The Blank Tab Effect: A Modern Doorway Phenomenon Have you ever switched to a new browser tab, only to find yourself staring at a blank page and wondering why you opened it in the first place? This common experience is strikingly similar to what psychologists call the doorway effect and it’s one of quirks of how our memory works. Understanding the Doorway Effect The doorway effect occurs when people forget their intentions after passing through a doorway. This happens because our brains...

In my recent exploration of artificial intelligence, I stumbled upon a fascinating article entitled, “Instructors as Innovators: a Future-focused Approach to New AI Learning Opportunities, With Prompts" which introduced the concept of goal-play interaction between students and AI. The authors provided a prompt for this interaction, which I found to be an intriguing application of AI to create interactive, educational experiences for students. I adapted the prompt provided in the article to be...

In this episode of "The Psych Files," we delve into the complex and sensitive topic of sexual assault, focusing particularly on the phenomenon of tonic immobility, often referred to as "frozen fright." This involuntary response can leave victims unable to move or speak during an assault, a reaction that is not only common but also deeply misunderstood. Our journey begins with a fictional account from the Netflix series "A Nearly Normal Family," where a young woman experiences this paralyzing...

I'm about as worried as anyone else about how the new tools for cloning voices could be used by "bad actors" to clone the voices of politicians to make them say things they never said and possibly further polarize our country before an important election.  But in this episode of the podcast I describe how I used ElevenLabs - a site that will allow you to clone your - or someone else's - voice to "re-create" my father's voice and use it to have him say some things that I always wanted to hear...

How does music affect us emotionally? Why do minor chords sound so sad? In this episode of The Psych Files I explore ideas from Daniel Leviton's fascinating book, Your Brain on Music, especially those ideas concerned with what composers do to draw you into their music by first conforming to your musical expectations and then carefully confounding them in order to surprise and delight. I talk with guitarist and composer David Temple to get his perspective on this process as well. Along the way...

In this episode of The Psych Files, host Michael Britt explores three fascinating new psychology studies. First, research found that making hospital alarms more musical could help prevent dangerous mistakes caused by alarm fatigue. Next, studies on cats and dogs suggest they likely dream about their waking experiences, just like humans do. The brain activity of a sleeping dog resembles when it is chasing a ball, for example. Finally, not all personality tests are created equal - while...

When we look back at the history of psychiatric care, it’s evident that practices and treatments have evolved tremendously over the years. Dr. Roger Christenfeld, the Research Director of the Hudson River Psychiatric Center, provides a unique insight into this transformative journey. (episode was recorded in 2007).

Can positive affirmations help raise your self esteem? People use daily affirmations and money affirmations to help them feel more confident, build their self esteem and bring positive events into their lives. But do they really work? If not, then what will? We explore these questions in this episode of The Psych Files.

Self Help books: why are there so many out there? How do you choose? Can they cure depression? Help you lose weight? Stop smoking? Can they replace psychotherapy? Find out how to weed out the best self-help book from all the others. Here's a list of the top 14 things that really bother psychologists or any scientists about self-help books.

It's hard to remember names - here's how to do it. You'll use your imagination and some weird imagery - but this works. Here's another great use of mnemonics. I'll give you a bunch of people's names and describe the images I created to help me remember them. Give your brain a little room to roam and put it to practical use. Also, I look at recent research that provides yet another reason why names are hard to remember.

Here is part 2 of my interview with author and actor Jared Kelner. In this episode he tells how he uses the DSM (Diagnotic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in his work as an actor. We also talk a little more about his use of mnemonic devices to memorize lines. 

You have no doubt asked yourself this question after watching a play: "How did those actors memorize all those lines?". In previous episodes of The Psych Files I have discussed a few of the techniques actors use to do this, but on this episode I have an interview with a professional actor, Jared Kelner, who wrote a fascinating book exactly on this topic. It's called, naturally, "Line?". If you're interested in psychology, memory, and how actors accomplish the amazing feat of memorization -...

You've probably heard about these Brain Training games. Do they really help you keep your mind sharp? Will they prevent cognitive decline as you get older or will they slow the effects of Alzheimer's disease? In this episode I review some recent studies on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of these popular games.

Another of my episodes on mnemonic techniques you can use for just about any purpose. I recently discovered a pegword system in a great book called, "Line?". It's a book for actors that was written by a memory expert like myself, Jared Kelner. Check out his book on Amazon. In this episode I demonstrate how this memory tool works and how an actor might apply it to memorize a famous speech from Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night. A very fun little system. I show how the system could be sued to...

Might you be able to rid yourself of an illness by "turning back the clock"? That is, by immersing yourself in a time in your life when you were not ill? We know that thinking about things in a positive way - which we sometimes call "reframing" can make us feel and act differently, and we know that the "placebo effect" is real, but how far can these ideas be taken Psychology has always struggled to separate itself from those who would "borrow" good ideas and take them too far or twist them in...

I explain how the keyword mnemonic technique can help actors memorize their lines. It's an effective and fun strategy you can use in the beginning when you're first learning lines, or during performance if something really unexpected happens and throws you. Keyword images can help get you back on your game. The Psych Files homepage.

Where do our emotions come from? From our thoughts? Or do they begin somewhere else – like in our bodies? This week we look at the work of James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and Schachter and Singer. Also, I review two classic studies in the history of psychology: the Suproxin study (the basis for the well known (two factor theory of emotion) and the Suspension Bridge study. This week the Good, the Bad and the Ugly….Betty of emotions. Oh yes, and what does the TV show Ugly Betty have to do with all...

In part 2 of my interview with Dr. Anna Vagin, she talks about some of the videos she uses to help kids and teens better understand the emotions and challenges of characters in the videos and how those characters dealt with their difficult situations. The videos are a launching point for discussion and insight into the clients' own lives.

In part 1 of my interview with Anna Vagin, Ph.D. we talk about how she uses games and videos as part of her work with children and adolescents. I think you’ll be surprised how Dr. Vagin uses short videos she finds on YouTube in her sessions. These are not games or videos that were designed to be used in this way, but she has carefully scoured YouTube to find videos that help youngsters connect with their emotions and to better understand others. What’s additionally interesting is that Dr....

How can we use a little psychology to get you to slow down when you’re driving? You’d be surprised. Very often road signs like “Slow” or a posted speed limit of, say 20 mph does not work. Drivers go past these signs and nothing bad happens so after a while they’re ignored. We try to make it more personal with signs say, “Drive as if your kids live here”, but often that doesn’t work. How about something trickier: what if we enlisted the help of those 3D sidewalk artists? What could they...

Here’s a new piece of weight-loss advice: eat on a crinkly plate! Um…sounds weird. It is kinda, but we’ll explore why this might be a good bit of advice. We’ll also take a minute and a half sound byte from the TV show Luther and wring all kinds of critical-thinking goodies from it. We’ll discover why it might be a total waste of time for you to read about how other people became successful (or happy or have a better marriage or whatever else you might want). All those advice-giving books...

How can waiters increase their tips? Would you believe psychologists have devoted a great deal of research to this question? We've looked at the effect of smiley faces, touching, crouching, telling jokes, giving customers a fun task to do, and drawing suns on checks (yes, suns). Join me as we take a look at what waiters and waitresses can do to increase the amount of the tip their customers give them.

Fitness tracking devices are getting smarter. They're going to have to get a lot smarter if they are going to be powerful tools in your quest to be fit. But how much more "smart" do we really want them to get? Today they keep track of your steps and heart rate, but if your fitness tracker "knew" how you were thinking and whether you were saying things to yourself that are de-motivating ("ll never get in shape anyway") it might be more effective in getting you off the couch. But do you want...

Passengers on an airplane spring to action when a stewardess needs help – but a neighborhood in New York City does very little when a woman is attacked. What’s different ? How can we take what we learn from the airplane and apply it to the attack? Lecturing the neighborhood residents probably won’t help. Can we do anything to the way the neighborhood is laid out to encourage interaction among residents and a greater sense of interdependency among them? We explore the topic of bystander...