Brain Science Podcast #18: Interview with Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg

Brain Science Podcast #18 is an interview with Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, PhD.

Listen to Brain Science Podcast #18 Now

Show Notes:

• 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.

Links:

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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Brain Science Podcast #17: The Wisdom of the Aging Brain

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.

Show Notes

Episodes that are referred to in this episode:

• #10: Neuroplasticity
• #11: Emotion
• #12: Memory
• #16: The Frontal Lobes

Note: You should have no problem listening to episode to #17 first, but I have provided these references for those who want to review or go back for more details.

Definitions used in this episode:

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

Brief List of topics discussed in this episode:

1. Review of important ideas about the prefrontal lobes from #16
2. An hypothesis about the differing roles of the right and left hemispheres
3. How the brain changes in normal aging
4. Mechanisms that protect the brain from degenerative changes
   1. generic memory-why this type of memory is more robust
   2. pattern expansion-how parts of the cortex expand with use
   3. effortless experts-why familiar tasks are less demanding
5. Why vigorous mental activity is important throughout life

For more links related to Dr. Goldberg's work see the show notes for episode 16.

Listen Now

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