A recent press release provides a good article on the latest research into mirror neurons -- those fascinating brain cells that appear to be crucial in the development of the so-called "theory of mind" -- the idea we have that other people also have minds, and wants and needs and beliefs and thoughts, in the same way we ourselves do. Mirror neurons help us empathize, and for that reason, and because they are crucial in mimicking, they are apparently involved in socialization and language development.

A new study adds to our understanding of how we see. Our eyes move at a rate of several times a second, but we don't see the world as a jittery series of images because our brain has a system that stabilizes the emage (always remember: we don't see the world "as it is" -- whatever that means -- but as our brain perceives it). It turns out that one thing all those eye movements do is help us resolve ambiguous images.

Being such a big fan of Montessori, as many of you will know, I was excited to see this report of a recent study showing the advantages of a Montessori education. The study is particularly compelling because it overcomes the usual criticism of studies that have tried to compare Montessori schooling with traditional education -- that Montessori parents are different from other parents -- by selecting children for the Montessori classes by lottery, from a pool of parents all of whom hoped to get into the Montessori program. An interesting aspect of the findings is the apparent social advantages a Montessori program confers -- the Montessori children showed a greater sense of fairness, justice, and community, and an increased tendency to engage in emotionally positive play and use "positive assertive responses" in dealing with difficult social situations.

An area of the brain known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has been implicated in self-control in earlier studies. The area is one of the last brain regions to mature (no surprise there for anyone who deals with children and adolescents!). Now a new brain-scanning study has revealed that turning this region off (disabling it by means of weak magnetic stimulation) produces more selfish behavior.

And speaking of no self-control, a telephone poll of some 2500 U.S. residents has revealed that nearly 6% are compulsive shoppers, unable to resist frequent shopping binges. Interestingly, although this has previously been tagged as a predominantly female disorder, the survey reveals that nearly as many men suffer from it as women (5.5% vs 6%). It would be interesting to do similar surveys in other countries -- gross consumerism is, after all, a hallmark of U.S. culture.