But It Does Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight

Chewing gum does not induce context-dependent memory when flavor is held constant.

Overman AA, Sun J, Golding AC, Prevost D. Elon University, Psychology Department, Campus Box 2337, Elon, North Carolina 27244 USA.

This study examined the effect of chewing gum on memory when flavor is held constant. Four separate groups of participants (total n=101) completed a word recall task. At learning and recall, participants either chewed a piece of gum or sucked a sweet. Each participant completed the memory task twice, once with abstract words and once with concrete words. A significant effect of word type (concrete vs. abstract) was found, however recall performance was not improved by matched oral activity at learning and recall. The results cast further doubt on the ability of chewing gum to induce context-dependent memory effects.

link: Chewing gum does not induce context-dependent memo...[Appetite. 2009] - PubMed Result

Consciousness and Its Interfaces: Steve Budlington

Neuroculture writes:

Do our brains bring us to our senses? What happens when the respective acts of looking and listening have bloomed so fully as to displace other ways of interacting with the world? Drawing on sources ranging from early anatomical studies to current developments in politics, environmental studies, and technologies of outdoor gear and apparel, Steve Budington’s paintings present hyperbolical but familiar situations that highlight the dangers (and humors) of specialization. Consumed by the project of “making sense,” the anatomically altered figures in Budington’s paintings become imagined sites of cultural and evolutionary excess between a brain and an environment that compete, as much as they collaborate, for survival.

link: Neuroculture - Home Page

Enter Al Franken, Stage Leftish

John Colapinto writes:

Like Hillary Clinton in 2001, Franken enters the Senate as someone both blessed and burdened with the kind of celebrity that can summon a press scrum at a moment’s notice but can also create resentment among colleagues; also like Clinton, he has been reviled by Republicans.

The day the Minnesota Supreme Court declared him the winner, Senator Jim Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, called him “the clown from Minnesota.” Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, had previously declared that any effort to seat Franken prematurely would result in “World War III,” and he had suggested that a federal challenge could keep Coleman fighting in the courts for “years.” Such rancor, however, seemed to have vanished, at least for the moment. At his swearing-in, Franken was welcomed by repeated rounds of applause from his fellow-senators—including Republicans—who had shown up in force for the ceremony. Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, gave him a bear hug on the Senate floor, and, later, in the hallway outside, Franken received a similar embrace from none other than Inhofe. He was still glowing from the reception. “Yesterday was a magnificent day,” Franken said at the breakfast. He went on, in a telltale deadpan, “And my feeling is that, um, if we can just make every day—” The room exploded in laughter.

link: Al Franken joins the Senate: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

Sometimes a Gadget is So Beautiful You Can't Believe It

adski_kafeteri: Pemberton-Billing, Compass Camera, 35mm rangefinder camera, Manufacture Jaeger-Le Coultre S.A 1938

Aung San Suu Kyi, by Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey made new stunning work portraiting imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma.

link: Shepard Fairey portraits Aung San Suu Kyi - Osocio, Social Advertising and Non-profit Campaigns

Power of the New Media

Arianna Huffington writes:

When deadly riots broke out in China last week, the Chinese government sprang into message control mode. It choked off the Internet, blocked Twitter, and deleted updates and videos from social networking sites. At the same time, it invited foreign journalists to take a tour of the area. That's right, it slammed the door in the face of new media -- and offered traditional reporters a front row seat. The Chinese have clearly learned the lessons of Iran. The same can't be said about the New York Times' Roger Cohen who, writing about covering the Iran uprising, recently mounted an attack on search engines, news aggregation, and "miracles of technology" such as Twitter and real-time video delivered via camera phones -- the very tools that allowed millions of people around the world to bear witness to what was happening in Iran. How bizarre is that?

link: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post

Iran: Will Mousavi Form a Party?

Mousavi legally prohibited from forming a political party, says Kayhan

According to the state run newspaper Kayhan, Mohammad Reza Mir Taj al-Dini, member of the principalist faction has said “in the Islamic Republic system, a person who does not accept the guardianship of the jurist and the Guardian Council is not qualified to form a party.”

The Deputy of the Council for Coordination of the Forces of the Revolution said, “Mousavi must first prove that he does not have enmity and hostility towards the regime and accepts the existing laws and then think about forming a party.”

“I believe that given current circumstances Mousavi wants to impose his illegal words by using partisan force and this in not acceptable and he should not be given a permit.”

Kayhan also quoted the speaker of the Society Loyal to Islamic Revolution who said “creating a party by people like Mousavi whose loyalty to the regime has not been proven is against the constitution.” Mohammad Azimi added “Mousavi’s behavior after the announcement of election results has risen doubts about his loyalty to the constitution…therefore he is not qualified to form a party.”

Mahmoud Mirlohi: “Mousavi’s party will be definitely created”

Deputy interior minister for legal and parliamentary affairs of the reform movement, Mahmoud Mirlohi, announced that “Mousavi’s party will definitely be created and he more capable than just retreating against word from a few unauthorized individuals.”

“The opponents (of Mousavi) only accept certain laws and according to their own interpretation and do not recognize laws regarding freedom of assembly, speech … which are the explicit wording of the law. Therefore, it is natural that they are anxious about the creation of a party by Mousavi.”

“They are trying to close legal channels to the people and now the law has really turned into an instrument in their service.”

link: niacINsight

Marcin Łuczkowski, Photographer: Burn Magazine

Snapshot on the Road by Marcin Łuczkowski

This picture was taken somewhere between Mietków and Milin (Poland). The image is a part of the “Everyday Snapshot” essay I started two years ago, and I will probably never finish. In this particular image, a newly married man is standing staring in a field, while taking a break from the wedding photography session. Website: www.marcinluczkowski.com

link: burn magazine