Searching for Mind

Your brain is awesome

2012-01-24T23:03:00.001-07:00

Human brain has more switches than all computers on Earth | Health Tech - CNET News:

Throw this on the stack of "Artificial intelligence is still WAY off" - cause it is.

Placebo: everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask

2012-01-24T23:02:00.001-07:00

Disgruntled PhD: Placebos: All you never wanted to know (Part 4) - Neurobiology:

I recommend looking at the archives of the post and reading all 4 parts of the series - even though it WAY more information than you'll want.

Mmmm....Sleep...

2012-01-24T23:00:00.001-07:00

Sleep makes your memories stronger:

I've posted plenty about how sleep helps memory, so just add this to the pile.

Illusory perception

2012-01-24T22:59:00.001-07:00

The illusion of time: Perceiving the effect before the cause : Neurophilosophy:

Who knew that we experienced optical illusions so frequently?

Yahoo! Optical Illusions

2012-01-24T22:57:00.001-07:00

Optical illusions and brain teasers | SharpBrains:

Another great catalog of optical illusions. I'm a sucker for this stuff.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics

2012-01-24T22:56:00.001-07:00

Look at Data Like a Statistician, Minus the Ph. D:

This is a fundamental skill that I think everyone should have. Learn how to look at statistics. Learn to understand what they mean. You don't have to be able to do the math, but you should be able to at least interpret results.

Quantum Psychology

2012-01-24T22:55:00.001-07:00

Quantum Psychology? « Permutations:

This is a new realm of study, but it is growing in popularity. This article is from early 2010, but I've already seen several in late 2011. To me it's incredibly fascinating.

And now for something completely different...

2012-01-24T22:53:00.001-07:00

John Cleese on neuroanatomy « Mind Hacks:

John Cleese could read binary code and make it sound funny. This is a brilliant video.

Can you love your job?

2012-01-24T22:52:00.001-07:00

Beyond Passion: The Science of Loving What You Do:

This is a fantastic article that provides a lot of very good basic information about motivation and the principles behind motivation that are contrary to a lot of "common sense" principles that are very prevalent today.

Don't get scammed

2012-01-24T22:49:00.001-07:00

The 7 Psychological Principles of Scams: Protect Yourself by Learning the Techniques — PsyBlog:

This is helpful information for anyone.

Don't be afraid to fail

2012-01-24T22:48:00.001-07:00

Be Open to Failure | Psychology Today:

It's a well known aspect of motivational research. If you are willing to take chances and are not afraid to fail, if you are willing to learn from your failures, then you will be more successful. At anything.

Bigger brains through exercise

2011-10-04T23:04:00.002-07:00

Grow that big brain you've always dreamed of, with just 3x per week

Exercise keeps your cognitive capabilities intact and in older people can actually reverse the brain-aging process.

More here: Exercise protects memory formation capability

Cognitive Atlas

2011-10-04T23:01:00.000-07:00

Cognitive Atlas

It's a project that aims "to develop a knowledge base (or ontology) that characterizes the current thought in cognitive science."

It is also exceedingly cool.

Sleep on it to remember it

2011-10-04T22:59:00.001-07:00

Sleep selectively stores useful memories

Sleep doesn't just help us remember, our brains actively select what memories are worth remembering. Sleep helps solidify our expectations.

How good is your short-term memory?

2011-10-04T22:57:00.002-07:00

Test your short-term memory: how many letters can you memorize?

The very first practical experiments in psychology looked nearly identical to this test. It's a fun test.

Brain drugs - the unknown

2011-10-04T22:55:00.002-07:00

What we don't know about cognitive enhancement

Quite a bit. Next question?

More seriously - really, we don't know very much. It's very exciting research, but the benefits overpower the ability to consider the vast gaps in what we don't know.

The side-benefits of marriage

2011-10-04T22:54:00.000-07:00

Marriage is good for physical and mental health

Good news for all you married folks out there.

Boost your self-control

2011-10-04T22:53:00.002-07:00

What to do and not to do to boos self-control

Lots of how-to articles recently. They're all fun.

Nim Chimpsky

2011-10-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

Documentary tells the tale of Nim Chimpsky, the chimp raised as a human

Of the many famous failed experiments in psychology, this one is particularly instructive about the dangers of taking philosophical positions to the extreme.

Can you recall your memories?

2011-10-04T22:49:00.001-07:00

Research finds practicing retrieval is best tool for learning

Re-reading and reviewing the things you've studied and or taken notes on is the best way to learn something. Gee, who knew?[/sarcasm]

Pay for performance kind of sucks

2011-10-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

Financial reward undermines intrinsic incentives

It has been known for quite some time that extrinsic rewards can have negative effect on intrinsic motivation, but this study brings the effects into sharp relief.

Jedi mind-trick: DIY

2011-10-04T22:45:00.004-07:00

The psychology of persuasion

Great list of articles that refer to current research on what types of things influence others.

Another list of approaches to persuasion: How to plant ideas in someone's mind

Music as a brain booster?

2011-10-04T22:43:00.001-07:00

Does music make you smarter?

Short answer: a qualified, yes.

Long answer: in specific domains, yes you will gain cognitive advantages, in overall intelligence measures like IQ, not so much.

Sexual self-esteem

2011-10-04T22:42:00.001-07:00

Better than sex! US college students value self-esteem boosts more than bodily pleasures

So, is this because "self-esteem" is vital to our well-being or is it a product of the entitlement generation and the constant barrage of self-esteem boosting these students got when they were kids (as is the standard practice in most of education today)?

Is happiness just an illusion?

2011-10-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

Is happiness even the point?

I've posted about this before, but it seems there are people that believe that happiness is NOT a natural state for humans. The basic message from this article is that happiness is at best a fleeting, momentary thing and not really a state that can be achieved for long periods of time.

I'm not sure I buy into that. I think it depends on your mindset and your level of exposure to and availability of what makes you happy. Yes, happiness can be fleeting, but I believe it can also be enduring - I believe that it can be a state that is achievable. Not in every domain of your life, but in a sufficient abundance to be the overriding state of mind.