Biopsychology
How does your brain affect your behavior? Forgetting about your childhood for a moment, in these episodes I explore how neurons, neurotransmitters the cortex, the mid brain, and all those other parts of your brain determine who you are and why you do what you do.
Episodes
- Episode 128: Do Brain Training Games Work?
You’ve probably heard about these Brain Training games. Do they really help you to keep your mind sharp? Will they prevent cognitive decline or slow the effects of alzheimer’s disease? In this episode I review some recent studies on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of these popular games.
- Episode 127 (video): Phrenology: Maybe They Were On To Something
Everyone can picture one of those phrenology heads with personality traits drawn into different sections of the cranium. Was there anything to that? Well, not exactly. However, with the use of MRI scans researchers today may have located where certain personality traits lie in your brain. Travel with me into a 3D brain and let’s find out where your personality may lie.
- Openness – dorsolateral PFC, anterior PFC, anterior parietal cortex (research was inconclusive on this personality factor)
- Conscientiousness – Lateral Profrontal Cortex
- Extraversion – Orbitofrontal Cortex, Nucleus Accumbens, Amygdala
- Agreeableness – superior temporal sulcus, posterior cingulate cortex
- Neuroticism – Medial prefrontal cortex, Amygdala, Hippocampus
Resources
- DeYoung, C. G., Hirsh, J. B., Shane, M. S., Papademetris, X., Rajeevan, N., & Gray, J. R. (2010). Testing predictions from personality neuroscience: Brain structure and the Big Five. Psychological Science, 21, 820–828.
- DeYoung, C.G., & Gray, J.R. (2009). Personality neuroscience: Explaining individual differences in affect, behavior, and cognition. In P.J. Corr & G. Matthews (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of personality psychology (pp. 323–346). New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Here’s the website of the lead researcher, Colin DeYoung
- Check out the wonderful 3D brain program called Brain Tutor by Brain Voyager
- Here’s the concept map on Personality Neuroscience I used during this episode.
- A summary and brief interview with Dr. Deyoung can be found in this article, Shape of Brain Tied to Personality, Says Scientist.
- Episode 126 (video): SuperNormal Stimuli: Is This Why We’re Overweight?
There are many reasons why it is difficult to lose weight, but have you considered how supernormal stimuli might be one of them? In this episode I discuss some of the ideas in the books Waistland and Supernormal Stimuli by Dierdre Barrett. Is it possible that the old saying Everything in Moderation might just be wrong? And will Small Changes really help you to get in shape or are radical changes really the way to go?
- Episode 121: Top 10 Psychology Apps for the iPad, iPhone, & iPod
In this video episode I show you 10 of what I consider to be the best psychology apps in the app store. There are a lot of apps out there and many are not so good, but in this episode I pick out what I consider to be credible therapy apps, excellent mobile mind mapping tools, relaxation apps, games based on Gestalt principles of psychology, and some of the best 3 dimensional ways to look at the brain.
- Episode 106: Your Sexual Orientation – How Did It Develop?
How did you get to be heterosexual? Homosexual? Bisexual? Was it nature or nurture (or both?). Were you born with a sexual orientation or did it develop as you grew? What role did your parents play? In this episode I present the most recent scientific research on the topic of how we develop our sexual preference. You’ll find out whether heterosexual men have more testosterone than homosexual men, how most people know their sexual orientation when they are as young as 10 years old (blame your adrenal gland), how your third intersitial nucleus might be playing a role and finally, could it have something to do with the length of your fingers? Find out in this episode of The Psych Files.
- Episode 101: The Psychology of Music: The Role of Expectations and Minor Chords
How does music affect us emotionally? Why do minor chords so sad? In this episode of The Psych Files I explore ideas from Daniel Leviton‘s fascinating book, Your Brain on Music, especially those ideas concerned with what composers do to draw you into their music by first conforming to your musical expectations and then carefully confounding them in order to surprise and delight.
- Episode 93: Your Brain on a Website
How can you use psychology to design a website so people are likely to buy products from you? Or design a website so people are likely to donate money to your cause? In this episode Dr Susan Weinschenk discusses some of these ideas from her book Neuro Web Design. Ever thought you could apply brain science to web design?
- Episode 72 (video): Memorize the Parts of the Brain
Memorize the parts of the brain once and for all! Here’s a mnemonic device to help you remember the parts of the brain. You will never forget what the parts of the brain do after you see this video. Improve your grade on your next biopsychology test and learn more about mnemonics at the same time.
- Episode 63: Cognitive Dissonance, the Monty Hall Problem and a Possible Resolution?
Cognitive Dissonance – one of the most established and respected theories in psychology – is under attack. An economist – M. Keith Chen – uses what is called the “Monty Hall problem” to show that the research on cognitive dissonance may be seriously flawed.
- The Brain Science Podcast Interview on Exercise and the Brain
Dr. Ginger Campbell hosts an excellent podcast which I highly recommend. It’s called the Brain Science podcast. In episode 33 she interviews Dr. John Ratey about his new book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
- Episode 35: The Psychology of Extreme Sports
Why do people engage in those dangerous sports like hang gliding, bungee jumping and rock climbing? Would you believe it might have something to do with neurotransmitters and something called Monoamine Oxidase?
- Episode 31: Lemon Slices and a New Face on Mars! Gestalt Principles at Work
The gestalt principles of perception – how do they explain how we not only sometimes perceive strange things, but also how we can appreciate works of art? We’ll see images on lemon slices, on Mars, and on building tops. Why do we perceive these things?
- Episode 25: The Brains Behind Erikson Part 3
We finish off this series on Erikson by looking at your brain as you develop by examining what is happening in your brain as you age from adolescence to older adulthood.
- Episode 24: The Brains Behind Erikson Part 2
What is happening in your brain as you progress through life? In this episode we take a look at some of the changes that occur in your brain from birth to age 12. Be sure to listen to part 3 of this series, which is episode 25.
- Episode 22: The Brains Behind Erikson Part 1 – Timeliner
I decided that it was time to look at the biology behind the changes that occur in our lives as we grow. As I put my ideas together to do this, I employed a very neat program called Timeliner. It is so cool in fact that I decided to do an episode solely on how to use Timeliner, especially the tool called “merge”. If you are an educator I think you’ll find this episode interesting.
