We present a physically interesting toy, which is easily constructed and operated--the so-called buzzer. In spite of its simplicity, its physical analysis turns out to be rather complex. Thus, it comes as no surprise that most of its users are not familiar with the underlying physical mechanism. In this paper we propose a physical model which…

Evolutionary psychologists often propose that humans carry around "stone-age" brains, along with a toolkit of cognitive adaptations designed originally to solve hunter-gatherer problems. This perspective predicts that optimal cognitive performance might sometimes be induced by ancestrally-based problems, those present in ancestral environments,…

Five experiments examined crowding effects with letter and symbol stimuli. Experiments 1 through 3 compared 2-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) identification accuracy for isolated targets presented left and right of fixation with targets flanked either by 2 other items of the same category or a single item situated to the right or left of targets.…

Recent studies of position-related proprioceptive sense have provided evidence of a nonpreferred left arm advantage in right-handed individuals. The present study sought to determine whether similar asymmetries might exist in "dynamic position" sense. Thirteen healthy, right-handed adults were blindfolded and seated with arms placed on…

Theory of mind, the capacity to understand and ascribe mental states, has traditionally been conceptualized as analogous to a scientific theory. However, recent work in philosophy and psychology has documented a "side-effect effect" suggesting that moral evaluations influence mental state ascriptions, and in particular whether a behavior is…

The perception and processing of temporal information are tasks the brain must continuously perform. These include measuring the duration of stimuli, storing duration information in memory, recalling such memories, and comparing two durations. How the brain accomplishes these tasks, however, is still open for debate. The temporal bisection task,…

Reports of superior memory for novel relative to familiar material have figured prominently in recent theories of memory. However, such "novelty effects" are incongruous with long-standing observations that familiar items are remembered better. In 2 experiments, we explored whether this discrepancy was explained by differences in the…

A forgotten experiment by Andre Blondel (1914) proves, as held on the basis of theoretical arguments in a previous paper, that the time variation of the magnetic flux is not the cause of the induced emf; the physical agent is instead the vector potential through the term [equation omitted] (when the induced circuit is at rest). The "good…

The nature of the childhood development of immediate recall has been difficult to determine. There could be a developmental increase in either the number of chunks held in working memory or the use of grouping to make the most of a constant capacity. In 3 experiments with children in the early elementary school years and adults, we show that…

This research examined the role of mothers' mindsets about the malleability of children's ability in the quality of their involvement in children's learning. Mothers (N = 79) of early elementary school children (mean age = 7.65 years) were induced to hold either an entity mindset, in which children's ability is seen as unchangeable, or an…

We have realized that our Biology undergraduate students learn biological concepts as established truths without awareness of the body of experimental evidence supporting the emerging models as usually presented in handbooks and texts in general. Therefore, we have implemented a laboratory practice in our course of Physiology and Biophysics, aimed…

The main objective of this experiment is to determine the amount of nicotine in commercial brand cigarettes by means of a nonaqueous acid-base titration. A simple glass device simulating a smoker is proposed, which allows the determination of the volatilized, filter retained, and inhaled portions. Students will readily see that the amount of…

Gravitomagnetism is a low velocity and weak gravitational field approximation of general relativity. It provides a simple approach to post-Newtonian gravitational phenomena via electromagnetic analogy. Intended for advanced undergraduate students, the present paper applies gravitomagnetism to the quantitative study of the geodetic precession and…

An experiment analogous to the classical diffraction of light from a circular aperture has been realized with electrons. The results are used to introduce undergraduate students to the wave behaviour of electrons. The diffraction fringes produced by the circular aperture are compared to those predicted by quantum mechanics and are exploited to…

The ability to represent desires and intentions as two distinct mental states was investigated in patients with parietal (N = 8) and frontal (N = 6) lesions and in age-matched controls (N = 7). A task was used where the satisfaction of the desire and the fulfilment of the intention did not co-vary and were manipulated in a 2 x 2 set. In two…