Color Affects The Mind

Research suggests that being surrounded by red can make people’s work more accurate, while blue can make people more creative. Red is good for enhanced memory, proofreading skills, detail-oriented tasks. Blue is good for brainstorming, novel ideas, imagination

In a similar post, we saw that in close martial arts matches, competitors wearing red were awarded ~13% more points compared to if they had a blue uniform. Perhaps red for athletes, as for animals, subconsciously symbolizes dominance.

A 2008 study showed that men considered women in photographs with red backgrounds or wearing red shirts more attractive than with other colors.

Colors may affect cognition because of the moods they engender. Red represented danger or mistakes (e.g fire alarm, emergency signs), and blue symbolized peace and openness (e.g. skies, water).

Keep Your Goals To Yourself

Contrary to common sense, research finds that expressing one's desire to do something may inhibit one from doing it.

In tests, some subjects made their intention known while others kept it private. Only those who kept their hopes private succeeded in achieving that goal.

As Newsweek explains, "[Researchers] think it has to do with sense of identity and wholeness. We all want to be an idealized person, and declaring our intentions to work hard is a symbolic act. It contributes to the goal of completing who we are, which in this case would be something like: I am a lawyer, a legal thinker, a jurist."

So keep that great idea to yourself!

Amazing Ants

Research out of Italy demonstrates that ants talk to one another.

This BBC clip shows that to cross water, ants create bridges - out of themselves.

Need Will Power? Flex Your Muscles

The Journal of Consumer Research reports that flexing any body muscle can enhance one's will power.

In one study, those who tensed their calf muscles were more likely to drink more vinegar.

In another, a much larger percentage of people who clenched their fists were able to look at disturbing images of post-earthquake Haiti.

In another, subjects who tightened their fingers were more likely to choose healthful snacks than non-clenchers.

Sound Affects Taste

Food Quality and Preference reports that sound can affect our perception of taste.

College students were given headphones playing loud white noise, soft white noise, or nothing. They then closed their eyes and ate snack foods. Loud noise listeners rated chips less salty, cookies less sweet and crunchy foods crunchier VS. those who ate the same foods with less/no noise.

Studies show that sound can interfere with how the brain processes smell; maybe the same is true for taste.

Sick For Love

PLoS One reports that staring at your beloved’s face can reduce pain.

The study found that college students who looked at pictures of their partners felt less pain than those who were given something distracting to think about. fMRI scans revealed that love-induced pain relief was linked to activity in the brain's reward centers (e.g. amygdala) and in the limbic areas that affect emotion. Distraction-induced pain relief, however, mostly occurred along cognitive pathways.

Drugs - Why People Do It

Despite the consequences, legal and health-related, drug consumption is on the rise. One may ask how enjoyable the experience must be to offset the inevitable dangers. The key is the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine release occurs in all pleasurable experiences.

National Geographic explains what goes on in the brain when smoking crystal meth.

BBC explains what goes on in the brain when smoking marijuna.

This amateur video explains in detail what goes on during a cocaine high.

Michelangelo - The Neuroscientist

Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel's ceiling from 1508-1512. But his skill as an anatomist - derived from dissecting corpses in his teenage years - was a secret.

500 years later, neuroanatomy experts argue in Neurosurgery that he disguised anatomical illustrations into the body of God, precisely where art experts have wondered why irregularities exist that are uncharacteristic of Michelangelo.

They say the neck of God is a perfect anatomical illustration of a cross section of the human brain and from the center of God’s chest to his throat - where fabric oddly bunches up - is the human spinal cord and brain stem. At God’s waist, the robe strangely twists again revealing the optic nerves from two eyes, just like Da Vinci, Michelangelo's contemporary, depicted in 1487. Superimposing God’s neck on a human brain matches exactly.

But if true, why did he do it? It may represent the prevailing clash between science and religion (recall Galileo and Copernicus' dangerous view). Michelangelo’s also grew to detest Church and believed the Church was not needed for communion with God. The human organs in God could indicate this belief - man can understand God without the Church.

Gene Therapy Cures Color Blindness

Nature reports that researchers used gene therapy to cure a form of color-blindness in adult squirrel monkeys.

Lacking a visual pigment called L-opsin, these monkeys cannot distinguish reds and green. Scientists introduced the pigment gene into the eyes of color-blind adults. 1 month later, the monkeys with the new L-opsin gene could see hues they’d never seen before.

Research is not mature enough to be tested on humans, but it is promising