The Nature & Nurture Podcast

Dr. Mark Goulston is a psychiatrist, former UCLA professor with expertise in suicide prevention, former FBI and police hostage negotiation trainer, inventor of the therapeutic technique of Surgical Empathy, bestselling author of 9 books, and host of the My Wakeup Call podcast.  In this episode we discuss Dr. Goulston's books "Just Listen" and "Get Out of Your Own Way." In addition, Dr. Goulston shares stories from his training as a psychiatrist and discusses the technique of surgical empathy in both clinical and personal settings. Video available at: https://youtu.be/R9dONx1DhVc Learn more about Dr. Goulston at https://markgoulston.com/ Find Dr. Goulston on Twitter and Instagram @MarkGoulston Listen to Dr. Goulston's course Defeating Self Defeat at: https://himalaya.com/defeat (Use promo code DEFEAT to access for free)

In this episode I interview Dr. Daniel Lapsley, Professor of Psychology at Notre Dame University. We discuss the overlap between philosophy and experimental psychology in the study of morality, early psychological theories of moral development including those of Piaget and Kohlberg, modern perspectives on moral psychology including Haidt's Moral Foundations Theory, and the value of intellectual humility. Video available at: https://youtu.be/4KNK4l4oNkA 

In this episode I interview Dr. Vera Gluscevic, Gabilan Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southern California. We discuss her background in astrophysics and her research in cosmology, the beginnings of our Universe, the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, and touch briefly on metaphysics and the probabilistic nature of the quantum world.

In this episode I interview Dr. Alex Bezzerides, Professor of Biology at Lewis-Clark State College, about his book Evolution Gone Wrong: The Curious Reasons Why Our Bodies Work (Or Don't). We discuss his background in biology, inspirations for the book, our evolutionary past, and the trade-offs that come with adaptation: from the benefits of walking on two feet and having large brains, to the pains of backache and childbirth.   Find his book here: https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Gone-Wrong-Curious-Reasons/dp/1335690050/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

In this episode I interview Dr. Cecilia Heyes, Professor of Psychology at Oxford University, about her book Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking. We discuss her background in animal research, the nature vs. nurture debate, culture as an evolutionary process, and discuss various "cognitive gadgets" such as literacy and imitation, which Heyes argues are not biologically programmed, but culturally evolved feats of cognition. Find her book at: https://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Gadgets-Cultural-Evolution-Thinking/dp/0674980158

In this episode I interview Dr. Toby Mintz, Professor of Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Southern California. We discuss language in the context of cognitive science: from artificial intelligence to human language development, and discuss his research on language acquisition in infants and children.    Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQoO1KopuLM Papers discussed:   Mintz, T. H. (2003). Frequent frames as a cue for grammatical categories in child directed speech. Cognition, 90(1), 91-117.   Mintz, T. H. (2005). Linguistic and conceptual influences on adjective acquisition in 24-and 36-month-olds. Developmental Psychology, 41(1), 17.

In this episode I interview Dr. Frank Manis, Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California and author of The Dynamic Child. We discuss his early career studying literacy development and dyslexia, his textbook and MyVirtualChild program, and his thoughts on the field of developmental psychology. Video available at: https://youtu.be/9CLnqbtlhYs

In this episode I interview Dr. Megan Herting, neuroscientist and professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California. We discuss her early career and transition from behavioral neuroscience in rats to humans, recent studies in neuroimaging and environmental neuroscience, and the importance of science education and holism. Papers discussed: Cserbik, D., Chen, J. C., McConnell, R., Berhane, K., Sowell, E. R., Schwartz, J., ... & Herting, M. M. (2020). Fine particulate matter exposure during childhood relates to hemispheric-specific differences in brain structure. Environment International, 143, 105933. Campbell, C. E., Mezher, A. F., Eckel, S. P., Tyszka, J. M., Pauli, W. M., Nagel, B. J., & Herting, M. M. (2021). Restructuring of amygdala subregion apportion across adolescence. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 48, 100883. Timestamps:  0:00 - Introduction 0:35 - How Megan first became interested in psychology & neuroscience 3:25 - Megan's research experiences as an undergraduate 6:38 - Learning to read scientific jargon in academic journals 8:30 - How Megan decided to pursue graduate school 10:45 - Navigating graduate school as a first-generation student 12:44 - How Megan's research interests developed in graduate school 15:07 - Megan's PhD dissertation on how exercise influences brain health in adolescents 19:26 - Switching focus post-PhD and searching for faculty jobs 22:50 - Teaching in addition to doing research 26:38 - Research in the Herting Neuroimaging Laboratory from 2016-2020 28:15 - The national Adolescent Brain & Cognitive Development (ABCD) study 33:13 - How air pollution impacts the developing brain 37:30 - Environmental neuroscience as a means for public policy intervention 40:42 - Why does the brain get more attention than the body?  44:40 - Sex differences in the amygdalae of adolescents 50:05 - The role visual learning plays in understanding the brain 53:11 - Megan's ongoing and future work 55:29 - The importance of science communication

In this episode I interview Dr. Jonas Kaplan, cognitive neuroscientist and co-director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California. We discuss his early career and inspirations, his favorite studies, and the neural underpinnings of belief and consciousness. Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2cTprF6_u8  Timestamps:  0:00 - Introduction 0:40 - How Jonas first became interested in neuroscience 2:00 - Jonas describes an experience in college which changed his views on consciousness 3:40 - Jonas describes his college studies and research 5:57 - Jonas describes his graduate school experience 11:10 - Left brain/right brain hemispheric specialization 14:53 - Back to graduate school and the rise of neuroimaging technology 17:03 - The timeline of MRI technology and how it works 22:22 - Post-graduate school and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) 29:34 - Moving to USC & working with Antonio Damasio 33:38 - Predicting visual stimuli on the basis of activity in auditory cortices 38:19 - Working with Sam Harris to study the neural correlates of religious belief 39:55 - The role of belief being tied to identity 44:22 - Free will and the deterministic universe 47:05 - Challenges to belief and trait openness  49:45 - The impact of environment on belief 51:21 - Evolutionary selection for different patterns of belief 53:20 - Why we believe in free will 1:01:49 - Panpsychism and the origins of consciousness 1:07:20 - Conclusion and future work Papers discussed:  Meyer, K., Kaplan, J. T., Essex, R., Webber, C., Damasio, H., & Damasio, A. (2010). Predicting visual stimuli on the basis of activity in auditory cortices. Nature Neuroscience, 13(6), 667. Kaplan, J. T., Gimbel, S. I., & Harris, S. (2016). Neural correlates of maintaining one’s political beliefs in the face of counterevidence. Scientific Reports, 6(1), 1-11.