United Academics Magazine Feb. 2012 by United Academics

January 2012

Splendid

ISOL TION THE LOST BRAIN

ALONE IN SPACE

and how it works

what it does to you

CREDITS Editor-in-Chief Anouk Vleugels Executive Editor Mark Fonseca Rendeiro Editorial Jaime MenchĂŠn Marc Smeehuijzen Carian Thus Design Michelle Halcomb Advertisement Send an e-mail to advertising @united-academics.org Questions and suggestions Send an e-mail to redactie @united-academics.org Address Warmoesstraat 149, 1012 JC Amsterdam Website www.united-academics.org

EDITORIAL

HUG A TREE Last month, I found myself on the beautiful island of Maui in Hawaii. Unaware of its history, I learned that Hawaii’s first settlers were Polynesians from the Marquesas and Tahiti. To get to Hawaii, they travelled thousands of miles of open ocean in canoes. In order to navigate, they analyzed the motion of stars, the position of the sun and even the direction, size and speed of ocean waves. Quite impressive. Somewhere along the way, it seems like we’ve lost our navigational skills. And let’s face it: who needs to know about celestial navigation when there’s Google Maps, right? It became an art almost; getting lost. Therefore you might be surprised that the International Search & Rescue Incident Database contains over fifty thousand incidents from the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK. If you ever get lost in the wilderness - do not keep walking with the idea that ‘all roads lead to civilization.’ They don’t. Do not trust your sense of direction if you have none. Just because those Polynesians can do it, does not mean you can. Without external cues, humans are incapable of following a straight line, so you might end up where you started. The best thing to do, is to stay put. Hug a tree. Wait for your rescue party. To calm your nerves, remember these statistics: 98 per cent of all search efforts are successful. Read more about the psychology of getting lost on page 8. ANOUK VLEUGELS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

WALKING IN CIRCLES

MEANWHILE ON MARS

FEATURES

TEN WAYS TO BEAT LONELINESS

the psychology of getting lost

the effects of long term space isolation

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Suppose you’re out somewhere. You are strolling down the street, just minding your own business, when suddenly- you hear sirens. Policemen appear out of nowhere, wielding their billy clubs, ready to arrest a man further down the street from you. Unwittingly, your hand is reaching for your phone, while your thoughts run wild - think of all the hits this will get on YouTube! You’re just about to push record when the question occurs to you: Am I Allowed to Film Police? OK, maybe this never actually happens to us - but Google Suggestions do not lie. Apparently, the rules and regulations with respect to documenting police are of great interest to many of us - ranging from socio-political protesters to sleazy disaster tourists. To answer the question, some factors are important. First, it depends on where you are. Obviously, most countries where authoritarian regimes are in power, will not appreciate you filming their police, or anyone wearing uniforms, for that matter. So unless you are a war photographer or work for Amnesty International, leave that phone in your pocket. Most European countries allow you to film and

photograph whoever you want. In fact, the importance of the right to gather information, which often spurs public debate, has been repeatedly recognised by the European Court of Human Rights. There’s one catch: privacy rights. Photographing someone is one thing, publishing his or her picture without consent is another. Your right to publish someone’s picture without consent depends on its newsworthiness, take the Rodney King incident, for example, it justified the violation of privacy rights. Canada and the UK also allow their citizens to film or photograph in public places; the police have no power to stop people from documenting incidents. For the US it used to be different; documenting the police could result in fines and even jail time in a few states. Fortunately, times are changing, the right to film police in the performance of their public duties in a public space is a “basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment,” as was ruled by a Federal Court in the case of Glik vs. Cunniffe, August 26 2011. The US does not respect the same privacy rights as Europe, so publishing your videos or pictures online without consent will not get you in trouble. Push record. Upload to YouTube. Congratulations, you’ve just become a citizen journalist. 7

WALKING I

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF

HOW DO PEOPLE GET LOST AND HOW DO YOU FIND THEM AGAIN? FIND OUT HOW OUR MENTAL COMPASS CAN DRIFT AND HOW SEARCH AND RESCUE PROFESSIONALS USE STATISTICS TO PREDICT OUR WHEREABOUTS.

eople get lost all the time, be it in the mall, in a new city, or more worrisome, in the woods or in a snow storm. What happens in the brain when we cannot find our way? In his 2010 book “Why People Get Lost: the Psychology and Neuroscience of Spatial Cognition”, University of Stirling psychologist Paul Dudchenko suggests that people have an internal sense of direction or a “mental compass”. “It is not a mag8

netic compass,” he said (there is no consistent evidence that humans have a magnetic sense), “but an internal compass that anchors itself to the outside world. It usually is very good because we walk around familiar landmarks by which we can orient ourselves, but if we are someplace where there is no ability to correct it, our compass starts to drift.” Many studies have demonstrated this. “The simplest experiment is having people close their

BY MARC SMEEHUIJZEN

IN CIRCLES

F GETTING LOST

eyes and walk in a straight line,” said Dudchenko. “People can’t do it. You can only do it for a couple of meters and then you start to drift either to one direction or the other, even though you think you are going straight.” (See also Walking in Circles on p.13). Studies with rats and rhesus monkeys suggest that the neurons underlying our mental compass are so-called “head direction cells”. Dudchenko admits that the presence of these cells has not yet been recorded in humans but he argues that we are likely to have them because we share the brain structures containing these cells with the studied animals.

Aside from head direction cells pointing us in the wrong direction, there is a second way people can get lost: by the breakdown of their cognitive map. A cognitive map is a spatial representation of the outside world in our brain and is believed to reside in the hippocampus. Studies of people with a damaged hippocampus have shown that they have great difficulty learning the layout of new locations like a new town or a office building. Interestingly, when it comes to having a “sense of direction”, there is quite a variation between individuals. Experiments with university students have demonstrated that people who rate themselves as having a good sense of direction 9

are better at recalling the spatial layout of familiar environments, better at learning the layout of new places and better at following directions than people who rate themselves as having a poor sense of direction. What makes the good way-finders different from others is that they seem to make better use of salient landmarks like the sun or a prominent building and notice their surroundings more. Searching in the Wilderness Once people are lost, how do they behave? American search and rescue expert and neurobiologist Robert Koester has extensive experience with lost persons, many in remote locations, and wrote a book on the subject in 2008. He distinguishes three phases. “First there is a navigational mistake, like taking the wrong trail. Then there probably is a gray period when things are not quite matching up,” he said. What often prolongs this “gray” phase is what Koester calls the “bending of the map”. “You only pay attention to the facts that tell you that you are right and you ignore everything that tells you that you are wrong,” he said. One of Koester’s favorite examples is a man who went hiking in New Zealand and said: “Boy it’s awfully funny how in New Zealand the sun rises in the West instead of the East.” In the third phase, people realize they are lost. According to Koester this often causes - at least in wilderness situations - the classic fight or flight response including the release of adrenaline. “Your blood pressure and heart rate are going up, your 10

WHAT TO DO WHEN LOST IN THE WILDERNESS?

Survival experts generally advice the following five steps when lost (assuming you did not bring your cell phone with built-in GPS):

hands may start shaking, you may start to get nauseated, and you may have a fear that you are going to die,” Koester said. “Essentially, all the things described in an anxiety disorder are going on even though it is technically not one because the definition of an anxiety or panic attack is that there is no actual real harm or threat, and if you are lost in the woods there may be a real harm or threat.” For most people when they get lost, that rush of emotions and symptoms is usually fairly short. “Most people will eventually settle down and come up with a plan of some sort of how they are going to get themselves out of the situation. Some plans are good and some plans are bad,” said Koester. (See also What to Do when Lost in the Wilderness). Research by Kenneth Hill, a psychologist and member of the Halifax search and rescue team, showed that people who become disoriented, generally rely on a handful of methods to find their way back. These include route traveling (taking unknown paths), route sampling (trying out parts of different paths from a known intersection), and view enhancing by going to higher ground and backtracking. Some of the less effective methods include random traveling (following the path of least resistance) and direction traveling where the lost person is convinced safety lies in one particular direction, going cross country and often ignores paths and sometimes even railroad tracks, power lines and highways leading in the “wrong” direction.

1. S.T.O.P. Stands for Stop (take a deep breath, sit down and calm yourself), Think ( from now on you will think before any further action), Observe (take a look around and assess your situation and options) and Plan (prioritize your immediate needs and make a plan). 2. STAY PUT You are much easier to find by others if you stay in one place than when you move around. You also save valuable energy and prevent (further) injuring yourself. 3. SIGNAL Make noise (blow a whistle, bang rocks together, shout), make your location visible from the air, use a signal mirror, build a fire, mark your trail if you have to move (use wads of moss, broken branches etc.) 4. SHELTER Find a location out of the wind/rain/snow, make a bed of tree boughs and leaves, build a fire, build a roof (if necessary) from any material you can find. 5. WATER Find a source and drink. Don't worry about food. (You can go over 4 weeks without eating -much longer than the average survival situation- so don't waist energy looking for food unless it is there for the picking).

Example from the International Search & Rescue Incident Database

Distance from the search starting point within which lost hikers are found in 25%, 50%, 75%, and 95% of the cases Temperature

Dry

Mountain

Flat

Mountain

Flat

No. of hikers

568

274

221

25%

1.1 km

.6 km

1.6 km

1.3 km

50%

3.1 km

1.8 km

3.2 km

2.1 km

75%

5.8 km

3.2 km

6.5 km

95%

18.3 km

9.9 km

13.1 km

Another common reorienting strategy is using folk wisdom like “all streams lead to civilization”, which are again, no guarantee of success. Hill writes that if you follow this principle in Nova Scotia, you will more than likely end up in a remote and bug-infested swamp. The best strategy – even if it seems somewhat passive - is staying put, so long as you can reasonably expect a search to be organized on your behalf in the very near future. Sadly, very few people apply this method of getting out of the woods safely. In his review of over 800 lost person reports from Nova Scotia, Hill found only two cases of people who stayed put. To make it possible to predict the behavior of lost persons, in 2002 Robert Koester helped to create the International Search & Rescue Incident Database. This extensive data collection contains valuable statistics such as: average distance traveled by lost persons, typical find locations, hours of mobility, dispersion angles and chances of sur12

Urban

2.6 km

vival . The data is divided by 41 subject categories including hikers, hunters, children, snowmobilers, and people with dementia, and takes into account different environments and climates. (See hiker statistics example). By now, the database contains over fifty thousand incidents from seven countries including the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK and it is used worldwide by search and rescue professionals. Koester’s statistics give cause for optimism about the chances of being found. He notes that 98% of search efforts are successful in finding the lost person and in 91% of the cases, the person is found alive. In addition, 50% of lost people are found within 3 hours of searching. So, it is comforting to know that despite our poor internal navigation capacity and our suboptimal way-finding strategies, most of the time, we will make it home alive.

WALKING IN CIRCLES

he belief that people who get lost end up walking in circles was confirmed in a natural setting in 2009 by Jan Souman and his colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany. In their study they asked participant to walk in a straight line through unfamiliar terrain (a large German forest and the Sahara desert in Tunisia) while being tracked by global positioning systems. Results showed that participants were only able to keep a straight path when the sun or moon was visible. Without those external cues (for instance on a cloudy day) participants walked in circles without even noticing it (see image below). Souman suggested that small random errors in the various sensory signals that provide information about walking direction add up over time, causing a person perceiving to be walking straight ahead to drift away from the true straight line.

Image source: Jan Souman, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, T端bingen (Germany). Publication: Current Biology (2009).

Walking trajectories in the Bienwald forest in Germany. Participants started walking from two different starting positions (red dots). They were instructed to walk as straight possible. Participants PS, KS and RF walked on a cloudy day. When S M walked, the sun was visible (except for the first 15 minutes).

MEANWHILE

Screen capture from ‘Virtu’ simulation software (©) ESA 14

MISSION TO MARS MIGHT SO WELL INTO THE PROCESS O SPACE FLIGHT AND ISOLATI IMPORTANT ANSWERS ABO

BY MARK FONSECA RENDEIRO

E ON MARS

OUND LIKE A FAR OFF PIPE DREAM, BUT RESEARCHERS AROUND THE WORLD ARE OF FIGURING OUT HOW IT WOULD WORK. IN FACT, WHEN IT COMES TO LONGTERM ION, STUDIES LIKE THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY’S MARS500 HAVE ALREADY YIELDED OUT HOW ASTRONAUTS CAN BEST HANDLE THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL CHALLENGES. 15

In November of 2011, six astronauts emerged from a space flight isolation simulation that lasted 520 days. During this lengthy time period the international crew is subjected to many of the types of stresses and tasks that would be part of a journey to Mars, which includes total isolation from earth, having only fellow crew members, as well as 20-minute delayed voice contact with mission control and conversations with family members similar to other space missions. While different types of questions regarding the technical and financial aspects of a mission to Mars still rage on among the world’s major space programs, researchers like Dr. Stefan Scheider from the Institute of Movement and Neuroscience at the German Sport University Cologne have been looking at the psychological and physiological impacts of space isolation simulated through the Mars500 program. Their results have helped answer most of the most important questions that needed to be answered for participants to be able to handle the stresses they will face on the way to Mars and back. Answers that have come through some perhaps unexpected tools – including an iPod. UA: How did you initially get involved with the Mars500 study? Stefan: “We have a long history of space research at the German Sport University. We’ve been doing space research and space physiology for more than 25 years. Until now we’ve mainly looked at shuttle missions, which are short term missions. Looking 16

at long term missions such as the MArs500 that would last 520 days is definitely a different situation when it comes to physiological and psychological requirements, so we were very interested and fortunate to get involved in this study.” UA: Even before the Mars500 experiments, what kind of information was available to you and your colleagues regarding the physical and psychological effects of long term space travel? Stefan: “Most data we already have is physiological data; we know a lot about the changes to the muscle system, to the skeletal system and a little bit about coordination. But this data is mainly from astronauts and cosmonauts living in space for 10 or 20 days. With the finalization of the International Space Station (ISS) we have some data for longer time frames such as six months. However the ISS was only completed five years ago, so there is relatively little data at this point.” UA: How have all the experiments - the 105 day study you published in 2010, and the completion of the 520 day experiment last year - added to what is known regarding both the problems long term isolation in space brings, and the solutions or countermeasures against those problems? Can we already say for sure that, in terms of what is demanded of the astronauts on such a journey, we can keep them healthy and functional for the duration of the journey.. or is it too soon?

Stefan: “When it comes to the physiological effects of the Mars journey, we know what to do in order to prevent or counteract de-conditioning of personnel during the mission. On the one hand when it comes to the psychological effects of long term isolation or confinement, we can look to studies from nonspace flight situations, which already tell us that it will be a very stressful journey. What we have learned is that the situation is greatly dependent on the crew itself. In the 105 study we had a totally different crew than the 520, and that group took on much bigger psychological challenges. They were just a better crew; in part because the selection criteria and assessment was better. What is needed within the next years and decades is to find possible countermeasures for these stresses. We know there is stress, we know what causes it, what we need now are studies to see how we can counteract this stress to prevent problems during the flight and increase the success and safety of such a mission.

Stefan Schneider conducting tests regarding neurological effects of being in the simulation for 105 and 520 days

The main problem during such a journey is that you need to work as part of a multi-national, multicultural team, there is a tremendous amount of work to do, you have to be precise while carrying out these activities, you have limited access to friends and family, the quality of food is not ideal, all these are factors that add stress on the psychological side. There’s also the physiological effect of weightlessness which brings an increase in inter cranial pressure. At this point we don’t know how the brain will react to that. Space radiation is a huge problem. Even the immune system can be 17

Mars500 crew portrait on 3 September 2011 (©) ESA

an issue. So there is a long and interconnected list of problems that we are dealing with.” UA: You’ve reported a lot about how exercise has a positive impact to counter the negative effects of long term space travel. Does this mean intensive bouts of delay workouts? Small frequent exercises? Does it matter what type of exercise generally? Stefan: “What we already know from non space research on earth is that exercise has health benefits. Most of the focus has been on the physiological benefits of exercise; as a cardiovascular enhancer, muscle builder, bone strength, etc. Anyone who exercises regularly would know that there is also a very positive effect on their mental health; cognitive performance, stress regulation and so on. That’s what I would like to use in space, where we know people are stressed and it would be better to get on a treadmill for 20 minutes instead of hitting your colleague on the head out of frustration. We know this from earth and we’re going to apply this in 18

Mars500 experiment: this orlan suit designed for spacewalks.(©) ESA

space research.” We have realized during the course of different studies over the last years that exercise needs to be individualized as much as possible. It doesn’t help to recommend running as a cardiovascular exercise to someone who doesn’t like running to begin with. In order to keep people exercising we have to find the type of exercise that the individual really likes. Same goes for the level of intensity, not everyone is a high intensity workout person, some people might want moderate or short exercises. If we look at the exercise choices on the International Space Station, the options are limited, so I would prefer to let astronauts themselves decide on what they would like to do. This way we will get the maximum effect to the benefit of all parties involved. You already have a tough daily schedule on a space flight, having rigid workout schemes can be another stressor. UA: What are the specific challenges for the time astronauts would be on the surface of Mars?

Dr. Stefan Schneider is part of the neuroscience workgroup within the Institute of Movement and Neuroscience at the German Sport University Cologne. Within the Mars500 experiments his focus was Psychophysiological performance; the effect that physical activity during long-term isolation has on the interaction of key physiological and psychological functions. LISTEN TO PODCAST WITH STEFAN SCHNEIDER

Stefan: “In terms of the martial surface, the gravity on Mars is 1/3 of the gravity on earth. It is not so much about muscles and good bones, your weight is a third of what it would be on earth. Yet we also have learned from a Russian research group that did a lot of extra vehicle studies that the metabolic rate and heart rate increases dramatically during what would be a walk on the Martian surface. This is something we need to prepare for using specific entrance training programs to keep people fit and able to perform their tasks on Mars.” UA: We’ve seen frequent mention of iPods having some useful role in the Mars500 studies. Can you explain this? Stefan: “In the Mars 105 day study psychologists used a number of tests, which many crew members found boring. In the 520 day study we moved away from scientific psychological tests and instead gave them iPods loaded with what are known as “brain games” which people really like to work on. We were trying to figure out if people over time would

just get bored of reaction-time tasks and therefore their productivity would decrease. The crew members enjoyed the games and were motivated to keep doing them, so we didn’t find psychological de-conditioning, nor a decrease in reaction time or executive function during the 520 day study. And this could be due to the simple fact that people liked what they were doing.” UA: This issue of the magazine is dedicated to the overall concept of “splendid isolation”, what are the big mysteries that still lay unanswered regarding the effects of long term isolation and space travel? Stefan: “In the last two or three decades we’ve come to understand quite well what happens to the physiological and psychological system when people are living in space, under conditions like weightlessness and the isolation. What is really necessary right now is to find adequate countermeasures for stress that comes with these conditions.” 19

RESEARCHERS CALL IT THE ‘THE NAKED PHOTO TEST’ – THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE EMBARRASSING NUDE PICTURES. THIS NUMBER IS EQUAL TO YOUR AMOUNT OF WERE ABLE TO NAME THREE PEOPLE. NOW IT’S CLOSER TO TWO. AND WHAT’S RE PEOPLE HAVE NO ONE THEY CAN CONFIDE IN. THEREFORE, WE PRESENT TO YOU:

EAT COMFORT FOOD

It might clog your arteries or cause diabetes, but eating comfort food has an upside t – it makes you feel less lonely. Last year, a psychological experiment was conducted examine the effect comfort food has on someone’s mood. Participants were first ask to write about a fight they had with someone close to them, in order to make them fe lonely. Others were given a more neutral writing assignment. In part two of the experime participants had to either write about eating comfort food or do an assignment on a ne food. The results: subjects that had just described a painful memory did in fact fe lonelier afterwards. However, thinking about their favorite food made them feel all war and fuzzy inside. “We have found that comfort foods are foods which are consisten associated with those close to us,” says lead author Jordan Troisi. “Thinking about consuming these foods later then serves as a reminder of those close others.”

Read study (not open acce

E YOU WOULD ALLOW TO SEE YOUR MOST TRUE FRIENDS. TWENTY YEARS AGO, WE EALLY DEPRESSING: ABOUT ONE IN FOUR

too d to ked eel ent, ew eel rm ntly or

ess)

BY ANOUK VLEUGELS

STOP LYING ON FACEBOOK It’s an ongoing academic debate: do social networks make us feel isolated? Throughout the last decade, several studies warned us about the devastating effects social networks would have on our social life. Misery, estrangement and despair were upon us. Current research, however, is more nuanced ; it points out that certain already socially isolated groups of people, such as the elderly or the physically handicapped, can benefit a great deal from connecting with people online. Still, a recent study shows that social media networks such as Facebook can make us feel lonely and miserable. The reason: our friends’ pictures and status updates, a.k.a. lives, appear to be way better than ours. In a series of five experiments, the study identified several intersecting psychological factors that underlie the grass-is-greener phenomenon – such as our tendency to overestimate someone else’s happiness. So our advice: stop lying on Facebook. Upload all your awkward family photos, change your status to something like “I just ate four bars of chocolate and still feel dead inside” and hope it will catch on. Read study (open access) 21

BREAK OUT THE PHOTO ALBUM

DON’T D

Whenever we feel lonely or down, we tend to become a little nostalgic– reminiscing about the good old days. According to a study conducted in 2008, this sense of longing serves a psychological purpose. A team of researchers explored the connection between loneliness, social support and nostalgia. Their participants included children, college students and factory workers. The results showed that the subjects who felt the loneliest claimed, not surprisingly, to have the least amount of social support. What was interesting, however, was that these participants turned out to be the most nostalgic. In addition, when nostalgia was induced in a number of the study’s participants, they in turn perceived to have the greatest amount of social support. These findings suggest that loneliness can be overcome by reminiscing about the past. In addition, nostalgia increases perceptions of social support. So remember, next time you’re feeling blue: feeling good again might just be one photo album away.

It sound fictional be, rese Psychol loneline into vari close wi greater ones, w not nece hand in stranger

Read study (open access)

Read stud

DAYDREAM ABOUT STRANGERS

ds a bit odd – daydreaming about strangers – but many people tend to include either characters or total strangers in their (in this case non-sexual) fantasies. Fun as it may earch shows this kind of daydreaming does not necessarily improve your wellbeing. logists had a group of participants fill out a survey to measure their levels of perceived ess and social support. Also, they were administered a questionnaire designed to tap ious aspects of daydreaming. Those who often dreamed about people they could not be ith (such as potential romantic partners, strangers, or ﬁctional characters) experiences levels of loneliness than the participants who mostly daydreamed about their loved with whom they felt close. It is important to note that daydreaming about strangers does essarily cause loneliness (nor visa versa), but according to this study, the two do go hand. So just to be on the safe side; daydream about friends and family, and leave rs for your sexual fantasies.

dy (not open access)

GET YOURSELF A CAREER

The popular media tend to depict big shot CEOs as lone wolves who are incapable of life. New research suggests non-managers are just as lonely as managers; they just g whoever made up the saying ‘lonely at the top’ has obviously never been there. Resear Sara Wright conducted several studies to examine loneliness at the workplace. “The lonely at the top does seem to be paradoxical when studying the literature,” Wright ex one hand, effective leaders are portrayed as socially and personally well-adjusted in should, therefore, not be lonely), while lonely people are socially and personally lackin isolation exceedingly painful […]; therefore they are unlikely to make successful leade show that loneliness in the workplace was not connected to job position, but rather to environmental factors. In other words: it could happen to anyone of us - which is why Go coolers. Read study (open access)

STOP SMOKING

We know - for those of for those who are loneso if you’re out on the balc Medical School and Jam to feel socially isolated. a large social network o Fowler, “it was complete be connected to lots of other words. By the 20 some sense, be shunne center of their social cir seems to be a causal re Americans only, the find

f having a social get paid less. So rch psychologist notion that it is xplains. “On the ndividuals (who ng and find their ers.” Her results o individual and od created water

you non-Americans who smoke, this seems like a ridiculous advice ome. Smoking is social. There’s a reason house parties are more fun cony. However, a study conducted by Nicholas Christakis of Harvard mes Fowler of UC San Diego suggests smoking can cause people . The researchers analyzed smoking behavior from 1971 to 2003 in of 12,067 densely interconnected people. “In the early 1970s,” said ely irrelevant if you smoked. You could be central in your circle and f other people who were similarly central. You could be popular, in 000s, it had become highly relevant: If you smoked, you would, in ed.” Quitting smoking, on the other hand, put people right back in the rcle. “We show,” Fowler explains, “that this not coincidental – there elationship at work.” Side note: since the study was conducted among dings might not apply to smokers outside of the U.S. Read study (open access) 25

HAVE A WALK IN THE PARK

Sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side. Studies have shown that gr environments affect us in a positive way. Environmental psychologists Frances e. Ku interested in how our surroundings relate to our wellbeing. “In greener settings,” explains, “we find that people are more generous and more sociable. We find stron neighborhood social ties and a greater sense of community, more mutual trust and willingn to help others.” She points out that another study, conducted on more than 10,000 D households, argues that the less green a person’s living environment is, the more likely person is to report feeling lonely and report not having adequate social support. The s included households from a wide range of living conditions, from rural to heavily urban, took respondents’ income and other characteristics into account. Because of this str correlation between nature and health, Kuo encourages city planners to design commun with more public green spaces in mind. Read study (open access)

reen uo is Kuo nger ness Dutch y that study , and rong nities

WATCH TV Whoever watched the TV-series Friends, knows they weren’t just friends. They were your friends. Does that make you a bit pathetic? Apparently, it does not. A study shows that tuning in to see your favorite characters can provide you with feelings of belonging, even in the face of low self esteem or after being rejected by friends or family members. A team of psychologists at the University at Buffalo and Miami University conducted four studies to examine the effect TV-shows have on our self-esteem and psychological well-being. After watching their favorite show, or after writing about it –depending on the study – participants expressed fewer feelings of loneliness and exclusion. In addition, it boosted their self-esteem. “The research provides evidence for the ‘social surrogacy hypothesis,’ which holds that humans can use technologies, like television, to provide the experience of belonging when no real belongingness has been experienced,” states Shira Gabriel, one of the authors of the study. Read study (not open access) 27

STAY AWAY FROM OTHER LONELY PEOPLE This might come across as a bit harsh for those who are already lonely, but it’s true: loneliness spreads like a bad cold. Research psychologists from the University of Chicago and the University of California conducted a study to test the theory that an individual’s perceived social isolation (i.e. loneliness) is linked to the number of connections in their social network (i.e. the number of close friends they have). And more specifically; they wanted to know whether a measure of loneliness within social networks could be seen as spreading over time. From 1983 until 2001, a total of 12,067 participants were followed. After carefully observing their social connections and analyzing their questionnaires – which contained the subjects’ perceived level of loneliness - the researchers found that, over time, much of the loneliness seemed to spread to the edge of a network. The study also shows that that as people become lonely, they become less trustful of others. “ A cycle develops that makes it harder for them to form friendships, explains Dr. John Cacioppo, lead author of the study. Read study (not open access)

GET YOURSELF A PET Let us say upfront: the fact that pets might make you feel less lonely is not an excuse to become ‘that crazy cat lady.’ You do not need to own seventeen pets to fill the void. Having said that, let’s focus on the research. A recent study was conducted among two test groups; one contained 241 college students, while the other group had 102 participants who were over 30. Both groups had to fill out surveys about reasons for pet ownership (most of them had dogs and/ or cats). The most common reasons given by both groups were, “I would be lonely without my pet,” “My pet helps me get through hard times,” “My pet helps keep me active,” “My pet serves a useful function,” and “I keep the pet for other people.” While previous work has demonstrated that the elderly benefit from animal companionship, this study is the one of the first to suggest that animal companions help those younger than 30 years of age. “I wouldn’t advise everyone to go out and buy a puppy. But I think this research clearly shows that many people can benefit both psychologically and socially from living with an animal companion,” says lead author Sara Staats. Read study (open access)

FROM OUR BLOG

REMARKABLERESEARCH MOST CONTROVERSIAL BY CARIAN THUS

DISCOVER THE ALARMING IMPACTS OF GLOBAL TEMPERATURE RISE WITH GOOGLE EARTH From now on it is possible to look into the future with Google Earth with a new interactive climate map that shows how the world would be affected by a global average temperature increase of 4 degrees celcius. The data, which was collected by the UK’s Met Office Hadley Centre, underlines why many countries believe we must limit global warming to 2 degrees celsius, because anything beyond that would lead to conditions disruptive to our global prosperity and security. I used the tool to investigate the consequences for Europe when the temperature would increase by 4 degrees celcius. When you look at the map you see that Europe is encircled by five colors, each indicating animpact of climate change: Turquoise: Sea level rise.

Sea level rise combined with storm surges could pose a serious threat to people and assets in the Netherlands. Sea levels could rise as much as 80cm by the end of the century. In the long run it could result in a much higher rise in sea level. Brown: Forest fire. Southern Europe will move into the highest danger category for forest fires 30

Red: Drought. 1 in 10-year drought events today will occur twice as frequently across the Mediterranean basin. Pink: Extreme temperatures. Temperature increases in several highly populated regions will be large and, based on the impact of recent extreme heat events, are potentially beyond limits of adaptation. The hottest days of the year across Europe could be as much as 8C warmer. Blue: Water availability. Fresh water resources will be reduced by as much as 70% around the Mediterranean.