31 episodes

Scientific research is more accessible now than ever before. Research has the potential to help us live better, happier lives. However, it can be hard to find and hard to understand. We take relevant research and describe it in a simple and exciting way that can be understood by anyone who is looking to make positive changes in their life.

Ben & McKay are students at Brigham Young University. We are studying psychology and neuroscience, and have multiple years of research experience as research assistants.

Reach out to us at nogginpodcast@gmail.com

Noggin - The Simple Psychology Podcast Ben Rasmussen & McKay Heaton

    • Science
    • 5.0 • 36 Ratings

Scientific research is more accessible now than ever before. Research has the potential to help us live better, happier lives. However, it can be hard to find and hard to understand. We take relevant research and describe it in a simple and exciting way that can be understood by anyone who is looking to make positive changes in their life.

Ben & McKay are students at Brigham Young University. We are studying psychology and neuroscience, and have multiple years of research experience as research assistants.

Reach out to us at nogginpodcast@gmail.com

    Ep. 27 - Flow

    Ep. 27 - Flow

    Can you recall an experience where you were so in the zone doing something that time was flying by? That is a flow experience, which is the topic of today's episode. We discuss what a flow experience is, how to achieve it, and how it can help your life.



    References:




    Jackson, S. (1995). Factors influencing the occurrence of flow state in elite athletes. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 7, 138–166.


    Payne, B. R., Jackson, J. J., Noh, S. R., & Stine-Morrow, E. A. L. (2011). In the zone: Flow state and cognition in older adults. Psychology and Aging, 26(3), 738–743.

    Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). The concept of flow. In Flow and the foundations of positive psychology (pp. 239-263). Springer, Dordrecht.




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    • 20 min
    Ep. 26 - Naming Emotions

    Ep. 26 - Naming Emotions

    How are you feeling right now? Today we discuss the benefits of naming the emotions we are currently experiencing. Spoiler alert: We talk about "Inside Out".



    References:




    Kircanski, K., Lieberman, M. D., & Craske, M. G. (2012). Feelings into words: Contributions of language to exposure therapy. Psychological science, 23(10), 1086-1091.



    Vlasenko, V. V., Rogers, E. G., & Waugh, C. E. (2021). Affect labelling increases the intensity of positive emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 35(7), 1350-1364.




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    • 21 min
    Ep. 25 - Sleep and Memory

    Ep. 25 - Sleep and Memory

    Family curses? Paris is the capital of France? Naps? Today we discuss how sleep affects declarative and motor memory.



    References:




    Walker, M. P., Brakefield, T., Morgan, A., Hobson, J. A., & Stickgold, R. (2002). Practice with sleep makes perfect: sleep-dependent motor skill learning. Neuron, 35(1), 205-211.


    Tucker, M. A., Hirota, Y., Wamsley, E. J., Lau, H., Chaklader, A., & Fishbein, W. (2006). A daytime nap containing solely non-REM sleep enhances declarative but not procedural memory. Neurobiology of learning and memory, 86(2), 241-247.


    Nishida, M., & Walker, M. P. (2007). Daytime naps, motor memory consolidation and regionally specific sleep spindles. PloS one, 2(4), e341.




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    • 23 min
    Ep. 24 - Savoring

    Ep. 24 - Savoring

    Do you ever feel like you're living your life on autopilot? Today we discuss savoring and how to enjoy life in a more mindful way. 



    References: 



    Jose, P. E., Lim, B. T., & Bryant, F. B. (2012). Does savoring increase happiness? A daily diary study. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(3), 176-187.



    Quoidbach, J., Berry, E. V., Hansenne, M., & Mikolajczak, M. (2010). Positive emotion regulation and well-being: Comparing the impact of eight savoring and dampening strategies. Personality and individual differences, 49(5), 368-373.



    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1933/01/three-days-to-see/371679/



    Mybestself101.org 


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    • 24 min
    Ep. 23 - Social Media Use

    Ep. 23 - Social Media Use

    The news often talks about how social media is destroying our lives, relationships, and mental health. But is that really the case? In today's episode, we talk about research that attempts to answer this question. 



    References: 



    Coyne, S. M., Rogers, A. A., Zurcher, J. D., Stockdale, L., & Booth, M. (2020). Does time spent using social media impact mental health?: An eight year longitudinal study. Computers in Human Behavior, 104, 106160.

    Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. Nature human behaviour, 3(2), 173-182.

    Huang, C. (2017). Time spent on social network sites and psychological well-being: A meta-analysis. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(6), 346-354.

    Barasch, A., Diehl, K., & Zauberman, G. (2014). When happiness shared is happiness halved: how taking photos to share with others affects experiences and memories. ACR North American Advances.

    Diehl, K., Zauberman, G., & Barasch, A. (2016). How taking photos increases enjoyment of experiences. Journal of personality and social psychology, 111(2), 119.


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    • 26 min
    (Season 2) Ep. 22 - Pain and Empathy

    (Season 2) Ep. 22 - Pain and Empathy

    Welcome to Season 2 of Noggin - The Simple Psychology Podcast! McKay and Ben have been hard at work (and also relaxing hard over break) creating new episodes to share with you all and we are finally back! Today we discuss research looking at what goes on inside your brain when you feel pain, when you see someone you love in pain, and what that means for you and your relationships. 



    References: 



    Singer, T., Seymour, B., O'doherty, J., Kaube, H., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C. D. (2004). Empathy for pain involves the affective but not sensory components of pain. Science, 303(5661), 1157-1162.



    Goldstein, P., Weissman-Fogel, I., Dumas, G., & Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2018). Brain-to-brain coupling during handholding is associated with pain reduction. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 115(11), E2528-E2537.


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    • 28 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
36 Ratings

36 Ratings

Alissa Noemi ,

A science podcast for non-scientific people

This is the perfect podcast for people looking to better their lives in small positive and healthy ways but have a hard time diving into the research alone. Ben and Mckay do all of the hard parts for you with simple research-backed tips in short episodes that are easy to follow.

Fluffy UA ,

Amazing podcast!

This podcast really is amazing and super informative! They take interesting studies and apply them to our lives now. I love the different applications that can be found in each podcast and how we can improve ourselves after learning more about these studies.

motherathleteof3 ,

A podcast I will actually apply

This podcast provides scientific research that I’m actually able to understand and apply in my life. The two individuals who do it are very entertaining to listen to and very intelligent!

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