Neuropsych

An MIT study finds the brains of children who grow up in less affluent households are less responsive to rewarding experiences.

Big Think recently spoke with sleep psychologist Dr. Jade Wu about the surprising consequences of forgoing sleep.

Many still consider hypnosis more of a cheap magician’s trick than legitimate clinical medicine.

Research suggests that to maintain a healthy brain, we should tend our gut microbiome.

People who die by suicide are more likely to have reduced levels of the NPAS4 gene, which helps regulate inflammation in the brain.

Uncovering the story of Milan Hausner, the Sadská clinic, and LSD psychotherapy behind the Iron Curtain.

Studies claiming to reveal strategies for feeling happy get a second look.

High-frequency oscillations that ripple through our brains may generate memory and conscious experience.

People who score high in “obsessive passion” can become rigidly consumed by ideological causes — sometimes dangerously so.

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

Researchers are finding signs of multiple phases of sleep all over the animal kingdom. The ‘active’ sleep phases look very much like REM.

Parents will sometimes use children as weapons in their relationship battles — and the fallout can be devastating.

Ketamine’s remarkable effect bolsters a new theory of mental illness.

It could perform a speech recognition task with 78% accuracy.

The heart’s rhythms may play a larger role in shaping psychedelic experiences than previously thought.

Millions of people have had a near-death experience, and it often leads them to believe in an afterlife. Does this count as good proof?

Between the hedonic and eudaimonic life, there’s a happy medium to be found.

The aging brain is networked differently.

Even before birth, our brains are taking note of the languages we hear.

Your life’s memories could, in principle, be stored in the universe’s structure.

Some neuroscientists question whether the body can “keep score” of anything in a meaningful way.

Arieh Smith, a New York City-based polyglot who runs the YouTube channel Xiaomanyc, talks language-learning with Big Think.

The pseudoscience phrenology swept the popular imagination, and its practitioners made a mint preying on prejudices, gullibility, and misinformation.

Instead of fear, his delusions bring him cheer. His psychiatrist embraces them.

After my father died, my journey of rediscovery began with the Czech language.

There are many things in life that cannot be improved with greater effort. Sometimes, life requires that you step back.

While executive function matures between 18 and 20 years of age, the brain keeps changing long afterward.

We are wired to value things more when we work hard at attaining them — even if, objectively, they aren’t worth that much.

We all have a place in our lives where we look the other way and pretend everything is fine. It’s a built-in excuse to act selfishly.

Lucid dreamers may have “privileged access to their inner world,” with “heightened awareness… to the outside world.”