In our previous article, we explored why some thoughts become more salient than others. In this article, we will explore why some thoughts just won’t leave. How The Brain Normally Focuses On One Thought After Another Attention is supposed to be temporary. The brain is supposed to attend to specific information for a certain period…
Have you ever wondered why one random thought disappears instantly while another keeps following you all day? “Did I send that email?” “What if I left the stove on?” The difference isn’t the thought itself. It’s how important the brain thinks it is. The Brain Can’t Process Everything Every second, our brains receive far more…
Previously, we discussed how emotions arise, are regulated, and get resolved in the brain. But can we have more than one—perhaps even more than two—emotions at the same time? Research suggests that we can. Ambivalence, the experience of having two or more contradictory emotions simultaneously, is common. Studies indicate that the brain processes multiple emotions…
Where do emotions arise in the brain? How do we notice our emotions? How does the brain process regulate and resolve emotions? Let’s look at the journey of an emotion in the brain: its birth and death. 1. An emotion arises somewhere in the brain Different emotions arise from different brain regions. For example, Fear…
Decades of research has shown that genetics greatly contribute to the development of a psychiatric disorder. This contribution reaches up to 40 to 80% at most extreme cases. However, heritability doesn’t seem to be sufficient to explain the whole story. It seems that environmental factors shape our genes and help explain the rest of it….
Thousands of thoughts pass through the mind during a day. However, only some of these catch our attention while most cannot make their way into our consciousness. Moreover, we stay focused on some thoughts more when compared to others. Then, is it random that some thoughts are more prominent or is there any decision mechanism…
“…There has been a machine installed in my head, and this machine has been continuously lining up thoughts, impressions, without a break. If I only had the control of this machine, if I only thought of the things I wanted, in the order I wanted them to be, who knows what I could have achieved….
Decades of research have shown that there is an area in the left-hemisphere of our brains that constantly makes up stories about anything and everything! The pioneer of the research, neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga and his colleagues call it “the interpreter”. They discovered the interpreter while they were working with patients so called “split-brain patients”. As…
Self-Generated Thought and the Wandering Mind “How should I start…? Maybe I should have a cup of coffee first. But before that, I need to run the washing machine. My white shirt needs to be clean for tomorrow morning…” Have you noticed?: When the mind is not busy focusing on an external task, it wanders…