Comments on: Researchers Say: Fill Your Bladder To Clear Your Mind

By: Abe Milanesi

Abe Milanesi — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:42:48 +0000

Youmadevarious

By: Harmen

Harmen — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 18:21:34 +0000

@Bee, the experimenters also asked how big an urge to pee the subjects had. Remember that your bladder doesn’t have to be entirely full, either.
@Murformurf, no it’s a brain thing, where one part of the brain influences another. More oxygen doesn’t necessarily mean you think better.
@Adolph, it says in the linked article, 102 subjects. I’m no psychologist, but it says in the official documents that: “People in the
high bladder pressure condition chose more often for the LL reward (M = 4.50; SD = 1.59)
compared to people in the low bladder pressure condition (M = 3.83; SD = 1.49).”
So, the difference is (4.50 + 3.83) divided by 4.50
They also state that there have been similar studies that looked for a correlation of other things that have something to do with inhibition (lust, for example). So it’s not an under-researched subject.
Please just read the source before you start talking trash.
@methusila
Good question. They (that is, the source) do mention, though, that “Previous research has extensively examined how people deal with self-control conflicts (Hagger, Wood, Stiff, & Chatzisarantis, 2010; Vohs & Heatherton, 2000).” So I think they knew how much a difference they had to offer.

By: methusila

methusila — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:43:38 +0000

Wouldn’t it be critical in this experiment to clarify that they will only be paid once? If it was clear that I was going to be paid once and only once I’d wait for the $30 too.

Also , it seems the closer the numbers are the less likely the person will pick the larger amount for example, 10,000 and 10,500. It’d be easier to say I could really use 10,000 right now and disregard the loss of $500 for getting it 3 weeks quicker. But if the numbers stay at a constant doubling like 10,000 and 20,000 it’s easier to be patient, likewise if the numbers are extremely different the choice becomes very obvious 100 and 10,000. Relative significance also plays a part in determining whether or not something is important. I’m just not sure $14 is significant enough to some people to consider the pay worth the wait…

By: Adolph Oliver Bush

Adolph Oliver Bush — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:44:10 +0000

This isn’t very convincing. How many volunteers? How strong was this correlation exactly?

This is an interesting area of research, but it’s a shame the research in it isn’t better.

By: Sas

Sas — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:06:51 +0000

Or, maybe they didn’t want to stick around to collect the money because they really had to go!

By: Murfomurf

Murfomurf — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:14:12 +0000

I could imagine that the water flushes away unwanted metabolites in the blood and makes more oxygen available for brain processes. However, I haven’t read the full study to check out the methodology!

By: Bee

Bee — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 09:03:51 +0000

Not to belittle those exciting results, but I doubt that 40 minutes is enough to be certain the test subject’s bladder was indeed full. I had to go to ultrasound several times and was asked to drink 1 liter water before that, so the bladder was full. First time I thought 1 hour would be enough, but turned out to take at least 90 minutes. So. Then maybe it’s a correlation with being well hydrated or having a full stomach or, I don’t know, drinking water?

By: Cobalt Lion

Cobalt Lion — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:42:20 +0000

I’d love to read the research on Tuk’s correlation. Maybe it’s just that it seems somewhat counter-intuitive, but this just sort of sounds like an unrelated coincidence.