Mind and consciousness

A new research study contradicts the established view that so-called split-brain patients have a split consciousness. Instead, the researchers behind the study, led by UvA psychologist Yair Pinto, have found strong evidence showing that despite being characterised by little to no communication between the right and left brain hemispheres, split brain does not cause two independent conscious perceivers in one brain. Their results are published in the latest edition of the journal Brain.

Consciousness alteration is natural and universal among humans. We have been altering our mental states, through the use of exogenous chemicals, for millennia. As the philosopher David Blacker observes in his latest book Deeper Learning with Psychedelics (2024), “We seem to be creatures for whom unadulterated reality has never been quite fully sufficient.” We are…

Jumping spiders have REM-like twitches when they sleep, suggesting dreams may be much more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously realized

Animals that perceive time the fastest typically can fly, are small, or are marine predators, according to new research.

An advocate of plant intelligence, the Italian author discusses the complex ways in which plants communicate, whether they are conscious, and what his findings mean for vegans

Scientific Reports - Brain-to-Brain Synchrony during Naturalistic Social Interactions

A new study reveals a bit of the mystery about how the creative brain functions.

Nature Human Behaviour - Jebb et al. use data from the Gallup World Poll to show that happiness does not rise indefinitely with income: globally, income satiation occurs at US$95,000 for life...

Neurophilosophy of human nature: the five motivational factors Why are we selfish or how does fear affect our decisions?

Bees can tell time—and even get jet lag. But that's not something scientists could simply assume. Here's how to test the sensory perception of an insect.

A psychedelic experience is commonly referred to as a ‘trip’ or a ‘journey’, and the analogy with travel is a helpful one; psychedelics take you to new internal territory, whereas travelling takes you to new external territory. But I believe there are several ways in which we can compare tripping to travelling, and these similarities…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Our capacity to care about others may have very, very ancient origins, a new study suggests. It might have been deep-rooted in prehistoric animals that lived millions of years ago, before fish and mammals like us diverged on the tree of life, according to researchers who published their study Thursday in the journal Science .

I’m here to answer the question does time go by slower for your dog?The answer is yes, dogs perceive 25 percent more time than humans!

(Inside Science) -- Modern human culture seems to evolve at a dizzying rate. Changes in the media we consume and technology we use often far outstrip our ability to keep up. But there have been few attempts to actually measure this phenomenon. “All we have is this sense that culture evolves really quickly, but relative to what?” said Armand Leroi, an evolutionary biologist at Imperial College London.

The Google effect, an extension of our transactive memory system, describes our poor memory for information which is easily available online. We remember where information is better than the information itself.

A group of leading neuroscientists has used a conference at Cambridge University to make an official declaration recognising consciousness in animals. The declaration was made at the Francis Crick …

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Rodents sacrifice sweets to jailbreak their friends

New research by the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences finds that altruism may begin in infancy. In a study of nearly 100 19-month-olds, researchers found that...