Brainstorm - To The Best of Our Knowledge (NPR)

From this week's To The Best of Our Knowledge (on NPR), a collection of five segments/interviews on the human brain. Richard Davidson talks about his most recent book, The Emotional Life of Your Brain; David and Kristen Finch talk about his battle with Asperger's Syndrome, and the book he wrote about the process, The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband; Martha Herbert talks about autism and her book, The Autism Revolution: Whole-Body Strategies for Making Life All It Can Be; V.S. Ramachandran talks about "phantom limb syndrome" and his book, The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human; and Frank Browning talks about "the dancing brain."

This episode (or parts of it) originally aired in 2012.

Brainstorm

04.07.2013
(was 04.15.2012)

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Interviewer(s):

• Jim Fleming
• Steve Paulson
• Anne Strainchamps

Guest(s):

• Richard Davidson
• David and Kristen Finch
• Martha Herbert
• V.S. Ramachandran
• Frank Browning

We explore the frontiers of brain science, from the neurobiology of emotions to recent discoveries about autism. Renowned neuroscientists Richard Davidson and V.S. Ramachandran reveal new insights into the brain, and we'll hear the story of one marriage saved by a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome.

Would you like to take the Aspie quiz? Here's a link:

RELATED LINK(S):

• Martha Herbert's website
• David Finch's website 

* * * * *

MARTHA HERBERT ON "THE AUTISM REVOLUTION"

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Extended Interview

Transcript

Autism's a tricky diagnosis. And its causes are also mysterious. Harvard Medical School neurologist Martha Herbert t advocates a whole-body approach, which looks at environmental toxins, vitamin deficiencies and immune problems.

* * * * *

DAVID AND KRISTEN FINCH ON ASPERGER DIAGNOSIS

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The marriage of David and Kristen Finch was falling apart when Kristen asked Dave to take the "Aspie quiz." It turns out Dave has Asperger Syndrome. They talk about how the diagnosis changed their lives.

* * * * *

RICHARD DAVIDSON ON THE EMOTIONAL BRAIN

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Neuroscientist Richie Davidson has developed an entirely new model for understanding the science of emotions. He talks about this paradigm shift and the personal journey that led to it. 

* * * * *

FRANK BROWNING ON THE DANCING BRAIN

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What happens in your brain when you dance? Frank Browning talks with scientists and choreographers in France and the U.S. about the "dancing brain."

* * * * *

V.S. RAMACHANDRAN ON PHANTOM LIMB SYNDROME

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Transcript

Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran is renowned for his ability to crack strange neurological mysteries. He tells Steve Paulson about the science behind phantom limb syndrome and his ingenious treatment for it. 

RELATED BOOKS: 

The Autism Revolution: Whole-Body Strategies for Making Life All It Can Be
(Martha Dr Herbert, Karen Weintraub) 

The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband
(David Finch)  

The Emotional Life of Your Brain
(Richard Davidson)

The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human
(V. S. Ramachandran)

Simon Baron-Cohen: Evolution of Empathy

This is Simon Baron-Cohen's talk at the Evolution and Function of Consciousness Summer School ("Turing Consciousness 2012") held at the University of Montreal as part of Alan Turing Year.In this talk, Baron-Cohen looks at the development of empathy from the womb to adulthood and examines what can go wrong - which can lead to autism/Asperger Syndrome and potentially even to sociopaths and psychopaths.


Simon Baron-Cohen: Evolution of Empathy

Abstract:
Empathy is the drive to identify another person's thoughts and feelings and to respond to these with an appropriate emotion. Empathy comes by degrees, with individual differences evident in the traditional bell curve. We now know quite a lot about which parts of the brain are used when we empathize and how empathy develops in children. We also know that early experience affects empathy, but so does biology: hormones in the womb, and specific genes. There are several ways in which one can lose one's empathy, clearly seen in psychiatric conditions such as the personality disorders, including the psychopath. We discuss how people with autism and psychopaths show opposite empathy profiles. Finally, the discovery that there may be 'genes for empathy' implies that empathy may be the result of our evolution.

Relevant Books/Papers/Websites:

Baron-Cohen, S, (2011). Zero Degrees of Empathy: A new theory of human cruelty. Penguin/Basic Books. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zero-Degrees-Empathy-Simon-Baron-Cohen/dp/0141017961

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq_nCTGSfWE

http://www.autismresearchcentre.com

Baron-Cohen, S (2003). The Essential Difference: men, women, and the extreme male brain. Penguin/Basic Books

http://www.thetransporters.com

Baron-Cohen, S (2009). Autism and Asperger Syndrome: The Facts. Oxford University Press.

http://www.jkp.com/mindreading

Simon Baron-Cohen and Sally Wheelwright. (2004, Apr). The Empathy Quotient: An Investigation of Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High Functioning Autism, and Normal Sex Differences. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol. 34, No. 2. http://gamut.neiu.edu/~lruecker/baron-cohen.pdf