BRAINLAND

In this podcast we discuss the music called plainchant or plainsong - what it is, how did it arise and what effect does it have? We discuss the modal nature of the music, possible links to earlier Jewish intoning and the importance of resonance in recording. Bernard describes his research project in which subjects record their responses, relating to memory, emotion and transcendence. Three short e...

Joseph Beuys was a radical post-war German artist who worked in unusual media and in the 1970s developed the notion of ‘social sculpture’ based on the concept that everything is art and every aspect of life could be approached creatively. For episode 17 this season Hugh Rickards, a younger neuropsychiatric colleague from the English Midlands, read and discussed his essay 'The lost tribes of neurop...

In this podcast Kimberly Campanello, a poet, novelist and academic, talks frankly about her early onset Parkinson's disease and how this lead her to pursue her Italian roots in Puglia. On a visit there, to her great grandmother's village, she literally discovered Dante's 'Comedia', which she is currently 'reversioning' - a method that involves processing the original Italian, a range of translatio...

The Burden Neurological Institute (and Hospital) opened its' doors in 1939 and closed in 2000. In this wide ranging conversation, Jonathan Bird and Ken Barrett, neuropsychiatric alumni, chew the fat about the history of 'The Burden', the research home of Grey Walter who featured in the last Brainland episode. We discuss the unusual origin, Frederick Golla, the first director, the impact of the war...

Grey Walter was an important figure in mid-20th century neurophysiology and cybernetics and this episode brings together professors of history of science and AI to discuss his life and work. We talk about his early personal and academic life, moving on to his work as a pioneer of the clinical applications of the EEG, particularly at the Burden Neurological Institute in Bristol. After setting the s...

In this conversation philospher Raymond Tallis talks about his new book 'Circling Around Explicitness: The heart of human being'. Ray's book opens with a quote from German philosopher Friedrich Schelling ‘Uniquely within us nature opens her eyes and sees that she exists.’ What follows is an exploration of the meaning of 'thatness', his attempt to, in his words, 'eff the uneffed'. Our circling...

Earlier this season we recorded an episode on poetry and neuroscience in which Eugen Wassiliwitzki pointed out that in German the grammar produces many more internal rhymes and rhythms. This is perhaps even more true of Italian. The leading Italian poet of the last century is probably Nobel Prize winner Eugenio Montale. Jonathan Galassi has been reading, researching and translating Montale for dec...

How can current thinking in psychology and neuroscience, about how we make decisions, inform our understanding of moral questions and make for a better society? That question is central to David Redish's book 'Changing How We Choose'. In this podcast David defines neuroeconomics and explains why applying science and engineering models to moral questions is useful, 'engineering' relating to applyin...

In this specially extended episode of the podcast we speak with Jonathan Dove, one of the most performed contemporary opera/classical composers working today. He talks about his first steps in music, making up tunes on the piano well before taking formal lessons, his organ playing in church, often improvising, and the great contribution of London schools' music provision to his education. Jonathan...

In this podcast we talk about the way Freud has been depicted in the movies, particularly the 1962 John Houston film 'Freud: The Secret Passion'. Ian discusses Houston's complicated relationship with the star, Montgomery Clift, Sartre's early involvement with the script, the film's 'film noir' feel, Jerry Goldsmith's music, with a detour into avant garde composers work on horror films. Ian charact...

Finnish film director Pia Tikka began studying the psychology and later the neuroscience of film making 25 years ago and is currently studying the experience and process of cinematographers and film editors.she talks about how writings of Soviet film maker and theorist Sergei Eisenstein has been particularly influential, particularly following his later interactions with neuropsychologist Luria, G...

In this podcast, Emily talks about how she came to write 'While the music lasts', her very personal account of her response to the death of her father, one of the key inspirations for her career choice. Her book documents how for several months after his death she avoided music as it made her angry and how eventually her musicologist training helped her navigate that period. This included an in de...

Mark Solms is a clinical neuropsychologist, neuroscientist and psychoanalyst. In this wide-ranging conversation Marks talks about his career path and the influence of a brain injury in family member when Mark was a child. Mark talks about Freud's pre-psychoanalytic work as a neuroscientist and neurologist and his own ongoing retranslation of Freud's neuroscientific writing. We discuss Mark's disco...

In this podcast Hugh Rickards reads his unpublished essay, 'The Lost Tribes of Neuropsychiatry', raising a number of interesting issues relating to neuropsychiatric services in the UK, and their lack. We chew over some of the issues raised including causes for the abandonment of poeple with chronic mental disorders arising directly from brain disease or damage, and whether the still small discipli...

In this conversation we survey the field of contemporary visual neuroaesthetics. After defining terms, Ed talks through a current project by way of illustration before discussing the so-called 'aesthetic triad', dopamine and opioids, prediction models and computational neuroscience. We talk about neuro-investigation including recent techniques for processing an applications of EEG, a much more por...

In this wide ranging conversation Michael Asbury discusses the history of Brazil and the way contemporary art has interrogated the legacies of colonialism, slavery, treatment of indigenous peoples and management of natural resources, and, more recently, demonisation by right wing political figures. We also take a deep dive into the concept of 'anthropophagia' and the multi media 'Tropicalia' movem...

In this wide ranging conversation Erika discusses the evidence for psychedelic use over millennia and world-wide. We talk about her investigation into and opportunity to speak with Humphry Osmond, the British psychiatrists who coined the term 'psychedelic', and introduced Aldous Huxley to mescaline. We roam from Canada to India, West Africa, Cold War Czechoslovakia and Sartre's bad trip before mov...

David Escobebo has been involved in improv theatre for over 25 years, beginning in California and more recently in Chester, UK where he has recenty compelted his PhD thesis on the subject. We talk about the social and educational roots of improv is 1930s Chicago and it's evolution into performance/theatre leading to 'Second City, contrasted with the UK where it was a 'revolutionary act against the...

In this podcast, Joanna talks about working with and studying the patient support group 'Clusterbusters' for over a decade and their willingness to become 'outlaws' to obtain or grow illegal psilocybin to treat severe 'cluster' headaches too often after appalling treatment by the medical profession. We discuss the sociology and politics of psychedelics, and medical research generally, reflecting o...

In the special extended 50th episode of the podcast we bring together four of the leading figures in Neuropsychiatry over the last 40 years for a wide ranging discussion that considers the varying definitions of neuropsychiatry, behavioural neurology and neuropsychology and who needs them. We discuss trailblazers in the field over the last century or so, including Solomon...

In this wide ranging conversation we talk about current views on the subject of 'aesthetics', as covering judgements well outside of the arts (choosing a partner, home etc..) and why studying brain and other physiological responses to individually meaningful poems can be a valuable research tool. We talk about the importance of piloerection responses (goosebumps-shivers) across a wide range of spe...

If you want to get a clear view of a subject ask a philiosopher who has thought deeply about it. In this podcast, philosopher Owen Flanangan speaks frankly about his experience of addiction to alcohol and tranquillisers, 18 years on, and why he felt compelled to write about his experience and analysis of the problem. We talk about substance use and creativity, identity, social cohesive, marker of...

Tricia is a dancer, teacher and the author of two historical novels based around dance and dancers. In this podcast she talks about the experience of dancing solo and in a group and her writing. Her most recent book, and a related performance piece, is a memoir/journal of the final days of her parent that also tracks her regular attendance at a circus school alongside memories of her childhood and...

Following on from the last episode, today we consider how neuroscientists investigate the brain in relation to dance. Peter talks about his background as a classical musician before branching into the psychology and then neuroscience of dance. He explains the complexity of the subject - the many variables at play during dance and between dancers - and what progress has been made to understand the...

Adrian Look, London-based choreographer and specialist in German 'Tanztheatre', talks about the origin of Tanztheatre within the 1920s Germany expressionist movement, tand aken to the next level by Pina Bausch in the modern era. Adrian talks about his unusual entry into dance, after a background of sport and philosophy. He discusses his reasons for coming to London, to be free of the over-respectf...