Category Archives: Linkage

BBC Future column: why your brain loves to tune out

May 18, 2012 – 12:58 pm

My column for BBC Future from last week. The original is here. Thanks to Martin Thirkettle for telling me about the demo that leads the column. Our brains are programmed to cancel out all manner of constants in our everyday lives. If you don’t believe it, try a simple, but startling experiment. The constant whir of [...]

By tomstafford | Comments (14)

BBC Future column: Does the internet rewire your brain?

May 2, 2012 – 11:35 am

My column for BBC Future from a few days ago. The original is here. Mindhacks.com readers will have heard most of this before, thanks to Vaughan’s coverage of the Baroness and her fellow travellers. Being online does change your brain, but so does making a cup of tea. A better question to ask is what [...]

By tomstafford | Also posted in Inside the Brain | Comments (11)

BBC Future column: earworms

April 29, 2012 – 6:23 pm

From a couple of weeks ago, my column from BBC Future, about everyday brain quirks (as I’ve mentioned previously). Thanks to Maria Panagiotidi for help with this one. “Earworms”, some people call them. Songs that get stuck in your head and go round and round, sometimes for days, sometimes for months. For no apparent reason [...]

By tomstafford | Also posted in Hearing and Language, Remembering | Comments (17)

BBC Future column: Personal superstitions

April 23, 2012 – 7:32 pm

I’m writing a fortnightly column for BBC Future, about everyday brain quirks (as I’ve mentioned previously). My marvellous editor has told me I can repost the columns here, with a three day delay. There’s a bit of a backlog, including Why can smells unlock memories?, Why you’re bad at names and good at faces, and [...]

By tomstafford | Also posted in Learning | Comments (3)

Neurohacks column at BBC Future

February 27, 2012 – 9:05 pm

The quite lovely BBC Future has launched (‘the home of new trends in the worlds of Science, Technology, Environment and Health’) and yours truly has a column there: Neurohacks (‘Neuroscience and the psychology of the everyday’). You can find it in the ‘Brain‘ section. At this point any UK-based surfers who have followed the above [...]

By tomstafford | Also posted in Authors | Comments (3)

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

By tomstafford | Also posted in Inside the Brain | Comments (1)

Neuro ears

November 10, 2011 – 9:56 am

WANT

By tomstafford | Also posted in Inside the Brain | Comments (10)

Not Spike Activity

July 31, 2011 – 12:52 am

I often get emails asking why we don’t do Spike Activity posts any more. The simple answer is they take time and I now have a somewhat more unpredictable job where I am frequently ‘on the road’. So until I return to a more predictable pace of life, I’m afraid they’re going to be taking [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (5)

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 [...]

By tomstafford | Comments (5)

2011-03-19 Spike activity

March 19, 2011 – 7:47 pm

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news: The Boston Globe has a fascinating piece on the psychological benefits of solitude. “What we do better without other people around.” No smirking now. The colour of depression. Neuroskeptic investigates its association with the colours black and blue. The New York Times has an [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (6)

2011-02-25 Spike activity

February 28, 2011 – 1:26 am

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news: Bad Science looks at how we can fool ourselves and others using security and detection technology. Cell Phones Are Somehow Related To The Brain. Thank you Neuroskeptic for a decent look at the ‘mobile phones affect the brain’ story that made the headlines this [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (1)

2011-02-18 Spike activity

February 19, 2011 – 1:42 am

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news: The Atlantic asks is it time to welcome our new computer overlords? – In light of the recent IBM Watson powered Jeopardy-pocalypse. Time? I’ve already slammed the bunker door. The ‘boy without a cerebellum baffles doctors’ story is tackled by the not very baffled [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (4)

2011-02-11 Spike activity

February 12, 2011 – 1:24 am

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news: Discover Magazine interviews the neuroscientist of love – who seems to have three hands in the photo. Imagine. Is anorexia more strongly influenced by size zero models in the mass media or use of online social networking? Neuroskeptic covers a fascinating new study. New [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (3)

2011-02-04 Spike activity

February 5, 2011 – 4:35 pm

Quick links from the past week or two in mind and brain news: The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating piece on child intelligence, genetics and household environment despite the misleading “Why rich parents don’t matter” headline. Can magnetically stimulating the brain produce Eureka moments? Not Exactly Rocket Science covers an intriguing new study. The [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (1)

Putting Psychology To Work

January 26, 2011 – 3:38 pm

And Lo! Unto the always excellent BPS Research Digest, a child is born! The BPS Occupational Digest. is new blog which will cover news, reviews and reports on how psychology matters in the workplace. It will be curated by friend of mindhacks.com (and contributor to the Mind Hacks book) Alex Fradera. Blogging hasn’t started yet [...]

By tomstafford | Also posted in Authors, News | Leave a Comment

2011-01-21 Spike activity

January 22, 2011 – 12:32 am

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news: Music, expectancy and pleasure in the brain. The Frontal Cortex has an excellent piece on the neuroscience of error prediction and the music appreciating brain. Science News reports on how a substantial minority of third to sixth graders think they’re best friends with a [...]

By vaughanbell | Comments (1)
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