35 posts tagged “brain science podcast”
Episode 40 of the Brain Science Podcast
is a look back at the highlights from the last six months. We have
talked about numerous topics including brain plasticity, mirror
neurons, language, brain rhythms, and the sense of smell. We talked
with 9 guests
and we have also explored the practical implications of neuroscience,
including the importance of sleep and exercise to brain health. This
brief review episode is intended for both new listeners and long-time
subscribers.
For detailed show notes including links to all the resources discussed in the episode
Art Glenberg, PhDEpisode 36 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Arthur Glenberg, PhD about embodied cognition. Dr. Glenberg recently moved to Arizona State University after over 30 years at the University of Wisconsin's Laboratory of Embodied Cognition. His research focuses on the relationship between embodiment and language. In this interview we explore the experimental evidence for a theory of language that embraces the concept that our language abilities are actually rooted in our perceptual and motor abilities. Dr. Glenberg also explains how his work has practical implications in helping children learn how to read.
Since Dr. Glenberg has had a long career as a working research scientist, this interview also provided an opportunity to explore how scientific hypotheses are formed and how experiments are designed to test these hypothesis. I think this interview will give you a fascinating look into the real world of cognitive psychology.
Listen to Dr. Glenberg's Interview (left click to listen, right click to download)
Links and References:
- email: arthur.glenberg@asu.edu
- Laboratory for Embodied Cognition
- Havas, D.A., Glenberg, A.M., and Rink, M. (2007) Emotion simulation during language comprehension. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 14 (3), 436-441
- Numerous references available as PDF
- Thinking With the Body: blog post of March 3, 2008
Other Scientists Mentioned in the Episode:
- George Lakoff: pioneering linguist
- James Gibson-known for his ideas about affordances
- William Epstein-emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin
- Joseph Campos: University of California (Berkelely)
- Amy Needham and Amanda Woodard-experiments with velcro mits and infant cognition
- David A Havas: graduate student and co-author with Dr. Glenberg
- Mike Kashak: Florida State University
- Mike Rinck: German co-author-see paper under Glenberg (more papers)
- Vittorio Gallese, Dept of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Italy (where mirror neurons were discovered): extensive experimental with motor neurons in monkeys
- Fritz Stack (Germany): experiments showing that facial experiments affect mood and cognition
References:
- Havas, D.A., Glenberg, A.M., and Rink, M. (2007) Emotion simulation during language comprehension. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 14 (3), 436-441
- more publications by Arthur Glenberg
- Sommerville, J.A., Woodard, A.L., and Needham, A., Action experience alters 3-month-old infants’ perception of others’ actions, Cognition 96 (2005) B1-B11.
- Strack, F., Martin, L. L., & Stepper, S. (1988). Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 54, 768-777.
- Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things (1987) by George Lakoff
- recent essays by George Lakoff written for the Rockridge Institute
Listen to Dr. Glenberg's Interview (left click to listen, right click to download)
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Brain Science Podcast #35 is a discussion of Mirrors in the brain: How our minds share actions, emotions, and experience
by Giacomo Rizzolatti and Corrado Sinigaglia. Mirror neurons were
discovered in Rizzolatti's lab in Parma Italy in the early 1990's and
his book is a detailed to discussion of the experimental evidence in
both monkeys and humans. Direct single neuron recordings have been made
in monkeys. The evidence in humans is indirect since it is based on
mainly on neuroimaging studies like PET scans and fMRI scans. Even so
mirror neurons appear to be essential to our ability to understand both
the actions and emotions of others. Listen Now.
In this episode we also explore the evidence that there are other neurons in the motor areas of the brain that have sensory properties and that the areas of the brain traditionally thought to be devoted to sensory functions also contain neurons with motor properties. Another fascinating discovery is the fact that there are neurons that respond not only to somatosensory inputs (such as being touched) but also to visual or auditory inputs from objects within our peri-personal space. For background on these body maps I recommend listening to Episode 21 and Episode 23. If you are new to the Brain Science Podcast you may want to listen to those episodes first because this week's episode is a little more technical than most.
I will be exploring the importance of these discoveries in future episodes.
Listen to Brain Science Podcast Episode 35 (mirror neurons) NOW.
Links:
Giacomo Rizzolatti- University of Parma
Mirror neurons (wikipedia entry)
Mirror neurons (Scholarpedia entry written by Dr. Rizzolatti)
Listen to Brain Science Podcast #35 (mirror neurons) Now
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Episode 34 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Rachel Herz author of The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell (2007). Dr. Herz teaches at Brown University and she is a leading authority on the psychology of smell. We talk about the how smell works, its role in emotion and memory, why it is so vulnerable, and why smell is much more important than most of us realize. We also consider some of the questions that remain unanswered.
Listen to the Rachel Herz interview now. (Right click to download.)
Links and References:
Rachel Herz
- Brown Medical School faculty page
- Wikipedia: a good source for further references
- RachelHerz.com
- thescentofdesire.com
The 2004 Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology was awarded to Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck for their discoveries of "odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system."
BuckL, Axel R "A novel multigene family may encode odorant receptors: a molecular basis for odor recognition."
Cell. 1991 Apr 5;65(1):175-87.
"The (Shocked) Nose Knows" by Gisela Telis ScienceNOW Daily News 27 March 2008
The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell (2007) by Rachel Herz
Listen to Episode 34 (Right click to download)
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Episode 33 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Harvard physician, Dr. John Ratey about his new book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.
John J Ratey, MD
We explore the exciting evidence about how exercise helps the brain. It stimulates the release of a number of different neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, but probably more importantly it helps keeps these compounds balanced. We consider why exercise is so important in dealing with stress, in treating a wide range of mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, and attention deficit disorder. There is also evidence that exercise improves our ability to learn and our ability to avoid the loss of mental agility associated with aging.
This episode contains information that everyone can use. I hope you will share it with your friends and family.
Links and References:
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008) by John J. Ratey
Dr. Ratey's website: Go here for more interview of Dr. Ratey and also to find links to the latest research about exercise and the brain.
Listen to Dr. Ratey's Interview Now.
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Yesterday I posted a bad link for the enhanced version of Brain Science Podcast #32. Here is a link that actually works!
http://docartemis.com/AAC/32-AAC-brainscience-anatomy.m4a
If you are using Windows make sure that you have the latest version of Quicktime™. Otherwise it may not play properly.
Episode 32 of the Brain Science Podcast was a whirlwind tour of brain anatomy based on Beyond the Zonules of Zinn: A Fantastic Journey Through Your Brain (2008) by David Bainbridge. The author has graciously share the illustrations from his book and I have posted a special page that is keyed to the podcast. I have also created an enhanced version (AAC) version of the podcast, which will not appear in the feed. I think the images are best viewed on the web, but I would appreciate your feedback on both the website illustrations and the enhanced podcast.
Episode 32 of the Brain Science Podcast is a whirlwind (55 minute) tour of brain anatomy. It is based on David Bainbridge's new book: Beyond the Zonules of Zinn: A Fantastic Journey Through Your Brain (2008). Within the next few days I will be expanding the show notes to include key illustrations from the book. I want to thank David for sharing these images and I encourage everyone to read the book.
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György Buzsáki, author of Rhythms of the Brain
(OUP 2006) is a Professor of Neuroscience at Rutgers University. His
book is a comprehensive review of the current state of research in the
field of brain oscillations. It includes the role of these oscillations
in sleep and memory. In episode 31 of the Brain Science Podcast Dr.
Buzáki explains why the rhythms of the brain are important and reflects
on why this field has been neglected by some neuroscientists. I think
he makes a convincing case for the position that these rhythms are an
essential component of brain function.
Listen to Dr. György Buzsáki's interview about Brain Rhythms
- György Buzsáki, Professor of Neuroscience at Rutgers University
SHOW NOTES:
Partial List of Scientists Mentioned:
- Stephen Strogatz: known for his discovery of "small world" architecture
- His 2003 bestseller Sync: The emerging science of spontaneous order is aimed at a general audience
- Nancy Kopell: mathematician
- Buzsaki recommends her review of the analytical approaches to neuronal oscillators: We got Rhythm: Dynamical Systems of the Nervous System. N Am Math Soc 47: 6-16 (2000).
- Zoltán Néda (Bebes-Bolyai University Romania): the spontaneous synchronization of hand clapping
- Hermann Haken: German laser physicist who studies bidirectional causation
- The Science of Structure: Synergetics (1984)
- John O'Keefe (University College, London): along with Lynn Nadel he discovered how the hippocampus forms a cognitive map of the world
- He has shown how the timing of osscillations in the hippocampus are important
- "Independent rate and temporal coding in hippocampal pyramidal cells" by John Huxter, Neil Burgess, and John O'Keefe. Nature 425, 828-832 (23 October 2003)
- David McCormick (Yale University): showed that neurons from the thalamus of a ferret can oscillate spontaneously
- He has also studied the oscillations of place cells in the hippocampus
- David Hubel and Thorston Wiesal: along with Vernon Montcastle they pioneered the use of single neuron recordings in the neocortex of casts and monkeys
- Montcastle, VB (1997) "The Columnar Organization of the Neocortex." Brain 102:01-722.
- Claude Shannon: founder of Information Theory
- Jan Born (University of Lübeck, Germany): experiments with how sleep improves both memory and problem solving
Topics and questions:
- Basics of oscillations and synchrony
- What functions are accomplished by brain rhythms?
- The role of hippocampal ripples in memory
- What happens to our brain rhythms while we sleep
- The importance of synchrony in saving energy in the brain
This episode will appeal to listeners with a background in math or engineering, but Dr. Buzsáki provides numerous everyday examples that make the material accessible to everyone.
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Episode 30 of the Brain Science Podcast is a discussion of The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language
by Christine Kenneally. We focus mostly on the first part of the book,
which tells the story of how the study of language evolution has grown
from almost a banned subject to a new field of inquiry called
evolutionary linguistics. We also reflect on how recent findings in
neuroscience like the importance of plasticity are influencing the
field.
Scientists Discussed in the Episode:
- Noam Chomsky
- Sue Savage-Rumbaugh
- Stuart Shanker
- Steven Jay Gould
- Steven Pinker and Paul Bloom
- Philip Leiberman
*References:
Pinker, Steven, and Paul Bloom, "Natural Language and Natural Selection," Behavioral and Brains Sciences 13 (1990): 707-84.
Marc D. Hauser, Noam Chomsky, and W. Tecumseh Fitch (2002). "The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who Has It, and How Did It Evolve?" Science 298:1569-1579.
Christine Kenneally, The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language (2007).
Stanley I. Greenspan and Stuart G. Shanker, The First Idea: How Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved from our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans (2004).
*Additional references can be found in Kenneally's book and at the websites of the scientists listed above.
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