Category: Brain
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Eye contact. Thinking. Being. With your ears closed.
Maintaining direct eye contact really is strenuous for the brain, according to new research, and it uses up scarce cognitive resources that we need for things like reasoning and verbal processing. There are many reasons for avoiding eye contact ― social anxiety, being lost in thought, or feeling strong emotions like guilt or embarrassment ―…
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Thinking. Not with the brain?!
New research by Gaëlle Vallée-Tourangeau, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, and Frédéric Vallée-Tourangeau, Professor of Psychology, is challenging the traditional idea that thinking takes place strictly in the head. Instead, they are seeking to demonstrate how our decision making is heavily influenced by the world around us – and that using tools or objects when problem…
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Brain. Memory. Flashes and lights…
A new study from Nathan Rose, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame, examined a fundamental problem your brain has to solve, which is keeping information "in mind", or active, so your brain can act accordingly. The common theory is that the information is kept in mind by neurons related to the…
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Breath… Being a child… Being unconscious…
The rhythm of breathing creates electrical activity in the human brain that enhances emotional judgments and memory recall, scientists have discovered for the first time. These effects on behavior depend critically on whether you inhale or exhale and whether you breathe through the nose or mouth. (1) We are so preoccupied with doing things, that…
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Consciousness. Entropy. Non-thinking.
Just like the Universe, our brains might be programmed to maximize disorder - similar to the principle of entropy - and our consciousness could simply be a side effect. Researchers decided to investigate whether they show any patterns in the way they neurons choose to order themselves while we're conscious. To figure this out, a…
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