Mind & Brain

Smell can bring back vivid childhood memories—the so-called Proust’s madeleine phenomenon—and neuroscientists now think they know why

Neuroscientists show how the brain weighs effort against reward when we're mentally fatigued

During a lost ‘golden age’ of language, humans may have spoken tens of thousands of different tongues, a new study suggests

A new skull-based analysis of Neanderthal brains suggests that these ancient hominins’ range of intelligence largely overlapped with our own

The “hero’s journey” narrative structure seen in the ancient Greek story can help people make meaning in their own lives

Spoonerisms are among the most well-known speech errors, and for linguists and psychologists they offer a glimpse into how our brains produce speech

Tennis players can return high-speed balls using a combination of reaction and predicting the future

New research identifies five distinct sleep subtypes, revealing links between brain patterns, behavior and health

Working memory is the information we need to access to complete the tasks we’re engaged in right now, and scientists think it may be closely entwined with consciousness

Sports psychology plays a major role on and off the pitch, helping players manage chaos and stay strategic

Fathers show changes in some of the same brain areas as mothers, but the effect of parenthood on dads isn’t nearly as well studied

People with “fearful” or “preoccupied” insecure attachment styles had more children, whereas securely attached people had fewer, according to a recent study