What’s Neuroscience Got To Do With It? Change, Technically podcast

9M ago 36:35

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Neuroscience is the hottest STEM field. Why? What does a neuroscientist actually do? Is the brain some mechanically deterministic box configured at birth? Cat knows Ashley has the answers, and now you will, too.
Credits
Ashley Juavinett, host + producer
Cat Hicks, host + producer
Danilo Campos, producer + editor
For an incisive breakdown of “the crimes against dopamine” please read the piece of that title by Mark Humphries.
The myth of mental illness book that Ashley mentioned was written in 1961 and we don’t really think it’s worth reading.
The longitudinal fMRI study that Ashley contributed to while in graduate school: Stewart JL, Juavinett AL, May AC, Davenport PW, Paulus MP (2015) Do you feel alright? Attenuated neural processing of aversive interoceptive stimuli in current stimulant users. Psychophysiology 52:249–262.
This is the Twitter/X account that highlights when a study happens IN MICE: https://x.com/justsaysinmice. And here’s the creator’s motivation: https://jamesheathers.medium.com/in-mice-explained-77b61b598218
The study that recorded from someone’s brain while they died is Vicente et al. (2022) Enhanced Interplay of Neuronal Coherence and Coupling in the Dying Human Brain. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 14. See also this commentary about their claims.
We once again mentioned field-specific ability beliefs. Here’s Cat’s blogpost on her own research.
This study explores the basic dynamics of field-specific ability beliefs and shows their connection to gender inequities in academic disciplines: Leslie, S. J., Cimpian, A., Meyer, M., & Freeland, E. (2015). Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines. Science, 347(6219), 262-265.
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Chapters

1. What’s neuroscience got to do with it? (00:00:00)

2. What does a neuroscientist do? (00:00:44)

3. Field-specific ability beliefs and why we put "neuro-" in front of everything (00:03:09)

4. Biological reductionism, so much dopamine, and when neuroscientific explanations are useful (or not) (00:08:41)

5. What can you do to take care of your brain? (00:21:27)

6. How can we evaluate scientific evidence (in mice)? (00:22:40)

7. Anyone can be a neuroscientist (00:29:38)

8. What can programmers do for neuroscience? (00:31:28)

10 episodes