Celebrating 4 Years of the Brain Science Podcast (BSP 71)

gingerCampbell.jpg

The latest episode of the Brain Science Podcast (BSP 71) is our 4th annual review episode.  As usual, I review highlights from this year's interviews, but this year I added a new feature: my personal reflections on how the Brain Science Podcast has impacted my life.  This episode also contains a special announcement for UK listeners.

How to get this episode:

  • Buy mp3 for $1.

  • Buy Transcript for $1.

  • Premium Subscribers have unlimited access to ALL old episodes and transcripts, as well as extra content for selected episodes. All content is available browser or the free Brain Science mobile app.

  • Patreon supporters have access to new transcripts ($3+/month) and ad-free audio files ($10+/month). You can also access your bonus content via the free Patreon mobile app.

    New episodes of Brain Science are ALWAYS FREE and remain FREE for approximately 6 years. See the individual show notes for more information

Listen in your Favorite Audio app: Audible, Amazon music, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube and many more.

Major Topics from Season 4:

  • Emotions with Jaak Panksepp (BSP 65).

  • Memory with Randy Gallistel (BSP 66).

  • Consciousness with Thomas Metzinger (BSP 67).

  • Alzheimer's Disease with Peter Whitehouse (BSP 68 and Books and Ideas 36).

  • Glia Cells with R. Douglas Fields (BSP 69).

  • Pop Psychology Myths with Scott Lilienfeld (BSP 70).

References:

Announcements:

  • The Brain Science Podcast app is now available for both iPhone and ANDROID (NEW!)

  • Be sure to subscribe to my Books and Ideas podcast. The next episode will come out in December.

  • The next episode of the Brain Science Podcast will come out in January 2010. 

Send me feedback at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Memory: Challenging Current Theories with Randy Gallistel, PhD (BSP 66)

Episode 66 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Randy Gallistel, PhD, Co-Director of the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science and co-author (with Adam Philip King) of Memory and the Computational Brain: Why Cognitive Science Will Transform Neuroscience.

We discuss why read/write memory is an essential element of computation, with an emphasis on the animal experiments that support the claim that brains must possess read/write memory.  This is significant because current models, such as neural nets, DO NOT incorporate read/write memory in their assumptions about how brains work.  It is not necessary to have any background in information theory or computation to appreciate the experiments that are discussed in this episode.

Episode 3 and Episode 12 of the Brain Science Podcast  providebackground information for this episode.

How to get this episode:

  • Premium Subscribers now have unlimited access to all old episodes and transcripts.

  • Buy mp3 for $1.

  • Buy Transcript for $1.

  • New episodes of the Brain Science Podcast are always FREE.  All episodes posted after January 1, 2013, are free.  See the individual show notes for links the audio files.

Listen in your Favorite Audio app: Audible, Amazon music, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube and many more.

References and Links:

Announcements:

Send feedback to gincampbell at mac dot com or leave voice mail at 205-202-0663.

Mirror Neurons with Michael Arbib (BSP 39)

Episode 39 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Dr. Michael Arbib from the University of Southern California.  Dr. Arbib's work with functional brain imaging has established the presence of mirror neurons in the human brain.  In our interview, we focused on the role of mirror neurons in imitation and language.  In particular, I questioned Dr. Arbib about the Mirror System Hypothesis (MSH) of Language Evolution that he proposed in 1998 with Giacomo Rizzolatti.  We also explored how this hypothesis diverges from the universal grammar proposed by Noam Chomsky.  Dr. Arbib also shared his enthusiasm for future research and we talked about the special challenges caused by the interdisciplinary nature of modern neuroscience.

How to get this episode:

  • Premium Subscribers now have unlimited access to all old episodes and transcripts.

  • Buy mp3 for $1.

  • Buy Transcript for $1.

  • New episodes of the Brain Science Podcast are always FREE.  All episodes posted after January 1, 2013, are free.  See the individual show notes for links the audio files.

Listen in your Favorite Audio app: Audible, Amazon music, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube and many more.

Related Episodes:

Scientists mentioned in the interview:

  • Giacomo Rizzolatti: His team discovered mirror neurons at the University of Parma, Italy. Other team members: Vittorio Gallese, Luciano Fadiga, and Leo Fogassi.

  • Ursula Bellugi (Salk Institute): pioneered the neurobiology of sign language.

  • Richard Byrne (University of St. Andrews): studies how gorillas learn in the wild.

  • Michael Tomasello (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Anthropology): studies social behavior of primates, including how communicative gestures vary between groups.

  • Noam Chomsky (MIT): famous linguist who has proposed an inborn universal grammar.

  • DL Cheney and RM Seyfarth:  research about primate vocal behavior, especially the use of calls in the wild.

References:

Other Links:

Donations and Subscriptions are appreciated