Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagCorrelation vs. causation

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senior woman and daughter listening music with headphone in backyard

Lifestyle Factors Associated With the Risk of Early Dementia

Here are the factors that researchers found in a study of over 350,000 people to be significantly associated young-onset dementia (YOD)
Correlations can provide valuable information but they are not causation and they need to be assessed carefully. Read More ›
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African American woman studing and reading the Bible.

Does Religious Belief Help People Think in a More Complex Way?

One psychologist became interested in the question because many studies have associated religious belief with better health and greater longevity

University of South Florida psychologist Jay L. Michaels, who has a background in experimental social psychology and quantitative psychology, designed a study to test that proposition: In the study, 630 adults from from 48 countries completed a cognitive assessment in which they were asked to pick a phrase that best described a given behavior. They had the choice of picking a high-level description (which focused on why the action was performed) or a low-level description (which focused on mechanistic aspects of the action.) For example, one item asked whether “reading” was better described as “Gaining knowledge” or “Following lines of print.” Eric W. Dolan, “New study links intrinsic religious motivation to higher-level patterns of thought” at PsyPost (May 22, 2021) Read More ›