In the the British journal, Chronicle of Higher Education, Kevin Dutton wrote about a study conducted by Jeffrey Zacks and his team at the Dynamic Cognition Laboratory, at Washington University in St. Louis. With the aid of fMRI, Zacks and his co-authors peered deep inside the brains of volunteers as they read stories.
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TRUMP VOTERS FOR BERNIE – SANDERS VOTERS FOR DONALD? WHAT??? Part I
How is it possible that some voters currently pledging their loyalties to Sanders or Trump claim that they would vote for the other’s candidate before casting their ballot for Clinton? What do supporters of a candidate that stands for:
eliminating student debt, creating income equality, liberal immigration policies, and environmental protection,have in common with a candidate who apparently has no interest in any of those issues, but emphasizes:
keeping immigrants out, bringing back off-shore factory jobs, no special concern for gender, civil, or racial equality, and eliminating the EPA?Click to read more and comment
How Positive Media Might Be Good For You
I talk a lot on this site about the dangerous side of media, especially violent media, and how it can jack up our dopamine levels to produce states of dopamania and dopamine addiction. However, nothing is black and white. As Sophia H.
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Why is it So Fun to Be Scared?
Every year, more than 300 million people — more than the population of the United States — ride roller coasters at U.S. amusement parks, generating more than $9 billion in revenue, according to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, a trade group.
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FOCUS IS LIKE A MUSCLE – USE IT OR LOSE IT
Do you have trouble focusing on a single task for longer than five minutes? Feel deeply uncomfortable when you forget your phone at home and are unable to check texts, instagram, and facebook throughout the day? Find yourself chronically distracted? You’re not alone.
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SANTA’S CURE FOR HOLIDAY DEPRESSION!
Holidays got you down? Are you more into bah humbug, than the jolly ho, ho, ho? Here are some “Whys” about what’s going on, along with some “How’s” for putting more jolly into this season, and all of life!
It’s true that happiness can be influenced by your genes.
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ONE SMILE = 2,000 CHOCOLATE BARS, or $25,000!
A group of researchers in the UK working with Hewlett-Packard , discovered that smiling stimulates our brain’s reward mechanisms in very powerful ways.
Depending on whose smile you see, the researchers found that one smile can be as pleasurable and stimulating as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate!
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WHY DID I DO THAT?
By Donna-Christine (D.C.) McGuire
There is one Jekyll and Hyde brain chemical that if understood and used intentionally could dramatically improve life on this planet, for everyone. In the dark about dopamine? It’s an opioid cousin of cocaine and amphetamines, and with similar addictive rewards.
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ELECTRICAL SHOCK RATHER THAN TIME ALONE WITH THOUGHTS!
Most people are just not comfortable in their own heads, In fact, most would rather be doing anything, even possibly hurting themselves, rather than doing nothing or sitting alone with their thoughts, even for a brief time!
During several of Professor Tim Wilson’s experiments at the University of Virginia and Harvard, participants were asked to sit alone in a room at a laboratory with no cell phone, reading materials, or anything else, to distract them, and to spend up to 15 minutes – depending on the study – focused on their own thoughts.
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YOU COULD BE DOPAMINE-WHIPPED if:
QUIZ Will Work for Dopamine!
___ You are uncomfortable or bored if you have to go for an hour without checking your phone, listening to music, or turning on the television, computer, or gaming device
___ You cannot remember the last time you got through any meeting or social interaction without looking at your Smartphone
___ You get annoyed when someone asks you to turn off your Smartphone or leave it at home when you go out to dinner, take a long weekend, or are with your kids
___ You feel most alive when you are making risky trades or wagers, getting away with something, or looking at porn
___ You are edgy, prone to aggression, and deliberately create conflict to provoke excitement
___ You are overweight
___ You exercise compulsively
___ You love engaging in or watching extreme sports
___ You play video games until they compromise sleep, relationships, your job, or achievement at school
___ You have to overtake anyone in front of you whether it is on the road or at the office
___ You constantly feel on guard about the behavior of others
___ You are chronically stressed, frustrated, and anxious
___ You are a workaholic
___ You find it difficult to maintain romantic relationships
___ You prefer fast food to a sit-down meal
___ You are a news and information junkie
___ You spend beyond your means
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TIRED OF BEING EXHAUSTED?
If you’re constantly in the red-zone with stress, here’s what’s likely to be happening!
#1 The first filter in the brain is the thalamus, which makes an instantaneous call on whether something is a possible (imagined or real) threat demanding instinctual action to be orchestrated by the Reptilian and Animal Brain, or intellectual processing in the Human Brain.
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WHY WE’RE ADDICTED TO OVEREATING, WORRY, DEVICES, MUSIC, and SO MANY OTHER TEMPTATIONS! by D.C. McGuire
We love music for much the same reason we can be drawn to sex, drugs, worrying, gambling, video gaming, and fatty, sugary food. All, to differing degrees, cause our brains to release dopamine, a naturally occurring neurochemical, capable of addicting us to its pleasures.
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WHY ARE WE LOWERING THE CONFEDERATE FLAG AND RAISING MARRIAGE EQUALITY – NOW?
by D.C. McGuire
Given our long track record for conveniently looking the other way and letting sticky issues slide as long as possible, this has been a surprising and hopeful time for many Americans. As humans, our tipping point for new thinking and behavior usually occurs with a kick in the pants in the form of some unbearable stressor or tragedy that makes continued inaction impossible.
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Brain Inflammation Affects Thinking and Emotions
Scientists have known for a while now that inflammation contributes to conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. But lately they have been turning up evidence that inflammation can affect the brain more directly and acutely, and might underlie a wider range of problems, from impaired cognition during infections to depression and even schizophrenia.
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REVITALIZE YOUR BRAIN AND BODY – AT THE SAME TIME
Scientists are now able to explain how the aging process can be delayed for a several decades, without demanding practices, or costly medical procedures.
The process that keeps us at our best is neurogenesis, which is the body’s ability to grow new synapses and neurons (the essential “mechanical” equipment) in our brains.
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