Your will is what you want

Peter MolemanArticles, Conscious and subconsciousLeave a Comment

You think you have a will, but that is a misconception about your ego. The will as a tangible thing does not exist. You want something at a certain moment after you choose from different wishes. And that choice can change within a short time, perhaps even to the complete opposite.

Memories of early childhood?

Peter MolemanArticles, Brain development, MemoryLeave a Comment

Herinneren van een gebeurtenis verandert je geheugen | Peter Moleman

The memory develops after birth. A baby starts by registering how it should move. From around the age of three, a child can register events which form part of its life story, to be recalled in later life. But emotional events such as traumas are possibly registered much earlier as stray facts. These can elicit reactions, although you can’t retell them.

Driving and memory

Peter MolemanArticles, MemoryLeave a Comment

Het autorij-geheugen | Peter Moleman

When you drive a car, you have to execute several actions at the same time, and also pay attention to traffic. For this to take place, most of your actions are performed automatically. These are laid down in a separate memory in a specific part of the brain: the corpus striatum.

Amazing and paradoxical

Peter MolemanArticles, The world within your headLeave a Comment

Verbazingwekkend en paradoxaal | Peter Moleman

What is the relation between what the neurologist calls amazing and the psychiatrist paradoxical? Our impression of the world around us is not formed on the basis of what we actually perceive with our senses. Instead, we carry a preexisting image of our surroundings in our head, and we check if that matches with our perceptions. Sometimes this goes awry.