One huge criticism of almost all research on attractiveness is the low ecological validity of the studies. In psychology there’s a trade-off that researchers have to make when designing studies – do they tightly control the variables to make sure as few unknown factors are influencing the results as possible, or do they control …
Sex and death; these aren’t topics that tend to appear in the same article, I grant you. But you’ll be pleased to know it’s not actual death we’re concerned with here; but it is actual sex, which I presume you’ll also be pleased to know. Mortality salience means the extent to which you are aware [ Read More ]
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook [ Read More ]
Cravings are funny things. If you’ve ever tried to abstain from chocolate, fizzy drinks, or burgers you’ll know that it’s not a simple matter of not doing it. As I explain here, the brain is designed for an age when sugar and fat were scarce. Check out the guy below, climbing up a 40 metre [ Read More ]
Happy Valentine’s day all! Here’s some romantic research for you: Sternberg’s triangular theory of love – A popular psychological theory on the different forms of love (and a big indication of how much work the word ‘love’ has to do!) A neuroscientific look at love – Love. Disney magic or neurochemical explosion? You decide… Online [ Read More ]
In a previous post, I explained how meditation practice is associated with increased cortical thickness. As interesting as that is, it does leave a couple of questions open: These were experienced meditators (7 years practice on average). What about beginners? How long does it take to make a difference? OK, so the brain changes. Good, [ Read More ]
Here’s an interesting thought for you. We could go into this more deeply, and maybe we will in the future, but just for the moment, ponder this. If you do anything regularly and consistently, the brain will change, actually change physically, anatomically, in structure. For example, in violinists the part of the brain …
A few months ago I did a little experiment. For a month, I tried to make all my decisions based on intuition and gut feeling, rather than logically thinking things through. This proved harder than it sounds, and some interesting things happened. It was quite a freaky experience, in the sense that many …
In this post, I mentioned some interesting studies where neuroscientists put Buddhist monks into brain scanners, trying to find out what effect meditation has on the brain. They found some interesting results in terms of brain activity. If you throw neuroplasticity into the mix too, you’d expect some structural differences too. A study led …
I have previously mentioned a study comparing meditation with relaxation. I have managed to dig it up and have a closer look at it. The issue is where the benefits of meditation come from. Is it the practice of meditation itself? Or is it simply the fact that you’re sitting down, relaxing, forgetting your worldly [ Read More ]
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