Can a bottle of water make you smarter?

Researchers from the University of East London and the University of Westminster in the UK have discovered an interesting correlation between test grades and water bottles. To wit: students who brought a water bottle with them into the testing room consistently scored higher than those who did not bring a water bottle with them.

Further, those same students who did well with a bottle of water fared less favorably when they failed to bring a water bottle with them.

The researchers did not determine whether or not the students actually drank the water, but presumably they did, so the correlation may be with the consumption of water during a test.

Still, the fact that a simple bottle of water can improve test scores might stir me to bring one along just in case.

Source:
Catharine Paddock PhD. (2012, April 20). “Bringing Water Into Exams May Improve Grades.” Medical News Today. Retrieved from
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/244299.php.

Remembering past failures can set you up for present failure.

So, you’re looking forward to that final exam. Trouble is, you didn’t do so well on the mid-term – and now you’re worried sick you’ll fail the final. To avoid a repeat performance, you ready yourself by studying all night, losing precious sleep time in the process. Then, the final exam, and true to your expectation, you fail and have to take the term all over again!

If researchers are correct, your perception of this term’s math tests will be overly negative because you expect to retake the course (and the tests).

According to a study on perception, researchers discovered what seems intuitive to me – that if you have a negative experience and expect to repeat it, you’ll perceive the past and future events even more negatively than had you been done with the experience the first time (in other words, not expecting it to repeat it in the future).

That negative perception can strengthen you against future negative experiences or set you up for far worse due to the power of expectation. In general, what you expect tends to come to pass. So, expecting a future event to be very negative tends to set it up to meet your expectations. Having endured a negative experience with the expectation of more of the same seems to me a perfect setup for an even more negative outcome.

This could explain why fears of future events can be more intense even in the face of overwhelming evidence in support of a positive experience in the future. Our natural proclivity is to exaggerate current negative perceptions when referencing the future; and to exaggerate negative perceptions of past events when considering similar events in the present.

It seems to me the solution to perceptions of intense fear or pain is to deal with your current and past as one – holistically. Then investigate ways to reconsider the intensity of negative perceptions in light of this thinking error – that the negative aspects of an experience are the same regardless of whether or not the event will occur again. Just knowing that the intensity of your negative perceptions may be exaggerated can set you up with a new expectation – and maybe a whole lot less stress.

Next term, take the math class again. This time, pretend it is the first time you’ve taken it – but that you are a whole lot smarter. Notice how many things you seem to just “remember” – and how easy the tests are. “I know this stuff” feels better than “Oh, no! Not this again!”

I’m just sayin’…

Study reference:

“The Pain Was Greater If It Will Happen Again: The Effect of Anticipated Continuation on Retrospective Discomfort,” Jeff Galak, PhD, Carnegie Mellon University, and Tom Meyvis, PhD, New York University; Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Vol. 140, No. 1.

Finally somebody is saying my male brain is not ruled by a soft body part below my waist!

Who’d a’thunk it? Researchers from Griffith University in Australia reviewed data and conducted their own experiments and concluded:

“Upper body strength in adult males is a crucial variable that appears to have impacts on a wide range of mental mechanisms. These mechanisms were designed by natural selection at a time when personal physical aggression was far more common and individual differences in fighting ability were far more relevant for the resolution of conflicts. Despite the steady decline in physical aggression and violent deaths that have accompanied Western civilization, the human mind is still designed for ancestral environments.”

Why do I love this study? Because for once somebody is saying my male brain is not ruled by a soft body part below my waist! Leave it to the Aussies to look elsewhere. Cheers, mates!

The study includes some unheralded value. For one, women might want to consider looking for men with less developed pecks if they want a man who is unlikely to beat them when angered. Yeah, the study discovered that men with stronger upper body muscles tended to fight more when angered and were triggered to anger quicker (shorter fuse) – a phenomenon the effects of which were often two to four times larger than the known effect of testosterone on aggression. That could be some useful info if you’re looking for a potential mate – no need to blood test for testosterone levels when you can SEE upper body strength.

Interestingly, the study found that in the US, men with stronger upper body strength tended to support the Republican position on foreign policy and believe in the utility of political aggression as a means of resolving conflicts of interest.

References:
1. Sell A et al (2012). The importance of physical strength to human males. Human Nature; 10.1007/s12110-012-9131-2
2. Human Nature, Special issue: Evolution of Human Aggression, Vol. 23, No. 1, http://www.springerlink.com/content/1045-6767/23/1/
3. Springer. (2012, April 12). “Study Explores How Men’s Mental Faculties Continue To Respond To Their Physical Strength And Fighting Ability.” Medical News Today. Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/243977.php.

Want to succeed at finals? Get a really good night's sleep the night before.

After a good night’s sleep, people remember information better when they know it will be useful in the future. The findings suggest that the brain evaluates memories during sleep and preferentially retains the information that is most likely to be needed again in the future.

Humans deal with huge amounts of information every day. Most is stored in memories, but the majority is quickly forgotten. How does the brain decide what to keep and what to forget? Apparently it has to do with a selection formula:

“Our results show that memory consolidation during sleep indeed involves a basic selection process that determines which of the many pieces of the day’s information is sent to long-term storage. Our findings also indicate that information relevant for future demands is selected foremost for storage.” (Jan Born, PhD, of the University of Lübeck in Germany)

The research team devised several very clever experiments to determine exactly how this selection works. Using fMRI and other electronic testing methods, they were also able to determine when such filtering occurred.

“The more slow [brain] wave activity the sleeping participants had, the better their memory was during the recall test 10 hours later,” Born said. The study authors suggest that the brain “tags” memories while awake and then consolidates them during sleep.

This would be akin to the day shift working on a report and telling the night shift to, “Put all the pages marked with red tags into the red filing cabinet, the green tagged pages in the green cabinet, and toss the untagged pages while you’re at it…”

My recommendation base on this study’s results:

If you want to succeed at your finals, get a really good night’s sleep the day before. Don’t cram – it’s a total waste of your time. Sleep, that’s the ticket.

If you want to make the most of your Rapid Eye Technology sessions, consider making a clear and compelling statement of intent before eyelid blinking begins – and, equally important, a compelling post-session test. The artificial REM state created by the RET blinking process may initiate the same memory information sorting mechanism addressed in the study – sorting out which session pieces would best support the new post-session you. In your intention setting, imagine DOING whatever it would be that would TEST your session results immediately after the session.

For example, if your intention was to stop smoking, you’d imaging yourself immediately after your stop smoking session, in a situation that would normally trigger smoking behavior, yet NOT smoking instead – then, at the end of the session, test – ACT THE PART of a non-smoker so your mind feels the testing (clean up with IRT as necessary).

The idea is to EXPECT a test afterward. For RET, this test could be administered immediately – at the end of the session. The mind, knowing it will be tested afterward, will filter memories to support successful passage of the test – just as it would do if you were a college student taking a final exam the next day. For the RET Technician, devising such a test might be as simple as asking the client, “How might we test you at the end of this session to make sure your intention is met…?” (or something along those lines).

I tended to do post-processing testing with my own clients in session. Example:

George was referred to me by a medical doctor because he had a persistent rash that resisted treatment. George’s doctor thought it might be psychosomatic – I laughed.

“George, how will we know that we’ve been successful with your sessions?” – this was the way I usually set intent with a client.
“The rash will go away and not come back,” he stated right away.
“Okay, then, let’s test this at the end of our session today,” I suggested.

He was delighted and we got to work doing RET. About a half hour later, we began our closing and wrap up. Just as we finished up, I asked him, “Are you ready to test now?” He nodded and we tested. Sure enough, his rash had disappeared. I heard from George’s doctor that George’s rash had not returned when he saw him again a year later. George was happy and I got more referrals. (BTW, the rash was the result of irrational fears that were super-simple to address using the Rapid Eye Technology IRT process).

A successful session formula might look like this:

1. Set intent with expectation of a test afterward (“What is your intention for this session and how can we test that you achieved your intention after the session?”)
2. Do the RET process and just before closing processes – (remember, RET simulates REM sleep [on steroids!] so anticipation of this testing should consolidate learning [imprinting reframes])
3. Test (using the client’s own test criteria)
4. Clean up as necessary (usually unnecessary)
5. Test again (usually unnecessary)
6. Repeat 4 and 5 until test passed (usually unnecessary)
7. Close the session using standard RET closing processes

Source: Kat Snodgrass, The Journal of Neuroscience, Society for Neuroscience. The research was supported by the German Research Foundation.

Perhaps you, too, read the article revealing that Matt Hoover (Season 2 Winner of NBC’s The Biggest Loser) gained back most of the weight he lost on the show!

My guess is that without the isolation, the cooks, and the drill sergeant personal trainers, he couldn’t keep up the strict regimen.

“When I got home, I quickly realized I wasn’t equipped to deal with the temptations of the real world.”

In January 2009, Matt discovered a 4 CD Hypnosis Program created by Dr. Roberta Temes, who is on the Department of Psychiatry at the SUNY Health Science Center Medical School and the editor of the first hypnosis textbook used by thousands worldwide in medical schools.

A meta-analysis published in The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (1996) reveals that hypnosis with a credible practitioner, “can increase weight loss by an astonishing 146% over the long term.”

Matt’s story certainly confirms this:

“I was a fat person in a skinny body until I took the time to get honest with myself after regaining the weight.  I was emotionally eating. There are days when I feel kind of down or worried, and I turn on my headset and listen to the CDs instead of going out and eating a bunch of food.”

Published by The Hypnosis Network, the CDs Matt used underwent independent testing by The National Health & Wellness Club and revealed an astonishing 92% satisfaction rating among its randomly selected members.

A company spokesman for The Hypnosis Network is quoted as saying, “We’re obviously excited that Matt chose our hypnosis program and has seen such tremendous results. We hope it will help show millions of Americans that even after people see great success, they can still get help from the proven benefits of hypnosis.”

It has always amazed me how such a simple process as hypnosis coupled with a skilled practitioner can achieve such stunning results in such a short period of time. In the case of weight management, the idea is to first convince the body that it wants to live happily at a different weight than it has previously done. Further, dealing with the emotional aspects are essential if the body is to cooperate with the mind under the new regime. Lastly, the goal of any successful weight management program is to actually manage body weight over the long haul. Anyone can lose significant amounts of weight by simply stopping eating – but such a program will invariably lead to increased weight gain over time and possibly cause physical harm as well.

The real power of a CD-based hypnosis program is realized in their consistent use. That means continuing to use the CDs rather than a one-time shot. To this end, CDs that entertain as well as inform and treat are usually best. The more you like and respect the author of the weight management CD, the more likely you’ll see the results you want.

Click her for more information on Hypnosis Network’s Weight Management CD Set.

Source: Life & Style Magazine, June 8, 2009, pgs. 47-48.

Those who exhibit genuine pride in accomplishment and good honest toil tend to exhibit far less prejudice and far more empathy toward others.

It seems that the kind of pride you have affects how you perceive others. No surprise there if your sense of the world is anything like mine. What is interesting, however, is that this study by a group or researchers from the University of British Columbia is the first to identify and test for two specific types of pride: hubristic pride, attained by less authentic means such as power, domination, money or nepotism; and authentic pride, the kind derived from personal achievement based on genuine effort and honest work.

“These studies show that how we feel about ourselves directly influences how we feel about people who are different from us. It suggests that harmful prejudices may be more flexible than previously thought, and that hubristic pride can exacerbate prejudice, while a more self-confident, authentic pride may help to reduce racism and homophobia.” (Claire Ashton-James, postdoctoral researcher in UBC’s Dept. of Psychology.)

Apparently, when you exhibit prejudice, you’re also exhibiting your level of hubristic pride – the more pride, the stronger the prejudice. Conversely, those who exhibit genuine pride in accomplishment and good honest toil tend to exhibit far less prejudice and far more empathy toward others.

I’m not at all surprised. As usual, scientific inquiry confirms what many of you know already.

Source: University of British Columbia. (2012, April 13). “Racism, Homophobia, Pride And Prejudice.” Medical News Today. Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/244054.php.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have discovered that when you are involved in movements in an upward direction you are more likely to have positive emotions and thoughts; and conversely, working in a downward direction tends to elicit more negative emotions and thoughts – metaphoric movements that match our language, feeling “up” or feeling “down.”

“These [study] data suggest that spatial metaphors for emotion aren’t just in language,” researcher Daniel Casasanto says, “linguistic metaphors correspond to mental metaphors, and activating the mental metaphor ‘good is up’ can cause us to think happier thoughts.”

I’m reminded of the Yogic Sun Salutation exercise in which one stretches one’s arms upward toward the sun as far as he/she can reach in a gesture of acknowledgement of the sun. The movement is also used to elevate mood and elicit more positive emotions during times of depression.

Perhaps one way to beat depression is to simply salute the heavens by reaching up as far as you can often during the day – while simultaneously elevating the thoughts and emotions. It’s certainly worth a trial run, I figure.

Study Source: Daniel Casasanto, Ton Dijkstra, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

University College London researchers have discovered that the brain lays out a grid of cells that represent a map of spacial orientations and locations in space. That in itself may not be any big news to most readers – “so what?” This grid has been known to exist in mice since 2005.

Well, the cool thing is that this 3D grid within the hippocampal formation and associated brain areas, now discovered to exist in humans as well, forms triangles in hexagonal formations – sort of like a honeycomb. Study co-author Dr Caswell Barry said: “It is as if grid cells provide a cognitive map of space. In fact, these cells are very much like the longitude and latitude lines we’re all familiar with on normal maps, but instead of using square grid lines it seems the brain uses triangles.”

In an interesting coincidence, the Rapid Eye Technology (RET) eye directing device (called a wand) is moved in a hexagonal 3D pattern just in front of the face – a pattern that due to its spacial character may be very familiar to the aforementioned part of the brain. Further, the signals flowing through the brain from eyes to visual cortex stop off for an emotional load at the hypothalamus which is attached to the memory-gating hippocampus – the seat of this honeycomb-like spacial mapping grid.

Research team leader, Professor Neil Burgess, commented, “…grid cells may help us to find our way to the right memory as well as finding our way through our environment. These brain areas are also amongst the first to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease which may explain why getting lost is one of the most common early symptoms of this disease.”

I’ve been asked often over the years why Rapid Eye Technology seems to work so well for so many people. This study by UCL seems to add something to that discussion. I also wonder if RET might be used in early stage Alzheimer’s disease along with pharmaceutical therapies to halt the disease progress or maybe even heal it altogether. Now THAT would be awesome indeed!

Source: ‘Evidence for grid cells in a human memory network’ – Christian F. Doeller, Caswell Barry & Neil Burgess, University College London.

Abstract: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nature08704.html

There once lived a great warrior. Though quite old, he still was able to defeat any challenger. His reputation extended far and wide throughout the land and many students gathered to study under him.

One day an infamous young warrior arrived at the village. He was determined to be the first man to defeat the great master. Along with his strength, he had an uncanny ability to spot and exploit any weakness in an opponent. He would wait for his opponent to make the first move, thus revealing a weakness, and then would strike with merciless force and lightning speed. No one had ever lasted with him in a match beyond the first move.

Much against the advice of his concerned students, the old master gladly accepted the young warrior’s challenge. As the two squared off for battle, the young warrior began to hurl insults at the old master. He threw dirt and spit in his face. For hours he verbally assaulted him with every curse and insult known to mankind. But the old warrior merely stood there motionless and calm. Finally, the young warrior exhausted himself. Knowing he was defeated, he left feeling shamed.

Somewhat disappointed that he did not fight the insolent youth, the students gathered around the old master and questioned him. “How could you endure such an indignity? How did you drive him away?”

“If someone comes to give you a gift and you do not receive it,” the master replied, “to whom does the gift belong?”

Anonymous

If you want to make a substantial change in your life, consider taking responsibility for your life – acknowledge that you are, do, and have what you currently experience because you WANT TO. How you feel about what you experience is your PAYOFF. Embrace your payoff – you love it, after all – and you’ve gone to some effort and energy to achieve it. Then look into what OTHER PAYOFF you might enjoy JUST AS MUCH and begin embracing that instead. You might also enjoy achieving your current payoff in a different manner. Like the kid in the sandbox making a sand castle, you can play with your design as much as you wish until you get it “just right” – that is, you experience sufficient sensational payoff.