#cognition

[trees-expertise]

Science side of Tumblr PLEASE share your tips/advice/hacks for academic conferences!

Im attending my first academic conference in a couple weeks and I’d appreciate anything you’d like to share with a lil baby bio undergrad like me

[exhaustedpigion]

hopecore

[thekindlife-substackdotcom]

Do Animals Think & Feel?

Only over the past handful of decades have researchers been able to point to what every pet owner knows: animals possess cognizance and emot

[tumbler-polls]

When you picture yourself in your mind, do you imagine yourself precisely how you look in real life, or do you see something else (an alter ego, a person who looks differently, another being, etc.)? When you're visualizing from the first person's pov, whose hands are you seeing? If you have aphantasia, consider "seeing" as a metaphor for the way you think of the concept of yourself.

The main options (we put them here due to the character limit):

🪞: I only imagine myself the way I look like irl.

🪆: I imagine someone/something that represents me.

✨️: I imagine myself in multiple ways: the way I am, as another being, as an abstract concept, you name it.

Your answer:

🪞 + I'm cis.

🪞 + I'm trans / non-binary.

🪞 + I don't have a gender identity / Idk what my gender identity is.

🪆 + I'm cis.

🪆 + I'm trans / non-binary.

🪆 + I don't have a gender identity / Idk what my gender identity is.

✨️ + I'm cis.

✨️ + I'm trans / non-binary.

✨️ + I don't have a gender identity / Idk what my gender identity is.

I've never once imagined myself. I couldn't draw my own face if god asked.

Something entirety else (please expand on that in the comments).

I'm a pure consciousness having a meaty experience; Self is a silly thing.

Voting ended onNov 11, 2023

Please reblog for a bigger sample size and feel free to expand on your answer in the comments / tags!

Credit to @anon (we added a few options).

[archiveofaffinities]

William J. Mitchell, The Logic of Architecture Design, Computation and Cognition, A Vocabulary of Stair Motifs (After Thiis Evensen, 1988)

[philosophybits]

Both Plato and Aristotle insist on the principle that immediate sensation and immediate cognition cannot deceive. Later also Descartes, who says precisely as do the Greek skeptics, that error has its root in the will, which is over-hasty in drawing conclusions. This also throws light on faith; when faith resolves to believe it runs the risk of committing itself to an error, but it nevertheless believes. There is no other road to faith; if one wishes to escape risk, it is as if one wanted to know with certainty that he can swim before going into the water.

Søren Kierkegaard, Philosophical Fragments

[leukocytes0-o]

neurology/cognitive based micro-optimizations that make learning more efficient

— I really wanted to make a post like this.

1. Use Active Recall (Hippocampal Retrieval Strengthening)

Why it works: Memory strengthens during retrieval, not re-reading. Actively pulling information out reactivates hippocampal-cortical networks, strengthening synaptic pathways.

How to apply:

Close the book.

Write everything you remember.

Then check gaps.

Use flashcards only if they require recall, not recognition.

2. Space Your Learning (Synaptic Consolidation Windows)

Why it works: Memory consolidation requires time-dependent protein synthesis and replay during sleep. Spacing allows reconsolidation cycles to strengthen networks.

How to apply:

Review after:

1 day

3 days

1 week

1 month

Short reviews are more powerful than long cramming sessions.

3. Interleave Subjects (Prefrontal Cognitive Flexibility Training)

Why it works: Switching between related topics increases discrimination and strengthens prefrontal cortex control networks. It reduces context-dependent learning.

Instead of: 2 hours of only biology

Try: 45 min bio → 45 min math → 45 min chem

4. Teach What You Learn (Elaborative Encoding)

Why it works: Explaining forces integration into existing cortical networks. The brain encodes meaning better than isolated facts.

After studying:

Explain it out loud as if teaching a med student.

Or write a “mini lecture summary” in 5 bullet points.

If you can’t explain it simply, the schema isn’t solid.

5. Optimize Sleep (Glymphatic & Memory Replay)

Why it matters neurologically:

Deep sleep → hippocampal replay.

REM → abstraction & pattern integration.

Glymphatic system clears metabolic waste (including beta-amyloid).

You cannot out-study sleep deprivation. It literally reduces hippocampal plasticity.

Aim: 8–9 hours

6. Use “Desirable Difficulty” (Dopamine & Effort Signaling)

When something feels slightly hard:

Dopaminergic systems increase plasticity.

The brain flags it as important.

If studying feels too easy, you're not encoding deeply.

Push difficulty just beyond comfort

7. Exercise Before Studying (BDNF Boost)

Moderate exercise increases:

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)

Cerebral blood flow

Executive function

Even 15–20 minutes of brisk walking before studying improves encoding efficiency.

Think of it as priming synaptic growth.

8. Reduce Context Switching (Prefrontal Cost)

Every time you check your phone:

You incur a switching cost.

The anterior cingulate and PFC burn glucose.

Working memory fragments.

Try:

45–60 minute focused sessions

Phone physically out of room

9. Build Concept Maps (Association Cortex Strengthening)

Instead of memorizing:

Build causal chains.

physiology → pathology → symptoms → treatment.

This mirrors how the cortex stores information — in distributed networks.

10. Align Learning With Identity (Dopaminergic Goal Encoding)

For example when I think:

“I’m learning this because I’ll be a neurologist.”

I activate long-term goal circuitry in the medial prefrontal cortex.

Identity-based motivation increases persistence and encoding depth.