Under Pressure: The Impact Of Stress On Decision Making

Science Daily: "We are faced with making decisions all the time. Often, we carefully deliberate the pros and cons of our choices, taking into consideration past experiences in similar situations before making a final decision. However, a new study suggests that cognitive stress, such as distraction, can influence this balanced, logical approach to decision making."

Yale team finds mechanism that constructs key brain structure

EurekAlert: "Yale University researchers have found a molecular mechanism that allows the proper mixing of neurons during the formation of columns essential for the operation of the cerebral cortex, they report in the Sept. 16 online issue of the journal Nature."

'Alert Status' Area In Brain Discoved: New Understanding Of Anesthesia

ScienceDaily: "A new understanding of how anesthesia and anesthesia-like states are controlled in the brain opens the door to possible new future treatments of various states of loss of consciousness, such as reversible coma, according to scientists."

Fake Video Dramatically Alters Eyewitness Accounts

ScienceDaily: "Researchers at the University of Warwick have found that fake video evidence can dramatically alter people's perceptions of events, even convincing them to testify as an eyewitness to an event that never happened."

Reading Kafka improves learning, suggests UCSB psychology study

EurekAlert: "Reading a book by Franz Kafka -- or watching a film by director David Lynch -- could make you smarter. According to research by psychologists at UC Santa Barbara and the University of British Columbia, exposure to surrealism enhances the cognitive mechanisms that oversee implicit learning functions."

Scary music is scarier with your eyes shut

EurekAlert: "Dr. Talma Hendler of Tel Aviv University reports that the simple fact of closing the eyes can elicit more intense physical responses in the brain itself, visible on fMRIs."

Evidence points to conscious 'metacognition' in some nonhuman animals

EurekAlert: "J. David Smith, Ph.D., a comparative psychologist at the University at Buffalo who has conducted extensive studies in animal cognition, says there is growing evidence that animals share functional parallels with human conscious metacognition -- that is, they may share humans' ability to reflect upon, monitor or regulate their states of mind."

TEDTalks : Rebecca Saxe: How we read each other's minds - Rebecca Saxe (2009)

TEDTalks: "Sensing the motives and feelings of others is a natural talent for humans. But how do we do it? Here, Rebecca Saxe shares fascinating lab work that uncovers how the brain thinks about other peoples' thoughts -- and judges their actions."

CIA Experiments on US Soldiers Linked to Torture Program

truthout: "A number of new reports have, in recent weeks, highlighted evidence of illegal human experimentation on US-held "terrorism" prisoners undergoing torture. Those reports come on the heels of a "white paper" by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), "Aiding Torture: Health Professionals' Ethics and Human Rights Violations Demonstrated", in the May 2004 inspector general's report.

This article looks at those recent charges, and reveals that experiments by a CIA researcher on human subjects undergoing SERE training went unreported in the legal memos the Bush administration drafted to approve their torture program. It will also connect major military and intelligence figures to the SERE experiments and tie some of them to major science and "experimental" directorates at the CIA and Special Operations Command."

7 Thoughts That Are Bad For You

LiveScience: "Some personality quirks could take a toll on our health."