As part of UBC Psychologys 5th Annual Quinn Memorial Lecture (QML), held on Friday, 9 October 2009, from 4:30 - 5:30 pm. The title of this lecture is "Constructive memory: Remembering the past to imagine the future. " Daniel L. Schacter is Kenan Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. Schachter is a renowned researcher whose research on memory and amnesia memory has had a profound impact on psychological science in general and cognitive neuroscience in particular. This webcast is sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
Karim Nader is a professor at McGill University in the department of Psychology. As a neuroscientist he works to understand what neurobiological processes are involved in acquiring and storing memories, especially relating to fear, in order to use the study of memory reconsolidation to treat anxiety disorders. Dr. Nader made a breakthrough in the field in 1999, when he first revived and tested the obscure theory that memories do not necessarily remain stable--think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Together with Andrew P. Hendry, Dr. Nader was nominated in 2009 for the prestigious E.W.R Steacie Memorial Fellowship. He is also the recipient of a CIHR New Investigator Award and in 2006 was named one of the Top 40 under 40.
For over 20 years, Professor Kevin Dunbar of the University of Toronto has been engaged in studying how people engage in complex reasoning, social interactions, and real-world problem solving. In this presentation he discusses key processes he has discovered that explain the nature of human insight and how humans create new knowledge. His findings provide an understanding of the mechanisms that make complex thinking possible and suggest new ways that creative thought and discovery can be facilitated across a broad range of contexts.
Joshua Greene, John & Ruth Hazel Associate Professor of the Social Sciences Department of Psychology, Harvard University
Abstract:
Does the "is" is of empirical moral psychology have implications for the "ought" of normative ethics? I'll argue that it does. One cannot deduce moral truths form scientific truths, but cognitive science, including cognitive neuroscience, may nevertheless influence moral thinking in profound ways. First, I'll review evidence for the dual-process theory of moral judgment, according to which characteristically deontological judgments tend to be driven by automatic emotional responses while characteristically consequentialist judgments tend to be driven by controlled cognitive processes. I'll then consider the respective functions of automatic and controlled processes. Automatic processes are like the point-and-shoot settings on a camera, efficient but inflexible. Controlled processes are like a camera's manual mode, inefficient but flexible. Putting these theses together, I'll argue that deontological philosophy is essentially a rationalization of automatic responses that are too inflexible to handle our peculiarly modern moral problems. I'll recommend consequentialist thinking as a better alternative for modern moral problem-solving.
Une plongée au cœur de nos neurones qui risque d'entamer le sentiment de supériorité de l'espèce humaine sur le monde animal.
Que savons-nous de notre cerveau, cet organe aussi complexe que l'univers, censé abriter notre conscience ? Il y a une vingtaine d'année, on imaginait qu'à chaque zone du cerveau correspondait une fonction : l'audition, la vision, la mémoire. Les avancées des neurosciences ont fait voler cette idée en éclats. Aujourd'hui, les chercheurs découvrent l'extraordinaire plasticité du cerveau, cette capacité à se déformer puis à se reformer à l'identique, chez le bébé comme chez l'adulte. Ils traquent la formation d'une pensée et explorent les relations complexes entre le corps et le cerveau : qui commande ? Guidé par quelques-uns des meilleurs neuroscientifiques internationaux, Le cerveau en miroir propose une synthèse des recherches les plus avancées dans ce domaine. Jusqu'à présent, la conscience n'a été abordée que d'un point de vue philosophique ou psychanalytique. Grâce aux prouesses technologiques, les neuroscientifiques peuvent désormais observer un cerveau qui pense. D'où vient la conscience ? Est-elle liée au corps et à l'environnement physique et social ? Quelle est la part de la biologie et la part de la culture ? Et si le cerveau était un organe comme les autres, juste un peu plus complexe ? Et s'il était finalement assez proche de celui d'une mouche ?
À 90 %, les actes que nous entreprenons au quotidien se déroulent à notre insu, avec un cerveau en pilotage automatique... La conscience ne serait ainsi qu'une sorte de clap de fin qui se manifeste lorsque tout est déjà joué - un tour de passe-passe de notre cerveau pour nous faire croire que nous avons encore notre mot à dire.
L'amour est le domaine dans lequel nous sommes le plus assujettis à des automatismes inconscients, mais selon les individus, ce sont quatre cerveaux différents qui président au choix de l'élu(e). Les ballets que dansent dopamine, sérotonine, testostérone, oestrogènes, endorphine et ocytocine dans notre tête ne peuvent que nous la faire perdre. La grande distribution qui, elle, a les pieds sur terre, a sollicité les neurosciences pour comprendre et faire fructifier nos humeurs "acheteuses".
D'autres experts étudient la part d'intuition qui intervient chez des personnes en état de stress devant une table de casino ou chez des pilotes devant un simulateur de vol.
Des séquences animées en 3D prouvent que notre capacité de raisonnement atteint vite ses limites et peine à influencer nos comportements. Des objets banals tels que des allumettes et des chaises permettent des expériences surprenantes quand ils sont manipulés par des chercheurs.
Pour prouver le bien-fondé de leurs thèses, ces derniers n'hésitent pas à s'élancer sur une planche de surf ou à étudier les méthodes des prestidigitateurs. Autant de raisons de s'inquiéter parfois, notamment quand nous apprenons que notre cerveau prend les décisions sept secondes avant que nous en ayons conscience !
Un fascinant périple aux quatre coins du monde, de l'Australie à l'Allemagne en passant par les États-Unis et la Suède, pour observer nos neurones dans tous leurs états.
Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition and Distinguished Professor with the Psychology Department and Neuroscience Program at the University of California, San Diego at the San Francisco Asian Art Forum for Museum Directors at the Asian Art Museum (November 8-9, 2011)
Dr. John Bargh Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science Yale University
Research on embodied cognition is a booming enterprise these days. Bargh will describe several lines of research in which physical experiences directly influence analogous, or metaphorically related, psychological experiences. Physical warmth, spatial dimensions, and haptic experiences all are found to influence the corresponding social-psychological domains (i.e., social warmth and trust, emotional and psychological distance, being 'soft' on crime). Brainimaging studies will be described showing that at least some of these effects are 'hard wired' and not based on semantic priming or extensive experience.
John Bargh received his doctorate in social psychology from the University of Michigan. He then took a faculty position at New York University where he stayed until 2003 when he accepted his current position at Yale. Bargh's research focuses on unconscious mechanisms that underlie social perception, evaluation and preferences, and motivation and goal pursuit in realistic and complex social environments. He has also written extensively on free will and the nature and purpose of consciousness itself. Bargh has received numerous honors and awards, including an Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association; the Campbell Award for distinguished scientific contributions from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology; and the Scientific Impact Award from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. He was a Guggenheim fellow and a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences.
Des séquences animées en 3D prouvent que notre capacité de raisonnement atteint vite ses limites et peine à influencer nos comportements. Des objets banals tels que des allumettes et des chaises permettent des expériences surprenantes quand ils sont manipulés par des chercheurs.
Pour prouver le bien-fondé de leurs thèses, ces derniers n'hésitent pas à s'élancer sur une planche de surf ou à étudier les méthodes des prestidigitateurs. Autant de raisons de s'inquiéter parfois, notamment quand nous apprenons que notre cerveau prend les décisions sept secondes avant que nous en ayons conscience !
Un fascinant périple aux quatre coins du monde, de l'Australie à l'Allemagne en passant par les États-Unis et la Suède, pour observer nos neurones dans tous leurs états.
Le cerveau et ses automatismes 2/2 - Le pouvoir de l'inconscient
À 90 %, les actes que nous entreprenons au quotidien se déroulent à notre insu, avec un cerveau en pilotage automatique... La conscience ne serait ainsi qu'une sorte de clap de fin qui se manifeste lorsque tout est déjà joué - un tour de passe-passe de notre cerveau pour nous faire croire que nous avons encore notre mot à dire.
L'amour est le domaine dans lequel nous sommes le plus assujettis à des automatismes inconscients, mais selon les individus, ce sont quatre cerveaux différents qui président au choix de l'élu(e).
Les ballets que dansent dopamine, sérotonine, testostérone, oestrogènes, endorphine et ocytocine dans notre tête ne peuvent que nous la faire perdre. La grande distribution qui, elle, a les pieds sur terre, a sollicité les neurosciences pour comprendre et faire fructifier nos humeurs "acheteuses".
D'autres experts étudient la part d'intuition qui intervient chez des personnes en état de stress devant une table de casino ou chez des pilotes devant un simulateur de vol.
With the help of a hammer-wielding scientist, Jennifer Aniston and a general anaesthetic, Professor Marcus du Sautoy goes in search of answers to one of science's greatest mysteries: how do we know who we are? While the thoughts that make us feel as though we know ourselves are easy to experience, they are notoriously difficult to explain. So, in order to find out where they come from, Marcus subjects himself to a series of probing experiments.
He learns at what age our self-awareness emerges and whether other species share this trait. Next, he has his mind scrambled by a cutting-edge experiment in anaesthesia. Having survived that ordeal, Marcus is given an out-of-body experience in a bid to locate his true self. And in Hollywood, he learns how celebrities are helping scientists understand the microscopic activities of our brain. Finally, he takes part in a mind-reading experiment that both helps explain and radically alters his understanding of who he is.
Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, Director of the
Center for Brain and Cognition and Distinguished Professor with the
Psychology Department and Neuroscience Program at the University of
California, San Diego at the San Francisco Asian Art Forum for Museum
Directors at the Asian Art Museum (November 8-9, 2011)
V.S. Ramachandran is Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition and
Professor with the Psychology Department and the Neurosciences Program
at UC San Diego. A former BBC Reith Lecturer, he wrote Phantoms in the
Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind (with Sandra Blakeslee),
and is the author of A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness: From Impostor
Poodles to Purple Numbers. His latest book, The Tell-Tale Brain: A
Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human explores human uniqueness
and illustrates how we can better understand the normal by studying the
abnormal. Called "The Marco Polo of neuroscience" by Richard Dawkins
and "The modern Paul Broca" by Eric Kandel, Ramachandran has also been
celebrated in the epidemic of medical melodramas: in the episode "The
Tyrant" of the television show House, MD., Dr. House cures phantom limb
pain using Ramachandran's mirror box.
Exploring Relationships and Reflection in the Cultivation of Well-Being.
Daniel
Siegel, MD, is Clinical Professor of psychiatry at UCLA, Co-Director of
Mindful Awareness Research Center, Executive Director of Mindsight
Institute, author, and recipient of numerous awards and honorary
fellowships.
This talk examines how relationships and reflection
support the development of resilience in children and serve as the basic
'3 R's" of a new internal education of the mind.
Mindsight, Mindfulness and the Journey
from Me to We, Attachment conference, Eastern Mennonite University,
March 31-April 2, 2011: http://emu.edu/now/attachment
At the Garrison Institute's 2011
Climate, Mind and Behavior Symposium, Dr. Dan Siegel of the Mindsight
Institute discusses the neurological basis of behavior, the mind, the
brain and human relationships. He explains one definition of the mind as
"an embodied and relational emergent process that regulates the flow of
energy and information," and describes the role of awareness and
attention in monitoring and modifying the mind. Dr. Siegel puts forth a
method of expanding the sense of identity so as to include other people,
species and the planet and proposes the concept of "we maps." He
recommends using the notion of health as a means of linking individual,
community and planetary wellbeing.
Aniruddh D. Patel, Ph.D., Esther J. Burnham Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology, The Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, Calif.
Ani Patel has been a leader in the use of new concepts and technology to investigate the neural correlates of music. His research explores how the brain processes music and language, and in what the similarities and differences between the two reveal about each other and about the brain itself. He has approached his research with a variety of techniques, including neuroimaging, theoretical analyses, acoustic research, and comparative studies of non-human animals. He also studies rhythm and the process by which humans extract rhythmic information from auditory signals and conducts research on how the auditory cortex processes sound sequences, using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to explore brain dynamics during the perception of musical sequences. He actively promotes graduate study involvement in the field of music cognition.
What we see, hear, taste, feel, and smell are sensations that are transformed in our brains to give rise to perceptions of the world around us. Several steps in such transformations remain as mysteries, but scientists around the world are working hard to understand how the brain works.
Dr. Anthony Herdman discusses how modern technology is helping us uncover what is happening in the human brain.
Eduardo Galeano: "El mundo se divide en indignos e indignados"
The Crime of Ecocide
http://www.pollyhiggins.com/
"... move away from property laws to trusteeship laws, so rather than I own, to I owe. I owe a duty of care to this planet."
12-year old Victoria Grant explains why Canada (her homeland) and most of the world, is in debt.
"How the Media Frames Political Issues" by Scott London
In The Emergence of American Political Issues (1977) McCombs and Shaw state that the most important effect of the mass media is "its ability to mentally order and organize our world for us. In short, the mass media may not be successful in telling us what to think, but they are stunningly successful in telling us what to think about."[13] The presidential observer Theodore White corroborates this conclusion in The Making of a President (1972):
The power of the press in America is a primordial one. It sets the agenda of public discussion; and this sweeping political power is unrestrained by any law. It determines what people will talk and think about - an authority that in other nations is reserved for tyrants, priests, parties and mandarins.[14]
McCombs and Shaw also note that the media's tendency to structure voters' perceptions of political reality in effect constitutes a bias: "to a considerable degree the art of politics in a democracy is the art of determining which issue dimensions are of major interest to the public or can be made salient in order to win public support."[15] http://www.scottlondon.com/reports/frames.html
I am just an anonymous citizen who firmly believes that we are the ones we are always waiting for. No saviors, heroes, leaders, gurus, or superior or inferior, we are all equals, and we need to think and behave as if it matters.
