This month we celebrate the 17th anniversary of Brain Science with our 17th Annual Review episode. The first episode aired on December 15, 2006. We review the highlights of 2023, which included both new guests and the return of several favorites.

Topics included consciousness, free will, molecular biology, emotion, cognition, and the evidence for plant intelligence. We also reviewed neurotransmitters and how to combat misinformation.

Guests included Guy Caldwell, Paco Calvo, Luiz Pessoa, Sander van der Linden, Kevin Mitchell and Seth Grant, who appeared for a record 6th time.

Episodes Released in 2023:

• BS 204 (Encore) and BS 205 featured molecular biologist Guy Caldwell, PhD from the University of Alabama. Caldwell uses the tiny roundworm C. Elegans to search for potential treatments of Parkinson's Disease.

• BS 206: Paco Calvo, PhD, author of Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Intelligence.

• BS 207 (Encore): Luiz Pessoa, author of The Cognitive-Emotional Brain: From Interactions to Integration.

• BS 208 Sander Van der Linden, author of Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity.

• BS 209 Luiz Pessoa returned to talk about his new  The Entangled Brain: How Perception, Cognition, and Emotion Are Woven Together.

• BS 210 Basics of Neurotransmitters: a detailed introduction to neurotransmitters and the importance of receptor proteins.

• BS 211 Seth Grant returned for a record 6th time. We reviewed his career and discussed recent discoveries about how synaptic proteins change as we age. Grant is my favorite guest because he makes complex ideas accessible to listeners of all backgrounds.

• BS 212 (Encore) Thomas Metzinger, PhD, author of The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self.

• BS 213 Kevin J Mitchell, PhD returned to talk about his new book Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will.

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

Announcements:

• This is the last scheduled episode of Brain Science, but all episodes will continue to be available.

  • Free content includes all review episodes, encore episodes and all episodes since December 2016.

  • The entire back catalogue of Brain Science is available to Premium MyLibysn subscribers. This includes episode transcripts.

  • Patreon supporters will continue to have access more recent transcripts and other content.

• The mobile called Brain Science Podcast remains free and MyLibsyn Premium subscribers can use it to access transcripts and other premium content.

• Please sign up for the the free Brain Science Newsletter

  • Get updates about new content

  • Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain" Just text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

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• Mastodon: https://neuromatch.social/@docartemis

• Twitter: @docartemis

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Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

In the this episode of Brain Science we talk with neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell about his new book Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will. While many neuroscientists and philosophers argue that free will is an illusion, Mitchell argues that the ability to make meaningful choices is part of our evolutionary heritage. He also addresses the important issue of determinism, siding with those physicists who argue that the fundamental nature of our universe is NOT deterministic. These issues are crucial to how we see ourselves and others.

Links and References:

• Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will by Kevin J. Mitchell 

• Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution by Carlo Rovelli

• Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are by Kevin J. Mitchell

  • Mitchell discusses this book in BS 159.

• Kevin Mitchell, PhD (Trinity College Dublin)

  • Mitchell's blog

• Please visit http://brainsciencepodcast.com for additional references and episode transcripts.

Announcements:

• Please note: there will be no episode of Brain Science in November 2023. We will return with the 17th Annual Review episode on December 15.

• Please FOLLOW the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube.

• Dr. Campbell moved to Auckland, New Zealand in August 2023. Please reach out if you live in New Zealand or Australia.

• Please subscribe or follow Brain Science in your favorite audio app and please share it with others.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at https://brainsciencepodcast.com/premium

Connect on Social Media:

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• Twitter: @docartemis

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

Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This month's episode of Brain Science features Thomas Metzinger, author of The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self. Metzinger is a philosopher with a longstanding interest in Philosophy of Mind with a focus on incorporating the findings of neuroscience. We discuss the implications of the discovery that consciousness is a biological process generated by the interaction of the brain, body, and external world. Metzinger also emphasized the importance of considering altered states including dreaming, out of body experiences, and even virtual reality.

Links and 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

• Blanke, et al., "Stimulating Illusory Own-Body Perceptions," Nature, 419:269-270 (2002) 

• 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)

• Beyond the Body: An Investigation of Out of Body Experiences by Susan Blackmore

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

Announcements:

• Please FOLLOW the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube.

• The mobile app has been updated and is now called Brain Science Podcast. The app is free and MyLibsyn Premium subscribers can use it to access transcripts and other premium content.

• Dr. Campbell's arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on August 10, 2023. She is working at Tōtara Hospice. Please reach out if you live in New Zealand or Australia.

• Please subscribe or follow Brain Science in your favorite audio app and please share it with others.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

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Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This episode of Brain Science features the return of molecular biologist Seth Grant. We briefly review his decades of research into the complexity of the protein structure of the synapse and then we focus on his most recent paper, which describes how the life-span of synapse proteins appears to change as animals age. Grant reflects of the significance of this finding both for animal research and human medicine.

This episode is appropriate for listeners of all backgrounds.

Seth Grant has previously appeared on Brain Science several times including BSP 51, BSP 101, BS 137, BSP 150 and BS 176.

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

Papers discussed in this episode: 

• Bulovaite, E., Qiu, Z., Kratschke, M., Zgraj, A., Fricker, D. G., Tuck, E. J., Gokhale, R., Koniaris, B., Jami, S. A., Merino-Serrais, P., Husi, E., Mendive-Tapia, L., Vendrell, M., O'Dell, T. J., DeFelipe, J., Komiyama, N. H., Holtmaat, A., Fransén, E., & Grant, S. G. N. (2022). A brain atlas of synapse protein lifetime across the mouse lifespan. Neuron, 110(24), 4057–4073.e8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.009

• Cizeron, M., Qiu, Z., Koniaris, B., Gokhale, R., Komiyama, N. H., Fransén, E., & Grant, S. G. N. (2020). A brainwide atlas of synapses across the mouse life span. Science (New York, N.Y.), 369(6501), 270–275. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba3163

Seth Grant has previously appeared on Brain Science several times including BSP 51, BSP 101, BS 137, BSP 150 and BS 176.

Announcements:

• Please FOLLOW the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube.

• The mobile app has been updated and is now called Brain Science Podcast. The app is free and MyLibsyn Premium subscribers can use it to access transcripts and other premium content.

• Dr. Campbell arrived in New Zealand on August 10, 2023. Please reach out if you live in New Zealand or Australia.

• Please subscribe or follow Brain Science in your favorite audio app and please share it with others.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at https://brainsciencepodcast.com/premium

Connect on Social Media:

• Mastadon: https://neuromatch.social/@docartemis

• Twitter: @docartemis

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

Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This episode is our first review of neurotransmitters since episode 8 way back in 2007. We start with some basics of neuron function and brain anatomy, but the meat of the episode is a discussion of neurotransmitters and how they work. The key idea is that a simple molecule, such as dopamine, can have a wide variety of effects because of the existence of multiple receptors.

This episode is appropriate for listeners of all backgrounds, but might be a little challenging for new listeners. It will be a review episode for longtime listeners and those with backgrounds in neuroscience.

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

Links and References:

• Essentials of Modern Neuroscience by Franklin Amthor, W. Anne Burton Theibert, David Standaert, and Erik Roberson; 1st ed. 2020

• Molecular & Cell Biology For Dummies, 2nd Edition by Rene Fester Kratz

• BS 118: Beyond the Zonules of Zinn: A Fantastic Journey Through Your Brain (2008) by David Bainbridge

• BS 169: Glial Cells with Doug Fields

• BS 186: The Spike with Mark Humphries

• BS 197: Neuroscience For Dummies 3rd Edition by Frank Amthor

• The War of the Soups and the Sparks: The Discovery of Neurotransmitters and the Dispute Over How Nerves Communicate by Elliot Valenstein

• See Episode Transcript for additional links.

Announcements:

• Please FOLLOW the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube.

• The mobile app has been updated and is now called Brain Science Podcast. The app is free and MyLibsyn Premium subscribers can use it to access transcripts and other premium content.

• After this episode was recorded Dr. Campbell finally got her work visa to go to New Zealand. She hopes to arrive on August 10, 2023 and would love to hear from Kiwi and Aussie listeners.

• Please subscribe or follow Brain Science in your favorite audio app and please share it with others.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at https://brainsciencepodcast.com/premium

Connect on Social Media:

• Mastadon: https://neuromatch.social/@docartemis

• Twitter: @docartemis

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

Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This month's episode of Brain Science is an interview with Luiz Pessoa, author of The Entangled Brain: How Perception, Cognition, and Emotion Are Woven Together.

This is Pessoa's first book aimed at a general audience and it provides a concise overview of our current understanding of basic brain function. However, he also explains the limitations of the traditional modular view of the brain. A key take home point is that emotion and cognition are deeply intertwined at every level.

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

Links and References:

• The Entangled Brain: How Perception, Cognition, and Emotion Are Woven Together by Luiz Pessoa

• The Cognitive-Emotional Brain: From Interactions to Integration by Luiz Pessoa: BS 207 (encore)

• Pessoa, L., & Adolphs, R. (2010). Emotion processing and the amygdala: from a 'low road' to 'many roads' of evaluating biological significance. Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 11(11), 773–783. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2920

• The Neuroscience of Emotion: A New Synthesis by Ralph Adolphs and David J. Anderson (mentioned by Dr. Pessoa and discussed in BS 151)

• The Nature of the Beast: How Emotions Guide US by David J Anderson (BS 195)

• Luiz Pessoa, PhD: Professor of Psychology,University of Maryland

  • Twitter: @PessoaBrain

  • Mastadon: @PessoaBrain

• Please see the episode transcript for additional references.

Announcements:

• The mobile app has been updated and is now called Brain Science Podcast. The app is free and MyLibsyn Premium subscribers can use it to access transcripts and other premium content.

• Dr. Campbell's move to New Zealand has been delayed, but she hopes to be in Auckland by August, 2023. Please reach out if you live in New Zealand or Australia.

• Please subscribe or follow Brain Science in your favorite audio app and please share it with others.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain” when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

Connect on Social Media:

• mastOdon: https://neuromatch.social/@docartemis

• Twitter: @docartemis

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

Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This month's episode is an interview with Cambridge Psychology professor Sander van der Linden, author of Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity. We discuss the important topic of how techniques like appealing to emotion contribute to the spread of misinformation. Dr. Campbell reflects on why this topic is important.

Our discussion began with the problem of the “Illusory truth” effect, which is the observation that the more often something is repeated the more likely people are to believe it is true, even when its not. This can defeat attempts to debunk misinformation. Van der Linden explained how the “truth sandwich” provides the safest method of debunking based on our current understanding of how memory works.

Then we talked about the key features of Conspiracy theories, which form a rather extreme version of misinformation that seem to be immune to evidence. Van der Linden described how conspiracy theories seem to be driven by three psychological motives: the need for knowledge that makes sense of the world, social connections with other believers, and the existential need to make sense of uncertainty. The seven signs of conspiracy thinking are easy to remember using the mnemonic CONSPIRE: Contradictory thinking, Overriding suspicion, Nefarious intent, Something must be wrong, Persecuted victim, Immunity to Evidence, Re-interpreting randomness.

Unfortunately mis-information really does spread more quickly than the facts. This is partly because it has characteristics that encourage its spread: novelty, appeal to emotion, appeal to morality, and being provocative. Another problem is that anti-science messages tend to be more interconnected since they interact with a wide variety of pseudoscientific sources.

It is clearly impossible to eliminate misinformation, which is why researchers like van der Linden are exploring the idea of mental immunity, which means teaching people to recognize the techniques and hopefully view information more critically. He described how his team has created video games that help “immunize” players against the classic tools of misinformation and propaganda including false dichotomies, scapegoating groups of people, polarizing, the use of emotions, impersonating or using fake experts. He closes with techniques that we can all use, even in everyday conversations. Of course, he emphasized the importance of being non-confrontational, since that almost never leads to the desired outcome.

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

Links and References:

• Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity by Sander van der Linden

• Sander van der Linden, Phd (University of Cambridge)

• Learn more via video games at https://inoculation.science/

• Please visit http://brainsciencepodcast.com for additional references and episode transcripts.

Announcements:

Please take a few minutes to complete this audience survey.

• The mobile app has been updated and is now called Brain Science Podcast. The app is free and MyLibsyn Premium subscribers can use it to access transcripts and other premium content.

• Dr. Campbell's move to New Zealand has been delayed, but she hopes to be in Auckland by July 2023. Please reach out if you live in New Zealand or Australia.

• Please subscribe or follow Brain Science in your favorite audio app and please share it with others.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

Connect on Social Media:

• Twitter: @docartemis

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

Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This month's episode of Brain Science is an encore presentation of an interview with neuroscientist Luiz Pessoa discussing his fascinating book The Cognitive-Emotional Brain: From Interactions to Integration. We explored the surprising role of the amygdala in decision making and learned that cognition and emotion are deeply intertwined at every level.

This month’s transcript is also free.

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

Links and References:

• The Cognitive-Emotional Brain: From Interactions to Integration by Luiz Pessoa

• Luiz Pessoa, PhD (University of Maryland)

Announcements:

• Dr. Campbell is moving to New Zealand and would love to connect with listeners from New Zealand and Australia.

• Please subscribe or follow Brain Science in your favorite audio app and please share it with others.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• The mobile app is now called "Brain Science Podcast" and can be used to get both premium and free content

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

Connect on Social Media:

• Twitter: @docartemis

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Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This month's episode of Brain Science is an intriguing interview with Dr. Paco Calvo from the Minimal Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Mercia in Spain. We talk with him about his new book Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Intelligence.

We discuss the scientific evidence for plant intelligence while acknowledging that intelligence and consciousness are different phenomena. It is interesting to think of plants as demonstrating embodied cognition in contrast to the "intelligence" demonstrated by computer software. We also consider the pioneering work of Charles Darwin, who actually studied plant behavior before the invention of time lapse photography.

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

Links and References:

• Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence  by Paco Calvo

• Paco Calvo (University of Mercia, Spain)

• Gagliano, M., Vyazovskiy, V. V., Borbély, A. A., Grimonprez, M., & Depczynski, M. (2016). Learning by Association in Plants. Scientific reports, 6, 38427. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep38427

• The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants, by Charles Darwin (1875)

• The Power of Movement in Plants, by Charles Darwin (1880)

• Please visit http://brainsciencepodcast.com for additional references and episode transcripts.

Announcements:

• The Brain Science mobile app has been relaunched in iOS as the Brain Science Podcast app. Be sure to download this new version to avoid the crashing of the old app. (I am not sure if the problem has effected Android users.)

• Support Brain Science via Patreon. If you pledge at least $10 per month you will get  Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. 

• Contact Dr. Campbell if you are interested a listener meet-up or sponsoring a talk by Dr. Campbell during her trip to Europe on April 10, 2023.

• Please subscribe or follow Brain Science in your favorite audio app and please share it with others.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

Connect on Social Media:

• Twitter: @docartemis

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Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

BS 205 is a follow-up interview with molecular biologist Dr. Guy Caldwell we learn more about how the tools of molecular biology are used to unravel questions in neurobiology and provide hope for better treatments for problems like Parkinson's Disease.

We learn about how gene editing techniques are used test the effects of single nucleotide changes in the neurons of the roundworm C. Elegans. This is possible because humans and C. Elegans share many genes. This makes it possible to economically explore a wide range of possibilities.

Dr. Caldwell’s lab at the University of Alabama provides a unique opportunity for undergraduates to participate in meaningful research and near the end of this interview he also share the accomplishments of several of his students.

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

Links and References:

• Guy Caldwell, PhD (University of Alabama)

  • LinkedIn 

  • BS 204 Encore of 2009 interview

• The Worm Shack

• Mew, M., Caldwell, K. A., & Caldwell, G. A. (2022). From bugs to bedside: functional annotation of human genetic variation for neurological disorders using invertebrate models. Human molecular genetics, 31(R1), R37–R46. https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddac203

Announcements:

• Dr. Campbell  is moving to New Zealand, probably in May 2023.

• Please subscribe or follow Brain Science in your favorite audio app and please share it with others.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Check out the free Brain Science Mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows. (It's a great way to get both new episodes and premium content.)

Connect on Social Media:

• Twitter: @docartemis

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

Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This month's episode is an encore presentation of an interview with Dr. Guy Caldwell from the University of Alabama. Dr. Caldwell explains how tools from molecular biology make it possible to use the famous C. Elegans roundworm to improve our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease.

Dr. Caldwell will return to Brain Science next month to give us an update on his work.

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

• Contact Dr. Campbell if you are interested a listener meet-up or sponsoring a talk by Dr. Campbell during her trip to Europe in April 2023.

• Please subscribe or follow Brain Science in your favorite audio app and please share it with others.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Check out the free Brain Science Mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows. (It's a great way to get both new episodes and premium content.)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

Connect on Social Media:

• Twitter: @docartemis

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Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This month's episode (BS 203) celebrates the 16th Anniversary of Brain Science with the annual review episode. This is a listener favorite providing highlights and key ideas from the episodes of Brain Science that were posted in 2022. Topics included hearing, grief, emotion, embodied cognition, consciousness and more. Another highlight of 2022 was Dr. Campbell’s induction into the Podcast Hall of Fame.

Note: This month's episode transcript is FREE

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

2022 Episodes of Brain Science:

• BS 192 Nina Kraus, author of Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World

• BS 193 The Embodied Mind: exploring the implications of embodied cognition

• BS 194 Mary-Frances O’Connor, author of The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss

• BS 195 David J Anderson, author of The Nature of the Beast: How Emotions Guide Us

• BS 196 Hakwan Lau, author of In Consciousness we Trust: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Subjective Experience

• BS 197 Frank Amthor, author of Neuroscience for Dummies and Neurobiology for Dummies

•  BS 198 Evan Thompson, author of Mind in Life: Biology. Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind

• BS 199 Batja Mesquita, author of Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions

• BS 200 Jennifer Fugate and Sheila Macrine, editors of Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning

• BS 201 Bill Harris, author of Zero to Birth: How the Human Brain Is Built

• BS 202 Evan Thompson, on meditation and embodied cognition

• Please visit http://brainsciencepodcast.com for more episodes.

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Announcements:

• Contact Dr. Campbell if you are interested a listener meet-up or sponsoring a talk by Dr. Campbell during her trip to Europe in April 2023.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Check out the free Brain Science Mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows. (It's a great way to get both new episodes and premium content.)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

• Please subscribe or follow Brain Science in your favorite audio app and please share it with others.

Connect on Social Media

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The idea that meditation is a "mind science" is popular, but in this interview Canadian philosopher Evan Thompson argues that this claim does not stand up to either scientific or philosophical scrutiny. As one of the pioneers of the Embodied Cognition movement Thompson reminds us that the Mind is not restricted to the Brain and we must also consider how other recent discoveries in neuroscience fail to support the claim that meditation provides neutral scientific insight into how the Mind really works.

How to get Episode 202:

Free MP3 (click to play, right click to download)

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

Links and References:

• Evan Thompson's website

• Why I am not a Buddhist by Evan Thompson

• Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers by Kwame Anthony Appiah

• The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience by Francisco J. Varela, Evan T. Thompson, Eleanor Rosch

• Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind by Evan Thompson

  • discussed in BS 198

• Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy by Evan Thompson

  • discussed in BS 115

• Please visit http://brainsciencepodcast.com for additional references and episode transcripts.

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• Contact Dr. Campbell if you are interested a listener meet-up or sponsoring a talk by Dr. Campbell during her trip to Europe in April 2023.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

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• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

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This month's episode of Brain Science is an interview with WA (Bill) Harris, author of Zero to Birth: How the Human Brain Is Built. We explore how the human brain develops from the fertilized egg up until birth. There are some surprises along the way, including the fact that we actually have more neurons before we are born than we will ever have again!

Links and References:

• Zero to Birth: How the Human Brain Is Built by William A Harris

• Click here for free excerpt from episode transcript.

How to get this episode:

 FREE: audio mp3 (click to stream, right click to download)

Click here for FREE EXCERPT from Episode Transcript.

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

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Announcements:

• Contact Dr. Campbell if you are interested a listener meet-up or sponsoring a talk by Dr. Campbell during her trip to Europe in April 2023.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Check out the free Brain Science Mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows. (It's a great way to get both new episodes and premium content.)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

Connect on Social Media:

• Twitter: @docartemis

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Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This month's episode of Brain Science (BS 200) is a discussion with the editors of a fascinating new book Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning. We explore how embodied cognition challenges long standing dualist approaches to both cognition and learning. Sheila Macrine and Jennifer Fugate also share some of the innovative approaches that improve both how we teach and how we learn.

Recent episodes about
Embodied Cognition:

• BS 193 What does it mean to say the Mind is Embodied?

• BS 198 Encore of interview with Evan Thompson

How to Get This Episode:

FREE: audio mp3 (click to stream, right click to download)

• Click here for FREE EXCERPT from Episode Transcript.

  • Buy Transcript for $4.

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Announcements:

• Contact Dr. Campbell if you are interested a listener meet-up or sponsoring a talk by Dr. Campbell during her trip to Europe in April 2023.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain Science Newsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Check out the free Brain Science Mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows. (It's a great way to get both new episodes and premium content.)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

Connect on Social Media:

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Contact Dr. Campbell:

Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

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

This month's episode of Brain Science is an interview with Batja Mesquita, author of Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions. This is an important book because it describes the evidence that Emotions are not just something people experience "from the inside out," but they also occur between people, which means that culture plays a critical role. We also explore why it is important to appreciate why people from from different cultures may experience emotions in surprisingly different ways.

Links and References:

• Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions by Batja Mesquita

• Follow her on Twitter: @batjamesquita

• Learn More about Emotion:

  • BS 135 with Lisa Feldman Barrett, author of How Emotions Are Made: The New Science of the Mind and Brain

  • BS 134 with Jaak Panksepp, pioneer of Affective Neuroscience

  • BS 151 discussion of discussion of The Neuroscience of Emotion: A New Synthesis, by Ralph Adolphs and David J. Anderson

  • BS 195 with David J Anderson author of The Nature of the Beast: How Emotions Guide Us

• See episode transcript for additional links and references

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

• Contact Dr. Campbell if you are interested in organizing a listener meet-up or talk by Dr. Campbell during her trip to Europe in April 2023.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain ScienceNewsletter to get show notes automatically every month. You can also text brainscience to 55444 to sign up.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Check out the free Brain Science Mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows. (It's a great way to get both new episodes and premium content.)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

Connect on Social Media:

• Twitter: @docartemis

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

Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This month's episode of Brain Science is a free encore playing of my interview with Evan Thompson about his book Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind. We discuss how the enactive approach to embodied cognition offers potential clues to the mystery of how the brain can generate Consciousness. A free episode transcript is also available.

The embodied cognition movement is an approach within cognitive neuroscience that includes philosophers, neuroscientists, psychologists and computer scientists. The key idea is that cognition, which includes thinking and decision-making, is inseparable from embodiment. This is not just because it requires sensory inputs to the brain, but also because moving in the world is a key component. Thus embodied cognition does not see this as a passive input/output process, but as something that requires constant interaction with the world via the body.

This is the 2nd of two free encore episodes that are being shared to give listeners a taste of the diverse content available to Premium subscribers. Premium subscribers have access to over 100 additional episodes of Brain Science along with episode transcripts.

How to get this episode:

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

Links and References:

• Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind by Evan Thompson

• The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience by Francisco J. Varela, Evan T. Thompson, Eleanor Rosch

• Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy by Evan Thompson (follow-up interview BSP 115)

• Evan Thompson, PhD, University of British Columbia

 Learn more about Embodied Cognition:

• BS 193: What does it mean to say that the Mind is Embodied?

• How the Body Shapes the Way We Think: A New View of Intelligence by Rolf Pfeifer and Josh C. Bongard (My interview with Pfeifer in BSP 25 was my first discussion of embodied cognition

• BSP 36 with Arthur Glenberg also explores embodied cognition

• Embodied Cognition by Lawrence Shapiro (interviewed in BSP 73)

• Phenomenology: An Introduction by Stephan Kaufer andAnthony Chemero

  • BSP 123 is an interview with Chemero about embodied cognition and phenomenology.

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 Announcements:

• Send audio feedback by 8/31/22 to be part of Episode 200!

• Please visit brainsciencepodcast.com and let me know what you think of the updated website.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain Science Newsletter to get show notes automatically every month.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Check out the free Brain Science Mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows. (It's a great way to get both new episodes and premium content.)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

Connect on Social Media:

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Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com

This month's episode of Brain Science features an encore playing of my interview with Dr. Frank Amthor, author of Neuroscience for Dummies and Neurobiology for Dummies. It is a great episode for newbies and will be a good review for longtime listeners.

This is a FREE sample of my Premium content and the episode transcript is also FREE.

Links and References:

• Essentials of Modern Neuroscience by Franklin Amthor, W. Anne Burton Theibert, David Standaert, and Erik Roberson

• Neurobiology For Dummies by Frank Amthor

• Neuroscience For Dummies, 2nd Ed. by Frank Amthor

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Announcements:

• Want to be part of BS 200? Just email me at brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com to learn more.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain Science Newsletter to get show notes automatically every month.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube for episode excerpts and summaries.

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Check out the free Brain Science Mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows. (It's a great way to get both new episodes and premium content.)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

Connect on Social Media:

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Contact Dr. Campbell:

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This month's episode of Brain Science is an interview with Hakwan Lau, author of In Consciousness we Trust: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Subjective Experience. Lau talks about shortcomings in current theories about how the brain generates consciousness, but he also introduces something he calls perceptual reality monitoring. 

Although this is a somewhat technical discussion it is accessible to listeners who are new to the neuroscience of consciousness.

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

Buy Episode Transcript for $4

Links and References:

• In Consciousness we Trust: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Subjective Experience by Hakwan Lau

• Hakwan Lau's Lab at UCLA

• Please visit http://brainsciencepodcast.com for additional references and episode transcripts.

Recent Episodes about Consciousness:

• Jon Mallatt, co-author of The Ancient Origins of Consciousness: How the Brain Created Experience BS 128.

• Neuroscience of Conscious: an overview episode (BS 160: free mp3)

• Joseph LeDoux, author of The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains. BS 161 Free mp3.

• Michael Graziano, author of Rethinking Consciousness: A Scientific Theory of Subjective Experience. BS 162 Free mp3.

• Christof Koch, author of The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed. BS 163 Free mp3.

• Bernard Baars, creator of global workspace theory (GWT) author of Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity, and collaborator David Edelman; BS 177 Free mp3.

• Bruce Goldstein, author of The Mind: Consciousness, Prediction, and the Brain; BS 180 Free mp3.

• Mark Solms, author The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Origins of Consciousness; BS 184 Free mp3.

• Anil Seth, author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness; BS 188 Free mp3

• Antonio Damasio, author of Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious; BS 189 Free mp3

• Earlier episodes about consciousness are available to Premium Subscribers.

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Announcements:

• Episode 200 is coming in September 2022! Listener feedback is invited. Email brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com to learn more.

• Please visit brainsciencepodcast.com and let me know what you think of the updated website.

• Get free gift "5 Things You Need to Know about YOUR Brain when you sign up for the free Brain Science Newsletter to get show notes automatically every month.

• Check out the Brain Science podcast channel on YouTube for episode excerpts and summaries.

• Support Brain Science by buying Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty by Virginia "Ginger" Campbell, MD. (Autographed copies are available)

• Check out the free Brain Science Mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows. (It's a great way to get both new episodes and premium content.)

• Learn more ways to support Brain Science at http://brainsciencepodcast.com/donations

Connect on Social Media:

• Twitter: @docartemis

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Contact Dr. Campbell:

• Email: brainsciencepodcast@gmail.com