Two Guys on Your Head

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May 6, 2021

Sugar and The Brain (Rebroadcast)

By: Rebecca McInroy

Why is it hard to have just one of those delicious slices of pound cake over the holidays? It turns out it has less to do with the creamy butter and more to do with the way our brains react to those white sweet grains of sugar.

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke discuss the ways our brains respond to sugar by releasing a nice amount of dopamine.

While we may think this dopamine is supposed to make us feel good, what the chemicals in our brains are trying to do is to teach us that this sugar is a good thing and that we want more of it for our survival.

This might have been beneficial to us a hundred and fifty thousand years ago, but with sweets in every candy dish, gas station, and coffee shop around the corner, craving sugar has its consequences.

 

 


Episodes

April 24, 2026

Art Explains his Easter Egg

Art explains the intro clip in the Easter Egg episode.

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April 24, 2026

Easter Eggs

When we discover a hidden secret in a song, a movie, or a book, we can feel a sense of joy and connection. Those little gems are referred to as “easter eggs,” and we look for them because we’re curious. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk […]

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April 17, 2026

Schadenfreude

We’ve all felt a little spark of satisfaction when someone who wronged us stumbles, or when a rival fails. That feeling has a name: schadenfreude, a German word for the pleasure derived from witnessing the troubles or humiliation of others. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy explore why […]

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April 10, 2026

The Failure Gap & Its Discontents

In a forthcoming paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Eskreis-Winkler and colleagues describe what they call “the failure gap” — the consistent finding that outside observers dramatically overestimate how often people succeed after failing. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy […]

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April 3, 2026

The Failure Gap

In a forthcoming paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Eskreis-Winkler and colleagues describe what they call “the failure gap” — the consistent finding that outside observers dramatically overestimate how often people succeed after failing. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, describes the study and implications of […]

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March 27, 2026

The Psychology of Memory

One of the greatest features of our brains is that we can forget things, but why is it so difficult to forget some things but not others? It turns out, our brains absorb information before we ever get a chance to evaluate it — and once something is in there, there’s no delete key. In […]

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March 20, 2026

Reading vs. Listening (Rebroadcast)

Ever caught yourself saying “I’m reading a great book” only to awkwardly correct yourself with “…well, actually I’m listening to it”? That guilty pause says a lot. But you have nothing to feel bad about. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy break down […]

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March 13, 2026

Dignity

Dignity is core to our humanity and woven into our sense of agency, authenticity, and the way others treat us, yet what it looks and feels like shifts across cultures, circumstances, and relationships. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy explore the psychology behind […]

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