Can you do this? Simple sitting test predicts longevity

Can you do this? Simple sitting test predicts longevity

Whether you can get down and up from the floor without using another part of your body to prop you up could be a predictor of how long you'll live. Boy that is strong vote to keep up the yoga practice!

Adaptable decision making in the brain

Adaptable decision making in the brain

Science reveals the power of a handshake

Science reveals the power of a handshake

Hulk smash? Maybe not anymore: Scientists block excess aggression in mice

Hulk smash? Maybe not anymore: Scientists block excess aggression in mice

I presented recently for Western Alumni Office on advertising and how consumers can arm themselves against its effect. This is the video posted on YouTube: http://youtu.be/VJq2UHxzGA8

How Our Values are Processed in the Brain

The price of your soul: How the brain decides whether to 'sell out'

ScienceDaily (2012-01-22) -- A neuro-imaging study shows that personal values people refuse to disavow, even when offered cash, are processed differently in the brain than those values that are willingly sold. The experiment found that the realm of the sacred -- whether a strong religious belief, national identity or code of ethics -- is a distinct cognitive process, and prompts greater activation of a brain area associated with rules-based, right-or-wrong thought processes, as opposed to regions linked to costs-versus-benefits thought. ... > read full article

Why We Spend When We Shouldn't

A front page article in today's Globe and Mail by Tavia Grant on why retail sales seem to be strong this year despite wage stagnation and vacillating consumer confidence included some "sage" words from yours truly! :)

The questions Tavia asked are really good ones and are at the crux of much of what I research. Part of the explanation could be attributed to the pent-up demand effect, where even if consumers are financially limited and they try their best to resist the urge to spend and be frugal, when there are cues from the environment, like ubiquitous reminders of the rapidly approaching holiday season, or when there are stressors or pressures, due to worry about one's job or the economy for example, theory from psychology and consumer behaviour posits that people may be even more susceptible to the temptation to spend even when there is uncertainty that the cash is available to pay for these purchases. So while we might expect that a dip in consumer confidence might dampen spending because people should be preparing for what they expect might be harder times, in fact it can be difficult and stressful for people to cope over an extended period of time with that fear and trepidation. In addition, because we have certain cultural expectations of what an ideal holiday is and often it is important to at least provide a happy experience for loved ones it makes sense that people would muster up any surplus, whether from a savings account or a credit card, in order to make the best of hard times. This can result in surges in spending even during declines in consumer sentiment. In a nutshell it is still difficult for us to predict how consumer confidence impacts consumer spending given the idiosyncrasies of how we psychologically consumer when under stress. There are many other factors that can modulate that impact. I think that some of us react to the uncertainty in the environment by looking for ways to feel confident, in control and successful and interestingly the process of shopping to procure consumption items especially for our households and families is very satisfying, very rewarding.

I Hate Cortisol! It Makes Me Fat and It's Keeping My Baby Up At Night!

When babies awaken: New study shows surprise regarding important hormone level

ScienceDaily (2011-12-01) -- Cortisol may be the Swiss Army knife of hormones in the human body -- just when scientists think they understand what it does, another function pops up. While many of these functions are understood for adults, much less is known about how cortisol operates in babies and toddlers, especially when it comes to an important phenomenon called the cortisol awakening response, or CAR. ... > read full article

Anterior Cingulate and Orbitofrontal Cortex Involved in Addiction

Findings offer new clues into the addicted brain

ScienceDaily (2011-10-30) -- What drives addicts to repeatedly choose drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, overeating, gambling or kleptomania, despite the risks involved? Neuroscientists have pinpointed the exact locations in the brain where calculations are made that can result in addictive and compulsive behavior. ... > read full article

Drugs and the Disorganized Mind

How cannabis causes 'cognitive chaos' in the brain

ScienceDaily (2011-10-25) -- Cannabis use is associated with disturbances in concentration and memory. New research by neuroscientists in the UK has found that brain activity becomes uncoordinated and inaccurate during these altered states of mind, leading to neurophysiological and behavioral impairments reminiscent of those seen in schizophrenia. ... > read full article

The Brain Thinks Dreams Are Real

Scientists measure dream content for the first time: Dreams activate the brain in a similar way to real actions

ScienceDaily (2011-10-28) -- The ability to dream is a fascinating aspect of the human mind. However, how the images and emotions that we experience so intensively when we dream form in our heads remains a mystery. Up to now it has not been possible to measure dream content. Scientists in Germany have now succeeded, for the first time, in analyzing the activity of the brain during dreaming. ... > read full article

Slower Growth of Connections in the Brain for Autistic Kids

Autistic brains develop more slowly than healthy brains, researchers say

ScienceDaily (2011-10-20) -- Researchers have found a possible explanation for why autistic children act and think differently than their peers -- for the first time, they show that the connections between regions of the brain that are important for language and social skills grow much more slowly in boys with autism, when compared to healthy children. ... > read full article

Teen IQ Instability: Developmental Changes in the Brain Impact IQ

Brain scans support findings that IQ can rise or fall significantly during adolescence

ScienceDaily (2011-10-20) -- IQ, the standard measure of intelligence, can increase or fall significantly during our teenage years, according to new research, and these changes are associated with changes to the structure of our brains. The findings may have implications for testing and streaming of children during their school years. ... > read full article

Ever Heard of Drunkorexia? Another Twist on Addictive Consumption

Drunkorexia: A recipe for disaster

ScienceDaily (2011-10-17) -- It is well-known that eating disorders are common among teens and college students. Heavy alcohol consumption is another well-known unhealthy habit of this age group. A new study shows that when college students combine these two unhealthy habits, their long-term health may be affected. "Drunkorexia" is a new term coined by the media to describe the combination of disordered eating and heavy alcohol consumption... read full article

Do Schizophrenics Really Hear Voices...Maybe?

Schizophrenia genetics linked to disruption in how brain processes sound

ScienceDaily (2011-10-14) -- What links genetic differences to changes in altered brain activity in schizophrenia is not clear. Now, three labs have come together using electrophysiological, anatomical, and immunohistochemical approaches -- along with a unique high-speed imaging technique -- to understand how schizophrenia works at the cellular level, especially in identifying how changes in the interaction between different types of nerve cells leads to symptoms of the disease. ... > read full article

Brining A Whole New (Other) Meaning to "Businesswomen" Around The World

The Economist's Schumpeter column, which I often vehemently disagree with for its extreme opinions, hit a home run last week with The Daughter Also Rises: Women Are Storming Emerging-World Boardrooms. It chronicles the sagas of numerous female "businesswomen" (which in Russia has a less than flattering double meaning...who knew? See the article!) in emerging markets around the world and the painful but steady shifts that working, educated even millionaire and billionaire women are making in places where culture has stood firmly to dangerous and lethal beliefs about what half the population can and can't do!

Insomniac Blues! Lack of Sleep Kills Productivity

Insomnia costing US workforce $63.2 billion a year in lost productivity, study shows

ScienceDaily (2011-09-02) -- Insomnia is costing the average US worker 11.3 days, or $2,280 in lost productivity every year, according to a new study considered to be more accurate than previous estimates. Researchers hope such numbers will prompt the implementation of screening and treatment programs for employees. Because insomnia is not considered an illness -- the kind that results in lost days at work -- employers tend to ignore its consequences. ... > read full article

Alarm Bells in the Brain: Alcohol Indeed Turns That Ringing Down

Alcohol dulls brain 'alarm' that monitors mistakes, study finds

ScienceDaily (2011-09-02) -- Most people have witnessed otherwise intelligent people doing embarrassing or stupid things when they are intoxicated, but what specifically happens in the brain to cause such drunken actions? A new study testing alcohol's effects on brain activity finds that alcohol dulls the brain "signal" that warns people when they are making a mistake, ultimately reducing self control. ... > read full article

Beating the Young Whipper Snappers: Decision Making Does Get Better With Age

Older adults are better at decision-making than young adults

ScienceDaily (2011-08-23) -- We make decisions all our lives -- so you'd think we'd get better and better at it. Yet research has shown that younger adults are better decision-makers than older ones. Some psychologists, puzzled by these findings, suspected the experiments were biased toward younger brains. ... > read full article

I Love "Aha" Moments: How the Brain Makes Predictions

Everyday 'clairvoyance:' How your brain makes near-future predictions

ScienceDaily (2011-08-18) -- Every day we make thousands of tiny predictions -- when the bus will arrive, who is knocking on the door, whether the dropped glass will break. Now, in one of the first studies of its kind, researchers are beginning to unravel the process by which the brain makes these everyday prognostications. ... > read full article