Pop Culture meets psychology in #FakePsychSciTitles meme

It all started with a set of tweets by Simon Dymond complaining about the titles of the articles in the journal Psychological Science:

Another issue of Psych Science is out. That means another bunch of super snappy article sub-titles that promise a lot but deliver little… -simon dymond @zorroesque  

Would an Obese Person Whistle Vivaldi? Who Rises to the Top? NASA Faked the Moon Landing. Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket. #PsychSci  –simon dymond @zorroesque  

Stuck in the Past. The Curse of Planning. What Sleeping Babies Hear. Friends Shrink Foes. #PsychSci –simon dymond @zorroesque

To which Mark Baxter replied:

Oh my God, those are real. I thought you were taking the piss. –Mark Baxter @markgbaxter 

That’d be a good one, actually. “Taking the piss: Bladder control and executive function in 3-year-olds.” –Mark Baxter @markgbaxter

And they were off.  A new meme had begun.

The one that started it all for me was this:

I Like Big Butts And I Cannot Lie: Waist-To-Hip Ratio Preference is Correlated With Truthfulness. –Kyle Jasmin @kylejasmin

It had everything.  The ridiculous and somewhat inappropriate pop-culture references; the correlation of bizarre, unrelated phenomena of social interest.  I was hooked.

Here are the ones I liked.  You can find other early ones at Mark Baxter’s list.

My absolute favorites:

1.     What is it like to be a Bat-man? Exploring the mind of a playboy-ninja with psychopathic tendencies. –Fernando Blanco @FBpsy (Anything that combines one of my favorite papers of all time, Batman, and this meme will always get my #1 vote).

2.     All You Need is Love (And a Few More Subjects): Underpowered Experiments in Psychology. –Rolf Zwaan @RolfZwaan

3.     I am the walrus: Body dysmorphia in English Adult Males. –Rolf Zwaan @RolfZwaan

4.     I don’t care if Monday’s blue: Increased apathy among synaesthetes. –Nick

5.     There Will Be an Answer, Let it β  Balancing Type I and Type II Error Rates in Psychological Research. –Kyle Jasmin @kylejasmin

6.     The elephant in the room: Pictures of pachyderms prime discussion of controversial topics. –Dan Lurie @dantekgeek

7.     Monkey see, monkey poo: The relationship between scat throwing and primate theory of mind. –gameswithwords @gameswithwords

8.     ‘The answer my friend is blowing in thewind’ – does flatulence augment problem solving? –Michael Quinn @neurophilomath

9.     Message in a bottleneck: The role of memory constraints in shaping human language. –Christian Kliesch @antipattern (This one wins “most believable.”  If it isn’t already in Psych Sci, it should be!).

10. Can’t touch this: real world grasping of illusory objects. –Bobby Stojanoski @bstojanoski

11. “Everybody hurts…sometimes: A new look at seasonal affective disorder.” –Jeremy Newton, @NewtPsyc

12. I Can Has Cheezburger? Dietary Lipids as a Risk Factor for Specific Language Impairment in Housecats. –Marc Joanisse @drmarcj (Finally, an explanation for LOLcats!).

These ones are quite funny, if you like meta, psychological jargon, or statistics:

1. Power Corrupts, But Lack of Power Corrupts Absolutely: We Replicated This Effect 7 Times in a Row at p = .048. –Sanjay Srivastava @hardsci  

2. All your Bayes are belong to us. –Suzanne Sengerstrom @suzannecarrie  

3. Making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear: Snappy subtitles influence perceived significance of results. #FakePsychSciTitles #media –Mark Baxter @markgbaxter  

4. SNARC, the Herald Angels Sing: Supernatural Thinking Strengthens Spatial-Numeric Associations (by an off-Twitter friend). –Kyle Jasmin @kylejasmin (The SNARC effect is a spatial-numerical association revealed by small differences in reaction time).  

5. The Tea-Test: Social conventions in upper class British society. –Matt Wall @m_wall

6. All I want to get is, a little bit closer: peripersonal space, embodiment, and the rubber hand illusion. -sarcastic_f sarcastic_f 

7. FFT analysis of eye mouvement speed: the fast and the fouriers. -Pete Etchells @DrPeteEtchells 

You don’t have to know anything about statistics or psychological trends to appreciate these (organized by author--first character).  Be careful about following the links to the songs referenced--some may not be appropriate for children (in the spirit of meme-referencing going on today, Hide your wife! Hide your kids!).

Smells Like Teen Spirit: Adolescence-Specific Olfactory Cues for Age Identification. –Aaron Kucyi @neuroperson 

That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore: The Increased Incidence of “Amusing”Titles in Psychology Research. @RolfZwaan. –Ben Ambridge @Benambridge  

Some like it hot: Neural correlates of inter-individual differences in orofacial reaction to spicy food. –Benjamin Saunders @BenSaunders  

Brain Farts: Statistical fMRI Imaging Indicates Flatulence-Like Artifacts in Active Memory Retrieval. –Charlie Harrison @SeizeTheHay  

Fifty shades of grey: Complex monochromatic perception judgements. –Chris Moulin  

I said it before and I will say it again: Syntactic variation, repetition, and memory. –Christian Kliesch @antipattern  

People Are Strange When You’re a Stranger: Perception of similarity in the minimal group paradigm. –Christian Kliesch @antipattern  

Bittersweet Symphony: Evidence for Music-Taste Synesthesia. –Dan Lurie @dantekgeek  

525,600 Minutes: Compulsive counting of time intervals in the urban creative class. –Dan Lurie @dantekgeek  

My bologna has a first name: EEG signatures of discourse comprehension in imagined conversations between children & food. –Dan Lurie @dantekgeek  

I’ve got my mime set on you: The role of non-verbal communication in romantic partner choice. –Dan Lurie @dantekgeek  

Cast your mind back: fishing increases retrieval in long-term memory. –Darren Rhodes @Darren_Rhodes  

Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly – (1/2). –Darren Rhodes @Darren_Rhodes  

“You looking at me?”: Gaze perception in antisocial personality disorder. –Deborah Apthorp  

Rock With You: A mother’s up-close and personal story on Autism Spectrum Disorder. –El Bandita @ImALegalAlien  

Here Comes the Sun: Edward Cullen on overcoming his battles with Phengophobia. –El Bandita @ImALegalAlien  

Crank Dat (Superman dat ho): The implications of visual-spatial disorders affecting the modern-day dance floor. –El Bandita@ImALegalAlien  

I want you (She’s so heavy): A qualitative inquiry into the sexual practices of female Sumo wrestlers (by a FB friend). –El Bandita @ImALegalAlien  

Beat It: The Psychological Effects of Semen-loss syndrome in China. –El Bandita @ImALegalAlien  

Livin’ on a Prayer: Religiosity and Longevity in a Longitudinal Sample. –gameswithwords @gameswithwords  

Might as well face it, you’re addicted to love: coping strategies in sex addicts. –James Gilbert @james_gilbert  

I believe I can fly: development of motor control in Drosophila. –James Gilbert @james_gilbert  

“Everybody do the dinosaur: Interbreeding, not extinction, accounts for the lack of a continuous sauropod fossil record.” –James Gilbert @james_gilbert  

“Walk like an Egyptian: five millennia of Middle Eastern gait patterns.” –James Gilbert @james_gilbert  

Papa don’t preach: long-term effects of growing up in an apostate household. –James Gilbert @james_gilbert 

 It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine): A Qualitative Analysis of Optimism in Doomsday Cult Members. –Jon Sutton @jonmsutton  

Love Me Tender: The Romantic Sequelae of Tactile Sensitivity. –Jon Sutton @jonmsutton  

You Only Live Once: The influence of mortality salience on risk taking behavior. #yolo. –Joseph Tan @jdottan  

We will never ever get back together: Multiple breakups with the same romantic partner. –Joseph Tan @jdottan  

That’s Me in the Corner: Impaired Spatial Navigation Following Negative Courtship Outcomes. –Kyle Jasmin @kylejasmin  

It’s A Little Bit Funny, This Feeling Inside: Abnormal Interoception in Songwriters. –Kyle Jasmin @kylejasmin  

Subterranean Homesick Blues: Affect, Nostalgia & Diasporic Identification among migrant Tube workers. –Marc Scully @marcdonnchadh  

Burning up for your love: Induction of hyperthermia by amorous states. –Mark Baxter @markgbaxter 

 Do You Believe in Life After Love? Retrospective Reevaluation of Intimate Relationships. –Mark Baxter @markgbaxter  

Second Hand Rose: Previous Ownership Affects Neuroeconomic Indices of Perceived Utility and Value. –Mark Baxter @markgbaxter  

Remembrance of Things Now: Madeleines increase performance in a short-term recall task. –Mark James Adams @mja (Hope they used some other pastry in the control condition—I bet the sugar rush helped!).  

Nobody puts baby in a corner: Effective child-rearing strategies in igloo-dwelling Arctic populations. –Matt Wall @m_wall  

You had me at ‘hello’: mating behavior of incredibly promiscuous people. –Matt Wall @m_wall  

You can say that again! A case study of compulsive psychogenic echolalia. –Matt Wall @m_wall  

Poultry in motion: A study of the reasons for road-crossing behavior in Gallus Gallus Domesticus. –Matt Wall @m_wall (A pun plus “why did the chicken cross the road?” Extra points to Matt Wall).  

‘Can’t get you out of my head’: can exposure to antipodean pop music induce obsessive rumination? –Michael Quinn @neurophilomath  

‘If you don’t know me by now…’ Can listening to soul classics induce anterograde amnesia? A study. –Michael Quinn @neurophilomath  

‘Comfortably Numb’: IKEA furniture a risk factor for opiate abuse? –Michael Quinn @neurophilomath  

A word in the hand is worth 2 in the mouth: the communicative power of gesture. -@mosaicofminds  

Still Crazy After All These Years: Outcomes for schizophrenic patients in old age. -@mosaicofminds  

Is a picture worth 1000 words? An objective way to measure the representational content of images. -@mosaicofminds  

Haven’t got time for the pain: Feelings of hurriedness reduce pain perception. -@mosaicofminds  

Oops I Did it Again: Neural correlates of error detection in adolescent girls. -@Mosaicofminds  

This scene is a g*ddamn arms race: New PhDs’ perceptions of their career prospects post-#NIHSequester. -@mosaicofminds  

Light my fire: Lighting a fire kindles romantic affections (Yet another “embodied social cognition” study). -@mosaicofminds  

Baby’s in Black: Black clothing increases women’s perceived attractiveness. -@mosaicofminds  

I’m blue da ba dee da ba die: Unique characteristics of depression in synesthaetes. -@mosaicofminds  

I Feel Good, So Good, Now I’ve Got You: The thought of a loved one has analgesic effects in chronic pain patients. -@mosaicofminds  

(1/2) While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The tendency to attribute anthropomorphized emotion to instruments during music listening… 

(2/2) this anthropomorphism of instruments lacking in #autism, seen as deficit. -@mosaicofminds  

I Got 99 Problems: The role of counting in rumination in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and depression. -@mosaicofminds  

Do birds of a feather flock together, or do opposites attract? Effects of similarity on romantic partner choices. -@mosaicofminds  

I’ll have to say I love you in a song: Musical declarations of love are perceived as more romantic than verbal ones. -@mosaicofminds  

Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m 64?: Fears of abandonment in adults approaching old age. -@mosaicofminds  

I’ve Just Seen a Face: Time course of learning to recognize novel faces during the love-at-first sight response. -@mosaicofminds  

Picture yourself on a boat on a river: Guided visualization induces calm in people with high trait anxiety. -@mosaicofminds  

Everybody loves you when you’re 6 foot in the ground: Judgments of loved ones as well as celebrities improve after death. -@mosaicofminds  

Why do fools fall in love?: Negative correlation between IQ and likelihood of infatuation is moderated by impulsivity. -@mosaicofminds  

I’m so happy ‘cause today I found my friends, they’re in my head: Positive functions of schizophrenics’ imagined companions. -@mosaicofminds  

It’s hard to be a saint in the city: looser moral judgments in city dwellers than rural and suburban dwellers. -@mosaicofminds  

I’m a Barbie Girl In a Barbie World: The branding of girls’ identities in a consumerist society. #FakePsychSciTitles #fakegenderstudiestitles. -@mosaicofminds  

My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard: Dietary Preference and Nutritional Incentivisation in Pubescent Males. –Dr. Neil Martin @ThatNeilMartin  

What Would You Do if I Sang Out of Tune?:  Unpredictability, Social Ostracism and Discordant Stimulation. –Dr. Neil Martin @ThatNeilMartin  

Behavioral Modification using Terpsichorian Intervention in a West Wales Sample: ABA using ABBA in ABER. –Dr. Neil Martin @ThatNeilMartin    

Ground-Breaking Studies: Do They Break Concrete? –Dr. Neil Martin @ThatNeilMartin  

Ice, ice, baby: High fecundity among high-Arctic First Nations societies. –Nick Davis @n_j_davis  

Should I Stay or Should I Go?: Impaired Decision Making Skills During Fear Response. –Nicole Introvert @nicoleintrovert  

Call Me Maybe: An analysis on telecommunications and indecisiveness in adolescents. –Nicole Introvert @nicoleintrovert  

“We’re Up All Night to Get Lucky: Those with late-shifted chronotypes are more likely to procreate.” –Noah Gray @noahWG  

Murder on the dance floor: correlation between music taste and aggression. –Ollie @Ollieomara  

“Thought for food: brains from people with higher IQ are more likely to be eaten by zombies” –Pedro Bek @pedrobek  

Mo’ money, mo’ problems: deleterious effects of monetary incentives on cognitive performance. –Ravi Mill @RaviMill  

Women, MRI-te? Gender mediates individual differences in the BOLDresponse. –Ravi Mill @RaviMill  

I am the one and only: emergence and progression of delusions of grandeur in “Type 1” Schizophrenia. –Ravi Mill @RaviMill  

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction: Sexual Dysfunction Causes Syntactic Anomalies. Rolf Zwaan @RolfZwaan   

You’re as cold as ice: beverage temperature affects mate choice at speed dating events. –sarcastic_f @sarcastic_f  

Here today, gone tomorrow: the ephemeral nature of academic hashtag memes on Twitter. –sarcastic_f @sarcastic_f 

Sweet dreams are made of this: Agreeableness and openness toexperience correlating with sleep quality. –Sci Curious @scicurious  

Gangnam style: Experimental evidence for Psy. –Suzanne Segerstrom @suzannecarrie  

I Knew You Were Trouble: Failure to Integrate Trustworthiness Information in Mate Selection. –Vaida Rimeikyte @vaidarim  

Ice Ice Baby: Cooling Infants Helps Prevent Brain Damage. –Vaida Rimeikyte @vaidarim

UPDATE:  People are still posting hilarious #FakePsychSciTitles!  My favorites are in bold.

I Could Tell You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You: A Unique Method of Assuring Double-Blinding. -A C @the_crazy_dwarf 

Another One Bites the Dust: Elevated Rates of Pica Among Pregnant and Nursing Women. -Benjamin Saunders @BenSaunders 

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now: Religiosity Correlates with Major Depressive Disorder. -Benjamin Saunders @BenSaunders 

Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight: A study claims that half of the American population use vibrators and sexual toys. -El Bandita @ImALegalAlien  

We're Lost in Music: Lack of spatial awareness and gustatory perception as exhibited by dubstep enthusiasts. -Jay Dadlani @NeuroWhoa 

Guns, Germs, and Stealing: Exploring the Link Between Infectious Disease and Crime #realEvoPsych http://t.co/9zVwuODFO0.  -Joanna Bryson 2 @j2blather 

Grate(d) Expectations: Delay of appetitive gratification in the house mouse (M. musculus). -Kane_WMC_Lab @Kane_WMC_Lab 

When The Moon Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie: Striking Illusions of Size and Distance by Practicing Proctologists. -Kane_WMC_Lab @Kane_WMC_Lab 

Bitches Be Crazy: The Fluctuating Female Vote: Politics, Religion, and the Ovulatory Cycle (Actually kind of real). -Leslie Berntsen @leslie_bern 

Meme all the things!: Perseveration and echolalia in modern online culture. -@mosaicofminds 

Making a molehill out of a mountain: Content analysis of the DSM-5 committee's reactions to concerns about the new DSM. -@mosaicofminds 

Turning straw into gold: Frequency of massaging p-values in psychology research. -@mosaicofminds 

Fear Factor: The amygdala theory of social disabilities #realtheoryofautism -@mosaicofminds 

There will be an answer, let it be: putting aside a problem facilitates insight. #realcreativityresearch -@mosaicofminds 

Back to the Future: Depressed people perceive the future as (literally) behind them #fakeembodiedcognitiontitles. -@mosaicofminds 

Life in the fast lane: Frequent running causes career advancement via embodied priming #fakeembodiedcognitionstudies 

There is no spoon: Experiences of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. -@mosaicofminds (This references the "spoon" analogy of disabling fatigue).

Stuck Inside a Cloud: Comparison of "brain fog" in ADHD and Fibromyalgia. -@mosaicofminds 

Waiting on the world to change: Causes and correlates of political apathy. -@mosaicofminds 

I heard it through the grapevine: Quantitative techniques for tracking the spread of a rumor through a social network. -@mosaicofminds 

You say why, I say I don't know: Reasons for lay dissatisfaction with scientific explanations. -@mosaicofminds 

Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down: role of rickrolling in the formation of strong Internet communities. -@mosaicofminds 

Eight days a week: Difficulties with calendar knowledge and calendar reading in children with dyscalculia. -@mosaicofminds 

Where are they going without ever knowing the way?: Real-world navigation with severe visual-spatial disorders. -@mosaicofminds 

You say yes, I say no: Compulsive contradictory responses in children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. -@mosaicofminds 

Running on empty: A comparison of decision-making under ego-depletion, physical hunger, and fatigue. -@mosaicofminds 

I approve this message: Strategies for managing personal information and identity on social media. -@mosaicofminds 

I don't want clever conversation, don't wanna work that hard: Influence of SLI on romantic partner choices. -@mosaicofminds (I've always thought Billy Joel's song "Just the Way You Are" is more insulting than romantic). 

I can't save you from my poor brain: A qualitative analysis of the effects of mental illness on romantic relationships. -@mosaicofminds 

Love will keep us alive: Lower suicide rates among depressed people in romantic relationships. -@mosaicofminds 

Hungry like the wolf: pictures of predators prime hunger #fakeembodiedcognitionstudies -@mosaicofminds 

I wish that I had Jessie's girl: Unavailable women are perceived as more attractive. -@mosaicofminds 

Smooth criminal: "smooth" men appear less trustworthy yet more attractive. -@mosaicofminds 

You can't hide your lyin' eyes: People can detect unfaithfulness from photographs of strangers using eye gaze cues. -@mosaicofminds 

It's Raining Men, Hallelujah: Meterological Consequences of Devotional Motivation in Ladies. -Neil Martin @ThatNeilMartin 

Snowdrops And Daffodils Remind Me of You: An Extreme Case of Visual Agnosia. -Neil Martin @ThatNeilMartin 

Bringing it All Back Home: A Review of Studies on Compulsive Hoarding. -Stuart Ritchie @StuartJRitchie 

Ob-la-di Ob-la-da la la la la life goes on: The effects of echolalia on quality of life measures. -the wiles @darealwiles

Which are your favorites?  Feel free to share your own #FakePsychSciTitles in the comments!