This past weekend I attended the 3rd annual meeting of the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society. Everyone in attendance had the great privilege of hearing New York Times columnist David Brook give a keynote address. And lo and behold, today Brooks wrote an article recounting his experience at the conference. I am so glad that [...]
Posts Tagged as ‘neuro’
October 5, 2009
Psychology series (introduction)
I have determined that the time has come for me to discover (or re-discover) psychology studies and/or articles from the 20th century that have significantly impacted how we think about the mind and human behavior.
My intention with this is manifold: not only to describe and inform, but to challenge, question, and provoke. Psychology is one [...]
April 7, 2009
Beautiful chaos in the brain
This is taken directly from New Scientist:
Chaotic thinking is rarely a recipe for success, but evidence is emerging that operating at the edge of chaos may drive our brain’s astonishing capabilities.
Neuroscientists have long suspected that the network of neurons in our brains might be connected in such a way that they achieve a state of [...]
March 31, 2009
You ≠ your brain
I came upon this interview on Salon.com. I am glad there are philosophers like Noë who are taking the risk of defending this position. Here is an excerpt:
The brain is essential for our lives, physiology, health and experience. But the idea that it is the whole story, or even the key to understanding the story, [...]
October 19, 2008
unbearable lightness of dreaming
Okay, I confess: the title of this post is adopted from that of Kundera’s novel. But I think my idea here is a bit different, so let’s get to it. Despite we humans’ long evolutionary history, our large cognitive capacity–linked to rapid cortical expansion and increased neural connectivity –most likely arrived on the scene [...]
September 15, 2008
Remember, Re-live
We human beings in the 21st century are blessed to have technologies that in many cases elegantly unpack the workings of our mental lives. Of course, memory research has been center stage for decades, but only recently have the tools of neuroscience empirically addressed long-held theories about how the brain encodes, stores, and retrieves our [...]
June 26, 2008
viva la vida (and astrocytes!)
okay, so while i am über jealous about the transformers shooting currently taking place in p-town (in your face penn!), i am stoked to see coldplay perform this friday morning at the today show. while the new album (viva la vida) is not revolutionary, the thematic motifs are poignant and honest. the songs are [...]
