Surprising Science — November 24, 2010

Training Your Brain

A new way to create and interpret real-time brain scans could help addicts consciously control their cravings by making them aware of how their brain is functioning.

bigthinkeditor

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Technology might not be advanced enough yet to let people read someone else’s mind, but researchers are at least inching closer to helping people to read and control their own. In a study presented last week at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego, scientists used a combination of brain-scanning and feedback techniques to train subjects to move a cursor up and down with their thoughts. The subjects could perform this task after just five minutes of training. The scientists hope to use this information to help addicts learn to control their own brain states and, consequently, their cravings.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Aphantasia limits the ability to visualize a statue of a man in the mind's eye.

Neuropsych

My brain doesn’t picture things. What’s wrong with me?

I also can’t conjure sounds, smells, or any other kind of sensory stimulation inside my head. This is called “aphantasia.”

A woman with a blue lightning bolt in her face.

Neuropsych

The faulty weathermen of the mind

Could a theory from the science of perception help crack the mysteries of psychosis?

a painting of a man standing next to a tree.

The Well

Eastern philosophy says there is no “self.” Science agrees

“Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself — and there isn’t one.”

A statue of a man sitting under a night sky filled with stars.

The Learning Curve

The 3 disciplines of Stoicism: A guide for living a life of meaning and intention

Philosophers Massimo Pigliucci and Greg Lopez discuss how Stoicism can help us gain perspective on our emotions and act with intention in the world.

A digital art image of a human made of small white blocks.

Health

Reading the mind with machines

Brain-computer interfaces could enable people with locked-in syndrome and other conditions to “speak.”

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Guest Thinkers

Tilted Heads Are Hot

Australian researchers have found that women who tilt their faces forward are seen as more attractive, while men are considered better-looking when they tilt their heads backward.