Scientific American_September_October 2019, Volume 30, Number 5

WITH COVERAGE FROM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 | MIND.SCIENTIFICAMERICAN.COM SCIENCE’S CURE FOR LONELINESS ARE PEOPLE WITH ADHD MORE ...

If you ask the average person “Do you know your true self? ” you might prompt in him or her a wave of anxiety. And no wonder. Fr ...

September- October 2019 Volume 30 • No. 5 WHAT’S INSIDE GETTY IMAGES FEATURES 15. Authenticity under Fire Researchers are callin ...

NEWS GETTY IMAGES Our Brain Uses a Not So Instant Replay to Make Decisions Neural-processing centers repeat recent sequences of ...

replays that behavior repeatedly until it is internalized. They also report on how the hippocampus tracks our brain’s decision-m ...

rehearsal’ could encourage stronger connections between neurons that code for the memory,” he says. It is well known that the br ...

the wallet increases at the same time as the selfish temptation to keep the money for oneself,” she says. “Inter- estingly, this ...

Decoding the Language of Neurons A new study reveals surprising variations in the neural code IN THE DYSTOPIAN WORLD of George O ...

mized for richness; in the other, for speed and reliability. In the brain, this same type of balance is usually thought to be an ...

the neural code, even in the absence of another injury or insult, could therefore be an important but undiscovered driver in psy ...

plating a new place in town to patron- ize next week—or next year. Creative professionals, though, engage other default network ...

N EWS researchers used electrical pulses to disrupt ripples in rodents’ brains and showed that, by doing so, perfor- mance in a ...

acquired over years of experiments. They found more long-duration ripples occurred when rats had to make their way through mazes ...

brain areas can read out and act on.” The researchers hope this work eventually may help develop ways to treat the type of memor ...

Researchers are calling into question authenticity as a scientifically viable concept By Scott Barry Kaufman Authenticity under ...

A uthenticity is one of the most valued characteristics in our society. As children we are taught to just “be ourselves,” and as ...

moment and open to new experiences. In other words, we tend to feel most authentic when our needs are being met and we feel owne ...

Comedian Hannah Gadsby What ’s So Funny? The Science of Why We Laugh Psychologists, neuroscientists and philosophers are trying ...

“How Many Psychologists Does It Take ... to Explain a Joke?” Many, it turns out. As psychologist Christian Jarrett not- ed in a ...

the situation to be incongruous, but only nonbelievers readily laughed at it. Levity can also partly be a product of distance fr ...