“You are captured by these monetary issues — how to pay rent, how to pay bills,” Zhao added. “As a result, you’re less attentive to other problems. You neglect other things in life that deserve your attention.”

Read the whole artilce: http://www.salon.com/2013/08/30/living_in_poverty_has_the_same_effect_on_the_brain_as_regularly_going_without_sleep/

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/03/19/0956797610366543.full

Contrary to the assumption that vision worsens with age because of physiological limitations, the experiments we report here tested whether vision can be improved through psychological means.

I recently saw Avatar in 3-D. Cool florescent forests. Worth seeing if you also want to see an allegory for some contemporary and historical atrocities.

Putting social conscience aside, this movie also got me thinking about another important topic, the psychology and neuroscience of potential Avatar technology. Did I say potential? A few years ago now, a Wired article summed up the emerging data from experiments simulating virtual experiences. See http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/12/vr-goggles-and/ for a discussion of these (2/12/08).

“What this study tells us is that in general the public commitment principle produces results, especially if the commitment is long-term. But, in the mix of people who make the commitment, those who genuinely fear social disapproval—not a personality trait usually given very high marks–will likely succeed the most. Those who couldn’t care less what others think are, ironically, more likely to come up short.”