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Cognitive Neuroscience
"She understood me and I understood her. I loved that pigeon.”
Big Think recently spoke with sleep psychologist Dr. Jade Wu about the surprising consequences of forgoing sleep.
Research suggests that to maintain a healthy brain, we should tend our gut microbiome.
People who die by suicide are more likely to have reduced levels of the NPAS4 gene, which helps regulate inflammation in the brain.
Neuroscience supports the notion that an escape from conventional perspectives can be a gateway to spectacular insights.
5mins
We’ve all tried to win an argument by bringing up statistics that support our view. But here’s why that doesn’t work, according to a neuroscientist.
I also can’t conjure sounds, smells, or any other kind of sensory stimulation inside my head. This is called “aphantasia.”
A volley of new insights reignites the debate over whether our choices are ever truly our own.
The aging brain is networked differently.
6mins
There are three kinds of memory that all work together to shape your reality. Neuroscientist André Fenton explains.
Unlikely Collaborators
Lab experiments showed Caribbean box jellyfish are quick studies of their environment.
Our intuitive understanding of time is very different from a physicist's understanding of time. How do we reconcile these views?
The modern attention economy hijacks our ability to focus, but an ancient technique offers a means to get it back.
Morning, afternoon, or night: When is the best time to exercise? Scientists have extensively studied this question. Here's what they found.
Lucid dreamers may have “privileged access to their inner world,” with “heightened awareness... to the outside world.”
Katie Kermode — a memory athlete with four world records — tells Big Think about her unique spin on an ancient technique to memorize unfathomably long lists of information.
The great philosopher spent the final portion of his painful life in a vegetative state. Did illness get him there, or was it his own philosophy?
Neural imaging has shown that the brain has “decided” what we’re going to do before we make a conscious choice — but is this even relevant to free will?
Goalkeepers have an enhanced ability to integrate auditory and visual information compared to other players.
If the "self" is not real, then we are slaves to a billiard ball universe, trapped in a nihilistic nightmare in which we cannot change our fate.
John Templeton Foundation
Only about 10% of patients survive cardiac arrest. Of the ones who do, many have amazing stories to tell.
If you want to achieve new goals, harness your brain's ability to change chemically, structurally, and functionally.
Chronic pain is often driven by brain processes that can be reprogrammed.
They're not just watching you; they're also calculating.
Could a theory from the science of perception help crack the mysteries of psychosis?
For people with hard-to-treat depression, a non-invasive technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can provide relief.
We are prone to false memories. One reason is that we are biased toward remembering tidy endings for events, even if they didn't exist.