10–12 hours of meditation training can improve daily-life emotional regulation

Med­i­ta­tion Appears to Pro­duce Endur­ing Changes in Emo­tion­al Pro­cess­ing in the Brain (Sci­ence Dai­ly): “A new study has found that par­tic­i­pat­ing in an 8‑week med­i­ta­tion train­ing pro­gram can have mea­sur­able effects on how the brain func­tions even when some­one is not active­ly meditating…While neu­roimag­ing stud­ies have found that med­i­ta­tion train­ing appeared to decrease acti­va­tion of the…

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On Music, Dopamine, and Making Sense of Sound

Daniel Lev­itin, in This Is Your Brain On Music, sug­gests the fol­low­ing sound exper­i­ment. Sit­u­ate your­self some­place where you can close your eyes and focus on the sounds around you. When you open your eyes, write down each sound you heard and the object that made that sound. If you are in a rel­a­tive­ly quiet…

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More Friends, Bigger Brain

Editor’s Note: We are pleased to bring you this arti­cle by Sian Beilock, thanks to our col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Greater Good Mag­a­zine. (Pic by Leigh Wells) Ever won­der why some peo­ple have more friends than oth­ers? Why some run in large and com­plex social cir­cles while oth­ers have a small group of acquain­tances? There are…

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Brain Quiz: Do You Have a Brain?

Have you already read The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness? Let’s see… 1. Pick the only part of your body that does not con­tain fat: a. Arm b. Thigh c. Brain d. None Answer: d) Fats are also present in the brain: in neu­rons’ mem­branes to keep them flex­i­ble. These fats are the omega 3 and omega 6 fatty…

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