Why your brain loves a cliffhanger
The neuroscience of "one more episode", with a researcher who studies it for a living.
- Show
- Brain Candy
- Host
- Priya Raman
- Released
- Length
- 1 min
Episode player
1 min
Full episode
0:00
/30
Suspense is a prediction problem. Priya talks to a researcher who has spent ten years measuring what happens in your head when a story stops mid-sentence.
Show notes
- 00:00 — The Zeigarnik effect
- 11:20 — Dopamine is about wanting, not liking
- 24:05 — Why streaming autoplay works
- 31:40 — How to stop at the end of an episode
🧠
Try it: stop this episode at 18:00 and notice how long it stays in your head.
