Archive for May 2009
Investigating the placebo effect
…There is no denying the drumbeat of studies on the therapeutic power of placebos. Over the years they have been shown to relieve asthma, lower blood pressure, reduce angina and stop gastric reflux. An inert solution injected into the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease reduced muscle rigidity about as well as standard drugs. In a bizarre finding, sham surgery of the knee, in which patients got sedation and an incision but no actual procedure, relieved the pain of osteoarthritis better than actual arthroscopy—and produced an equal improvement in joint function, scientists reported in 2002. And last month an analysis of clinical trials of a range of antidepressants found that, except in the most severe cases, placebos lifted the black cloud as well as meds did.
Does brain chemistry underlie religious experience?
…Some researchers are using new technologies to try to understand spiritual experience. They’re peering into our brains and studying our bodies to look for circumstantial evidence of a spiritual world. The search is in its infancy, and scientists doubt they will ever be able to prove — or disprove — the existence of God.
Does the ‘denomination effect’ explain our spending patterns?
(…) Economists have researched… the Denomination Effect. Priya Raghubir and Joydeep Srivastava did a series of experiments in the U.S. and China that showed people were much more willing to spend the same sum of money if they had smaller denominations instead of one large bill.
“We’ve done some studies with four quarters and a dollar, and we found that people were much less likely to spend the $1 note that they were given than the four quarters they were given,” Raghubir says.
Exploring the neural substrates of choice and certainty
University of Washington (UW) researchers who study how the brain makes decisions are uncovering the biological mechanisms behind the belief that a choice is likely to be correct.
“Choice certainty,” noted one of the researchers, Dr. Roozbeh Kiani, “allows us to translate our convictions into suitable actions.” Several other research projects have shown that choice certainty is closely associated with reaction time and with decision accuracy.
Kiani and the co-author of the new May 8 Science article, Michael N. Shadlen… tested the possibility that the same brain cell mechanism that underlies decision making might also underlie judgments about certainty…
The article can be found here.
Study’s findings suggest babies are not ‘blank slates’
Science Daily reports on research conducted at Northwestern University that found infants could differentiate between water and a ‘faux water’ solid:
The finding that infants can distinguish between solids and liquids at such an early age builds upon a growing body of research that strongly suggests that babies are not blank slates who primarily depend on others for acquiring knowledge. That’s a common assumption of researchers in the not too distant past.
“Rather, our research shows that babies are amazing little experimenters with innate knowledge,” Susan Hespos said. “They’re collecting data all the time.”
