Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Animal model, Biology, Emotion, Empathy, evolution, Podcast, podcasts, social, social neuroscience, Social Sciences on November 14, 2009| Leave a Comment »
It was a great pleasure to speak with Professor Garet Lahvis from the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience at the Oregon Health and Science University, and learn more about how the biology of empathy and social behaviors in general can be approached with animal models that are suitable for genetic studies. The podcast is HERE and the post on his lab’s recent paper, “Empathy Is Moderated by Genetic Background in Mice” is HERE. Thank you again Dr. Lahvis!
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Posted in COMT, DARPP32, DRD2, Uncategorized, tagged Artificial Intelligence, Basal Ganglia, Brown University, Cognition, Cognitive science, Dopamine, economics, interviews, podcasts, Working memory on August 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »
If you’re interested in the neurobiology of learning and decision making, then you might be interested in this brief interview with Professor Michael Frank who runs the Laboratory of Neural Computation and Cognition at Brown University.
From his lab’s website: “Our research combines computational modeling and experimental work to understand the neural mechanisms underlying reinforcement learning, decision making and working memory. We develop biologically-based neural models that simulate systems-level interactions between multiple brain areas (primarily basal ganglia and frontal cortex and their modulation by dopamine). We test theoretical predictions of the models using various neuropsychological, pharmacological, genetic, and neuroimaging techniques.”
In this interview, Dr. Frank provides some overviews on how genetics fits into this research program and the genetic results in his recent research article “Prefrontal and striatal dopaminergic genes predict individual differences in exploration and exploitation”. Lastly, some lighthearted, informal thoughts on the wider implications and future uses of genetic information in decision making.
To my mind, there is no one else in the literature who so seamlessly and elegantly interrelates genetics with the modern tools of cognitive science and computational neurobiology. His work really allows one to cast genetic variation in terms of its influence on neural computation – which is the ultimate way of understanding how the brain works. It was a treat to host this interview!
Click here for the podcast and here, here, here for previous blog posts on Dr. Frank’s work.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Depression, interviews, Mental health, podcasts, Suicide on June 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »
In this podcast, Michael Corbin, founder of everyminute.org, shares some of his personal background, interests and efforts in the area of suicide prevention and mental health advocacy.
You can reach Michael via email or the website contact page.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged podcasts on June 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Just a place holder for future podcasts – short informal phone chats – with current scientists and social entrepreneurs working in the area of mental health … here’s the link and introductory passage. Hope this will inspire cross-disciplinary interactions from science to mental healthcare macro-policy. Hosted by libsyn.
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Genes 2 Brains 2 Mind 2 Me 