CogNation

Episode 49: The Self: Bundle and Ego Theories

August 16th, 2023  |  Season 3  |  53 mins 31 secs

brain, bundle, ego, parfit, philosophy, psychology, split brain, teletransporter

Rolf and Joe discuss two philosophical theories of the self, Bundle Theory and Ego Theory, based on a paper by Derek Parfit. They return to the topic of the teletransporter, and although Joe is happy to go through the teletransporter, Rolf is convinced it means certain death.

Episode 39: Matthew Gingo: Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them

February 13th, 2022  |  Season 3  |  50 mins 5 secs

adolescents, children, cognition, deception, lying, parents, psychology, theory of mind

Developmental psychologist Matthew Gingo joins to discuss his research on morality and deception. Why and under what circumstances do parents and their children lie to one another?

Episode 35: NIH Toolbox with Dr. Julie Hook

April 25th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  52 mins 56 secs

cognition, neuropsychology, psychology

CogNation talks with Dr. Julie Hook about her work developing a comprehensive test of cognition and other key abilities as part of the NIH Toolbox project.

Episode 34: Tom Vanderbilt: Beginners

March 22nd, 2021  |  Season 2  |  51 mins 30 secs

beginners, book, brain, cognition, learning, neuroscience, psychology, skill, tom vanderbilt, vanderbilt

We talk with author Tom Vanderbilt about his new book, Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning.

Episode 26: COVID-19 and the Behavioral Immune System: Joshua Ackerman

March 24th, 2020  |  Season 2  |  55 mins 35 secs

behavior, behavioral immune system, brain, cognition, corona virus, covid-19, evolutionary psychology, joshua ackerman, michigan, pandemic, psychology, social psychology

How do people behave in a pandemic? Joshua Ackerman of the University of Michigan talks about how we alter our behavior in the face of pathogens from the perspective of social and evolutionary psychology. A repertoire of responses (such as avoidance) referred to as the "behavioral immune system" is discussed as a way for humans to avoid pathogens BEFORE our biochemical immune system encounters them.

Episode 24: Childrens' Learning and Play: Guest David Sobel

January 27th, 2020  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 15 mins

causality, child, children, childrens museums, development, learning, mind, museums, parent-child interaction, parenting, philosophy, psychology, scientific research

David Sobel, a developmental psychologist from Brown University, talks to us about the importance of play in learning. He has recently been collaborating with researchers around the country to investigate how children interact with exhibits in childrens' museums. One recent finding we discuss is that parent-child interaction styles can have a strong influence on what children learn.

Episode 18: The Psychology of Religion with David Wulff

August 11th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  54 mins 16 secs

brain, cognition, david wulff, psychology, psychology of religion, religion

David Wulff, author of the comprehensive "Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary", talks with us today about some of the issues that psychologists grapple with in studying religion. How can a researcher take a fair and unbiased approach to a topic so fraught with issues of personal belief and faith? How important is belief anyway -- must one sacrifice the intellect to engage in religious practice? David discusses his recent research; his measure of religious tendencies, called the "Faith Q-Sort", has been used internationally to understand how religion manifests differently across individuals

Episode 14: Color, Concepts, and Design: Guest Karen Schloss

June 4th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 4 mins

brain, cognition, color, concepts, design, neuroscience, psychology, recycling

Our guest is Karen Schloss, who studies the way in which color is imbued with meaning through a lifetime of associations with objects (like bananas and fire trucks) and concepts (like love and politics). We discuss her research, including topics such as:

1. What color should recycling bins be?
2. A tool that can help designers use color-concept associations in their work
3. The "blueberry problem" (why is is that blueberries aren't very blue?)
4. How to market a blue banana
5. What color heaven and hell should be

Episode 7: Heroism and Heroic Actions: Stephanie Preston

March 13th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  56 mins 2 secs

behavior, brain, cognition, evolution, evolutionary psychology, hero, heroism, michigan, preston, psychology

What makes a hero? Guest Stephanie Preston, director of the Ecological Neuroscience Lab at the University of Michigan, takes an evolutionary look at what might underlie extraordinary acts, done at great personal risk, to help or save the life of others.

Episode 6: The Illusion of Conscious Will

March 5th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  51 mins 49 secs

cognition, daniel wegner, free will, philosophy, psychology

A discussion of Dan Wegner's "The Illusion of Conscious Will"