Tuesday, January 31, 2006

honesty Who's the liar? Brain MRI stands up to polygraph test. Traditional polygraph tests to determine whether someone is lying may take a back seat to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), according to a study appearing in the February issue of Radiology. Researchers from Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia used fMRI to show how specific areas of the brain light up when a person tells a lie. [Science Blog -] 2:30:34 PM    comment

depression Baboons in Mourning Seek Comfort Among Friends. When Sylvia the baboon lost Sierra, her closest grooming partner and daughter, to a lion, she responded in a way that would be considered very human-like: she looked to friends for support. According to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, baboons physiologically respond to bereavement in ways similar to humans, with an increase in stress hormones called glucocorticoids. Baboons can lower their glucocorticoid levels through friendly social contact, expanding their social network after the loss of specific close companions. [Science Blog -] 12:59:27 PM    comment

networks Think your friends know you pretty well? Think again. We love to laugh at those hapless contestants on "The Newlywed Game." She thought he loved her tuna casserole; he surreptitiously slipped it to the dog. He thought she loved massages; they actually caused her back pain. Turns out, though, that they're not alone. Researchers from the University of Michigan and Columbia University recently compared how well people think their friends know them to their actual taste in movies and restaurants. They found that we tend to overestimate personal information more in close friends than in acquaintances. [Science Blog -] 12:40:45 PM    comment