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New Scientist Essential Guide - The Human Mind
Letter from the editor
THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE MIND
THE SENSE OF SELF • Most of us are convinced that we are coherent individuals who are continuous in time. There’s just one problem with this sense of self – it can’t exist.
I THINK, THEREFORE I AM • Much of what we think of as the mind, or at least its output, comes in the form of our thoughts. So how should we think about thinking?
THE CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE • New insights into the different states of human consciousness and where it occurs in the brain are helping us crack the mystery of what gives rise to the feeling of being.
NATURE, NURTURE, LUCK • Your genes and environment play a big part in forming you, but there is an unexplored third element at play too: luck. The chance events that shape your brain in the womb may influence who you become as much as your genetics, and perhaps even more than the effect of parenting.
WHAT ARE MEMORIES FOR? • Our memories make us who we are, and when our memory fails, the mind seems to unravel. But while remembering the past is useful, the real purposes of memory may be quite different – from planning for the future to learning to communicate.
YOUR INNER VOICE • Most of us have a voice inside our heads and it can be caring, supportive, negative or critical. Yours might seem banal, or a nuisance, but without it you would struggle to function.
THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION
INTEROCEPTION: THE SIXTH SENSE • How our brains interpret signals from within the body has a surprisingly big influence on the mind, an insight that is leading to new ways to tackle conditions like depression, anxiety and eating disorders.
TUNE IN TO YOUR BODY
YOUR CONSCIOUS BODY • The key to solving the hard problem of consciousness could lie in the body, not the brain, with our gut and heart being key players in building our conscious experience.
THE PLACEBO EFFECT • For a simple demonstration of the power of the mind over the body, just look at what happens when people think they have taken a medicine when, in fact, they haven’t.
EVERYDAY PLACEBOS
THINK YOURSELF SLIM • The go-to advice for effective dieting is to choose food that is marketed as healthy and is low in calories, carbs and fat – but the way we think about such meals might actually cause us to gain weight, revealing the surprising influence the mind can have over the body.
WORKOUTS FOR THE MIND • We know exercise is good for the body, but your muscles communicate with your brain, which means exercise can bring all sorts of benefits to the mind too, from better mood to attention and creativity.
THE PSYCHOBIOTIC REVOLUTION • Our gut microbes have a surprising influence on our brains. Now we are starting to understand why – and how to use them to combat anxiety, stress and depression.
TRICKS OF THE MIND
DELUDED YOU • You may think you are in the driver’s seat, calling the shots as you go about your life. But a series of ingrained beliefs and delusions mean that the human mind is often preprogrammed to see things a certain way, as the following mental traps reveal.
ARE YOU LIVING IN A HALLUCINATION?
LASANA HARRIS ON HOW YOUR BRAIN IS PRIMED FOR PREJUDICE • We are more aware of how “unconscious” biases work than ever before, says...