Could I be wrong? Exploring cognitive bias, curiosity, intellectual humility, and lifelong learning

By SharpBrains | November 30, 2021

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing eight time­ly sci­en­tif­ic and indus­try news plus a few fun teasers to appre­ci­ate our unique human brains. #1. Could I be wrong? Explor­ing research on cog­ni­tive bias, curios­i­ty, intel­lec­tu­al humil­i­ty, and life­long learn­ing “None of us thinks that our beliefs and atti­tudes are incor­rect; if we…

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On cognitive reframing and biases, stress, mental health tech, Aduhelm backlash, Britney Spears, and more

By SharpBrains | August 31, 2021

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing this time nine sci­en­tif­ic reports and indus­try devel­op­ments to help pro­mote life­long brain and men­tal health. #1. To low­er stress lev­els and improve prob­lem-solv­ing, prac­tice cog­ni­tive refram­ing instead of vent­ing “… vent­ing like­ly doesn’t soothe anger as much as aug­ment it. That’s because encour­ag­ing peo­ple to…

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Study examines common cognitive biases (have you tried this brain teaser?) and ways to mitigate them

By SharpBrains | August 30, 2021

A fas­ci­nat­ing new study, Tver­sky and Kahneman’s Cog­ni­tive Illu­sions: Who Can Solve Them, and Why?, probes into the cog­ni­tive “heuris­tics and bias­es” researched by Daniel Kah­ne­man and Amos Tver­sky since the late 1960s. If you have nev­er encoun­tered the “Lin­da brain teas­er” before, please give it a try: Lin­da is 31 years old, sin­gle, out­spo­ken, and very…

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On neurons, lifelong learning, meditation, humility, “empty brain calories” and more

By SharpBrains | October 30, 2020

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing 12 fas­ci­nat­ing neu­ro­science find­ings and open questions–and the beau­ti­ful image above. #1. “With this image I want to illus­trate the large advances made in imag­ing meth­ods over the past cen­tu­ry, allow­ing mod­ern neu­ro­sci­en­tists to look at neu­rons in ways that Cajal could have only dreamed of.” –…

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Quick brain teaser to stretch (and retrain) your mind

By SharpBrains | October 18, 2019

___________ This is Ellen, a sin­gle and bright woman. When she was a stu­dent —in high school and in col­lege too— Ellen was deeply involved in envi­ron­men­tal issues, and also par­tic­i­pat­ed in social jus­tice protests. Now it’s 2019, and Ellen is 31-year-old. Ques­tion: Which of the fol­low­ing state­ments are more prob­a­ble regard­ing Ellen’s occu­pa­tion today,…

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23. Quick brainteaser to test your cognitive skills…and biases

By SharpBrains | January 20, 2015

— Brain teas­er: Please con­sider Lin­da, a 31-year-old woman, sin­gle and bright. When she was a stu­dent, in high school and in col­lege too, she was deeply involved in social jus­tice issues, and also par­tic­i­pated in envi­ron­men­tal protests. Which is more prob­a­ble about Linda’s occu­pa­tion today?

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