Howdy guys! This episode was originally supposed to be about “betrayal trauma” but I got derailed by some very cool research and just had to discuss my THEORY on what mirror neurons and theory of mind (ToM) are for when it comes to sleep and wellness. I will absolutely be covering betrayal trauma next week so stay tuned, also I just finished the book on the neural mechanisms of reading and dyslexia so the episode two weeks from now will be jam packed with information on how to accommodate dyslexic readers and hopefully that’ll be helpful on y’alls reading and learning journey!

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Thank you so much for joining me on this journey - I do apologize if it wasn’t easy to follow, I truly didn’t plan this one out so I will use more accessible language in the following episodes.

I really did enjoy making this episode though, sharing information gives me such joy and I’m wishing everyone a happy National Autism Acceptance Month!

Resources:

Brain scans reveal how a woman voluntarily enters a psychedelic-like trance without drugs

https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-how-a-woman-voluntarily-enters-a-psychedelic-like-trance-without-drugs/

Manipulating light can induce psychedelic experiences — and scientists aren’t quite sure why

https://www.psypost.org/manipulating-light-can-induce-psychedelic-experiences-and-scientists-arent-quite-sure-why/

Scientists just found a hidden “drain” inside the human brain

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/04/260408225934.htm

Scientists Finally Figured Out the Math Behind How You See Color

154 Visual Phenomena & Optical Illusions with Explanations by Michael Bach

https://michaelbach.de/ot/index.html

Dopamine GPS: Visual Guidance Beyond Reward

https://neurosciencenews.com/dopamine-guidance-trajectory-30345/

Surprising study shows Alzheimer’s may start in the body instead of the brain, a discovery that turns medical science upside down

https://www.earth.com/news/genome-study-shows-alzheimers-may-start-in-body-tissue-inflammation-not-the-brain/

The influence of intentions on dream content

https://academic.oup.com/sleepadvances/article/5/1/zpae088/7912101

Zeigarnik Effect

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/zeigarnik-effect

How Your Brain’s Nightly Cleanse Keeps It Healthy

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-sleep-cleans-the-brain-and-keeps-you-healthy/

A shared code for perceiving and imagining objects in humans ventral temporal cortex

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt8343

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst - Robert M. Sapolsky

For easy access to the information I’m referencing, see chapter 14 and 15.

This Is What It Sounds Like: A Legendary Producer Turned Neuroscientist on Finding Yourself Through Music - Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas

I love this book in general but I got the information on James Turrell (the artist) from this book. For easy access the chapter is “Realism”

An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of The Immune System - Matt Richtel

Apologies at 1:07:00 I said that the book I was reading was “Dreamscape” but it’s actually Decisionscape by Elspeth Kirkman

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A Little Autistic Joy for National Autism Acceptance Month!