The BrainCore Podcast

To continue their conversations on consciousness, Tolu and Kristina are joined by Dr. Adrian Owen, a world-renowned neuroscientist, and Professor at the Brain and Mind Institute in London, Ontario. Back in 2006, Adrian's work showed that some individuals who were in a vegetative state could respond to questions with their brain activation - brain activation that could be viewed with an fMRI. In th...

First off, Tolu apologizes for the sound quality on her end - but what is podcasting without mic issues?  In this exciting episode, Tolu and Kristina start their two-month focus on the topic of Consciousness. They are joined by the knowledgable Patricia Churchland to discuss consciousness from a neurophilosophical point of view. Pat is one of the founders of Neurophilosophy and is a Professor...

Tolu and Kristina go all the way to Greece (virtually) to discuss psychodrama therapy with Dr. Nikos Takis. This month they aim to put the focus on their respective countries of origin: Greece for Kristina and Nigeria for Tolu. Together, they discuss the history of psychodrama, what a psychodrama therapy session is like and how certain concepts like myth can be incorporated into group sessions. Th...

In this episode, Kristina and Tolu discuss their previous episodes and highlight their favourites so far. They also talk about how they felt at the start of their podcasting journey and how they feel now. Towards the end, they also talk about what the future may hold for the Braincore name! This is just a short episode to wrap up the school year and so there's no term of the episode.  Email :...

How do you begin to feel like you belong in a certain environment? A specific position? A new job? How can you start to internalize your successes when they occur? In this episode, Tolu and Kristina tackle the Imposter Phenomenon, better known as Imposter Syndrome. They are joined by Brooke Vick (Associate Provost at Muhlenberg College), Nick Rule (Professor of Psychology at the University of Toro...

This March, Tolu and Kristina take a deeper dive into psychological phenomena. To start the dive, they are joined by Professor of Psychology at the Florida Institute of Technology, Dr. Richard Addante. In this episode, Rick explains the Dunning-Kruger Effect or DKE. He also briefly explains his role in NASA's largest psychology for space travel. Have you ever underestimated or overestimated your a...

A haptic wristband that can convert emotions into vibrations, an app that tracks important data from dementia patients, and a group distributing medical and sanitary supply kits in the Bay Area. All of these initiatives have been co-founded by student entrepreneur Chloe Duckworth. To finish up our month's focus on neurotechnology, we invited Chloe, a sophomore (second-year student) at the Universi...

Neurable is a company that is trying to improve our ability to focus on tasks and get things done. They're doing this with the help of neurotechnology! In this episode, Tolu and Kristina are joined by a co-founder of Neurable, Adam Molnar to discuss what Neurable is up to. They talk briefly about the technologies used in the company's upcoming product, the future of work, and what we can expect to...

Bionic eyes, Neural dust, Neuralink...Tolu and Kristina ease into February by taking an overview of the neurotechnology field. What is artificial intelligence being used for? Could AI benefit mental health professionals in the future? What can we expect from Elon Musk's Neuralink product? Neurotechnology is a relatively new field, one which is a combination of many other disciplines - should we ex...

Tolu and Kristina talk about haptic technology with co-founder of WearWorks, Keith Kirkland. Visually, the colour red signals 'stop' or 'danger', but what is the haptic equivalent of red? Does it exist? What can a multisensory experience look like with haptics as the lead, and visual and auditory technology as the enhancers? How does psychology inform the engineering process of a product like the...

PTSD! What is it and how can analyzing brain tissue inform future treatments for it? Tolu and Kristina are joined by PTSD expert, Dr. Matthew J. Friedman and Dr. Matthew J. Girgenti, an Associate Research Scientist from the Yale School of Medicine. In this episode, they talk about transcriptomics, proteomics, PTSD treatments, and immunology. They also talk about the sex differences found in PTSD b...

A bonus episode to end the year! Tara Goodale joins Tolu and Kristina to talk about her experience living with depression, and her experience with anorexia and bulimia. It is likely that all of our listeners know someone who has or is suffering from depression. In this episode, Tara shares with us how she has managed it over the years with therapy, medication, and social support. What can you do f...

In this episode, Tolu and Kristina take the conversation all the way to the UK to discuss the negative symptoms of schizophrenia with Isabelle Butcher, a Ph. D. student at the University of Manchester. What are negative symptoms? How can one feel...but also not feel? How do these symptoms differ from person to person? How do patients with schizophrenia think their symptoms came to be? All of this...

In this episode, Tolu and Kristina talk with Christine Knox, a professional in the field of both social work and psychotherapy at the Toronto Neurofeedback and Psychotherapy Centre. They talk about about how therapy has been impacted by the pandemic, what the future of therapeutic treatments may look like and what a holistic approach looks like in therapy. What is neurofeedback therapy? Why can yo...

Tolu and Kristina take a deeper dive into the topic of memory with Dr. Myra Fernandes and her PhD student, Ryan C. Yeung from the University of Waterloo. How many different kinds of memory are there? What are Proustian memories? Are there better ways to analyze qualitative data? Does a specific form of memory give insight into mental health...say recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories (IA...

As the U.S. election results pile in, Tolu and Kristina take a break from the news to have a chat with York College of Pennsylvania psychology professor, Dr. Samantha Deffler. They have decided to dedicate November to Cognitive Psychology! Have you ever been misnamed by someone familiar to you? Have you ever been the misnamer? Why is it more likely to mix up the dog's name with other family member...

Tolu and Kristina, joined by the knowledgeable Dr. Sawa Senzaki from the University of Wisconsin, Green-Bay, delve into the discussion of WEIRD cultures. Why is it so important for psychological research to expand beyond WEIRD populations? What tips can help further the research in new communities? Tolu, Kristina, and Sawa also provide insight into their respective Nigerian, Greek and Japanese cul...

Tolu and Kristina discuss the case of the Romanian orphanages. Is it possible that childhood deprivation can impact brain volume? Further, can enrichment and movement to another environment improve delayed development? They talk siblings, growing up and how one's tendency to emulate others decreases as time goes on. The term of the episode (TOTE) is neuroplasticity.  Journal Article Discussed...

Tolu and Kristina are joined by Dr. Carissa Cascio who teaches at Vanderbilt University to discuss the importance of social touch on human development. What is social touch? How does it influence our daily activities? How has the pandemic impacted our ability to engage in social touch? Two, chilling experiments are also described at the start of the episode to complement the month of October. The...

Tolu and Kristina discuss the possible ironic effects of anti-prejudice interventions with Dr. Michael Inzlicht, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Is it possible these interventions may actually end up increasing prejudice? They also talk briefly about the Implicit Association Test. Does the test actually produce reliable and valid results? The terms of the Episode (...

In this episode, Tolu and Kristina discuss the interplay between the perception of others through clothing and racism. Why do certain outfits on others instil a feeling of warmth or danger in us? How can we become aware of our own internal biases? What should we all be wary of in shows like the Money Heist? All of this is discussed with special guest and professor of Psychological Science at Orego...

Tolu and Kristina talk about who they are, why BrainCore exists, and what they hope to achieve with this new platform. Why is research a little hard to get into? How can BrainCore make things a little easier to understand? The term of the episode (TOTE) is Heuristics - referring to mental shortcuts or rules of thumb.   Email - thebraincorepodcast@gmail.com  Instagram - @thebraincore...