Shane O'Mara

five (surprising) ideas from cognitive and social neuroscience

being idle; social pain ?= physical pain; social GPS; synchrony; unstable memories (and some bonus Alzheimer's treatment news on the way)

Dec 3 • 

Shane O'Mara

9

2

November 2025

Five years here: post #250!

disasters, successes, and more

Nov 27 • 

Shane O'Mara

4

2

From 'Neurons to Nations': How Nationalism Feels So Real

brains, borders, and national identity as a neurocognitive project (+podcast)

Nov 23 • 

Shane O'Mara

6

2

From campfire to cortex: storytelling as shared cognition

Stories as an evolved cognitive technology

Nov 11 • 

Shane O'Mara

6

2

Reasons for quietude

Grants - my new ERC JUSTICE project, and, separately, the Cognitive Republic project

Nov 6 • 

Shane O'Mara

4

2

1

October 2025

the tech industry’s flawed model of your brain

a case study in how clever people can be so very stupid

Oct 17 • 

Shane O'Mara

3

1

3

parasite, predator, hive: thinking with acid blood

cognitive architecture of the xenomorph

Oct 16 • 

Shane O'Mara

8

2

1

predators

evolution, culture, and the neuroscience of alien hunters

Oct 1 • 

Shane O'Mara

5

1

September 2025

learning styles: a seductive but utterly useless idea

Fuggetaboutit, they don't exist

Sep 11 • 

Shane O'Mara

5

3

interleaving: the mix-it-up memory method that works

fluency is a bad teacher - what feels good misleads learners about what they've learned

Sep 2 • 

Shane O'Mara

9

2

August 2025

umwelt

the world is not as you see it, and so is the universe

Aug 26 • 

Shane O'Mara

4

1

1

using your memory to strengthen your memory: retrieval practice

perhaps the best, general, scientifically-validated, most-easily implemented method for strengthening your memory

Aug 19 • 

Shane O'Mara

5

3