the nerve blog |
Isolation: Why we need others to function
Some peace and quiet might be nice, but too much may actually harm us. Humans are naturally social animals: we build communities, create teams, and all around like to be around others who share similar ideas with us. The aspect of interacting with others, discussing topics, or even criticizing others all are different forms of […]
Brain-synching: What Happens When You Converse with Other People
Over-used expressions like “on the same page” or “same wavelength” may actually have some physiological truth behind them. When two people are having a conversation or listening to the same story, it makes sense that they’d be using similar parts of their brain, but the question is just how similar this activation is. Drexel and […]
Science of Happiness: What Makes Us Truly Happy?
Happiness, by definition, is often the feeling of contentment or pleasure in doing something you like. However, the formal definition of happiness and what it truly is may differ. In one study, the Harvard Department of Psychology tried to determine the role of morality in happiness. The participants were given an example of a hypothetical person named “Tom”, […]
Sleep & Memory Consolidation
As important as it is to be productive and live a balanced life, it seems like for a great deal of people, students in particular, health comes second to term papers. I suppose it’s an occupational hazard, but it’s pretty interesting to think that despite the incredibly adverse affects on our intellect, sleep is the first […]
Why Multitasking Isn’t a Good Idea
In theory, multitasking sounds efficient. Why perform different tasks separately when you can perform them simultaneously and save time, right? In practice, however, multitasking is not as efficient as it may seem. In fact, people are terrible multitaskers; most attempts at multitasking usually only result in one’s attention switching back and forth between tasks, which […]
Study, Sleep, Repeat
This timeline will be familiar to those of you who have experienced an all-nighter. During the first 16 hours of day 1, you feel normal. Your attention span and working memory have not yet been affected. Then, around hour 17, you enter your “biological night time.” The hormone melatonin, which circulates from your brain to […]
How Artificial Intelligence is Beginning to Sense and Perceive
Visual and auditory neuroscience has been used more frequently in the new age of technology. We can see it being used when Facebook automatically identifies our faces in tagged photos or when Siri finally figures out that we want the weather for today and not asking to call your mom. Artificial intelligence is now crossing […]
Why Are You Copying Me?
Ever notice someone, friend or stranger, subconsciously mimic your behavior during a conversation? Ever notice yourself doing the same? If so, you may be wondering why this happens. Inside your brain, there are specific neurons called “mirror neurons,” and research from over the past decade suggests that these neurons could possibly be responsible for our […]
Anhedonia: Understanding the Lack of Feeling
The inability to feel pleasure from any kind of activity that is normally enjoyed by the individual is present in many psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia and depression. The Greeks named this symptom ‘anhedonia.’ From music, eating, playing and even sex, anhedonia can cause those who have it to feel no pleasure from those […]
Fear and Why We Enjoy it
Fear. It’s something all humans share in their arsenal of emotions and reactions. It’s a survival mechanism that we’ve evolved to have, and it’s what has kept us alive for close to up to 200 millennia. It’s a feeling that we both dread and revel in nowadays, especially during every spooky Halloween season. But why […]