Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson

Art Kramer is a Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Center for Cognitive Brain Health at Northeastern University. In this podcast he talks about how aerobic exercise can improve several aspects of brain performance including learning and memory, and multitasking. His brain imaging studies in elderly people have shown that exercise can increase the amounts of gray and white matter in some brain regions, and can enhance the functional connectivity of neuron networks. Importantly, exercise improves academic performance in children. On the other hand lack of exercise and overeating adversely affect brain structure and performance.

Professor Charles Nelson of Harvard University talks about his research that has elucidated how children’s brains normally develop and how adversities (neglect, physical abuse, infections) can result in lifelong problems with mental and physical health. Dr. Nelson talks about his studies of early life adversity in children in Romania, Bangladesh and Hungary. In addition, he talks about genetic and environmental risk factors for autism.

Professor Guo-Li Ming talks about how the neuronal networks are formed during brain development. She and others have developed technologies that enable the formation of brain organoids ('mini-brains') from human pluripotent stem cells. Guo=Li has used such brain organoids to elucidate how the brain normally develops and what goes wrong in developmental brain disorders including schizophrenia and autism. She has also provided evidence that by infecting neural stem cells, ZIKA virus and COVID-19 viruses may adversely affect the brain. Professor Ming's laboratory website: https://www.med.upenn.edu/minglab/

Professor Franz Vollenweider of the University of Zurich is psychiatrist and neuroscientist who has been at the forefront of research on drugs that induce altered states of consciousness. Using state of the art brain imaging technologies, pharmacological tools, and psychological evaluations, he and his research team have made major advances toward a clear understanding the neurobiological basis of the psychedelic experience. Here talks about how psychedelic chemicals such as psilocybin, LSD, and ketamine affect neuronal network excitability in ways that elicit hallucinations and altered states of brain function. He also talks about the emerging evidence that psychedelics can be very beneficial for people with depression and may also facilitate recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.

In this episode I talk with evolutionary and behavioral biologist Kay Holekamp talks about her fascinating research on spotted hyenas that has shed light on the evolution of intelligence. By studying the behaviors of hyena social groups in Kenya, Professor Holekamp and her students have revealed the remarkable cognitive capabilities of these animals. Their work has provided valuable insight into how the brain evolved complex social skills to enable flourishing in harsh environments. For further details and pictures of the hyenas visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZDs7n9j-KE Her publications can be found at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=kay+holekamp&sort=date&size=200

Professor Robert Sapolsky - Stanford University - talks about his research into how chronic psychosocial stress adversely affects the brain in ways that predispose it to anxiety disorders, depression, and Alzheimer's disease. His studies of baboons in Kenya and of rodents in the laboratory established a major role for the adrenal hormone cortisol in promoting the atrophy and death of neurons in the brain.

I talk with Professor Nicola (Nicky) Clayton at Cambridge University about her experiments which have established the remarkable cognitive capabilities of corvids which are birds in the crow family. By studying their food caching (hiding) behaviors Nicky and her students have shown that corvids can read the minds of other birds, and they can remember details of past events and plan for the future. Moreover, corvids seem to have a working knowledge of the laws of physics and they can craft and use tools to solve problems. Nicky also talks about her research on the development of cognition in children, and her efforts to foster collaborations between scientists and people in the performing arts.

Professor Robin Dunbar of Oxford University has studied the social networks of apes and humans for more than 50 years. He is the author of the book “Friends”. In this podcast he describes how the superior computational power of the human brain evolved to enable enduring lifelong social interactions that enhance security, reduce discord, and facilitate information exchange within and across generations. Dunbar has shown that there is an optimal group size for all social species; that number in humans is 150. In this podcast he talks about the neuronal networks in the brain that evolved to maintain and enhance harmony within social groups. Dunbar describes how language, music, and laughter enhance sociality. He also discusses how very large social groups of a size well beyond the evolutionarily ancient optimal size (for example, religious and political groups) enhance social cohesion within the group while simultaneously fostering antagonism towards individuals not in the group.

In this episode Professor Joseph LeDoux, author of the books 'The Emotional Brain, 'Anxious', and 'The Deep History of Ourselves' talks about how emotions evolved as adaptations that enable survival and reproductive success in harsh environments. His findings have provide evidence that emotional experiences are inherently cognitive in nature which has important implications for helping people with an anxiety disorder or depression.