Can science account for taste?
I was asked the question "From a scientific point of view, how are our tastes created?" Here's my answer. "There's no accounting for taste!" Typically we explain taste — in…
Me and My Brain: What the “Double-Subject Fallacy” reveals about contemporary conceptions of the Self
My latest essay for 3 Quarks Daily is up: Me and My Brain: What the "Double-Subject Fallacy" reveals about contemporary conceptions of the Self Here's an excerpt: What is a…
Fifty terms to avoid in psychology and psychiatry?
The excellent blog Mind Hacks shared a recent Frontiers in Psychology paper entitled "Fifty psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid: a list of inaccurate, misleading, misused, ambiguous, and logically confused words…
Why can most people identify a color without a reference but not a musical note?
[I was asked this on Quora. Here's a slightly modified version of my answer.] This is an excellent question! I'm pretty sure there is not yet a definitive answer, but…
Does dopamine produce a feeling of bliss? On the chemical self, the social self, and reductionism.
Here's the intro to my latest blog post at 3 Quarks Daily. "The osmosis of neuroscience into popular culture is neatly symbolized by a phenomenon I recently chanced upon: neurochemical-inspired…