Science of learning book offers tips to ‘Make it Stick’
“Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning” offers students of all ages a clear and
compelling primer on the best and worst ways to store and retrieve new
knowledge. The book is co-authored by psychologists Henry L. “Roddy” Roediger III and Mark A. McDaniel, leading experts on human learning and memory at Washington University in St. Louis, along with nonfiction writer and novelist Peter C. Brown.
Older adult clumsiness linked to brain changes
For many older adults, the aging process seems to go hand-in-hand with an annoying increase in clumsiness. New research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests some of these reaching-and-grabbing difficulties may be caused by changes in the mental frame of reference that older adults use to visualize nearby objects.
Jacoby wins Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to experimental psychology
The Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP) has awarded its 2013 Norman Anderson Lifetime Achievement Award to Larry L. Jacoby, PhD, an internationally recognized scholar of human memory and a professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
Avoid impulsive acts by imagining future benefits
Why is it so hard for some people to resist the least little temptation, while others seem to possess incredible patience, passing up immediate gratification for a greater long-term good? The answer, suggests a new study from Washington University in St. Louis, is that patient people focus on future rewards in a way that makes the waiting process seem much more pleasurable.
Know thyself: How mindfulness can improve self-knowledge
Mindfulness — paying attention to one’s current
experience in a nonjudgmental way — might help us to learn more about
our own personalities, new research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests.
Military service changes personality, makes vets less agreeable
It’s no secret that battlefield trauma can leave veterans with deep emotional scars that impact their ability to function in civilian life. But new research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that military service, even without combat, has a subtle lingering effect on a man’s personality, making it potentially more difficult for veterans to get along with friends, family and co-workers.
Death tolls spur pro-war stance, study finds
Mounting casualities in America’s nearly 10-year-old wars in Iraq and Afghanistan might seem to serve as a catalyst for people to denounce the war and demand a way out. But a Washington University in St. Louis study into the psychology of “sunk-costs” finds that highlighting casualties before asking for opinions on these wars actually sways people toward a more pro-war attitude. This sunk-cost mindset may also expain why losers stay in the stock market.
Quizzes key to learning for middle school students
Practice may not always make perfect, but a novel study of Midwestern middle school science students suggests it just might. New research from Washington University in St. Louis shows that students who received three quizzes on content questions before a unit test performed at the “A” level on those test questions, compared with a “C” level on questions that were not quizzed beforehand but still on the test.
Meaningful conversation may be key to happiness
Outgoing, gregarious people who fill their lives with deep, meaningful conversations may have found at least one key to a happier life, suggests research from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Arizona.
Confidence is key to gauging impressions we make
The gift of “seeing ourselves as others see us” comes in handy when judging how we’ve made a first impression. Yet many come away with little or no clue about how that first impression was perceived. A new study suggests confidence is a key indicator of how well we’ve assessed impressions left behind.
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