How the brain works
Plain-language pieces on how the brain works. Ali Abdaal and neuroscientist TJ Power talk dopamine, Lisa Genova shares nine memory tactics, and Jim Kwik argues brain breaks matter as much as study time. One speaker covers a brain area linked to willpower. 10 picks from the Bez Tytułu newsletter, in reading order.
The picks
How to Reset Your Dopamine (and Change Your Life)
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #182
Ali Abdaal interviews neuroscientist TJ Power about dopamine, the first of a four-part series on brain chemicals that also covers oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins. The 18-minute video explains the law of dopamine and four ways to control it, including phone fasting, finding your flow and cold water immersion.
Brain Breaks: Why Stepping Back Helps Learning
Watch · youtube.com · 12 min · Issue #79
Jim Kwik argues in this 12-minute video that brain breaks matter as much as learning itself, because stepping back to reflect helps connect ideas and consolidate them. The lesson includes three tips for brain breaks, juggling and movement for brain health, a 'super brain yoga' exercise, and an assignment.
Lisa Genova: Nine Tactics to Strengthen Memory
Watch · youtube.com · 10 min · Issue #76
Neuroscientist and novelist Lisa Genova presents nine tactics for strengthening memory in this Big Think video, including paying attention, securing sleep, creating associations, using repetition, writing things down and self-testing. She argues that occasional memory lapses are normal and that memory can be improved. The video closes with the point that forgetting is human.
How Sleep Can Help Solve Problems
Read · slate.com · 5 min · Issue #76
Sleep researcher Kristin E.G. Sanders argues in Slate that sleep may help solve problems. She describes targeted memory reactivation, which pairs a learned item with a sound or smell and replays that cue during sleep. In her study, participants who heard cues overnight solved more brain teasers the next morning. Her practical tip is to think about a problem before bed.
Disliked work grows a willpower brain area
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #189
Doing work you do not want to do grows a brain area linked to willpower, according to recent data the speaker cites.
The speaker describes neuroscience data on the anterior mid-cingulate cortex. It appears to grow when people repeatedly do things they do not want to do, such as extra exercise or resisting food while dieting. It is larger in athletes and in people who see themselves as having overcome challenges. Scientists are beginning to see it as the seat of the will to live.
Key points- The area grows when people add unwanted exercise or resist eating
- It is larger in athletes and in people who overcame challenges
- Scientists may see it as the seat of the will to live
Dopamine and serotonin may oppose each other
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #195
A Stanford mouse study suggests dopamine and serotonin work against each other to produce a sense of reward.
The speaker reports a Stanford study in mice showing that dopamine and serotonin interact in the nucleus accumbens. Dopamine rose and serotonin fell during reward, and stimulating both changes together produced a stronger sense of reward than changing either alone. He suggests serotonin acts as a brake on dopamine, which he uses to explain why cocaine is more addictive than MDMA.
Key points- Mice showed a dopamine spike and a serotonin dip when drinking sugar water
- Raising dopamine while lowering serotonin increased the mice's sense of reward
- Both signals operate in the nucleus accumbens, a reward-processing area
How brain cells keep a resting charge
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #24
Brain cells hold a negative resting charge by pumping sodium out, a process that uses a large share of the body's energy.
The speaker explains that brain cells keep a resting charge of about -70 millivolts by constantly pumping sodium out and potassium in. The pump moves three sodium ions out for every two potassium ions in, and it uses a lot of energy. The speaker estimates it accounts for about 55 percent of the brain's energy use, around 10 percent of the body's total, which keeps neurons ready to fire.
Key points- Resting brain cells sit at about negative 70 millivolts so they can fire
- A pump removes three sodium for every two potassium it takes in
- The speaker estimates this pump uses about 10 percent of the body's energy
Why Do We Sleep?
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #195
Circadian neuroscientist Russell Foster's TED talk argues that scientists still know little about sleep, although we spend a third of our lives doing it. It covers three theories about why we sleep, myths about how much sleep people need at different ages, and whether sleep can predict mental health. TED published it in 2013.
AI can reconstruct what people see and think
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #108
The speaker says AI can now reconstruct what people see, think and where they stand, using brain scans and Wi-Fi signals.
The speaker describes research that reconstructs images from fMRI brain data. Participants viewed images in an MRI scanner, a model learned to map brain patterns to images, and it then reconstructed an image it had not been shown. A later study used Stable Diffusion for better results, and another tried to decode inner speech while people narrated a video. The speaker suggests dreams may no longer be private.
Key points- Reconstructed images shown in an MRI machine by matching patterns in brain activity
- Newer work uses stable diffusion and decoded a narrated inner monologue from a video
- Wi-Fi radio signals alone rebuilt real-time 3D poses of people in a room
Matt Walker on sleeping outside your home
Short · en.wikipedia.org · Issue #97
A clip featuring Matt Walker, who discusses how the brain works when people do not sleep in their own home.