For Parents

I’m sure most parents would agree that getting your kids to eat vegetables is important. Yet, kids are sometimes resistant to eating enough vegetables. If there were a way to make it easier and more enjoyable to get kids to eat their vegetables, that would probably be good, right? Perhaps if you’re already having dessert, putting…

Cover photo by Gerd Altmann from PixabayBy Megan SumerackiIn my last blog, I wrote about cognitive networks and implicit bias. The gist of the post was that our systems allow us to categorize and generalize, flexibly and automatically, and that this generally helps us. For example, we have some general rules about what a chair…

Images above by WOKANDAPIX, Yinan Chen, Taken, kieurope, M S, and GSLCMedia, from PixabayWe are able to categorize, and to generalize. Every time you see a chair that you have never seen before, you don’t have to learn that it is a chair and can be used for sitting. This is because you have learned some general rules…

Many AI chatbot platforms are designed to simulate human relationships and are marketed as companions or experts. The APA urges for safeguards to mitigate harm because 1) adolescents are less likely to question the accuracy and intent of the chatbot and 2) adolescents’ relationship with AI may displace or interfere with development of healthy, real-world…

Cover image by ViJakob from PixabayDigest compiled by Megan SumerackiFor those of us in the northern hemisphere, summer* is coming! Whether you have two weeks or almost two months left in your academic year, the warmer weather and growing plants are a regular reminder that we’re getting closer every day to our summer break. Summer…

Cover image by Prawny from PixabayBy Megan SumerackiIn the first year that our blog was created—2016—I wrote a piece titled, Retrieval Practice Improves Learning, But Will it Help ALL of My Students? In this piece, I covered an experiment conducted by Pooja Agarwal and colleagues (1) about the benefits of retrieval practice for students with…

Generative chatbots like ChatGPT also have a remarkable ability to pass for human-like performance in some limited social contexts, scoring well on standardized exams assessments typically used to measure aptitude and performance in a field (2). However, the lack of agency in chatbots means that they are unable to take responsibility for their actions.They cannot…

Cover Image by cottonbro studio from PexelsBy Althea Need KaminskeNote: To the best of my knowledge I did not use generative AI to write this post. Any mistakes or insights are my own. AI is big right now. It’s been big for a while, but it seems to be more and more aggressive in the…

I have been following Brown University Professor and Economist Emily Oster for a number of years, basically ever since I started my journey of becoming a parent. Now, I listen to her podcast and read her newsletters (and the newsletters from the endocrinologist on her team, called “Hot Flash”) to hear from Emily and experts…

2) Yerkes-Dodson: Lore, not Law by Cindy Nebel and Stress and Memory by Althea Need KaminskeThis pair of posts is one of my favorites. We were taught that Yerkes-Dodson Law was, well, a law. When stress is too low or too high, performance suffers. Then Cindy discovered, not necessarily so. Friends, we were all blown…