LunchTalk: (TED) How your brain knows where you are.

How do you remember where you parked your car? How do you know if you're moving in the right direction? Neuroscientist Neil Burgess studies the neural mechanisms that map the space around us, and how they link to memory and imagination.

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Now, I understand how the Method of Loci works for content memorization. The brain creates content-related neuron firing patterns that are co-located with spacial neuron firing patterns. When you activate location-based neurons you also activate content-related memory neurons.

tags: lunchtalk, brain, memory, psychology

Problem-solving through insightful learning

An amazing chimp uses water as a tool to get food.

A systematic study of creativity in animals was pioneered by Dr. Wolfgang Kohler. His most famous experiment involved a chimpanzee who figured out how to make a telescoping stick to reach for a banana lying far away from the cage.

In 1917, Kohler published The Mentality of Apes (1917), where he described his experiments and proposed the concept of Insightful Learning, a process of problem solving by manipulating information about objects in one's mind. His work lead to the Gestalt theory of creativity.

tags: psychology, creativity

Need larger brain cache for extra connections

It has been my presumption that multitaskers are generally more productive than people who prefer to do one thing at a time.

According to a new study released by a group of Stanford University researchers Tuesday, people who regularly deal with several streams of electronic information simultaneously do not pay attention, control their memory, or switch from one job to another any better than those who prefer to complete one task at a time. Actually, they fare worse.

Multitasking is a brain killer for me. When I write I set my phone in airplane mode and turn off wireless on my PC. But the connectivity habit is tough to break. I must admit that I can't stay unplugged for more than two hours. Yet.