A Podcast that Explores how neuroscience is unraveling the mystery of how our brain makes us human
Brain Science is a monthly podcast Brain Science, hosted by Ginger Campbell, MD. We explore how recent discoveries in neuroscience are helping unravel the mystery of how our brain makes us human. The content is accessible to people of all backgrounds.
BS 143 is an interview with Elkhonon Goldberg, author of Creativity: The Human Brain in the Age of Innovation. Dr. Goldberg's earlier books were featured during our first year, and he was last interviewed way back in 2007 for BSP 18.
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Dr. John Medina has spent his career in bio-engineering, but he also has a deep interest in how the brain works. In his latest book Brain Rules for Aging Well: 10 Principles for Staying Vital, Happy, and Sharp, he presents our knowledge brain aging in an engaging manner that can be enjoyed by readers of all backgrounds.
In this month's episode of Brain Science (BS 138) we discuss some of the most important principles for nourishing brains as we age. He describes what he calls the "dopamine lollipop," which is the surge of dopamine created by activities such as teaching and physical activities like dancing. Some of his ideas reinforce what we have discussed in previous episodes, but there are new ideas that are relevant to listeners of all ages.
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Brain Rules for Aging Well: 10 Principles for Staying Vital, Happy, and Sharp by John Medina (Audible link)
The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-Week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress by John D. Teasdale, et. al. (Foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn)
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina (BS 37)
Dr. Campbell will be in Washington, DC November 11-15, 2017 for the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Please email brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com if you will be there too.
Dr. Campbell is also planning a trip to Australia in 2018. Email us to learn more.
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The scientific highlight of the Dalai Lama's first visit to Alabama was an invitation-only event called "Neuroplasticity and Healing," which was held at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). BSP 113 features exclusive coverage of that event
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John Ratey, MD
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According to psychiatrist Dr. John Ratey the best way to improve brain plasticity is by exercise. I spoke to him shortly after he published his best-seller Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008). He commented that even compared to drugs "Exercise is the champ."
Since then Dr. Ratey has been traveling the world promoting the value of exercise for people of all ages, but his main focus has been on young people and on trying to restore and invigorate physical education programs in the schools. In Spark he provided some of the preliminary evidence that vigorous exercise promotes better academic performance, but that evidence had continued to mount.
Besides improving academic performance regular exercise also helps over all mental health. Exercise is especially effective for problems like depression and ADHD. Our brains rely on a complex mixture of neuroactive chemicals (neurotransmitters, etc.), but since our understanding of these is still very primitive, treatment with drugs can be unpredictable. Dr. Ratey feels that medications can be an important part of treating problems like ADHD, but that exercise should be included as an essential element.
Of course, even those of us who don't struggle with mental illnes are concerned with keeping our brains healthy as we age. Here again Dr. Ratey argues that exercise is essential. He speculates that exercise tricks your brain "into thinking that you're younger and that you still need to grow, as opposed to being stationary and having atrophy occur." Also, when you keep on learning (new things) your brain continues to respond and build new pathways. This is very similar to what Dr. Michael Merzenich (one of the pioneers of brain plasticity) told us in BSP 105.
Dr. Ratey is working on a new book that will be an update on the science that has been done since Spark was published, but his 2008 interview remains one of my favorites. That's why I just released an updated version of this interview as BSP 111.
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Visit http:johnratey.com.
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008) by John J. Ratey
A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain
by John J. Ratey
Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life by Dr. Michael Merzenich PhD (References for Soft-Wired)
See the episode transcript for additional references.
BSP 45: Dr. Ratey talks about ADHD
BSP 87: Dr. Patricia Greenwood talks about her book Nurturing the Older Brain and Mind.
BSP 105: Dr. Michael Merzenich talks about his book Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life.
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This is the first time I have reposted an older episode. I need listener suggestions about what other older episodes you would like me to share with new listeners.
Don't forget to check out my other podcast Books and Ideas.
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Michael Merzenich
If you have read anything about brain plasticity you have seen the name Michael Merzenich. Dr. Merzenich is one of the pioneers in this field, having spent over 30 years documenting that the human brain (and that of other mammals) continues to change throughout life. I interviewed Dr. Merzenich several years ago (BSP 54), but the publication of his first book Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life gave us another opportunity to talk about how we can apply these discoveries in our daily lives.
According to Dr. Merzenich, "No matter how much you've struggled, no matter where you've been in your life, you're in charge of your life going forward. And you have the capacity; you have the resources to change things for the better—always have that capacity. And that's what the book is trying to emphasize. “ (BSP 105)
I found Soft-wired very compelling because it combines a clear explanation of the science with many stories about real people facing a wide variety of cognitive challenges. The overall tone of the book is very optimistic even though it also considers the way bad choices can contribute to cognitive decline.
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BSP 10: Introduction to Brain Plasticity.
BSP 17: Discussion of The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older by Elkhonon Goldberg.
BSP 28: Interview with Dr. Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself.
BSP 33: Interview with Dr. John Ratey, author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.
BSP 54: Interview with Dr. Michael Merzenich, author of Soft-wired.
BSP 87: Interview with Dr. Pam Greenwood, co-author of Nurturing the Older Brain and Mind.
Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life by Dr. Michael Merzenich PhD. References for this book can be found at http://www.soft-wired.com/ref/.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, by Norman Doidge.
Nurturing the Older Brain and Mind by Pamela M. Greenwood and Raja Parasuraman.
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey.
The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older by Elkhonon Goldberg.
Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves by Sharon Begley (featured in BSP 10).
Alvaro Fernandez of SharpBrains
I have been using the SharpBrains website as a source of information and ideas since the early days of my Brain Science Podcast, so it seemed fitting to invite SharpBrains co-founder Alvaro Fernandez to be my guest for Episode 100. We talked about the second edition of The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: How to Optimize Brain Health and Performance at Any Age, which he co-authored with Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg (BSP 18). The goal of this book is to give people from all backgrounds a practical guide for evaluating the current science and establishing their own "brain fitness" regimen, much in the way that each of us must choose a physical fitness that meets our individual needs and lifestyle.
Brain Fitness should not just be a concern for older people, it should become a key component of a healthy lifestyle at any age. The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness is a great first step.
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The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: How to Optimize Brain Health and Performance at Any Age by Alvaro Fernandez and Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg (2nd Ed.)
The New Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes in a Complex World by Elkhonon Goldberg
The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older by Elkhonon Goldberg
SharpBrains: a website that provides critical analysis of both the research and products in the emerging field of brain fitness. Co-founded by Alvaro Fernandez and Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, SharpBrains also hosts an Annual Virtual Summit.
The Brain Science Podcast is supported by listener donations.
To celebrate Episode 100 of the Brain Science Podcast I invited listeners to contribute audio to the show. I couldn't use everything, but I want to thank everyone who submitted content. The following listeners are featured:
"I Got a Brain" Written and Performed by Dr. Jay Einhorn
Interview with Darryl Ferges
"Mindfire" (new theme music) by Tony Cotraccia
Audio comments: Leon Mcgahee, MD., Eric Lindley, Julio Dantos, Hamish Kebb, and Adelia Moore, PhD
Email from Jana Johnson
Pamela Greenwood, PhD
Nuturing the Older Brain and Mind, by Pamela M. Greenwood and Raja Parasuaman provides a comprehensive review of the current research in cognitive aging. In the latest Brain Science Podcast (BSP 87), Dr. Greenwood explains that brain aging and cognitive aging are not the same thing; the typical brain changes that are associated with normal brain aging (such as shrinkage) are not reliable predictors of cognitive decline. Fortunately, even though normal brain aging is still not well understood, the discovery of brain plasticity is shifting the focus of research. Not only does brain plasticity offer new hope for people who suffer strokes and other brain injuries, it also suggests that life style choices influence cognitive function at all ages.
Nurturing the Older Brain and Mind is intended for an academic audience but it is accessible to everyone. This month's interview with Dr. Greenwood (BSP 87) focuses on dispelling the most stubborn myths about brain aging. We also talk about the practical steps we can all take to help maintain our cognitive performance.
Premium Subscribers now have unlimited access to all old episodes and transcripts.
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.
BSP 10: Introduction to Brain Plasticity.
BSP 26: Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science.
BSP 28: Edward Taub: applying brain plasticity to stroke rehabilitation.
BSP 68: Peter Whitehouse on dementia versus normal brain aging.
Nurturing the Older Brain and Mind, by Pamela M. Greenwood and Raja Parasuraman (2012).
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, by Norman Doidge.
Greenwood, P. M. (2007) Functional Plasticity in Cognitive Aging: Review and Hypothesis. Neuropsychology 21(6) 657–673.
Greenwood, P. M., and Parashauraman, R. (2010) Neuronal and cognitive plasticity: A neurocognitive framework for ameliorating cognitive aging. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 2: 150.
Gould, E. and Gross, C.G. (2002) Neurogenesis in adult mammals: Some progress and problems. Journal of Neuroscience 22 (3): 619-623.
Taub, E., Uswatte, G., and Elbert, T. (2002) New treatments in neurorehabilitation founded on basic research. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 3 (3): 228-236.
Grady, C. L., McIntosh, A.R., and Craik, F.I. (2003) Age-related differences in the functional connectivity of the hippocampus during memory encoding. Hippocampus 13 (5): 572-586.
Colcombe, S.J., A.F. Kramer, K.I. Erickson, P. Scalf, E. McAuley, N.J. Cohen, A. Webb, et al.,
Cardiovascular fitness, cortical plasticity, and aging. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2004. 101(9): p. 3316-21.
Hertzog, C., Kramer, A. F., Wilson, R. S. and Lindenberger, U. (2009) Enrichment effects on adult cognitive development: Can the functional capacity of older adults be preserved and enhanced? Psychological Science in the Public Interest 9 (1): 1-65.
Kramer, A.F., Larish, J. F., and Strayer, D. L. (1995) Training for attentional control in dual tasking settings: A comparison of young and older adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 1: 50-76.
Nagamatsu, L.S., Handy, T. C., et. al. 2012. Resistance Training Promotes Cognitive and Functional Brain Plasticity in Seniors With Probable Mild Cognitive Impairment.Archives of Internal Medicine 172 (8) 666-668.
Liu-Ambrosea, T., Nagamatsua, L.S., Vosse, M.W., Khanc, K.M., and. Handy, T. C. (2012) Resistance training and functional plasticity of the aging brain: a 12-month randomized controlled trial. Neurobiology of Aging 33: 1690 –1698.
Willis, S.L. et. al (2006) Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults. Journal of the American Medical Association 296 (23): 2805-2814.
For more references: see Nurturing the Older Brain and Mind.
Don't forget to check out my new eBook Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty. It is available from Amazon.com and you can buy the Pdf version here.
Send me feedback at gincampbell at mac dot com.
Post your comments on the Brain Science Podcast Facebook Fan Page, Google+, or in the BSP Discussion Forum (on Goodreads).
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)
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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.
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."
Subscribe to the Books and Ideas podcast to get the extra interview with Daniel George.
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Send feedback to brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.
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.
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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.
Scientific Learning (Fast Forward™).
Send email feedback to Ginger Campbell, MD at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com
In her latest post for SharpBrains™ Laurie Bartels reviews some of the principles of brain plasticity. One principle that she mentions that I think deserves more attention is the importance of learning new things.
Adults may have a tendency to get set in their ways – I’ve been doing it this way for a long time and it works, so why change? Turns out, though, that change can be a way to keep aging brains healthy. At the April Learning & the Brain conference, the theme of which was neuroplasticity, I attended several sessions on adult learning. (Click here to read Laurie's post.)
She goes on to review the highlights of the Learning and Brain Conference. You can read the full post at: http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/08/07/neurogenesis-and-brain-plasticity-in-adult-brains/
Episode 27 is a look back on the first 26 episodes of the Brain Science Podcast.
I look back on some of the main topics that we have explored including memory, consciousness, emotions, decision-making, body maps, and plasticity. Then I talk a little about what I hope to do in the covering year. This episode is a little more personal than most, and will mainly be of interest to regular listeners. It includes some ideas about how you can help the Brain Science Podcast grow and prosper.
However, in preparing this episode, I went back over the past year's episodes, and I have prepared a list of all the episodes so far and the main topics. This should help both new listeners and regulars to find episodes that pertain to particular topics.
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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.
Episode 18 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, PhD.
I apologize for the uneven sound quality of this episode. If any one out there has any suggestions, please drop me an email.
Dr. Goldberg shared a little bit about the breadth of his work as a neuropsychologist.
We talked about his rather unique perspective on the difference between the right and left brain hemispheres. He explained why he feels that as we get older we move from reliance on the right hemisphere, which he feels is the novelty hemisphere, to a reliance on the left hemisphere, where our lifetime store of patterns enables us to use pattern recognition as a short cut in problem solving.
We talked about the importance of constant mental challenge, and Dr. Goldberg gives his advice about how we can keep our brains healthy through out our lives.
The following are two companies that Dr. Goldberg is working with to provide information to the public and also tools for cognitive enhancement:
SharpBrains: This is a clearing house for information, and they evaluate many of the products currently being offered.
HeadStrong Cognitive Fitness: This Australian company offers a net-based program for cognitive enhancement based on Dr. Goldberg's research. I am hoping to test their products in the near future.
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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.
This week we discuss another book by Elkonon Goldberg, Ph.D. I highly recommend this book to everyone, because it is an excellent review of many of the topics we have discussed over the last several months including memory, emotion, and neuroplasticity. In this episode, we continue our discussion of the role of the pre-frontal lobes in intelligence, as well as what happens to our brain as we age.
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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.
I want to thank Matthew Lofton for pointing out to me that there is evidence that elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror. This means I was wrong when I said (in #16) that only humans and some primates can do this. He referred us to "I, Elephant," by Kaspar Mossmanin in the February 2007 issue of Scientific American Mind. The original article was "Self-recognition in an Asian elephant," by:Plotnik, Joshua M.; de Waal, Frans B. M.; Reiss, Diana. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 11/7/2006, Vol. 103 Issue 45, p17053-17057. He posted this information as a comment, but I wanted to bring this to everyone's attention.
Note: You should have no problem listening to Episode #17 first, but I have provided these references for those who want to review or go back for more details.
Attractor: a cognitive template that enables pattern recognition. An attractor is thought to be a concise set of neurons with strong interactions among themselves. A unique and important quality of attractors is that a broad range of inputs activate the same set of neurons. This is thought to be the mechanism of pattern recognition.
Cognitive competence: the ability to relate the old to the new so as to recognize the similarities between a new problem and one that has been previously solved.
Cognitive wisdom: an enhanced capacity for problem solving
Generic memory: memory for patterns
Review of important ideas about the prefrontal lobes from #16.
An hypothesis about the differing roles of the right and left hemispheres.
How the brain changes in normal aging.
Mechanisms that protect the brain from degenerative changes:
Generic memory-why this type of memory is more robust.
Pattern expansion-how parts of the cortex expand with use.
Effortless experts-why familiar tasks are less demanding.
Why vigorous mental activity is important throughout life.
For more links related to Dr. Goldberg's work see the show notes for Episode 16.
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