Human behaviour is influenced by many things, most of which remain unconscious to us. One of these is a phenomenon known among perception psychologists as “pseudo-neglect”. This refers to the observation that healthy people prefer their left visual field to their right and therefore devide a line regularly left of centre. A study published on...
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Study Puts the ‘Carib’ in ‘Caribbean,’ Boosting Credibility of Columbus’ Cannibal Claims
Christopher Columbus’ accounts of the Caribbean include harrowing descriptions of fierce raiders who abducted women and cannibalized men – stories long dismissed as myths. But a new study suggests Columbus may have been telling the truth. Using the equivalent of facial recognition technology, researchers analyzed the skulls of early Caribbean inhabitants, uncovering relationships between people groups and...
How Successful Are Retailer-Themed Super Saver Events?
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam and Tilburg University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that assesses Retailer-Themed Super Saver Events and the effects they have on consumers. The study forthcoming in the March issue of the Journal of Marketing is titled “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Retailer-Themed Super Saver Events” and is authored by Jonne Guyt...
For Linguists, It Was the Decade of the Pronoun
On Jan. 3, the American Dialect Society held its 30th annual “Word of the Year” vote, which this year also included a vote for “Word of the Decade.” It was the year – and the decade – of the pronoun. In a nod to shifting attitudes about gender identities that are nonbinary – meaning they...
Birkin Bags, Swiss Ski Resorts and Louis Vuitton: How Super-Rich Delhi Housewives Strive to Be Part of a Global Elite
When Akash Ambani, son of Mukesh Ambani, one of the richest men in the world, decided to host a pre-wedding event in February 2019, he chose St Moritz in Switzerland. While St Moritz is a popular ski destination for the international jetset, it was not a prominent holiday destination for Indian elites. But through my...
From Gucci to Supreme: Fashion Brands Are Tapping into Disney’s $60 Billion Merch Machine
Disney is not just for kids. That seemed to be a clear takeaway when Gucci sent a $4,500 plastic purse in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s head down the runway at Le Palace in Paris as part of its Spring/Summer 2019 collection. As it turns out, the appearance of one of Disney’s most well-known characters...
John Galliano’s Newspaper Print is Getting the Fast Fashion Treatment 20 Years Later
Twenty years after John Galliano first turned newspaper printed textiles into garments under the name of his Paris-based eponymous brand, as well as that of Christian Dior, Pretty Little Thing (“PLT”) decided to try its hand at it. The result? The Manchester-based fast fashion retailer – which has built a thriving business thanks to an...
2019 Came to a Close With Developments in the Cases Against Emily Ratajkowski, Kendall Jenner Over Fyre Fest
Months after the dust settled on Fyre Festival, the “luxury” music festival gone awry, and after the failed-festival’s attendees had lodged their individual multi-million dollar lawsuits, citing everything from negligence to fraud, a handful of new lawsuits were filed in conjunction with the bankruptcy filing of Fyre Festival LLC. In a quest to recover the $16 million-plus...
‘She’ Goes Missing from Presidential Language
Throughout most of 2016, a significant percentage of the American public believed that the winner of the November 2016 presidential election would be a woman — Hillary Clinton. Strikingly, a new study from cognitive scientists and linguists at MIT, the University of Potsdam, and the University of California at San Diego shows that despite those...
AI for #MeToo: Training Algorithms to Spot Online Trolls
Researchers at Caltech have demonstrated that machine-learning algorithms can monitor online social media conversations as they evolve, which could one day lead to an effective and automated way to spot online trolling. The project unites the labs of artificial intelligence (AI) researcher Anima Anandkumar, Bren Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, and Michael Alvarez, professor...