The surprising science of the human mind's greatest power: introspection

It happens to everyone: You are asked a question -- even something you know well, such as the name of a longtime colleague -- and can't answer. The information is stuck on the tip of your tongue. It's an experience so frustrating that it seems like it must be a brain malfunction. In fact, it's actually a hallmark of our greatest power: self-awareness.

As cognitive neuroscientist Stephen M. Fleming shows inKnow Thyself,self-awareness shapes our intelligence, memory, and conscious experience. It's integral to how we teach and learn. We use it every time we weigh difficult questions, such as assessing how we'd respond in a crisis. Drawing on psychology and neuroscience, Fleming provides deep insight into how self-awareness works, and how we can enhance our ability to know our strengths and weaknesses. In the end, this book isn'tjust about psychology: it's about the science of human excellence.

令人惊讶的人类心灵最大力量的科学：反省

这种情况发生在每个人身上：你被问到一个问题--即使是你很熟悉的问题，比如一个长期合作的同事的名字--但你无法回答。这些信息卡在你的舌尖上。这是一种非常令人沮丧的经历，似乎它一定是大脑出了问题。事实上，这实际上是我们最伟大力量的一个标志：自我意识。

正如认知神经科学家斯蒂芬-弗莱明（Stephen M. Fleming）在《认识你自己》（Know Thyself）一书中所展示的，自我意识塑造了我们的智力、记忆和有意识的经验。它对我们的教学和学习方式不可或缺。每当我们衡量困难的问题时，例如评估我们在危机中如何应对时，我们都会用到它。弗莱明利用心理学和神经科学，对自我意识如何发挥作用，以及我们如何增强了解自己的长处和短处的能力，提供了深刻的见解。最后，这本书不仅仅是关于心理学：它是关于人类卓越的科学。