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Have you got a favourite track? Well, it’s time to turn it up and enjoy the beat with a warm cup of coffee. Everyday pleasures like listening to music or sipping a cup of coffee can elevate brain activity, improving cognitive performance including in tasks demanding concentration and memory, according to a recent study. A group of researchers looked at a new NYU Tandon School of Engineering study involving MindWatch a brain-monitoring technology. MindWatch is an algorithm that analyses a person’s brain activity from data which is collected from a wearable device which can monitor electrodermal activity (EDA). EDA is a measure of electrical changes in the skin triggered by emotional stress, often associated with sweat responses. In the study, published in Nature Scientific Reports, participants were made to wear these skin-monitoring wristbands as well as brain-monitoring headbands to complete a range of cognitive tests. The tests were conducted while the participants listened to music, drank their coffee and smelled perfumes reflecting their individual preferences. These tests were completed again without any of those stimulants. Researchers found that both music and coffee significantly influenced participants’ brain arousal, and put them in a “state of mind” that could “modulate their performance in the working memory tasks they were performing,” the NYU press release says. The wearable device found that the stimulates specifically triggered increased “beta band” brain wave activity which is linked to peak cognitive performance. Perfumes also had a slight positive effect, suggesting to researchers that there is a need for further investigation. “The pandemic has impacted the mental well-being of many people across the globe and now more than ever, there is a need to seamlessly monitor the negative impact of everyday stressors on one’s cognitive function,” says Rose Faghih, an associate professor of biomedical engineering who developed MindWatch in six years. “Right now MindWatch is still under development, but our eventual goal is that it will contribute to technology that could allow any person to monitor his or her own brain cognitive arousal in real-time, detecting moments of acute stress or cognitive disengagement, for example. “At those times, MindWatch could ‘nudge’ a person towards simple and safe interventions — perhaps listening to music — so they could get themselves into a brain state in which they feel better and perform job or school tasks more successfully, professor Faghih added. The specific tests used in this study involved a working memory task, called the n-back test which involves presenting a sequence of stimuli to the participants, in this case, images or sounds. It was shown one by one, and people were asked to indicate whether the current stimulus matched the one presented "n" items back in the sequence. This study employed a 1-back test — the participant responded "yes" when the current stimulus is the same as the one presented one item back — and a more challenging 3-back test, asking the same for three items back. Three types of music were also tested out, there was energetic and relaxing music familiar to the participants, as well as novel AI-generated music that reflected the subject’s tastes. Results showed that familiar, energetic music led to the best performance, followed by AI-generated music tailored to the participant’s taste. Coffee and perfume had lesser but still noticeable positive impacts. The MindWatch team wish to conduct further experiments to confirm the tool’s reliability and understand the broader effectiveness of various interventions on brain activity. Researchers have noted that while specific interventions might generally boost brain performance, individual results may vary. The study is published in the journal Nature. Read More ‘The Puss in Boots Effect:’ Women use infant-directed speech when addressing dogs with larger eyes Study reveals one thing to focus on if you want to live to 100 Extreme heat may speed up cognitive decline for people from poorer neighbourhoods Quick, moist and flavourful: Jurgen Krauss’s marble cake Mother whose hot flushes led to leukaemia diagnosis says ‘don’t ignore’ symptoms What happens at a sexual health check-up?

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A popular blogger and OnlyFans star has sparked a fierce debate online after praising her boyfriend for giving his “honest opinion” about her looks. The commentator, who goes by the name Aella, revealed her partner’s blunt assessment of her appearance in response to a tweet from another content creator. In her message, @ThePostsOffice wrote: "Being a girl’s boyfriend is all about committing to the bit that she is a 10/10 and the most beautiful woman you have ever seen." But Aella, a polyamorous former escort, admitted this hadn’t been her experience, replying: “One of my partners once was like 'you're not that pretty' during a tender moment. I rolled over in the fetal position and groaned for like an hour.” However, she continued: “He went and made me an I'm sorry card out of construction paper and markers and stickers.” Alongside her tweet were two pictures of the homemade apology letter, in which the man wrote: “I’m sorry I told you you’re not that pretty during a tender moment and that I made you doubt that I ever desired you. “Before forsaking my cultural wisdom, I should have considered how it would feel and been ready with [kisses].” Aella’s post racked up more than 17.2 million views and 7,100 retweets in a week, as fellow X/Twitter users shared their horror at the partner’s comment. “If any ‘partner’ of mine said that to me in bed I'd kick them out of the door immediately and never allow them to see me again,” one wrote. “Life is too short to tolerate a ‘lover’ who feels like you're anything less than the prettiest person they've ever seen.” “Omg he doesn't even say 'sorry for my cruel attempt at humour, you are the most attractive girl I've ever seen',” noted another. “He says 'sorry I forsook my cultural wisdom and told you the truth'... OUCH boy!” “Where is he getting the idea that this is the objective truth?” asked a third. Aella responded by defending her man (who she's still dating), writing: “To be fair he said it in response to me mourning that [people] are not incentivized to be honest about each other's physical appearances, he was trying to be helpful by giving me his honest opinion since I wanted [people] to be more honest.” She then added: “He's one of the kindest, most caring men I've dated! He was trying to be honest with me when he thought I really wanted that, he was genuinely trying to help me. I appreciate that and I find the entire event pretty endearing. “[In my opinion] people who don't say true things out of love because they're afraid of hurting me are more cowardly and I prefer not to date those people. I'm very much a ‘seek out the painful truth and sob’ kind of person both in general and in relationships.” She then shared a text message the boyfriend sent her in response to the public outcry over his behaviour, in which he wrote that he had “half a mind to [...] include a non-makeup’d photo of [her] and be like ‘look, she is fairly pretty and very attractive and gorgeous when she tries, but that’s different from being effortlessly pretty all the time as some girls in fact are.” He went on: “Lying injures everyone’s ability to trust truthtelling and the thing where lots of women are deeply insecure about their appearance in an inconsolable way is *built out of* all your lies.” However, he conceded: “I admit error both in misunderstanding what she was asking for and in offering it without triple-checking first and in offering it without a bunch of support and reassurance prepared in advance.” Yet, his defence did little to assuage people’s concerns and disapproval. In a lengthy rebuttal, one commentator pointed out: “Beauty is subjective. Everyone has wildly different tastes and things they find attractive. But he’s applying black-and-white thinking to your beauty and speaking from a place of ‘truth’ (during an intimate moment, no less) when in reality… It’s not *the* truth, because there isn’t one truth for beauty. It’s *his* truth.” “There are other men who’d be 100 per cent honest, sharing *their* truth, that they find you stunning.” The woman, called Elle Beecher, continued: “I take major issue when people excuse their careless comments under the guise of ‘truth,’ like they’re some omniscient narrator who can speak from an objective place. You’re ‘not that pretty’ to him. He can’t speak for anyone else. “My gut reaction is that there are so many men who’d happily fulfil your needs and find you stunning, and tell you that in full honesty… so why date a guy who doesn’t?” Concluding her monologue, Elle added: “I support you and your choices fully. But this story makes me sad. I understand that you want to be with someone truthful (as do I), but I wonder why that can’t be with someone who says you’re beautiful and means it.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.