Then you click on the link expecting a source to back up their claim and it links to an article they wrote called human sized ants are taking over the world and that article links back to another article from them forever and ever but never has an actual source or any information to support their claims.
What is the name of the cognitive bias where, upon seeing a headline like this, you get an ego related endorphin rush that tells your brain "see, this is proof that I'm better than..."
It's like when people post studies about book readers being smarter in forums about books.
After a quick skim of this study I don't feel it proof of anything. It looks more like p-hacking.
The data was pulled from a database so it's entirely statically analysis. There's no control. It's all self reported.
It's quite odd that being a former smoker caused one to perform better than a current smoker or a never smoker. Of course they leave that out of the abstract.
It's similar to confirmation bias, but I think that's the wrong name for the phenomenon. Confirmation bias is when we don't question things that align with our world view and reject things that don't align with it. It's certainly related to a desire for a sense of superiority, but there is something about that specific rush of neurotransmitters.
At least they asked for further opinions on this by other researchers:
But some experts urged caution in interpreting the findings. Jacqui Hanley, head of research funding at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “Without a detailed picture of what is going on in the brain, we don’t know if being a ‘morning’ or ‘evening’ person affects memory and thinking, or if a decline in cognition is causing changes to sleeping patterns.”
Jessica Chelekis, a senior lecturer in sustainability global value chains and sleep expert at Brunel University London, said there were “important limitations” to the study as the research did not account for education attainment, or include the time of day the cognitive tests were conducted in the results. The main value of the study was challenging stereotypes around sleep, she added.