Author: This Is Your Brain producer

Is there a “trust spot” in the brain? How do we balance the human desire to trust against the fear of betrayal? Dr. Frank Krueger, a psychologist, physicist, and neuroscientist at George Mason University, explains how our brain circuits teach us to navigate the social dilemma of who deserves our trust. Plus… why men are more trusting (and take more risks) than women, and why those with autism have so much trouble deciding whom to trust. Phil Stieg: Hello, I’d like to welcome Dr. Frank Krueger, professor of Systems neuroscience at George Mason University. He studies psychological functions and neurobiological…

In case you were wondering, a trusting relationship can be based on things other than just money. In this edition of “This Is Your Brain – The Guided Tour” we’ll meet scientists who devised a “critter café”, where chimpanzees could consider splitting their entrée with a trusted friend. In the study led by Jan Engelmann and Esther Herrmann of Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, fifteen chimps living in a Sanctuary in Kenya got to play the classic economic “trust game” using apples and bananas rather than cash. Picture two chimps at adjoining tables in our imaginary café. Each…

This week we are revisiting an episode from the beginning of Season Two: “How Gabby Giffords Found Her Voice.” The episode was originally released on the 10th anniversary of the brutal assassination attempt on Congresswoman Giffords life in January of 2011. Phil Stieg: With me today is Maegan Morrow. She is a board-certified music therapist and a member of the American Music Therapy Association and currently works at TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital. Maegan is well known for her work with Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. She has been featured in national and international media, including Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s medical interviews on CNN,…

Does “brain training” work? Dr. Susanne Jaeggi and Dr. Aaron Seitz are experts who are developing and studying brain apps in a nationwide study of their effectiveness. Together they are exploring how cognitive skills and working memory can both be improved — not just in older people, but especially in them. Plus… try a brain game yourself! Phil Stieg: Hello, I’d like to give a warm welcome to my guests, Aaron Seitz and Susanne Jaeggi, professors from the Brain Games Center for Mental Fitness and Wellbeing at the University of California, Riverside, and the Working Memory and Plasticity Lab at…

Narrator: So, what is it actually like to try to “train” your brain? Let’s take a “Guided Tour” through one of the games from the on-going citizen science project currently being conducted by Dr. Jaeggi and Dr. Seitz. (Music under) In this memory game, you are an astronaut exploring a cave on an alien planet. As you walk forward, gems appear on the ceiling and floor of the cave. There’s a Blue gem, a Green gem … Orange … Pink … and Purple. Your mission is to remember the gems as the appear, and collect the ones that are the…

…and 7 other lessons about the command center that runs all our body’s systems. Lisa Feldman Barrett, professor of psychology at Northeastern University and a director of the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory there, talks about how the 128 billion neurons in the brain act like the air traffic control system. They are knit together into a pattern that’s capable of a remarkable range of functions, from satisfying thirst to making morally responsible choices. Plus… Why Plato was wrong about the brain Phil Stieg: Hello, today, I would like to welcome Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, a distinguished professor of psychology and…