Mental Mishaps

Last week was horrific. Terrorist attacks and tragic explosions. One city locked down because of terrorism and another destroyed by a fertilizer plant explosion. Like you, I’ve been following the news trying to understand why these things happen. But I’ve also been wondering why are we so fascinated with understanding why? Read More

I admit it. I’ve become dependent on my cell phone. But how can I tell if this is unhealthy; if I am addicted to my cell phone? Read More

Seeing is believing. How can you believe something if you can’t see it or feel it? How can you believe something that seems the opposite of your own personal experiences? One reason why we experience difficulties tackling some problems is that we just can’t see the problem. This is part of the problem people have with believing the reports of global warming. Read More

Ebenezer Scrooge was a time traveler. In one night, he traveled to the past, through the present, and into the future. When he returned home, however, he was lost. Scrooge had no idea what day it was. Like Scrooge, I also wake up some mornings and don’t know what day it is. Read More

Shellshocked, that they lost the election. Dumbfounded, that their polls were wrong. Meltdowns, on national TV and in tweets. Why were these smart people so completely surprised? Read More

I remember some advice I received once on how to make appropriate predictions of the amount of time a project would require. First, make your best estimate, then double that, and finally increase your unit of measurement. If your estimate is one hour, then make it two hours, and finally two days. Why are we so atrocious at making estimates? Read More

Slowly and inexorably, Alzheimer’s disease steals a person away. Taking memory and cognitive abilities. Pilfering personality and social skills. Robbing a person of the ability to care for herself. But every now and then, Alzheimer’s disease relents – you get a brief glimpse of the person you know and love. Read More

Why am I here? I don’t mean this in the deep existential sense of why am I alive. I am simply wondering why I came into this room. What am I looking for? There must be a reason I left that other room and came into this one. But I can’t remember why I am here. Read More

Are you an expert multitasker? Check your email, answer that text, talk with your co-workers, drive your car—how many things can you track at one time? In our busy modern environment, people constantly multitask. But just what are expert multitaskers expert at doing? Read More

Can men accurately see if a woman is sexually interested? The ability to perceive and remember a woman’s interest or rejection is certainly important to men. But some men experience difficulty recognizing sexual interest and these difficulties may predict sexual aggression. Read More

Rick Perry’s brain froze on national TV. He was trying to remember the third federal department he would cut and he completely failed. He knew the answer, struggled mightily to remember it, but nonetheless failed. We have all experienced similar moments, but his is a video sensation. Does it tell us anything about Perry's cognitive abilities? Read More

Our first crisis in dementia care struck recently. A seizure, a hospitalization, invasive tests and a horrific drug reaction were the beginning of our experience. But the real crisis was in the understanding of events. The path to survival involved a new story – a narrative of Alzheimer’s disease. Read More

We’ve been losing. And the machines have been winning. Robots control manufacturing. Computers control all our communications. We’ve been losing the games too. Recently, Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings lost to IBM’s Watson. He then “welcomed our new computer overlords.” Should we all bow down to the new computer bosses? Read More

I am a mindless eater. Maybe you are too. Unfortunately, most of us engage in mindless eating – eating without awareness of how much we eat and the factors that really control our eating. If you want to control your weight, you must first take control of your eating. To take control, you must transition from mindless to mindful eating. Read More