How does a song get “stuck” in your head? The repetitive, catchy verse from a song that your brain continually replays is known as an earworm. A 2020 study found that 97% of American college students experience earworms for over an hour. While songwriters and advertisers take advantage of earworms to increase engagement and make […]
Earworms: The musical itch Read More »
How does a song get “stuck” in your head? The repetitive, catchy verse from a song that your brain continually replays is known as an earworm. A 2020 study found that 97% of American college students experience earworms for over an hour. While songwriters and advertisers take advantage of earworms to increase engagement and make
Earworms: The musical itch Read More »
Music has been a powerful vessel for conveying feelings, messages, and stories for hundreds of years. A simple tune can evoke forgotten memories, inspire creativity, or calm the soul. The connection between music and emotions is no secret. The real mystery lies in how the wiring of the brain is able to break down complex
As many parents like to advise, “Do as I say, not as I do.” This seems pretty simple, but the brain actually works directly against this expression — we are all wired to mimic what we observe. Mirror neurons are brain cells that fire in identical patterns when watching a behavior and performing that behavior.
Mirror, mirror, in the brain Read More »
Traumatic experiences leave invisible scars that often require psychological intervention for healing. Patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often report feeling unsafe living in their own bodies due to the numbness and frequent flashbacks. Boston’s Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author and leading expert on traumatic stress, argues that “trauma changes the way people perceive
The Body Keeps The Score: Immune responses to PTSD Read More »
“It wasn’t logic, it was love,” said Carrie Bradshaw, the main character of “Sex and the City.” after she took back the man who left her at the altar. In the show, Carrie is a columnist who writes about sex, love, and relationships, all while navigating her own and her friends’ experiences dating in the
“Hello? Can you hear me?” We all know how difficult it is to hear the other person during a call with terrible cell service; everything sounds muffled, the audio keeps cutting out, and you feel as though you’re underwater. For individuals with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD), this is an everyday reality. ANSD is an
Sound starts early: Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder Read More »
Whether or not animals can be moral beings is an idea that puzzles scientists and philosophers to this day. The philosophical article “Animal moral psychologies” contains multiple examples of what appears to be animal morality, such as a family cat chasing a dog away from an injured child or an orca doing a tour of
Do animals have morality? Read More »
Taking a cocktail of medicines to slow the brain’s deterioration while slowly losing the ability to remember, walk, and speak, until they are trapped in isolation despite the presence of loved ones. This is the reality of millions of Americans affected by neurodegenerative diseases, and scientists are yet to find cures. While many treatments exist
Brain–computer interfaces: A spark of hope for brain disease patients Read More »