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The Journal of Neuroscience Online

The Journal of Neuroscience Online

What Multitasking Does To Our Brains I can definitely understand how focusing on one task at a time allows you to be more productive. However, I also believe that you can benefit from taking a break after ~an hour of working on something, and then doing something else. Making progress on multiple different tasks in this way provides a similar feeling of high productivity, but also allows you to get a feel for exactly how much work you have on your plate. Obviously, not every task can be broken up into hour-long work sessions, but if I can diversify what I'm working on, I won't get bored of my work.In terms of making to-do lists, I've found that just making the old-fashioned, linear lists don't quite cut it for me anymore. One method I've found quite useful is the Eisenhower method, which is a 2x2 matrix that organizes your tasks by urgency v.s. importance.

How do you really know what time it is? This seems backwards: "Let's start with caffeine, which makes your internal clock go faster. If your brain normally stores 60 pulses for 60 seconds, your brain on caffeine stores 100 pulses. Two things happen as a result. If normally I do 60 pulses, 1 per second, but caffeine makes it so I take 100 samples in a second, then that second will seem longer, not shorter, when I remember it. Slower internal clocks would speed up time, because relatively, I would have less reference points for any time interval that passed compared to before, and thus it would seem like more time had passed than actually had. This combined with uniqueness of experience is likely the main 2 causes for it seeming like time in general goes by faster as we get older.

For cellist, the music lingers after memory has faded A concert cellist whose memory was virtually wiped out by a brain infection may no longer remember the names of the composers whose work he once played before admiring audiences. But he can remember and recognize virtually every note of their compositions, and even more remarkably, can learn and commit to memory new pieces of music he did not know before a raging case of herpes encephalitis robbed him of his ability to recognize most of his family, recall details of his homeland or remember details of his own life before his illness. The findings from this remarkable case study, presented Sunday in Washington at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting, suggest that musical memory may be formed, stored and retrieved using an entirely different set of brain structures from those used for verbal or experiential memories. Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

What cannabis actually does to your brain Like with all herbal remedies, they are just as serious as man-made meds but weed won't put a rational person in a psych ward. Yes, it can. I've seen it happen. There's also this episode of The Nature of Things (a Canadian science documentary program) that talks about it: [www.cbc.ca] [www.cbc.ca] Apparently there's a genetic marker that can cause an otherwise healthy, if sensitive person, to undergo a psychotic break with the overuse of marijuana. Ok, out of the millions upon millions of people who have used marijuana, how many do you know in a psych ward? If you are referring to folks who overuse, like alcoholics, drug addicts, quadruple espresso drinkers, pack of smokes a day smokers, or 10 hr internet surfers, then you are referring to individuals with problems....not a problematic substance. I agree genetically altering marijuana to be over stuffed with THC is bad, but a natural, untampered plant with it's original levels of THC is fine. I just ask, please stop blaming the marijuana.

10 More Common Faults in Human Thought Humans This list is a follow up to Top 10 Common Faults in Human Thought. Thanks for everyone’s comments and feedback; you have inspired this second list! It is amazing that with all these biases, people are able to actually have a rational thought every now and then. The confirmation bias is the tendency to look for or interpret information in a way that confirms beliefs. The Availability heuristic is gauging what is more likely based on vivid memories. Illusion of Control is the tendency for individuals to believe they can control or at least influence outcomes that they clearly have no influence on. Interesting Fact: when playing craps in a casino, people will throw the dice hard when they need a high number and soft when they need a low number. The Planning fallacy is the tendency to underestimate the time needed to complete tasks. Interesting Fact: “Realistic pessimism” is a phenomenon where depressed or overly pessimistic people more accurately predict task completion estimations.

Neurophilosophy Scales and emotions See also a post about making chords from scales. So maybe you want to write a song or an instrumental in a particular mood or style, and you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the scales. Here’s a handy guide to the commonly used scales in Western pop, rock, jazz, blues and so on. Click each image to play the scale right in your browser with the aQWERTYon. These scales have a major third (E in the key of C), which makes them feel happy or bright. Major scale Happy; can be majestic or sentimental when slow. Mixolydian mode Bluesy, rock; can also be exotic/modal. Lydian mode Ethereal, dreamy, futuristic. Lydian dominant mode Also known as the overtone scale or acoustic scale, because it is close to the first seven pitches in the natural overtone series. Phrygian dominant mode Exotic, Middle Eastern, Jewish. Harmonic major scale Majestic, mysterious. These scales have a flat third (E-flat in the key of C), which gives them a darker and more tragic feel. Natural minor scale (Aeolian mode) Dorian mode

Free Music Theory Worksheets! Material on this page is free.NEW! you can now consult an index of terms used in these worksheets.Also explore a page of worksheet extras: Worksheet Answers, Test Templates and Flash Presentations. Here are some testimonials from music teachers about these workbook chapters: I have been using your fantastic music theory sheets and PDF downloads to teach high school piano theory to 28 students per class, all of whom are at different levels of study and accomplishment. I am excited about the way my students have received this material. Joyce T. Hi, I am a High School teacher in California and I found your Theory Website. Material on this page is free.NEW! Here are some testimonials from music teachers about these workbook chapters: I have been using your fantastic music theory sheets and PDF downloads to teach high school piano theory to 28 students per class, all of whom are at different levels of study and accomplishment. Joyce T.

How Neuroscience Can Teach You To Lie The human brain is a pretty amazing for a wet, grey sponge. It has all the tools to predict what’s going to happen in the future, as well as generating completely fictional worlds. These two things go hand-in-hand to give us the ability to plan ahead and create great works of art. It’s also the reason we are made to lie. Common lies about liesIf you’ve ever watched any cop show on TV then you have a pretty good idea of how people behave when they lie. Lie 1#: When you lie you end up talking more and faster as well as showing signs of vocal tension, and nervousness. So that’s it then? Though the analogy isn’t perfect, let’s think of the workload on the brain as much higher when it’s reading a book, having to create all the images in your mind’s eye, than when it’s passively taking the story in when watching the movie version. The reason passively taking it in is so much easier than creating reality is probably related to the evolutionary need for the brain to operate efficiently.

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