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Why You Get Your Best Ideas in the Shower
Social media is rife with groups dedicated to sharing so-called “shower thoughts.” … The proper balance between engagement and disengagement is turbocharged in the shower. John Kounios, professor of psychology at Drexel University and co-author
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Images in the Mind’s Eye Are Quick Sketches That Lack Simple, Real-World Details
Here were the simple instructions given by a Harvard University assistant professor to people participating in a recent cognitive science study: “Imagine the following scene. Visualize it in your mind’s eye, as vividly as you
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The Difference Between Speaking and Thinking
Language is commonly understood as the instrument of thought. People “talk it out” and “speak their mind,” follow “trains of thought” or “streams of consciousness.” Some of the pinnacles of human creation—music, geometry, computer programming—are
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The Puzzling Gap Between How Old You Are and How Old You Think You Are
This past thanksgiving, I asked my mother how old she was in her head. She didn’t pause, didn’t look up, didn’t even ask me to repeat the question, which would have been natural, given that
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6 Ways You’re Thinking Wrong–and What You Can Do About Them
WHEN I WAS a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, doing research in cognitive psychology, our lab group went out every now and then for nachos and beers. It was a great
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3 Common Thinking Traps and How to Avoid Them, According to a Yale Psychologist
The mind is a tricky thing. It can lead us to believe that we can confidently sing “Bohemian Rhapsody” at karaoke even though we haven’t heard the song in years, or that one terrible review
