Mental Performance – Page 2

Rosy Retrospection and Declinism: Why the Past Looks Great and the Future Is Frightening

Rosy retrospection is a cognitive bias that causes people to remember past events as being more positive than they were in reality. For example, rosy retrospection could cause someone to remember their childhood years as being more joyful than they actually were. Declinism is the belief that a certain entity, such as a country …

How to Be Innovative: The Untapped Potential of Obscure Features

Coming up with innovative solutions is hard. Most people assume that being innovative is a fixed personality trait, so that you either have it or you don’t. However, research shows that while personality does play a role, innovation is something that can be taught, even to people who think that they have no natural aptitude …

The Pessimism Bias: When Things Seem Worse Than They Are

The pessimism bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate the likelihood that bad things will happen. For example, the pessimism bias could make someone believe that they’re going to fail an exam, even though they’re well-prepared and likely to succeed. This bias distorts people’s thought process, and can be detrimental to your …

The Benefits of Plants: How Plants Can Make You Happier, Healthier, and More Productive

Studies show that keeping plants in your workspace or even within view of your workspace can improve your physical health, contribute to your emotional well-being, and boost your productivity. In the following article, you will learn more about these benefits and about which plants work best, so that you can take advantage of this …

The Ostrich Effect: On the Danger of Burying Your Head in the Sand

The ostrich effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to avoid situations where they might encounter information that they perceive as negative. For example, the ostrich effect could cause someone to avoid looking at their bills, because they’re worried about seeing how far behind they are on their payments. Though the ostrich effect …

The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment: How Self-Control and Willpower Determine Your Success in Life

A person’s self-control plays an important role in determining their success in life, and studies show that this personality trait can be measured at an early age, through a relatively simple experiment. Specifically, testing whether a kid is capable of waiting for a few minutes before eating a piece of candy is a fairly reliable …

The Google Effect and Digital Amnesia: How We Use Machines to Remember

The Google effect and digital amnesia are two related psychological phenomena, which have to do with our tendency to forget information that is available online or stored digitally. For example, the Google effect and digital amnesia could cause someone to forget a certain piece of information, if they know they can find it later by searching the …

The Benefits of Playing Video Games

Research shows that there are various benefits to playing video games. These include cognitive benefits, such as improved reaction time, improved mental flexibility, and improved spatial abilities, as well as other types of benefits, such as reduced stress levels, increased self-esteem, and increased prosocial behavior. In the following article, you will first learn more …

Memory Cues: How to Set Yourself Up to Remember

Memory cues are objects or events that help trigger an action or a memory of that action. Memory cues can either be things that we set up intentionally in advance, as in the case of a reminder on our phone, or they can be unintentional, as in the case of seeing a product at the …

Who Should and Who Shouldn’t Eat Before Going Grocery Shopping

A common piece of conventional wisdom is that you should never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. Intuitively, this makes sense: if you’re already full when you go to buy food, you’ll be less tempted to buy extra food items. However, studies on the topic show that this is not always the case. Rather, …