Highlights from Neuroscience 2008 (BSP 50)

Episode 50 of the Brain Science Podcast is a change of pace from our usual format.  In this episode I share a few highlights from this year's Neuroscience 2008, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, which just concluded in Washington, DC.

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Show Notes and Links:

• Society for Neuroscience Public Outreach Efforts:

• Brain Awareness Week: co-sponsored with the Dana Alliance.

• Neuroscience Core Concepts: key ideas that everyone should know.

Scientists featured in this episode:

• Eve Marder (Brandeis University)-current president of SfN.

• Tom Carew (UC-Irvine)-incoming president of SfN.

• Michael Bate (Cambridge University): his talk about the study of the development of movement in fruit flies is featured in this episode.

References:

• The development of motor coordination in Drosophila embryos by Sarah Crisp, Jan Felix Evers, André Fiala and Michael Bate; Development 135, 3707-3717 (2008).

Announcements:

• Books and Ideas #23: Interview with Nobel physicist, Dr. Frank Wilczek.

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

Dr. Brenda Milner Swamped by Admirers

Neuroscience pioneer, Dr. Brenda Milner gave a memorable lecture on the history of memory research yesterday afternoon at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Before her talk, she was greeted by old colleagues, including Nobel Laureate, Dr. Eric Kandel.  (I was able to talk with Dr. Kandel briefly and he has agreed to come on the Brain Science Podcast in 2009!)

After her talk, Dr. Milner was swamped by young admirers who were eager to have their pictures taken with this amazing pioneer.  Dr. Milner’s talk included a discussion of her work with the famous patient HM, but she was very meticulous about crediting the work of others including Dr. Sue Corkin of MIT, who was also in the audience.  Readers who missed the lecture can get a feel for the story Dr. Milner shared by listening to her recent interviews on Futures in Biotech and the Brain Science Podcast.

Since I recently interviewed Dr. Milner for Episode 49 of the Brain Science Podcast,  I was grateful to have the chance to meet her in person and to give her a Brain Science Podcast t-shirt.

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

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ISDP Celebrates 40 years of Neuroscience Research

I am in Washington, DC to cover Neuroscience 2008, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience; but yesterday, thanks to Kathleen Burke, PhD, of USC, I also had the opportunity to visit a poster session at the International Society of Developmental Psychobiology (ISDP), which is celebrating it 40th year.  The focus of the ISDP is on the relationship between brain developmental and behavior.  This is an area of research that has many practical applications.

For example, it is well-known that excessive alcohol consumption in pregnancy can cause the devastating condition known as fetal alcohol syndrome.  Researchers are trying to uncover the mechanisms of this damage.  They are also trying to determine whether there are any countermeasures, such as iron-supplementation, that really help prevent the damage.

The research topics are quite diverse.  They range from questions about how babbling relates to language development to questions about adolescent brain.  Jack Turman, PhD, arranged for me to talk to numerous researchers, and I hope to have some of them on a future episode of the Brain Science Podcast.  You can learn more about ISDP at http://www.isdp.org/

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.

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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.

Brain Evolution with Gary Lynch, PhD (BSP 48)

Episode 48 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Gary Lynch, PhD, co-author (with Richard Granger) of Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence.  Dr. Lynch has spent decades studying memory at the level of the synapse.  His work with computer simulations based on how the brain really works led him to a fascination with the question of how our brains got so large.  Are humans smart because we have big brains or because are brains are different?

Dr. Lynch argues that the unique features of the human brain are a natural result of increased brain size.  He also argues against the conventional view that increasing brain size resulted from selection pressures during the millions of years of primate evolution that proceeded the emergence of homo sapiens.  We talk about the evidence supporting this radical position during the interview.

We also talk about another radical theory that Dr. Lynch has proposed, which is the idea that the olfactory cortex formed the template for the evolution of the cortex in mammals and primates.  This intriguing theory brings a new perspective to the fact that the olfactory system has unique access to important brain systems including the frontal lobes, the amygdala (which is involve in emotion), and the hippocampus (which is essential to long-term memory.

In addition to discussing the evidence that led him to his controversial theories, Dr. Lynch discusses the challenges facing scientists interested in pursuing research questions about brain evolution.

How to get this episode:

• 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.

References and Links:

• Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence, by Gary Lynch and Richard Granger.

• Gary Lynch, PhD: Department of Psychiatry, University of California-Irvine.

• Principles of Brain Evolution, by Georg F. Striedter: was discussed in Episode 47.

The figure below is used with the permission of the author and the artist (Cheryl Cotman).

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

Review: "Principles of Brain Evolution" (BSP 47)

Episode 47 of the Brain Science Podcast is a discussion of Principles of Brain Evolution by Georg F. Striedter.  My goal is to highlight the main ideas of this complicated and often controversial subject.  Understanding the principles of brain evolution is an important element in our multidisciplinary attempt to understand how our brains make us who we are.

How to get this episode:

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Show Notes and Links:

Important terms:

• homologues: characteristics with shared ancestry.

• neurocladistics: a rigorous method for classifying neural structures based on their ancestry.

• small-world network: a mathematical graph where most nodes connect to nearby nodes but almost any two can be connect in relatively small number of steps (the famous six-degrees of separation).

• Boskop man: an extinct hominid that is thought to have had a larger brain than modern humans.

People and scientists discussed:

• Carl Sagan: author of The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence.

• Richard Owen: contemporary of Darwin who introduced the term homologue.

• Ludwig Edinger: the founder of modern neuroanatomy, he thought that the forebrain of vertebrates had evolved by the addition of novel structures.

• Paul D. Maclean: the Triune Brain Theory.

• Willi Hennig: introduced cladistics in 1950.

• Glen Northcutt: application of cladistics to neural connections (neurocladistics).

• Johnston, J. B. 1923. "Further Contributions of the study of the evolution of the forebrain." Journal of Comparative Neurology 36: 143-192. He challenged the idea that brains evolve by the successive addition of novel parts..

• Michael Arbib: Mirror Neuron Hypothesis of Language Evolution (Interviewed in Episode 39).

Announcements:

• Episode 48 will be a follow-up interview with Dr. Gary Lynch, co-author of Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence.

• Check out my post on Books and Ideas to hear more about my adventures at this year's Dragon*Con.

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

"All in the Mind" Looks at Brain Plasticity

Recently Natasha Mitchell did an excellent two-part All in the Mind  podcast about brain plasticity.  In Part 1, she interviewed Jeffrey Schwartz, MD and Norman Doidge, MD.  Dr. Schwartz is the author of The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force, and Dr. Doidge wrote the recent bestseller,The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science.

In Part 2, Mitchell interviews Dr. Doidge further.  One of the topics they explore is the "dark side" of plasticity.  Since neuroplasticity is a dynamic, competitive process, it is actually a factor in how we form our habits, both good and bad . This interview is an excellent follow-up to the interview Dr. Doidge did for the Brain Science Podcast back in Episode 26.

You can listen to the podcasts and get transcripts at the All in the Mind website.

Brain Imaging: Recorded LIVE at Dragon*Con 2008 (BSP 46)

Dr. Campbell at Dragon*Con 2008

Brain Science Podcast #46 is a discussion of brain imaging with Dr. Shella Keilholz and Dr. Jason Schneiderman.  The focus of our discussion is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which is revolutionizing neuroscience.  We talked about both the strengths and weaknesses of this technique.  Both of my guests agree that mainstream coverage of this technique tends to exaggerate what we can actually tell from this kind of brain scan.  An important principle is that the scan of any single individual can vary greatly from day to day, which means that valid conclusions require data from a large number of people.

Since this episode was recorded LIVE in the Podcasting Track at Dragon*Con 2008, it includes audience questions at the end, which helped bring out additional ideas.  I have posted an edited version (but there is still some noise from the room next door).  If you are interested in hearing the raw unedited version, click here.  I also want to thank Swoopy from Skepticality for all the work she did to make the podcasting track a great success.

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

More about my guests:

Shella Keilholz, PhD, is an assistant professor of Biomedical Engineeering at Georgia Tech and the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA.  She is doing studies that involve correlating fMRI scans with the reading from electrodes placed in rat brains.  This work is fundamental to improving the correlation between fMRI scans, which reflect brain activity only indirectly, and what is actually happening in the neurons of the brain.

Jason Schneiderman, PhD studied psychology before earning his PhD in neuroscience.  His dissertation involved the use of diffusion tensor imaging, which is a new method of scanning that is being used to track the axonal connections in the brain.  He is currently doing a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, where his team is trying to determine if the connections in the brains of young schizophrenics are different from normal.  The goal is to improve early diagnosis because early intervention makes a big difference.

Some recent discussions of fMRI:

• Must Read Paper on fMRI -and- The Worst fMRI Science Journalism Ever (Pure Pedantry, 6/27/08)

• What we can do and what we cannot do with fMRI by Nikos K. Logothetis, Nature 453, 869-878 (12 June 2008). Note: full text is only available to subscribers.

• Can fMRI tell if I secretly love the Yankees? - The Great Beyond (Nature.com) June 16, 2008.

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

John Ratey, MD Discusses ADD (BSP 45)

Have you ever wondered why a child with ADD can play videos games for hours, but can't concentrate on his homework for a few minutes?  This is one of the paradoxes of attention-deficit disorder that John J Ratey, MD, co-author of, Driven To Distraction : Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood, explains in Episode 45 of the Brain Science Podcast.

During this interview, Dr. Ratey discusses the latest findings about the biological basis of what he calls "attention variability disorder."  He also offers practical advice for patients and parents dealing with ADD/ADHD.  One very important, and somewhat surprising, fact that he shares is that patients who are treated with medications during adolescence have a significantly lower risk of developing problems with addiction and drug abuse later on compared to those who are not treated.  Also, successful "ADD-ers" like Michael Phelps show that "having a mission" makes a huge difference.

Dr. Ratey's most recent book is Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, which he discussed with me (Dr. Campbell) in Episode 33.

How to get this episode:

• 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.

Detailed Show Notes

Topics discussed:

• Why our current cyber-culture  exacerbates symptoms.

• The genetic component.

• The role of dopamine and epinephrine.

• The relationship between ADD and addiction.

• Why ADD effects all the brain systems including memory.

• The importance of strengthening executive (frontal lobe) function.

Successful people with ADD:

• Michael Phelps-winner of 8 Gold Medals for Swimming in 2008 Olympics.

• Rick Warren-founder of The Purpose Driven Church.

Practical Advice:

• the need for a mission.

• environmental changes.

• the role of meditation and exercise.

• why stimulant medication helps.

• training the cerebellum.

• Omega 3 Fatty Acids (Dr. Ratey recommends OmegaBrite™).

Links:

• Dr. Ratey's website.

• Posit Science: Founder Michael Merzenich is developing computer training programs for people with ADD.

• Dore Centers: mentioned in interview, but currently closed in the US.

• Edward M. Hallowell: has developed programs for training the cerebellum that show promise in ADD; co-author of Driven to Distraction.

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

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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.

• 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 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.

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

From SharpBrains: Neurogenesis and Brain Plasiticity

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/

"On Being Certain": Interview with Robert Burton, MD (BSP 43)

BSP 43 is an interview with Robert A Burton, MD, author of On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not. This is a follow up to BSP 42.

How to get this episode:

• 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.

Other scientists/writers mentioned in this episode:

• Benjamin Libet: important experiments showing that unconscious signals precede our awareness of deciding to act.

• Timothy Wilson: Strangers to Ourselves.

• John Searle, philosopher: Mind: A Brief Introduction.

• David Bohm, physicist:Thought as a System.

Other terms mentioned in the interview:

• Cotard's Syndrome: when the patient believes they do not exist or that they are dead

• Cognitive dissonance: a mismatch between what one believes and what the evidence supports

Previous Episodes of the Brain Science Podcast:

• Episode 42: Part 1 of our discussion of On Being Certain.

• Episode 13: Unconscious Decisions-featuring Blink, by Malcom Gladwel.l

• Episode 15: Interview with Read Montague about unconscious decisions.

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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.

Review: "On Being Certain" (BSP 42)

Episode 42 of the Brain Science Podcast is a discussion of On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, by Robert Burton, MD.  This Part 1 of a two-part discussion of the unconscious origins of what Dr. Burton calls "the feeling of knowing."  In Episode 43 I will interview Dr. Burton. Today's episode provides an overview of Dr. Burton's key ideas.

In past episodes I have discussed the role of unconscious decision-making.  On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not ,by Robert Burton, MD, takes this topic to a new level.  First, Dr. Burton discusses the evidence that the "feeling of knowing" arises from parts of our brain that we can neither access or control.  Then he discusses the implications of this finding, including the fact that it challenges long-held assumptions about the possibility of purely rational thought.

How to get this episode:

• 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.

References and Links:

• On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, by Robert Burton, MD.

• Robert Burton's website.

• Neisser, U., and Harsh, N. "Phantom Flashbulbs: False Recollections of Hearing the News about Challenger,"  in Affect and Accuracy in Recall: Studies of "Flashbulb" Memories, Winograd, E., and Neisser, U., (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992).

• The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers, by Daniel L. Schacter.

• The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness, by Antonio Damasio.

• Philosophy in the Flesh : The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson.

Other scientists mentioned in this episode:

• Leon Festinger-proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance in 1957.

• Joseph Ledoux-research with rats and the role of the amygdala in the fear response.

• Michael Merzenich-showed how the auditory cortex in young rats is affected by experience.

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

Alice Gaby Talks About Linguistics (BSP 41)

Episode 41 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Alice Gaby, PhD, from the University of California-Berkeley.  Dr. Gaby is a linguist who studies the role of language in cognition as well as the aboriginal languages of Australia . In this episode, Dr. Gaby introduces some of the basic areas of linguistics.  We also talk about why linguistics is important to understanding brain function, as well as the importance of interdisciplinary communication to advancement in both fields.  Dr. Gaby's infectious enthusiasm makes this potentially intimidating subject accessible to everyone.

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:

• Gaby, A. 2006. A Grammar of Kuuk Thaayorre. Unpublished PhD thesis. Melbourne: University of Melbourne. (download PDF)

• Language: Its Structure and Use (5th edition) by Edward Finegan: introductory text recommended by Dr. Gaby.

• The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language, by Steven Pinker: a good introduction for general readers.

Other scientists mentioned in the interview:

• George Lakoff: UC-Berkeley.

• Dan I. Slobin: emeritus professor, UC-Berkeley.

• Lera Boroditsky of Stanford University.

• Stephen Levinson: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands.

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