The Nature & Nurture Podcast

Dr. Daniel Schacter is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University where he runs the Schacter Memory Lab, and author of The Seven Sins of Memory. In this episode we talk about the history of memory research over the last 100+ years, beginning with simple behavioral tasks and up to modern neuroimaging. Dr. Schacter overviews different dimensions of memory scientists have identified, including episodic vs. semantic, implicit vs. explicit, and the processes of encoding, consolidation, retrieval, and reconsolidation. We then discuss each of The Seven Sins of Memory: Transience, Absent-Mindedness, Blocking, Misattribution, Suggestibility, Bias, and Persistence. Lastly, Dr. Schacter describes some of his more recent research on the relationship between episodic memory and imagination and creativity.

Dr. Joshua Greene is a psychologist, philosopher, Professor at Harvard University, and author of Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them. In this episode we talk about Josh’s early research on moral psychology, specifically trolleyology. He describes his empirical research on the famous trolley problem thought experiment in philosophy, and how people generally approach these problems via two different modes of reasoning: slow and rational, and fast and emotional. We talk about the evolutionary origins of these distinct moral cognitive processes, and an alternative framework to utilitarianism known as deep pragmatism. Lastly, Josh talks about his recent research on this pragmatic approach to moral psychology, including The Giving Multiplier which aims to motivate people to donate to more effective charities. Josh created a special code for viewers of The Nature & Nurture Podcast to use on The Giving Multiplier. Use The Giving Multiplier to donate to charities of your own choice as well as highly effective charities identified by Josh’s lab. With this code, an extra 50% will be matched and added to any amount you donate: https://givingmultiplier.org/invite/NATURENURTURE Code: NATURENURTURE

Dr. Dorsa Amir is a psychologist, anthropologist, and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. In this episode we talk about child development and decision-making through the interdisciplinary lenses of anthropology, psychology, evolutionary biology, and behavioral economics. We talk about some of Dorsa’s theoretical research on how human environments have changed across cultural and evolutionary histories, and how plasticity in child development allows humans to adapt to various forms of environmental threat, deprivation, and uncertainty. We also talk about Dorsa’s experimental and cross-cultural research on child decision-making, and how these adaptive behaviors also vary across environments, resource availability, and uncertainty. Dorsa describes how the field of developmental psychology is slowly moving away from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) assumptions in order to gain a richer understanding of the full scope of child development across cultures.

Dr. Anita Collins is an award-winning educator, researcher and writer in the field of brain development and music learning. She is the author of The Lullaby Effect: The Science of Singing to Your Child and The Music Advantage: How Learning Music Helps Your Child’s Brain and Wellbeing. In this episode we talk about the neuroscience of music education, and the brain and cognitive benefits of musical training in children and adults. Anita describes how music is unique in that it combines multiple modalities of the brain including auditory processing, visual processing, fine motor control, strategic planning, and creativity. We also discuss music as a means of social and mother-infant bonding, and evolutionary theories as to how music has emerged as an adaptation across every human culture.

Dr. Samuel Gershman is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, where he directs the Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory. He is also the author of What Makes Us Smart: The Computational Logic of Human Cognition. In this episode we discuss Sam’s book, and the central argument that human brains are computers that must operate based on both limits of information and limits of computational power. These limits are what lead to biases, but Sam stresses that biases in human cognition, such as falling for optical illusions, are in fact what make us smart. We talk about some of the mechanisms by which we learn, such as statistical learning, and discuss the similarities and differences between human learning and modern artificial intelligence. We also discuss some of Sam’s theoretical research on the computational and neural mechanisms involved in learning and memory, and discuss how this model may apply to animals as simple and diverse as small planarian flatworms.

Dr. Frank von Hippel is a Professor of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Health Sciences at the University. He is the host of his own successful podcast, The Science History Podcast, and author of The Chemical Age. In this episode we talk about Frank’s own field of ecotoxicology, the study of environmental toxins and their effects on humans and other animals, and Frank’s book The Chemical Age. We discuss the pros and cons of advancements in chemistry, from advancements in medicine and agriculture to chemical warfare and the environmental harms of industrialization. We also talk about what makes something a toxin, how our bodies respond differently to organic vs. synthetic compounds, and about the massive benefits and potential harms of pesticide use in modern agriculture. Lastly, we talk about Frank’s own research on how pollutants such as plastics harm humans and animals in the Arctic, and about both the threats of climate change to biodiversity and how we might overcome them.

Dr. Robert Epstein is a longtime psychology researcher and professor—a distinguished scientist who is passionate about educating the public about advances in mental health and the behavioral sciences. The former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today, Dr. Epstein is currently Senior Research Psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology. He is also the founder and Director Emeritus of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in Massachusetts. He is also the author of The Case Against Adolescence, and its updated release Teen 2.0. In this episode we discuss Dr. Epstein’s case against adolescence, the argument that historically, the social transition from childhood to adulthood was more rapid, and that the view of adolescence as a distinct phase of the lifespan is a relatively modern and Western concept. Dr. Epstein and I engage in a healthy debate on this topic, informed by my own research on adolescent development and the view that puberty marks a distinct and protracted period of physiological, neural, and psychological development. In support of his argument Dr. Epstein discusses a wide-range of social and technological transformations impacting childhood development and our views on teenagers across the last two centuries, including industrialization, mandatory education, child labor laws, and more recently, social media and technology use. We additionally discuss positive steps towards promoting healthy development in teens, including individualized education, increased autonomy, and increased responsibility.

Dr. Jason Mitchell is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, where he directs the Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience Laboratory. His research uses a combination of neuroimaging and behavioral measures to investigate the cognitive processes that support inferences about the psychological states of other people and introspective awareness of the self. In this episode we introduce social neuroscience as a field of research at the intersection between social psychology and cognitive neuroscience, and discuss the neuroscience of mindreading. Mindreading, in this context, refers to our social cognitive capacity for thinking about the thoughts and feelings of others, otherwise known as mentalizing or theory of mind. Jason and I discuss how mindreading relates to other processes such as introspection, and how mindreading may be accomplished either through mental simulation (placing oneself in another’s shoes) or heuristics. Next, we discuss Jason’s own research on the neuroscience of introspection and mindreading, and his findings that mindreading looks more similar to introspection in the brain when reasoning about others more similar to us. Lastly, we discuss more exotic forms of mindreading such as animal theory of mind and empathizing with inanimate objects or cartoons, and what these processes tell us about the cognitive mechanisms underlying mindreading and empathy.

Dr. Bryce Huebner is the Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, where he conducts research connecting philosophy of mind, cognitive science, biology, and moral psychology. In this episode we talk broadly about what it means to be conscious, and how cognition and emotion are governed by bodily processes. Bryce and I discuss how philosophy of mind ought to be informed by the biological limitations that give rise to complex thought, how much of our thought and behavior revolves around maintaining homeostasis and satisfying conflicting motivations, and how both nature and nurture give rise to individual differences in these processes. We also talk about the possibility for artificial intelligence and consciousness in non-human animals, and discuss the relationships between consciousness, life, and functionalism. Lastly, we discuss the concept of distributed cognition in Bryce’s book Macrocognition, and how this relates to moral psychology.

Dr. Randolph Nesse is a Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, and the Institute for Social Research at The University of Michigan, and one of the pioneers of the field of evolutionary psychiatry. He is the Founding President of The International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, and author of the book Good Reasons for Bad Feelings. In this episode we talk about the field of evolutionary psychiatry, and more broadly about the evolution of both negative emotions such as fear and anxiety and positive emotions such as happiness. We talk about how humans have evolved with a “negativity bias” which primes us to sense threat, even in the case of false alarms, and how at the extreme this leads to anxiety disorders. On the other hand, we talk about how either a lack of positive emotion (depression) or excess positive emotion (mania) can be pathological, and how evolution must act to fine-tune our emotions for the right context. Overall, we have good reasons for bad feelings, but knowledge of why our emotions have evolved and what contexts they evolved in can help us fine-tune our emotions in our modern environments. Find Dr. Nesse’s book and learn more about his work at: goodreasons.info