in this study, an fMRI was used to observe the physiological reactions to two suspected pheromones – human smells – one from women, the other from men. heterosexual men and women reacted completely differently to the two smells: the smell of women activated the hypothalamus in men, but the smell of men activated only the […]
Category Archives: perception
squeeze machine
temple grandin, famous for developing humane slaughter, is an autistic who has developed her own ‘hug box‘ to relieve anxiety by applying deep soothing pressure all over the body.
Also posted in human2.0
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touch = love ?
psychologist harry harlow did some amazing experiments in the 50s where infant monkeys were allowed to choose between surrogate lactating mothers made of soft or hard materials (pictured) and they inevitably chose the softer cloth mothers, even though both surrogates produced milk. monkeys who could see their real mothers, but not touch them, developed social […]
Also posted in livingbreathing
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virtual pain
for those human-computer researchers who wonder what good it all is, some old but good news: virtual reality can significantly reduce the need for anesthesia during burn treatment – patients who played the immersive game SnowWorld while their wounds were dressed felt half as much pain (and needed half the morphine). similar techniques can also […]
Also posted in human2.0
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affection matters
holding the hand of a loved one immediately soothes you – one possible reason that married people live longer than singles. even more interesting, touching a stranger doesn’t have such an effect – and the study was blind. can you recognize your loved one’s hands by touch alone?
Also posted in conviviality, human2.0, livingbreathing, soft/glowing, tangible
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