Dopamine the happiness hormone? Not at all! Dopamine helps to choose where to direct your attention. This process does not work properly in children and adults with ADHD. Methylphenidate (Ritalin) corrects this without having an addictive effect.
Man thinks ahead, Nature succeeds through hindsight
What makes man an exceptional animal? That he can think logically in cause and effect. But that is also a handicap, because nature is a system without cause and effect.
What is colour? How blue can look white…
How do we see colour? Can white look blue and vice versa? And does it matter which word you use for a colour?
The girl with half a brain
The girl without the right hemisphere of her brain functions pretty normally. How is this possible?
Nature and nurture: congenital and acquired
Is it Nature or Nurture, congenital or acquired? The answer is actually quite simple: everything is Nature and Nurture. The structure of the brain determines what we can learn and what we learn determines the structure of the brain.
Where am I? Our internal GPS
London taxi drivers know every street in London, as well as all the restaurants, post offices, shops and more. In our brain there is an ingenious GPS. And this GPS is integrated with our life history and emotions. Try doing that with a navigator!
Where are the limits of the body?
Where does your body end? All fairly clear to you, but not to your brain. A tool you hold in your hand is a part of your body, and sometimes a rubber hand can seem like your real hand. How can this be?
The placebo effect doesn’t exist
Depression lifts with placebo pills, joint pain disappears after a placebo operation. Changes in the brain can be observed after the use of a placebo. How do such effects of sham treatment come about? Placebos do have effects. But THE placebo effect does not exist.
Growth and pruning: the brain of a child
A newborn baby cannot speak, it sees almost nothing, and controlled movements of its arms and legs are minimal. After being born he learns through significant changes in the brain. These are a condition for and also a result of this learning process.
The Ego is dead, long live the ego
The Ego does not exist, it is an illusion, a trick of the brain. This claim of neuroscientists may scare you. But is it true? Or does something like an ego exist? And if so, what is it?