top of page
Phil Harris
freespace

Blog
Search


Re-Wiring Memory
You may not realize it, but each time you recall a memory -- like your first time riding a bike or walking into your high school prom --...
Phil Harris
Oct 14, 20226 min read


The God Circuit
More than 80 percent of people around the world consider themselves to be religious or spiritual. But research on the neuroscience of...
Phil Harris
Jul 4, 20214 min read


How to Hallucinate (Without Drugs)
I felt I could reach through the screen to get to another place. Lasers became entire fans of light sweeping around, and then it felt as...
Phil Harris
Jun 23, 20211 min read


Wisdom vs Loneliness
Research over the last decade has shown that loneliness is an important determinant of health. It is associated with considerable...
Phil Harris
Mar 7, 20213 min read


Perfect Diagnosis of ADHD
A new study led by a University at Buffalo researcher has identified how specific communication among different brain regions, known as...
Phil Harris
Jan 31, 20214 min read


Word Recognition is Pre-Written
Humans are born with a part of the brain that is prewired to be receptive to seeing words and letters, setting the stage at birth for...
Phil Harris
Oct 23, 20203 min read


Fear vs Anxiety Debate
Anxiety, the most common family of mental illnesses, has been pushed to epic new heights by the COVID-19 pandemic. A report by an...
Phil Harris
Oct 21, 20204 min read


Binge Alcohol-Lose Empathy
People who binge-drink show more extensive dysfunction across their brains than previously realised, a new study from the University of...
Phil Harris
Sep 11, 20203 min read


Adolescent Risk Taking: Key Brain Development Identified
As any parent will tell you, no two children behave in exactly the same way. It is part of what makes each individual unique. So, why do...
Phil Harris
Sep 10, 20205 min read


Alcohol Dementia Revealed
A common consequence of chronically high alcohol consumption is a decline in cognitive function, which can even progress to full-blown...
Phil Harris
Sep 10, 20202 min read


Is God a Pattern?
In training and lectures on personality, I describe the five key traits of our temperament. One of these traits is Openness to...
Phil Harris
Sep 10, 20204 min read


Mechanism for Trauma Memory Identified
The endogenous regulation of a specific gene is associated with a reduced risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder following a...
Phil Harris
Aug 19, 20202 min read


Trauma: Distance Matters
The human brain operates on many levels. When we consider things which are distant in time, space or intimacy the rational brain tends...
Phil Harris
Jul 1, 20203 min read


Name Emotion Tame Emotion
I was recently looking for some research on a separate project and came across this early pioneering study in language and emotional...
Phil Harris
Jun 15, 20205 min read


Sub-Types of Schizophrenia Identified
Psychiatrists led by Nikolaos Koutsouleris from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have used a computer-based approach to...
Phil Harris
Mar 6, 20204 min read


AI: Predicts Responsiveness to Depression Treatment
Artificial intelligence may soon play a critical role in choosing which depression therapy is best for patients. A national trial...
Phil Harris
Feb 12, 20203 min read


Infection: What Role Does it Have in Schizophrenia?
My first day back at work in 2020 was with a fantastic team of mental health housing workers. We had an extensive debate on the role of...
Phil Harris
Jan 14, 20206 min read


Pain: Is it a Personality Thing?
Recent advances in neuroscience are unlocking how the major personality traits are linked to neural systems. One personality trait,...
Phil Harris
Dec 19, 20191 min read


How Nightmares Help Us
Do bad dreams serve a real purpose? To answer this question, researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and University Hospitals...
Phil Harris
Dec 12, 20194 min read


How to Control Sadness
Impulsive shopping can be a costly vice for people who are eager to escape emotional pain, but researchers have now discovered a strategy...
Phil Harris
Oct 6, 20193 min read
bottom of page