects?
We all know visual alignment is one of the foundations of design. Everything must be aligned with everything else.
We also know that when things are aligned it is easier to process information.
My question is why?
Nothing in nature is "aligned".…
Gonçalo Veiga
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22
votes
1 answer
Evolutionary game theory in the cognitive sciences
Game theory models something very relevant to psychologists (in particular social psychologists): conflict and cooperation between decision-makers. Unfortunately, classical game theory demands that these decision makers are rational (in a…
Artem Kaznatcheev
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21
votes
3 answers
Why do people fear statistically unlikely things?
Over 10 times more people die in circulatory diseases than accidents (source). Nevertheless people (in general) fear accidents more than circulatory disease. There are statistically even more unlikely things that people fear, such as…
CuriousSuperhero
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21
votes
3 answers
Why do dreams lose clarity quickly over time after we awaken?
Right after you wake up from a dream, you seem to be able to remember most if not all of the details. Then, over time, these details fade and often disappear.
Is this a form of regression? Why is it harder to solidify memories of dreams?
CheeseConQueso
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21
votes
4 answers
Is serotonin conclusively linked to depression?
Some highlights from the article "The Depressing News about Anti-Depressants":
ever since a seminal study in 1998, whose findings were reinforced by landmark research in The Journal of the American Medical Association last month, that evidence has…
Randy
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21
votes
1 answer
How well can a human-generated "random number" be predicted?
For example, if i ask an individual to write a 20-number-long sequence of random numbers from 0 to 10. How well can I predict the 20th number from the initial 19?
More generally,
How well can subsequent numbers in a sequence be predicted from…
Sergey Shpad
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21
votes
2 answers
Why does neuroplasticity decrease in adults?
Although adult brains are malleable and even undergo limited neuorgenesis, the extent of the neuroplasticiy is much lower than in children. This is most obvious in language acquisition, and recovery from brain trauma.
Are there formal models…
Artem Kaznatcheev
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21
votes
3 answers
How are autistic savants able to perform certain mathematical computations so quickly?
How do autistic savants (or other people with these abilities) compute equations like $81^{100}$ in 2.5 minutes?
Which algorithms do they use? Is it an efficient one, or do they just have a lot of memory?
Can non-autistic savants use these…
Broflowski
20
votes
2 answers
Effect of words highlighting on reading comprehension
I'm interested if there are studies dealing with text understanding and POS (part of speech) coloring, or coloring syntactic/semantic information. The studies should solve the questions like:
Which combination of colors improve/deteriorate…
xralf
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20
votes
1 answer
Is there a reduction of "Brain Fog" with fewer hours of sleep?
I've heard patients who complain of "brain fog" (and fatigue) claim a reduction in "brain fog" (and more mental clarity) when they get fewer hours of sleep (usually less than 5.5 hours).
Here I'd define brain fog as a lack of mental clarity, slow…
Bradford
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20
votes
2 answers
How long does it take to refocus after context switching?
Context switching has been highlighted for the toll it takes on productivity at great length, particularly by people who work in software and project management.
Are there any psychology/neuroscience studies documenting how long it usually takes a…
Ana
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20
votes
2 answers
Are autonomy, mastery, and purpose the most important motivators?
I've watched the amazing TED talk where Daniel Pink lays out the contrarian notion that greater extrinsic motivators are unimportant (and sometimes detrimental) in comparison to three intrinsic motivators: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.
But is he…
Apophenia Overload