Ben Ambridge

University of Manchester

  • Multiword units lead to errors of commission in children’s spontaneous production: “What corpus data can tell us?”

    NB: This is is a deliberately BAD blog post that I wrote for a workshop on writing a GOOD blog post. You can read the GOOD version of this post at https://www.lucid.ac.uk/category/blog/ Researchers at the ESRC International Centre for Language… more ›

  • How clever are dogs, really?

    Here’s me on the Naked Scientists podcast: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/how-smart-your-pet-dog   more ›

  • I’LL DRINK TO THAT

     This column originally appeared in The Observer magazine/Guardian online Over the past couple of decades, quite a few studies suggested that drinking alcohol in moderation is actually good for your health. But then came the backlash: Perhaps moderate drinkers are… more ›

  • How creative are you?

    This column originally appeared in The Observer magazine/Guardian online   Creativity has many different aspects, but one way to measure it is through its links with risk-taking. After all, many of pieces of art and music now acknowledged as particularly… more ›

  • You Spin Me Round Round

    This column originally appeared in The Observer magazine/Guardian online   How likeable are you? Crazy as it sounds, one way to measure your likeability is to measure the shape of your face and the “shape” of your name. First of… more ›

  • Humble Pie

    This column originally appeared in The Observer magazine/Guardian online How you choose to share personal achievements on social media says quite a lot about you. But watch out: You might not always be creating the impression that you’re hoping for…… more ›

  • Your Mind’s Eye

    This column originally appeared in The Observer magazine/Guardian online Do you have a good imagination? When you picture something with your “mind’s eye”, is it as clear as day, or do you have to squint?  To give yourself a mental… more ›

  • Are You Smarter…Sunday Brunch

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  • Computer says “go”

    This column originally appeared in The Observer magazine/Guardian online Your personality predicts a great deal about your prospects in life, including something that would have seemed barely comprehensible to members of most previous generations: how likely you are to be… more ›

  • Yuck, right

    This column originally appeared in The Observer magazine/Guardian online  We might say that we find opponents’ political views “disgusting”, but did you know that your sensitivity to various forms of ickiness is actually correlated with political views. To find out… more ›