Brain Science Podcast #23: Interview with author Susan Blakeslee

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Show Notes

This episode is an interview with Sandra Blakeslee, co-author (with her son Matthew) of The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps Help You Do (almost) Everything Better, which we discussed in episode 21.

I asked Blakeslee to tell me a little bit of her background as a science writer. She wrote for the New York Times for many years and was the co-author of both Jeff Hawkins groundbreaking book, On Intelligence and VS Ramachandran's modern class Phantoms in the Brain (1998), which was one of the first books to explore neuroplasticity.

In this interview we explored the relationship between body maps and neuroplasticity, as well as questions from listeners about out of body experiences and other oddities once considered "paranormal." We talked about how body maps are relevant to understanding why some methods of alternative healing appear to be effective.

I asked her to tell me which scientist she met made the biggest impression. Here are a few of those she mentioned:

• Marco Iacoboni at UCLA
• Atsushi Iriki-cyberspace
• Olaf Blanke in Switzerland who has discovered how the angular gyrus is involved in out-of-body experiences
• Arthur "Bud" Craig who is the pioneer of mapping the insula
• Michael Merzenich-a pioneer in the field of neuroplasticity who also helped design the first cochlear implant

Blakeslee told me about some of the pioneering work that Merzenich is doing to apply his discoveries to help people, both those with disabilities and those who just want to combat aging. You can learn more about his work at http://www.positscience.com/.

If you would like to contact Sandra Blakeslee to give her feedback or ask her questions she has a contact form on her books website at http://www.thebodyhasamindofitsown.com/. She is going to let me know when she gets the references posted on the site.

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Click Below to Listen to Podcasts

• Interview of Sandra Blakeslee (episode 23)
• Discussion of her latest book (episode 21)
• Brief Review of On Intelligence (episode 2)

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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.

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Brain Science Podcast #11: Emotion

In this episode of the Brain Science Podcast we explore the recent research that has established, contrary to long-standing dogma, that our brains our able to change throughout our lives, based on our experience.

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Subscribe via iTunes™

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Show Notes

The reference for this episode is Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, by Sharon Begley. This book describes the 2004 meeting between the Dalai Llama and several leading neuroscientists. To learn more about these meetings go to the Mind and Life Institute website. All the studies that I mention in the podcast are referenced in the back of the book.

Here is a list of the some of the scientists and there work.

• Michael Meany- McGill University. He has shown that the way that a mother rat treats her babies determine which genes in the baby's brain are turned on and which are turned off.
• Fred Gage- the Salk Institute His work with lab animals to showed that adult brains do change. (more from Google)
• Helen Neville-University of Oregon. She has shown that the auditory and visual cortexes are rewired in people who are born blind or deaf.
• Phillip Shaver-UC-Davis. He is a pioneer in attachment theory: how people's sense of emotional security, acquired in childhood, effects their adult behavior including their response to other ethnic groups and their willingness to help others
• Richard Davidson-Wisconsin. He has done studies showing how the brain is changed by meditation

• Edward Taub- University of Alabama in Birmingham. He helped develop a revolutionary treatment for stroke victims
• Jeffery Schwartz-UCLA. He has used mindfulness meditation to treat obsessive compulsive disorder, showing that meditation can change the brain in beneficial ways.
• Jon Kabat-Zinn- University of Massachusetts. He has done many years of work using mindfulness meditation to treat stress related diseases.

More Links of Interest:

• Fast Forword™ Treatment for Dsylexia

• Imposed Constraint Treatment for Stroke
  • Auto CITE at the VA
  • Stroke Registry Clinical Trials
    
  • Taub Therapy at UAB

• Treatment of Anxiety Disorders with Mindfulness Meditation
  • Dr. Jeffery Schwartz

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression
  • Brain Changes are different from those caused by medications
  • more Google links on how the brain changes

I am sure this list is incomplete. If you have a question or comment about a topic mentioned on the show, leave a comment below or send me email at docartemis at gmail.com

Brain Science Podcast #10: Neuroplasticity

In this episode of the Brain Science Podcast we explore the recent research that has established, contrary to long-standing dogma, that our brains our able to change throughout our lives, based on our experience.

Listen Now

The Brain Science Podcast feed is available here.

Subscribe via iTunes™

Subscribe to Brain Science Podcast with Dr. Ginger Campbell by Email

Show Notes

The reference for this episode is Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, by Sharon Begley. This book describes the 2004 meeting between the Dalai Llama and several leading neuroscientists. To learn more about these meetings go to the Mind and Life Institute website. All the studies that I mention in the podcast are referenced in the back of the book.

Here is a list of the some of the scientists and there work.

• Michael Meany- McGill University. He has shown that the way that a mother rat treats her babies determine which genes in the baby's brain are turned on and which are turned off.
• Fred Gage- the Salk Institute His work with lab animals to showed that adult brains do change. (more from Google)
• Helen Neville-University of Oregon. She has shown that the auditory and visual cortexes are rewired in people who are born blind or deaf.
• Phillip Shaver-UC-Davis. He is a pioneer in attachment theory: how people's sense of emotional security, acquired in childhood, effects their adult behavior including their response to other ethnic groups and their willingness to help others
• Richard Davidson-Wisconsin. He has done studies showing how the brain is changed by meditation

• Edward Taub- University of Alabama in Birmingham. He helped develop a revolutionary treatment for stroke victims
• Jeffery Schwartz-UCLA. He has used mindfulness meditation to treat obsessive compulsive disorder, showing that meditation can change the brain in beneficial ways.
• Jon Kabat-Zinn- University of Massachusetts. He has done many years of work using mindfulness meditation to treat stress related diseases.

More Links of Interest:

• Fast Forword™ Treatment for Dsylexia

• Imposed Constraint Treatment for Stroke
  • Auto CITE at the VA
  • Stroke Registry Clinical Trials
    
  • Taub Therapy at UAB

• Treatment of Anxiety Disorders with Mindfulness Meditation
  • Dr. Jeffery Schwartz

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression
  • Brain Changes are different from those caused by medications
  • more Google links on how the brain changes

I am sure this list is incomplete. If you have a question or comment about a topic mentioned on the show, leave a comment below or send me email at docartemis at gmail.com