A recent study conducted at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences in France examined the neural and behavioral underpinnings of curiosity. The study looked at the interplay between intellectual curiosity, prior knowledge of a topic, and level of surprise. The researchers found an inverse relationship between surprise and general epistemic curiosity. That is, being surprised, it [...]
You make hundreds of choices in a day. Some are decided on right away. Others are mulled over for a while. In either case, after the choice is executed, you walk away feeling that you made the right call, at the right time. But did you? Perhaps you decided too early, or too late. The [...]
Dr. Ryan J. Giuliano and colleagues at the University of Oregon recently published a research report in the journal Psychophysiology. The findings reveal that the body’s two branches of the peripheral nervous system independently predict task performance and help to improve focus. The findings contribute to a growing understanding of optimal brain functioning. For some [...]