Delirium — a snapshot of this serious cognitive condition

Author - Schenelle Dlima // Editor - Erin Pallott “My voice did not obey me. I tried to answer, but could only indicate yes or no.” “I had fantasies and was horrified: the nurses were dangerous. I was attending my own funeral.” “I have been from Heaven to Hell.” No, these are not lines from …

Word Learning: Where do our children learn best?

Author - Phoebe Harding-Walker // Editor – Erin Pallott Language is a central component of the human experience. We utter thousands of words every single day to share our thoughts and feelings, express our interests, communicate our amazing ideas with others and much, much, more. But how do children master language? How do they learn …

Is your mind playing tricks on you? 10 common unhelpful thinking styles which can affect your mood

By Mia Bennion Typically, we don’t tend to question our brain or our thinking – if you think it, it must be right…right? Not necessarily! Thoughts are opinions, not facts! Our brain can be our best friend, helping to alert us to any danger, problem solve and granting us with creativity and imagination. Unfortunately, sometimes …

Cometh the Corvidae: Mr and Mrs. Magpie, BSc.

Crows are now smarter than the average undergraduate By Jack Sharpen It doesn’t take an ornithologist to know that corvids are smart. For any casual naturalist, clips of these clever creatures solving puzzles and outfoxing (or rather out-crowing) our saviour David Attenborough have been flying around on our screens and documentaries for years.  If you’re …

Postgraduate Study – If I Could Turn Back Time

Chloe Brady@cabradybio During my PhD, the most common question I’ve been asked when chatting with new students is: “If you could start again, what would you have done differently?” Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and as a final year student pressed for time, it can be tempting to look back and wonder what could have …

Self-harm and aggression: two sides of the same coin?

By Matina Shafti @MatinaPsy Self-harm and aggression are harmful behaviours that can have severe consequences for both the individual and those around them. These behaviours are prevalent across the world, making it a global health issue. On the surface, it might seem that self-harm and aggression are two completely different behaviours. After all, one is …

Figuring out your Presentation Figures

By Marina Gardasevic@MarinaGNeuro I’m sitting in a theatre, my coat squashed under me, staring up at powerpoint slides. I’m standing in a hot, humid conference room, paper plate in hand, staring at a poster. The person presenting this data is clearly very smart; their work sure looks complicated. They’re talking about Figure 4 now, should …

Cognition in schizophrenia: a missing piece of the therapeutic puzzle

Originally posted on PLOS ECR  by Jessica Brown What kind of mental image springs to mind upon reading the word ‘schizophrenia’? Many envisage an individual locked in a dark institution, constantly plagued by non-existent voices and vivid hallucinations. Even as a final year BSc Biology student with a neuroscience research placement under my belt, I …

Marie Kondo and Metacognitive Therapy: what life-changing magic do ‘spark joy’ and ‘leave it alone’ have in common?

Have you noticed that people are weirdly enthused about the Kon Mari method of de-cluttering?  Maybe you yourself are a convert?  I hate tidying.  So I thought the Netflix series seemed vaguely absurd. But I was quickly drawn in. I read the book - just out of curiosity too.  And I think I’ve started to …

Perfectionism and Me

“What is your biggest flaw?” .. “Oh, well I am just SUCH a perfectionist!” Undeniably one of the most cliché and eye-roll inducing answers to this classic interview question, declaring yourself a perfectionist is often viewed as a humble brag. Most people think perfectionism is just admitting everything you do has to be just right, …