Author: This Is Your Brain producer
Where were you on 9/11, and why do you remember it so clearly? Dr. Elizabeth Phelps, a Harvard neuroscience professor who studies the effect of trauma on memory, explains how highly emotional events get stored in our brains. Find out why we are so confident that these “flashbulb memories” are completely accurate, even though the evidence suggests otherwise. Plus… the “Michael Moore effect” that can influence what we think we remember.Phil Steig: Hello. And welcome to Professor Elizabeth Phelps here to speak with us about how we form memories and their relationship to trauma. Dr. Phelps is currently a professor…
After witnessing a childhood friend suffer from a severe eating disorder, Dr. Lauren Breithaupt dedicated her career to exploring the causes of anorexia, bulimia, and related syndromes. Now a PhD in psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Breithaupt explains that eating disorders – once thought to be a plague of teenage girls – can affect men and women of all ages and share a genetic link with other psychiatric disorders. Plus… how dinnertime conversations help your child’s brain develop. Phil Stieg: Hello and welcome to Dr. Lauren Breithaupt, co-director of the Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital.…
Is it possible to relieve depression or PTSD using electricity? Kelly Bijanki, PhD, runs a lab at Baylor College of Medicine, where her team is using deep brain stimulation to induce happiness in patients who need it the most. Her fascinating work shows that “emotional” issues are as biologically based as “neurological” ones, and that depression can be treated with the same techniques used for epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease. Plus … the evolution of the smile.Phil Stieg: Hello, I want to welcome Dr Kelly Bijanki, a scientist in the departments of neurosurgery, psychiatry and neuroscience at the Baylor College of…
We’re all aging (if we’re lucky). But what does it mean to age successfully? Dr. Daniel Levitin – neuroscientist, author, musician – tries to answer the question in his new book, Successful Aging. Interviewing “seniors” famous and not, he found that successful aging has nothing to do with money or position. In part it’s being able to look forward, no matter your age, and to continue to take pleasure in the world and your place in it. And the really good news? Our happiness increases as we age, successfully. Phil Stieg: Hello. I’d like to welcome to Dr. Daniel Levitin, bestselling author…
Interstitial theme musicNarrator: There’s a classic kid’s joke – Why was six afraid of seven? … Because seven ate nine!If your numbers have distinct personalities, you have something in common with the famous Russian synesthete Solomon Shereshevesky. Music out Described in a classic study entitled “The Mind of a Mnemonist” by Alexander Luria, Shereshevsky was discovered in the 1920’s to have a synesthetic connection across all five senses! Sfx: bell When Dr. Luria rang a small bell, for instance, the sound would evoke in Shereshevsky’s mind “a small round object . . . Sfx: tennis ball bounce … something rough…
Synesthesia is the mysterious mingling of the senses that creates the experience of “seeing” sounds or “hearing” colors. Neurologist Richard E. Cytowic, M.D. has spent his career exploring this remarkable phenomenon, and has some fascinating insight into how these sensations are formed in the brain, and how we might use it to reunite our fractured society. Plus… meet the man whose extreme form of synesthesia mingled all five of his senses! Phil Stieg: Hello and welcome to Dr. Richard Cytowic, the man who revolutionized our understanding of synesthesia. What is synesthesia? How common is it? How may it affect your…