Faktrum offers a collection of facts about how our brains and consciousness work.
1. You suffer from “inattention blindness”
Watch the following video. You need to count the number of passes made by people wearing white T-shirts. Watch the video BEFORE continuing reading.
This is an example of what is called "inattentional blindness." The idea is that we are often blind to what is happening literally “under our noses” if we are focused on some other task.
In this case, a man in a gorilla suit walks through a group of players, stops and walks away. Participants busy counting passes often simply do not notice the gorilla. Moreover, those who know about the gorilla's appearance become even more inattentive and miss other changes - such as the change in the color of the curtains and the departure of one of the girls.
2. You can only remember 3-4 items at a time
There is a rule of the “magic number 7 plus minus 2”, according to which a person cannot store more than 5-9 blocks of information at the same time. Most information is stored in short-term memory for 20–30 seconds, after which we quickly forget it unless we repeat it over and over again.
Although most people can retain about 7 digits for a short period of time, almost all of us have difficulty retaining 10 digits.
Recent research shows that we are able to store even less: about 3-4 blocks of information at a time. An example is a telephone number: it is divided into several digital blocks to make it easier to remember.
3. We do not perceive the combination of red and blue colors well.
Although these colors are used in many national flags, red and blue difficult to perceive by our vision when they are next to each other.
This is due to an effect called "chromostereopsis", which causes some colors to "pop out" while others are removed. This causes irritation and eye fatigue.
This effect is most pronounced when combining red and blue, as well as red and green.
4. You see things differently than you perceive them.
According to a study from the University of Cambridge, “it’s not very easy to do in the same time period. Smaoe vaonzhe is chotby perevya and nesdyalya bkuva blyi na sviokh metsah.”
Even if the other letters are jumbled, you will be able to read the sentence. This happens because the human brain does not read each letter, but the word as a whole. It constantly processes information from the senses, and the way you perceive information (words) is usually different from what you see (jumbled letters).
5. You are able to maintain rapt attention for about 10 minutes.
Even if you are in a meeting, you are interested in a topic, and the person presents the subject in an interesting way, then maximum time of your close attention- 7–10 minutes. After this, your attention will begin to wane and you will need to take a break to continue to maintain interest in the topic.
6. The ability to delay gratification begins in childhood.
Your ability to delay immediate gratification of your desires begins in early childhood. People who can delay gratification from an early age do better in school and cope better with stress and frustration.
7. We daydream 30% of the time
Do you like to be in the clouds? According to psychologists, we all like to daydream at least 30% of the time. Some of us are even bigger, but that's not always a bad thing. Researchers say that people who daydream tend to be more creative and better problem solvers.
8. It takes an average of 66 days to form a habit.
The more complex the behavior we want to reinforce, the longer it will take. Thus, those who wanted to develop the habit of regularly exercising often needed 1.5 times more time than those who developed the habit of eating fruit for lunch. Even if you miss a day or two, it won't affect the time it takes to get into the habit, but missing too many days in a row can slow down the process.
9. You overestimate your reaction to future events.
We are not very good at predicting the future. More specifically, we overestimate our reaction to future events, whether pleasant or negative.
Research has shown that people believe that positive events, such as getting married or winning big, will make them much happier than they actually are. Likewise, we believe that negative events, such as losing a job or having an accident, will make us feel much more depressed than they actually are.
10. You blame the other person, not the situation (and the situation, not yourself)
Remember a time when you were waiting for another person who was late for a meeting. Most likely, you attributed his delay to irresponsibility and lack of composure. In a similar situation, you would attribute your own lateness to external circumstances (traffic jams).
In psychology, this is called the “fundamental attribution error” - the tendency to explain the behavior of others internal features personality, and their own - by external factors (“I had no choice”, “I was unlucky”).
Unfortunately, even when we are aware of our tendency to make unfair judgments, we still continue to make this mistake - a tendency towards it is inherent in all people from birth.
11. The number of friends you can have is limited.
Even if you can boast of several thousand friends on social networks, in reality you have many fewer. Psychologists and anthropologists have identified the “Dunbar number” - that is, the maximum number of close connections that a person can have, and it ranges from 50 to 150.
12. You can't help but pay attention to food, sex and danger.
Have you noticed that people always stop to look at scenes of accidents. But we cannot ignore the situation of danger. Every person has an ancient survival region of the brain that asks, “Can I eat this? Is it possible to have sex with this? Could this kill me?
Food, sex and danger are the most important things. After all, without food a person will die, without sex the race will not continue, and if a person dies, the first two points will not make sense.
13. You know how to do things you've never done before.
Imagine that you have never seen an iPad, but they gave it to you and told you to read books on it. Before you even turn on your iPad and start using it, you'll already have ideas in your head about what the book will look like on the screen, what features you'll be able to use, and how you'll do it.
In other words, you have a “mental model” of reading a book from a tablet, even if you have never done it. It will be different from the model that the person who read before has e-books and someone who doesn't even know what an iPad is.
These models are based on incomplete facts, past experiences, and intuitions.
14. You want more choices than you can handle.
If you go to any supermarket, you will see a huge range of products because people “want a lot of choice”.
In one study conducted in a supermarket, researchers presented participants with 6 types of jam, followed by 24 types of jam. And while people were more likely to stop at a stand with 24 types of jam, they were 6 times more likely to buy jam from a stand with 6 types of jam.
The explanation is simple: despite the fact that we think we want more, our brains can only handle so many things at once.
15. You're happier when you're busy.
Imagine that you are at the airport and you need to pick up your luggage. It will take you about 12 minutes to get to the baggage claim area. When you arrive at baggage claim, you immediately collect your suitcase.
Now try to imagine a similar situation, but you get to the delivery lane in 2 minutes and wait for your suitcase for 10 minutes. Although in both situations it took you 12 minutes to get your luggage, in the second case you were probably more impatient and unhappy.
If a person has no reason to be active, he decides to do nothing. And while it helps us maintain energy, idleness makes us feel impatient and unhappy.
16. You make most decisions subconsciously.
Although we like to think that our decisions are carefully controlled and thought out, research suggests that Everyday decisions are actually subconscious and there is a reason for it.
Every second our brain is attacked by more than 11 million individual pieces of data, and since we cannot carefully check all this, the subconscious helps us make decisions.
17. You change your memories
We think of our memories as little “movies” that we play in our heads and believe that they are stored just like videos on a computer. However, this is not true.
Every time you think back to an event, you change it because the neural pathways are activated differently each time. This may also be influenced by later events. and the desire to fill gaps in memory.
So, for example, you don't remember who else was at the family reunion, but since your aunt was usually present, you can eventually include her in your memory.
18. You can't multitask
If you think you're great at multitasking, you're wrong. Scientists have proven that we cannot do 2-3 things at once. Sure, we can walk and talk to our friend at the same time, but our brain only focuses on one priority function at a time.
The thing is that we cannot think about two different things at the same time.
19. Your most vivid memories are wrong.
Memories of exciting and dramatic events are called “flashbulb memories” in psychology, and they turn out to be full of errors.
Well-known examples of this phenomenon are the events surrounding 9/11. Psychologists asked participants to describe in detail what they did, where they were and other details immediately after the terrorist attack and 3 years later.
It turned out that 90% of later descriptions differed from the original ones. Many people can describe in detail where and what they were doing when they heard the news. The only problem is that these details are incorrect because strong emotions associated with the memory distort the memories.
20. Your brain is just as active while you sleep as it is when you're awake.
When you sleep and dream, your brain processes and accumulates the experience of the whole day, creates associations from the information received, decides what to remember and what to forget.
You've probably often heard the advice to “get a good night's sleep” before an exam or important event. If you want to remember what you've learned, it's best to go to bed immediately after you've learned the material and give your brain time to sort the information into pieces.
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Marijuana against Alzheimer's. Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (USA) have found that the main psychoactive substance in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and several other active compounds destroy beta-amyloid plaques on laboratory-grown neurons. Amyloid beta is a toxic protein that accumulates in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. The disease progresses due to cellular inflammation in the brain, which is also reduced by the psychoactive substances of marijuana. The main merit of the study is that it opens new horizons in the study of the possible effects of marijuana.
Our brain's memory capacity is 10 times greater than we thought. We value our brains for their ability to store and process large amounts of information. But research by a group of American scientists from the University of California revealed that the real capabilities of the brain are ten times greater than previously thought. Scientists have proven that the human brain is capable of accommodating as much information as the global Internet space can accommodate. To reach this conclusion, scientists built a 3D model of the hippocampus of brain neurons (the hippocampus is part of the limbic system of the brain, involved in the consolidation of short-term memory into long-term memory), in which transitions and synapses are repeated twice in 10% of cases. Scientist Terry Sieznowski called it a "real bomb" in the field of neuroscience. 
Painkillers make chronic pain worse. Recent studies have shown that just 5 days of treating rats with morphine resulted in chronic pain that lasted for several months. Opioid drugs affected the behavior of glial cells in experimental animals: these cells should protect the nerves of the spinal cord and brain from damage, but after repeated use of morphine this does not happen, and increased sensitivity to pain appears. If the results of the study are similar in the case of people, this will explain the dependence on strong painkillers: while helping on a superficial level, the drugs prolong and intensify the pain syndrome in the long term. 
Sugar is like a drug. Our habits influence brain function in strange ways. For example, even such signals nervous system How “stop” and “go” change under the influence of sugar addiction. Like other drugs, sugar addiction affects how the brain controls electrical signals associated with either the pursuit of pleasure or the suppression of this desire. It turns out that sugar cravings are not just an appetite and taste preference, but the result of changes in the brain caused by powerful chemical influences. This is yet another study that proves that we have been underestimating the effects of sugar on our bodies. By the way, another scientific work last year looks at genetic memory damage caused by fructose. Most likely, the topic of our brain’s dependence on sweets will become one of the most relevant in science in the near future. 
Is happiness in the genes? In one of the largest studies to date examining the relationship between a person’s mood and state and genetics, scientists have come to the conclusion that the roots of our psychological worldview lie in the genome. More than 190 researchers from 17 countries analyzed genome data from almost 300 thousand people. The results revealed a set of genetic variations associated with subjective well-being—the thoughts and feelings we have about the level and quality of our lives, which psychologists identify as a central component of happiness. Similarly, genetic variations associated with depression and neurosis have been discovered. The next question is how these variations interact with our environment, and whether depression can be detected by genetic testing before it manifests itself clinically. 
Prevention of Alzheimer's disease: first steps. Research last year has opened up new prospects for the development of medications to prevent Alzheimer's disease, and possibly other neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease. Employees at Baylor College of Medicine, scientists at Texas Children's Hospital and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are jointly looking for ways to prevent the accumulation of toxic proteins in the human brain - that is, to work ahead of the curve rather than destroying tau proteins that have already formed. This is a major breakthrough in the fight against Alzheimer's because the main research so far has focused on treatment late stages diseases. 
How sleep apnea affects the brain. Sleep apnea is a sudden stop in breathing that can last 20-30 seconds, and sometimes longer. Apnea is often associated with an increased risk of stroke, depression and traffic accidents. Research has shown that restless nights with sleep apnea trigger a chemical rollercoaster of sorts, releasing the neurotransmitters GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) and glutamate. As a result, people with sleep apnea are more sensitive to stress, have trouble concentrating, and experience frequent emotional swings. 
Walk for happiness. Among the many studies examining the beneficial effects of walking on a person’s emotional state, one recent work can be highlighted. Thus, scientists claim that walking improves mood, even when we do not expect or plan such an effect. In three experiments in which more than a hundred people took part (unaware that walking was one of the objects of study), it was found that just 12 minutes of walking increased the cheerfulness, energy, attentiveness and self-confidence of the subjects, compared with the same time spent sitting. An important and pleasant conclusion: the fight against depression and a depressed state does not require financial investments or visits to a specialist. Sometimes it's enough to just leave the house and go for a walk. 
Social networks and social opportunities. Most of the work in psychology related to social networks, study their influence on a person’s emotional state: for example, is Facebook a trigger good mood or provokes depression. In the past year, research has emerged that focuses on how Facebook manages our relationships. On the one hand, social media seems to be an excellent tool to expand our communication capabilities, surpassing the so-called Dunbar number - the number of constant social connections that a person can maintain. But no: according to scientists, Dunbar’s number is still in force, and our brain is able to control no more than 150 relationships (that is, know and remember character traits and other characteristics of a person). So the expansion of social connections thanks to social networks is quite conditional - no matter how many “friends” you have, your brain is only able to “be friends” with a narrow circle. 
Post-it reminders are still the most effective. No new technologies will replace the reminders we are used to, written on a piece of paper and fixed somewhere in plain sight, say scientists who have devoted an entire study to this topic. Today our lives are becoming busier and more intense, so such practical knowledge, confirmed by scientific experiments, is simply necessary. 
Recent research shows that it is possible to correct gene disorders in a specific person's body with the help of drugs, and what we eat can affect our DNA.
When scientists launched the Human Genome Project in 1990, they hoped that, among other things, they would be able to unravel the mystery of the genetic origins of diseases. And they succeeded... in a way.
As it turns out, the more we study the influence of genes on health, the less our real knowledge about this subject. Despite numerous tests and risk assessments, we still cannot say for sure who will get sick and who will not.
The reason is that heredity rarely creates a direct path to a particular disease; moreover, it may not create one at all. We now understand that family history is just one piece of the puzzle in the overall picture of the disease.
Family matters
Let's start with what we know for sure. In 9 out of 10 diseases that are the leading causes of death in the United States (this coincides largely with statistics in other developed countries - translator's note), the main ones being cancer and heart disease, the role of genes is obvious.
In some cases this role is huge. Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are ideal examples of a direct link between genetic material and disease. About 60% of women with this type of mutation develop breast cancer. This is one of the few transparent cases where genetics provides a real chance for early and most effective intervention.
Such cases are rare. In general, heredity accounts for only a small proportion of overall assessment risk of disease. If we again take cancer as an example, then, according to experts, only 5-10% of all cancers are explained solely by heredity.
For diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, the influence of genes is even more blurred, because external causes play an important role in their occurrence and development. Of course, the doctor must first know the patient's family history, but this is far from the only risk factor that he will have to analyze.
Of course, we know that people who have never smoked also die from lung cancer, and those who are not overweight die from heart attacks. On the other hand, each of us has at least once met a person who, despite bad habits, is still quite healthy.
However, these are all exceptions rather than the rule. Scientific research have proven time and time again that external factors matter. And even very much so.
Who rules?
The individual sequence of our genes may be less important than their expression, which in turn depends on epigenetic markers that turn genes on or off and thus control our health.
And here a surprise awaits us: epigenetics is not given in advance, it depends on external factors.
Take, for example, DNA methylation (the addition of a methyl group). It is one of many processes by which the body keeps gene expression under control. Failures in methylation can lead to blocking of some protective functions of genes, and this, in turn, can contribute to the development of diseases, such as cancer.
Such failures, however, do not occur spontaneously and are reversible. Science is currently considering the possibility of medical intervention in this kind of process to prevent the disease. Early diagnosis of failures and blocking of dangerous epigenetic changes using drug therapy is one of the new routes of care being considered by scientists today.
This is far from the only way to interfere with the genetic program. Research shows that many factors, such as diet, exposure to toxic substances, and level of physical activity, can affect how DNA shapes the condition of our body.
Conclusion: “bad” genes require expression to do their dirty work. In other words, you need external factor, which will start the process of disease development. But you can, on the contrary, “turn them off”. The same applies to “good” protective genes.
Lifelong changes... and even longer
It is clear that proper nutrition- this is one of the golden rules of health. Everyone knows about this. However, very few people realize that diet is a serious epigenetic factor, that is, it can affect their DNA or even the DNA of their offspring.
Yes, that's right. The way you eat will affect the DNA of your future children and grandchildren. Modern research prove that epigenetic changes are not reversed in subsequent generations.
Scientists are just beginning to understand how far epigenetic changes extend, but the role of nutrition is already clear. And thanks to a new direction emerging literally before our eyes, nutrigenomics, scientists may soon be able to create individual nutrition programs based on a personal list of genetically determined risks.
Let's imagine that someone has a genetic predisposition to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer - how to eat correctly?
To begin with, eliminate one product, namely sugar. Latest research demonstrate that dependence on it modern man is the most dangerous factor for health. The list of diseases caused by white refined sugar is endless, and the most harmful of the harmful sugar-containing products is sweet soda.
Translation (abridged) by Marina SOLODOVNIKOVA
When a person has problems with one of his senses, he goes to the doctor. So, if there are problems with the ears, throat or nose, then they go to an otolaryngologist, if with vision, they go to an ophthalmologist. But who should you go to if you have problems with your sense of touch? Science still knows very little about sensory perception compared to other senses. Every year scientists learn something new about it.
Today it is believed that the sense of touch may be much more important than previously thought.
1. Influences decisions
Most people probably think that they control their thoughts and decisions. This is called free will, and it is really very important. But can you be sure that “honest and objective” decisions are truly your own? Recent research claims that a person is actually influenced by the slightest things without consciously realizing it. The researchers tested groups of volunteers using various scenarios. It turned out that people largely rely on physical sensations when making decisions.
In one example, people who wrote their resumes on heavy, thick paper were rated as more serious than those who wrote their resumes on thin paper. In another test, people sitting in hard chairs were less likely to negotiate than people sitting in softer chairs.
2. Affects the taste
Each person has different tastes, but there are five tastes that are universally recognized: sweet, bitter, sour, salty and, more recently, umami (savory). While scientists debate whether to add new flavors to this list, most agree that the burn of pepper or the cool sensation of mint are not tastes. These sensations are created not by taste buds, but by sensory receptors.
The hot taste of peppers is caused by a substance called capsaicin, which irritates TRPV1 receptors in the skin. These types of nerves typically send warnings to the brain when they come into contact with something at around 42 degrees Celsius, which is the heat pain threshold for humans. Capsaicin triggers this activation at 35 degrees Celsius, which is lower than normal temperature bodies.
Similar TRPV1 receptors are found throughout the body, and this is the principle of action of pepper spray. Therefore, the body actually deceives itself by “believing” that the chemical is irritating to it, like boiling water. But in fact, “spicy” and “hot” are not tastes and these sensations are not even transmitted to the brain.
3. Affects men and women differently
Even a light touch can have a powerful effect. Research shows that friendly, non-intimate touch can cause physical and psychological changes. One study found that men become more confident when women touch them. In addition, when a man touches a woman, for example, patting her on the back, then he is willing to take more risks.
The reason that a woman's touch makes men feel more confident is probably because children are constantly touched by their mothers to encourage them. Therefore, physical contact with a woman imitates this feeling. Another study found that a woman's temperature can increase if she is touched by a man. In this case, the skin on the face and chest becomes the warmest. Almost a quarter of the subjects did not even realize that they had actually experienced arousal.
4. Tactile sensitivity
The sense of touch, like sight and hearing, is considered fundamentally important to most people, and this sense can also be measured. If a person has an exceptional sense of smell or taste, then they can use these talents to make a career in the perfume or food industry. However, touch sensitivity is largely ignored in modern society. In fact, in order to create the best possible touch screen (which all gadgets are equipped with today), you need to know how sensitive it and the user's finger are to touch.
Swedish scientists have proven that the human finger can distinguish surface irregularities up to 13 nanometers in size (a nanometer is one thousandth of a micron, which in turn is one thousandth of a millimeter). On a smooth surface, people can apparently feel large molecules and single-celled organisms with their fingers (for example, the size of a virus ranges from 20 to 300 nm).
5. Tactile contacts and success
Touch is very important. In fact, it is so important that sports teams whose players are more “touch sensitive” tend to have greater success. A study of NBA players over the course of an entire season found that whenever teammates made any kind of intentional physical contact (hugs, pats on the back, high-fives, etc.), the results were more successful.
6. Related to hearing
The rumor has already been studied quite well. Thanks to advances in DNA sequencing in recent years Science has found more than 70 genes that can lead to deafness or hearing loss. But not a single gene was found that influenced the sense of touch. Researchers in Berlin decided to find out whether there is a genetic link between hearing and touch. After all, they work in a similar way.
These are the only two senses that "rely on the conversion of mechanical force into electrical signals." Tests have shown a correlation between loss of touch and loss of hearing. In addition, people with Usher syndrome, which can cause deafness and blindness, also have a poor sense of touch.
7. Can't mute
The sense of touch is a complex phenomenon that is not entirely understood even by modern scientists. For example, when someone's fingers are frozen with anesthesia, they are still able to use their hands. This person should not feel anything, but research has shown that in such a situation people may still feel small details surfaces to the touch. If drugs temporarily “drown” the nerves in the hand, then where does the feeling of touch come from?
The answer to this question (but this is a theory) may be that the vibrations from the touch travel further up the arm. Further research in this area could lead to more sensitive robots, much better prosthetics and more realistic virtual reality.
8. Better developed in women
Everyone knows that women, as a rule, have smaller hands than men. Researchers studying the sense of touch have shown that small hands are more sensitive than large ones. Adults tend to have the same number of receptors, regardless of hand size. Thus, in people with miniature hands, these sensory receptors are located closer together, giving them a more refined sense of touch.
9. Numbness due to inattention
According to researchers, the most best time to get into someone's pocket is when a person is distracted by something, for example, when he reads the departure times of trains or planes. One study found that people's tactile sensitivity was greatly reduced when they were engaged in a visual task that required a lot of attention. This is called "inattentional numbness."
It is a well-known fact that people can miss visual or auditory stimuli if their attention is focused on something else. But this was the first time tactile information had been tested in this way, and it was found that study participants had a reduced ability to perceive clear tactile stimuli when their visual load was high.
10. Dermatoglyphs
Epidermal ridges or “fingerprints” have always been a mystery. Most animals don't have them, so why do people have them. For many years, the most widely accepted theory was that fingerprints increased the grip of the hands on a surface. However, recent research has shown that this is probably not the case. In fact, fingerprints in some cases, on the contrary, can worsen your grip. Georges Debregis and his team of researchers from the University of Paris determined that fingerprints enhance the sense of touch because the receptors that respond to touch are located deep inside the skin.