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Press Release Spam (an interlude)

October 25, 2012 – 7:04 am

Sorry to interrupt your normal psych/neuro programming, but this is just a short note to say that I have retired the tom@mindhacks.com email address. If you wish to contact me or Vaughan, please tweet us (details in rightbar). I’ve retired the email address because of the amount of PR spam I’ve been getting, which has […]

Posted in News | Comments (8)

BBC Column: Psychological self-defence for the age of email

October 12, 2012 – 9:45 am

My latest column for BBC Future. The original is here. Lots of the points made here apply to technology more generally. Here’s a pretty safe assumption to make: you probably feel like you’re inundated with email, don’t you? It’s a constant trickle that threatens to become a flood. Building up, it is always nagging you […]

Posted in Attention | Comments (3)

BBC Column: Can glass shape really affect how fast you drink?

October 2, 2012 – 3:40 pm

My latest column for BBC Future. The original is here. I was hesitant to write this at first, since nobody loves a problemmatiser, but I figured that something in support of team “I think you’ll find its a bit more complicated than that” couldn’t hurt, and there’s an important general point about the way facts […]

Posted in Reasoning, Theory | Comments (8)

BBC Column: auction psychology

September 19, 2012 – 9:49 am

My BBC Future column from last week. The original is here The reason we end up overspending is a result of one unavoidably irrational part of the bidding process – and that’s ourselves. The allure and tension of an auction are familiar to most of us – let’s face it, we all like the idea […]

Posted in Reasoning | Comments (4)

The Cognitive Science Safari

September 9, 2012 – 8:22 pm

Just a quick note to anyone who ends up here because of the Wall Street Journal article, more info about the ‘cognitive science safari’ in Berlin can be found here.

Posted in News | Comments (1)

BBC Column: stopped clocks and dead phones

September 4, 2012 – 8:28 pm

My column for BBC Future from last week. It’s another example of how consciousness isn’t just constructed, but is a construction for which the signs of artifice are hidden. The original is here   Ever stared at a second hand and think that time stands still for a moment? It’s not just you. Sometimes, when […]

Posted in Integrating | Comments (7)

BBC Future column: What a silver medal teaches us about regret

August 14, 2012 – 8:26 am

Here’s my column from last week for BBC Future. The original is here The London 2012 Olympic Games are almost over now, and those Olympians with medals are able to relax and rest on the laurels of victory. Or so you might think. Spare a thought for the likes of Yohan Blake, McKayla Maroney, or […]

Posted in Reasoning | Comments (8)

BBC Future column: Wear red, win gold?

August 6, 2012 – 7:39 am

My latest column for BBC Future, a cautionary tale of scientific research, with an Olympic theme. Original here. Studies show that wearing a particular colour increases the chances of winning a gold medal. Why this is the case serves as a timely reminder that we should always be wary of neat explanations for complex phenomena. […]

Posted in Reasoning | Comments (8)

BBC Future column: Why we love to hoard

July 23, 2012 – 8:43 am

Here’s last week’s column from BBC Future. The original is here. It’s not really about hoarding, its about the endowment effect and a really lovely piece of work that helped found the field of behavioural economics (and win Daniel Kahneman a Nobel prize). Oh, and I give some advice on how to de-clutter, lifehacker-style. Question: […]

Posted in Reasoning | Comments (11)

Berlin cognitive science safari: report

July 16, 2012 – 12:16 pm

So I’m back from my time in Berlin at the BMW Guggenheim Lab. As announced previously, I was there to give a talk about how perception works, and how cities control our perception. If you’re a regular mindhacks.com reader nothing I said would have been earth-shattering – it was a tour through some basics of […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (9)

BBC Future column: Why I am always unlucky but you are always careless

July 12, 2012 – 5:15 am

My most recent column for the BBC Future website, the original is here From lost keys to failed interviews, we blame other people for mishaps but never ourselves, because assuming causes helps us to make sense of the world. When my wife can’t find her keys, I assume it is because she is careless. When […]

Posted in Reasoning | Comments (8)

BBC Future column: why are we so curious?

June 26, 2012 – 1:58 pm

My column for BBC Future from last week. The original is here.   Evolution made us the ultimate learning machines, and the ultimate learning machines need to be oiled by curiosity. I hate to disappoint you, but whatever your ambitions, whatever your long-term goals, I’m pretty sure that reading this column isn’t going to further […]

Posted in Authors | Comments (11)

BBC Column: What makes us laugh?

June 20, 2012 – 12:45 pm

This is my BBC Future column from a couple of weeks ago. You can find the original here   A simple question with a surprisingly complex answer – understanding laughter means understanding fundamental issues of human nature. Why do we laugh? Well it’s funny you should ask, but this question was suggested by reader Andrew […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (8)

Berlin plan #3: Instant social knowledge through unconscious perception

June 19, 2012 – 10:22 am

So I think I’ve figured out the third and final intervention I want to run for the cognitive science safari I’ll be leading in Berlin on the 11th of July. Regular readers will recall that I first wanted to try a field test of the change blindness phenomenon, and to follow that up with an […]

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Berlin plan #2: Contagious attention

June 11, 2012 – 9:21 am

As I’ve mentioned, I’ll be leading a ‘cognitive science safari’ in Berlin on 11th of July. We’ll be generating some experiences based on classic psychology experiments, experiments which tell us important things about how cities organise our perceptions. Previously I described how I’ll be trying to revive a classic change blindness experiment. For my next […]

Posted in Attention, News | Comments (7)

Berlin Plan #1: The Change Blindess Experiment

June 8, 2012 – 12:22 pm

I’m giving a talk and leading an ‘experience treasure hunt’ in Berlin on July 11th (see here). The aim will be to show how our perception works, using examples from city life. Cities, like all environments, channel our attention. One of the things I’m planning on doing is to recreate a classic experiment which shows […]

Posted in News | Comments (8)
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