-
How to Learn Something New Every Day
Many people consider learning to be an active endeavor, one that takes place in a classroom with a teacher and homework and tests. This intentional form of education is just one way to acquire knowledge.
-
Images in the Mind’s Eye Are Quick Sketches That Lack Simple, Real-World Details
Here were the simple instructions given by a Harvard University assistant professor to people participating in a recent cognitive science study: “Imagine the following scene. Visualize it in your mind’s eye, as vividly as you
-
Do We Actually ‘Hear’ Silence?
At a concert hall near Woodstock, N.Y., in August 1952, the pianist David Tudor played John Cage’s three-movement composition 4’33″. Doing so did not require enormous jumps with the right hand. Most people could play the
-
People Generalize Expectations of Pain to Conceptually Related Tasks
Avoiding experiences associated with pain can be an adaptive behavior, but generalized avoidance can become problematic, even potentially culminating in disability.
-
That Tip-Of-The-Tongue Feeling May Be an Illusion
Sometimes you know there’s just the right word for something, but your brain can’t find it. That frustrating feeling is called the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state—and for decades psychologists assumed it was caused by a partial
-
People Differ Widely in Their Understanding of Even a Simple Concept Such as the Word ‘Penguin’
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word “penguin” as “any of various erect short-legged flightless aquatic birds (family Spheniscidae) of the southern hemisphere.” That description seems simple enough, but definitions are not what people have in
