tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47204463788101930062024-03-21T23:21:14.260+00:00statsARTObservations on psychological research and statistics.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-57755112021218571522011-02-01T20:20:00.002+00:002011-02-01T20:23:00.289+00:00Essential viewing...Long time, no blog...<br /><br />An AMAZING <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y4yql">Horizon </a>program on the nature of scientific debate and the representation of science in the media. An absolute must watch!!!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-5064608666514981572010-12-08T11:12:00.003+00:002010-12-08T11:38:18.206+00:00The Joy of Stats...There was a great program last night on BBC 4 on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wgq0l">The Joy of Stats</a>. It was a great overview of the history of statistics and how they are relevant and used in current research.<br /><br />Continuing with the stats theme, the new series of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd">More or Less</a> starts on Radio 4 this Friday (10th), and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lady-Tasting-Tea-David-Salsburg/dp/0805071342/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291808189&sr=8-1">Lady Tasting Tea</a> is a great book on the history of statistics and the key people involved in developing this field.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-39492267577782481632010-12-03T14:07:00.002+00:002010-12-03T14:27:13.297+00:00Finger length is associated with EVERYTHING...There seems to regularly be reports in the media of a new studying showing something to do with finger length and illness, psychological disorders, personality, sexuality, the list goes on... The <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1335155/What-length-index-finger-says-you.html">Daily Mail have even attempted to provide a summary</a> of what this is all about!!! And obviously the responses are full of "rubbish" and "why is our money wasted on this research"...<br /><br />So what is this all about?<br /><br />First, it is not actually finger length, it is the relative lengths of the index and ring fingers. If the index finger is shorter than the ring finger, this indicates a more "masculine" 2D:4D.<br /><br />Second, digit ratio (as it is properly called) is certainly not going to "cause" any kind of illness, personality or any other psychological trait. Instead, digit ratio and all of these "outcomes" are associated with a third variable - prenatal testosterone exposure.<br /><br />Levels of testosterone prenatally are associated with determining the relative lengths of the fingers, and potentially in a great number of different psychological and medical outcomes. So if someone has high levels of prenatal testosterone exposure, they are likely to have more masculine traits and may be at risk of some illnesses associated with higher levels of testosterone.<br /><br />Before dismissing the relationship between prenatal testosterone and digit ratio, there is very strong evidence to support this relationship. One study measured levels of testosterone from amniotic fluid and found that, in later life, that children with higher levels of prenatal testosterone had more masculine digit ratios (Lutchmaya et al., 2004). Two other studies artificially manipulated prenatal hormonal levels in rats, and found that digit ratio changed accordingly (Talarovicova et al., 2009; McMechan et al., 2004).<br /><br />So there is not a relationship between finger length and cancer/personality/sexuality/etc. They have the same causal factor.<br /><br />It is also really important to remember that having a particular digit ratio will not 100% predict a particular illness or personality, it might just indicate an increased risk factor. Just like obesity increases the risk of various illnesses, but it does not totally determine or predict the illness, and people who are not obese might also develop the illness.<br /><br />Similarly, the levels of prenatal testosterone exposure are not the only determiner of digit ratio. Many other factors are likely to be involved, but there is a clear and reliable relationship between levels of prenatal testosterone and digit ratio. Other factors under examination includes the functioning of hormone receptors (meaning some people may be more sensitive to, or absorb more, testosterone) and the relative exposure to testosterone in relation to other hormones, particularly oestrogen.<br /><br />Rant over - thanks!!!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-31786238629119147342010-12-02T12:13:00.002+00:002010-12-02T12:20:31.772+00:00Science journalism...Usually I'm somewhat critical of science journalism - but <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2010/sep/24/1">this article</a> is 100% perfection!!! A great parody from <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist">The Lay Scientist</a>.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-46171536117215195192010-11-23T11:41:00.002+00:002010-11-23T11:43:27.239+00:00Gender and development...The BBC have examined a really interesting <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11814300">case study</a> of a boy who was brought up as a girl.<br /><br />It is often difficult to distinguish between genetic/biological and environmental influences, but the child had a twin brother - possibly the best control participant ever!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-13565297478429940522010-11-16T15:29:00.002+00:002010-11-16T15:31:57.920+00:00Statistical happiness???With the government announcing that it will start to measure the nation's happiness and wellbeing, the latest <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11765401">Go Figure article</a> by Michael Blastland looks at some of the problems with this analysis. Obviously the "correlation does not imply causation" mantra returns...Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-57833958597589548622010-11-15T11:59:00.002+00:002010-11-15T12:02:19.177+00:00Real time world statistics...<a href="http://www.worldometers.info/">Worldometers </a>is a great site showing real time changes in global statistics to do with world population, society and media, food, health, energy and a lot more. Very interesting, quite mesmerising, but slightly scary in places.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-49996432388714477912010-11-08T11:52:00.001+00:002010-11-08T11:55:40.600+00:00Psychological Medicine...The journal Psychological Medicine is celebrating its 40th birthday. As part of this they are making the <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displaySpecialPage?pageId=2324">most read paper</a> from each year freely available until the end of this year.<br /><br />There really is a wide range of papers discussing many psychological disorders. It's particularly interesting to see how views and perspectives have changed since 1970.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-27657285022437465142010-10-27T19:18:00.003+01:002010-10-27T19:20:11.440+01:00The psychology of rollercoaster rides...Apparently the worlds fastest rollercoaster is about to open up in Abu Dhabi's Ferrari World.<br /><br />This <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11620485">BBC article</a> gives some interesting insights into the psychology of why people enjoy, and can become addicted to, rollercoasters.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-62694249230652625432010-10-20T08:35:00.001+01:002010-10-20T08:38:06.569+01:00World statistics day...Yes - the most exciting day of the year is upon us - <a href="http://unstats.un.org/unsd/wsd/">World statistics day</a>!!!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-11223581618336644012010-10-18T06:50:00.002+01:002010-10-18T06:53:29.700+01:00Visual illusions...There is a nice piece today in the BBC magazine on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11553099">visual illusions</a>.<br /><br />Tonight, this will be the topic for <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vhw1d">Horizon</a>, on at 9pm (Mon 18th Oct 2010).<br /><br />Enjoy! It really is amazing how much our perception of the world is put together by our brains...Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-38576358676944430772010-10-15T16:05:00.002+01:002010-10-15T16:10:44.652+01:00Ig nobel prize...Following on from the announcement of the Nobel prizes, the even more exciting Ig Nobel awards have also recently been <a href="http://improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig2010">announced</a>...<br /><br />I think the peace prize may be my favourite for overall winner :)Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-56402322634058805972010-09-30T16:29:00.002+01:002010-09-30T16:33:26.317+01:00Science is vital...A campaign has been set up in protest about the cuts in science research funding. Often the output from research seems very academic and unrelated to real life, but there are many benefits to maintaining our strong scientific research community in the UK. The points are explained very clearly on the website, so I won't reiterate them here.<br /><br />Please take a few minutes to look at this website: <a href="http://scienceisvital.org.uk/">http://scienceisvital.org.uk/ </a>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-5577651889039703682010-09-24T12:11:00.002+01:002010-09-24T12:17:34.563+01:00The psychology of face processing...There have been a couple of interesting pieces in the news about face processing recently.<br /><br />The BBC have given a fair amount of coverage to the cabbage head e-fit and have an <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11389051">article </a>about why it is difficult to create an accurate e-fit of a person.<br /><br />In the Daily Mail, Prof Dave Perrett, on of the leading experts on face processing, has written a great <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1314344/Why-women-fall-men-look-like-father.html">article </a>on facial attractiveness.<br /><br />Alternatively - there is this wonderful <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Face-Processing-Psychological-Neuropsychological-Perspectives/dp/0199235708/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285327030&sr=1-1">book </a>on face processing ;)Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-14834906950483397492010-08-13T21:29:00.001+01:002010-08-13T21:31:22.061+01:00New website...Sorry for the lack of recent blogging activity.<br /><br />We've just uploaded our newly redesigned website. Check it out at <a href="http://www.statsart.com">www.statsART.com</a><br /><br />Let us know what you think of it!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-39431411590639908862010-07-08T17:55:00.002+01:002010-07-08T18:01:51.582+01:00Once again, correlation does not imply causation...An interesting piece of research has been <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10545542.stm">reported on by the BBC</a> today.<br /><br />The research looked at the relationship between inactivity and obesity. Most previous research has either assumed or shown the inactivity leads to obesity.<br /><br />In contrast, this new research suggests that the direction of the relationship is the other way around - obesity leads to inactivity.<br /><br />This is a nice example of the "correlation does not imply causation" mantra and presents a nice chicken and egg situation.<br /><br />The original study can be found <a href="http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2010/06/23/adc.2009.175927.abstract">here</a>.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-3644001391692315482010-07-07T16:23:00.002+01:002010-07-07T16:25:21.516+01:00How big is big?Another great <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/10540157.stm">article </a>on the BBC website by Michael Blastland in the Go Figure series.<br /><br />In this feature he talk about how was assess how "big" a number is.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-27253313982099358572010-06-29T16:46:00.003+01:002010-06-29T17:09:40.232+01:00Do I look fat in this???Lots of papers have reported a recent piece of research with headlines such as:<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7826822/Why-women-think-they-are-fat-brain-thinks-body-is-two-thirds-bigger-than-it-is.html">Why women think they are fat: brain 'thinks body is two thirds bigger than it is'</a><br /><br />This is a perfect example of journalists taking the findings of a good study and drawing conclusions about twenty squillion miles ahead of the what the study actually did and found.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/06/07/1003483107.abstract">study</a> asked participants to estimate the location of 10 different points on their hands and found that the participants overestimated these locations.<br /><br />The key thing to notice is that the research only looked at the estimation of <span style="font-style:italic;">hands<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>. The newspapers are reporting as if the study looked at the entire body, but this is not the case at all.<br /><br />In fact, the logical conclusion of the study actually would be the exact opposite of the interpretation of the newspapers. The authors explain their results with reference to the homunculus. The parts of our brain that feel the sensations from the entire body and control our motor movements are not proportionately related to the parts of the body. You can see this clearly in a picture of the <a href="http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_06/i_06_cr/i_06_cr_mou/i_06_cr_mou_1b.jpg">homunculus</a>.<br /><br />Large parts of our brain are dedicated to the hands, face and mouth. The torso and legs are represented by far smaller parts. This is why the authors claim that the hands are overestimated - because they are over represented in the brain. By this logic, the shoulders, trunk, hips and legs should be <span style="font-style:italic;">underestimated <span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>- certainly not overestimated!!! If anything - this research would predict that when a woman thinks about her body she would think that she's smaller than she really is.<br /><br />Another error in the reporting - they got the name of the lead researcher wrong. This work was conducted by <a href="http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucjtml0/">Matthew Longo</a>, not Michael as the papers call him!!!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-86146697263676340492010-06-28T11:52:00.002+01:002010-06-28T11:53:59.575+01:00Vader - BPD or not?In a recent <a href="http://statsart.blogspot.com/2010/06/diagnosing-fictional-characters.html">blog </a>I discussed a paper in which it was suggested that Darth Vader has Borderline Personality Disorder.<br /><br />A new <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/stop-walking-eggshells/201006/putting-darth-vader-the-couch">blog </a>from Psychology Today argues quite convincingly that this diagnosis is wrong.<br /><br />An interesting read!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-18355091042231728872010-06-22T09:38:00.001+01:002010-06-22T09:39:53.299+01:00Recovering from brain injury...There's a really interesting piece in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/22/recovering-brain-injury">Guardian </a>today about recovery from brain injury.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-6003284701206109082010-06-21T18:07:00.002+01:002010-06-21T18:09:32.655+01:00Book now out...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTgKNL3Z5S01YDcGRZH9mXhTO_O6lVrzmC4kduZgB468VObMKL5_brFzYfmw79EtLz4rY_p-oFNQgxIlkpv5VADQFCNdTbkH16ldKwMzsGezNHkVL8flM_9ZJbe-_S2Hv5dU0XgbRux5-L/s1600/Book_cover.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTgKNL3Z5S01YDcGRZH9mXhTO_O6lVrzmC4kduZgB468VObMKL5_brFzYfmw79EtLz4rY_p-oFNQgxIlkpv5VADQFCNdTbkH16ldKwMzsGezNHkVL8flM_9ZJbe-_S2Hv5dU0XgbRux5-L/s200/Book_cover.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485275178911342690" /></a><br /><br />The book on face processing that I co-authored is now available to buy. You can get it from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Face-Processing-Psychological-Neuropsychological-Perspectives/dp/0199235708/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277140023&sr=1-1">Amazon</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br />Enjoy!<br />VictoriaVictoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-61593721104625984082010-06-16T18:15:00.002+01:002010-06-16T18:19:42.263+01:00Diagnosing fictional characters...A <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TBV-505G2BJ-2&_user=10&_coverDate=05%2F26%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=5c0472f54c1bb142777e66bbd87f7b2e">new paper</a> considers whether Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) has borderline personality disorder. Apparently he does.<br /><br />This reminds me of a slightly older <a href="http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/163/12/1557">paper</a> where they consider each character living in Hundred Acre Wood and diagnose them as and when appropriate.<br /><br />The full version of the Winnie the Pooh one is available for free. Unfortunately the Star Wars paper isn't.<br /><br />If you know of any other papers giving diagnoses to fictional (or non-fictional) characters, please pass them on to me - great reading!!!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-51662455476040809212010-06-14T15:06:00.002+01:002010-06-14T15:14:59.987+01:00Genetics and autism...There has been a lot in the press over the past few days about an amazing study showing some strong evidence for a range of genes that may be involved in autism. The paper is published in Nature, and (unusually) they have made the paper freely available <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature09146.html">here</a>.<br /><br />Although this study has found out amazing things about the genetic basis of autism, some of the press has gone a little far talking about there being a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1285349/Autism-blood-test-available-years.html?ito=feeds-newsxml">"Blood test to diagnose autism could be ready in three years"</a> and there being gene therapy for autism.<br /><br />The idea of diagnosis and treatment is perhaps going a little beyond what the study actually shows, but there is no doubt that this work has moved forward our understanding of the role of genetics in autism.<br /><br />It's unlikely that we will ever find "the cause" of autism which we can then "treat", but by examining the complex interactions between genetics, environment and hormones, we might be getting closer to understanding this complex disorder.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-83514251361169414342010-06-11T07:37:00.002+01:002010-06-11T08:05:26.287+01:00The great chocolate debate...Straight away I will admit that it is difficult for me to give an unbiased opinion given my ultra chocoholic tendencies. So I will just present the evidence (media and published journal papers) and let you decide for yourself...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The good:</span> <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/30/chocolate.egg.per.day/index.html">CNN </a>reported that plain chocolate is good for the heart, milk chocolate less so and white chocolate not at all - I knew white chocolate was a fraud!!! Here is the <a href="http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/04/02/eurheartj.ehq068.abstract">abstract </a>for the paper. Discovery News have done an interesting piece giving a <a href="http://news.discovery.com/human/is-chocolate-good-for-the-heart-it-depends.html">nicely balanced view</a> of the paper.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">More good, but only for some apparently:</span> Both <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6505MF20100602">Reuters</a> and the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8593887.stm">BBC </a> talked about a study showing that, for some people, small amounts of chocolate consumption can reduce cholesterol. The benefits did not show up for healthy people and you should only eat one square of chocolate a day - more than that reverses the good done! Here's the <a href="http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/ajcn.2009.28202v1">paper</a>. One good thing about the paper is that it combines the results across eight trials, but there are still only 215 participants included.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The bad:</span> Eating junk food, such a chocolate, may <a href="http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100514/psychology-of-food-3-100526/20100526/?hub=TorontoNewHome">"highjack" your brain</a> apparently! Nice headline sensationalism. The <a href="http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v13/n5/full/nn.2519.html">original study</a> does actually have some quite compelling findings, but the research was conducted on rats. That's not to say that the same neurochemical reactions to junk food addiction wouldn't be found in humans though.<br /><br />I'm off to have some chocolate now...Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720446378810193006.post-17629437222144013402010-06-10T09:47:00.002+01:002010-06-10T10:14:49.505+01:00Daily Mail sensationalism...Yesterday, the Daily Mail ran a scare story on its front page suggesting that <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1285105/Babies-born-week-early-risk-health-problems.html">children born just one week early have special needs later in life</a>.<br /><br />So what did they actually find? First, it's important to understand what they did. They looked at children born at different weeks of gestation, looked at the frequency (%) of those who were registered for special needs and then compared this to the frequency for children born at 40 weeks.<br /><br />Here are some figures taken from the paper:<br />- Odds ratio for children born at 40 weeks: 1 (so this is our baseline)<br />- Odds ratio for children born at 39 weeks: 1.09<br />- Odds ratio for children born at 38 weeks: 1.24<br />- Odds ratio for children born at 37 weeks: 1.43<br /><br />Now let's look at the odds ratios for children born very premature<br />- Odds ratio for children born at 28-32 weeks: 3.21<br />- Odds ratio for children born at 24-27 weeks: 9.14<br /><br />I hope it's clear that, while the paper did find an increased risk of special needs in children born one week early, this is actually quite a small increase. Yes, it is significant, but the increased risk is still very small.<br /><br />This is a real example of journalists taking science and using it to scare women so that they can increase their sales, web hits and comments on their forums. There is nothing wrong with the science has been done, but the risks have really been blown out of all proportion.<br /><br />So if you have your child a week early, you really shouldn't worry yourself too much. The increased risk of special needs is very small and what is included within the category of "special needs" is very broad and includes many things, not just autism, ADHD, dyslexia and deafness - the special needs that the Daily Mail chooses to emphasise.<br /><br />The full scientific paper can be found <a href="http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000289">here</a>.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11998160122374838745noreply@blogger.com0