"The Self Illusion" with Bruce Hood (BSP 88)

Bruce Hood, PhD

The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity, by Bruce Hood, is a fascinating look at how our brains create both our experience of the world and our sense of being a single, coherent self.  As the word "illusion" in the title indicates, neither is exactly what it seems.  When I interviewed Dr. Hood (BSP 88), he explained that The Self Illusion is a broad introduction to this somewhat surprising idea. TheSelf Illusion was written with a general audience in mind.  For those already familiar with the topic, he also puts a new emphasis on the role of development.  All readers should come away with a new appreciation for the critical role social interactions play through out human life.

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Related Podcasts:

• Books and Ideas #34: Bruce Hood talks about his first book, SuperSense. (mp3)

• BSP 29: Dr. Maryanne Wolf, author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. (mp3)

• BSP 57: Dr. Chris Frith, author of Making up the Mind: How the Brain Creates Our Mental World. (mp3)

• BSP 67: Thomas Metzinger, PhD, author of The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self. (mp3)

• Books and Ideas #43: Dr. Carol Tavris explains the basics of cognitive dissonance. (mp3)

• BSP 72: The Neuroscience of Magic. (Listen Now)

• BSP 75: Dr. David Eagleman, author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain. (mp3)

• Books and Ideas #48: Jonathan Gottschall, author of The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human. (mp3)

Additional References:

• SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable, by Bruce M. Hood. (Audible link)

• The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity, by Bruce Hood (Audible link)

• Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, by Roy F. Baumeister & John Tierney (Audible link)

• Please see the FREE episode transcript for many additional references, including references to the scientific studies discussed in this podcast.

Announcements:

• I will be in Philadelphia, PA October 16-21 to attend the AAFP annual meeting. Listeners who live in the area and physicians who are attended this meeting are invited to drop me an email if interested in getting together in person.

• The latest episode of Books and Ideas is an interview with Jonathan Gottschall, author of The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human. This episode continues some of the same themes explored in BSP 88.

• Upcoming episodes: Discussion of Self Comes to Mind, by Antonio Damasio, and interviews with Evan Thompson (Mind in Life) and Jaak Panksepp (The Archaeology of Mind).

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• Send me feedback at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

"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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

Meditation and the Brain with Daniel Siegel, MD (BSP 44)

Daniel Siegel, M.D.

In Episode 44 of the Brain Science Podcast I talk with Daniel Siegel, MD about meditation and the brain.  Dr. Siegel is the author of several books including The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being.  In this interview, we review the scientific evidence about how mindfulness meditation changes the brain, both in terms of short term activity and in terms of long-term structural changes.  The evidence is convincing that a regular mindfulness practice can be an important element of brain health.

How to get this episode:

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

• Buy mp3 for $1.

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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 to the audio files.

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

Show Notes and Links:

Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.:

• The Mindsight Institute.

• UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center.

• The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being.

• Sound True™ audio version of The Mindful Brain.

• The Developing Mind.

• Parenting from the Insight Out, with Mary Hartzell

Scientists and writers mentioned in Episode 44:

• Jon Kabat-Zinn: pioneer in mindfulness-based stress reduction  (MBSR).

• Richard Davidson (University of Wisconsin): imaging studies of long-term meditators.

• Sara Lazar (Harvard): imaging studies that show thickening of certain brain areas in long-term meditators.

• David Creswell (UCLA): studies beneficial effects of meditation.

• Ruth Baer (University of Kentucky): studies mindfulness based therapies.

• Jeff Hawkins:On Intelligence  (Interviewed in Episode 38).

More information about meditation:

• Insight Meditation Society  (Barre, MA).

• Spirit Rock  (Insight Meditation Center in northern California).

• The Seeds of Compassion  (link to video with Dr. Siegel and the Dalai Llama).

• Episode 20 of Books and Ideas with Delany Dean, PhD *.

Note: Insight Meditation is based of vipassana meditation, the mindfulness practices of Theravada, the oldest branch of Buddhism.  Insight Meditation is easily adapted to secular purposes because it not based on beliefs or dogmas.  The most well-known secular form is called mindfulness meditation, which begins with a focus on breath awareness and then advances to developing compassion for oneself and others.

Researchers are studying people who practice other types of mediation also. Richard Davidson has focused his work on the study of Tibetan Buddhist monks.  Their practice emphasizes the development of compassion.

*I discussed the therapeutic use of mediation with Delany Dean, PhD, in Episode 20 of Books and Ideas.

Donations and Subscriptions are appreciated

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

"The Female Brain" with Dr. Louann Brizendine (BSP 20)

Episode 20 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Dr. Louann Brizendine of the Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic at the University of California at San Francisco.   Her book, The Female Brain, was just released in paperback, and it is on the New York Times Bestseller list.

We explore how hormones and neurotransmitters effect our brains, and how these effects are different in men and women.  This episode has interesting stuff for listeners of both sexes.

If you would like to learn more, visit Dr. Brizendine's website at http://louannbrizendine.com.

How to get this episode:

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

• Buy mp3 for $1.

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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.

Review of "The First Idea" by Shanker & Greenspan (BSP 6)

Episode 6 of the Brain Science Podcast is a discussion of The First Idea: How Symbols, Language, And Intelligence Evolved from Our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans, by Stanley I. Greenspan, MD and Stuart G. Shanker, DPhil.

I wanted to talk about emotion, but I generally base the Brain Science Podcast on my current reading; which is why I chose this rather difficult book that touches on psychology, child development, evolution, and theories about the emergence of language and intelligence.

The basic premise which is discussed in the podcast is that emotional signaling is the basis for the emergence of language and intelligence.  Evidence supporting this hypothesis is discussed, as is how the theory challenges long-standing theories about language and intelligence.

How to get this episode:

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

• Buy BSP 1-10 (zip file of mp3 files)

• Transcripts: BSP 1-14

• 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.

Review of "The Great Brain Debate" (BSP 4)

The debate about the relative contributions of nature versus nurture has probably been going on as long as humans have wondered about the origins of human behavior.  In his 2004 book, The Great Brain Debate: Is it Nature or Nurture?, Harvard neuroscientist, John E Dowling, describes how recent discoveries about brain development shed light on this controversy.  Episode 4 of the Brain Science Podcast discusses the main ideas of Dowling’s book.

How to get this episode:

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

• Buy BSP 1-10 (zip file of mp3 files)

• Transcripts: BSP 1-14

• 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.

Send me feedback at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com.