rl4brains

Any recommendations for a wedding cocktail or two? We're getting married in the fall, and I'm Chinese, so we're looking for drinks related to one or both of those with minimal ingredients so we don't have to stock too much.

The caterer suggested a vodka-cranberry + lychee, which sounds fine if maybe a bit boring and sweet. I do realize my minimal ingredients stipulation makes it hard to be too exciting. Do you have any better ideas? I thought it would be nice to have a brown liquor cocktail as well.

Cognitive neuroscientist here! The best thing you can do for an aging brain is physical exercise. A healthy body helps you have a healthy brain.

Unfortunately, brain-training apps like Lumosity have not been shown to have any improvement on overall cognitive performance (though you may get better at their specific games).

Developmental psychologist here! Kids don’t really learn much language from passive screentime. Sure, older kids may pick up a few Spanish words or even phrases from watching Dora, but that’s very different from learning the underlying grammar rules or speech sounds.

The human social interaction component is really important for language learning. If you’ve got Spanish-speaking family, I’d recommend lots of video chats where they only speak to your child in Spanish.

And you’re right that screentime is discouraged for kids under 2, but that does not include video chats!

Developmental cognitive neuroscientist chiming in: video games vs television programming depends on the game and the program.

Video games that encourage creativity and spatial manipulation, like Minecraft, have been shown to improve spatial reasoning skills.

Good kids television programming, like stuff coming from PBS, can be educational and bolster social development. For example, watching Sesame Street as a young kid has been associated with better social skills as an adolescent. Caveat here is that families that make sure their kids are watching quality programming also tend to be good for their development in other ways.

If you’re curious about what science says about screentime and development, I recommend the book “Media Moms and Digital Dads” by Yalda Uhls. She got her PhD in psychology after working in Hollywood and does a great job at translating the science for the lay reader.

If they signed everyone in the commercials up for SAG, they're no longer "not actors"!