Mind Modifications

Meta: Last.fm Artist Page

mind — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:10:05 +0000

A short meta-article this time. I noticed that there is now a last.fm page for mindmodifications.com. You can check it out here. I think it’s a bit funny as last.fm is a site for various types of music, and the mindmodifications.com tracks consist of very simple colored noise files suitable for Ganzfeld experiments. Anyway, currently the statistics are [...]

Time-Space Synaesthesia

mind — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:47:29 +0000

BBC has an interesting article about how people who are synaesthetes can visualize flow of time. These so-called time-space synaesthetes have superior recall when it comes to remembering when certain events took place. Could it be that they have a “built-in” visualization-association system which helps in remembering without much effort? Think of something like an “automatic” [...]

Stimulating the Brain With Ultrasound

mind — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:42:14 +0000

IEEE Spectrum Online points to interesting research lead by William J. Tyler. The research group used low-power, low-frequency (440 kHz to 670 kHz) ultrasound to stimulate areas within the brain. This technique, called “ultrasonic neuromodulation“, works by toggling the sodium channels of a neuron, possibly triggering the release of neurotransmitters – in other words, making the [...]

Towards Responsible Use of Cognitive Enhancers

mind — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:04:04 +0000

Here is an interesting Nature journal article about cognitive-enhancing drugs and their current legal status. The authors argue that even though there are risks involved, the overall benefits for the individuals and the society are greater, and thus use of cognition-enhancing drugs (for example Ritalin, Modafinil, Adderall, Aricept) should be allowed for use by healthy people [...]

A Paper About Ganzfeld Hallucinations

mind — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:00:56 +0000

The site ended up at MetaFilter, and the resulting traffic influx killed the poor web server. But now the server is up again – hello to all MetaFilter people, hope you enjoy your visit(s)! The MetaFilter article pointed to a Mindhacks post about a very interesting research paper at Cortex volume 44. Unfortunately direct linking does not [...]

Emotiv EPOC Gadget Shown on the Discovery Channel

mind — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 11:40:42 +0000

I got mail from Emotiv pointing out that the Discovery Channel recently ran a feature about building a mind-controlled car, using the Emotiv EPOC gadget for brain-computer interface. If you are in the USA, have a look. I would appreciate if you could post some comments, as I was unable to view the video – I’m [...]

The Link and Story Mnemonics

mind — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:43:42 +0000

Here are two mnemonic techniques which help memorize (sequential) lists. In principle, these two techniques are similar to the Loci system but really need the lists to be in sequence, whereas the Loci method is more “random access”. Examples of sequential lists are shopping lists, task lists, equations, layers in a technical architecture (e.g. OSI), and [...]

BBC4 Radio Program on the Placebo Effect

mind — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:01:39 +0000

The placebo effect, in a nutshell, is demonstrated like this: instead of giving a patient real medicine, he is given ineffective medicine (e.g. sugar pills) but the patient is nevertheless cured. This is because the patient thinks he is receiving real medicine and “knows” that it should work – thus, although really given ineffective medicine, [...]

Permanent Increase in Learning Capabilities Through Intensive Instruction

mind — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:52:18 +0000

An interesting article about research which was done to help people with dyslexia. The brain can learn to permanently adapt to enhance the learning capabilities, as long as enough training and instruction are given (and the training carefully followed, of course). Check out “Remedial instruction rewires dyslexic brains, provides lasting results”. Quote: “Focused instruction can help [...]

Simple Mindmaps How-To

mind — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:52:54 +0000

Mindmapping is a technique where one iteratively draws a diagram with information, and links those pieces of information together with connections. It’s a very powerful technique which you can use when trying to tackle complex problem areas, such as new ideas, studying of new subjects, analysis of problems, organizing, writing, decision-making, etc. This is a quick-and-dirty [...]