At least since the publication of Richard Hofstadter's "The Paranoid Style in American Politics," belief in conspiracy theories has been seen as an aberrational, fringe phenomenon. But what if is ...

Consciousness is the ultimate question of existence. Nothing is more essential than our experience. Yet we have no consensus, and perhaps no clue, about what it actually is. The trouble, in part, is ...

This post is Part I of a series. The field of consciousness studies has come of age. Prior to the 1990s, theories of consciousness were more of a philosophical pursuit than a serious scientific one.

Getting a sweet treat is socially acceptable after big exams because of the notion that you deserve to be rewarded when you work hard. Reinforcement, associated with behaviorism, is central to ...

A five-year “adversarial collaboration” of consciousness theorists led to a stagy showdown in front of an audience. It crowned no winners — but it can still claim progress. Science routinely puts ...

Your Brain's Night Shift A 2023 study found a strong link between the content of dreams and the consolidation of newly formed ...

Five DECADES of research into artificial neural networks have earned Geoffrey Hinton the moniker of the Godfather of artificial intelligence (AI). Work by his group at the University of Toronto laid ...

When asked the question, "What is a theory?" most of my students (regardless of age or educational level) respond with an explanation that is akin to "a reasonable, educated/informed guess." Indeed, ...