We’ve got your signal!

Most people know that electroencephalography (EEG) measures brain activity. But probably few know that the first measurement of the human EEG came from an attempt to scientifically test telepathy, and even fewer that one of the first EEG devices from Groningen inspired the founding of a Dutch company. This blog post provides interesting historical insights into the measurement technique of EEG and it’s relation to Psychology in Groningen.

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A forgiving cycle path: preventing bicycle crashes in the elderly

Cyclists are vulnerable, and particularly older cyclists have an increased risk of crashing. Therefore, Frank Westerhuis and his colleagues from the traffic psychology group investigated countermeasures to increase cyclists’ safety. This blog post reveals whether they were succesful in achieving this by using illusionary objects next to the cycle path.

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An anatomical look inside brain ’P-0255’

Who hasn’t wanted to look inside someone’s head, especially when that person is acting strangely? A look into the brain can indeed be revealing, both from a medical and neuropsychological point of view, but also from an educational one. This is literally the case with ’P-0255’. But P-0255 is not an old personnel number as a colleague suspected, nor is it a neuroimaging scan; it is the number of a specimen from the University Museum’s pathological brain collection that shows a particular form of traumatic brain injury: a coup contre-coup.

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Why teaching your (grand)parents how the computer works is so challenging: The Neuroscience of Learning and Healthy Aging

Learning helps us cope with changes in our surroundings, and also find the best neighborhood ice cream parlor. Yet, it usually becomes harder as we get older. Thankfully, scientific findings show that it doesn’t always have to be that way.

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I am a Monist (clearing up a misconception)

Many think that believing in monism and not in any kind of metaphysical soul means believing in no mind at all. I am clearing up this misconception and argue that if the brain is the mind (just on a different level), psychology becomes the indirect study of the brain and neuroscience becomes the indirect study of the mind.

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