Monkeys and the Uncanny Valley [study]

“The concept of the uncanny valley suggests that humanoid objects which imperfectly resemble actual human beings provoke uncanny or strangely familiar feelings of eeriness and revulsion in observers.” Source: Wikipedia Since its discovery in 1970, many follow-up studies have confirmed the effect in human observers. But what about other animals, say, monkeys? Are they also […]

Skull-Penetration Interventions to Combat Zombies

An article in the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, February 2019, Volume :51 Number 1, discusses the question of evidence in assessing traumatic brain injuries (TBI) by using the example of Zombies. The article begins : “Despite anecdotal evidence seen on television and in movies, there is zero actual research to support penetrating traumatic brain injury […]

Recent progress in Wonder Woman studies

Since her first appearance in 1941, Wonder Woman © has received considerable attention from academia. Here are (but a few) recent(ish) contributions to the literature : • ‘A Different Kind of Power’?: identification, stardom and embodiments of the military in Wonder Woman • Wonder Woman, the Gutter, and Critical Genocide Studies • Loving Lassos: Wonder Woman, […]

The pleasures of watching ironically-enjoyed movies (new study)

“So-called ‘trash films’ do not stand in opposition to taste and education. Quite the contrary, they are often watched by people with an above-average education and interest in culture.” – informs a recent online article from Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, München, Germany. The ‘delight-in-cheapness’ they are referring to is analysed in a paper for the journal Poetics Volume […]

fMRI and Forrest Gump Open Science

“The human brain is designed to process vast amounts of input that are continuously gathered through the senses. However, most experiments study the brain via simplified stimuli that do not resemble the complexity of a natural environment — a mismatch that needs to be addressed in order to better understand how the brain works.” What […]