Laurence Cohen is Professor of Neurology at the Pitié-Salpétrière Paris-VI Hospital. He is the author of L'Homme-thermomètre (The Thermometer Man), of Pourquoi les chimpanzés ne parlent pas (Why Chimpanzees Don't Speak) and Pourquoi les filles sont si bonnes en maths (Why Girls are So Good at Maths), which have all met with great success.
Do we believe what we see, or do we see what we believe? Is it better to trust our ears or our eyes? How can we explain that we perceive reality in a continuous way when it comes to us in the form of successive flashes?
How can we explain the fact that revision for an exam is more effective when it is spaced out? Why do some children have math phobia? In what ways does stress damage our ability to cope?
Why do we often prefer to defer immediate satisfaction in favour of future pleasure? Is bad news more important to us than good news? What are the cerebral mechanisms of optimism?
Responding to all these questions — and many others — with precision and clarity, not forgetting humor or neglecting the latest scientific advances: this is the challenge that once again Laurent Cohen eagerly accepts, taking us to the very heart of the extraordinary machinery that is the human brain.