Out of Egypt:

recommended: slate articles on thought

First, a little on why we sleep. Essentially, it's about clearing the brain's RAM - eliminating all the superfluous connections formed during the day. I imagine dreams, symbolic as they are, have a lot to do with this. Needless to say, I find this subject endlessly fascinating.

And also: Two Memoirs About Autism. Possibly the only thing about cognition that interests me more than sleep (and how people "read" the media) is differing cognitive styles and the incommensurate, incommunicable interiority of human experience. This article gives you as good a dip into the subject as any I've read recently.

I have two friends who did research on music's effects on autism. They both concluded that playing an instrument was beneficial. I forget why exactly. I'll have to ask again.

Posted by: funke at March 31, 2007 10:04 AM

Probably because the way music playing wires the brain helps autistic people to structure their experience and manage the overabundant stimuli they receive. That's what it did for Glenn Gould, I suppose.

Posted by: Evan Donovan at March 31, 2007 11:03 AM