Choke

What the secrets of the brain reveal about getting it right when you have to

Sian Beilock Ph.D.

Anxiety, pressure, performance, standardized tests, academic achievement, poor performance, nerves, test anxiety, stereotype thr

Can Daily Hugs Help Prevent Common Colds?

Life can be stressful. Whether its dealing with tension at work or at home, many of us often feel under the gun. As it happens, when we are stressed out by those around us, we are more likely to get sick when exposed to a cold. So, what can be done to buffer ourselves from illness in times of stress? On answer might surprise you: daily hugs.

Your Body Knows Its Mind

It’s January, which means that lots of us are making new year’s resolutions to improve our eating and increase our healthy behavior. But just trying to talk ourselves into a healthier lifestyle tends not to work. There is a fix, however, that might surprise you: Changing how you think about the relationship between your mind and body.

How Your Partner's Personality Impacts Your Career Success

There is no question that your choice of spouse has a big impact on your life. New research shows that your spouse’s personality also affects your own job satisfaction, pay grade and likelihood of advancement.

Morality Is Contagious

What makes someone good or bad? The science of morality has picked up a lot of steam in the last few decades. A recent paper published in Science looks at the experiences of over 1,200 people on a daily basis to really get to the heart of morality and how our moral compass differs depending on our political affiliation, our religion, or how others treat us.

When Talent Backfires

Whether its business or sports, we tend to believe that filling our organization with talented people is a good thing – and the more talented people, the better. New research shows, however that this hunch isn’t correct. When teams need to come together, more talent can tear them apart.

Can You Trust Your Memory?

It happens to all of us. Try as we might, we often don’t get the amount of sleep our mind and body needs to function at its best. It’s no secret that sleep deprivation makes us tired and irritable, but new research shows that a lack of sleep can also lead us to remember events and experiences that didn’t happen.

Why Talking With Our Hands Helps Us Think Better

It’s no secret that we routinely use hand gestures and other forms of body language to communicate with one another. But it turns out that we don’t gesture just to convey information to others; we also gesture for ourselves. Our gestures can boost our problem solving skills and our memories too.

How You Can Avoid Temptation

Whether food is in plain view affects whether or not you will eat it. Case in point, people in an office eat more candy when there is a candy jar on top of a desk in plain view than when the candy is hidden in a drawer. Fortunately, new research shows that you can quickly train yourself to avoid temptation.

Being Dishonest Enhances Creativity

People frequently break rules, which is usually seen as negative. But thinking or acting "against the grain" isn't bad when it pertains to being creative. Could rule breaking—say dishonesty—trigger creativity? The answer is a resounding “Yes.”

Caffeine Boosts Memory—Really

It’s no secret that caffeine helps boost concentration skills in the short term. But, until recently, most scientists thought that caffeine offered little benefit for remembering information in the long term. A new study shows that caffeine enhances memory for information learned a day earlier and, like many things, moderation in the amount of caffeine you consume is key.

Is Depression Contagious?

It’s estimated that one in fifteen Americans, about 21 million adults, is living with major depression. A variety of factors, ranging from genetics to the environment, are known to contribute to the likelihood you will develop depression. New research adds to this list of factors by showing that the company you keep affects how likely you are to develop depression.

Kids: Get Them Moving

It’s the holiday season which means kids are off from school and living a more sedentary lifestyle than usual. Recess and P.E. have been replaced by time in front of the T.V. and computer screen. It might not seem like such a big deal for kids to spend a few weeks doing, well, nothing. Yet, many parents will be surprised to find out that even short bouts of physical activ

Naps Help Kids Learn

Preschool children often take naps when they are home. Yet, the increasing demand of the curriculum is making naps less likely at school. Does it matter? New research shows that naps help kids take what they have learned earlier in the day and commit it to memory. In short, naps help kids learn.

Future Thinking Leads to Better Decisions in the Present

We’ve all done it—made impulsive decisions where we have discounted future pay-offs for immediate gratification. So, what do we do about it? The answer may lie in our ability to engage in future thinking.

Cluttered or Orderly? Our Surroundings Shape Our Thinking

We have all heard the phrase “a cluttered desk, a cluttered mind.” Indeed, as Martha Stewart, the magazine Real Simple, and thousands of self-help books will tell you, being neat and tidy leads to improved mental health, life satisfaction, and better thinking. But, it is true? It turns out that there are some advantages to a disorderly environment too.

Becoming a Superstar: It’s Not All About Practice

They say that practice makes perfect. Or, more specifically, that 10,000 hours of deliberate practice is necessary to obtain elite performance levels in activities ranging from golf to chess to music. Is it true?

Montessori Had It Right: We Learn By Doing

What does it take for a kid to learn to read? Many people think the answer to this question is simple: lots of reading practice. But, this isn’t the whole story. Practice printing letters turns out to be imperative to reading success. When the body figures out how to write letters, the mind follows suit in terms of being able to recognize them. It's 'learning-by-doing.'

Freaking Out in Social Situations Isn’t Inevitable

Whether it’s in an interview, speaking up in a meeting, or simply meeting someone new for the first time, social anxiety can be debilitating – causing folks to stumble on their every word or, worse yet, to freeze. Fortunately, there are ways to lessen the unwanted problems that social anxiety can cause.

Want to Limit Overeating? Get More Sleep

Now that 2013 is in full swing, some of us may have lost sight of those New Year’s resolutions we made to eat right and get a good night’s sleep. As most of us can attest, not getting enough sleep makes all of life’s daily tasks seem harder to juggle. What you may not have known, however, is that sleepiness can undermine your goals to eat right.

Throw Those Nasty Thoughts Away

We all have unwanted thoughts from time to time. They often pop up when they are least wanted — mental chatter that takes us away from the present moment. It might seem impossible to rid our minds of these unwanted thoughts, especially when they are of the negative variety. But, there are some simple things we can do to quiet our minds.

When You Screw Up, Affirm Your Self-Worth

Preserving our self-worth helps our brains make sense of our blunders so we can do better the next time around.

When Math Hurts

It’s no secret that a lot of people dislike math. Whether it's calculating a tip on a restaurant bill or being called up to the board to work out a problem in school, these activities can send folks into a panic.

How You Hold Your Body Impacts Stress Levels

On the surface, it might seem odd to think the expressions we produce outwardly could influence how we feel inwardly. Most people assume that it’s the mind that controls the body, not the other way around. But it turns out there are strong connections running from the body to the mind, with some surprising consequences.

Want To Be Creative? Let Your Mind Wander

Whether at work, school, or in everyday life, we often encounter situations where thinking outside-the-box is necessary. But, you just never know when creative thoughts will arise. Fortunately, new research has uncovered the very conditions that give rise to creativity.

The Power of Expressing Yourself

People always say it’s good to put “your feelings into words.” But is it true? If you are anxious, scared, or worried about something, is it really going to make you feel better to dwell on this anxiety by speaking or writing about it? It turns out the answer is "yes."

One Key to Having a Good Memory? Knowing When to Rest

Sitting quietly with your eyes closed for just a few minutes can be one of the best ways to enhance memory.

For Olympians and Ordinary People Alike, Mindset Matters

The unexpected second place finish on the vault yesterday for McKayla Maroney highlights a basic truth about sports. Whether athletes choke or shine is often driven by their minds as much as their muscles.

How Humans Learn: Lessons from the Sea Squirt

Speaking a Foreign Language Reduces Decision Biases

Why Fearing Failure Begets Failure

Our performance is often linked to financial incentives. This is certainly true in the business world where employers regularly make payment contingent on workers’ performance or productivity.

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