Whatnot At Work

Why We Sleep - To Forget

A neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin has discovered that, contrary to prevailing opinion, sleep is not to reinforce memories, but to weaken memories so that we can forget unneeded information.

The theory is unorthodox, but it does make a certain amount of sense. Without the ability to pare away unneeded information as we sleep, our brains would face a serious energy shortage as well as a space crunch: Stronger synapses are typically bigger, and real estate in the brain is precious. By proportionally weakening synapses, the brain ensures that they retain the same strength relative to each other. So when we wake up each morning, all of our synapses are weaker, and some have vanished. With them, our smallest memories from each day may be lost forever.

Theft Prevention Employee Insulted For Doing Her Job - Correctly

Here's a post comparing the intelligence of dolphins with that of Costco employees. It recounts a fascinating recent discovery about the cleverness of dolphins. Dolphins have been trained to clean their own pools by rewarding them with fish. One clever dolphin learned to bait and trap seagulls because the reward for removing seagulls from the pool was lots of fish. This same dolphin then taught others the trick. No question, dolphins are cool and clever animals.

The writer then recounts how he was detained at a recent shopping trip because he didn't pay for one of the nine items in his cart on the way out of the store. He then recounts how it took five minutes to determine which item he didn't pay for. The writer states

"The next 5 minutes provided a lesson in pure comedy and a testament to our failing education system."

He pointed out to the flustered clerk that there were only nine items and it wasn't "rocket surgery". In the comments he claims he never called anyone dumb. Comparing her intelligence to less than that of a dolphin I think qualifies as calling someone dumb.

I wasn't there, but from the recounting, he didn't sound like an ideal or helpful shopper. He had an item he didn't pay for. He was pestering her and making condescending comments while she studied the cryptic receipt. There was probably a line of customers. He admits he didn't tell her which item he didn't pay for once he figured it out. Nice guy.

Now we all get annoyed when we are delayed unnecessarily, and most of us don't like the policies some stores have of checking your receipt against your purchases at the door, but that does not excuse being condescending or rude to employees doing their job.

I would suggest that the writer think about how the dolphins know to turn their trash into the trainers and not the other dolphins. Compare that with the writer's behavior of criticizing the employee for a store policy the employee has no control over instead of taking it up with management. The dolphins were rewarded when they did something right. This Costco employee was criticized and belittled for catching the mistake of someone else.

From an HR perspective we should be rewarding and recognizing these employees for a job well done.

Brain Boosting Media Player

A new media player uses neurotechnology to guide your brain into different states like relaxation or concentration, by playing different sounds or displaying different patterns.

Imagine increasing your productivity simply by listening to sound that is specially designed for your brain. All of this is now possible, with a new program for the PC called Mind Stereo(TM).

Health professionals and researchers have shown that (Brainwave Entertainment) BWE has great potential in improving brain power, reducing stress, increasing focus, raising energy levels and enhancing creativity.

Inspired For Greatness

What inspired the great thinkers of our times to take up science? That is what a new survey asked recently. From the website:

What Inspired You? is a survey of key thinkers in science, technology and medicine, conducted by spiked in collaboration with the research-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Survey respondents hail from all corners of the globe, ranging in age from 19 to 93 and ranging in experience from new talents to Nobel laureates. Each of these individuals was asked: 'What inspired you to take up science?'

And the survey results say:

• Inspirational teachers and mentors
• Hands on experience and experimentation
• Space exploration, social upheaval and scientific progress
• Family inspiration
• Literature - both scientific and science fiction
• Innate curiosity and predisposition towards science
• The natural world

Read the details from all the respondents on what inspired them to choose the field of science.

Washing Removes Guilt

Stock your office with lots of soap to keep your employees guilt free.
Researchers at University of Toronto and Northwestern University have found that washing/wringing your hands does remove your guilt.

Whereas these experiments showed that the association between cleanliness and morality has deep roots, another exercise showed that the two concepts lie so close together as to be almost interchangeable. In this study, 45 participants described an unethical deed from their past. Afterward, 22 were given an antiseptic wipe to clean their hands. All were then asked if they would volunteer for another study to help out a desperate graduate student. Those who felt clean apparently felt less need to expiate for their sins: only 41% agreed to help, compared to 74% who had not wiped their hands.

And here's just the soap to keep around to expiate the sins of your workers: Squid Soap, it squirts an ink stain that takes 15-20 seconds of scrubbing with the soap before it is removed.

Experts In Their Field

Burglars deserve credit for being excellent at their job, according to psychologists at Portsmouth University. They can get in, quickly find the valuables and get out, all while avoiding detection.

They go about their business with such speed and efficiency they should be classed along with those who perform complicated tasks automatically, such as musicians and chess players, according to Claire Nee and Amy Meenaghan, psychologists at Portsmouth University.

In-depth interviews with 50 serial burglars about how they carry out break-ins showed that getting into someone's home and stealing their valuables, while being able to simultaneously listen for noise, is a classic example of 'expertise'.

Brain Gym

Sign your employees up for this gym for the mind.

The mind gym event was organized to tackle "cognitive fitness", the concept that mental exercises can curb age-related memory loss and boost intelligence.

Imitating With A Purpose

Human and ape newborns learn by imitating the behavior of adults. Researchers have found that rhesus macaque monkeys learn this way too.

Since newborns cannot see their own faces, they rely on watching adults to learn facial expressions, and mimicry is thought to be crucial to the development of a mother-infant relationship.

Particular brain cells – called “mirror neurons” – fire in a human infant when it watches an adult expression and copies it. Similar mirror neurons "light up" when rhesus monkeys watch another animal perform an action and when they copy that action.

Recommended Reading

The latest issue of SHRM's HR Magazine has a list of fun non-HR books recommended by HR professionals that contain good business advice.

• The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (Amazon link)
• Life of Pi (link)
• Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves (link)
• The Night Lives On (link)
• Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups (link)
• John Adams (link)

Two bonus recommendations from the author to better understand group dynamics:

• The Prince (link)
• The Art of War (link)

Nine Rules Of Being Human

The nine rules of being human:

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for as long as you live.  How you take care of it or fail to take care of it can make an enormous difference in the quality of your life.
2. You will learn lessons.  You are enrolled in a full-time, informal school called Life.  Each day, you will be presented with opportunities to learn what you need to know.  The lessons presented are often completely different from those you think you need.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.  Growth is a process of trial, error and experimentation.  You can learn as much from failure as you can from success. Maybe more.
4. A lesson is repeated until it is learned.  A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it.  When you have learned it (as evidenced by a change in your attitude and ultimately your behavior) then you can go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end.  There is no stage of life that does not contain some lessons.  As long as you live there will be something more to learn.
6. “There” is no better than “here”.  When your “there” has become a “here” you will simply discover another “there” that will again look better than your “here.” Don’t be fooled by believing that the unattainable is better than what you have.
7. Others are merely mirrors of you.  You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.  When tempted to criticize others, ask yourself why you feel so strongly.
8. What you make of your life is up to you.  You have all the tools and resources you need.  What you create with those tools and resources is up to you.  Remember that through desire, goal setting and unflagging effort you can have anything you want. Persistence is the key to success.
9. The answers lie inside of you.  The solutions to all of life’s problems lie within your grasp.  All you need to do is ask, look, listen and trust yourself.