Smooth Brain Society

Dr. Marina Wimmer , Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University calls in from Scotland to talk about the perception of ambiguous figures, "seeing" images without any stimulus and the development of false memories. She talks about her research with children on the development of cognitive processes underlying these phenomena Support the show Support us and reach out! https://smooth...

Dan Zia Joseph, author of Backpack to Rucksack: Insight Into Leadership and Resilience From Military Experts , joins from the United States to speak about mental health among military personnel and veterans, the importance of understanding mental health as a leadership quality, steps to improve mental health, his research on jiujitsu as a mechanism for anxiety control and his upcoming books.  Dan&...

Multiple factors shape the complex relationships people have with their own culture and identity. This particularly affects indigenous communities the world over and has given rise to a wave of leaders working towards uplifting their communities into mainstream discourse. Rirwai Fox, Principal Kaupapa Māori Researcher, Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand and Ellie Rukuwai, PhD student focusing on the...

Professor Paul Jose is a developmental, cross-cultural and political psychologist currently working at Victoria University of Wellington. He is the first psychologist to develop a thorough measurement of the concept of wokeness and joins us to define what wokeism is, where people in political discourse go wrong, why it is so polarizing and what are the results of his initial research on participan...

Dr. Kasia Kostyrka-Allchorne is the lead researcher of two National Health Service (NHS) projects in the United Kingdom. One looks at the use of mental health apps for parents with neurodiverse children ( OPTIMA ) and the other is setup to understand the risks and benefits of mental health digital technology use (DIORA) . She calls in to the podcast to discuss her work on these projects and their...

Dr. Marianne Reddan, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City, USA. Joins Sahir and Olivia to talk about social factors which influence pain. We try to improve our understanding of what pain is, how emotional pain is different from physical pain and how acute pain works differently from chronic pain. We cover factors such as peoples relationships, economic status, gender and race...

Dr. Carolyn Wilshire is a neuropsychologist who examines the cognitive processes and neural systems involved in high-level mental functions (such as motivation and planning). Her work aims to critically analyze difficult-to-diagnose health complaints and provide context to health psychology, psychopathology and neuropsychology. As these are all fancy words Dr. Wilshire joined Alex and Sahir to hel...

Associate Professor Mele Taumoepeau of Victoria University of Wellington joins Olivia and Sahir to talk about the use of language in child development and differences in growing up between cultures. Assoc Prof. Taumoepeau speaks to why babies so much better at picking up languages and how different cultures influence child development as well as her research about the benefits and problems of bein...

What do we mean when someone is creative? Professor. Vlad Glaveanu from Dublin City University video called in to talk about his work with creativity, imagination, culture, societal changes and possibility. We cover topics like the factors useful to creativity, types of creative identities, creativity and culture and Prof. Vlad's recent work on possibility and researching memes. Prof. Vlad Gl...

Dr. Adrian Raine, is one of the leading voices in neurocriminology. He was the first scientist to use neuroimaging to study the brains of murderers and is noted for his research on the neurobiological causes violent behaviour in children and adults. He currently holds the  chair of Richard Perry University Professor of Criminology & Psychiatry in the Department of Criminology of the School of...

Dr. Johannes Karl, Assistant professor in Psychology at the Dublin City University, Ireland, joins us to talk about what rituals are, why they come about and what benefits they provide. Dr. Karl's research covers topics including  Mindfulness, Contemplative Practice, Rituals and Non-Ordinary Experience, Personality and Values, and rituals across cultures. Support the show Support us and reach...

Dr. Aiyana Willard, Senior lecturer at the Centre for Culture and Evolution at Brunel University London and research associate at the Institute for Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford. Dr. Willard along with Feryl Badiani, PhD student focusing on Hinduism in India, talk to us about what religions are, why they exist, the reasons for some religions being more successful than others an...

For Pride month at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington, post-graduate students at the School of Psychology held an event showcasing their research and sharing their experiences as members of the rainbow community. To continue the discussions started, students Clare Bradley, Lee Bravestone, Tatyana King-Finau and Maggie Shippam along with Dr. Gloria Fraser, Research Fellow at VUW, joi...

Aotearoa New Zealand celebrated Mental Health Awareness week 2022 from the 28th of September to the 2nd of October.  To pay tribute to the work done by people who do not fit directly under the traditional psychologist, psychiatrists and therapist roles, we had 3 interviews with guests covering different styles of support work and mental health resources available to communities. This episode conta...

The criminalization of multiple recreational drugs in the 1970s also led to a reduction in the research on them. Research on psychedelics (example, LSD and magic mushrooms) had previously shown to be beneficial in certain mental health treatments. In the past 20 years, clinical and pre-clinical research on psychedelics has picked up again. Professor Bart Ellenbroek , Head of the Behavioural Neurog...

Dr. Richard Johnson, Lead of The Indian in Me project and Senior Lecturer in the School of Education Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology , Australia, talks to us about people coming from hyphenated ethnicities. Using his own example as an Anglo-Indian (people with British and Indian backgrounds) he goes through the challenges of identity faced by people from similar cultures, the influence of...

Forensic Psychologist Dr. Roxy Heffernan discusses rehabilitation programs in the prison systems focusing on New Zealand. The two prevailing models of rehabilitation, the risk-need-responsivity models and the Good Lives Model. Her experiences of working with Ara Poutana Aotearoa (Department of Corrections New Zealand) and what steps we need to take to improve our current systems. Support the show...

Clinical Neuropsychologist Dr. Josh Faulkner talks to us about traumatic brain injury (TBI) mainly focusing on mild injuries commonly known as concussions. We discuss what brain injuries look like, how Dr. Faulkner has used Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT therapy) with his patients and some of the latest research in the area and what it means for people dealing with the effects of a concuss...

As the 20th of June is World Refugee Day, we had Dr. Marieke Jasperse,  Senior Advisor Trafficking in Persons, Immigration New Zealand and Kodrean Eashae,  Host of Voice of Aroha , Wellington Access Radio come on. Our guests gave us an insight into the lived experiences of refugees in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world, the misconceptions which are prevalent in discussions around migrant re...

Dr. Tia Neha, Senior Lecturer in Māori and Indigenous Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington, speaks about community driven research with the example of her own doctoral studies within Māori communities, the importance of language, culture and relationships, the difference in techniques between indigenous research and western research and their place in science as a whole.  Dr. Tia Neha&a...

For our first international interview, we called in to Hyderabad, India and spoke to Dr. Qurratulain Hasan, Founder and President of the Board of Genetic Counselling, India. Dr. Hasan gave us an introduction into the field of genetic counselling, the relevance of genetics in public health setups across the world and the growing importance of it in medical setups. We also cover her international wo...

Relationships researcher, Dr. Matt Hammond joined us to answer questions asked by our instagram followers about relationships. CW : The episode covers content on topics such as aggression/gaslighting/violence. If you are looking for assistance, here are links to some of the places mentioned in the podcast. https://www.wannatalkaboutit.com [this works internationally, it redirects you to specific h...

Associate Professor Hedwig Eisenbarth talks to us about research on people with high psychopathic traits. What characteristics define a psychopath? are they built different? and what motivates them?   Support the show Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com https://www.patreon.com/SmoothBrainSociety Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X:  @Smoo...

Discussion with Social and Political Psychologist, Associate Dean of Science at Victoria University of Wellington, Professor Marc Wilson. Prof, Wilson gives us an introduction to the world of social psychology through his own research covering attachment theory, political and social identity, conspiracy beliefs and youth wellbeing. We also talk about his work with reality television and science in...