The question of whether (or how much) language affects our perception is a fascinating one that has been much debated over the years, but research has been unable to reach a firm conclusion. A new study suggests why research findings have been in consistent -- language appears to affect what we see in the right visual field, but not in the left visual field. The researchers conclude that “our representation of the visual world may be, at one and the same time, filtered and not filtered through the categories of language.”

Here's an odd one. We've all (surely?) known a pathological liar (but probably not many -- they're really not that common). Pathological liars persistently and against all common sense keep telling lies, even when it's against their own best interest, and if you know someone like that, you have to have asked yourself: Why do they do it? Why, when it's going to make trouble for them / lose them friends / destroy relationships, do they keep on behaving like this? Why don't they learn?

Well, a new study has revealed the somewhat astonishing finding that the brains of pathological liars are measurably different from other brains -- specifically, they have substantially more white matter in their prefrontal cortex. And while this can't be all the answer, it does make you think.

Just to say the January issue of the Memory Key newsletter is up.

There's a report of Simon Baron-Cohen's recent study suggesting that highly analytical couples, such as scientists, may be more likely to produce children with autism. I don't think his labeling of people such as scientists, mathematicians and engineers as 'systemizers' will surprise anyone, or his suggestion that such people tend to be less social. The suggestion that the rise in autism (if real) can be attributed to greater opportunities for systemizers to meet each other is ... well, an intriguing idea ... but I'd hold off on trying to breed systemizers out of the gene pool!

On a lighter note, read about the choral abilities of some wrens: "the first four-part, synchronized chorus with alternating parts recorded outside human music"!

And to further relax you, here's an optical illusion.