Clipmarks | Physiology Clips

The Physiology And Psychology Of Voting

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:04:16 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: The researchers used a multiple regression analysis to compare the effects of change in skin conductance levels in response to threatening images, gender, age, education, and income on support for socially “protective” policies such as the ones listed above. The only two statistically significant effects were those of education (less education translated into more support for conservative policies) and skin conductance. That in itself means that -- within the confines of this study -- physiology trumps gender, age and income, traditionally considered highly relevant causal factors in politics by social scientists. Moreover, the regression coefficient associated with skin conductance was more than 56 times that of education! !!!

Clip Source: www.scientificblogging.com

In case you haven’t noticed, election season is upon us! Ok, it has been upon us for almost two years, but never mind that. Pollsters are busy trying to determine why people might be voting for one candidate or another, with special attention being paid to the so-called undecided voters, on whose last-minute whim the fate of the nation -- and the world -- seems to hinge.

Two recent studies, however, provide much food for thought about why people vote one way or the other, and about the reasons they give to themselves and others. A paper by Douglas Oxley and collaborators in Science (19 September) investigated the effect of physiological reactions to a perceived threat on people’s political opinions

Oxley and colleagues discovered that people who react physiologically (as measured by changes in their skin conductance) to sudden noises or to threatening images are much more likely to support conservative issues like gun control, the war in Iraq, restrictions in immigration and so forth.

Tags: voting, education, elections, physiology, psychology

post test Q9

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:19:41 GMT

clipped by: frankhebe

Clip Source: cvg.cengagenow.com

Two relatively recent trends in psychological research show a return to the intellectual roots of the discipline. The study of consciousness and physiology are evident in the current fields of

cognition and evolutionary psychology

behaviourism and cognition

cognition and biological psychology

biological psychology and humanism

pre-test Q1

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:09:35 GMT

clipped by: frankhebe

Clip Source: cvg.cengagenow.com

Psychology's intellectual roots were in the disciplines of

philosophy and mathematics

sociology and physiology

theology and physics

philosophy and physiology

Nurture affects physiology

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:49:02 GMT

clipped by: tumblon
clipper's remarks: A study at the University of Minnesota is finding that nurture in early childhood really does matter to the physical structure of the brain.

Clip Source: www.startribune.com

"What [Zelazo] is starting to show is that exposure to certain kinds of education and certain kinds of nurturing environments actually produce physically measurable changes in the brain," said Michael Feuer, executive director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Academies of Science.

Tags: brain, children, education

Parent affects gene expression

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:40:28 GMT

clipped by: tumblon
clipper's remarks: Here's another press release from the study at UNC that found parenting affecting the expression of genes that are considered vulnerable.

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

"Infancy is an important time for developing behavioral and biological processes," said the study's lead author, Cathi Propper, Ph.D., research scientist at UNC's Center for Developmental Science. "Although these processes will continue to change over time, parenting can have important positive effects even when children have inherited a genetic vulnerability to problematic behaviors."

Propper said the findings suggest that although genes play a role in the development of physiological responses to stress, environmental experiences – such as mothers' sensitive care-giving behavior – can have a strong influence, enough to change the effect that genes have on physiology very early in life.

Tags: parenting, genetics

The Politics of Fear

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:12:57 GMT

clipped by: Jorjor
clipper's remarks: From the source:

First, they were attached to equipment to measure skin conductivity, which rises with emotional stress as the moisture level in skin goes up. Each participant was shown threatening images, such as a bloody face interspersed with innocuous pictures of things such as bunnies, and rise in skin conductance in response to the shocking image was measured. The other measure was the involuntary eye blink that people have in response to something startling, such as a sudden loud noise. The scientists measured the amplitude of blinks via electrodes that detected muscle contractions under people's eyes.

Subjects who had expressed a high level of support for policies "protecting the social unit" showed a much larger change in skin conductance in response to alarming photos than those who didn't support such policies.

Personal addendum: I disagree with the use of the word "dictate"; it should have been "indicate"

Clip Source: sciencenow.sciencemag.org

By Constance Holden
ScienceNOW Daily News

A person's threat response may dictate his or her political leanings.

Why do people have the attitudes they do toward social issues such as welfare, abortion, immigration, gay rights, school prayer, and capital punishment? The conventional explanations have to do with their economic circumstances, families, friends, and educations. But new research suggests that people with radically different social attitudes also differ in certain automatic fear responses. Political scientists say the work is evidence that certain attitudes are conditioned by fundamental traits of temperament, which could help explain why it's hard to get a donkey or an elephant to change its coloring.

Tags: politics, fear, physiology, neurology

The Startle Reflex: Key to Your Politics

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:02:53 GMT

clipped by: infopunk

Clip Source: www.time.com

people who support socially protective policies

are more sensitive to environmental threat.

The study also looked at several broader political tendencies, including compromise (the willingness to yield to a middle-ground solution) and obedience (the tendency to follow a set path), and found that people who were more sensitive to threat were less amenable to the former and more inclined toward the latter.

there may be something fundamentally biological about politics.

"The reason that we have differences in political attitudes may be because deep down we have real differences, and we react to the world and see the world in different ways,"

confirms what people intuitively know about politics: a lot of it comes from the gut.

Physiology could help explain why people are so resolute, often infuriatingly, in their political views.

But that doesn't mean compromise is out of the question — physiological factors are far from deterministic.

Tags: politics, startle reflex

2000 Nobel Prize - Physiology or Medicine - Signal Transduction

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:44:55 GMT

clipped by: joejoepmc

Clip Source: nobelprize.org

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2000

Arvid Carlsson

Paul Greengard

Eric R. Kandel

Göteborg University
Gothenburg, Sweden

Rockefeller University
New York, NY, USA

Columbia University
New York, NY, USA

Clip Source: www.scq.ubc.ca

2001 Nobel Prize Physiology or Medicine

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:41:33 GMT

clipped by: joejoepmc

Clip Source: nobelprize.org

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001

"for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle"

Leland H. Hartwell

Tim Hunt

Sir Paul M. Nurse

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, WA, USA

Imperial Cancer Research Fund
London, United Kingdom

2002 Nobel Prize Winners Physiology or Medicine

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:40:31 GMT

clipped by: joejoepmc

Clip Source: nobelprize.org

Physiology or Medicine:

Clip Source: nobelprize.org

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002

"for their discoveries concerning 'genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death'"

Sydney Brenner

H. Robert Horvitz

John E. Sulston

The Molecular Sciences Institute
Berkeley, CA, USA

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Cambridge, MA, USA

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Cambridge, United Kingdom

NC Study finds parenting affects genetic effects on physiology

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 02:31:59 GMT

clipped by: tumblon
clipper's remarks: This study has tremendous import for active parenting, particularly in responding to the Newsweek's Aug 9 article "But I did everything right!" that overplayed the role of genetics in affecting anti-social behavior. Nature AND nurture both play important roles in child development.

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

In infancy, genes are the key influence on a child's ability to deal with stress. But as early as 6 months of age, parenting plays an important role in changing the impact of genes that may put infants at risk for responding poorly to stress.

These findings suggest that although genes play a role in the development of physiological responses to stress, environmental experience (such as mothers' sensitive care-giving behavior) can have a strong influence, enough to change the effect that genes have on physiology very early in life. The researchers suggest this may be because of the cumulative effect on infants of exposure to their mothers' behavior.

"Lastly, infancy is an important time for developing behavioral and biological processes. Although these processes will continue to change over time, parenting can have important positive effects even when children have inherited a genetic vulnerability to problematic behaviors."

Tags: genetics, parenting, research, children

Muscle explosion 28 Days to Maximum Mass

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:52:31 GMT

clipped by: buttershap

Clip Source: www.fitstep.com

It CAN be done and I'm
going to show you how

Because I'm going to share with you 5 ways to RAPIDLY CHANGE your body's physiology and pave the way for EXPLOSIVE gains in strength and muscle mass. You CAN very quickly force PLENTY MORE thick, lean muscle mass onto your frame than would NORMALLY be possible with conventional training...

Vitamin B12 May Protect Against Brain Shrinkage in Baby Boomers

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:08:59 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: alzheimersreadingroom.blogspot.com

These findings should be of special interest to baby boomers now entering their 60s. It could be a good idea to consult with a physician about B-12 shots.

A study conducted by researchers at the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing (OPTIMA) found that people with higher levels of vitamin B12 were six times less likely to experience brain volume loss.

This study suggests that simply adjusting our diets to consume more vitamin B12 through eating meat, fish, fortified cereals or milk may be something we can easily adjust to prevent brain shrinkage and so perhaps save our memory, says Anna Vogiatzoglou of the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at Oxford University. Research shows that vitamin B12 deficiency is a public health problem, especially among the elderly, so more vitamin B12 intake could help reverse this problem.

Online flash anatomy tutorial site

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:01:48 GMT

clipped by: MortalWombat

Clip Source: www.getbodysmart.com

	An Online Examination of Human Anatomy and Physiology
	Visually Learn About the Human Body Using Our Interactive "Flash" Animations

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Vitamin B12 Key to Aging Brain

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:04:34 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee

Clip Source: health.usnews.com

Deficiency led to more brain shrinkage, study shows

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Sept. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Older individuals with low levels of vitamin B12 seem to be at increased risk of having brain atrophy or shrinkage, new research suggests.

Brain atrophy is associated with Alzheimer's disease and impaired cognitive function.

Although the study, published in the Sept. 8 issue of Neurology, can't confirm that lower levels of B12 actually cause brain atrophy, they do suggest that "we ought to be more aware of our B12 status, especially people who are vulnerable to B12 deficiency [elderly, vegetarians, pregnant and lactating women, infants], and take steps to maintain it by eating a balanced and varied diet," said study co-author Anna Vogiatzoglou, a registered dietician and doctoral candidate in the department of physiology, anatomy and genetics at the University of Oxford, in England.

Good sources of the vitamin include meat, fish, milk and fortified cereals.