Why a Deep Breath Works: The Science of the Vagus Nerve
Ever had a gut feeling or took a deep breath to calm down before a big presentation? You were likely tapping into the power of...
Ever had a gut feeling or took a deep breath to calm down before a big presentation? You were likely tapping into the power of...
Over the last decade, the world and particularly younger generations have increasingly embraced the task of improving our mental wellbeing, whether that comes in the...
Nowadays, whenever we talk about studies measuring human brain activity, it’s usually by scanning participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), often considered the go-to...
Imagine being a mental health patient in the 1940s. You are experiencing severe and visible symptoms of depression. You are introduced to a surgeon who,...
When discussing historical figures in psychology, we cannot overlook Him: the man, the myth, the legend, Sigmund Schlomo Freud. Was he a genius and a...
Ever had a song stuck in your head for days? Now imagine not just thinking about it, but actually hearing it - clearly, on repeat,...
No, It Won’t Make You a Genius but It Will Boost Your Brain! Turn on some Mozart while you study? Science says it might help....
You have probably seen videos online of elderly people with dementia who start singing or playing an (imaginary) instrument when they hear music from their...
How many times do we wish we could simply look inside another person’s mind and figure out what they’re thinking? We could see their future...
I want you to think of an apple. I bet you thought of a shiny, red, juicy apple, or maybe a green crunchy one. I...
I want you to think of an apple. I bet you thought of a shiny, red, juicy apple, or maybe a green crunchy one. I...
Introduction on habits Biting your nails, snoozing for an hour, or a glass of wine after dinner. Not all habits are good, and not all...
It wouldn’t be a theme about new beginnings without diving into the neuroscience behind resolutions and why we, generally, struggle to keep them. As winter...
Did I lock the car? Did I leave the gas on? Do I have my wallet with me? All normal thoughts that everyone has from...
Every morning, you might find yourself reaching for the same cup, preparing your coffee just the way you like it, and following a sequence that...
On a recent episode of the BrainMatters podcast, guest Dr. Philip Ryan shared how studying neuroscience had changed his perspective on victims of addiction, increasing...
Introduction Personality. Some people seem to have more (or stronger) ones than others, but how do we become who we are? Where or when does...
What drives a person to commit unthinkable crimes? Is it their upbringing, or could their brain be wired differently? Mindhunter is a gripping Netflix crime...
Maybe you have experienced something similar to me. During one of my first tutorials in my Bachelor's, I was put in a group with three...
Everyone is different. Some people love adventure and exploring, while others couldn’t be happier sitting on the couch reading a book with a mint tea....
Research into the mind-altering effects of psychedelic drugs does not have to focus solely on their potential role in alleviating the burdens of psychiatric disorders;...
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease that, despite its relatively low occurrence worldwide (only 2-3 million people), most of us have heard of. It’s...
When we think of treatments, we tend to assume that they will translate into improved daily functioning and overall quality of life to at least...
Types of dementia and their characteristics We probably all know someone who suffers from dementia, from grandparents, acquaintances, or maybe even friends. As dementia is...
Many people might start reading this article thinking “Is hypnosis even real?”. A quick and simple answer to this would be “yes”, at least for...
After reading this title, your first thought would probably be: ‘You are not fashionably late anymore, the party is already over’. You are completely right;...
That’s a rhetorical question of course, but it highlights an issue that has pervaded medical disease research for decades if not centuries and remains disturbingly...
In 1969, the neurologist Oliver Sacks gave the experimental drug Levodopa (L-DOPA) to patients suffering from encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). These patients suffered from...
In one of our previous articles you already learned a bit about two well known concepts in neuroscience, synaptic plasticity and long-term potentiation (LTP), both...
Maybe you are a bit suspicious after reading the title, because over 40 surgeries is a lot! I think Adam Pearson will probably agree with...
Who would you be without your memory? Who would you be if you can’t remember who your loved ones are? And how would you experience...
“I don’t get maths… I have a dominant right brain.” I am sure that you have heard of this popular theory at least once in...
Fiber, you have probably noticed the screaming advertisements in the supermarket on specific bars, cereals, and other products. However, why do manufacturers put so much...
When it comes to talking about the potential of our brains, fiction writers of the last century have been pretty obsessed with the idea that...
An Unquiet Mind is an honest and personal memoir of the clinical psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison, where she candidly shares her battle with bipolar disorder,...
"An extraordinary journey through the world's strangest brains" by Helen Thomson Neuroscience has learned a lot from people with abnormal brains. Consider the classic example...
Maybe you are familiar with the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. Vincent is most famous for his painting called ‘The Starry Night’, however, the...
Creativity, convergent and divergent thinking What is creativity? This is one of these words like ‘attention’, ‘personality’, or ‘intelligence' that everybody understands, but many encounter...
You may have heard of Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection; heritable variations among individuals of a given species lead to differential reproductive success....
The human nervous system is a beautiful and complex network of cells working together to supervise bodily functions, a wide repertoire of behaviours and enable...
To grow, the embryonic brain does not need a building plan; it organizes itself. In 2013, scientists managed to mimic the first few weeks of...
If you are interested in the brain, and you find yourself at a book fair where all the books are dirt cheap, you tend to...
Language, reasoning, planning, associating and learning; these are just a few examples of higher brain functions attributed to the thin layer of cells on the...
The science around concussion has been a pretty big story for the last two decades or so thanks largely to the increased attention that American...
Maybe you have heard of Muhammed Ali, also named as “The Greatest”. Muhammed Ali, born in Louisville, is considered the best heavyweight boxer of all...
You might know him, Erik Scherder, the most famous Dutch professor of neuropsychology in the Netherlands. He regularly joins talk shows on Dutch television where...
Brain-damaged man awakes from the unconscious after being given sleeping pill! At first this may seem like too outlandish a claim or just simply clickbait....
Do you remember the New Year’s resolutions you made this year? Have you ever succeeded? Chances are that you have not, this is why. There...
It almost seems too good to be true; eating live microorganisms, (more specifically certain bacteria also known as “probiotics”), could potentially reverse memory decline and...
You have just finished reviewing the entire material for the third time, you know everything by hearth. You’re definitely ready for your exam. The next...
Have you ever attempted to drive on the left side of the road when you usually drive on the right? Or tried to learn a...
Every day we learn something new; facts, actions, routes, people, recipes, stories, etc.. For example, I am currently learning to play the guitar. But that’s...
Memento is a head-spinning movie about Leonard, an ex-insurance investigator who suffers from anterograde amnesia (a condition in which you can no longer store new...
Where it all started, from magnetism to electricity.Let’s start with a brief story, Michael Faraday was raised in a poor farmer's family, his father being...
If you are reading this article from this website right now, I would take a wild guess and suppose you might have at least some...
Many people benefit from technological development. Being able to use a phone or personal computer makes your life a lot easier. Although it sometimes seems...
Headline: A 57-year-old woman took a sip of her coffee. Not impressed? Then consider that she is almost completely paralyzed and was using a robotic...
Whether it’s producing fancy electric cars, potentially offering commercial space travel, or ‘freeing’ Twitter, Elon Musk is eager to invest in futuristic endeavours! But did...
As a millennial, I remember that when I was in high school, our mobile phones were not so much of a distraction. During breaks we...
With this month's theme being "Brain and Technology" we are delighted to inform you about this year's BCI & Neurotechnology Spring School. This 10-day virtual...
The human race is without any doubt a very successful species. We have managed to populate the entire world, from arid deserts to icy tundras....
Ephemeral, ineffable, the ghost in the machine, since the days when we could begin to think about our thoughts, we have attempted to describe the...
Come see, come see, it’s all over the internet and it’s called pornography! Ever since the widespread availability of pornography caused by the internet, its...
You have probably noticed that your mental state and the conscious experience of the world surrounding you feels different depending on the activity you are...
The belief that all the decisions we make as humans are completely based on our free will is a popular thought among most of us....
Did you decide of your own free will to read this article? Or is your decision the inevitable result of interactions between brain cells that...
Visual illusions are pretty cool! Whether it’s images of old ladies turning into young dames or colorful vortices seemingly revolving around themselves, people tend to...
Last year, I listened to one of my fellow Master students explaining that some people can control their dreams by realizing that they were dreaming....
Now that you have brushed up on nearly all there is to know about how and why we sleep, why not unwind with a good...
Sleep Toolkit: Tools for Optimizing Sleep & Sleep-Wake Timing Master Your Sleep & Be More Alert When Awake - YouTube https://hubermanlab.com/toolkit-for-sleep/ A successful podcaster and...
and his book… Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Dr. Matthew WalkerOne of the foremost researchers in the realm of...
Have you ever felt like you needed a nap during the day after having had a short amount of sleep at night or an intense...
Are you tired of having the same old boring dreams where you're chased by a monster or giving a presentation in your underwear? Well, maybe...
You may have heard that sleep is very important during a test or exam week. This is because sleep is important for your memory. Sleep...
As you may know depression is one of the most common mental health disorders and affects millions of people globally. Either you or someone around...
Have you ever wondered why you felt so tired after lunch, a few hours after your first cup of coffee, or why consuming a maté...
In our current world, working from 9 until 5 o’clock is almost the exception rather than the rule. 20% of the working adults, the so-called...
The way our genes work can be influenced by our environment; this is called epigenetics. However, what if we could directly alter our genes? New...
Quite a strange idea: Every night we lie down waiting to go into some sort of unconscious state, trusting that we will wake up about...
In the current society, we have the tendency to try to label everyone, so we can justify someone’s behavior. In psychology we do the same;...
A human's brain contains about 100 billion neurons that are interconnected in many ways. This makes it rather complicated to study. It would be handy...
Did I lock the car? Did I leave the gas on? Do I have my wallet with me? These are all very normal thoughts that...
You are sitting on the train, looking out of the window, caught up in deep thought. You are probably daydreaming or reflecting on yourself. At...
Do you know the feeling that you get when eating your favourite meal, or of drinking your first beer on a Friday evening? Supposedly, this...
I have good news for some of you and bad news for others, your brain peaks early in your life expectancy; very early. The common...
Everyone is getting older. And so is the brain, which is reflected in the health of our brains. Many people experience dementia as they age,...
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, for which researchers are still searching for a cure. As a starting point, the amyloid cascade...
Ray Nayler’s recent science-fiction novel “The Mountain in the Sea” is an imaginative dive into the depths of neuroscientific theories on consciousness, language development and...
What is intermittent fasting?Fasting has been part of human history for millennia. During our hunter-gatherer ages, we would run into times where food was scarce,...
You probably know that people nowadays are getting older than ever before, that is because our living conditions and medical knowledge are better than in...
Maybe you are familiar with the following; when you are stressed or upset, you get nauseous which you experience in your stomach. This portrays exactly...
We at Brainmatters mainly focus on the science part of the brain, but it's also interesting to take a look into the clinic. Selma Coumans...
Horror, my brain and I It’s spooky season. Isn’t there a better time to cuddle up in front of your TV and watch a horror...
You're biking home alone through the dark and you're afraid someone will chase you. You are afraid of spiders, heights or small spaces. Do these...
Where does the term come from?Have you watched Marvel Movies? You might be familiar with the villain Thanos, who has such power that he can...
On a sunny Thursday in October, I got on my bike towards Berg en Terblijt where Aimée Coenen welcomed me in her large farmhouse. After...
Meditation is beginning to gain a foothold in the West. Perhaps our busy, Western culture has an increasing need to take a closer look at...
Mindfulness meditation is a form of meditation that focuses entirely on the here and now. All attention is on breathing in and out calmly. The...
Meditation causes the brain to work differently. Not just during meditation itself, but for weeks afterward. New research shows sustained effects in a brain region...
A new study shows that a breathing-based meditation technique helps people with severe depression in whom even medication has no effect. More than half of...
It's nothing new, of course, but totally contemporary again: meditating. It is said to be good for body and mind, to provide relief, peace in...
If your mom is afraid of spiders, then there's a good chance you are too. We already know from previous research that parents' fears are...
Discussion around the topic of psychedelic drugs tends to trip people up a lot, but with its increasing acceptance in the scientific and therapeutic field,...
Walking down the street by yourself late at night, until in the distance you see a person standing in the shadows. With a pounding heart,...
Have you ever fallen in love? If yes, then you probably know how exciting and all-encompassing this experience can be. But falling in love also...
Nowadays, social media is full of ‘fitgirls or boys’. At first glance, this seems of no harm, especially with obesity being a worldwide problem among...
We are all afraid from time to time. Some cannot stand horror films, others are afraid of spiders, and yet others get weak in the...
Hey you! Yes, you! Are you conscious right now? Of course you are, right? But what does this actually mean? Consciousness is an extremely intuitive,...
Besides ‘How to Change Your Mind’, another relatively new Netflix series called ‘The Mind explained’ consists of short episodes of approximately 20 minutes each. Each...
We all have habits we would like to change; drink less alcohol, cut down our mobile phone usage, and go to the gym more often....
In this book, the famous sleep researcher Matthew Walker tries to unravel all the neuroscientific research on sleep and dreams currently available. In an understandable...
At Brainmatters we are fascinated by the brain. But if you were to see a brain lying on a table, it wouldn't look all that...
While discussing the potential of psychedelics in treating psychological disorders during the course ‘Neuropsychopharmacology’, one of my peers brought up this Netflix documentary series called...
The summer is just coming to an end, and with it a period of heat wave. The elderly and babies in particular suffer from high...
A newborn baby often sees many faces pass by above their crib. Although the visual system is not fully developed at birth, babies develop a...
Here at brainmatters.nl, we love the brain and we hope to get you just as excited about this mysterious organ inside our heads. If you...
When talking about new impressions, a topic that cannot be left undiscussed is love. What happens in our brain when we see a potential partner...
Whenever you meet someone new, you immediately (believe to) have a general sense of what the person is like. This is the first impression we...
how new impression can drain your energy Last year I moved far away from home to study in Maastricht. I had to start from scratch;...
