Intimate contact with religious beliefs that differ from your own can leave a bad taste in your mouth. Literally. That’s the conclusion of newly published research, which — depending on how you interpret the results — has either grim or moderately encouraging implications for interfaith relations. University of Illinois psychologists Ryan S. Ritter and Jesse Lee Preston found self-described Christians were more likely to describe a beverage as disgusting following exposure to an incompatible belief system. This provides more evidence that the emotion of disgust — an ... Read More
Sensory Deprivation Boosts Musicians’ Skill Level
May 16, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Everybody knows the standard answer. But newly published research suggests that, after you’ve labored all day in the practice room, you might want to spend an hour in a flotation tank. Oshin Vartanian of the University of Toronto and Peter Suedfeld of the University of British Columbia report floating in an Epsom salt solution one hour per week for four weeks boosted the technical ability of a group of college music students. This suggests such periods of minimal sensory stimulation can improve performers’ perceptual-motor coordination. Don’t ... Read More
Religious Affiliation and Brain Shrinkage
May 10, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Aging baby boomers are using a variety of methods to remain mentally sharp, from brain fitness classes to simply staying social. Newly published research suggests another, admittedly unorthodox approach to promoting brain-cell survival: Changing your religious affiliation. A study published in the online journal PLoS ONE found a key part of the brain atrophied more rapidly in Catholics and born-again Protestants than it did in mainline Protestants. This accelerated shrinkage was also found in people who reported a life-changing religious experience, as well as those with no ... Read More
Study of Emotion: Women’s Brains Are Wired for Compassion
May 9, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Nearly everyone agrees that women, on the whole, are more compassionate than men. In a 2008 Pew research poll, 80 percent of Americans expressed that view. Is this a sexist stereotype? Apparently not. Newly published brain-imaging research suggests that, in this case, conventional wisdom is correct. It finds women’s brains process compassion differently than men’s, apparently due to the distinctive way our respective neural systems evolved. “Our results suggest that compassion mechanisms evolved differentially in women, probably in connection with social skills including ... Read More
Why Whites Avoid Movies With Black Actors
May 4, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
In terms of box-office grosses, this is an extraordinary week for Hollywood: The No. 1 movie in America features a mixed-race cast. Granted, that movie is Fast Five, the fifth installment of the Fast and Furious action series. Boston Globe film critic Wesley Morris called these films “loud, ludicrous and visually incoherent,” but added that they are “the most progressive force in Hollywood today.” As Morris noted, nonwhite actors played major roles in only two of the 30 top-grossing films of 2010. Studio executives believe white audiences prefer to see white characters, while ... Read More