Easing Brain Fatigue With a Walk in the Park
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS Scientists have known for some time that the human brain’s ability to stay calm and focused is limited and can be overwhelmed by the constant noise and hectic, jangling demands of city living, sometimes resulting in a condition informally known as brain fatigue. With brain fatigue, you are easily distracted, forgetful and mentally flighty … Read more
Corridors of the Mind
ARCHITECTS HAVE BEEN talking for years about “biophilic” design, “evidence based” design, design informed by the work of psychologists. But last May, at the profession’s annual convention, John Zeisel and fellow panelists were trying to explain neuroscience to a packed ballroom. The late-afternoon session pushed well past the end of the day; questions just kept coming. … Read more
Visual Emotions
Found @ adriennetarver.blogspot.com Today I came across the website, Emotionally Vague, it’s a project by graphic designer Orlagh O’Brien to visually document how we feel different emotions. He gathered data from about 500 people and charted their emotions this using words, colors and line. What I found most interesting was how close Love is to Anger. It’s … Read more
Why Movies Like Oscar-Winning ‘Undefeated’ Make Grown Men (and Women) Cry
The newly minted Oscar winner for best documentary, Undefeated, has left many critics gushing—with praise, but also tears. The true-life sports tale follows a struggling high school football team in a poor area of Memphis, Tennessee, whose fortunes begin to turn under the guidance of a devoted and determined coach. The emotional story has reduced folks … Read more
How meditation can reshape our brains (and revisiting neuroplasticity)
I learned some of this at MARC (at UCLA) and found it fascinating. Neuroplasticity is visited in this video. I often post about neuroplasticity and how that concept allows us to understand that we can heal and change our health and wellbeing by changing our brains. Neuroscientist Sara Lazar’s amazing brain scans show meditation can … Read more
Brain Scans Predict Subjective Beauty
When we find something aesthetically pleasing, the sensory areas of the brain light up, and the more beautiful we find, say, a piece of art, the greater the brain activity in certain regions, a new study shows. By further investigating the connection between humans’ subjective preferences and brain activity, scientists will someday be able to pinpoint … Read more
Learn To Listen To What Your Body Is Saying
I enjoy reading articles that recommend I get a massage… Our bodies hold all of the information we need to function at our best, but too often we ignore their messages and plow ahead with what our minds tell us. Because most of us are taught from an early age to focus on external demands, … Read more
Fear Helps You Appreciate Abstract Art, Study Finds
Article by Amy Lee @ the Huffington Post The next time you’re having trouble appreciating Jackson Pollock, try seeing a horror movie first. According to a new study, feeling fear may actually help people to better engage with abstract art. In the study, which used 85 Brooklyn College students as a sample, participants were assigned … Read more
Neuroscience: the new face of warfare
I find this scary and horrifying. (Via Reuters) – Directed energy weapons that use wave beams to cause pain, and electrical brain stimulation that boosts a soldier’s combat ability – it may sound like science fiction warfare, but experts say advances in neuroscience mean it’s on the horizon. Rapid progress in the ability to map … Read more
