Some people have subtitles synaesthesia’ which means they see all speech appear as writing in their mind. And they only realised not everyone thinks this way when they saw a research study ad.
Some scientists believe the ‘free energy principle’ can explain the behaviour of all living things – but others say it paints the world with too broad a brush to be useful.
Ex-pats continually reconstruct mental simulations of scenes, smells, sounds and sights from those places – sometimes causing stressful feelings and anxiety.
Research highlights the importance of daily meditation, exercise and sleep for improving executive functioning, a component of attention that helps people focus.
Researchers used a test designed for babies to show that rhesus monkeys can sense their own heartbeats. The finding opens up important paths of research into consciousness and mental health issues.
Emotions play a key role in many types of spontaneous thoughts. Even microemotions — which are often fleeting and unconscious — can affect thoughts and influence attention.
What use are we in helping to solve difficult global challenges if we’re so depressed and cognitively depleted that we can’t think of the best actions to take?