PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Carnegie Mellon scientists question representation of women in international journal

2015-04-09
(Press-News.org) PITTSBURGH-- Three leading cognitive scientists from Carnegie Mellon University are questioning the gender representation of invited contributors in the special February 2015 issue, "The Changing Face of Cognition," published by the international journal Cognition.

Cognition, a highly regarded scientific journal, publishes theoretical and experimental papers on the study of the mind - a topic that has been a research strength of CMU for decades and that is receiving intense focus through the federal government's BRAIN Initiative.

In an opinion piece to appear in Cognition, Roberta Klatzky, Lori Holt and Marlene Behrmann write that they were "struck by the fact that among the 19 authors listed for the 12 articles, only one female author was present."

Holt, professor of psychology and a member of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC), said, "As cognitive scientists, we know that subtle, even unconscious, biases shape decision making. We hope that by calling attention to the gender disparity in invited scientific contributions we can raise awareness and contribute to developing inclusive strategies. It is very important that the new generation of women in cognitive science, and STEM fields generally, recognizes that their contributions are critical."

The authors felt compelled to address this issue publicly to initiate a larger conversation.

"It has been suggested that one reason young women fail to enter STEM fields is the paucity of females at senior levels who could serve as models. This problem is perpetuated when women scientists are not recognized in publications that are intended to shape the future of their research area," said Klatzky, the Charles J. Queenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology who holds additional appointments in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and the CNBC.

According to 2013 statistics from the National Science Foundation, more than 50 percent of Ph.D. degrees in cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, neuropsychology and experimental psychology were awarded to women. Yet, invitations to contribute do not necessarily reflect this gender parity. In their piece, the authors examine the gender distribution of the editors and authors for the four most recent special issues of Cognition and find a prevailing male dominance. The authors argue that although authorship should not be based on the number of men and women in the discipline, the contributions and vision of female scientists should not be ignored.

"The fate of women in science continues to be problematic and, although some progress has been made, many challenges remain. These challenges go beyond authorship and journals, and concerted efforts need to be mustered to address this issue of disproportionate gender distribution in cognitive science and in science more generally," said Behrmann, the George A. and Helen Dunham Cowan Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and CMU co-director of the CNBC.

Carnegie Mellon's Department of Psychology in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences - the academic home department to Klatzky, Holt, Behrmann and a long-time leader in cognitive science research - has 11 women on its current roster of 26 core faculty members. Several women have or are currently holding leadership positions, including Klatzky, who served as head of the Psychology Department from 1993-2003, and Behrmann, who leads the CNBC, a joint project between CMU and the University of Pittsburgh devoted to investigating the neural mechanisms that give rise to human cognitive abilities. Holt spearheads a training program funded by the National Institutes of Health and plays a major role in the training both graduate and undergraduate students in CMU's Psychology Department.

In line with the federal government's emphasis on brain research, Carnegie Mellon recently launched BrainHubSM, a global initiative that focuses on how the structure and activity of the brain give rise to complex behaviors. As the birthplace of artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology, CMU has been a leader in the study of cognitive science, brain and behavior for more than 50 years. The university has created some of the first cognitive tutors, helped to develop the Jeopardy-winning Watson, founded a groundbreaking doctoral program in neural computation, and completed cutting-edge work in understanding the genetics of autism. BrainHub builds on CMU's strengths in biology, computer science, psychology, statistics and engineering.

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Early physical therapy for low back pain reduces costs, resources

2015-04-09
A study in the scientific journal BMC Health Services Research shows that early and guideline adherent physical therapy following an initial episode of acute, nonspecific low back pain (LBP) resulted in substantially lower costs and reduced use of health care resources over a 2-year period. Physical therapist researchers John D. Childs, PT, PhD, et al analyzed 122,723 patients who went to a primary care physician following an initial LBP episode and received physical therapy within 90 days. Of these, 24% (17,175) received early physical therapy (within 14 days) that adhered ...

Who's a CEO? Google image results can shift gender biases

Whos a CEO? Google image results can shift gender biases
2015-04-09
Getty Images last year created a new online image catalog of women in the workplace - one that countered visual stereotypes on the Internet of moms as frazzled caregivers rather than powerful CEOs. A new University of Washington study adds to those efforts by assessing how accurately gender representations in online image search results for 45 different occupations match reality. In a few jobs -- including CEO -- women were significantly underrepresented in Google image search results, the study found, and that can change searchers' worldviews. Across all the professions, ...

TGen finds likely genetic source of muscle weakness in 6 previously undiagnosed children

2015-04-09
PHOENIX, Ariz. -- April 9, 2015 -- Scientists at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), using state-of-the-art genetic technology, have discovered the likely cause of a child's rare type of severe muscle weakness. The child was one of six cases in which TGen sequenced -- or decoded -- the genes of patients with Neuromuscular Disease (NMD) and was then able to identify the genetic source, or likely genetic source, of each child's symptoms, according to a study published April 8 in the journal Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine. "In all six cases of ...

Golgi trafficking controlled by G-proteins

2015-04-09
A family of proteins called G proteins are a recognized component of the communication system the human body uses to sense hormones and other chemicals in the bloodstream and to send messages to cells. In work that further illuminates how cells work, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a new role for G proteins that may have relevance to halting solid tumor cancer metastasis. The study is reported online April 9 in Developmental Cell. "Our work provides the first direct evidence that G proteins are signaling on membranes ...

Fires in Western Australia April 2015

Fires in Western Australia April 2015
2015-04-09
Bushfires are inevitable in the fire-prone landscapes of Western Australia. Long dry summers, vegetation and undergrowth, and ignition from lightning or human causes mean that bushfires can and do occur every summer. A bushfire is an unplanned fire (in the U.S. this is referred to as a wildfire). Each year Australia's Department of Parks and Wildlife responds to more than 600 bushfires that occur on or near land managed by the department. Bushfires have many causes, some natural such as lightning and some as a result of human activity such as camp fires, escapes from ...

Mental practice and physical therapy effective treatment for stroke, research shows

2015-04-09
ATLANTA--A combination of mental practice and physical therapy is an effective treatment for people recovering from a stroke, according to researchers at Georgia State University. The findings, published on March 30 in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, examine how the brains of stroke patients change after treatment. Mental practice and physical therapy are interventions used to improve impaired motor movement, coordination and balance following stroke. Mental practice, also known as motor imagery, is the mental rehearsal of a motor action without an overt ...

Scientists tackle our addiction to salt and fat by altering foods' pore size, number

2015-04-09
URBANA, Ill. - Two University of Illinois food scientists have learned that understanding and manipulating porosity during food manufacturing can affect a food's health benefits. Youngsoo Lee reports that controlling the number and size of pores in processed foods allows manufacturers to use less salt while satisfying consumers' taste buds. Pawan Takhar has found that meticulously managing pore pressure in foods during frying reduces oil uptake, which results in lower-fat snacks without sacrificing our predilection for fried foods' texture and taste. Both scientists ...

Choice of protein & carbohydrate-rich foods may have big effects on long-term weight gain

2015-04-09
BOSTON (April 9, 2015)- Making small, consistent changes to the types of protein- and carbohydrate-rich foods we eat may have a big impact on long-term weight gain, according to a new study led by researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University. The results were published on-line this week in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Based on more than 16 years of follow-up among 120,000 men and women from three long-term studies of U.S. health professionals, the authors first found that diets with a high glycemic load (GL) from ...

'Warm blob' in Pacific Ocean linked to weird weather across the US

2015-04-09
The one common element in recent weather has been oddness. The West Coast has been warm and parched; the East Coast has been cold and snowed under. Fish are swimming into new waters, and hungry seals are washing up on California beaches. A long-lived patch of warm water off the West Coast, about 1 to 4 degrees Celsius (2 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal, is part of what's wreaking much of this mayhem, according to two University of Washington papers to appear in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. "In the fall of 2013 and ...

Dealing with death in deployment

2015-04-09
April 9, 2015 - A new University of Utah study is the first to provide clear insight into contributors to suicide risk among military personnel and veterans who have deployed. The study, published today in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, found that exposure to killing and death while deployed is connected to suicide risk. Previous studies that looked solely at the relationship between deployment and suicide risk without assessing for exposure to killing and death have shown inconsistent results. "Many people assume that deployment equals exposure ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Breakthrough in clean energy: Palladium nanosheets pave way for affordable hydrogen

Novel stem cell therapy repairs irreversible corneal damage in clinical trial

News article or big oil ad? As native advertisements mislead readers on climate change, Boston University experts identify interventions

Advanced genetic blueprint could unlock precision medicine

Study: World’s critical food crops at imminent risk from rising temperatures

Chemistry: Triple bond formed between boron and carbon for the first time

How a broken bone from arm wrestling led to a paradigm shift in mental health: Exercise as a first-line treatment for depression

Alarming levels of microplastics discovered in human brain tissue, linked to dementia

Global neurology leader makes The Neuro world's first open science institute

Alpha particle therapy emerges as a potent weapon against neuroendocrine tumours

Neuroscience beyond boundaries: Dr. Melissa Perreault bridges Indigenous knowledge and brain science

Giant clone of seaweed in the Baltic Sea

Motion capture: In world 1st, M. mobile’s motility apparatus clarified

One-third of older Canadians at nutritional risk, study finds

Enhancing climate action: satellite insights into fossil fuel CO2 emissions

Operating a virtual teaching and research section as an open source community: Practice and experience

Lack of medical oxygen affects millions

Business School celebrates triple crown

Can Rhizobium + low P increase the yield of common bean in Ethiopia?

Research Security Symposium on March 12

Special type of fat tissue could promote healthful longevity and help maintain exercise capacity in aging

Researchers develop high-water-soluble pyrene tetraone derivative to boost energy density of aqueous organic flow batteries

Who gets the lion’s share? HKU ecologists highlight disparities in global biodiversity conservation funding

HKU researchers unveil neuromorphic exposure control system to improve machine vision in extreme lighting environments

Researchers develop highly robust, reconfigurable, and mechanochromic cellulose photonic hydrogels

Researchers develop new in-cell ultraviolet photodissociation top-down mass spectrometry method

Researchers develop innovative tool for rapid pathogen detection

New insights into how cancer evades the immune system

3 Ways to reduce child sexual abuse rates

A third of children worldwide forecast to be obese or overweight by 2050

[Press-News.org] Carnegie Mellon scientists question representation of women in international journal