ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2010) – Poring over the works of Dr. Seuss, the adventures of the Bernstain Bears or exploring the worlds of Hans Christian Andersen with a child has always been a great parent-child bonding exercise.
But, according to George Georgiou, a University of Alberta professor in educational psychology, it is instrumental for English-speaking children if they are to acquire the language skills, particularly comprehension, essential to their future reading ability.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100216142334.htm
Jan 21
A new study suggests that Right Handed people perceive their right arms to be longer than their left arms, while left handed people have an accurate perception of arm length.
I know it sounds bizarre, but it is a fact. The study suggests that this perception difference is due to the face that in left-handed people, and equal amount of their brain is devoted to controlling the left and right sides of their body, while right handed people have much more of their brain dedicated to controlling the right side of their body.
I can’t help but wonder if this is why there are so many lefties who are successful in the fields of art and architecture.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104152304.htm
Jan 16
I know it sounds like time travel, but most of us can do it to some extent…
As a musician, I am acutely aware of melody. I am always listening for good melodies, and with my musical experience, I can often predict where the melody is going to go before it goes there. Good composers use this human tendency to hear where the melody should go to lull you into a sense of melody, and then add in twists that you are not expecting, which makes the melody more interesting. Combining the expected with the unexpected, the tonic with the dissonant surprises your mind and keeps you actively listening.
The premise of how humans do this was the topic of a new paper published in NeuroImage. “Have you ever accidentally pulled your headphone socket out while listening to music? What happens when the music stops? Psychologists believe that our brains continuously predict what is going to happen next in a piece of music. So, when the music stops, your brain may still have expectations about what should happen next.”
Read the rest of this article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100115204704.htm
