A team lead by Thomas Kamarck of the University of Pittsburgh, an expert on measuring [psychosocial processes](http://pmbcii.psy.cmu.edu/core_c/index.html), is working on the type of wearable computer that I most want: a wrist-worn device to track physiological change in real time. The emphasis in this study is on psychosocial stress, and the device will measure sound, motion,…
In a hospital or a doctor’s office, you are usually asked what medications you have taken recently. Under conditions of distraction, I’m sometimes uncertain if I’ve given a correct answer. I think to myself: “okay, if I’m a professional question-asker, and I’m doubting my memory in this situation, how often are incorrect responses given by…
I want to become more rational. So do many people I know. But shouldn’t the quest for more rationality itself be conducted rationally, so that we can avoid damaging mistakes? We probably all know people whose Spock-like anti-emotionalism does not seem to correlate with very good decision making, people who show outward signs of being…
The idea of quantitative self-reflection – knowing yourself better through numbers – is only interesting if the knowledge you get is not more easily available elsewhere. It’s the counter-intuitive knowledge, the “surprise” knowledge, that is the most fun, the most interesting, and perhaps even the most valuable. So, in the spirit of foiling intuitions, here’s…
My nephew sings happy birthday while washing his hands, a trick his mother taught him to keep him focused for at least ten seconds while cleaning up. Measuring elapsed seconds is one of the simplest techniques of self-regulation, but not so simple that an inventor named Charles T. Collopy didn’t try to patent a device…
This free, charming, how-to site tells you simply and frankly how to do your own statistical analysis, complete with an odd-sweater-wearing mathematician to take you through the necessary Excel menus. The ultimate in geeky how-to for anybody who wants to be able to ask some basic analytical questions for themselves. Why take it on faith?…
This story from the Christian Science Monitor describes a commercial language learning program called Linkword based on a well known mnemonic technique. “Target words” in a foreign language are associated with sound-alike words in the native language, and the link is represented by a vivid visual image. For instance. The Spanish word for monkey is…
