“Coffee and the Brain: Attention, Make, React, Threat” is a featured article in the special Coffee, and Tea issue (volume 26, number 4) of the Annals of Improbable Research. It gurgles into the seemingly eternal quest to understand how coffee affects what the drinker thinks and feels, and does not think or feel. Read the […]
Tag: mind
Earworms, Daydreams and Cognitive Capitalism (new study)
Although the cognitive neurosciences are currently conducting research to determine the brain networks that might be implicated in the production of ‘earworms’ – what about their role in contemporary capitalism’s encroachment on human cognitive capacities? For a discussion on this subject see the work of Eldritch Priest who is Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at […]
Studies: “Interacting with Women Can Impair Men’s Cognitive Functioning”
As discussed in this week’s podcast, some scholars believe that “Interacting with Women Can Impair Men’s Cognitive Functioning.” That is the title and theme of a Dutch study published in 2009. The study is: “Interacting with Women Can Impair Men’s Cognitive Functioning,” Johan C. Karremans, Thijs Verwijmeren, Tila M. Pronk, and Meyke Reitsma, Journal of […]
Their machine will tell if you’re friend or foe, they say
Veritas Scientific Corporation is — well, it must be — the rare company with technology that surpasses the limitations of what scientists understand. Veritas is all about deception. In the promotional video here, Veritas Scientific’s founder and CEO Eric Fenn Elbot says that he “started reading incredible research about how to detect brain waves to detect deception, and how to […]
Psychology discovery: The power of exposure to an American Flag
A photo of an American flag has power over the minds of men and women, implies this study: “A Single Exposure to the American Flag Shifts Support Toward Republicanism up to 8 Months Later,” Travis J. Carter [pictured here], Melissa J. Ferguson and Ran R. Hassin, Psychological Science, 2011 22: 1011. The authors at the University of […]
Mind, the Gap
Some British psychiatrists are going to war with some British psychologists, suggests an article by Jamie Doward in The Observer. The article sports this headline, subheadline, and first paragraphs: Psychiatrists under fire in mental health battle British Psychological Society to launch attack on rival profession, casting doubt on biomedical model of mental illness There is no […]
Hawking’s theory (of God’s mind) validated in Beverly Hills?
Physicist Stephen Hawking boosted his fame and income by writing the following phrase at the end of his book A Brief History of Time: “If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of reason – for then we should know the mind of God.” Evidence suggests that a company in Beverly Hills, […]