Science of habits Every habit starts with an action, repeatedly performed in the same context. At first, the action comes from conscious choice and intention. Let’s say you’ve just joined a new team at work. You’ve discovered that the best way to socialize is to go out for a cigarette during coffee breaks. When the behavior is performed over and over in the same conditions, the context cues and the action become mentally associated. With time, these associations grow stronger. The action becomes an ingrained habit. When the same cues appear in the environment, the behavior is triggered automat ..read more

Popular mistakes When faced with a chunk of material to memorize, most students go for two simple methods: repeatedly rereading the material and highlighting. These techniques appeal to students because they are easy to use. They don’t require any training nor investing any extra effort beyond reading the material. But at the same time, these popular techniques are not effective in making the studied material stick. The problem is that both methods are passive. Reading the chapter requires little mental effort other than staying focused. Even when students are highlighting some portions of the ..read more

Searching for truth If you want a simple answer, Yoga is an ancient mystical tradition that originated in India. At first glance, mysticism may seem similar to religion, as it seeks to attain higher truth or getting in contact with the more spiritual aspects of life. The way it is different from religion, though, is in that it aims to attain a first-hand, personal experience, rather than to follow dogmas or adhere to social hierarchies. Renee Weber compared mysticism to science in a simple yet elegant metaphor: science is external empiricism, and mysticism is internal empiricism. While science ..read more

Mental health does not only imply the absence of mental illness. It also encompasses aspects like the ability to thrive, feel connected, and live a purposeful life. Advice on how we can improve our mental well-being is everywhere — from motivational talks, social media posts, and self-help books. Without a doubt, there is an increasing demand for what makes us cope with the inherent complexity of life. Yet not all mental health advice is equal. On one side, there are opinions based on anecdotal stories and personal experiments. And on the opposite spectrum, we have evidence-based information t ..read more

Looking for trouble All our brain functions evolved for a reason. Following this logic, having nightmares should either come from a useful trait that increases our chances of survival… or from some adaptive function that has backfired. Let’s have a closer look at the role of fearful emotions. It is certainly not pleasant to be anxious, but it could be useful. From an evolutionary perspective, anxiety is a functional response to potentially threatening situations. It is beneficial for survival to have a low threshold for detecting threats, as false positives are less costly than false negatives ..read more