Research
Placebo effects
- Placebo psychedelic pills can alter consciousness (PDF, Vice)
- Elaborate “placebo machines” can make people feel that they are losing control over their thoughts
- Combining factors known to enhance placebo effects may produce viable treatments for disorders (CBC)
Creativity
- Simply naming unrelated words can reflect verbal creativity (Divergent Association Task, CNN)
Sleep
- Evening light exposure may reduce fatigue and work errors in night shift workers (Night Shift Owl)
- Light exposure at the right time can reduce jet lag
Magic
- Principles of performance magic can be used to improve study methodology (PDF)
- Magicians are able to influence decisions without the audience knowing (CBC)
Smartphones
- Smartphone addiction is increasing across the world (Healthy Screens)
- A simple behavioural intervention can reduce phone use
Recent papers
- Smartphone addiction is increasing across the world: A meta-analysis of 24 countries in Computers & Human Behavior
- Naming unrelated words predicts creativity in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Super placebos: A feasibility study combining contextual factors to promote placebo effects in Frontiers in Psychiatry
Projects
- Divergent Association Task, a quick measure of verbal creativity
- Healthy Screens, a site to measure and reduce problematic smartphone use
- Million Dollar PhD, a book on graduate funding in Canada
- Night Shift Owl, a tool to reduce shift work fatigue