Links of the Fortnight… ish
1. Magnetic Contact Lenses for Better Eyetracking “The system should work regardless of head orientation and movement, lighting conditions or “face furniture” such as goggles or glasses.” It’s being developed for military purposes, but should have some other cool applications– giving disabled people improved wheelchair control, surgical devices, video games (how popular would wii plus this be?), etc.
2. The Proteus Effect: Psychology of Avatars. Now this is a cool study, with interesting implications for real life. (For the unfamiliar, avatars are digital representations of people; golems that represent you in virtual worlds such as Second Life).
“In the first study, I found that participants in attractive avatars walked closer to and disclosed more information to a stranger than participants in unattractive avatars. In the second study, I found that participants in taller avatars negotiated more aggressively in a bargaining task than participants in shorter avatars. In the third study, I demonstrated that the Proteus Effect occurs in an actual online community. And in the final study, I showed that the Proteus Effect persists outside of the virtual environment. Placing someone in a taller avatar changes how they consequently negotiate in a face-to-face setting.”
3. Side by Side Comparison of Presidential Candidates’ Health Care Plans. Quite detailed! Covers both parties.
4. Technology Crutches Let Memory Deteriorate? Does relying on cellphones, Blackberrys, PDAs and other gadgets to recall information lower our memory skills? “Survey findings… show that the over-50s who grew up committing more to memory report better performance in many areas than those under 30 who are heavily reliant on technology to act as their day-to-day aide memoir.”
5. The Intuitive Advantage from Collectivist Culture “In a new psychological experiment, Chinese students outperformed their US counterparts when ask to infer another person’s perspective.”
