Though I have had my disagreements with William Saletan in the past — we have briefly debated whether “race” is a biologically valid classification (it isn’t) — I want to be the first to congratulate him on a series of articles (“The Memory Doctor”) he is running over at Slate. The subject is memory and [...]
Tags:cognition·confabulation·Elizabeth Loftus·fabrications·imagination·memories·memory·past lives·reincarnation·suggestibility·William Saletan
Over at Inkling Magazine, Meera Lee Sethi reports on a brilliant study which shows that when believers are told that the person to whom they are listening has divine powers, the regions of their brain responsible for high level executive functioning — in other words, the areas involved in critical thinking and judgment — show [...]
Tags:faith healing·hypnosis·James McClenon·James Walker·Lakota·placebo·priming·shamanic healing·suggestibility·suspension of disbelief·wicasa wakan
