biology

Mind Hacks

Mind Hacks is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mind Hacks rather than just read about it. In short: Mind Hacks: Tips and Tricks for Using Your Brain is a book using cognitive neuroscience to present experiments, tricks, and tips related to aspects of the brain by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb. The book was published by O'Reilly in November 2004 as part of the O'Reilly Hacks series.

Key takeaways

Mind Hacks belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mind Hacks to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mind Hacks from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mind Hacks: Tips and Tricks for Using Your Brain is a book using cognitive neuroscience to present experiments, tricks, and tips related to aspects of the brain by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb. The book was published by O'Reilly in November 2004 as part of the O'Reilly Hacks series. It has since been published in six different languages. Mind Hacks is also an ongoing psychology and neuroscience blog that publishes daily news and commentary on mind and brain issues. It won a Scientific American Science and Technology Web Award in 2005 and was listed as a Top 30 science blog by The Times of London in 2010.

References

External links Official O'Reilly mind hacks website Ongoing blog associated with the book

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mind Hacks

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mind Hacks claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mind Hacks before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mind Hacks ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mind Hacks

In research: Mind Hacks appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mind Hacks in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mind Hacks is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2004 non-fiction books, American science websites, Cognitive neuroscience, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mind Hacks outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mind Hacks in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mind Hacks means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mind Hacks out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mind Hacks in simple terms?

Why does Mind Hacks matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mind Hacks?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mind Hacks.