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To Stay Sharp as You Age, Learn New Skills
In most adults, learning and thinking plateau and then begin to decline after age 30 or 40. People start to perform worse in tests of cognitive abilities such as processing speed, the rate at which someone
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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.
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Want to Be More Successful? Neuroscience Shows Embracing a Growth Mindset Actually Changes How Your Brain Functions
First, some background. If you aren’t familiar, research on achievement and success by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck shows that most people embrace — whether consciously or not — one of two mental perspectives where talent is concerned: The outcomes of embracing a fixed
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Alison Gopnik Receives 2024 Rumelhart Prize in Cognitive Science
The award is named after David Rumelhart, known for his contributions to the formal analysis of human cognition. Gopnik (shown with her grandchild): “The reason I study children is to try to make very general discoveries about how the mind works.”
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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
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2 Reasons Why We Need to Spend More Time Thinking About Nothing, According to a Psychologist
According to a classic study published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, it is likely that the more we use our brains, the less age-related cognitive decline we experience. But what does this really mean? Does it mean that
