Send us a text “In order to avoid buying those unnecessary items, don't go shopping at those stores.” Says a financial adviser Michael Markey. But anyone who is not a stranger to temptations knows that it takes a lot to resist the holiday shopping season, starting with Black Friday to Cyber Monday and until the day-before Christmas eve, the online as well as brick and mortar retailers craft seductive deals to trap every eager consumer and last-minute shopper. For every ad, e-blast, and coupon th...
Dec 26, 2017•41 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Send us a text What does a fatal plane crash by a veteran pilot and a patient death from a wrongful dosage by an expert nurse have in common? They both might have been interrupted in the middle of critical procedures and may not have remembered to come back to where they left off. While processing information in working memory, your attention acts like a 360° searchlight and whatever it happens to illuminate is what gets attended. Even though we cannot multitask or ‘multi-attend,’ our mind fooli...
Dec 11, 2017•39 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Send us a text If life was a play, some activities would be the star of show and others would be just ‘extras’. The mind is often full of thoughts about the upcoming main act while plowing through the mundane, such as unloading the dishwasher, taking out the garbage or rescheduling a doctor’s appointment. But no matter what the task is we are always deploying Working Memory. Working Memory is the fine-china of cognition on which you either serve an ordinary burger and fries or a rib-eye steak. O...
Dec 05, 2017•37 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Send us a text Fame and success is not necessarily an antidote to self-doubt. Oscar-winning singer-songwriter, Sam Smith, once said, “I still doubt myself as a singer every day. Every time I step off the stage, I have ask someone what it was like. ...I really think I need to work on it.” The young performer’s life has seen some ups and downs, such as losing anonymity and putting his foot in his own mouth in front of 9 million people by inaccurately stating a fact during his Oscar acceptance spee...
Dec 01, 2017•40 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Send us a text Jung-ah Choi writes that during a parent-teacher conference she discovered that her son was misbehaving in his kindergartner class. Upon further inquiry it turned out that her son was having a hard time complying with the class rule about not invading other people’s personal space. The teacher called it the “do-not-pop-the-bubble” policy. Choi’s son did not know how best to achieve the balance of engaging his classmates playfully without grabbing onto their hands or pulling them c...
Nov 27, 2017•29 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Send us a text At age 6, his mother said to him, “Why don't you just kill yourself? You’re such a burden to me.” At age 9, his mother drove him away from home to the unfamiliar part of Baja, California and walked him into an orphanage saying that she found this orphan kid and left him there for 90 days before his grandmother got a hold of him and brought him back. Throughout his elementary school she beat him senselessly. This is a story of a gangster, Sergio, from the roughest neighborhood of L...
Nov 21, 2017•37 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Send us a text In 1885, William Bentley placed a snowflake under his camera lens and took a first-of-its-kind photo only to then spend the next 50 years of his life capturing snowflakes with these incredible, vibrant designs. Apparently, the crystal of a snowflake starts as a tiny spec of dust or even pollen that attracts water vapor to form a preliminary hexagon called "diamond dust." After that, it’s sheer randomness how all the rest of the shape expands to form a beautiful and yet unique stru...
Nov 14, 2017•36 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Send us a text The Google search for “how to teach a child to tie shoes” comes up with approximately 7.5 million hits. Obviously, parents and adults in general have recognized that folding over the shoelaces, crossing the bunny ears, and looping them to tie a knot needs to be taught with great care. However, you walk into any hallway in elementary, middle, or high school and two distinct trends appear. The shoes with laces are completely replaced with Velcro and many of those who ARE wearing sho...
Nov 01, 2017•37 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Send us a text People like Dr. Mae C. Jemison live by the dictum, “if you're bored, you are not paying attention.” That philosophy has served her well as she is a former NASA astronaut and the first woman of color in the world to go to space. She could pay attention and direct her curiosity in whichever direction she wanted. Dr. Jemison got work done and kept on achieving. This was not the case for my client, "Scott Joplin," whose learning struggles began as a child when he was diagnosed with no...
Oct 27, 2017•40 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Send us a text Have you ever tried to point out mistakes in someone – maybe in your child, spouse, employee, or even your boss? And what do you get? A sharp rebuttal or a strong push back. Peace comes to those whose self-concept and behaviors are in harmony with each other. If not, the result is cognitive dissonance. When you do something wrong, your brain is wired to try and relieve the tension it feels by immediately making up excuses for you. On this show, our guest, Dr. Carol Tavris, will gi...
Oct 24, 2017•33 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Send us a text Your 20-something-year-old son decides to buy a car without your help and you come to find out that he got ripped off. He tells you the story of what happened and you cannot believe it. Apparently, your son agreed to buy a car off Craigslist, gave your home address to a stranger, and thought nothing of the request to pay in cash, even when the seller showed up with a car that looked nothing like the one in the online ad. When you point out these red flags to your son, all he does ...
Oct 16, 2017•37 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Send us a text On a daily basis we direct our attention, guide our instincts, and move from making micro to macro decisions feeling that we are fully in control of our inner machinery called the brain. While exploring the nature and development of Executive Function skills and its impact on learning and self-awareness, one can’t help but notice that many of us are unaware of ‘why we do what we do’. On the podcast, a world-renowned primatologist and celebrated author, Professor Fran de Waal, brin...
Oct 10, 2017•39 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Send us a text Pre-teen years are a breeding ground for pimples, mood swings, eye-rolls, and social awkwardness. But that’s not the only stuff these kids have to adjust to. There is a remarkable shift in academic demands that’s far out and equally daunting. During the Middle School years, kids have to actually learn how to study for tests, independently write papers by elaborating on ideas, and manage their priorities to put together projects. The system assumes that somehow these kids will lear...
Oct 03, 2017•48 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Send us a text If not properly handled, some projects can spiral out of control like a runaway train. Assignments involving project-based learning professes that children learn best when they experience the real-world problems and solve them on their own. In one of the elementary schools I had worked with, students were spotted to rush in with awkwardly large homemade robots as part of their 4th grade project. The teacher’s conditions were such that each student had to design the robot without s...
Sep 26, 2017•43 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Send us a text What do a sponge, a needle, or a drill bit fragment have in common?Well these are the most common but harmful things that a surgeon can leave inside you that don't belong there. Remembering to retrieve things out of patient’s cavity before suturing the patient up requires prospective memory – remembering to remember. It's the most critical Executive Function process essential in managing life’s goals. Our guest Professor Mark McDaniel, will be talking about ways to help carry out ...
Sep 18, 2017•41 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Send us a text Elephants never forget! But I guess we do. Forgetting to drop off dry cleaning, book a hotel or register for a class on time can cause disruption if not devastation. Everyday we make plans to do things in the future. We have great intentions and a confident mental state that makes us believe that all of our plans will materialize; however, often our failed memories surprise us. Listen to my guest Professor Mark McDaniel talk about what prospective memory is all about and why we ha...
Sep 11, 2017•38 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Send us a text However creative we might be, the human blind spot disallows us from imagining ourselves vividly in the distant future. Neuroscience says we are far better at constructing our past from memory as compared to projecting ourselves as a distant future-self. For example, in theory, posting 100,000 post-it notes all over the high school as a senior prank sounds creative and harmless, right? It was only after 29 Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School students got suspended that they were a...
Sep 04, 2017•46 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Send us a text Since I read about Jeff Bezos’ email from June 9, 2004, I have concluded that my clients need my training to survive at Amazon!” Why?” you ask. Well, Bezos is demanding that his team use their Executive Function when making a pitch for a new idea. He wants everyone to move away from the simplistic bullet-point lists in PowerPoint presentations. Rather, he wants his employees to submit a 4-6 page "narrative" that he calls memos. Executive Function lets you orchestrate ideas into a ...
Aug 28, 2017•34 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Send us a text We love stories because they change our perspective. They give us a window into the lives of many through which we get to witness extraordinary evidence of human resilience. Noam Chomsky once said, “It is quite possible, overwhelmingly probable, one might guess – that we will always learn more about human life and personality from novels than from scientific psychology”. What do novels do after all? They tell stories of people. They unlock our imagination to help us see that peopl...
Aug 25, 2017•39 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Send us a text “For sale. Baby Shoes. Never worn.” These 6 words capture your attention, hook your emotions, and unleash your imagination. Apparently, legend has it that during an afternoon lunch with friends, Hemingway bet that he could write the shortest novel in six words. And he did. Whether Hemingway really wrote that or not, the hardest thing you’ll ever learn to do is write! As a successful author, Hemingway certainly had all the support he needed from his brain’s air-traffic controller, ...
Aug 21, 2017•37 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Send us a text It might be a little late in the game if you are just beginning to formulate a parenting strategy for your college-bound student so that they will communicate, collaborate, or reciprocate to parental guidance. Recently at a parent coffee meeting, a few folks came up to me to ask how ‘hands-on’ or ‘hands-free’ they should be with their high school kids. On this episode, my dear friend and esteemed colleague Nancy Beane will explain how the parenting work for “college-readiness” beg...
Aug 14, 2017•42 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Send us a text As parents, we pride ourselves on getting our teenagers ready to take off and succeed on their own. We have placed them into schools with a similar hope that they will leave prepared with skills to make good choices and to adjust to new challenges. But is thatenough? There is no disagreement among experts that it takes more than just raw talent to succeed in school, a job, or in life. So what does it take? On today’s podcast, my dear friend, esteemed colleague, and college counsel...
Aug 07, 2017•36 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Send us a text It’s hard to sympathize with a kid who never finishes his classwork on time, doesn't put away his toys without a reminder, or cannot seem to carryover that love and focus for video games into school work. Strong Executive Function skills are required to stay engaged, get organized, control impulsive actions, and rein in inappropriate emotional reactions. On this podcast, our guest Dr. Peg Dawson, co-author of “Smart but Scattered,” will share how these crucial ‘habits of mind’ can...
Jul 31, 2017•30 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Send us a text In recent years, Hollywood has glorified and glamorized the stories of “epic failures to launch” with great humor and light-heartedness. The untold story behind each failure is an utter lack of discipline, no impulse control, and zero goal planning. The brain’s executive function skills interfere with all the ingredients for a launch: one’s persistence, planning, prioritizing, and execution. On this podcast, Dr. Peg Dawson will discuss what is Executive Function and how it helps u...
Jul 24, 2017•33 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Send us a text No doubt that the child who is late, disorganized and scattered needs help. But are you lecturing, punishing or giving zeros to that child in hopes that he will stop messing around and just get over it? On this Podcast, Dr. Russell Barkley will discuss how to train the brain’s Executive Function skills so that children can succeed in learning and life. About Russell Barkley, Ph.D. Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D., is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical University of South C...
Jul 17, 2017•42 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Send us a text Anyone struggling with inattention or distractibility, general impulsivity and poor motivation is going struggle with learning. However, conventional wisdom trivializes underachievement related to these struggles and there’s a risk that the sufferers may not get proper help they need. On this Podcast, Dr. Russell Barkley will discuss how the brain’s Executive Function brings behaviors under its control and directs actions towards successful learning. About Russell Barkley, Ph.D. R...
Jul 11, 2017•40 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Send us a text I am excited to announce that the Full PreFrontal Podcast has officially launched! Each episode will be a conversation between me and a top researcher, neuroscientist, cognitive psychologist, educator, learning expert, or thought leader about the inner workings of the brain. These are not just theoretical discussions or academic conversations – each episode is focused on translatable ideas and applicable strategies that you can use right away to become more self-aware in order to ...
Jul 06, 2017•49 min•Season 1Ep. 1
