William Uttal on "Mind and Brain" (BSP 83)

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William Uttal, PhD"There is nothing more exciting than the mind/brain problem" according to Dr. William Uttal, author of Mind and Brain: A Critical Appraisal of Cognitive Neuroscience. In the latest episode of the Brain Science Podcast (BSP 83) I talked with Dr. Uttal about why he feels that brain imaging can not solve this mystery. First, there is the problem that brain imaging represents the wrong level of analysis because every spot you see on a brain scan actaully represents thousands of neurons. This means that the activity and interaction between individual neurons has been lost. Then there is the problem of reproducibility, with divergent results between studies. The evidence is accumulating that "much of the brain responds to any stimulus, and every area of the brain participates in multiple functions." This means that asking where a given function occurs may be the wrong question.

BSP 83 represents an on-going discussion of these issues, so I have included links to related episodes in the show notes. 

 Listen to Episode 83

Click here for full show notes and free episode transcript.

 

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Philosopher Alva Noë (BSP 58)

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noe-crop Episode 58 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with philosopher Alva Noë, whose book Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness argues persuasively that our Minds are MORE than just our brains. He says that "the brain is necessary but not sufficient" to create the mind.  Read more...

listen-to-audio Listen to Episode 58

Episode Transcript (Download PDF)

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Dr. Brenda Milner: Pioneer of Memory Research (BSP 49)

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Brain Science Podcast #49 is an interview with pioneering neuroscientist, Brenda Milner, PhD. Dr. Milner is known for her contributions to understanding memory and her work with split-brain patients. Her work as an experimental psychologist has been fundamental to the emergence of the field of cognitive neuroscience. This interview is a follow-up of Dr. Milner's recent interview with Dr. Marc Pelletier on Futures in Biotech. I highly recommend listening to both interviews.

Listen to Episode 49 of the Brain Science Podcast

Listen to Dr. Milner on Futures in Biotech (Episode33)

Click here for detailed show notes and links.

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