04w07:4 Happy Valentine's Day Posted February 14th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 7 number 4 (Happy Valentine’s Day) ——————————————————————— This is your brain in love | Carlene Bauer http://www.sophists.org/article146.html “So here are the basic characteristics: You lose a sense of self, your edges become porous — this person almost invades, but it’s a very pleasant invasion. Then there are mood swings — real giddiness and ecstasy when things are going well, but if you don’t hear from him via e-mail or phone, there’s despair. But the main characteristic for me is obsessively thinking about the person. When I was interviewing people to put into the fMRI machine, the first thing I asked them was how long they’d been in love, because I wanted them really crazy — I wanted them in the beginning stages, because these machines are expensive, they’re time-consuming for everybody. So they had to be absolutely nuts…” I get a kick out of you | The Economist http://www.economist.com/printedition/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=2424049 “[…] Understanding the neurochemical pathways that regulate social attachments may help to deal with defects in people’s ability to form relationships. All relationships, […] rely on an ability to create and maintain social ties. Defects can be disabling, and become apparent as disorders such as autism and schizophrenia—and, indeed, as the serious depression that can result from rejection in love. […] For a start, a relatively small area of the human brain is active in love, compared with that involved in, say, ordinary friendship. ‘It is fascinating to reflect’, the pair conclude, ‘that the face that launched a thousand ships should have done so through such a limited expanse of cortex.’ […] Parts of the brain that are love-bitten include the one responsible for gut feelings, and the ones which generate the euphoria induced by drugs such as cocaine. So the brains of people deeply in love do not look like those of people experiencing strong emotions, but instead like those of people snorting coke. ” Good Vibrations | Judith Warner http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17404-2004Feb5.html An article about Love and Hope, reviewing the work of Helen Fischer, described in the articles above, and Jerome Groopman’s The Anatomy of Hope : ” ‘There is an authentic biology of hope,’ Groopman writes. ‘Researchers are learning that a change in mind-set has the power to alter neurochemistry. Belief and expectation — the key elements of hope — can block pain by releasing the brain’s endorphins and enkephalins, mimicking the effects of morphine. In some cases, hope can also have important effects on fundamental physiological processes like respiration, circulation, and motor function. During the course of an illness, then, hope can be imagined as a domino effect, a chain reaction in which each link makes improvement more likely. It changes us profoundly in spirit and in body.’ NOTE: This article requires registration. Use login: ‘ajreader@artsjournal.com’ password: ‘access’ (courtesy of http://www.artsjournal.com)” —————————————- http://www.instantcoffee.org/tim/goodreads To remove or add yourself from this list, email tim@instantcoffee.org emailed by Timothy on Saturday 14 February 2004 @ 3:42 PM
04w07:1 Private Parts Posted February 9th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 7 number 1 (private parts) ——————————————————————— Privacy and Deviance | HP Laboratories http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/idl/papers/deviance/index.html “Privacy is a central issue of concern in the information age. Because of the ease with which data about individuals can be obtained, aggregated and dispersed, information technology can broadcast an individual’s secrets to unintended recipients who in turn can use it in ways that the individual no longer controls […] Our conjecture and motivation is that people are willing to reveal information whenever they feel that they are somewhat typical or positively atypical compared to the social group […] In order to test this hypothesis, we conducted experiments that revealed the true value that people place on their private data. Specifically, we tested whether deviation from the mean is the dominant factor in dictating how a person values a piece of information. We find with great significance (in excess of 95% statistical confidence) that the further a private piece of information deviates negatively from the mean, the greater the price demanded for that information. Furthermore, we find that small deviations in a socially positive direction are associated with a lower demanded price.” Experiment: To Become a Photographer of Female Nudes | Grant Stoddard http://www.nerve.com/regulars/ididitforscience/nudephotography/index.asp?page=1 ” ‘Look, if you ask nicely, it’s amazing what people will do. Be up front, confident and respectful and see what happens. ‘ ‘But you have a ready-made harem!’ ‘But you have an accent,’ he reasoned. ‘ You’re miles ahead of the game.'” —————————————- http://www.instantcoffee.org/tim/goodreads To remove or add yourself from this list, email tim@instantcoffee.org emailed by Timothy on Monday 09 February 2004 @ 4:06 PM
04w2:2 Posted January 15th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 2 number 2 ——————————————————————— Making the Mind | Gary Marcus http://bostonreview.net/BR28.6/marcus.html “The brain, too, develops in the first instance from a simple sheet of cells that gradually curls up into a tube that sprouts bulges, which over time differentiate into ever more complex shapes. Yet 2,000 years of thinking of the mind as independent from the body kept people from appreciating the significance of this seemingly obvious point.” That crazy little thing called love | Andrew G. Marshall http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1105827,00.html “Psychologist Dorothy Tennov has already taken the first step towards this goal. She interviewed 500 people from different backgrounds and age groups, both gay and straight, about falling in love, and found a startling similarity in how each respondent described their feelings. […] To distinguish between these overwhelming emotions and the more stable, domestic feelings experienced by long-term couples who are only too aware of their partner’s failings, Tennov coined a new term: limerence.” —————————————- http://www.instantcoffee.org/tim/goodreads To remove yourself from this list, click and send tim@instantcoffee.org emailed by Timothy on Thursday 15 January 2004 @ 1:53 PM
