How is ownership established over non-owned things? We suggest that people may view ownership as a kind of credit given to agents responsible for making possession of a non-owned object possible. On this view, judgments about the establishment of ownership depend on attributions of responsibility. We report three experiments showing that people's…

The body specificity hypothesis (Casasanto, 2009) posits that the way in which people interact with the world affects their mental representation of information. For instance, right- versus left-handedness affects the mental representation of affective valence, with right-handers categorically associating good with rightward areas and bad with…

Evaporation of a small glass of ethylic alcohol is studied both experimentally and through an elementary thermal physics approach. For a cylindrical beaker and no air flow in the room, a simple quadratic relation is found between the evaporation time and the mass of evaporated liquid. This problem and the obtained results offer excellent…

Three experiments illustrate that humor in advertisements prevents the development of negative brand associations due to resistance. Previous research on humor in advertising suggested that humor can counter negative responses during ad processing, but less is known about the effect of humor on the development of negative brand associations in…

Details are given of a visual photometer based on Joly's paraffin block apparatus of 1888. It is readily constructed from a couple of ordinary candles and a piece of aluminum foil, but enables two luminous sources to be compared to plus or minus 15-20%; this is much better than the eye alone can do. (Contains 1 figure.)

We present a showcase with interactive exhibits of basic physical experiments that constitutes a complementary method for teaching physics and interesting students in physical phenomena. Our interactive physics showcase, shown in Fig. 1, stimulates interest for science by letting the students experience, firsthand, surprising phenomena and…

The ancient Babylonians had an iterative technique for numerically approximating the values of square roots. Their method can be physically implemented using series and parallel resistor networks. A recursive formula for the equivalent resistance R[subscript eq] is developed and converted into a nonrecursive solution for circuits using…

Two experiments used post-class formation within-class relational assessment test performances to evaluate whether participants demonstrated preference for certain members of an equivalence class based on the type of relation that existed between class members. In Experiment 1, two 5-node 7-member equivalence classes, consisting entirely of…

Although response-dependent shock often suppresses responding, response facilitation can occur. In two experiments, we examined the suppressive and facilitative effects of shock by manipulating shock intensity and the interresponse times that produced shock. Rats' lever presses were reinforced on a variable-interval 40-s schedule of food…

We examined the ability of young infants (3- and 4-month-olds) to detect faces in the two-tone images often referred to as Mooney faces. In Experiment 1, this performance was examined in conditions of high and low visibility of local features and with either the presence or absence of the outer head contour. We found that regardless of the…

Following an ever growing literature which takes serious the relevance of case-studies in the history of science for science education and understanding of science, I provide a detailed historical reconstruction of the Cavendish Experiment, which remains as close as possible to the original. In this paper, I call attention to three educational…

Prosody can be expressed not only by modification to the timing, stress and intonation of auditory speech but also by modifying visual speech. Studies have shown that the production of visual cues to prosody is highly variable (both within and across speakers), however behavioural studies have shown that perceivers can effectively use such visual…

This article presents a summary of the National Technicians' Conference ASE/NSLC York from July 5th to July 6th 2012. Approximately 160 technicians attended the Conference on both days. The programme included workshops and lectures and was repeated on the Friday, so that technicians who stayed for both days were able to take part in a variety of…

We describe an activity that uses cards to simulate evolution. The mechanism of the evolutionary pressure in the simulation is clearly indicated for the students. This simulation is useful for allowing student experimentation by varying conditions.

Orthographic facilitation refers to the boost in vocabulary learning that is provided when spellings are shown during study periods, but not during testing. The current study examined orthographic facilitation in beginning readers and whether directing their attention to print enhances the effect. In an experiment, first graders (N = 45) were…