In the last blog, I elucidated factors in the acquisition and storage of memories that can impact their accuracies. In this blog, I intend to discuss factors in memory retrieval that can lead to false memories. A very well-known incident of mistaken identity is Jennifer Thomson’s identification of Ronald Cotton as her rapist (The Perfect Witness). After giving police a … [Read more...] about Eyewitness Testimony – Part 2
Editor Blogs
Face Filters: Augmenting or Losing Reality?
After acquiring Looksery, a specialized face-tracking technology from Ukraine, Snapchat introduced the first widely used set of “Lenses”- AR face filters that merged the user’s real world with the digital world inside their phone. They have since been pioneers in the AR filter scene, and even democratized filter creation with the release of their desktop app Lens Studio in … [Read more...] about Face Filters: Augmenting or Losing Reality?
Finding Reduced-Order Models for Nonlinearizable Dynamical Systems using Spectral Submanifolds
A fundamental theme throughout this blog series has been partial differential equations (PDEs). The reason for this is that PDEs are a language through which we can describe the world around us, from the smallest scales, to the very largest. Many PDEs, moreover, involve time derivatives. This makes sense, as phenomena such as fluid flows, beam vibrations, and gravitational … [Read more...] about Finding Reduced-Order Models for Nonlinearizable Dynamical Systems using Spectral Submanifolds
Nature vs. Nurture
One of the biggest questions for psychologists revolves around the idea of innate or learned traits. Are our behaviors and personality traits influenced by our genetics (nature), or do we learn them as we grow (nurture)? How we answer this question will greatly impact the types of treatments we provide for psychological disorders. The answer is still up for debate, but here are … [Read more...] about Nature vs. Nurture
The Fundamental Solution of Laplace’s Equation and its Importance in Physics
Welcome back. Today, we will explore a concept that is central to the study of linear partial differential equations: that of the fundamental solution. As its name suggests, a fundamental solution is a very special solution to a PDE that serves as a building block for more general solutions. In this blog, my goal is to derive the fundamental solution to Laplace’s … [Read more...] about The Fundamental Solution of Laplace’s Equation and its Importance in Physics