Table of Contents

Part I - Where Do Tall Tales about the Mind and the Brain Come From?
Sergio Della Sala & Barry L. Beyerstein: Introduction - the myth of 10% and other tall tales about the mind and the brain
1: Christopher C French & Krissy Wilson: Cognitive factors underlying paranormal beliefs and experiences
2: Peter Lamont: Critically thinking about paranormal belief
3: Massimo Polidoro: The magic in the brain; how conjuring works to deceive our minds
Part II - Tall Tales on Memory and Learning
4: Nelson Cowan, Candice C Morey & Zhijian Chen: The legend of the magical number seven
5: Seema L Clifasefi, Maryanne Garry & Elizabeth Loftus: Setting the record (or video camera) straight on memory: the video camera model of memory and other memory myths
6: Amina Memon & Don Thomson: The myth of the incredible eyewitness
7: Rachel Sutherland, Deryn Strange & Maryanne Garry: We've got the whole child witness thing figured out, or do we?
Part III - Tall Tales on Intelligence
8: David Carey: Is bigger really better? The search for brain size and intelligence in the 21st century
9: Mike Anderson: Biology and intelligence: the race/IQ controversy
10: Colin Gray & Sergio Della Sala: The refined Mozart effect: let's enjoy the music
11: David G Myers: The powers and perils of intuuition
12: Ken Gilhooly: Creative thinking: the mystery myth
Part IV - Tall Tales on Language and Communication
13: Antonella Sorace: The more, the merrier: facts and beliefs about the bilingual mind
14: Nick Miller: The Merry Vibes of Wintzer: the tale of foreign accent syndrome
15: Ray Hyman: Talking with the dead, communicating with the future and other myths created by cold reading
16: Barry L Beyerstein: Graphology - a total write-off
17: Aldert Vrij & Samantha Mann: The truth about deception
Part V - Tall Tales on the Brain
18: Michael C Corballis: The dual-brain myth
19: Barry L Beyerstein: The neurology of the weird: brain states and anamalous experience
20: Giovanni Berlucchi: The myth of the clonable human brain
21: Peter Brugger & Marion Funk: Out on a limb: neglect and confabulation in the study of aplasic phantoms
22: Cesare Cornoldi & Rossana DeBeni: Imagery and blindness
23: Christopher C French & Julia Santomauro: Something wicked this way comes: causes and interpretations of sleep paralysis
Part VI - Tall Tales on the Mind
24: Eric H Chudler: The power of the full moon. Running on empty?
25: Ray Hyman: Ouija, dowsing, and other seductions of ideomotor action
26: Olaf Blanke & Gregor Thut: Inducing out-of-body experiences
27: Barry L Beyerstein, Wallace I Sampson, Zarka Stojanovic & James Handel: Can mind conquer cancer?
28: Fernando Saravi: The elusive search for a "gay gene"
29: Mark Solms & Oliver Turnbull: To sleep, perchance to REM? The rediscovered role of emotion and meaning in dreams

About the Author

Editor of Cortex, Fellow Royal Society (Edinburgh) - FRSE, Fellow British Psychological Society - FBPsS

Reviews

...this book is so well written and balanced that it will make for enriching and entertaining reading for readers at any level. It manages to have a scientific foundation, yet presents clinically intriguing and practical, relevant cases. It is refreshing to see a group of authors put together a critical analysis of the rampant misinformation that thrives in popular culture. Doody's Notes ...this book is a lot of fun and hugely informative. Journal of Consciousness Studies