Brain Bugs: Hallucinations, Forgotten Faces, and Other Cognitive Quirks

“For neurologists like Ramachandran, ”the question of how neurons encode meaning and evoke all the semantic associations of an object is the holy grail of neuroscience, whether you are studying memory, perception, art, or consciousness.” Ramachandran studies patients with cognitive abnormalities for two reasons: clinical interest in improving the life of the patient, as well as the fact that cognitive quirks and disorders provide insight into the broader mystery of human perception. “

Profit vs. Principle: The Neurobiology of Integrity

“Let your better self rest assured: Dearly held values truly are sacred, and not merely cost-benefit analyses masquerading as nobel intent, concludes a new study on the neurobiology of moral decision-making. Such values are conceived differently, and occur in very different parts of the brain, than utilitarian decisions.”

Who Are You Online? A 360-Degree View

“The truth, of course, is that people are their real selves online — but they make wildly divergent choices about which part of that real self they’re going to share and project.”

An Introvert's Guide to Networking

“Introversion is simply a preference for the inner world of ideas because this is where we get our energy. By understanding and accepting this preference, introverts can optimize time spent with their ideas to refine them and recharge. This allows them to be as powerful and persuasive as possible when networking situations arise.”

NexNote: For peeps like me.

The neuroscience of happiness

“New discoveries are shedding light on the activities that make us happy. An expert explains”

Survival’s Ick Factor

“Disgust is having its moment in the light as researchers find that it does more than cause that sick feeling in the stomach. It protects human beings from disease and parasites, and affects almost every aspect of human relations, from romance to politics.”

Looking for benefits in birdsong

“Conservation charities and scientists are beginning a research project to find out whether birdsong has any impact on people’s mental wellbeing.”

Brain scans of happy people help explain their 'rose-tinted' outlook

“The brains of people with a happy disposition seem to respond more strongly to positive things in their environment”

Your Brain Knows a Lot More Than You Realize

“Neuroscientist David Eagleman explores the processes and skills of the subconscious mind, which our conscious selves rarely consider.”

Decoding the Brain’s Cacophony

“Social constructs like good judgment and free will are even further removed, and trying to define them in terms of biological processes is, in the end, a fool’s game. “

How Friends Ruin Memory: The Social Conformity Effect

“The reason we’re such consummate bullshitters is simple: we bullshit for each other. We tweak our stories so that they become better stories. We bend the facts so that the facts appeal to the group. Because we are social animals, our memory of the past is constantly being revised to fit social pressures.”

Why Do Some People Learn Faster?

“The physicist Niels Bohr once defined an expert as “a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.” Bohr’s quip summarizes one of the essential lessons of learning, which is that people learn how to get it right by getting it wrong again and again. Education isn’t magic. Education is the wisdom wrung from failure.”

Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Time

NexNote: OMG This blew my mind. Paging Fifi!!!

““Time” is the most used noun in the English language, yet it remains a mystery. We’ve just completed an amazingly intense and rewarding multidisciplinary conference on the nature of time, and my brain is swimming with ideas and new questions.”

Human Brains Are Primally Wired to Notice Animals

“When people are shown pictures of animals, specific parts of the amygdala — a structure central to pleasure and pain, fear and reward — react almost instantly.”