Minds Matter

A Minds Matter bonus episode! This week we step away from the research questions and have a chat with a Buddhist monk. Bhikkhu Sadaro (Kevin Berryman) is a Buddhist monk from the Ajahn Chah forest meditation tradition who has been practising for the last 17 years. We speak to him about everything from enlightenment, love, loss, and the self.

How do you feel about hierarchies? Dr. Sa-Kiera Hudson joins us to discuss how the answer may influence empathy and intergroup conflict. Support for hierarchies can lead not only to reduced empathy, but to increased counter-empathy for competitive groups. We further discuss what happens when hierarchies intersect and how psychology can study multiple identities (race, gender, sexual orientation) s...

Have you ever wondered why some days you order your same favourite meal whereas others you decide to try something new? How do we know when we should exploit previous choices or explore new possibilities? In this episode, Noor Sajid discusses her work on active inference, a framework that can answer this problem. Noor uses active inference to investigate many properties of our brain and behaviour,...

What actually makes for good sleep? Dr. Lauren Whitehurst joins us to discuss how the brain, and crucially, the rest of the body, interact to support cognitive functions like memory consolidation and insight. Dr. Whitehurst shares how vital sleep is to overall health, and what happens when some communities systematically get less sleep than others. Beth & Ava discuss their own experiences with...

Resilience is a word we hear all the time, but what does it actually mean to be resilient? In this episode, Dr. Lucy Hone discusses her work on resilience and well-being. Sharing her own lived experience with grief, Dr. Hone explains resilience doesn’t mean being fine all the time. We discuss how we can improve our resilience along with the science behind the ideas of gratitude and learned helples...

Do we see things the way they really are or do our biases and motivations influence our perception? Dr Yuan Chang Leong discusses his research on how our motivations influence how we see the world. If we are biased to see the world differently to others, can we ever really understand someone with different political beliefs? We discuss why we have these biases at all and how they may help us live...

One of the first and strictest gun laws passed in the United States was the Mulford act of 1967, sparked by lawmakers perceived threat of the Black Panthers. Thus, the launch of the gun restriction movement was a targeted effort to limit Black Americans' gun access. How does this history influence attitudes about guns in the U.S. today? Dr. Gerald Higginbotham discusses the importance of history a...

Why do some people amass have friends effortlessly while others remain isolated? Dr. Elisa Baek tells us about her work using social network analysis to examine the differences between the brains of well-connected and lonely people. Dr. Baek also shares why those with the most friends might not be the most magnetic or charismatic, but might rather be those with the strongest need to belong.

What comes first, language, or emotion? In this episode, Dr. Ajay Satpute shares his work examining how the brain and mind interact with language to create and process emotion. Is jumping when seeing a spider the same as worrying about a loved one passing away? Why do we call so many different experiences 'fear'? We discuss how we can apply this knowledge to our everyday lives, including mental he...

To kick off season 2, we are joined by Dr. Kelsey Perrykkad, a post-doc at Monash University. Dr. Perrykkad tells us about her work on understanding the self, in the framework of predictive processing. We discuss what predictive processing actually is, whether people can change, and why the self feels the way it does... and more!

Beth Fisher and Ava Ma de Sousa bring you a Minds Matter episode on a very exciting topic: boredom. We promise it's more interesting than it seems! Boredom has been linked to creativity and imagination, but also to depression and self-destructive behaviors. In this episode, we examine what boredom is, and whether we should lean into it or run from it.

Does abstract art leave you feeling in awe or annoyed? Art can provoke powerful experiences, making one feel overcome by the experience of beauty. Are there beauty universals based in evolution and biology, or is beauty in the eye of a culturally conditioned beholder? In this episode of Minds Matter, Beth and Ava enter the fray to examine what neuroscience and psychology can add to the debate on a...

Do you consider yourself to be a curious person? If you are, you might have better relationships, be less aggressive, and less affected by rejection. Sounds nice right? On this episode of Minds Matter, Beth Fisher and Ava Ma de Sousa discuss curiosity, and whether this is a trait that can be trained. ​ Tune in for a deep dive into the brain on curiosity, how it helps memory, and why so many people...

Empathy has been touted as the answer to the world's crises, while also been pointed to as a potential hindrance to morality. How can researchers be so divided? In this episode of Minds Matter, Beth Fisher and Ava Ma de Sousa explore empathy's various definitions, its possible grounding in 'mirror neurons', and whether the empathy lives up to its hype or notoriety.

The elusive nature of dreams has led some to believe that they serve as a tool to uncover our unconscious desires, solve problems, and maybe help us catch a stroke of genius. While most of us barely remember our dreams in the morning, some lucid dreamers can control all aspects of their night-time hallucinations. In this episode of Minds Matter, Beth Fisher and Ava Ma de Sousa discuss the science...

Conspiracy theories have always existed, but with the global pandemic keeping us locked inside and glued to the internet, it seems that these beliefs are becoming more and more common. But are conspiracy theories really on the rise and is social media to blame? ​ In this episode, Beth Fisher and Ava Ma de Sousa look into the psychological mechanisms behind these fringe beliefs, the harms they may...

The billion-dollar industry of mindfulness promises us reductions in anxiety, knowledge of our true selves, and general transcendence... or something. This episode, Beth and Ava look at what the science of mindfulness does and doesn't tell us about the brain, cognition, and even the self. ​ Come along for the ride as we breakdown the hype around mindfulness, even venturing into potential dark side...

When we listen to music, our brains light up like fireworks. While listening starts in the auditory cortex, processing also involves memory, emotion, social and motor regions. Clearly, music can make us feel a whole lot, and we’ve all got a vague idea that musical practice can make you ‘smarter’, but how? This week, Beth and Ava are diving into what makes music so powerful. From AC/DC to Drake to...

When it comes to love, science has been a bit slow to realize that romantic relationships don't have to be between one man and one woman. But, a lot of research can be salvaged since the various stages of love (excitement, nervousness, attachment...) are experienced pretty similarly for anyone, regardless of gender, culture or relationship structure. So, what does happen to our brain, thoughts and...

Getting lost in bittersweet memories of the past might not seem like the most productive use of your time. But, research shows nostalgia can actually be a great coping strategy to deal with negative emotions. ​ So, should you plunge yourself into long and languid daydreams about your glory days? Not necessarily. This week Beth, Noah and Ava explore what triggers nostalgia, the contents of these ki...

Take a hike! We mean that in a nice way, seriously. This week we’re talking about the effect of the great outdoors on our brains. Research has shown that being in nature helps us de-stress, makes us exercise, and even helps broaden and focus our attention. But can we isolate what exactly about nature makes it so good for us? Beth, our resident Australian country girl, Ava, a city girl who almost n...