Why Some People Always Get Lost—And Others Never Do
Experience may matter more than innate ability when it comes to a sense of direction
Cognition
Chickadees Use Brain-Cell ‘Barcodes’ to Remember Where They Stashed Their Snacks
Unique patterns of neuron activation help tiny birds catalog thousands of scattered food caches
Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning
Engaging the fine motor system to produce letters by hand has positive effects on learning and memory
Valentine’s Day Got You Blue? There’s an Upside
Unpleasant emotions like sadness and anger can feel overwhelming, but recent research suggests they can trigger behaviors that lead to something better
Jeopardy! Winner Reveals Entwined Memory Systems Make a Trivia Champion
A former Jeopardy! winner led a new study that probes how linked memory systems may give trivia buffs an edge in their game
Brains Are Not Required When It Comes to Thinking and Solving Problems—Simple Cells Can Do It
Tiny clumps of cells show basic cognitive abilities, and some animals can remember things after losing their head
Stop Asking If the Universe Is a Computer Simulation
We will never know if we live in a computer simulation; here is a more interesting question
Why Do Christmas Songs Get Stuck in Your Head So Easily?
If holiday music seems designed in a lab to get stuck on repeat inside your head for all of December, well, it kind of is
Is Snoozing the Alarm Good or Bad for Your Health?
New research suggests that hitting the snooze button to squeeze in an extra five or 10 minutes of sleep may actually be good for you
People Pay Attention Better Today Than 30 Years Ago—Really.
A rise in IQs in recent decades is mirrored by a trend showing an increase in adults’ ability to concentrate
Rats Use the Power of Imagination to Navigate and Move Objects in a VR Landscape
Experiments visualize a rodent’s ability to imagine the future
‘Olfactory Training’ during Sleep Could Help Your Memory
Participants who smelled odors while they slept performed better on word-recall tests