What truly sets humans apart from other animals? In this episode, we'll explore the human brain and the unique characteristics that define our species. From our extraordinary language abilities and unmatched cognitive control to our intricate social networks and emotional experiences, we'll uncover the neurological basis for these traits and discuss their profound implications on human culture and civilization. Join us on this intellectual adventure as we examine the anatomy of the human brain, ...
Mar 17, 2023•10 min
What is the relationship between the brain and the mind? Does the brain produce consciousness? What is the "hard problem" of consciousness and does neuroscience have anything to say about it? In this Patreon-only livestream, I discussed my answers to all of these questions and dove into some of the neuroscientific evidence that backs up my answers. -- Sense of Mind needs your help! This podcast is now 100% independent (I'm no longer receiving outside funding), so please consider becoming a Patro...
Mar 07, 2023•52 min
Explore the fascinating evolution of the cerebral cortex, the most sophisticated brain region, which is crucial for complex cognition and perception. In this episode, you'll learn how the cortex evolved from a simple network of nerves in giant worms to the highly specialized and intricately wired cortex of haplorrhines, the primate group that includes humans. Discover the selection pressures that drove the lateral expansion of the cortex and the exponential growth of white matter connections. Pl...
Mar 04, 2023•12 min
Do you feel exhausted by work or life in general? More specifically, do you lack a feeling of motivation and drive that you used to have? If so, you might be experiencing burnout. Burnout is incredibly common, with a 2018 Gallup poll reporting that 23% of employees in the US say they feel burned out at work all or most of the time (and I would guess this is higher post-Covid). While motivation naturally ebbs and flows, when you have an ongoing lack of motivation combined with exhaustion, depress...
Feb 28, 2023•1 hr 2 min
These days, it's easy to take for granted the incredible complexity of motion, the way we are able to move through the world with such ease. We don't often think about the countless hours of practice, the countless micro-adjustments, and the countless neurons firing in our brain to make it all happen. Yet, motion is a form of intelligence, and understanding the neuroscience of motor learning can give us a tremendous power to master skills. We’ll be talking about the simple to implement principle...
Feb 14, 2023•1 hr 2 min
How does the brain control sleep? Why do our brains need sleep in the first place? What are the health benefits of sleep? Why do some animals sleep more than others? What are dreams and why do our brains generate them? Why is it so hard to fall asleep when you’re stressed or hungry? How did sleep evolve? In this video, we will explore the amazing science of sleep. We’ll see how specific brain regions, particularly the hypothalamus and brainstem, form circuits that make us fall asleep, stay aslee...
Jan 31, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Take a moment to feel what’s going on inside your body. Maybe your stomach is starting to feel hungry, or maybe it feels pleasantly full and satisfied. Maybe you don’t feel any specific area, but instead you sense a hum of life within you–your breath gently moving in and out and subtle tingles throughout your body. What’s amazing is that, while those feelings seem like they’re happening in your body, it’s not your body that’s actually feeling them! Instead, your brain is creating your experience...
Jan 24, 2023•1 hr 2 min
These days, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and distracted by the barrage of notifications, emails, and tasks that vie for our attention. It can be hard to stay focused and give our undivided attention to the things that truly matter. Rather than reflexively reacting to the chaos, we must take the time to pause, reflect, and make intentional decisions about how to use the power of our attention. We often take for granted our ability to take control of our attention, forgetting that the brain's att...
Jan 10, 2023•1 hr 1 min
We spend a lot of time thinking about the future or the past, often at the expense of living in the present. As we talked about in the last episode, this kind of cognition is completely natural: it’s built into the brain’s default mode network. And while planning for the future, reviewing the past, and mind wandering are all important and healthy aspects of being human, they can also make us unhappy when they’re constantly taking us away from the present moment. Fortunately, there is a simple, r...
Dec 20, 2022•1 hr 2 min
What makes human cognition so much different from that of other animals? The short answer has to do with a single brain network: the default mode network (DMN). Humans are deliberative, able to flexibly combine the current moment with the past so that we can simulate and predict the future. We can remember things that occurred years and even decades ago and we can plan for life events that won't happen until well into our future. This allows us to build meaning and to develop identity and a sens...
Dec 06, 2022•1 hr 1 min
How does the human brain develop an addiction? The extremely high prevalence rates for disorders such as alcohol use disorder or drug use disorder (1 in 3 AUD lifetime prevalence, 1 in 10 DUD lifetime prevalence) suggests that addiction is not simply a disease but is instead a natural brain process that each and every one of us is susceptible to. The fascinating thing that is unraveling in the research is that the brain processes that lead to addiction are not drug or alcohol specific but instea...
Nov 23, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 43: Interoception: Why Emotions Feel the Way They Do Watch here: https://youtu.be/5-8IfXRMM9g Feelings are extremely important indicators of our wellbeing, whether they’re purely physical internal sensations (like a stomach ache) or emotional feelings (like the upset stomach you might get before you give a big presentation). Interoception is the sense of the inside of the body, and it provides the basis for both types of feelings. In this video, we’ll see how bodily...
Nov 18, 2022•11 min•Ep. 43
Idea for audience to ponder: Everyone knows what an emotion is.. until they are asked to explain it. We all have a sense that we are living emotional lives and that these emotional drives have immense control of our behavior but it’s hard to say what that emotion actually is. Is it the physiology? Is it the brain activity? Can single cells have feelings or emotions without nervous systems? Are there such things as basic emotions (happiness, fear, anger, surprise.. etc) and are there dedicated br...
Nov 01, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 42: Horror Movies MANIPULATE YOUR BRAIN (the neuroscience of scary movies) Horror movies can subtly manipulate the human brain, causing us to feel fear when there is not actually any danger. Scary movies do this by stimulating our brain’s fear circuit. But that’s pretty obvious. The more important question is: Why do people voluntarily submit themselves to such a scary experience? Why do some people enjoy horror movies while others can’t stand it? How do horror movi...
Oct 28, 2022•9 min•Ep. 42
Can scientists read your mind and figure out what you're thinking just by looking at your brain? Well, sort of. In this episode of The Social Brain with Taylor Guthrie (@The Cellular Republic) and I (@Sense of Mind) talk about a fascinating new area of cognitive neuroscience, called "brain decoding" as well as its counterpart, "brain encoding," and related topics. It all centers on the question posed above and the future applications, some of which are scary while others are inspiring. -- What d...
Oct 18, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 41: PLEASURE GENERATORS in the Brain: The Neuroscience of Pleasure Explained In the brain, pleasure is generated by a handful of brain regions called, “hedonic hotspots.” If you were to stimulate these regions directly, you would likely feel pleasurable sensations. However, not all of the hedonic hotspots are the same–some generate the raw sensations of pleasure whereas others are responsible for consciously interpreting and elaborating on the raw pleasure produced ...
Oct 14, 2022•14 min•Ep. 41
Brain synchronization and shared neural representations! In episode 3 of The Social Brain with The Cellular Republic (Taylor Guthrie) and me, we talk about how brain activity in two different people's brains can become synchronized in social situations. We also talk about Taylor's research into the fact that people who are friends tend to show similar patterns of brain activity in various scenarios. -- What do you want us to cover in future episodes? Drop it in the comments! Link to follow: Make...
Oct 10, 2022•58 min
Neuroscience has a fascinating and at times funny history but it is an extremely new scientific discipline. Explore with us how neuroscience got it's start and how this led to the rise of fields like social and cognitive neuroscience. This is the second episode of a new twice monthly podcast I'm doing with social neuroscientist Taylor Guthrie. Taylor is a researcher, PhD student, and lecturer at the University of Oregon, and he runs the neuroscience YouTube channel, "The Cellular Republic." -- C...
Sep 24, 2022•1 hr 1 min
From single cells within an organism to individuals within a society, all living things engage in social processes. Join us and explore how these dynamic social interactions shaped evolution and made our brains what they are today. This is the first episode of a new twice monthly podcast I'm doing with social neuroscientist Taylor Guthrie. Taylor is a researcher, PhD student, and lecturer at the University of Oregon, and he runs the neuroscience YouTube channel, "The Cellular Republic." Check ou...
Sep 24, 2022•58 min
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 40: How Emotions Influence Economic Decisions How do your emotions influence your economic decisions? This video explores how sadness, disgust, fear, gratitude, and happiness influence our decisions, especially those around money. It also explains a couple strategies for regulating our emotions so we can make wiser financial decisions. In general, happiness and gratitude make us more patient in delaying gratification. Fear makes all but the least risky (and therefor...
Sep 16, 2022•14 min•Ep. 40
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 39: Oxytocin and Sociality - Understanding the ‘Love Hormone’ Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/kBbdWVy957E Oxytocin and human sociality are deeply intertwined. In this video, we’ll look at methods to increase oxytocin levels, how oxytocin promotes helpful behaviors toward people we like and hostile behaviors toward those we don’t, the social salience hypothesis of oxytocin, the oxytocin system’s neuroanatomy and the brain regions affected by oxytocin. Find all...
Sep 02, 2022•15 min•Ep. 39
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 38: Dog Minds Decoded with Ellen Furlong Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/J-9rao7zdxY Dogs have rich and complex minds. But since dogs can’t talk, we need scientists who can decode dog minds. So in this episode I interview Dr. Ellen Furlong, a scientist who studies dog psychology and the author of the course, “Decoding Dogs: Inside the Canine Mind,” which is available from Audible and the Great Courses. Ellen Furlong is an Associate Professor in Psychology at ...
Aug 26, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 38
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 37: Talking About Neurotheology with Bryan Spoon Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/jsZp_9ILcbI In this episode I’m talking about neurotheology with Bryan Spoon, who is a pastor, chaplain, and neuroscience YouTuber who runs the channel @Neurotheology. “Neurotheology” is the branch of neuroscience that seeks to understand the relationship between the human brain and religion. I loved having this conversation with Bryan. Even though we differ on our religious view...
Aug 19, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 37
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 36: How the Cerebellum Works - Dissecting the “Little Brain" Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/Y0qNM93Ztt0 The cerebellum is important for movement and cognition. That might be a surprise, because for a while the cerebellum was thought to be solely involved in the coordination of bodily movements. While the cerebellum is undoubtedly crucial for coordination and accuracy of movement, it is important for emotional regulation and executive functions, as well as ve...
Aug 12, 2022•38 min•Ep. 36
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 35: Cognitive Science with Ryan Rhodes Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/P0ejbrcnmPY Cognitive science is a fascinating area of study that aims to understand how the mind works as an information processing machine. For anyone interested in neuroscience or psychology, it’s important to understand the basics of cognitive science. So in this week’s episode, I’m talking to cognitive scientist and YouTuber, Dr. Ryan Rhodes. Ryan is Assistant Teaching Professor for t...
Aug 05, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 35
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 34: Nicholas Christakis on The Evolutionary Origins of Society Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/ZymrWBQ9nfE Human societies are a product of our evolution as a social species. While many scientists have focused on the negative side of our evolved social life–especially our violent tendencies–that’s only half the story. Physician and social scientist, Dr. Nicholas Christakis argues that we also have an evolved tendency toward forming good societies where people...
Jul 29, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 34
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 33: Psychology Unlocked! A Conversation with Daniel Edward Watch the full video:https://youtu.be/5-TWn5_E1YQ What is psychology? How do scientists study the mind? What are the most important experiments in the history of psychology? These are questions that Daniel Edward has been asking and answering on his popular YouTube channel, @Psychology Unlocked. I first came across this channel a few months ago, and I was instantly hooked by Daniel’s clear presentation and h...
Jul 22, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 33
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 32: Talking About Neuroscience with Athanasios Bourganos (@Cognic) Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/SAnsT0cVu30 What is the history of neuroscience? What role does philosophy play in our understanding of how the brain works? In this interview, Athanasios Bourganos (also known as @Cognic on YouTube) and I discuss these fascinating questions. We also touch on free will, how to think about neuroscientific findings, science communication, and generally how the bra...
Jul 12, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 32
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 31 - Shame - with Joseph Burgo Watch full video: https://youtu.be/8wpnL0gjKNE Shame is an unpleasant emotion we have all experienced at one point or another. Most of us know it as the feeling associated with knowing that we’ve done something wrong–that our actions were not aligned with our values. In this way, as my interview guest Dr. Joseph Burgo argues, shame can be a positive emotion, because truly understanding why you feel ashamed can help you to grow to be th...
Jul 08, 2022•56 min•Ep. 31
Sense of Mind Podcast Episode 30 - How To Be Fearless: The Neuroscience of Fear Conditioning Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/UQba4QXHdO8 (references on YouTube!) -- Chapters 00:00 The neuroscience of fear conditioning helps explain how our brains learn to fear things 00:36 Fear Conditioning and Extinction 01:29 Unconditioned vs Conditioned Stimulus 01:50 The Freeze Response 02:32 Fear Extinction 03:27 Fear Conditioning Mechanisms in The Brain 08:50 Disrupting Fear Memories 11:25 Stre...
Jul 01, 2022•16 min•Ep. 30
