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In case you missed them – 10 of the best psychology links from the past week.

12 April 2013

By Christian Jarrett

1. Stunning video of a whole mouse brain rendered entirely transparent.

2. Brilliant article by Joseph LeDoux on the benefits to anxious people of “pro-active avoidance”. “When avoidance prevents one from dealing with life, it is maladaptive. But when avoidance is proactive and part of active coping and agency, it helps the person control the accelerator, brakes, and the track switches. It is a useful adaptive activity.”

3. On the 25th anniversary of Prozac, Will Self on BBC Radio Four investigated whether the drug has helped or harmed us.

4. Power failure! The Digest covered a paper this week that claimed the majority of neuroscience studies are underpowered because they have samples that are too small. It’s an important issue and here is some more reaction and coverage: several neuroscientists commented at Ed Yong’s blogMatt Wall on his blog is sceptical about the ability to predict how much power you need; Jon Simons said on his blog he believes it’s a landmark paper; and lead author Kate Button wrote a guest post at the Guardian about the problems of low power.

5. Vaughan Bell wrote a thought-provoking column for the Observer about the way genetic studies are shaking up traditional divisive arguments over how to define mental illness.

6. Brain training games “are bogus” claimed an article in the New Yorker. A key meta-analysis mentioned in that article was featured on the Digest in February. Coincidentally, Sue Gathercole, a leading researcher into working memory brain training, was at the British Psychological Society annual conference this week. She acknowledged that so far transferable benefits have proven elusive, but she said the important point was what to do about that. Her team are working on new virtual reality exercises that aim to encourage children to apply their working memory gains flexibly in new contexts.

7. Move Over Extroverts, Here Come the Ambiverts

8. Mo Costandi on the myth of learning styles (a myth that most school teachers believe).

9. Scientific American Mind published an illustrated time-line of our attempts to understand schizophrenia through history.

10. Newly posted TED talk from Dan Ariely – what makes us feel good about our work?