Ask the Brains, Part 1: 55 Mysteries of the Mind (Scientific American ebooks)

Scientific American, 2022. — 180 p. — ISBN 9781250121523.People behave in strange ways. We sometimes giggle when someone falls down, swear we've been to places we haven't or continue believing in something despite scientific evidence to the contrary. For more than a decade, Scientific American MIND's long-running feature "Ask the Brains" has addressed questions from our readers on the quirks and quandaries of human behavior, psychology and neurology. Here in Ask the Brains, Part 1 we've compiled some of the best and most interesting inquiries about the human brain.
Why do we do the things we do? The human brain is a marvelous, mysterious piece of evolution that on one hand empowers us to be rational, self-aware and innovative. On the other, the disciplines of psychiatry and psychology are a testament to our attempts to understand the human brain and behavior. Why do we persist in believing opinions despite scientific evidence to the contrary? What exactly is déjà vu? What causes prejudice? For more than a decade, Scientific American MIND’s long-running feature “Ask the Brains” has addressed questions like these from our readers on the quirks and quandaries of human behavior, psychology and neurology. Here in Ask the Brains, Part 1, we’ve compiled 55 of the best and most interesting inquiries on the form and structure of the brain, intelligence, learning, memory and more and have enlisted professors, instructors and other experts to provide answers that are accurate, understandable and just plain fascinating.Form & Structure
Why Does the Outer Surface of the Brain Have Folds?
Why Does the Right Cortex Control the Left Side of the Body, and Vice Versa?
What Are the Structural Differences in the Brain between Animals That Are Self-Aware and Other Vertebrates?
Why Doesn’t the Human Brain Have Pain Receptors?
When Is Half a Brain Better Than a Whole One?
How Do Connectomes Contribute to Human Cognition?
Why Do We Get “Brain Freeze” When We Eat Something Cold?
Thinking, Ideas & Beliefs
What Are Ideas?
Is “Eureka” Right?
Why Is It Impossible to Stop Thinking, to Render the Mind a Complete Blank?
Is It Possible to Think Two Thoughts Simultaneously?
Can I Learn to Think More Rationally?
Is It Possible to Use More of Our Brain?
What Happens to the Brain When We Experience Cognitive Dissonance?
Is There a Difference between the Brain of an Atheist and the Brain of a Religious Person?
Why Do People Discard Scientific Rigor in Favor of SomeoneвЂs Opinion?
What Causes Prejudice against Immigrants, and How Can It Be Tamed?
How Does Being Confident in Your Knowledge Affect the Way You Apply That Knowledge?
In the Art of Persuasion, Does a PersonвЂs Sex or Body Type Make a Difference?
What Is “Chemo Brain”?
Intelligence & Learning
As a Teacher, How Can I Help My Students to Develop Their Brains?
What Are the Best and Worst Ways to Prepare for an Exam?
How Does Background Noise Affect Our Concentration?
Do Babies Exposed to Classical Music End Up Smarter?
When It Comes to Intelligence, Does Brain Size Matter?
Is Intelligence Hereditary?
Is It True That Left-Handed People Are Smarter Than Right-Handed People?
Memory
How Are Memories Saved? Where Does the Recording Take Place, and How?
What Is the Memory Capacity of the Human Brain?
Why Did the Absence of the Corpus Callosum in Kim PeekвЂs Brain Increase His Memory Capacity?
Why Do Children Generally Forget All Their Memories from before the Age of Three or Four?
When Do Children Start Making Long-Term Memories?
Why Can Most People Remember a Color, but Only a Few Can Remember Pitch?
How Is It That I Can “See” Memories?
Does Napping after a Meal Affect Memory Formation?
As I Get Older, Why Does My Memory for Names Seem to Deteriorate?
Why Is It That Once You Learn Something Incorrectly, It Seems You Can Never Correct Your Recall?
At 16 Years Old I Developed What I Think Is Photographic Memory. Does This Kind of Memory Truly Exist—and If So, How Did I Develop It?
Is It Possible to Get So Inebriated That You DonвЂt Remember Your Actions?
DГjГ Vu
What Exactly Is DГjГ Vu?
What Is Going On in the Brain When We Experience DГjГ Vu?
Could DГjГ Vu Be Explained by Grid Cells?
Your Mind on Exercise
Why Does Exercise Make Us Feel Good?
Why Is It That I Seem to Think Better When I Walk or Exercise?
How Does Exercise Benefit Cognition?
Why Does Listening to Music Make It So Much Easier for Me to Complete a Challenging Workout?
Our Senses
Physiologically, Why Is the Sound of Fingernails on a Blackboard So Unnerving?
Why Is It That the Last Song You Hear Sometimes Replays in Your Mind after the Music Stops?
How Can Some People Hear Their Own Eyeballs Move?
How Do We Remember Smells for So Long, Since Olfactory Sensory Neurons Survive for about 60 days?
Why Do Two Flavors I Like Sometimes Taste So Bad When Eaten Together?
Miscellany
Why Does Time Seem to Speed Up with Age?
Why Is Talking While Gesturing So Much Easier Than Trying to Talk without Gesturing?
Do Statins Produce Neurological Effects?
Can Training to Become Ambidextrous Improve Brain Function?