Brain Science Podcast #38: Interview with Jeff Hawkins “On Intelligence”

Episode 38 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Jeff Hawkins, author of On Intelligence. Hawkins is well-known for founding Palm Computing and Handspring. He invented the Grafitti handwriting recognition system and helped develop the Palm Trio SmartPhone. Since he published his bestseller On Intelligence, he has devoted his work to his passion for neuroscience. His current company Numenta is developing software that models the hierarchal structure of the neocortex. In this interview we talk about the ideas in Hawkins book and how he is applying them to develop a computer model of cortical function. This is a follow-up to Episode 2, which first aired in December of 2006.

Listen to Dr. Campbell interview Jeff Hawkins.

Download a transcript of this episode.

Links and References:

Jeff Hawkins: wikipedia entry

• On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins with Sandra Blakesle
• http://www.onintelligence.org
• Dileep George: co-founder of Numenta and principal architect of the first prototype implementing the hierarchical temporal memory system (HTM) patterned after the human neocortex.

Vernon Montcastle: pioneer who proposed that all parts of the brain’s cortex work the same way.

• Vernon Mountcastle (1978), “An Organizing Principle for Cerebral Function: The Unit Model and the Distributed System”, The Mindful Brain (Gerald M. Edelman and Vernon B. Mountcastle, eds.) Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (Please let me know if you find this paper on-line!)
• Perceptual Neuroscience: The Cerebral Cortex by Vernon B. Mountcastle. This 1998 is recommended by Jeff Hawkins, especially for those interested in the technical details of cortical function.

Redwood Institute for Theoretical Neuroscience (UC-Berkeley) founded by Jeff Hawkins

Numenta: company website includes extensive educational information about hierarchical temporal memory system (HTM). The company’s focus is practical implementation of HTM Theory.

Listen to Episode 38

Download a transcript of this episode.

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Brain Science Podcast #36: Art Glenberg on Embodied Cognition

Art Glenberg, PhD

Episode 36 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Arthur Glenberg, PhD about embodied cognition. Dr. Glenberg recently moved to Arizona State University after over 30 years at the University of Wisconsin’s Laboratory of Embodied Cognition. His research focuses on the relationship between embodiment and language. In this interview we explore the experimental evidence for a theory of language that embraces the concept that our language abilities are actually rooted in our perceptual and motor abilities. Dr. Glenberg also explains how his work has practical implications in helping children learn how to read.

Since Dr. Glenberg has had a long career as a working research scientist, this interview also provided an opportunity to explore how scientific hypotheses are formed and how experiments are designed to test these hypothesis. I think this interview will give you a fascinating look into the real world of cognitive psychology.

Listen to Dr. Glenberg’s Interview (left click to listen, right click to download)

Links and References:

Arthur Glenberg, PhD

• email: arthur.glenberg@asu.edu
• Laboratory for Embodied Cognition
• Havas, D.A., Glenberg, A.M., and Rink, M. (2007) Emotion simulation during language comprehension. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 14 (3), 436-441
• Numerous references available as PDF
• Thinking With the Body: blog post of March 3, 2008

Other Scientists Mentioned in the Episode:

• George Lakoff: pioneering linguist
• James Gibson-known for his ideas about affordances
• William Epstein-emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin
• Joseph Campos: University of California (Berkelely)
• Amy Needham and Amanda Woodard-experiments with velcro mits and infant cognition
• David A Havas: graduate student and co-author with Dr. Glenberg
• Mike Kashak: Florida State University
• Mike Rinck: German co-author-see paper under Glenberg (more papers)
• Vittorio Gallese, Dept of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Italy (where mirror neurons were discovered): extensive experimental with motor neurons in monkeys
• Fritz Stack (Germany): experiments showing that facial experiments affect mood and cognition

References:

• Havas, D.A., Glenberg, A.M., and Rink, M. (2007) Emotion simulation during language comprehension. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 14 (3), 436-441
• more publications by Arthur Glenberg
• Sommerville, J.A., Woodard, A.L., and Needham, A., Action experience alters 3-month-old infants’ perception of others’ actions, Cognition 96 (2005) B1-B11.
• Strack, F., Martin, L. L., & Stepper, S. (1988). Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 54, 768-777.
• Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things (1987) by George Lakoff
• recent essays by George Lakoff written for the Rockridge Institute

Listen to Dr. Glenberg’s Interview (left click to listen, right click to download)

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Brain Science Podcast #35: A Closer Look at Mirror Neurons

Brain Science Podcast #35 is a discussion of Mirrors in the brain: How our minds share actions, emotions, and experience by Giacomo Rizzolatti and Corrado Sinigaglia. Mirror neurons were discovered in Rizzolatti’s lab in Parma Italy in the early 1990′s and his book is a detailed to discussion of the experimental evidence in both monkeys and humans. Direct single neuron recordings have been made in monkeys. The evidence in humans is indirect since it is based on mainly on neuroimaging studies like PET scans and fMRI scans. Even so mirror neurons appear to be essential to our ability to understand both the actions and emotions of others. Listen Now.

In this episode we also explore the evidence that there are other neurons in the motor areas of the brain that have sensory properties and that the areas of the brain traditionally thought to be devoted to sensory functions also contain neurons with motor properties. Another fascinating discovery is the fact that there are neurons that respond not only to somatosensory inputs (such as being touched) but also to visual or auditory inputs from objects within our peri-personal space. For background on these body maps I recommend listening to Episode 21 and Episode 23. If you are new to the Brain Science Podcast you may want to listen to those episodes first because this week’s episode is a little more technical than most.

I will be exploring the importance of these discoveries in future episodes.

Listen to Brain Science Science Podcast Episode 35 (mirror neurons) NOW.

Links:

Giacomo Rizzolatti- University of Parma

Mirror neurons (wikipedia entry)

Mirror neurons (Scholarpedia entry written by Dr. Rizzolatti)

Listen to Brain Science Podcast #35 (mirror neurons) Now

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Exploring Consciousness in the Blogospere

I am not very good at keeping up with all the great blogs about neuroscience, but I did happen to find two that I thought you might enjoy. Both Developing Intelligence and Conscious Entities explore both the meaning of consciousness and the relationship between the human brain and computers.

Please note: Because this is an Archive site only. Comments should be posted on the Discussion Forum at http://brainscienceforum.com. Please visit my new website at http://brainsciencepodcast.com.

More on BDNF: “Miracle Grow” for the Brain

In Episode 33 of the Brain Science Podcast, Harvard’s Dr. John Ratey introduced us to brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), which he described as “Miracle Grow for the Brain” because it actually stimulates the grow of new neurons in the brain. The emphasis in our discussion was on the importance of exercise in stimulating the release of BDNF.

If you are interested in checking out some further references on BDNF you may want to check out Charles Daney’s Science and Reason Blog. Daney also does a good job of explaining exactly what a neurotropic factor is and does.

Brain Science Podcast #33: Exercise and the Brain

Episode 33 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Harvard physician, Dr. John Ratey about his new book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.

John J Ratey, MD

We explore the exciting evidence about how exercise helps the brain. It stimulates the release of a number of different neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, but probably more importantly it helps keeps these compounds balanced. We consider why exercise is so important in dealing with stress, in treating a wide range of mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, and attention deficit disorder. There is also evidence that exercise improves our ability to learn and our ability to avoid the loss of mental agility associated with aging.

Listen to Episode 33 Now.

This episode contains information that everyone can use. I hope you will share it with your friends and family.

Links and References:

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008) by John J. Ratey

Dr. Ratey’s website: Go here for more interview of Dr. Ratey and also to find links to the latest research about exercise and the brain.

Listen to Dr. Ratey’s Interview Now.

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Brain Science Podcast #31: Brain Rhythms with György Buzsáki

György Buzsáki, author of Rhythms of the Brain (OUP 2006) is a Professor of Neuroscience at Rutgers University. His book is a comprehensive review of the current state of research in the field of brain oscillations. It includes the role of these oscillations in sleep and memory. In episode 31 of the Brain Science Podcast Dr. Buzáki explains why the rhythms of the brain are important and reflects on why this field has been neglected by some neuroscientists. I think he makes a convincing case for the position that these rhythms are an essential component of brain function.

Listen to Dr. György Buzsáki’s interview about Brain Rhythms

Transcript of Episode 31

• György Buzsáki, Professor of Neuroscience at Rutgers University
  • Learn about his lab and research
  • Contact information

SHOW NOTES:

Partial List of Scientists Mentioned:

• Stephen Strogatz: known for his discovery of “small world” architecture
  • His 2003 bestseller Sync: The emerging science of spontaneous order is aimed at a general audience
• Nancy Kopell: mathematician
  • Buzsaki recommends her review of the analytical approaches to neuronal oscillators: We got Rhythm: Dynamical Systems of the Nervous System. N Am Math Soc 47: 6-16 (2000).
• Zoltán Néda (Bebes-Bolyai University Romania): the spontaneous synchronization of hand clapping
• Hermann Haken: German laser physicist who studies bidirectional causation
  • The Science of Structure: Synergetics (1984)
• John O’Keefe (University College, London): along with Lynn Nadel he discovered how the hippocampus forms a cognitive map of the world
  • He has shown how the timing of osscillations in the hippocampus are important
  • “Independent rate and temporal coding in hippocampal pyramidal cells” by John Huxter, Neil Burgess, and John O’Keefe. Nature 425, 828-832 (23 October 2003)
• David McCormick (Yale University): showed that neurons from the thalamus of a ferret can oscillate spontaneously
  • He has also studied the oscillations of place cells in the hippocampus
• David Hubel and Thorston Wiesal: along with Vernon Montcastle they pioneered the use of single neuron recordings in the neocortex of casts and monkeys
  • Montcastle, VB (1997) “The Columnar Organization of the Neocortex.” Brain 102:01-722.
• Claude Shannon: founder of Information Theory
• Jan Born (University of Lübeck, Germany): experiments with how sleep improves both memory and problem solving
  

Topics and questions:

• Basics of oscillations and synchrony
• What functions are accomplished by brain rhythms?
• The role of hippocampal ripples in memory
• What happens to our brain rhythms while we sleep
• The importance of synchrony in saving energy in the brain

This episode will appeal to listeners with a background in math or engineering, but Dr. Buzsáki provides numerous everyday examples that make the material accessible to everyone.

Listen to this episode now.

Transcript of Episode 31 by Diane Jacobs

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Brain Science (Podcast) mentioned on Fox Business website

The Brain Science (Podcast) is featured in an article entitled, “Wizzard Media Closes Second Podcast Ad Deal with U.S. Navy” (FoxBusiness.com 2/12/08), but they got the name wrong!

Hopefully, Brain Science is close enough to help people find the Brain Science Podcast.

Easter Seals announces program to help Vets with Head Injuries

In a recent interview with Dr. Edward Taub (Brain Science Podcast #28) we learned that Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy has been shown to help people with traumatic brain injuries, but that the Veteran’s Administration has been slow to acknowledge the needs of veterans returning from Iraq and  Afghanistan. Fortunately, the problem seems to be receiving increasing attention.

The January 25th episode of the Science Magazine podcast discusses an article exploring the possible mechanisms of brain injury ocurring in near-blast conditions, where often the effects may be delayed and subtle.

Also, Easter Seals has just announced that it is funding a program that will provide access to Michael Merzenich’s highly regarded Posit Science Program, an on-line program originally developed to help older patients regain and maintain their mental agility. I don’t know if they have done any work with traumatic brain injury, but the program certainly shows promise.

References:

“Shell Shock Revisited: Solving the Puzzle of Blast Trauma,” Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, Science 25 January 2008: Vol. 319. no. 5862, pp. 406 – 408

Press Release: Easter Seals Launches Nationwide Program for U.S. Service Members and Veterans Deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan with Traumatic Brain Injury

The IMPACT study: a clinical trial of the Posit Science Brain Fitness Program

Posit Science Podcast: Dr. Merzenich presents the results of the IMPACT study

Brain Science Podcast #29: Interview with Dr. Maryanne Wolf

Dr. Maryanne Wolf, Director of The Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University

Brain Science Podcast #29 is an interview with cognitive neuroscientist, Dr. Maryanne Wolf, author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. I discussed her book in Episode 24, so this interview was an opportunity to ask her some follow-up questions, and to focus more on how children learn to read. Dr. Wolf shares her ten years of experience helping children learn to read and developing programs to help children with problems like dyslexia. She shares some practical advice for parents as well as her concerns about how reliance on the internet could influence reading skills.

I enjoyed the conversation and, while I especially want to share this episode with parents, I think Dr. Wolf gives everyone some interesting ideas to consider. Listen to the interview.

Links:

• Maryanne Wolf:
  • Faculty page at Tufts
  • Director of The Center for Reading and Language Development
  • Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain

• The Center for Reading and Language Development (Tufts University)
• RAVE-O: A Comprehensive, Fluency-Based Reading Intervention Program

Listen to this episode now.

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