Brain Games

Your brain and body are connected in countless ways, and some are more mysterious than others. In this episode, we find out which one is in charge. Through a series of interactive games and experiments, you'll learn how your brain tricks your body into doing some pretty silly things - and how factors like fear, age and stress affect both your body and your brain. We'll even teach you a secret about your body's reaction time that you can use to make a quick buck.

In this episode, we find out if people can trust their own brains. We'll see the many ways your brain deceives you and leads you astray on an almost daily basis. Most of us are willing to pass up free money, yet willingly risk having a stranger destroy our cell phone. You'll learn how you don't always "see" the full picture and why sometimes it's better to trust other people more and yourself a little less. Trust us - your mind will be blown.

This episode examines whether we are wired for compassion or anger — or both. Can you keep your cool when life isn’t fair? In the next hour, you’ll learn how compassion and anger might just be two sides of the same coin, part of a vital system your brain uses to keep you alive.

Hack into the ultimate supercomputer ' the human brain ' as Hollywood filmmakers use color, light, motion, depth and sound to create mind-bending sensory illusions. Is it possible to feel the sensation of accidentally cutting your finger ' just by watching TV? Much of what we experience may be a mere fabrication, as our brains fill in gaps and stitch together a complete picture of the world bit-by-bit, designed to overcome our eyes' blind spots. But what happens when your senses get crossed?

When it comes to mastering and manipulating attention, some of the world's leading experts aren't scientists; they're magicians like David Copperfield. While the brain's attention acts a bit like a spotlight to filter and make sense of a busy world, it can be easily controlled and deceived. Copperfield and a team of experts test, trick and fool using an elegant form of attention control.

With memory, things are not always as they seem: Details go missing, recollections change, and sometimes our brains fill in the blanks and create false visual memories. Our experts are on a mission to find out where memories reside in the brain by examining every millimeter for clues. Investigating every piece of the memory puzzle, from how we recognize faces even if they have been digitally distorted to how we can move memories from short-term to long-term storage.

Think your field of vision is really in focus, or that your brain is focusing on everything happening in front of you? Think again. Brain Games reveal; the secrets behind the mysteries of focus and attention.

Ever wonder why a watched pot never boils? See how the brain can actually warp and shift time, giving a false impression of the order and the speed of events. Neuroscientist Dr. Chess Stetson explains the oddball effect using a series of pictures. Illusionist Apollo Robbins uses juggling pins to demonstrate what happens when the brain doesn't have enough time to process a large amount of information, while host Jason Silva plays with the speed of sound and light to find out why movies and television shows are sometimes out of sync.

This is a show about your brain and how it perceives motion. Evolving in a world that is constantly moving, the human brain had to develop a pretty sophisticated sense of motion in order to survive. This episode stops to ask some deceptively simple questions-What really is motion? Is the movement that you see real? Or is the wiring of your brain's motion detectors merely being fooled? We explore the science behind how your brain detects and interprets motion, and you'll see how easily this hard-wiring can be fooled... for better and for worse.

While it's long been believed that both your body and your brain deteriorate over time, recent studies show that may not always be the case. Some brain functions improve as we get older, while others don’t fully develop until later in life. In this episode, we explore your brain and how it doesn’t always act its age. Through a series of games and experiments, you'll discover how your daily routines might be aging your brain, and how you can actually slow down the clock.

Think you understand the colors you see every day? Think an apple is actually red, or a leaf is really green? Think again. This episode of Brain Games puts your brain to the ultimate test with a series of interactive games and fascinating experiments that will reveal a shocking truth—color is just an illusion created by your brain. We'll show you how some colors can make you fly, reveal ghostly colors that don't actually exist, and if you play along you’ll see how color helps keep you alive.

In this episode you'll play along with interactive games that unlock the secrets to attraction, learn how your brain quickly calculates what's attractive (or not), and discover how hidden formulas can predict who you consider beautiful. Explore the secrets of long-term relationships, and play along to discover just what it is that attracts two people together beyond conscious control—including a shocking revelation of the one body part that can often predict compatibility. From secret formulas to brainwave patterns, you'll see the mysteries of attraction revealed.

Join host Jason Silva in a series of interactive games and experiments that explores your brain's capacity for compassion, and questions the motives behind both your selfless and selfish acts. In this episode we'll tackle the age-old question of nature vs. nurture, and test whether altruistic inclinations are hardwired in our brain from birth. You'll discover if you're actually born naughty or nice, and explore the chances of finding a psychopath among your family or friends — or even in the mirror!

We all have things we say we can’t live without — coffee, smartphones, social media... But do we really need all those things, or on some deep level are we addicted to them? In this episode we’ll put you through a series of games and experiments designed to reveal how, like it or not, we’re all addicted to something, and why some addictions might be the best thing that ever happened to you. Learn what one of the most addictive sounds in the world is, why you can’t stop checking your phone, and why that awful pop song is still stuck in your head.

Would you believe language is the closest thing humans have to telepathy? Or that you speak volumes every day without uttering a single word? Play along as host Jason Silva — with help from biomedical-engineer Sri Sarma of Johns Hopkins University — leads you on a journey of discovery through the mystery of how you create meaning, and more. After we break down what to look for, viewers will be conversant in the hidden language of gestures, tells, and nonverbal signals. Through a series of addictive interactive games and unexpected experiments you’ll discover how language might be your brain’s most remarkable ability.

From knowing when to cross the street to avoiding hot stoves, your brain is constantly making judgments that you likely take for granted. We chalk it up to common sense - but just how common is it? Through interactive games and mind-bending challenges, unravel your mental shortcuts and learn how to harness the power of collective thinking. Play along to understand how your common sense can either lead you astray or keep you on the right track.

Whether you're a left-handed artist or a right-handed accountant, we all use both sides of our brains. But is there any science behind the notion that the left half or our brain is the creative side while the right half is more logical? In this episode about your left and right brain, we're going to put you through a series of games and experiments designed to find out how the two sides operate, what they really control, and whether or not one side of your brain dominates the other.

Have you ever wondered where your morality comes from? Is it ingrained in your brain, set by religion, or does society dictate what you deem as right or wrong? Through a series of interactive games and experiments, we'll test the strength of your moral fiber. Play along and discover how your brain makes countless moral decisions every single day. We're going to mess with your mind as we show you how outside influences like clothing, attitude, and your own evolutionary survival may sway your brain...and your morals.

A tour through the labyrinthine city of London; a metaphor for your brain and its numerous regions and intricate pathways.

Jason Silva travels to Israel to explore “The God Brain.” New research has uncovered that believing in God may be hardwired in our brains.

Host Jason Silva visits New Orleans, Louisiana, to explore the brain and bad behavior. A series of games and experiments demonstrate how the brain has an evolutionary predilection toward doing the wrong thing.

Actors Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard face off in a series of Battle of the Sexes games designed to illustrate the differences between female and male brains.

Actor Ted Danson learns how human brains distinguish fact from fiction in a series of games.

NFL football player Drew Brees puts his brain to the test with a series of mental challenges exploring how humans have hacked their brains; Keegan and Drew play a game called Draft Day, which shows how the brain must react quickly and be flexible.