Daniel J. Levitin

We are bombarded with more information each day than our brains can process especially in election season. It's raining bad data, half-truths, and even outright lies. Daniel J. Levitin shows how to recognize misleading announcements, statistics, graphs, and written reports revealing the ways lying weasels can use them.

Critical Thinking in the Information Age

A Field Guide to Lies

New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin shifts his keen insights from your brain on music to your brain in a sea of details. The information age is drowning us with an unprecedented deluge of data. At the same time, we’re expected to make more—and faster—decisions about our lives than ever before. No wonder, then, that the average American reports frequently losing car keys or reading glasses, missing appointments, and feeling worn out by the effort required just to keep up. But somehow some people become quite accomplished at managing information flow. In The Organized Mind, Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, uses the latest brain science to demonstrate how those people excel—and how readers can use their methods to regain a sense of mastery over the way they organize their homes, workplaces, and time. With lively, entertaining chapters on everything from the kitchen junk drawer to health care to executive office workflow, Levitin reveals how new research into the cognitive neuroscience of attention and memory can be applied to the challenges of our daily lives. This Is Your Brain on Music showed how to better play and appreciate music through an understanding of how the brain works. The Organized Mind shows how to navigate the churning flood of information in the twenty-first century with the same neuroscientific perspective.

Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload

The Organized Mind

"[The author] turns his keen insights to what happens in our brains as we age; why we should think about health span, not life span; and, based on a rigorous analysis of neuroscientific evidence, how you can make the most of your seventies, eighties, and nineties today, no matter how old you are now"--

A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives

Successful Aging

Analyzes six evolutionary musical forms while identifying neural impulses that reflect the brain's development in accordance with music, illuminating the sophisticated biological process that accompanies the musical experience.

How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature

The World in Six Songs

The neuroscientist author of This Is Your Brain on Music evaluates how the human brain responds to today's information-driven culture, drawing on the latest scientific discoveries to explore how the brain is struggling or adapting in the areas of att

The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload

Previously Published as A Field Guide to Lies We're surrounded by fringe theories, fake news, and pseudo-facts. These lies are getting repeated. New York Times bestselling author Daniel Levitin shows how to disarm these socially devastating inventions and get the American mind back on track. Here are the fundamental lessons in critical thinking that we need to know and share now. Investigating numerical misinformation, Daniel Levitin shows how mishandled statistics and graphs can give a grossly distorted perspective and lead us to terrible decisions. Wordy arguments on the other hand can easily be persuasive as they drift away from the facts in an appealing yet misguided way. The steps we can take to better evaluate news, advertisements, and reports are clearly detailed. Ultimately, Levitin turns to what underlies our ability to determine if something is true or false: the scientific method. He grapples with the limits of what we can and cannot know. Case studies are offered to demonstrate the applications of logical thinking to quite varied settings, spanning courtroom testimony, medical decision making, magic, modern physics, and conspiracy theories. This urgently needed book enables us to avoid the extremes of passive gullibility and cynical rejection. As Levitin attests: Truth matters. A post-truth era is an era of willful irrationality, reversing all the great advances humankind has made. Euphemisms like "fringe theories," "extreme views," "alt truth," and even "fake news" can literally be dangerous. Let's call lies what they are and catch those making them in the act.

How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era

Weaponized Lies

This is the first book to offer a comprehensive explanation of how humans experience music and to unravel the mystery of our perennial love affair with it. Using musical examples from Bach to the Beatles, Levitin reveals the role of music in human evolution, shows how our musical preferences begin to form even before we are born and explains why music can offer such an emotional experience. Music is an obsession at the heart of human nature, even more fundamental to our species than language. In This Is Your Brain On Music Levitin offers nothing less than a new way to understand it, and its role in human life.

Understanding a Human Obsession

This is Your Brain on Music

An anthology of core readings on cognitive psychology.

Core Readings

Foundations of Cognitive Psychology

Dana-Ligia Ilin

știința unei eterne obsesii

Creierul nostru muzical

INSTANT TOP 10 BESTSELLER *New York Times *USAToday *Washington Post *LA Times "Debunks the idea that aging inevitably brings infirmity and unhappiness and instead offers a trove of practical, evidence-based guidance for living longer and better." —Daniel H. Pink, author of When and Drive SUCCESSFUL AGING delivers powerful insights: • Debunking the myth that memory always declines with age • Confirming that "health span"—not "life span"—is what matters • Proving that sixty-plus years is a unique and newly recognized developmental stage • Recommending that people look forward to joy, as reminiscing doesn't promote health Levitin looks at the science behind what we all can learn from those who age joyously, as well as how to adapt our culture to take full advantage of older people's wisdom and experience. Throughout his exploration of what aging really means, using research from developmental neuroscience and the psychology of individual differences, Levitin reveals resilience strategies and practical, cognitive enhancing tricks everyone should do as they age. Successful Aging inspires a powerful new approach to how readers think about our final decades, and it will revolutionize the way we plan for old age as individuals, family members, and citizens within a society where the average life expectancy continues to rise.

 Anjali Bhatara

Petri Laukka

Two of the most important social skills in humans are the ability to determine the moods of those around us, and to use this to guide our behavior. To accomplish this, we make use of numerous cues. Among the most important are vocal cues from both speech and non-speech sounds. Music is also a reliable method for communicating emotion. It is often present in social situations and can serve to unify a group's mood for ceremonial purposes (funerals, weddings) or general social interactions. Scientists and philosophers have speculated on the origins of music and language, and the possible common bases of emotional expression through music, speech and other vocalizations. They have found increasing evidence of commonalities among them. However, the domains in which researchers investigate these topics do not always overlap or share a common language, so communication between disciplines has been limited. The aim of this Research Topic is to bring together research across multiple disciplines related to the production and perception of emotional cues in music, speech, and non-verbal vocalizations. This includes natural sounds produced by human and non-human primates as well as synthesized sounds. Research methodology includes survey, behavioral, and neuroimaging techniques investigating adults as well as developmental populations, including those with atypical development. Studies using laboratory tasks as well as studies in more naturalistic settings are included.

Expression of emotion in music and vocal communication

Wir leben in einer Welt der Informationsüberflutung, in der die Grenze zwischen Wahrheit und "alternativen" Fakten, Halbwahrheiten und halbseidenen Theorien mehr und mehr verschwimmt und deren Unterscheidung zunehmend schwieriger fällt. Mehr noch, Falschaussagen werden gerade über Social Media gezielt platziert und eingesetzt, um Menschen zu beeinflussen. Doch wie kann man sich heute noch verlässlich informieren, wenn jeder per Klick zum "Experten" werden kann? Wie entkommt man den Filterblasen und entlarvt Falschmeldungen? Und wie erkennt man, ob eine Aussage oder Zahl richtig ist? Bestsellerautor und Neurowissenschaftler Daniel Levitin zeigt in seiner Anleitung, wie Fakten, Statistiken und Aussagen umgehend geprüft werden können. Das perfekte Buch für alle, die einen besseren Durchblick wollen.

Fake News, Halbwahrheiten und Pseudo-Fakten entlarven

Kritisch denken im Zeitalter der Lügen

Rock Around the Brain Musik ist für unsere Gehirnzellen wie eine Droge. Sie kann uns mitreißen, Glücksgefühle bescheren und in einen Rausch versetzen – oder auch traurig oder melancholisch machen. Aber warum ist das so? Woher bezieht Musik ihre Macht, ihre Magie? Und warum kann sich kaum jemand ihrer Wirkung entziehen? Daniel Levitin, der die Neugier des Neurowissenschaftlers mit der Erfahrung des erfolgreichen Musikproduzenten verbindet, erkundet in diesem Buch die vielfältigen Beziehungen zwischen Musik, Gefühl, Gehirn und Geist. Absolut anregend, ein wunderbarer Überblick, wie ihn nur ein zutiefst musikalischer Neurowissenschaftler geben kann. ... Ein bedeutendes Buch. Oliver Sacks Diese Lehrstunde über die Erklärungskraft der Kognitionspsychologie ist ein Muss für alle musikinteressierten Studenten und Fachleute. Gehirn und Geist Musik scheint eine geradezu eigensinnige, schwer fassbare Qualität zu besitzen, die einer einfachen Erklärung nicht zugänglich ist, so dass sich immer neue Fragen stellen, je mehr wir darüber wissen, ohne dass unser Bohren ihre Macht und ihr Geheimnis entschlüsseln könnte. Es mag kein Ende und keine einfache Antwort in Sicht sein, aber die Reise selbst ist aufregend, insbesondere wenn man sie mit einem Autor unternimmt, der nicht nur ein ausgezeichneter Musiker und ein hartnäckiger Forscher ist, sondern auch jemand, der das Staunen über die Welt nicht verlernt hat. Sting Daniel Levitin hat ein wunderbares und faszinierendes Buch geschrieben – für Musiker, Psychologen und alle, die die Faszination an Musik teilen und schon immer verstehen wollten, was mit uns geschieht, wenn wir Musik hören. Das Orchester Die englische Originalausgabe dieses Buches, Your Brain on Music, stand zwölf Monate lang auf der New York Times-Bestsellerliste.

Die Wissenschaft einer menschlichen Leidenschaft

Der Musik-Instinkt

Peter Jason Rentfrow

A state-of-the-art overview of the latest theory and research in music psychology, written by leaders in the field. This authoritative, landmark volume offers a comprehensive state-of-the-art overview of the latest theory and research in music perception and cognition. Eminent scholars from a range of disciplines, employing a variety of methodologies, describe important findings from core areas of the field, including music cognition, the neuroscience of music, musical performance, and music therapy. The book can be used as a textbook for courses in music cognition, auditory perception, science of music, psychology of music, philosophy of music, and music therapy, and as a reference for researchers, teachers, and musicians. The book's sections cover music perception; music cognition; music, neurobiology, and evolution; musical training, ability, and performance; and musical experience in everyday life. Chapters treat such topics as pitch, rhythm, and timbre; musical expectancy, musicality, musical disorders, and absolute pitch; brain processes involved in music perception, cross-species studies of music cognition, and music across cultures; improvisation, the assessment of musical ability, and singing; and music and emotions, musical preferences, and music therapy. Contributors Fleur Bouwer, Peter Cariani, Laura K. Cirelli, Annabel J. Cohen, Lola L. Cuddy, Shannon de L'Etoile, Jessica A. Grahn, David M. Greenberg, Bruno Gingras, Henkjan Honing, Lorna S. Jakobson, Ji Chul Kim, Stefan Koelsch, Edward W. Large, Miriam Lense, Daniel Levitin, Charles J. Limb, Psyche Loui, Stephen McAdams, Lucy M. McGarry, Malinda J. McPherson, Andrew J. Oxenham, Caroline Palmer, Aniruddh Patel, Eve-Marie Quintin, Peter Jason Rentfrow, Edward Roth, Frank A. Russo, Rebecca Scheurich, Kai Siedenburg, Avital Sternin, Yanan Sun, William F. Thompson, Renee Timmers, Mark Jude Tramo, Sandra E. Trehub, Michael W. Weiss, Marcel Zentner

Theory and Research

Foundations in Music Psychology

This deluxe eBook (previously published as A Field Guide to Lies Deluxe) features six videos from Daniel Levitin, with more examples, anecdotes, and added visual guides. We’re surrounded by fringe theories, fake news, and pseudo-facts. These lies are getting repeated. New York Times bestselling author Daniel Levitin shows how to disarm these socially devastating inventions and get the American mind back on track. Here are the fundamental lessons in critical thinking that we need to know and share now. Investigating numerical misinformation, Daniel Levitin shows how mishandled statistics and graphs can give a grossly distorted perspective and lead us to terrible decisions. Wordy arguments on the other hand can easily be persuasive as they drift away from the facts in an appealing yet misguided way. The steps we can take to better evaluate news, advertisements, and reports are clearly detailed. Ultimately, Levitin turns to what underlies our ability to determine if something is true or false: the scientific method. He grapples with the limits of what we can and cannot know. Case studies are offered to demonstrate the applications of logical thinking to quite varied settings, spanning courtroom testimony, medical decision making, magic, modern physics, and conspiracy theories. This urgently needed book enables us to avoid the extremes of passive gullibility and cynical rejection. As Levitin attests: Truth matters. A post-truth era is an era of willful irrationality, reversing all the great advances humankind has made. Euphemisms like "fringe theories," "extreme views," "alt truth," and even "fake news" can literally be dangerous. Let's call lies what they are and catch those making them in the act.

Daniel J. Levitin

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