According to a study of more than 1100 families, 89% of parents with overweight young (5-6 year-old) children cannot see that their kids are overweight. Apparently, there is a tendency in parents (and especially mothers) to judge overweight by whether or not the child is teased for his or her weight, rather than by the actual weight of the child.

Scientific American reports about a study according to which those with damage to their hippocampi that causes memory loss don’t only have trouble in remembering the past, but also in imagining the future.

This suggests that the hippocampus has a role larger than simply creating memory, and would also point towards the idea that memory plays a role in producing expectations about things to come. One possibility that the researchers mention is that the role of the memory is in fact to help us to prepare for the future, which indeed makes evolutionary sense.

Apparently, the human sense of smell is not quite as bad as we are usually told. In fact, according to the study reported at BBC News, the human sense of smell is not much worse than that dogs have. It is, simply, less used.

A new study reported at EurekAlert has found that the decision whether your bargaining offer has been a good one or not is largely based on how long the seller hesitates before responding to the offer. Consequently, to make someone believe that they have got a good bargain, make sure to look like you would be agonising over the decision.

It has been known for some time that when shy people encounter novel experiences, a brain region responsible for negative emotions becomes very active. Now, a new research has shown that it may not only be the negative emotions that shy persons are extremely sensitive to, but also rewarding experiences are felt more strongly by them.

Indeed, it is possible that shyness simply is increased sensitivity to all sorts of stimuli. Read this AAAS article for more information.

The picture below was taken about a month ago in our garden. Can you say what colour the flower is?

I bet you can. Below, you can find the same picture with some colour modifications. Stare at the dot in the middle for 30 seconds, then move your mouse pointer over the picture and you ought to be able to tell what the colour is!

True, it is not that novel or innovatory, but I was interested to see how it all works. Note also that you see the colour on the black and white image only as long as you don’t move your eyes. The moment you do that, your brain re-evaluates what it sees, realizes that there is no colour there, and reverts back to perceiving a black and white image.

About a year ago I read a rather interesting (and popularised) book on neurology by V. S. Ramachandran, titled Phantoms in the Brain. It discusses these matters and many other related assumptions your brain often makes about the world around us (including, for example, how and why people “feel” an arm that has been amputated).

If you want to know how this particular trick is done, see John Sadowski’s tutorial. It’s all pretty simple, actually.