Friend or Foe? How the Unconscious Mind Picks Out Faces in a Crowd

Imagine you’re walking through Times Square. There are tons of people around. As you make your way through the crowd, your brain notices several faces but ignores the rest. Why is that? What are the processes that determine which faces our brain “chooses” to see and those it allows to fade into the background? A new study describes how the unconscious mind processes human faces and the two types of faces it chooses to consciously see, namely: those associated with dominance and threat and, to a lesser degree, with trustworthiness.

Read the complete article from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem here: Friend or Foe? How the Unconscious Mind Picks Out Faces in a Crowd

Some Adolescents Adept at Media Multitasking, Research by High School Students Reveals

Check out these high school scientists' research highlighted in Science Daily! In addition to presenting their research at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference & Exhibition, these young women were at last year's ISEF (see the ISEF binder in JD's room for a copy of their abstract).

According to their research, telling youths who are juggling multiple electronic devices to 'focus on the task at hand' may not always be good advice. Contrary to popular belief that multitasking leads to poor performance, the young researchers found the opposite is true for adolescents who spend a lot of time switching between media devices and tasks. "Maybe practice really does make perfect," Ms. Ulmer said. "In our current multimedia environment, there are people who are multitasking at an exceedingly high rate, and the reality is that they may have become really good at it," Ms. Caulfield added.

Read the complete article from EurekAlert! here: Some Adolescents Adept at Media Multitasking, Research by High School Students Reveals