Soundbites, those tiny verbal morsels, are ubiquitous. From billboards to tweets to political slogans, we are awash in them. Soundbites are the rhetorical currency of the 21st century. These quick, appealing messages are crack cocaine for the amygdala, the emotional processing center of the brain. While we might assume that the prefrontal cortex, home of executive control and rational thinking, might overpower or at least subdue this powerful emotional drug. Frequently, it

The person in the cubicle next to you is driving you crazy with their constant chatter. Naturally, you reach for your headphones. Whether piped through a big bulky over-the-ear model or those diminutive ear buds, music is your salvation. But it gets even better: the next track up on your playlist is Mozart. You’re counting on the ‘Mozart effect,’ the theory that listening to classical music’s greatest hits actually lets you operate at a higher cognitive level, or in layman’s