Brain Science Podcast Turns Five Years Old (BSP 80)

I launched the Brain Science Podcast in December 2006, so to celebrate I am posting my Fifth Annual Review Episode (BSP 80). This podcast includes a review of the highlights from this year's episodes along with my reflections on what we have learned about brain health over the last few years.  I also take a look ahead to 2012 when I hope to continue to produce a Brain Science Podcast every month.

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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.

This Year's Episodes:

• BSP 72:  Stephen L. Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde, authors of Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions.

• Extra: Books and Ideas  with Dr. Paul Offit, author of Deadly Choices: How The Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All.

• BSP 73: Lawrence Shapiro, author of Embodied Cognition.

• BSP 74: Olaf Sporns, author of Networks of the Brain.

• BSP 75: David Eagleman, author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain.

• BSP 76: Sian Beilock, author of Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To.

• BSP 77: Fabrizio Benedetti, author of Placebo Effects and The Patient's Brain

• Extra: Books and Ideas with Carol Tavris, co-author of Mistakes were Made (But Not By Me).

• BSP 78: Review of Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines---and How It Will Change Our Lives by Miguel Nicolelis.

• BSP 79: Interview with Miguel Nicolelis.

Announcements:

• Check out the new BSP page on Google+

• We also have a BSP Fan Page on Facebook and a Discussion Forum at Goodreads.com.

• Please check out the new Brain Science Podcast T-shirts.

• Read episode transcripts on your iPhone, Ipad, or Android device with the BSP app.

• Your iTunes reviews are greatly appreciated.

• See the episode transcript for additional links and more information about 2012.

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

Miguel Nicolelis, MD, PhD (BSP 79)

Dr. Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University is pioneering brain-machine interfaces.  In his book, Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines---and How It Will Change Our Lives, he puts his groundbreaking work into an historical context.  I discussed his book briefly in BSP 78, but I have now posted an in-depth interview.  The focus of our conversation is on why his work challenges longstanding assumptions about the primacy of the single neuron in brain function.

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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:

• Don't miss Dr. Nicolelis interview on Triangulation.

Announcements:

• Post your comments on the BSP Fan Page on FaceBook or in the discussion thread on Goodreads.

• Listener donations are greatly appreciated.

• Please check out my other podcast Books and Ideas.

• Send feedback to me at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Brain Machine Interfaces (BSP 78)

In his book Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines---and How It Will Change Our Lives neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis puts his recent work with brain machine interfaces into historical context and explains why this work should change the way we understand how brains work.

Nicolelis challenges several long-standing assumptions including the primacy of the single neuron and strict localization, which is the idea that each area of the brain has a relatively fixed function.

Episode 78 of the Brain Science Podcast is a brief discussion of the key ideas presented in Beyond Boundaries, including a look at the implications of experiments such as the wide publicized work that culminated in demonstrating that a monkey in Nicolelis' lab at Duke (North Carolina, USA) could control a robot arm in Japan using only its brain. 

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:

• Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines---and How It Will Change Our Lives by Miguel Nicolelis (2011).

• In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind by Eric R. Kandel (2006).

• Nicolelis, Miguel A.L., Rick C. S. Lin, et al. "Peripheral block of ascending cutaneous information induces immediate spatiotemporal changes in thalamic networks.: Nature 361 (1993): 533-536. (Abstract)

• Nicolelis, Miguel A.L, and John K. Chapin. "Controlling robots with the Mind." Scientific American 287, no. 4 (2002) 24-31.

Related Episodes:

• BSP 3: a discussion of In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind by Eric Kandel.

• BSP 21: introduction to Body Maps

• BSP 23: interview with Sandra Blakeslee author of The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better.

• BSP 74: interview with Olaf Sporns, author of Networks of the Brain.

Announcements:

• I hope to interview Miguel Nicolelis for a future episode of the Brain Science Podcast. If you would like to ask him a question please post it in the thread I have started on our GoodReads page.

• I will be attending ScienceOnline 2012. If you want to come be sure to sign up NOW.

• The Brain Science Podcast is supported by donations from listeners like you.

Cognitive Dissonance (BSP Extra)

I am putting Episode 43 of Books and Ideas into the Brain Science Podcast feed because it should be of interest to BSP fans. This episode is an interview with psychologist Carol Tavris.

We talk about the relationship between psychology and neuroscience as well as cognitive dissonance, which is the subject of Dr. Tavris's recent book Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts.

• Download mp3 of B&I 43

• Download free Transcript.

Post your comments in the thread on the BSP Discussion Forum in Goodreads or send me feedback at gincampbell at mac dot com.

Neurobiology of Placebos with Fabrizio Benedetti (BSP 77)

Fabrizio Benedetti, MD

 Fabrizio Benedetti is one of the world's leading researchers of the neurobiology of placebos.  In a recent interview (BSP 77) he explained to me that he believes that "today we are in a very good position to describe, from a biological and from an evolutionary approach, the doctor-patient relationship, and the placebo effect, itself."

To appreciate Dr. Benedetti's work, one must first realize that his approach differs from that of the typical clinical trial.  As he observed, "To the clinical trialist, a placebo effect means any improvement which may take place after placebo administration.  To the neurobiologist, a placebo response, or placebo effect means only something active in the brain happening after placebo administration: learning, anxiety reduction, activation of reward mechanisms."

In contrast, he explains, "The real placebo response, the real placebo effect is a psychobiological phenomenon.  It is something active happening in the brain after placebo administration: like learning, like anxiety reduction, and such like." Brain Science Podcast #77 provides an introduction to this complex, but fascinating topic.

How to get this episode:

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

• This interview has been remastered and is now available for free as BSP 122.

• 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

• Benedetti F, Mayberg HS, Wager TD, Stohler CS, Jon-Kar Zubieta J (2005) Neurobiological Mechanisms of the Placebo Effect. The Journal of Neuroscience, 25,10390-10402. (Full article)

• Benedetti F (2009) Placebo Effects: Understanding the mechanisms in health and disease. Oxford University Press.

• Benedetti F (2011) The Patient's Brain: The neuroscience behind the doctor-patient relationship. Oxford University Press.

• Levine JD, Gordon NC and Fields, HL (1978) The mechanisms of placebo analgesia. Lancet, 2, 654-7. (Abstract)

• Levine JD, Gordon NC and Fields, HL (1978) “The mechanisms of placebo analgesia.” Lancet, 2, 654-7. (Abstract). See also a follow-up paper: Levine JD, Gordon NC, Bornstein JC, and H L Fields HL (1979) “Role of pain in placebo analgesia.” Proc Natl Acad Sci76(7): 3528–3531. (full text)

• Volkow, ND, Wang JG, Ma Y, Fowler JS, Zhu W, Maynard L et al. (2003) Expectation enhances the regional brain metabolic and the reinforcing effects of stimulants in cocaine abusers. Journal of Neuroscience, 23, 11261–8. (Full text)

• de la Fuente-Fernández R, et al. (2001) Expectation and Dopamine Release: Mechanism of the Placebo Effect in Parkinson's Disease. Science293, 1164. (Abstract)

• Benedetti F, Colloca L, Torre E et al. (2004) Placebo-responsive Parkinson patients show decreased activity in single neurons of the subthalamic nucleus. Nature Neuroscience, 7, 587-88. (Abstract)

• Herrnstein RJ, (1962) Placebo Effect in the Rat. Science138, 677-678.

• Linde K, Witt CM, Streng A et al. (2007) The impact of patient expectation in four randomized control trials of acupuncture in patients with chronic pain. Pain, 128, 264-71. (Abstract)

Announcements

• The Brain Science Podcast is made possible by listener support. Don't forget to tell your friends or leave a review in iTunes.

• Please check out my Books and Ideas podcast. Later this month I will be posting an interview with Carol Tavris, co-author (with Elliot Aronson) of Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts.

• Don't forget to leave your comments in the BSP Guest Book.

Corrections

•  32:48 only NON-members are eligible to get a free audiobook download from our sponsor at http://audiblepodcast.com/brainscience.

• Dr. Benedetti’s first book is called Placebo Effects, not Placebo “responses”.

• Special Thanks to Lori Wolfson for finding these mistakes and correcting them in the episode transcript.

Send me feedback at gincampbell at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

How to Avoid Choking under Pressure (BSP 76)

Sian Beilock, PhD

In her book, Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To, University of Chicago psychologist, Sian Beilock, explores the dreaded phenomena of choking (i.e. the failure to perform as expected under pressure).  More importantly, she provides practical suggestions for preventing poor performance.

In the latest episode of the Brain Science Podcast (BSP 76) I talk with her about the different types of choking; it turns out that the failure mechanisms between blowing the big test and missing the key shot in sports are significantly different.  Understanding both how they differ and what they have in common is the key to better performance.

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.

Links: 

• Sian Beilock's website.

• Human Performance Laboratory (University of Chicago).

• Dr. Beilock's blog for Psychology Today.

References: 

• Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To, by Sian Beilock.

• The Overflowing Brain: Information Overload and the Limits of Working Memory, by Torkel Klingberg.

• Houben, K., Wiers, R. W., & Jansen, A. (2011). Getting a Grip on Drinking Behavior : Training Working Memory to Reduce Alcohol Abuse. Psychological Science. (Dr. Beilock's review for Psychology Today).

• Writing About Testing Worries Boosts Exam Performance in the Classroom Gerardo Ramirez and Sian L. Beilock Science 14 January 2011: 211-213. (Beilock's interview with Science podcast).

• C. Liston, B. S. MeEwen, and B. J. Casey, "Psychological stress reversibley disrupts prefrontal processing and attentional control." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 106 (2009), 912-917. (abstract)

• A. Lutz, H. A. Slagter, J. D. Dunne, and R. J. Davidsons, " Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation," Trends in Cognitive Science, 12 (2008), 163-169.

Announcements:

• Be sure to check out Triangulation 19 with Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, author of Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines---and How It Will Change Our Lives.

• Brain Science Podcast app is now compatible with the iPad, making it great for reading episode transcripts. It is also available for Android devices. (35% of the price goes to support the Brain Science Podcast)

• Next month's episode of the Brain Science Podcast will be about Placebos and the Brain.

• While the Brain Science Podcast is sponsored by Audible.com, it depends on listener donations.

• Post feedback about this episode in our new Discussion Forum at Goodreads.com or on the Brain Science Podcast Fan Page on Facebook.

• Subscribe to the Brain Science Podcast  Newsletter to get detailed show notes for each episode via email. 

Please send feedback to Dr. Campbell at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com. 

David Eagleman on The Secret Lives of the Brain (BSP 75)

David Eagleman, PhD

In his new book, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, neuroscientist, David Eagleman, describes consciousness as "the smallest player in the operations of the brain" (page 5) because most of what the brain does is outside conscious awareness (and control).  In a recent interview (BSP 75), Dr. Eagleman reviews some of the evidence for this startling position, as well as the implications both for the average person and for social policy.

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:

• Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, by David Eagleman.

• Eagleman, D. "The Brain on Trial," the Atlantic Monthy; July/Aug 2011 ONLINE.

Related Episodes of BSP:

• BSP 13: Our first discussion of unconscious decisions.

• BSP 15: Interview with Read Montague, PhD, author of Why Choose This Book?: How We Make Decisions.

• BSP 19: Review of Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious, by Gerd Gigerenzer.

• BSP 42: Review of On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, by Robert Burton.

• BSP 43: Interview with Robert Burton, MD.

Send me feedback at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Summer Update 2011

The next full episode of the Brain Science Podcast will be out shortly after July 4th. Meanwhile, I have posted a brief update to help listeners get more out of both the podcast and this Web site.

• ​Download mp3 of Summer Update

"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:

• 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:

• 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

Dr. Paul Offit Returns to Books and Ideas Podcast

In his new book, Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All, pediatrican Dr Paul A. Offit traces the history of the anti-vaccine movement from opposition to the smallpox vaccine in the 19th century up through recent events.  Unfortunately, the results are predictable; reducing vaccination rates lead to reemergence of dangerous preventable infectious diseases.  That is why the decision not to vaccinate is not a personal decision; it is one that involves the whole community.

This is the focus of the conversation I had with Dr. Offit in Episode 40 of Books and Ideas.  This is a follow-up to Dr. Offit's first interview here in Episode 25.  Because I think this issue is literally a matter of life and death, I encourage you to share this podcast with others.

• ​Download mp3 of B&I 40
• Download Free Episode Transcript

Send email feedback to Dr. Campbell at gincampbell at mac dot com or leave voicemail at 205-202-0663.

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.

• 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

• 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.

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

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:

• Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions, by Jaak Panksepp (BSP 65).

• Memory and the Computational Brain: Why Cognitive Science will Transform Neuroscience, by C. R. Gallistel, Adam Philip King (BSP 66).

• The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self,by Thomas Metzinger (BSP 67)

• The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis, by Peter J. Whitehouse and Daniel George (BSP 68 and Books and Ideas 36).

• The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science, by R. Douglas Fields (BSP 69).

• 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior, by Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, Barry L. Beyerstein (BSP 70).

• For additional references: follow links to episode show notes.

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.

Pop Psychology Myths with Scott Lilienfeld (BSP 70)

BSP 70 is an interview with Dr. Scott Lilienfeld, co-author of 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior.  This episode was recorded live at Dragon*Con 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia.  We focused our conversation on the fact that scientific reasoning and critical thinking do NOT come naturally; instead, we all tend to make similar errors, such as mistaking correlation for causation.  Dr. Lilienfeld shared his experiences, and an extensive question and answer session with the live audience allowed him to explore additional examples.

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.

Connect on Social Media:

• Twitter: @docartemis

• Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/brainsciencepodcast

Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: 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.

Alzheimer's Disease with Dr. Peter Whitehouse (BSP 68)

Brain Science Podcast 68 is an interview with Dr. Peter Whitehouse, co-author (with Daniel George) ofThe Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis.  Alzheimer's Disease originally referred to a relatively rare form of premature dementia, but in recent decades the diagnosis has been expanded to include patients of all ages. This change is not based on science, and in this interview we talk about why being labeled with with Alzheimer's may be doing older patients more harm than good.

Dr. Whitehouse is one of the pioneering researchers in this field, but advocates devoting resources to helping elders with with a wide range of age-related brain changes.  This interview should be of interest to physicians, scientists, as well as patients and their families.  I will be posting a supplemental interview with Daniel George, the co-author of The Myth of Alzheimer's later this month.  (Learn more at http://booksandideas.com)

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 Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis, by Peter J. Whitehouse, Daniel George.

• Dementia Reconsidered: the Person Comes First, by Tom Kitwood.

• Self, Senility, and Alzheimer's Disease in Modern America: A History, by Jesse F. Ballenger.

Links:

• Peter Whitehouse, MD: neurologist at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine.

• The Myth of Alzheimer's website (includes a discussion forum).

• The Intergenerational School in Cleveland, OH.

• Tom Kitwood: pioneered the "person-centered" approach to dementia.

• Dr. Alois Alzheimer: described  several cases of premature dementia (around 1901) that seemed to be associated with distinctive brain changes (discovered during autopsy).

• Emil Kraepelin: a contemporary and adversary of Sigmund Freud who introduced the term "Alzheimer's Disease" in his influencial textbook Psychiatry (1910).

• Robert Butler, MD: the first director of the National Institute on Aging.

• Drapetomania: an alleged mental illness invented in 1851 that supposedly caused slaves to run away.  As Dr. Whitehouse observed during his interview, "diseases are not discovered by doctors, they are invented."

Announcements:

• Subscribe to the Books and Ideas podcast to get the extra interview with Daniel George.

• The Brain Science Podcast iPhone application also works on the new iPad, but we are having to re-upload our old episode transcripts.

• Don't forget you can get show notes to each episode automatically if you subscribe to the Brain Science Podcast   Newsletter.

• This podcast is supported by listener donations.

Send feedback to brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.

Thomas Metzinger Explores Consciousness (BSP 67)

The free podcast version of Brain Science Podcast 67 is now available.  It is an interview with German philosopher Thomas Metzinger, author of The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self , and Being No One.   Dr. Metzinger argues that any credible model for how the brain generates the mind must incorporate unusual human experiences, such as so-called out of body experiences (OBE), and psychiatric conditions.  In this interview we explore how OBE and virtual reality experiments shed light on how the brain generates the sense of self that characterizes normal human experience.

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:

• Thomas Metzinger: University of Mainz, Wikipedia entry.

• Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC).

• Olaf Blanke: Swiss scientist and physician who has demonstrated that out of body experiences (OBE) can be generated by electrical stimulation of the brain.

• YouTube video of Thomas Metzinger's Being No One lecture.

• For more links download the free transcript of BSP 67.

Related Episodes of the Brain Science Podcast:

• BSP 21: A look at how our brain create body maps that may incorporate tools.

• BSP 22: Interview with Christof Koch, author of The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach.

• BSP 35: An introduction to Mirror Neurons.

• BSP 55: Interview with philosopher Patricia Churchland.

• BSP 57: (mention in the podcast)Interview with neuropsycologist Chris Frith, author of Making up the Mind: How the Brain Creates Our Mental World.

References:

• The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self, by Thomas Metzinger.

• Being No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity, by Thomas Metzinger.

• How the Body Shapes the Mind, by Shaun Gallagher.

• Blanke, et al., "Stimulating Illusory Own-Body Perceptions," Nature, 419:269-270 (2002)  Click here for more papers by Olaf Blanke.

• Beyond the Body: An Investigation of Out of Body Experiences by Susan Blackmore (click here for more publications from Susan Blackmore).

• O. Blanke & T. Metzinger,"Full-Body Illusion and Minimal Phenomenal Selfhood," Trends in Cognitive Neuroscience 13(1):7-13 (2009).

• T. Metzinger, "Out of Body Experiences as the Origin of the Concept of a 'Soul,'"  Mind and Matter 3(1):57-84 (2005) Click for more papers by Thomas Metzinger..

Announcements:

• BSP 68 will be an interview with geriatric neurologist, Peter Whitehouse, author of The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis.  The premium version will be available on April 1 and will include an additional interview with his co-author Daniel George.  The free podcast will come out the second week of April.  

• The latest episode of my Books and Ideas podcast is an interview with best-selling horror writer Scott Sigler.  We discuss the challenges of incorporating accurate science into fiction writing. (Listen to the end to get a coupon code for his book The Rookie.) 

• Read episode transcripts right on your iPhone® or Touch® with the BSP application.

• Get episode show notes automatically via the free Brain Science Podcast Newsletter.

• Leave your feedback in the Discussion Forum or on our Facebook Fan Page or send email to 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:

• Spikes: Exploring the Neural Code, by Fred Rieke, David Warland, Rob de Ruyter van Steveninck, William Bialek.

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

• Claude E. Shannon:  His paper (A Mathematical Theory of Communication, Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 27, pp. 379–423, 623–656, 1948) is a cornerstone of information theory.

• Rüdiger Wehner: Swiss researcher who has studied dead reckoning in insects.

• Nicky Clayton and Tony Dickinson: these researchers have performed elegant experiments that study scrub jay caching.

• Christof Koch: was interviewed in Episode 22 of the Brain Science Podcast.

Announcements:

• This was Dr. Campbell's 100th podcast (BSP 66 plus Books and Ideas 34)! How long have you been listening?

• Please sign up for the Brain Science Podcast  Newsletter

• If you have an iPhone® or iPod Touch® check out the BSP application in the iTunes® Store.

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

"SuperSense": Bruce Hood on Believing the Unbelievable

Episode 34 of Books and Ideas  is an interview with Bruce M Hood, author of SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable .

Dr. Hood is a developmental psychologist with a long-standing interest in why people believe weird things.  In SuperSense, he argues that innate cognitive structures (how we think without being taught) give people a natural tendency toward belief in the supernatural.  Our intuitive sense of how the world works is often at odds with the findings of modern science.

In this interview we discuss the evidence for these conclusions and their implications.

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.

Click here for detailed show notes and to learn more about more free episodes of Books and Ideas.