Psychology stuff from the week 4-10/6/12

Using distorting glasses that make portions look bigger, Japanese researchers have successfully caused eaters to consume less, but still to satiation.
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-japan-diet-glasses-wearers.html
This is one of many studies examining the psychology of eating:
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-foods-youll.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328574.200-60-seconds.html
http://phys.org/news/2010-10-bland-tasting-food-background-noise.html

'Familiarity shouldn't block creativity in haptics'
Skeuomorphs (design characteristics that have been retained from the original, despite lacking utility in the current design) are becoming ever more prevalent, as new technologies are styled to be similar to old ones.
This could hinder efforts to discover new tactile experiences. I'm more worried about encouraging people to 'go with' things on the basis of familiarity.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428681.700-familiarity-shouldnt-block-creativity-in-haptics.html
Skeuomorphs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph
If leather is to be simulated deliberately, will the material around the fish course menu be, also?
https://twitter.com/andrewjhansen/status/171076823868903427

It's official now: dogs can empathise with humans
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-domestic-dogs-empathic-response-distress.html

Bisexuals suffer most anxiety about their sexuality, and are therefore the ones most likely to 'hit the booze' to make themselves feel better
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-sexual-fluctuation-alcohol-misuse.html

People who are more neurotic are more sensitive to anger, hostility, and depression, and apparently get more depressed when they are rewarded with less than they were expecting.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-happier-neurotic.html

Men and women tend to respond differently to the anxiety's exploited in exercise ads - women are more sensitive to whether it makes them feel good (subjective), and men are more sensitive to whether it changes objective characteristics, such as health and body-weight.
(There is a video, but you won't want to watch it (annoying voice... need i say more?))
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-men-women-differently-advertisements.html

The same region of the brain that processes tactile sensation also processes its context.
This study found that men who thought they were being touched by a woman perceived the sensation differently to men who thought they were being touched by a man, even though they were being touched by a woman in every case.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-hands-on-neuroscientists-brain-sensual-caress.html

Distraction. Pure and simple.
People drive cars worse when they're receiving complicated instructions from a SatNav
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-sat-navs-drivers.html
In the long-term, use of SatNavs will cause atrophy of the regions of drivers' brains that had previously grown to do orientative processes.

Migrants are perceived to be larger in number, and more malevolent, than they really are.
“The weight of evidence suggests that immigration is not related to more crime,”
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-people-undocumented-immigrants-crime.html

When given a choice between a mechanical fish, real fish, or an empty tank, zebra fish prefer to go with the most 'friendly' company - individuals and shoals preferred the company of the mechanical fish to an empty space, but they preferred each other to the mechanical fish. That's presumably because it's an ugly, clunking, mechanical fish, and therefore would not be healthy company for a predateable fish to keep, if it were real.
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-robot-interacts-fish.html