Author Archives: tomstafford

goCognitive 2.0

February 4, 2012 – 1:30 pm

We’ve reported before on the Univeristy of Idaho’s goCognitive project. It’s a enticing collection of videos and demonstrations, including many guest spots by the glitterati of cognitive neuroscience. The site has more free video content in cognitive neuroscience than before – and it is more easily accessible as well. Check it out

Posted in Inside the Brain, Linkage | Comments (1)

Dressing psychologists as wizards in court

February 4, 2012 – 9:53 am

From overlawyered.com we hear that in 1995, New Mexico state senator Duncan Scott introduced a legislative ammendment providing that When a psychologist or psychiatrist testifies during a defendant’s competency hearing, the psychologist or psychiatrist shall wear a cone-shaped hat that is not less than two feet tall. The surface of the hat shall be imprinted [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (5)

A treasure hunt for the mysteries of mind and brain

January 21, 2012 – 2:22 pm

I’ve published a couple of free ebooks recently: Explore your blind spot shows you how to reveal the gap we all have in our visual experience of the world, and discusses what it means about consciousness that this gap is kept hidden from us most of the time. Control Your Dreams, co-written with Cathryn Bardsley [...]

Posted in books | Comments (11)

Control your dreams (ebook)

December 30, 2011 – 2:43 pm

Anyone can learn to have lucid dreams, and this ebook tells you how. Lucid dreams are those dreams where you become aware you are dreaming, and can even begin to control the reality of the dream. Adventure, problem-solving and consequence-free indulgence await! And for those interested in the mind, lucid dreams are a great place [...]

Posted in Authors, books | Comments (9)

Explore your blind spot (free ebook)

December 12, 2011 – 8:09 pm

I’ve written an ebook called ‘Explore your blind spot’. It’s about, er, exploring your blind spot! In the best tradition of Mind Hacks I take you from the raw experience to the cutting edge of scientific theory. The blind spot is a simple phenomenon of our visual processing, but one we don’t notice day to [...]

Posted in Authors, books | Comments (7)

Neuro ears

November 10, 2011 – 9:56 am

WANT

Posted in Inside the Brain, Linkage | Comments (10)

Make study more effective, the easy way

October 24, 2011 – 8:59 am

Decades old research into how memory works should have revolutionised University teaching. It didn’t. If you’re a student, what I’m about to tell you will let you change how you study so that it is more effective, more enjoyable and easier. If you work at a University, you – like me – should hang your [...]

Posted in Learning | Comments (44)

Games of Invention

October 12, 2011 – 2:58 pm

I’ve been collecting card decks. First I got the Oblique Strategies, Brian Eno’s deck of worthwhile dilemmas. When I’m stuck with something I’m working on I sit completely still for a few moments, holding the problem in mind. Then I take a breath, draw a card and apply what’s written to my problem. Trying this [...]

Posted in Reasoning | Comments (12)

A profession with “no” at its core

October 3, 2011 – 6:44 am

I’ve just finished Randy Olson’s “Don’t be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an age of style” (after loving his article in New Scientist, “Top five tips for communicating science “). Olson is a marine biologist turned filmmaker, so knows the world of science from the inside, and from the outside perspective. This book is [...]

Posted in books | Comments (16)

Book review: Willpower by Baumeister & Tierney

September 27, 2011 – 2:41 pm

“Willpower: Rediscovering the greatest human strength”, Roy Baumeister & John Tierney, 2011 I’ve just finished this book, and yet I still couldn’t tell you what it was trying to claim. It’s a grab-bag of research on willpower, nearly all of it done by social psychologist Baumeister and colleagues, and including his celebrated experiments on ego-depletion. [...]

Posted in books, News | Comments (16)

When explaining becomes a sin

August 11, 2011 – 8:45 am

As the cacophony of politicians and commentators replaces that of the police sirens, look out for the particularly shrill voice of those who condemn as evil anyone with an alternative explanation for the looting than theirs. For an example, take the Daily Mail headline for Tuesday, which reads “To blame the cuts is immoral and [...]

Posted in Reasoning | Comments (33)

They’re Made Out of Meat!

July 7, 2011 – 1:56 pm

“They’re Made Out of Meat” is a short story by Terry Bisson. It’s a great riff on the improbability of the human situation, and particularly relevant to psychologists (e.g. “So … what does the thinking?”) The full text is here. The story has its own wikipedia page, and there’s a YouTube film here. Now, for [...]

Posted in Nonsense | Comments (12)

Against Neuroethics

July 7, 2011 – 10:00 am

The BPS has published a discussion paper on “Neuroethics”. Neuroethics is an unnecessary phrase which covers a hodge-podge of ethical concerns for psychology researchers and broader societal concerns over the application of findings from the cognitive neurosciences. The paper, prepared by the impressive team of Carl Senior, Patrick Haggard and John Oates, is mostly a [...]

Posted in Theory | Comments (10)

The Rough Guide to Psychology

April 15, 2011 – 2:08 pm

Friend of mindhacks.com and contributor to the original Mind Hacks book, Christian Jarrett has written the “The Rough Guide to Psychology“, published this month, and a right rip roaring read it is too. It’s a whistle-stop tour through all aspects of the science of mind and behaviour, which reveals just how diverse and rich the [...]

Posted in Authors, books | Comments (2)

A history of psychology through objects

April 1, 2011 – 8:42 am

This is an early Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) machine, from 1945. Note the incorporation of the telephone dial for controvoling the duration of the shock. This is a brass observation hole from St. Audry’s Hospital, Suffolk, England, 1851-1900. Mounted in a door, this peephole allowed doctors and warders to check on a patient locked in solitary [...]

Posted in Linkage | Comments (5)

A note on human behaviour

February 15, 2011 – 6:09 pm

Enjoying the Natural History Museum yesterday, I came across this exhibit somewhere in the geology section: The exhibit is a serious of columns, which you pass from right to left. The penultimate column is to illustrate the idea of ice, and you’re invited by a palm shape to put your palm to the column (which [...]

Posted in Moving | Comments (4)
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