We're Only Human

Most of us pay small prices in hopes for a big pay off in the future. It could be amassing college debt or sacrificing sleep to hit the gym. But not everyone is as focused on the future as gym rats and students. How can some of us see a particular tradeoff as advantageous, while others of us see precisely the same deal as foolish?

Everyone makes mistakes but not everyone learns from them. New research looks at two regions of the brain responsible for recognizing mistakes and helping us correct them. It turns out that that some peoples brains are more vigilant than others.

Fresh. Young. Ripe. What do those words bring to mind? For most people, the image is a pleasant one. New psychological research argues that we have an innate preference for living things in their peak, and the reason extends as far back as our earliest ancestors.

They say two minds are better than one, but why? Psychologists have explored this phenomenon of group intelligence and found that the key to finding the correct answer lies somewhere in the middle.

A third of us report having had a deja vu experience. Today there is scientific consensus that deja vu is nothing more than a false memory experience. But why does it occur? New insights into the mechanics of memory and cognition are helping to answer that question.

Close your eyes and imagine you are standing in a field of flowers. What do you notice? The wispy clouds, the subtle brushing of the grass, the stream in the distance. Or, like our ancestors, are you focused on your next meal or the quickest escape route? It's remarkable how fast the mind sees what it needs to see.

In the classroom, children are taught basic arithmetic by counting on their fingers. While this simple gesture may seem rudimentary, new research suggests gestures of any sort may actually enhance learning.

We've all seen pictures of Hurricane Katrina survivors waiting on rooftops and rowing through the flooded streets of New Orleans. These striking images raise the question, "Why did these residents stay behind?"

Laboratory research has shown that indulging in a single bite of forbidden food can lead a dieter astray. But a recent study suggests that, in a real-life setting, one bite is actually just a temporary detour.