Psychology, Mind and Neuroscience Roundup

• Here are some important considerations that are rarely, if ever, discussed in the coverage of research on SSRI antidepressant efficacy.

• Providentia reports on neuropsychologist Alexander Luria's most famous case, Solomon Veniaminovitch Shereshevsky, who was the subject of Luria's The Mind of a Mnemonist (ed. one immensely satisfying thing about reading Luria is that we can see how an ingenious clinical detective goes about solving baffling clinical mysteries).  Shereshevsky, known as "S" in Luria's work, had an astonishing memory for detail that Luria attributed to a form of synesthesia involving the conversion of non-visual stimuli into visual images."  But, this ability came with a cost.  Read more...

• An intractable case of hiccups caused by early stage Parkinson's in Mind Hacks.

• Philip Dawdy is sensibly skeptical about a blood test for bipolar disorder.

• In a survey of college students who had recently taken a class on perception, 50% of respondents believed that we human beings see by sending rays out of our eyes (PsyBlog).  Well, I once knew a person with a PhD who firmly believed that animal and human flesh consisted of fat, muscle and, a separate substance, "meat."

• Dr. Freberg comments on a decision by the government to compensate on a claim of autism caused by childhood vaccination.

• The Last Psychiatrist on setting standards of care and 24-hour emergency availability.

• And, another roundup at Neuroanthropology