FINAL TAXI: Harvey Korman- Burnett Show and Blazing Saddles Star

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Harvey Korman, the comic actor who won four Emmys for his work on ``The Carol Burnett Show'' and appeared in the movie ``Blazing Saddles,'' took his Final Taxi at age 81.

Korman won the Emmy awards for his television comedy roles on ``The Carol Burnett Show,'' where he performed from 1967 to 1977 in a cast led by Burnett and including comedian Tim Conway.


His film roles included playing Hedley Lamarr in ``Blazing Saddles,'' a 1974 spoof Western directed by Mel Brooks. He also performed in Brooks's film ``High Anxiety'' in 1977. In 1983 he appeared in ``Curse of the Pink Panther.''

Brain Science Podcast #38: Interview with Jeff Hawkins

Episode 38 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Jeff Hawkins, author of On Intelligence. Hawkins is well-known for founding Palm Computing and Handspring. He invented the Grafitti handwriting recognition system and helped develop the Palm Trio SmartPhone. Since he published his bestseller On Intelligence, he has devoted his work to his passion for neuroscience. His current company Numenta is developing software that models the hierarchal structure of the neocortex. In this interview we talk about the ideas in Hawkins book and how he is applying them to develop a computer model of cortical function. This is a follow-up to Episode 2, which first aired in December of 2006.

Listen to Dr. Campbell interview Jeff Hawkins.

Click here for detailed show notes including links and references.

Episode 20 of Books and Ideas is an interview with forensic psychologist Delany Dean, PhD. Dr. Dean began her career as a criminal lawyer but his interest in the mind and the brain lead her to a second career as a clinical psychologist. Besides forensic psyschology she has extensive experience with therapies based on the use of mindfulness meditation. In this interview, Dr. Campbell and Dr. Dean share there personal experiences with meditation, and Dr. Dean explains why she feels mindfulness meditation provides a extremely valuable tool for helping people deal with a wide range of problems, including the stress that we all face from time to time. They also give practical advise for listeners interested in beginning a mindfulness practice.

Listen to Delany Dean's Interview.

Links and References:

Mind Expressions: Delany's Dean's blog

Teachers and Scientists mentioned in the interview:

• Jon Kabat-Zinn: pioneer in secular use of mindfulness meditation
• Marsha Linehan: another pioneer in the therapeutic use of meditation
• Sharon Salzberg: cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society
• Jeffery Schwarz, MD: pioneered the use of mindfulness in treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He wrote The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force with Sharon Begley
• Gil Fronsdal: respected teacher and director of the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood, CA

Books and Other Resources for Beginners:

• Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante H. Gunaratana-one of Dr. Campbell's favorites
• Insight Meditation: A Step-By-Step Course on How to Meditate by Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein
• Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-zinn
• For more books and videos go to Delany Dean's private practice site.

• Insight Meditation Society-learn more about Vipassana
• Spirit Rock- this is where Dr. Campbell did the retreat she mentions in the podcast

You can find more references at the Brain Science Podcast Discussion Forum where there is on-going thread devoted to meditation and the Brain. There is also a section for discussing episodes of Books and Ideas.

Listen to Episode 20

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Brain Science Podcast #37: Brain Rules with John Medina

Episode 37 of the Brain Science Podcast an interview with Dr. John Medina, author of Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. We talk about how exercise, sleep, and stress effect our brains with an emphasis on practical advice for healthier brain function. We also look at how research on memory, vision and the brain's attention system suggests how we can improve our ability to learn and our ability to share ideas with others.

Dr. Medina's focus is on considering real world examples of how our schools and work environments could be reformed to utilize the growing knowledge of neuroscience. But he also stresses the importance of compiling sufficient experimental data before embarking on new programs.

Listen to Episode 37 now (left click to listen, right click to download mp3).

Visit the Brain Science Podcast website to learn more.

Brain Science Podcast #36: Embodied Cognition with Art Glenberg

Art Glenberg, PhD

Episode 36 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Arthur Glenberg, PhD about embodied cognition. Dr. Glenberg recently moved to Arizona State University after over 30 years at the University of Wisconsin's Laboratory of Embodied Cognition. His research focuses on the relationship between embodiment and language. In this interview we explore the experimental evidence for a theory of language that embraces the concept that our language abilities are actually rooted in our perceptual and motor abilities. Dr. Glenberg also explains how his work has practical implications in helping children learn how to read.

Since Dr. Glenberg has had a long career as a working research scientist, this interview also provided an opportunity to explore how scientific hypotheses are formed and how experiments are designed to test these hypothesis. I think this interview will give you a fascinating look into the real world of cognitive psychology.

Listen to Dr. Glenberg's Interview (left click to listen, right click to download)

Links and References:

Arthur Glenberg, PhD

• email: arthur.glenberg@asu.edu
• Laboratory for Embodied Cognition
• Havas, D.A., Glenberg, A.M., and Rink, M. (2007) Emotion simulation during language comprehension. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 14 (3), 436-441
• Numerous references available as PDF
• Thinking With the Body: blog post of March 3, 2008

Other Scientists Mentioned in the Episode:

• George Lakoff: pioneering linguist
• James Gibson-known for his ideas about affordances
• William Epstein-emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin
• Joseph Campos: University of California (Berkelely)
• Amy Needham and Amanda Woodard-experiments with velcro mits and infant cognition
• David A Havas: graduate student and co-author with Dr. Glenberg
• Mike Kashak: Florida State University
• Mike Rinck: German co-author-see paper under Glenberg (more papers)
• Vittorio Gallese, Dept of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Italy (where mirror neurons were discovered): extensive experimental with motor neurons in monkeys
• Fritz Stack (Germany): experiments showing that facial experiments affect mood and cognition

References:

• Havas, D.A., Glenberg, A.M., and Rink, M. (2007) Emotion simulation during language comprehension. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 14 (3), 436-441
• more publications by Arthur Glenberg
• Sommerville, J.A., Woodard, A.L., and Needham, A., Action experience alters 3-month-old infants’ perception of others’ actions, Cognition 96 (2005) B1-B11.
• Strack, F., Martin, L. L., & Stepper, S. (1988). Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 54, 768-777.
• Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things (1987) by George Lakoff
• recent essays by George Lakoff written for the Rockridge Institute

Listen to Dr. Glenberg's Interview (left click to listen, right click to download)

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FINAL TAXI: 5 Dead Musicians

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The Final Taxi has made 5 trips this week with people with musical talent.

1.Paul Davis- American singer and songwriter who recorded such songs as “Cool Nights,” “65 Love Affair,” “Sweet Life,” and “I Go Crazy.”

2. Brian Davidson - Drummer and songwriter for the 60’s band The Nice- the forerunner of Emerson Lake and Palmer.

3. Danny Federci - Keyboardist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street band.

4. Jim Gilchrist- Lead guitarist who played with The Doors, Van Morrison, Captain Beefheart, and Frank Zappa.

5. Al Wilson - Classic soul singer who recorded such memorable songs as “The Snake,” I’ve Got a Feeling We’ll Be Seeing Each Other Again, ” and his Billboard hit “Show and Tell.”

Books and Ideas #19: Interview with author Dan Ariely

Dan Ariely is a professor of behavioral economics at MIT and author of the bestseller, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. He was my guest for episode 19 of Books and Ideas. During the interview he explains how his came to study human behavior. He uses examples from his book to explore the question "What makes a good experiment?" He also discusses how he hope that his findings can help strengthen our society despite our human tendency to make "irrational" choices.

Listen to Episode 19 Now.

Links:

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

Dan Ariely

• Faculty page at MIT
• Predictably Irrational blog

Listen to Books and Ideas Episode 19

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Brain Science Podcast #35: Mirror Neurons

Brain Science Podcast #35 is a discussion of Mirrors in the brain: How our minds share actions, emotions, and experience by Giacomo Rizzolatti and Corrado Sinigaglia. Mirror neurons were discovered in Rizzolatti's lab in Parma Italy in the early 1990's and his book is a detailed to discussion of the experimental evidence in both monkeys and humans. Direct single neuron recordings have been made in monkeys. The evidence in humans is indirect since it is based on mainly on neuroimaging studies like PET scans and fMRI scans. Even so mirror neurons appear to be essential to our ability to understand both the actions and emotions of others. Listen Now.

In this episode we also explore the evidence that there are other neurons in the motor areas of the brain that have sensory properties and that the areas of the brain traditionally thought to be devoted to sensory functions also contain neurons with motor properties. Another fascinating discovery is the fact that there are neurons that respond not only to somatosensory inputs (such as being touched) but also to visual or auditory inputs from objects within our peri-personal space. For background on these body maps I recommend listening to Episode 21 and Episode 23. If you are new to the Brain Science Podcast you may want to listen to those episodes first because this week's episode is a little more technical than most.

I will be exploring the importance of these discoveries in future episodes.

Listen to Brain Science Podcast Episode 35 (mirror neurons) NOW.

Links:

Giacomo Rizzolatti- University of Parma

Mirror neurons (wikipedia entry)

Mirror neurons (Scholarpedia entry written by Dr. Rizzolatti)

Listen to Brain Science Podcast #35 (mirror neurons) Now

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FINAL TAXI -- Moses With A Gun

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Charlton Heston, who won an Oscar for his leading role in Ben-Hur, has taken His Final Taxi at 84. On screen, Heston was best known as the star of religious and historic epics—he played Moses in The Ten Commandments and John the Baptist in The Greatest Story Ever Told also Sci-Fi movies like Planet of the Apes and The Omega Man. But off-screen he was an influential political activist, first as a proponent of civil rights in the 1960s, and more recently as an outspoken advocate of gun rights.

Brain Science Podcast #34: Exploring our sense of smell with author Rachel Herz

Rachel Herz

Episode 34 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Rachel Herz author of The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell (2007). Dr. Herz teaches at Brown University and she is a leading authority on the psychology of smell. We talk about the how smell works, its role in emotion and memory, why it is so vulnerable, and why smell is much more important than most of us realize. We also consider some of the questions that remain unanswered.

Listen to the Rachel Herz interview now. (Right click to download.)

Links and References:

Rachel Herz

• Brown Medical School faculty page
• Wikipedia: a good source for further references
• RachelHerz.com
• thescentofdesire.com

The 2004 Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology was awarded to Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck for their discoveries of "odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system."

BuckL, Axel R "A novel multigene family may encode odorant receptors: a molecular basis for odor recognition."
Cell. 1991 Apr 5;65(1):175-87.

"The (Shocked) Nose Knows" by Gisela Telis ScienceNOW Daily News 27 March 2008

The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell (2007) by Rachel Herz

Listen to Episode 34 (Right click to download)

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