We have AI to read books for us now, of course. But in the olden days, many humans would curl up with a bound set of paper and read the words on it. Reading actual books for pleasure is less popular than ever, though many of us still do it! Reading is associated with several …
Continue reading “The surprising health benefits of reading a book”
I alternate wearing two smartwatches. I wear a Garmin on days I go running, and a smaller FitBit on days I do not. I had a hunch that my FitBit made it easier to get to 10,000 steps. So one day I decided to wear both watches on the same wrist for the whole day. …
Continue reading How’s the criterion validity of your smartwatch?
The answer? Yep! In the study, participants consumed 10 gummies per session. The candies looked identical, but some contained 2mg of THC and others contained 0mg (placebo). The researchers manipulated the dosages by combining different numbers of THC gummies (either 0, 1, 5, or 10) and placebo gummies. Photo: The Image Party/Shutterstock A study published …
Continue reading Do cannabis gummies affect people’s driving?
We're in an era when countries like Australia and the U.K. are banning social media for kids under 16, most U.S. states are keeping phones out of schools "from bell to bell," and parents are figuring out just how much time online is good for kids. Here's a new study on how social media use …
Does watching sports make people happy? Time magazine says it does. Their headline for this study reads, "Why Watching Sports Makes People Happy". Let's examine whether the study they reviewed is set up to establish causation. Is attending the game making them happier? Or do happier people tend to go to more games? This study …
Presenters and teachers can either animate their slides' elements or not. When they are animated, a presenter's slides come up a little bit at a time. When they're not, the text and images are presented all-at-once, in one big blob. You've definitely experienced both. Which way do you think is more effective for learning? Make …
Continue reading Should we animate lecture slides for better learning?
Here’s a fun example of a quasi-experiment. A team of behavioral economists has analyzed U.S. data on fertility rates. Demographers have known for decades that fertility in most of the world’s most prosperous countries has been decreasing. The study showed that fewer kids were born in regions with earlier access to the iPhone, especially to …
Continue reading “Fertility Rates Declining Due to Smartphone Use, New Study Says”
Imagine you unleash 100 people onto a soccer (football) pitch and encourage them all to walk around and mingle however they wish. Now imagine you send a drone directly above this crowd to film them. What will you see? This photo of pedestrians was taken in Shibuya, Japan, at one of the busiest pedestrian crossings …
Here's a joint post between Jess Hartnett (author of Psychological Statistics for Everyone and the Not Awful and Boring blog) and me! Once used only for recreational or spiritual reasons, psychedelics like ayahuasca and psilocybin are emerging as a treatment for people coping with prolonged grief, terminal illness, treatment-resistant depression, substance use disorder, PTSD, eating …
Continue reading Testing psychedelics: What’s the control group?
As we shop for breakfast cereal, body cream, or baby carrots, we have choices. Some versions are billed as “natural” or “organic”. Others are not. When choosing between two similar items, are people more likely to choose the one labeled "natural?"Photo credit: BearFotos/ShutterstockAlt text: Couple chooses shampoo or shower gel and body washcloth in household …