Rather than mimicking human performance, some researchers are focusing on its underlying mechanisms. Using brain data, they are paving the way for AI systems closer to human cognition. Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing at breathtaking speed, but its foundations remain very different from those of the human brain. The most powerful artificial neural networks rely…
What happens when no thoughts seem accessible? The brain doesn’t simply stop. We often imagine our thoughts as a continuous stream of images, words, and memories. However, most of us have experienced a sudden inner void a moment when nothing seems clear, and no identifiable thoughts emerge. This phenomenon, known as mind blanking, has sparked…
Péguy’s Lucidity or the Enigma of Our “Guilty Absent‑Mindedness” The thinker Charles Péguy, in a sharply observed passage cited by Francine Lenne, pinpoints a fundamental yet widespread error of human reasoning:“Speaking of what one does not know (…) will always remain man’s favorite occupation.” With a clinical edge of irony, he notes that while the…
Can a simple word trigger an uncontrollable reaction? Some rare phenomena suggest that language can act far beyond its meaning. Some oddities slip into everyday life like flashes of absurdity. In Morocco, for reasons no one has yet explained, the mere mention of the word “honey” can trigger uncontrollable outbursts in certain individuals a phenomenon…
What if some voices come from our own mental images? A hypothesis that challenges how we understand hallucinations. Every time he closes his eyes, the image of his father appears, a stern face etched into childhood memory. And with it, a harsh, violent voice. No one is speaking. He’s alone in the room. But he…
The return of the 90s isn’t just a trend, it reflects a psychological need in response to an uncertain present. The screech of a dial-up modem. The clinking of marbles in a schoolyard. A cassette rewound with a pen. These gestures and sounds, once commonplace, have vanished from our daily lives, only to return today…
Rather than interrupting thought, sleep may reshape it and help new ideas emerge. Why do some ideas only emerge after a break, as if inactivity were the brain’s hidden engine? This question, though far from new, touches on one of the most subtle and profound mechanisms of human cognition. For decades, neuroscience has explored the…
Long opposed, psychoanalysis and neuroscience address different objects. Yet their dialogue remains possible. Far from the dogmatic standoffs and mutual rejections often seen between opposing camps of purists, there are real bridges and opportunities for fruitful cooperation between neuroscience and psychoanalysis. A key condition for this dialogue is the redefinition of what should have always…
What matters is not just what we think but what makes certain ideas feel obvious to us. In the damp cell where he was imprisoned during the Terror, Destutt de Tracy, aristocrat, revolutionary, philosopher, and soldier, immersed himself in the works of Condillac. It was 1793, the darkest heart of the French Revolution: the Montagnard…
Liking Labubu is it a choice or an influence? In some cities, lines begin to form before sunrise. Outside Pop Mart stores, people wait for hours in hopes of leaving with a small, sealed box. Online, stock vanishes in seconds, while social media overflows with photos, excited unboxings, and carefully staged figurines. The coveted object…