Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

riddles

Study: Across all ideological groups, higher cognitive ability and intellectual humility predicts support for free speech

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Free­dom of Speech: A Right for Every­body, or Only for Like-Mind­ed Peo­ple? (Het­ero­dox Academy):

Free­dom of speech is often con­sid­ered key to a well-func­tion­al democ­ra­cy. In many coun­tries, free­dom of speech is con­sid­ered a more impor­tant demo­c­ra­t­ic val­ue than reg­u­lar elec­tions. But do peo­ple gen­uine­ly believe in the virtues of open debates by sup­port­ing free­dom of speech for every social group? Or do they sup­port free speech only for their own groups? In a recent­ly pub­lished paper in Social Psy­cho­log­i­cal and Per­son­al­i­ty Sci­ence, we aimed to answer these ques­tions, and we sought to explore whether high­er cog­ni­tive abil­i­ty was asso­ci­at­ed with more prin­ci­pled posi­tions on free speech. We expect­ed that peo­ple with high­er cog­ni­tive abil­i­ties would be more inclined to embrace the open exchange of ideas, where­in view­points can be scru­ti­nized and chal­lenged in order to fos­ter informed deci­sion mak­ing and knowledge…

[Read more…] about Study: Across all ide­o­log­i­cal groups, high­er cog­ni­tive abil­i­ty and intel­lec­tu­al humil­i­ty pre­dicts sup­port for free speech

Update: Moderate lifetime drinking may lead to lower Alzheimer-related beta amyloid deposits in the brain

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Time for a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter.

#1. First of all, it’s not all bad news this month. Study finds that mod­er­ate life­time drink­ing may lead to low­er Alzheimer-relat­ed beta amy­loid deposits in the brain

#2. And, talk about per­son­al­ized med­i­cine! This fas­ci­nat­ing study show­ing how brain imag­ing (fMRI) + machine learn­ing + inten­sive, non-inva­sive neu­rostim­u­la­tion = tar­get­ed treat­ments that can max­i­mize effi­ca­cy and min­i­mize side effects: Rein­vent­ing depres­sion treat­ment via tran­scra­nial mag­net­ic brain stim­u­la­tion (TMS)

#3. Also, not a minute too soon … Med­i­ta­tion apps have gone main­stream in the covid-19 era and Dig­i­tal health start-ups raised a record $3.1 bil­lion in Q1; focus will like­ly evolve from providers to con­sumers and employers

#4. Fyi, a very time­ly vir­tu­al event com­ing Tues­day April 28th, online: Explore strate­gies and tools to boost men­tal well­be­ing dur­ing (and after) Covid-19

#5. Now, “While Pear has an advan­tage over the com­pe­ti­tion in that its prod­ucts are backed by ran­dom­ized clin­i­cal tri­als, physi­cians and health plans are still work­ing out how to pre­scribe and pay for dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tics.” The FDA clears Som­ryst, Pear’s dig­i­tal ther­a­peu­tic to treat chron­ic insomnia

#6. Net net, now is the time for indi­vid­ual and col­lec­tive action to shift to a health­i­er “new nor­mal” for all: 3 ways to pro­tect your men­tal health dur­ing –and after– COVID-19 (in Span­ish: Tres hábitos de higiene men­tal para vencer al COVID-19 y crear un futuro más salud­able). Want more? Enjoy these Three tips for wise minds to calm coro­n­avirus anxiety

#7. A small but impor­tant study for that hope­ful near future when uni­ver­si­ties and col­leges reopen their doors: Study finds mixed results of Adder­all as cog­ni­tive enhancer (seems to boost emo­tion more than cognition)

#8. But, first things first. “The Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive” reached #1 on the pop charts in 1977. Maybe it was the beat, maybe it was John Travolta’s danc­ing. Or maybe it’s that the Gibb broth­ers’ cen­tral lyric is quite lit­er­al­ly always play­ing in our head. Keep­ing us safe —that is, “stayin’ alive ”— is the pri­ma­ry mis­sion of the brain”

Enough with coro­n­avirus out­break. Any­thing else going on? Yes!

#9. The Right to Per­son­al Iden­ti­ty. The Right to Free Will. The Right to Men­tal Pri­va­cy. The Right to Equal Access to Men­tal Aug­men­ta­tion. The Right to Pro­tec­tion from Algo­rith­mic Bias. Will these five Neu­roR­ights help har­ness emerg­ing neu­rotech­nolo­gies for the com­mon good?

#10. “Today, the sci­en­tif­ic inves­ti­ga­tion of tran­scen­dent expe­ri­ences is, in my view, one of the most excit­ing fron­tiers in the sci­ence of well-being.” Tran­scend­ing Maslow’s famous “hier­ar­chy of needs” through Maslow’s own research on Peak Experiences

#11. You CAN have your cake and eat it too: Here’s a brain teas­er to stim­u­late your men­tal imagery, spa­tial rota­tion … and appetite

#12. Ques­tion: My first thought after con­grat­u­lat­ing myself on being so clever about some­thing? Tease your brain with these eight fun rid­dles…

 

Wish­ing you and yours a great month of May,

 

The Sharp­Brains Team

Tease your brain with these eight fun riddles

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Q: My first thought after con­grat­u­lat­ing myself on being so clever about something?
A: “How can I have been so dumb about that for so long!”

Q: Who is hard­er to for­give than any­one, for tru­ly dumb behaviour?
A:  [Read more…] about Tease your brain with these eight fun riddles

Latest brain research, tools and teasers to think outside the mental health status quo box

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Time for a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing a range of  research find­ings, resources, brain teasers and rid­dles to help trans­late emerg­ing neu­ro­science into real-world appli­ca­tions and improve our col­lec­tive brain & men­tal health.

New thinking:

New research:

New tools:

Fun brain teasers:

 

Have a great month of March,

 

The Sharp­Brains Team

Train your brain to think outside the box with these fun riddles

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– Con­cept art devel­oped for the Jun­gle Book movie by Annis Naeem

 

Q: What do our thought process­es have in com­mon with walk­ing through the jungle?
A: We only make real progress after acknowl­edg­ing going in circles.

Q: What is the worst kind of echo?
[Read more…] about Train your brain to think out­side the box with these fun riddles

12 quick brain puzzles to welcome a sharp new year

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Q: What is by far the most out­stand­ing and sur­pris­ing of all humankind’s successes?
A: Wak­ing up in the morning.

Q: Of our many tools, which is one of the most pow­er­ful, and yet the most pliable?
A: Statistics.

Q: Who insists that mind­less obe­di­ence is a sign of intelligence?
A: All of us — when refer­ring to our pets. [Read more…] about 12 quick brain puz­zles to wel­come a sharp new year