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Tag Archives: psychology

Learning language before birth

By Stephen Ornes / January 22, 2013

A special pacifier helped researchers study how newborns respond to different vowel sounds. Scientists propose that babies start to recognize language before birth. Credit: C. Moon

Scientists find that newborns can recognize vowel sounds similar to those spoken by their parents

Posted in Brain & Behavior | Tagged American babies, babies, Christine Moon, getinvolved, language, learning, Pacific Lutheran University, pacifiers, prenatal development, psychology, Swedish babies, topstories, vowels

Monkeys’ mistake detector

By Roberta Kwok / August 26, 2012

A small part of a macaque’s brain is activated when it sees another monkey making a mistake. Credit: Elisabeth Aardema/iStockphoto

Specific brain cells in macaques respond to fellow animal’s error

Posted in Animals | Tagged animal behavior, anthropology, brain, Ellen de Bruijn, error detection, getinvolved, macaques, Masaki Isoda, Matthew Shane, mistakes, monkeys, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, psychology, topstories, University of Leiden

Chimp’s gift for numbers

By Stephen Ornes / July 5, 2012

yumu the chimpanzee plays a number memory game faster and more accurately than any human player. Credit: T. Matsuzawa, Primate Research Institute

Translating numbers into colors may explain an animal’s apparent memory trick

Posted in Animals | Tagged Ayumu, chimpanzee, getinvolved, memory, Nicholas Humphrey, primate, psychology, synesthesia, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, topstories, zoology

Sweets on the brain

By Stephen Ornes / June 28, 2012

Many diet sodas are sweetened without sugar, but those sweeteners may fool your brain as well as your taste buds.

Sugar-free sweeteners fool the body’s internal computer

Posted in Brain & Behavior | Tagged artificial sweeteners, brain, Claire Murphy, diet soda, Erin Green, fat, getinvolved, health, neuroscience, nutrition, obesity, psychology, sugar-free sweeteners, Susan Swithers, taste

Double take

By Emily Sohn / December 10, 2008

By studying twins, scientists help us understand what makes people who they are

Posted in Body & Health | Tagged DNA, epigenetic, nervous, psychology, twins

Project Music

By Emily Sohn / May 28, 2004

From hard rock to country and classical, music comes into play in several award-winning science projects.

Posted in Physics | Tagged Physics of music, psychology, science projects