brain – One Book a Week

Un Couteau Dans Le Coeur

I watched a movie this weekend – French, 2018 – about a serial killer that would target Gay people who appeared in cheap pornos. Badly acted, filled with absolutely forgettable characters (both the actual movie and the movie within the movie), it did offer one good insight. When the leading lady fails to seduce theContinue reading “Un Couteau Dans Le Coeur”

Consciousness and the Brain – Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts by Stanislas Dehaene

In the late 1800s, psychology began as the study of the mind. Then the behaviorists convinced everyone to abandon the study of mind and consciousness, for good reasons. At the time, the only way to study consciousness was introspection, a source of no reliable information. Through most of the next century, experimental psychologists avoided notContinue reading “Consciousness and the Brain – Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts by Stanislas Dehaene”

Opening the door to the universe

If you start thinking, “What happens when awareness witnesses the wholeness of existence?” – if you start thinking, you are moving inside the mind in a circle, in a vicious circle, you may find some answer, but that answer is not the truth. Osho I’ve done something this week I’ve always wanted to do butContinue reading “Opening the door to the universe”

The science behind your choices and what happens when you defer your dreams

As you’re probably aware, the subconscious runs the general brain programs. When you’re using your conscious brain to think, plan, visualise or contemplate, the subconscious runs the rest of the show. It runs us on autopilot. That autopilot is in the ‘on’ position, about 95 percent of the time.

Does your hair stand up when listening to music or watching a movie?

Listen to this Have you ever been listening to a great piece of music and felt a chill run up your spine? Or goosebumps tickle your arms and shoulders? Most people can experience a deep and visceral reaction to music, strong enough to elicit a physical, bodily response. The experience is called frisson (pronounced free-sawn), a French term meaning “aestheticContinue reading “Does your hair stand up when listening to music or watching a movie?”

Zombie Food Pyramid

“There’s a lot of ways to get to know a person. Eating her dead boyfriend’s brains is one of the more unorthodox methods.” It was Dan O’Bannon who introduced brain eating zombies in Return of the Living Dead. This was also one of the few films where the zombies have any capacity for speech and whereContinue reading “Zombie Food Pyramid”

How do you define intelligence?

What makes you intelligent? Intelligence is a difﬁcult term to deﬁne. It can mean different things to different people. In fact, the scientiﬁc community has been debating its meaning for a long time and there is still controversy over its exact deﬁnition and the ways to measure it. The “IQ” test was once regarded asContinue reading “How do you define intelligence?”

Brain Power

The brain looks a bit like a giant crinkled rubbery mushroom, with the average adult brain weighing about 3 lbs 5 oz (1.5 kg). Your brain is the most sophisticated object in the known universe. Millions of messages are speeding through your nervous system at any given moment, enabling your brain to receive, process, andContinue reading “Brain Power”

The three brain phases used in cults

The Christians may have been the first to successfully formulate brainwashing, but we have to look to Pavlov, the Russian scientist, for a technical explanation. In the early 1900s, his work with animals opened the door to further investigations with humans. After the revolution in Russia, Lenin was quick to see the potential of applyingContinue reading “The three brain phases used in cults”

Dementia – how does it feel to be uncertain about your wits in retirement?

King Lear is one of the greatest portrayals of ageing in Western literature. It explores the sense of uncertainty that can result from retirement, and the role-reversal that often comes with ageing, as the children become the parents. Throughout the play, Lear’s behaviour is changeable. At times he grows irrationally angry, while at others heContinue reading “Dementia – how does it feel to be uncertain about your wits in retirement?”