• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Posture & Numbers

Posture & Numbers

November 29, 2011
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/111129_sciup_posture.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Siding with numbers…I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Could your posture influence how you think? Cognitive psychologist Rolf Zwaan and his colleagues at the University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands recently tested this idea. They had volunteers estimate numerical quantities, such as the height of the Eiffel tower, while standing on a Nintendo Wii balance board.

ROLF ZWAAN (University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands):

We actually tricked people into believing they were standing straight up when they were actually leaning to the left or to the right. And we found that people were influenced by our surreptitious manipulation of their posture such that they gave lower estimates when they were leaning to the left than when they were leaning to the right.

HIRSHON:

Zwaan says this jives with earlier research suggesting that our minds tend to associate smaller numbers with the left side of our bodies and larger numbers with the right side. He says other cognitive processes have been shown to be influenced by posture as well. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

 

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Brain Science, Mathematics, Social & Behavioral Sciences
Previous Post:Rice Blood Protein
Next Post:Giant Beaver Sounds

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos