Memes and Memeversations: A Blessing or a Curse?

A meme is, simply put, an "idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture—often with the aim of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme, or meaning represented by the meme" (Wikipedia). Originally coined by famous biologist Richard Dawkins, memes are seen as the driving force behind culture, as vital to the development of culture as genes are vital to evolution. But are they really?

DEEP - The moment it clicks

One of the coolest things about observing people when they play a game, especially when you get to observe them for an extended period of time, is witnessing the moment when someone becomes truly immersed in the game environment, when they truly connect with it, when something just 'clicks'...

The Charizard Cortex's True Lesson

A new Stanford study has uncovered the next puzzle piece about how our brains process what we see around us... using Pokémon! I think, however, that there is an additional, valuable thing to be learned from this study, which has also to do with how we view things, but in a way you might not expect.

Rethinking the goal of mental health interventions: Do we want psychopaths or mature people?

Reconceptualizing mental health has important implications for research as well as development of intervention tools. If the goal of intervention is not to reduce negative emotions but to encourage such qualities as openness, creativity, and internal locus of control, what would intervention tools look like?

Hot off the press: a paper about the use of design thinking to improve mental health interventions for youth

A new paper by Hanneke Scholten and Isabela Granic is out, published by the Journal of Medical Internet Research! Find 'Use of the Principles of Design Thinking to Address Limitations of Digital Mental Health Interventions for Youth: Viewpoint' here or read about it here.

"My heart felt heavy and then I played this game and my heart felt light" what a beautiful description of Journey!… https://t.co/erHJOkTt6a

Great piece with @PlayNiceInst from the @GEMH_Lab on @CBCQuirks featuring discussion of MindLight, the game we also… https://t.co/oZKfyb6DHB

@PlayNiceInst @GEMH_Lab Yes, makes total sense! Getting over that threshold, though, seems hard to achieve.

Absolutely love this! I truly believe TTRPGs are a great platform to explore mental and emotional issues in a safe… https://t.co/wGjxM3pbhC

Today, 2 years ago, I started my PhD!