Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2661 )

• Useful Delusions

  I want to pass on to MindBlog readers some background information on the recent book "Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain" by... Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Why Does Passion Matter More in Individualistic Cultures?

  Tsai does an interesting commentary (open source) on work noted in MindBlog's recent post on an article by Li et al. Some clips: Our research finds that, becaus... Read more

  Posted on 12 April 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Psychology of Fake News

  Pennycook and Rand do a fascinating open source article in Trends in Cognitive Science on the psychology of fake news. Their highlights and summary: Recent... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Dopamine Leads to Hallucinations

  Hallucinations (perceptual experiences without external stimuli) seen in conditions such as schizophrenia are thought to result from giving too much weight to... Read more

  Posted on 07 April 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Dendrite-Focused Framework for Understanding the Actions of Ketamine and...

  I pass on the highlioght points from an interesting review (open source, with a useful graphic) of how the similar therapeutic effects of ketamine and... Read more

  Posted on 05 April 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• False Memories Can Be Reversed Without Damage to True Memories.

  Oeberst et al. demonstrate the effectiveness of source sensitization, which involves alerting participants that their memories could come from external... Read more

  Posted on 01 April 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Case Against Reality

  Over the past year I've dipped into and out of Donald Hoffman's ideas several times, looking back at Geffer's article in Granta Magazine, Hoffman's TED talk, an... Read more

  Posted on 30 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Plasticity During Our Development of Mapping Time on to Space.

  A previous mindblog post has pointed to work showing how culture shapes our spatial conceptions of time. Starr and Srinivasan now address the development of... Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Measuring Happiness in Small Steps.

  I find this Brook's self help essay - that I came across while browsing the news during this morning's coffee - to be a nice brief tonic. Read more

  Posted on 25 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Brain Mechanism by Which Testosterone Reduces Generosity

  Interesting work from Jianxin Ou et al.: Significance Testosterone is associated with aggressive behavior in both animals and humans. Read more

  Posted on 24 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Four Distinct Patterns of Aging - What is Your 'ageotype'?

  An interesting piece from Lanese describs work showing how aging unfolds at different rates in different tissues: The research team behind the study sorted 43... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Points on Having a Self and Free Will.

  A recent podcast by Sam Harris summarizing his ideas on the question of whether we have free will motivates me to do a further summary here…There is a broad... Read more

  Posted on 22 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Passion Matters but Not Equally Everywhere.

  From Li et al.: Significance In three large-scale datasets representing adolescents from 59 societies across the globe, we find evidence of a systematic cultura... Read more

  Posted on 19 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Hierarchical Dynamics as a Macroscopic Organizing Principle of the Human Brain

  Raut, Snyder, and Raichle do a open source description of general principles describing the functional organization of brain activity timescales that vary... Read more

  Posted on 18 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How About Another Global Conspiracy Theory?..... Multinational...

  I pass on this great clip from Mark Manson's weekly newletter: Watch any cheesy Hollywood action flick from the 90s or early 2000s and the villain is likely som... Read more

  Posted on 17 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Traces of Psychedelics Make You Feel Good, but So Does Placebo.

  From Balázs Szigeti et al.: Microdosing is the practice of regularly using low doses of psychedelic drugs. Anecdotal reports suggest that microdosing enhances... Read more

  Posted on 16 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• You Should Probably End a Conversation Sooner Than You Think.

  From Mastroianni et al.: Significance Social connection is essential to physical and psychological well-being, and conversation is the primary means by which... Read more

  Posted on 15 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Turn Your Living Room into a Neuro Lab for Marketing Research....

  MindBlog gets quite a few jaw-dropping emails. I'll spare you the email responding to a MindBlog post on a model of societal collapse that suggested I... Read more

  Posted on 12 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Changing Basic Personality Traits with a Smartphone App?

  A group of Swiss researchers has taken direct aim at trying to modify, in a digital intervention experiment with ~1,500 participants, the basic OCEAN personalit... Read more

  Posted on 11 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Evidence for an Influence of Meditation on Immune-related Pathways?

  I pass on the abstract, below, and also the entire text of a study by Chaix et al.:Highlights • We explored the methylome of trained meditators vs... Read more

  Posted on 10 March 2021 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE