Author: This Is Your Brain producer
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…
The gentle sounds of the surf, or sweet birdsong in the trees, are more than just refreshing — they have actual, proven power to heal the brain. Dr. David Strayer, professor of cognition and neural science at the University of Utah’s Applied Cognition Lab, is exploring how our over-stressed, technologically bombarded, multi-tasking brains are restored when we immerse ourselves in nature. Plus… meet a man who discovered that listening to the sounds of wilderness calmed his ADHD, and led him to a whole new career path. Phil Stieg: Hello, today, I have with me Dr. David Strayer, David is professor of…
Narrator: In this episode of This Is Your Brain – The Guided Tour, we meet a man who knows how to listen… Since 1968, Bernie Krause has traveled the globe to record the “voice” of the natural world. You are listening to one of his recordings right now… Jaguars in the Amazon… He was one of the first people in America to earn a doctorate in the emerging field of Bioacoustics and is considered a “rockstar” in the world of natural sounds, with more than four dozen record albums to his credit. Dr. Krause’s first experience of recording nature was…
Can you train your brain to perform better, feel happier, focus more? Steven Kotler says you can. The bestselling author of The Art of the Impossible and Stealing Fire and founder of the Flow Research Collective, Kotler explains what’s behind “flow states” and how we can all learn to harness the power of biology to reach peak performance. Learn what’s going on in the brain when you’re firing on all cylinders, and how to reach emotional states that are “north of happy.” Phil Stieg: Hello. Today I have with me Steven Kotler, author of nine bestsellers focusing on achieving ultimate performance. …
Dolphins have large, complex brains that are a lot like the human model — what if we could get inside their heads and communicate with them? Meet cognitive psychologist and marine mammal scientist Diana Reiss, PhD, who has been doing just that. Turns out our underwater friends have a lot going on in their brains, if only we could learn to decode it. Plus… Hear from one of the musician/scientists who discovered fifty years ago that whales produce actual songs. Phil Stieg: Hello. Some of us remember the TV show Flipper and how he developed an appreciation for the intelligence…