A study in NeuroImage suggests that language and music are processed by the same underlying brain systems. Using EEG (which has really good temporal sensitivity), the authors presented subjects with melodies that were violated in one of three ways:
1) Rule-only violations: where the melody contained out-of-key deviant notes that violated the tonal harmony [...]
A paper by Larson et al out in PNAS soon uses ancient DNA to investigate the domestication of the pig, and the subsequent spread of the Neolithic into Europe:
The Neolithic Revolution began 11,000 years ago in the Near East and preceded a westward migration into Europe of distinctive cultural groups and their agricultural [...]
Jonah Lehrer in The Boston Globe:
THE NEW CALEDONIAN crow is surprisingly smart about its food. Its favorite insects live in tiny crevices that are too narrow for its beak. So the crow takes a barbed leaf and, using its beak and claws, fashions a primitive hook. It then lowers the hook down into [...]
So… what’s the most important psychology experiment that’s never been done? The BPS Research digest asks a number of luminaries including Susan Blackmore, Jeremy Dean, Annette Karmiloff-Smith, and Martin Seligman.
The big news of the week is about the Enduring Voices project run by National Geographic which is getting coverage all over the place. National Geographic has even released a video where they race to record the last known speaker of “the extinct language” Amurdag.
The best article I’ve seen so far is [...]
I’m thoroughly intrigued by this title: “Culling-induced social perturbation in Eurasian badgers Meles meles and the management of TB in cattle: an analysis of a critical problem in applied ecology” (Abstract)
Mmm… psychology 2.0:
PsychAntenna is an ever-growing showcase of psychology-related websites, blogs, podcasts and journals that utilize RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to broadcast their content. The goal is help clinicians, researchers and students in the field of Psychology utilize RSS more efficiently and locate the best resources to help them keep up-to-date in their [...]
A new paper from Manfred Kayser’s group – Patterns of Y-chromosome Diversity Intersect with the Trans-New Guinea Hypothesis:
The island of New Guinea received part of the first human expansion out of Africa (> 40.000 years ago), but its human genetic history remains poorly understood. In this study, we examined Y-chromosome diversity in 162 [...]
Jonathan Haidt at talks about moral psychology and the misunderstanding of religion at Edge:
In what follows I will take it for granted that religion is a part of the natural world that is appropriately studied by the the methods of science. Whether or not God exists (…), religiosity is an enormously important fact [...]
This week’s Science is a special issue on social cognition, and has a bundle of fun little articles (all of which are subscription only), starting with a review of “Social Components of Fitness in Primate Groups” by Joan Silk:
There is much interest in the evolutionary forces that favored the evolution of [...]
