With the return of the sunny days of summer (save for our friends in the southern hemisphere), you might find yourself in a situation where, having invited your best friends for a barbecue, you forget the sausages on the grill and serve them, er, completely charred. Seeing the blackened meat, one of them snickers: “You’re […]
Let’s get this post started with a cognitive science themed trivia question. What’s the name of the intelligence component comprising declarative and procedural knowledge learnt by an individual throughout their life span? The answer is: crystallized intelligence. Information such as the number of different words a person knows (vocabulary size) and the ability to retrieve […]
Music and language share many cognitive features. Not surprisingly, it has been argued that they may have shared evolutionary origins and are present in every culture. I have a soft spot for cognitive studies in these two areas. When reading my earlier posts, you may notice that I covered topics such as bilingualism, the acoustics of emotions in the voice, […]
Have you ever found yourself whispering something to yourself in the comfort of your own head? If you had, you’re not alone. Many people – but not all – do. This phenomenon is known as internal verbalization or inner speech. Curiously, people who don’t experience internal verbalization are surprised about the notion of others “listening” […]
Attention is a key part of cognition, and, therefore, it plays an important role across almost any context you can imagine. It’s critical for behaviors as diverse as air traffic control and keeping track of predators and influences outcomes with high relevance (such as academic performance). It is also sensitive to many factors such as […]
A few months ago, the department head sent me a short email asking whether I had a few minutes to spare. A bit odd – I thought – but I replied. The response email was utterly suspicious. It read, “Can you buy X amount of gift cards and send me the codes? We need them […]
Olivia Newton’s Physical is a great song (so is the video!). This 1980’s classic candidly describes the experience of sexual desire without leaving out the feelings of reduced self-control that sometimes come with it (“It’s gettin’ hard this holdin’ back / If you know what I mean” [music intensifies]). Sexual arousal has been associated with positive emotions and can […]
Everyday scenes in bilingual cities can be simultaneously perplexing and fascinating when experienced for the first time. Imagine sitting in a café and eavesdropping on a casual conversation between two friends at a nearby table. They can both speak in a different language, and do so smoothly and naturally, engage in code-switching where they transition from one to […]
Goals and temptations. The first, the very substance of life. But, oh, the second, they are everywhere! Both are desirable in their own ways, and they do not always align. We wouldn’t call them temptations if they did, would we? In other words, we often need to decide between behaviors leading to short-term immediate rewards […]
My friend recently exclaimed with delight, “You will not believe this!” but before she could tell me what I wouldn’t be able to believe, she answered her phone. What was the news? She sounded happy, for sure. Was she awarded major funding? Did her crush just ask her out? Did she solve a difficult problem? Much […]