Mind Myths
Exploring Popular Assumptions About the Mind and Brain
Currently there is a gap between what scientists know aboutthe mindand brain and the assumptions that others draw from sources ofeveryday information such as newspapers, popular press andtelevision. Mind Myths attempts to close this gap by bringingtogether top international neuroscientists and psychologists toprovide a fascinating and scientifically reliable insight into theneuropsychological and cognitive phenomena that are frequentlyreported in the media. A multitude of mind myth topics are tackled,for example
* the resuscitation from coma thanks to a patient's avourite songs
* the creativity of the right hemisphere
* the false memory syndrome
* the placebo effect
* learning while sleeping
"Mind Myths...includes the remarkably persistent fallacy that weonly ever use 10% of our brains, the assumption that our rightbrains function as artistic hippies and our left as desiccatedaccountants ...the book is written in a lively style and will, Ihope, be read widely by science journalists, and others who helpperpetuate the various myths... an excellent focus for anundergraduate seminar, providing a stimulating bridge between thepsychological laboratory and the rather untilled field of folkpsychology." From the Foreword by Alan Baddeley
This unique book will appeal to professionals and students acrossthe psychology and science disciplines and anyone else with aninterest in how the brain works in everyday situations.
1. Whence Cometh the Myth that We Only Use Ten Percent of OurBrain? (Barry Beyerstein).
2. Are We in Our Right Minds? (Michael C. Corballis).
3. Energy and the Brain: Facts and Fantasies (Fernando D.Saravi).
4. Pseudoscience and the Brain: Tuners and Tonics for AspiringSuperhumans (Barry L. Beyerstein).
SECTION 2: THE TWILIGHT ZONE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH.
5. Near-Death Experience and Ecstasy: A Production of theOrganisation of the Human Brain (Michael Persinger).
6. Lazarus Syndrome (Ennio De Renzi).
SECTION 3: MYTHS ABOUT MEMORY AND CREATIVE THINKING.
7. Lie Down and Let Me Tell You About Your Childhood... (MaryanneGarry, Susan Frame and Elizabeth F. Loftus).
8. Repetita (Non) Iuvant (Robert H. Logie and Sergio DellaSala).
9. Creative Thinking: Myths and Misconceptions (K. Gilhooly).
SECTION 4: CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES: CLONES, AGEING, ANDHYPNOSIS.
10. The Myth of the Clonable Human Brain (G. Berlucchi).
11. When Age Is In, the Wit Is Out? (Pat Rabbitt).
12. Hypnosis (Graham F. Wagstaff).
SECTION 5: THE MULTIFARIOUS ASPECTS OF DECEPTION.
13. I Shall Please: the Mysterious Power of Placebos (Edzard Ernstand Neil C. Abbott).
14. The Magicians Best-Kept Secrets (James Randi).
15.It s All in the Mind. On the Mechanisms of Deception in PsychicFraud (Massimo Polidoro).
16.Recent Advances in Moving Backwards (Katharine M. Leafhead andMichael D. Kopelman).
SECTION 6: MEDIA WATCH.
17. The Media and the Brain (Toby Howard and Steve Donnelly).
"... thoroughly enjoyable book...." (Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, October 2000)
"This book tells a fascinating story." (International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, Volume 15, 2000)
