Author Archives: Ben

An Open Letter to the Society for Neuroscience (SfN)

Dear Society for Neuroscience,                This is an open letter concerning the recent launch of the new open access journal, eNeuro. We welcome the diversification of journal choices for authors looking for open access venues, as well as the willingness … Continue reading

Posted inNeuroscience, Publishing|Comments Off on An Open Letter to the Society for Neuroscience (SfN)

An Open Letter to The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Dear  AAAS, This is an open letter concerning the recent launch of the new open access journal, Science Advances. In addition to the welcome diversification in journal choices for authors looking for open access venues, there are many positive aspects … Continue reading

Posted inPublishing|Comments Off on An Open Letter to The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Nudging the public into censorship: The effect of default opt-in on decision making

This post originally appeared on ORGzine for the Open Rights Group. Last year the Government decided that it wanted Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to “actively encourage parents…to switch on parental controls”. Two weeks ago the Department for Department for Culture, … Continue reading

Posted inPsychology|Tagged, , , , , , , , , , , , |Comments Off on Nudging the public into censorship: The effect of default opt-in on decision making

I believe in CBT and my research shows it works! Therapy allegiance in psychotherapy research

Looking to find a psychologist to help you with your problems? Within the world of psychology, there are many flavours of talking therapy, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Although there are many similarities between different psychotherapies (e.g. … Continue reading

Posted inPsychology, Psychotherapy|Tagged, , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment

Have connectionist models killed off beliefs?

Image from Arenamontanus (CC BY-NC 2.0) Guest post by Joe Gladstone ( jjg39@cam.ac.uk ), PhD Candidate – Cambridge Judge Business School, Cambridge University Connectionist models are widely held to have had a revolutionary impact upon cognitive science (Marcus, 2001). However, they are also … Continue reading

Posted inPhilosophy, Psychology|Tagged, , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment

Cyberchondria: Online health information and health anxiety

Wondering what that rash on your arm is? If the cough you’ve had for a few days warrants making an appointment to see your doctor/physician? If you’ve ever used the internet to answer these sort of questions then you’re in … Continue reading

Posted inHealth, Psychology|Tagged, , , , , |1 Comment

The merits and shortcomings of positive psychology

Positive Psychology is a movement founded by Martin Seligman which aims to “increase the tonnage of happiness on the planet” by measuring, classifying, and increasing positive emotion and positive traits. It explicitly positions itself as the anti-DSM (The Diagnostic and Statistical … Continue reading

Posted inPsychology|Tagged, , |Comments Off on The merits and shortcomings of positive psychology

Computational Modelling of Reading and Dyslexia – Symbolic vs. Connectionist Approaches

  Reading is a new skill in terms of evolutionary history, and it is therefore unlikely that sufficient time has passed for any adaptive benefits to become coded in the human genotype. Reading therefore represents a novel skill to be … Continue reading

Posted inPsychology|Tagged, , |Comments Off on Computational Modelling of Reading and Dyslexia – Symbolic vs. Connectionist Approaches

Chronic Pain: What psychosocial interventions work?

Chronic Diseases and Illnesses Chronic diseases are highly prevalent in communities worldwide, affecting roughly 30% (Dobbie & Mellor, 2008; Stanton, Revenson, & Tennen, 2007) of a given population. They are the largest cause of death (Yach, Hawkes, Gould & Hofman, … Continue reading

Posted inHealth, Psychology|Tagged, , , , |Comments Off on Chronic Pain: What psychosocial interventions work?