Category Archives: Cognitive Neuroscience

Memory and the Media

You may have seen commercials for Limitless, a movie opening this weekend.  The trailers show a disheveled Bradley Cooper taking a pill that will allow him to use 100% of his brain instead of the 20% that everyone else putters … Continue reading

Posted in Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Exercise Your Body, Exercise Your Brain

It’s all downhill after 20.  Not only do workouts leave you feeling more sore than they used to, but memory, creative thinking, and mental speed all start to decrease around the time most people finish college.  Not surprisingly, the brain … Continue reading

Posted in Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology | 4 Comments

Love, Hate… What’s the Difference?

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’d like to take a quick look at one of the most fundamental human emotions — hate. Wait, that doesn’t seem right. Hate? On Valentine’s Day? Isn’t V-Day supposed to be about love, Hallmark, and … Continue reading

Posted in Cognitive Neuroscience, Social Psychology | 6 Comments

Have Something Important to Remember? Sleep On It

Students often hear that they should get a good night’s sleep before a test.  Even if you load up on coffee and Red Bull to study all night you’ll be wired and stressed, and that certainly isn’t going to help.  … Continue reading

Posted in Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology | 3 Comments

4 Things to Keep in Mind When You’re Reading About fMRI

In an attempt to increase the “sexy” factor of brain imaging studies (what–you don’t think deoxygenated hemoglobin sounds sexy?), some press articles omit important details or subtleties that can distort, exaggerate, or even misrepresent the original results. To continue our … Continue reading

Posted in Cognitive Neuroscience | 4 Comments

Don’t take the long road home

Do you take the fastest way home? Are you sure? Really?

I think I take the fastest route to work. I avoid traffic and stoplights, take long straight sections, and make right turns when ever possible. However, I always end up taking a completely different path home. I can’t quite say why I do this, but both seem the quickest possible way to and from work. If one route wins the morning commute, why don’t I follow the same path in reverse every evening? Continue reading

Posted in Cognitive Neuroscience, Sensation & Perception | 10 Comments

Psychology’s Frenemies

It’s a lot like watching a reality television show, only without Simon Cowell providing amusing commentary.  But the essential ingredients are all there: shifting alliances, suspicions, competition for resources, and perhaps even frenemies.  Yes, watching neuroscience interact with clinical psychology … Continue reading

Posted in Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience | 3 Comments

Weapon of Choice

If you see psychology research in the press these days, chances are it comes complete with a pretty fMRI picture, the ones with the brain covered in lights showing which parts are working more.  It’s less likely that you’ve seen … Continue reading

Posted in Cognitive Neuroscience | 4 Comments

Stress improves perception, but at a cost

We all have a sense that stress affects the way we see and evaluate our surroundings—but does it help or hurt us?  In the literature on how stress affects perception, there are some conflicting reports.  On the one hand, stress … Continue reading

Posted in Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Sensation & Perception | 1 Comment