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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Books and Ideas #12 Explores Free Will

I have posted episode 12 of Books and Ideas. It is my response to The Myth of Free Will (2007), which was edited by Cris Evatt.

This is a very controversial subject. I hope that you will listen and then submit your comments to the new Brain Science Podcast Discussion Forum, which is at http://brainscienceforum.com.

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Brain Science Podcast Update

Announcements

• Thanks to Rob Walch of Podcast 411 for helping me resolve my feed problems. You can here us discuss the details of what happened on Item #205 of Podcast 411.
• Visit the new Brain Science Podcast Forum at http://brainscienceforum.com.

The Brain Science Podcast #16 is a discussion of The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind (2002)
by Elkhonon Goldberg.

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The Brain Science Podcast feed is available here.

Subscribe via iTunes™

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Visit the new Brain Science Podcast Forum

Show Notes

This episode is an introduction to the role of the pre-frontal lobes in decision-making, and the other "executive" functions of our brain. The functions of the pre-frontal lobes are not only the keys to what makes us human, but also the keys to our individual personality.

In this episode, using Dr. Goldberg's book, we discuss how the frontal lobes relate to the other structures of the brain. We also, discuss some ideas about why the left and right sides of the brain differ, as well as several important ways in which the cortex, and especially the pre-frontal lobes differ from some of the older parts of the brain.

We discuss briefly the vulnerability of the frontal lobes to damage and disease, and we consider the implications of frontal lobe dysfunction. Questions are introduced that will be considered in more detail in future podcasts.

Links:

• Phineas Gage-constructor worker who suffered severe frontal lobe injury in 1848
• Herbert Simon-won 1978 Nobel Prize in economics (short autobiography) He did pioneering work on decision-making.
• Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg:
  • His website
  • On YouTube.com

FINAL TAXI: Last Voyage of Sinbad's Kerwin Mathews

Direct Download: Kerwin Mathews

Kerwin Mathews, who earned a niche in film history as the handsome hero who battled a Cyclops, a dragon and a sword-wielding skeleton in the 1958 fantasy classic “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,” has taken his Final Taxi. Mathews was also in “The Devil at 4 O’clock” with Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra and in b-movies “Octoman” and “The Boy Who Cried Werewolf.” He was 81.

FINAL TAXI: Stevens & McCorkle

Direct Download MP3: Stevens & McCorkle

On this weeks Final Taxi podcast Ron talks about Art Stevens, who was a Disney animator who worked on the 1940 classic “Fantasia” and later co-directed “The Fox and the Hound” and “The Rescuers.” Among Stevens’ credits as an animator are “Peter Pan,” “101 Dalmatians,” “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day,” “Robin Hood,” “Mary Poppins” and the underwater sequence in “Bedknobs and Broomsticks.”

George McCorkle was a founding member of the Marshall Tucker Band and author of Southern rock anthem “Fire on the Mountain.”

FINAL TAXI: Mr. Wizard

Direct Download: Mr. Wizard

Mr. Wizard was Don Herbert, who unlocked the wonders of science for youngsters of the 1950s and ’60s on television and then in the 80’s on Nickelodeon . Mr. Wizard took his Final Taxi at the age of 89.

Listen to this week’s podcast.

Final Taxi: - Charles Nelson Reilly has BLANKED

Direct Download: Charles Nelson Reilly



Charles Nelson Reilly, an award-winning actor and a regular on variety and game shows, has taken his Final Taxi at age 76.

He was famous for his oversized glasses and colourful suits during numerous TV appearances in the 1970s and ’80s.

Reilly guested on sitcoms (Nanny and the Professor, The Patty Duke Show,, Here’s Lucy, etc.), sat down on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show couch 95 times and, of course, did game shows. Lots of game shows.

What’s My Line?, Baffle, Super Password and Hollywood Squares were among Reilly’s credits. Match Game was by far the biggest.

Reilly also voiced the Dirty Bubble, one of Mermaid Man’s enemies on Spongebob Squarepants.

Brain Science Podcast #12: Memory

This episode of the Brain Science Podcast is a discussion of memory based on the book, Memory: From Mind to Molecules (2000), by Larry R. Squire, and Eric R. Kandel.

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The Brain Science Podcast feed is available here.

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Show Notes

I highly recommend you get this book for yourself if you want to read the details of the experiments. The book contains excellent illustrations.

Some of the experimental animals mentioned in this episode include Aplysia (giant sea snails), Drosophila (fruit flies), and mice.

Mechanisms of memory formation and storage seem to be shared from the simplest non-vertebrates up through humans.

Types of Memory: declarative and non-declarative. Non-declarative memory is generally NOT subject to conscious awareness or control.

There are many different types of non-declarative memory including:

• motor skills
• habituation and sensitization
• classical and operant conditioning
• priming
• perceptual skills

Declarative memory, which seems to be unique to animals that have a hippocampus and cerebral cortex, includes short-term (immediate and working memory) and long-term memory. Much research has been devoted to discovering how and where long-term memory occurs. The answer may surprise you.

This episode includes a discussion of some of the unanswered questions in memory research.

Final Taxi: - You're Blacklisted

Taking their Final Taxi this week is the ‘Hollywood Blacklisted” screenwriter, Bernard Gordon, also favorite B-movie actor Nicholas Worth and film and TV veteran Dabbs Greer.

Listen Here:
Direct Download: Final Taxi - You’re Blacklisted

Less than One Week Reminder!!! Podcasting Meetup!!!

What do an emergency physician, a punk rock DJ obsessed with dead people, a tank girl who has a thing for bunnies, and a production-crazed college student all have in common?
No, we’re not all losing our minds, we’re getting together. OK, maybe the better way to say it is that we’re holding a get together.
Tuesday May 22nd at the Pita Stop at 6pm, we’re looking to invite anyone and everyone interested in podcasting.
Yes, I said podcasting. It’s that new buzzword that’s been flying around for the last two or three years now and we want Birmingham to get in on this bandwagon.
We’ll be hanging out, grabbing some grub, and answering any questions that we can answer about podcasting.
If you have a remote interest in podcasting, audio production, or just wanna hang out with some cool people, come on out! We’d love to have you!

--DW