Some experts believe that certain cognitive processes and even mental states extend outside of the individual mind, often into the physical world. For example, an Alzheimer’s patient might write down important information in a notebook that they could then refer back to, or someone might rely on their spouse or a group of friends to help them recall important details or creatively problem-solve. In addition, most people turn to the internet as a source of knowledge they don’t have readily available in their own heads ..read more

Some experts believe that certain cognitive processes and even mental states extend outside of the individual mind, often into the physical world. For example, an Alzheimer’s patient might write down important information in a notebook that they could then refer back to, or someone might rely on their spouse or a group of friends to help them recall important details or creatively problem-solve. In addition, most people turn to the internet as a source of knowledge they don’t have readily available in their own heads ..read more

The so-called “Trolley Problem” tests people’s moral decision-making by forcing them to choose quickly between: 1) doing nothing and letting five people die, and 2) killing a bystander to save five lives. There is no “right” solution, as either way, innocent people will die. Thus, people tend to default to one of two philosophical approaches— insists that killing is wrong, so non-interference is preferable, even when more people die; , on the other hand, favors the option with the best possible outcome (in this case, killing the bystander to save more lives). In real life, though, even if it’s ..read more

It depends on how you define "illusion." Psychologist and Michael Graziano developed his Schema Theory of consciousness to explore this question. Essentially, he argues that the human brain evolved an oversimplified model of how it processes sensory input and directs attention (called a schema) so as not to get overwhelmed by the physical details of what’s happening. Graziano suggests that our subjective inner experience (or consciousness) only feels nonphysical , because over the years, our brains have adopted schemas as a type of mental shortcut, so we’re not aware of all the physical p ..read more

In addition to sensory ways of experiencing the world around them, people have this first-person perspective of their lives that cannot be rationalized away so easily. Some call it consciousness or the human “soul,” but no one has found an evidence-based explanation for it. Chalmers coined the phrase in 1995 to explain the phenomenon ..read more