"Why Neuroscience Matters"

On May 11, 2011 I gave a talk entitled "Why Neuroscience Matters" at the London Skeptics in the Pub.  Episode 42 of Books and Ideas is an edited version of that talk, including the lively Q and A with the audience.

References

• Bayes, A., Grant, S., et al. "Characterization of the proteome, diseases and evolution of the human postsynaptic density." Nature Neuroscience 14, 19–21 (2011) (Published online 12/23/2010).

• Libet, B. "Do We Have Free Will?"Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6. No. 8-9, 1999, pp. 47-57.

• On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not (2008), by Robert Burton; p 127.

• Philosophy in the Flesh : The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought (1999), by George Lakoff, Mark Johnson; p 4.

• Brain Waves Module 2: Report on Education and Neuroscience from the Royal Society (2011). 

From the Brain Science Podcast

• BSP 25: Rolf Pfeifer, PhD, author of How the Body Shapes the Mind.

• BSP 26: Norman Doidge, MD, author of The Brain That Changes Itself.

• BSP 42:On Being Certain; and BSP 43: Interview with Robert Burton, MD

• BSP 51: Evolution of the Synapse, with Seth Grant, PhD.

• BSP 59: Use of C. elegans in Neuroscience, with Guy Caldwell, PhD.

• BSP 65: Subcortical Origins of Basic Emotions, with Jaak Panksepp, PhD.

Announcements:

• Dr. Campbell will be a speaker at The Amazing Meeting 9, which is coming up in Las Vegas, Nevada July 14-17.

Please send your feedback to Dr. Campbell at gincampbell at mac dot com, or post a comment on the Facebook Fan Page.

Don't forget to sign up for Ginger Campbell's Newsletter so you can get show notes for every podcast.

Brain Networks with Olaf Sporns (BSP 74)

Networks of the Brain by Olaf Sporns is an excellent comprehensive introduction to the use of Network Theory to study both the brain and the nervous systems of invertebrates.

In Episode 74 of the Brain Science Podcast, I interviewed Dr. Sporns (Indiana University) about some of the key ideas in his book.  Network Theory is becoming increasingly important as a tool for dealing with the massive amounts of data being generated by current techniques, such as brain imaging.  It is also a valuable tool for dealing with the fact that nervous systems consist of multiple scales (from the molecular level up to billions of neurons), which can not be reduced to a single scale.

While Networks of the Brain will be of greatest interest to those working in neuroscience and to those with a background in fields like engineering, mathematics, and computer science, this interview provides an introduction for listeners of all backgrounds.

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How to get this episode:

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Links:

• Olaf Sporns, PhD (Indiana University): website, email: osporns at indiana.edu.

• Brain Connectivity Toolbox.

• Human Connectome Project.

References:

• Networks of the Brain, by Olaf Sporns (MIT Press, 2011).

• Rhythms of the Brain, by György Buzsáki.

• Watts, DJ, Strogatz SH. "Collective Dynamics of 'small-world' networks." Nature 393: 440-442 (1998).

• Fodor, JA. The Modularity of the Mind. (1983).

Related Episodes:

• BSP 31: Interview with György Buzsáki, author of Rhythms of the Brain.

• BSP 46: Discussion of Brain Imaging, including Diffusion Imaging.

• BSP 56: Interview with Dr. Eve Marder about the use of circuit theory in neuroscience.

• BSP 61: Mapping the Brain (and generating huge amounts of data).

Announcements:

• The Brain Science Podcast will be returning to a monthly schedule on July 1, 2011.

• Please join the new Brain Science Podcast Discussion Forum at GoodReads.com.

• Dr. Campbell gave a talk in London last month entitled "Why Neuroscience Matters." (Available here.)

• Dr. Campbell will be a speaker at The Amazing Meeting 9, July 14-17,2011 in Las Vegas, NV.

• Don't forget to check out the Books and Ideas podcast and SCIENCEPODCASTERS.ORG.

The Brain Science Podcast app is available for iPhone, Android, and iPad. If you have purchased the iPhone version, it will now work on your iPad (no additional purchase needed). The iPad is the perfect device for reading episode transcripts, especially if you want to read along as you listen.

Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Send Dr. Campbell email at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Embodied Cognition with Lawrence Shapiro (BSP 73)

In his new book, Embodied Cognition, Dr. Lawrence Shapiro provides a balanced introduction to embodied cognition's attempts to challenge standard cognitive science.  His interview in Episode 73 of the Brain Science Podcast is a discussion of a few of his book's key ideas. It also continues our ongoing exploration of the role of embodiment. 

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:

• BSP 25: Embodied Artificial Intelligence with Dr. Rolf Pfeifer.

• BSP 36: Introduction to Embodied Cognition with Dr. Art Glenberg.

• BSP 58: "Extended Mind" with philosopher Alva Noë.

• BSP 66: Computational cognitive science with Dr. Randy Gallistel.

Some scientists mentioned in this episode:

• Lawrence Shapiro (University of Wisconsin).

• James J Gibson: founder of ecological psychology and the theory of affordances.

• Jerry Fodor: a proponent of standard cognitive science.

• Noam Chomsky: linguist who greatly influenced standard cognitive science.

• Rodney Brooks (MIT): pioneer of embodied artificial intelligence.

• Rolf Pfeifer: embodied AI (interviewed in BSP 25).

• Art Glenberg: discussed embodied cognition in BSP 36.

• Andy Clark: along with David Chalmers he has proposed the idea of "extended mind".

• Alva Noë: philosopher intervied in BSP 58.

• Randy Gallistel: discussed the computational approach to cognitive science in BSP 66.

References:

• Embodied Cognition, by Lawrence Shapiro.

• Radical Embodied Cognitive Science, by Anthony Chemero.

• How the Body Shapes the Way We Think: A New View of Intelligence, by Rolf Pfeifer and Josh C. Bongard.

• Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness, by Alva Noë.

• Memory and the Computational Brain: Why Cognitive Science will Transform Neuroscience, by C. R. Gallistel and Adam Philip King.

• Held, R. Hien, A. (1963) "Movement-Produced Simulation in the Development of Visually Guided Behavior," Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 56: 872-6. (Discussion)

• Brooks, R. (1991) "New Approaches to Robotics," Science 253: 1227-32.

• Brooks, R. (1991) "Intelligence without Representation," Artificial Intelligence 47: 139-59.

• Clark, A. and Chalmer, D. (1998) "The Extended Mind." Analysis 58: 7-19.

• Glenberg, A. and Kaschak, M. (2002) "Grounding Lanquage in Action," Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 9: 558-65.

• Ehrlich, S., Levine, S., and Golden-Meadows, S. (2006) "The Importance of Gesture in Children's Spatial Reasoning," Developmental Psychology 42: 1259-68.

• Thelan, E. and Smith,L. (1994) A Dynamical Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action (Cambridge: MIT Press).

• See Episode Transcript for additional references.

Announcements:

• Join the discussion of this episode in our new Discussion Group at Goodreads.com.

• Subscribe to the Brain Science Podcast newsletter to get detailed show notes for every episode.

• The next episode of the Brain Science Podcast will be an interview with Dr. Olaf Sporns, author of Networks of the Brain. I am also hoping to interview Antonio Damasio later this spring.

• The Brain Science Podcast application is now available for iPhone, iPad Touch, and Android Devices.

• Please listen to my other podcast Books and Ideas, which comes out in the alternate months between episodes of this podcast.

• I will be giving a live talk in London, UK on May 11. Visit the London Skeptics in the Pub website for more details, or send me email.

• For more science podcasts visit http://sciencepodcasters.org.

• Follow me on Twitter or join the Brain Science Podcast Fan Page on Facebook.

Send feed back to Dr. Campbell at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

Magic and the Brain (BSP 72)

Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde

Neuroscientists Dr. Stephen Macknik and Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde have an unusual hobby: Magic!  Actually, it is more than a hobby since for the last several years they have been working with leading magicians from around the world to create a new field: the neuroscience of magic.  In Episode 72 of the Brain Science Podcast, I talked with them about their new book Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions, which is the first book to explore the neuroscience of magic.

With the help of their co-author Sandra Blakeslee, Macknik and Martinez-Conde provide an excellent overview of this new and exciting field.  Their book also provides an excellent review of many of the principles that I have introduced in the last 4 years.

How to get BSP 72:

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

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• 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.

 Links and References

• Stephen Macknik, PhD: Director, Director, Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona.

• Susan Martinez-Conde: Director, Laboratory of Visual Science, Barrow Neurological Institute.

• Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions, by Stephen L. Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde, Sandra Blakeslee.

• http://sleightsofmind.com: for videos and links to their Scientific American articles.

Scientists mentioned during the podcast

• David Hubel: Nobel Prize for vision research.

• Margaret Livington (Harvard).

• Zachary Mainen (Cold Springs Harbor, NY).

• Daniel Simons (University of Illinois): change blindness.

• Derren Brown (London): memory fallibility.

• Jose-Manual Alonso (SUNY): neural basis of visual attention.

Magicians mentioned during the interview

• James Randi: famous proponent of skeptical thinking.

• Juan Tamariz: This Spanish magician is an important magic theorist.

• Penn and Teller: Go to http://sleightsofmind.com to see a video of the balls and cup illusion discussed in BSP 72..

Announcements:

• I will be giving a live talk at the London Skeptics in the Pub on May 11, 2011. Stay tuned for more details or visit http://london.skepticsinthepub.org/.

• The Brain Science Podcast  Discussion Forum is moving to Goodreads.com. Click here to visit our new group.

Send me feedback at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Exploring Glial Cells with R. Douglas Fields (BSP 69)

Recent research has discovered that glial cells (the non-neuronal cells that make up about 85% of the cells in the human nervous system) actually do more than just support neurons.  In Episode 69 of the Brain Science Podcast, I explore some of these recent discoveries with pioneering researcher, R. Douglas Fields, PhD.  Dr. Fields is the author of The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science.  The Other Brain provides a compelling introduction to this exciting new field.  It is aimed at general readers, but it should also be on the must-read list for all students of 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.

References:

• The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science, by R. Douglas Fields (2010).

• Glial Neurobiology: A Textbook, by Alexei Verkhratsky and Arthur Butt (2007).

• Bullock, T. H., Bennett, M. V., Johnston, D., Josephson, R., Marder, E., Fields, R. D. "Neuroscience. The neuron doctrine, redux." Science 310. 5749 (2005): 791-3.

• Perspectives.

• Bullock, T. H. (2004) The Natural History of Neuroglia: an agenda for comparative studies. Neuron Glial Biology 1:97-100.

• Fields, R. D. (2006) Beyond the Neuron Doctrine. Scientific American Mind June/July 17:20-27.

Links:

• The Other Brain website.

• R. Douglas Fields: Chief and Senior Researcher of the Section on Nervous System Development and Plasticity at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which is part of NIH.

• Dr. Ichiji Tasaki; worked at NIH for over 50 years and was a pioneering researcher of nerve conduction. (See the episode transcript for links to the other researchers that were mentioned in this episode.)

Related Episodes of the Brain Science Podcast:

• BSP 8: How Neurons Communicate.

• BSP 56: Interview with Dr. Eve Marder

Announcements:

• The Brain Science Podcast application for iPhone/Touch now contains transcripts for all episodes.  Your reviews are greatly appreciated.

• The next new episode of the Brain Science Podcast will come out in September, 2010.

• Be sure to check out my other podcast Books and Ideas.

• For more science podcasts go to http://sciencepodcasters.org.

• Stay informed by subscribing to the BSP Newsletter.

• Correction: Barbara Strauch is the author of The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind.  (Note the correct spelling of STRAUCH)

Send me feedback at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Affective Neuroscience with Jaak Panksepp (BSP 65)

Episode 65 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Jaak Panksepp, PhD, author of Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions.   Dr. Panksepp has done pioneering work on the neural origins of emotions.   In this interview, we discuss how his work challenges some of the common assumptions about emotions and some of the important implications of his discoveries.  New listeners may want to go back and listen to Episode 11 for an introduction to the neuroscience of emotion.

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:

• Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions, by Jaak Panksepp.

• "How to Undress the Affective Mind: An Interview with Jaak Panksepp," S. Gallagher, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 15, Number 2, 2008 , pp. 89-119(31).

• "Affective consciousness: Core emotional feelings in animals and humans,"J Panksepp,  Consciousness and Cognition 14 (2005)30-80. Elsevier. (available on-line via ScienceDirect.com)

• Visit Dr. Panksepp's faculty page for more references.

Scientists Mentioned in this Episode:

• John Bowlby: studied the effects of maternal deprivation, helped develop attachment theory.

• John Cacioppo: developed the concept of social neuroscience.

• Antonio Damasio: neurologist and author of several books including The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness.

• Walter Hess: work in the 1930's showed that stimulation of the cat hypothalamus led to anger. He shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1949.

• Tom Insel: Director of the National Institutes for Mental Health (NIMH).

• William James: early pioneer of scientific psychology. The James-Lange Theory of emotion is an outdated theory that emotion result from the brain's interpretation of signals coming from the body.

• Eric Kandel: won the Nobel Prize in 2000 for his work with memory in the Aplysia.

• Brian Knutson: former student of Panksepp.

• Joseph LeDoux: well-known for his work with fear and memory.

• Endel Tulving: memory researcher at the University of Toronto.

• For all the scientists mentioned see the episode transcript.

Send feedback to brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Allan Jones from the Allen Institute for Brain Research (BSP 61)

Episode 61 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Allan Jones, PhD, the Chief Science Officer of the Allen Institute for Brain Research in Seattle, Washington.  The Allen Institute is a non-profit research organization founded by Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) and is best known for its Mouse Brain Map, which is being used by researchers around the world.  The Institute has several other on-going projects including a project to create a map of the human cortex that shows which genes are active in each area.

In this interview we discuss both the mouse brain project and the human cortex project, with an emphasis on the importance of these projects to neuroscience research.  All the maps created by The Allen Institute are freely available on the internet.  Dr. Jones also shares his own story and the challenges and rewards of pursuing a career in the non-profit biotech world.

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.

SHOW NOTES

• "Scientists Map the Brain, Gene by Gene," Wired Magazine, 03-28-09.

Previous Episodes mentioned in this podcast:

• BSP 59: Interview with Guy Caldwell, PhD who studies the dopamine neurons in C. elegans.

• BSP 60: Interview with Stuart Brown, MD about the importance of play.  This is an excellent episode for new listeners.

Announcements:

• Next's month's episode will be an interview with Warren Brown, PhD, co-author of Did My Neurons Make Me Do It? which was discussed in Episode 53.

• This month's book winner is Ernest S. Croot, from the School of Mathematics at Georgia Tech.  He will be receiving a copy of Memory and the Computational Brain:  Why Cognitive Science Will Transform Neuroscience, by C. R. Gallistel and Adam Philip King.

• Don't forget to join the Brain Science Podcast Fan Page on Facebook.

Send email feedback to Dr. Campbell at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Why Play is Essential to Brain Health with Dr. Stuart Brown (BSP 60)

In Episode 60 of the Brain Science Podcast, Ginger Campbell, MD, interviews Dr. Stuart Brown, author of Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul.  Our focus is on the importance of play for normal mental development and psychological health. We also explore the importance of play in adults.

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.

Scientists mentioned in the podcast:

• Anthony Pellegrini, PhD (University of Minnesota): Studies rough and tumble play.

• Brian Sutton-Smith, PhD (Strong Museum of Play, NY): studies the storytelling aspects of play.

• John Ratey, MD (Harvard Medical School): author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.

• Sergio Pellis, PhD (Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience): has studied rough and tumble play in mice and rats for many years.

• Marian C Diamond, PhD (University of California-Berkeley): pioneer in the study of effects of enrichment on the mammalian brain. Recent Video.

• Richard Feynman, PhD (1918-1988): Nobel physicist who is also remembered for finding the cause of the Challenger disaster. (see the video)

• Roger Guillimen, PhD (The Salk Institute): won the 1977 Nobel Prize in Medicine for "discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain."

Books about Play and Related Topics:

• Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul ,by Stuart Brown, MD with Christopher Vaughn

• A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting, by Hara Estroff Marano

• The Gift of Play: Why Adult Women Stop Playing And How To Start Again, by Barbara Brannen

• Exuberant Animal: The Power of Health, Play, and Joyfill Movement, by Frank Forenich

• Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, by John J. Ratey

Useful Links:

• National Institute of Play

• The Association for the Study of Play

• Alliance for Childhood

• Sports for Kids Foundation

• KaBoom!

Send email to Dr. Campbell at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Using C. elegans in Neuroscience with Guy Caldwell, PhD (BSP 59)

Episode 59 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with molecular biologist, Guy Caldwell, PhD, from the University of Alabama.  We talk about the role of the tiny worm C. elegans in neuroscience research.  Dr. Caldwell is collaborating with other leading researchers (including his wife, Kim Caldwell, PhD) in work that may lead to a cure for movement disorders like dystonia and Parkinson's Disease.

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.

Show Notes and Links:

During this interview, Dr. Caldwell emphasized the importance of collaboration.  His work involves tagging the dopamine neurons in C. elegans with green florescent protein (GFP).  His work depends on the pioneering work of many scientists (some of whom I list below).  He also collaborate with researchers who are doing similar work in yeast, mice, and human cell cultures.

Scientists mentioned in this interview:

• Martin Chalfie (Columbia University): Caldwell's mentor won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his work with using Green Florescent Protein (GFP) to tag specific cells inside C. elegans.  Dr. Chalfie was interviewed on Futures in Biotech: Episode 37 and Episode 38.

• Susan Lindquist (MIT): a leading geneticist who is using to take human alph-synuclein protein and place it into yeast to study the effects of protein clumping due to misfolding. (Futures in Biotech #1)

• Sydney Brenner (Salk Institute): a leader in C. elegans research.

• John Sulston (University of Manchester): pioneer in C. elegans research.

• Robert Horvitz (MIT): well-researcher in the field of worm biology.

• Cynthia Kenyon (University of California-San Francisco): is studying aging in C. elegans.

• John White (University of Wisconsin): worked with John Sulston to determing the complete "wiring diagram" for C. elegans (which has only 302 neurons).

• Jeff Becker (University of Tennessee): Caldwell's mentor in graduate school.

• Chris Rochet (Purdue University): his study of mid brain cultures of rat neurons allows Caldwell to validate his findings in mammalian neurons.

• Richard Myers (Boston University): human geneticist who has done important work in Parkinson patient genotyping.

• Rudolph Jaenisch (MIT): expert at reprogramming skin cells into pleuripotent stem cells. This technique shows great promise for the treatment/cure of diseases like Parkinson's.

• Xandra Breakefield (Harvard): discovered the torsin gene in 1997.

Three recent Nobel Prizes have been awarded to researchers working on C. elegans.

• 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for green florescent protein.

• 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

• 2002 Nobel Prize in Medicine went to Brenner, Horvitz, and Sulston for establishing the complete cell lineage in C. elegans.

Announcements: 

• Dr. Campbell is the guest speaker at the July 18 meeting of Skeptics in the Pub in Atlanta, Georgia.

• Dr. Campbell was interviewed on Episode 96 of Brains Matter.

• Transcripts are now available for all past episodes of the Brain Science Podcast.

• Please join our new Brain Science Podcast Fan Page on Facebook.

• Donations of $25 or more qualify you for the new monthly book give away.

Join our Discussion Forum:

Send feedback to Dr. Campbell at gincampbell at mac.com.

Interview with Philosopher Alva Noë (BSP 58)

Episode 58 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with philosopher, Alva Noë, whose book, Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness, argues persuasively that our minds are MORE than just our brains.  He says that "the brain is necessary but not sufficient" to create the mind.     

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.

Show Notes and Links:

• Alva Noe (University of California, Berkeley).

• Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness, by Alva Noé.

Important scientists mentioned in the interview:

• Paul Bach-y-Rita: pioneering studies in sensory substitution using tactile stimuli to substitute for vision.

• Held and Hein: experiments with cats showing that development of normal vision requires motor-sensory feedback.

References:

• Brain Mechanisms in Sensory Substitution by Paul Bach-y-Rita, 1972.

• Bach-y-Rita, P "Tactile-Vision Substitution: past and future", International Journal of  Neuroscience 19, nos. 1-4,  29-36, 1983.

• Held, R and Hein, "Movement-produced stimulation in the development of visually guided behavior." Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology. 56(5), 872-876, 1963.

• Held, R.  "Plasticity in sensory-motor systems." Scientific American. 213(5) 84-91, 1965.

Announcements:

• Special thanks to Diane Jacobs, Jenine John and Lori Wolfson for transcribing all the episodes of the Brain Science Podcast.

• Don't forget to post your reviews in iTunes®. Your word of mouth helps us find new listeners.

• The Brain Science Podcast is supported by listener donations.

Please send your feedback to brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

How our Brain Creates Our World with Chris Frith, PhD (BSP 57)

Episode 57 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with neuropsychologist, Dr. Chris Frith, author of Making up the Mind: How the Brain Creates Our Mental World.   Our brain processes information about the world outside us (via our senses) in the same way that it processes information from within our bodies and from our own mental world.  In this interview.  Dr. Frith and I explore the implications from recent discoveries about how our brain generates our mental world.

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.

Useful Links:

• Chris Frith, PhD: University College London Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging.

• Necker cube: a visual illusion that shows that some visual processing can not be changed by top-down feedback.

• PubMed: a public service of the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

Selected References:*

• Bayes, T (1763). “An essay toward solving a problem in the doctrine of chance.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 53, 470-418.

• Blakemore, SJ, Wolpert DM, and Frith, CD (1990) Central Cancellation of self produced tickle sensation. Nature Neuroscience, 1(7), 635-640.

• Botvinick, M and Cohen, J (1998) Rubber hands "feel" touch that the eyes see. Nature, 391(6669), 756.

• Kilner, JM, Paulignan, Y, and Blakemore, SJ, (2003) An interference effect of observed biological movement on action.Current Biology, 13(6), 522-525.

• Rizzolatti, G and Craighero, L (2004). The mirror-neuron system. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 27, 169-192.

• Wicker, B, Keysers, C, Plaily,J, Royet, JP, Galese, V, and Rizzolatti, G (2003). Both of us disgusted in My insula: The common neural basis of seeing and feeling disgust.Neuron. 40(3), 655-664.

• Wegner, D (2003). The Illusion of Conscious Will, MIT Press.

• Wegner, DM, Fuller, VA and Sparrow, B. (2003) Clever hands: Uncontrolled intelligence in facilitated communication. Journal of Personal Social Psychology, 85(1), 5-19.

*These references are from Making up the Mind: How the Brain Creates Our Mental World by Chris Frith.

Send feedback to brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Interview with Neuroscience Pioneer Eve Marder, PhD (BSP 56)

Episode 56 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with neuroscientist, Eve Marder, PhD.  Dr. Marder has spent 35 years studying the somatogastric ganglion of the lobster. In this interview we talk about how she got into neuroscience during its early days, her recent tenure as president of the Society for Neuroscience, and how some of her key discoveries have implications for studying more complex nervous systems.

How to get this episode:

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

• Listen or Download FREE MP3

• 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.

Links:

• Eve Marder's lab.

• Gina Turrigiano (synaptic scaling).

• The Practical Psychiatrist website.

• Society for Neuroscience.

• Brain Awareness Week.

• Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).

• International Brain Research Organization (IBRO).

• Wikipedia links: Eve Marder, central pattern generator.

Announcements:

• The Practical Psychiatrist has chosen the Brain Science Podcast for its semi-annual Community Service Award in Mental Health. 

Michael Merzenich Talks About Neuroplasticity (BSP 54)

Brain Science Podcast #54 is an interview with Dr. Michael Merzenich, one of the pioneers of neuroplasticity.  We talk about how the success of the cochlear implant revealed unexpected plasticity in adult brains and about how brain plasticity can be tapped to improve a wide variety of problems including dyslexia, autism, damage from disease and injury.  Healthy people of all ages can also tap the resource of brain plasticity to help maintain and improve their mental functions.

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.

Links and References

• Dr. Merzenich's Blog.

• Posit Science Corporation.

• Scientific Learning (Fast Forward™).

Previous Episodes on Brain Plasticity

• Episode 10.

• Episode 26.

• Episode 28.

Send email feedback to Ginger Campbell, MD at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

Review of Year 2 of the Brain Science Podcast (BSP 52)

Brain Science Podcast #52 is our Second Annual Review Episode.  We review some of the highlights from 2008.  I also discuss the various other on-line resources that I have created for listeners.  Then we look ahead to what I have planned for 2009. This episode is aimed at all listeners, including those who are new to the show.

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.

Highlights from 2008:

Early in the year (#30) I discussed language evolution.  My criticism of Noam Chomsky's claim that human language results from a Universal Grammar Module generated quite a bit of discussion.  My main purpose was to emphasize that current neuroscience does not support this hypothesis.  I discussed Chomsky's work in follow-up interviews with Dr. Michael Arbib (BSP 39) and linguist Alice Gaby (BSP 41).

It is my impression that, at least to some extent, this debate comes back to the age-old "nature versus nurture" controversy, which I discussed more explicitly way back in Episode 4.  The evidence seems to be mounting that human intelligence is a product of  both processes.

There is no doubt that the capacity for language is inherited, but brain plasticity appears to be equally important.  One piece of evidence for this is that the changes in the brain that occur when people learn to read are different between languages like English and German and those like Chinese and Japanese. (Episode 24 and Episode 29)

We had 17 guests on the Brain Science Podcast in 2008, so I can't mention them all here.

• John Ratey, MD: In Episode 33 we talked about exercise and the brain, while in Episode 45 we talked about ADD.

• Robert Burton, MD:  In Episode 43 talked about the implications of the discovery that our sense of knowing (feeling certain) is generated by parts of the brain that are outside our conscious control!

• John Medina, PhD: In Episode 37 we considered the practical implications of neuroscience, such as the importance of getting enough sleep and why true multi-tasking is actually impossible.

• Dr. Brenda Milner: In Episode 49 this pioneering neuroscientist shared highlights from her long career.

Another highlight was our first live podcast, which was recorded at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia on August 31.

In the fall I returned to the subject of evolution with a three part series on the evolution of the brain.

• Episode 47, Episode 48, and Episode 51.

• Episode 51 is an outstanding interview with Dr. Seth Grant in which we discuss the surprising discovery that synapse complexity seems to have evolved BEFORE larger more complex brains.

Online Resources for Listeners:

• I encouraged listeners to frequent this website and to subscribe to the RSS feed so as to receive information between posts.

• I encouraged listeners to explored the sidebars and tabs on the website for links to other sites of interest.

• I reminded listeners that this website includes a complete listing of previous episodes as well as a list of all the guests that have been on the show.

• It is now possible to support the Brain Science Podcast  via both PayPal and by direct mail.

• I encouraged listeners to participate in our Discussion Forum and to post pictures to our Flickr Group.

• I invited listeners to contribute content to the Brain Science Podcast Room on FriendFeed and the new Neuroscience News Network on SocialMedian.

• I reminded listeners that my personal blog is now at http://gingercampbellmd.com.  This site includes abridged show notes for the Brain Science Podcast as well as the complete show notes for Books and Ideas.

• Listeners are encouraged to continue to post reviews on iTunes™, Podcast Pickle, Podcast Alley, Digg, and similar sites. All blog posts and tweets are greatly appreciated.

Send email feedback to Ginger Campbell, MD at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

Surprising Discoveries about Synapse Evolution with Seth Grant (BSP 51)

Episode 51 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Dr. Seth Grant from Cambridge University, UK.  Dr. Grant's work focuses on the proteins that make up the receptors within synapses.  (Synapses are the key structures by which neurons send and receive signals.)  By comparing the proteins that are present in the synapses in different species, Dr. Grant has come to some surprising conclusions about the evolution of the synapse and the evolution of the brain.

In this interview, Dr. Grant explains how his research team has uncovered the identity ofsynapse proteins in a variety of species including yeast, fruit flies, and mice.  Our discussion is centered on the paper he published in Nature Neuroscience in June 2008.  Dr. Grant's team has made several surprising discoveries.  First, he has discovered that some proteins associated with neuron signaling are actually found in primitive unicellular organisms like yeast. He has also discovered that the protein structure of the synapse becomes more complex as one moves from invertebrates like fruit flies to vertebrates like mice, but that most of the complexity seems to have arisen early on in vertebrates.

According to Dr. Grant:

The origins of the brain appear to be in a protosynapse, or ancient set of proteins found in unicellular animals; and when unicellular animals evolved into metazoans, or multicellular animals, their protosynaptic architecture was co-opted and embelished by the addition of new proteins onto that ancient protosynaptic set; and that set of new molecules was inserted into the junctions of the first neurons, or the synapse between the first neurons in simple invertebrate animals.  When invertebrates evolved into vertebrates, around a billion years ago, there was a further addition, or enhancement of the number of these synaptic molecules, and that has been conserved throughout vertebrate evolution, where they have much larger numbers of synaptic molecules.  The large complex synapses evolved before large anatomically complex brains.

The discovery that there are significant differences between the synapses in vertebrates and non-vertebrates is significant, because it has long been assumed that synapses were essentially identical between species, and that brain and behavioral complexity was based on having more neurons and bigger brains.  Instead, Dr. Grant proposes an alternative hypothesis:

The first part of the brain to ever evolve was the protosynapse. In other words, synapses came first.

When this big synapse evolved, what the vertebrate brain then did, as it grew bigger and evolved afterwards; it exploited the new proteins that had evolved into making new types of neurons in new types of regions of the brain. In other words, we would like to put forward the view that the synapse evolution has allowed brain specialization, regionalization, to occur.

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.

Addition Show Notes and Links

References:

• "Proteomic analysis of NMDA receptor-adhesion protein signaling complexes."Nature Neuroscience 2000 Jul;3(7):661-9. Husi H, Ward MA, Choudhary JS, Blackstock WP, Grant SG.

• "Synapse proteomics of multiprotein complexes: en route from genes to nervous system diseases." Human Molecular Genetics 2005 Oct 15;14 Spec No. 2:R225-34. Grant SG, Marshall MC, Page KL, Cumiskey MA, Armstrong JD.

• “The proteomes of neurotransmitter receptor complexes form modular networks with distributed functionality underlying plasticity and behaviour.” Molecular Systems Biology 2: 2006.0023. Pocklington AJ, Cumiskey M, Armstrong JD, Grant SG.

• "Evolutionary expansion and anatomical specialization of synapse proteome complexity." Nature Neuroscience 2008. Emes RD, Pocklington AJ, Anderson CN, Bayes A, Collins MO, Vickers CA, Croning MD, Malik BR, Choudhary JS, Armstrong JD, Grant SG

Blog posts and other links:

• Press Release from Genes to Cognition on Brain Evolution.  June 2008

• New York Times article by Nicholas Wade (6/10/08).

• "Synapse Proteomics," by Diane Jacobs. June 2008.

• "Synapse Proteomics & Brain Evolution." Neurophilosophy blog. June 2008

• "Increasing complexity of nerve synapses during evolution." Deric Bownds. June 2008

Learn more about Dr. Grant's work:

• Genes to Cognitions (G2C) website.

• Dr. Grant's faculty page.

Send email feedback to Ginger Campbell, MD at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Dr. Brenda Milner: Pioneer in Memory Research (BSP 49)

Brain Science Podcast #49 is an interview with pioneering neuroscientist, Brenda Milner, PhD.  Dr. Milner is known for her contributions to understanding memory and her work with split-brain patients.  Her work as an experimental psychologist has been fundamental to the emergence of the field of cognitive neuroscience.

This interview is a follow-up of Dr. Milner's recent interview with Dr. Marc Pelletier on Futures in Biotech.  I highly recommend listening to both interviews.

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.

Listen to Dr. Milner on Futures in Biotech (Episode33)

Additional Links:

• Brenda Milner, PhD: Montreal Neurological Institute.  (Read her MNI biography)

• Wilder Penfield, MD: neurosurgeon and found of the Montreal Neurological Institute.

• Roger Sperry, PhD: received the Nobel Prize for his work with split-brain patients

Send email feedback to Ginger Campbell, MD at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Don't Miss Neuroscience Pioneer, Dr. Brenda Milner, on Futures in Biotech

In Episode 33 Futures in Biotech  host Marc Pelletier, PhD, interviews pioneering researcher, Dr. Brenda Milner from the Montreal Neurological Institute.  Dr. Milner is best known for her work with HM, the patient that she worked with for many decades.  Her work helped neuroscientists appreciate the role of the hippocampus in memory and the fact that there are multiple types of memory, some of which do not require the hippocampus.

One of the things that makes this interview special is that Dr. Milner gives us the inside story on some of the pioneering work that we now take for granted.  She emphasizes how the work fit into the context of its time, giving an unique glimpse into the history of how science really unfolds.

Click here to learn more.

Futures in Biotech is a valuable contributor to SCIENCEPODCASTERS.ORG.

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:

• Brain Science Podcast  #7: A discussion of bonobos with Stuart Shanker, PhD.

• Brain Science Podcast  #30: a discussion of language evolution including my thoughts on Chomsky.

• Brain Science Podcast  #35: a detailed discussion of Mirrors in the Brain, by Giacomo Rizzolatti.

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:

• Cybernetics, by Norbert Wiener- this classic inspired Dr. Arbib's career in computational neuroscience.

• Action to Language via the Mirror Neuron System, (2006) edited by Michael Arbib.

• Mirrors in the Brain by Giacomo Rizzolatti and Corrado Sinigaglia, 2008. Discussed in Episode 37.

• Mirroring People by Marco Iacoboni, 2008.  The author studies mirror neurons at UCLA.

• Rizzolatti G & Arbib MA  Language within our grasp. Trends in Neuroscience 21(5): 188-194- the first paper describing the Mirror System Hypothesis, 1998.

• Iacoboni M, Molnar-Szakacs I, Gallese V, Buccino G, Mazziotta JC, et al.  Grasping the intentions of others with one's own mirror neuron system. PLoS Biol 3 (3): e79, 2005.

• Arbib, M.A., "From Monkey-like Action Recognition to Human Language: An Evolutionary Framework for Neurolinguistics"  (with commentaries and author’s response), Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28:105-167.  (Click here for supplemental commentaries and the author’s “electronic response.”) 2005.

• Arbib MA 2006 "Broca's Area in System Perspective: Language in the Context of Action-Oriented Perception" in Broca's Region, Oxford University Press, pp 153-168.

• Arbib MA 2008 "Invention and Community in the Emergence of Language: Insights from New Sign Languages," in Foundations in Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience, Cambridge University Press.

• Click here for more papers by Dr. Arbib.  He has also written over 40 books.

Other Links:

• Michael Arbib's website.

Donations and Subscriptions are appreciated

"Brain Rules" with John Medina (BSP 37)

John Medina, PhD

Episode 37 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Dr. John Medina, author of Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School.  We talk about how exercise, sleep, and stress effect our brains, with an emphasis on practical advice for healthier brain function.  We also look at how research on memory, vision, and the brain's attention system suggests how we can improve our ability to learn and our ability to share ideas with others.

Dr. Medina's focus is on considering real world examples of how our schools and work environments could be reformed to utilize the growing knowledge of neuroscience.  But he also stresses the importance of compiling sufficient experimental data before embarking on new programs.

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.

Links and References:

• Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School  (Book & DVD), by John Medina

• The book's website contain extensive references and instructive videos.

• YouTube Video of John Medina speaking at Google™.

Donations and Subscriptions are appreciated

"All in the Mind" Looks at Nicotine and the Brain

The May 10th episode of All in the Mind is an excellent discussion of the latest research about nicotine addiction.  It includes a very balanced look at the controversy over the new smoking cessation drug, varenicline, which is sold in the US as Chantix.  Nicotine has a unique effect on certain neurotransmitter receptors in the brain.  Varenicline works as a partial agonist, which means it mimics some of the effects of nicotine, but it also blocks the receptor so that when a person smokes the experience is not rewarding.  However, since the receptors involved also have other functions (they aren't there to respond to the nicotine in cigarettes just like the opiate receptors are not there to respond to man-made narcotics), using the drug can lead to a wide variety of side effects. Balancing the risks and benefits of the drug is one of the topics discussed in the podcast.

I have to admit that addiction is a subject in which I have little personal interest, but obviously addiction to smoking effects millions of people. I highly recommend this podcast to everyone who smokes or loves some who does.

Be sure to go to the site for both the show's transcript and links to everyone featured on the show.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2008/2235816.htm