Episode notes
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 […]
Podcast
Two Guys on Your Head
KUT & KUTX Studios, Dr. Art Markman & Dr. Bob Duke · Tech & Science · English
Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke explain how our brain works.
More from Two Guys on Your Head All episodes →
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22 May 2026 · 8 min
Oration Part I: On Slowing Down
Graduation season brings a flood of commencement speeches, but most fall flat. In this first episode in our Two Guys on Your Head series on oration, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy break down the psychology behind effective public speaking and explore the specific techniques that separate forgettable speeches from memorable ones.
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15 May 2026 · 8 min
How We Learn Language
If we can learn a language in our infancy, why is it so difficult to learn a second language later in life? On this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy explore how we learn language.
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8 May 2026 · 7 min
Déjà vu
Have you ever traveled to a new place and suddenly, randomly, you experience this overwhelming sense of familiarity with what you’re seeing, like you’ve already seen it, even though you know you haven’t because you’ve never been there before? We call this phenomenon Déjà vu. On this episode of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob […]
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1 May 2026 · 7 min
Graduation
It’s graduation season, and that comes with a lot of joy, tears, expectations, and relief. But it turns out, as Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy explore in this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, graduation is about a lot more than a diploma.
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24 Apr 2026 · 2 min
Art Explains his Easter Egg
Art explains the intro clip in the Easter Egg episode.
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17 Apr 2026 · 8 min
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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10 Apr 2026 · 8 min
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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3 Apr 2026 · 8 min
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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27 Mar 2026 · 8 min
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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20 Mar 2026 · 8 min
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 […]
