How can current thinking in psychology and neuroscience, about how we make decisions, inform our understanding of moral questions and make for a better society? That question is central to David Redish's book 'Changing How We Choose'. In this podcast David defines neuroeconomics and explains why applying science and engineering models to moral questions is useful, 'engineering' relating to applying what is learned from science to the real world situations. He talks through 'deliberative', 'procedura'l and 'instinctual' decision making systems, underpinned by different neural structures. He explains two key games that help inform his discipline, the 'prisoner's dilemma' and the 'assurance game' with real world examples. David also explains 'asabiya', an Arabic term that denotes an important concept relating to collaboration. We conclude with a discussion of how the optimistic tone of his book, and this approach, stands up to the world as it has evolved since his book was released in 2022.

Participants:

A David Redish, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota. https://med.umn.edu/bio/david-redish

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk

David's book, 'Changing How We Choose: The new science of morality': https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262047364/changing-how-we-choose/

An episode of 'Golden Balls', a game show discussed: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=golden+balls+split+or+steal+100+000

'The prisoner's dilemma' briefly explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdITTDl5coE

Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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In this specially extended episode of the podcast we speak with Jonathan Dove, one of the most performed contemporary opera/classical composers working today. He talks about his first steps in music, making up tunes on the piano well before taking formal lessons, his organ playing in church, often improvising, and the great contribution of London schools' music provision to his education. Jonathan tells us of his years he worked as an accompanist and arranger, particularly for operas, before focussing on composing in his late '20s. He shares aspects of his composition practice, including creating a mood or affective tone before adding tunes. There are diversions into Karl Marx's chaotic home life (the subject of a comic opera), Covid and the climate crisis, the latter a subject that has helped fuel several compositions, including his most recent community opera, 'Uprising'. We conclude by talking about the works currently on Jonathan's desk desk. An extraordinary look into a successful composer's mind and creative practice.

Participants:

Jonathan Dove, composer, https://www.jonathandove.com/

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk

Andy Platman, writer, musicophile, retired physician.

Some of the pieces discussed:

Uprising:

https://www.jonathandove.com/news/new-community-opera-uprising

Pinocchio:

https://www.jonathandove.com/the-adventures-of-pinocchio.html

Tobias and the angel:

https://www.jonathandove.com/tobias-and-the-angel.html

Marx in London:

https://www.jonathandove.com/marx-in-london.html

Gaia Theory:

https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/68312/Gaia-Theory--Jonathan-Dove/

'On the streets and iin the sky' string quartet:

https://open.spotify.com/album/0yXaKLDTOx5BWvy6NbpKb3?si=O0Wgu3epScG0xVDMwTWx9A

Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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In this podcast we talk about the way Freud has been depicted in the movies, particularly the 1962 John Houston film 'Freud: The Secret Passion'. Ian discusses Houston's complicated relationship with the star, Montgomery Clift, Sartre's early involvement with the script, the film's 'film noir' feel, Jerry Goldsmith's music, with a detour into avant garde composers work on horror films. Ian characteries the film as a big game movie about the unconscious and we go on to discuss the 2011 David Cronenberg film 'A Dangerous Method' about Freud's rift with Jung, and the struggle of Jung's patient and subsequent lover to forger her own career in psychoanalysis. This leads to the 2023 film Freud's last session that includes Freud's daughter Anna and is based on an imagined conversation with CS Lewis, which lead to a conversation about Atenborough's film about Lewis, 'Shadowlands. To conclude, we discuss three movies inspired by ideas from psychoanalysis, 'Secrets of the Soul' (Pabst, 1926), Spellbound (1945) and particularly 'Under Capricorm' (1948), the latter two from Hitchcock. Ian discusses Freud's unwillingness to advise on movies, before concluding with a consideration of Fellini's use of his dreams as a source of movies. Great conversation.

Participants:

Ian Christie, Professor of Film and Media History, Birckbeck, University of London. www.ianchristie.org

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk

The movies:

Freud: The Secret Passion(1962): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055998/

A Dangerous Method(2011):https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1571222/

Freud's Last Session (2023): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20420628/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1

Under Capricorn (1948): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042004/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1

The Dali designed Spellbound dream sequence from 'Spelbound': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ITPLLIcPSM

GW Pabst's 'Secrets of the Soul' (1926): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYoXy3bYD1k

The Italian movie podcast mentioned: 'Capolavoro!: https://open.acast.com/networks/6452b6516dd22500113dc7d2/shows/67ab6f20c6f97f89d80e2d26/episodes/681cbfbe5acb8b715f1b5b17

Brainland the podcast website: https://shows.acast.com/brainland

Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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Finnish film director Pia Tikka began studying the psychology and later the neuroscience of film making 25 years ago and is currently studying the experience and process of cinematographers and film editors.she talks about how writings of Soviet film maker and theorist Sergei Eisenstein has been particularly influential, particularly following his later interactions with neuropsychologist Luria, Gestalt psychologists and developmental psychologist Vigotsky. Pia talks about her concept of 'enactive cinema' and describes her current five year project studying cinematographers and film editors using microphenomenological and other methods. We also talk about the importance of narrative and the way stories work on us. After the main podcast I asked pia to talk about a contemporary multimedia art project invovling multi screen projection modified by psychophysical readings taken from the viewer, followed by a little more discussion of Eisenstein so stay listening for that...

Participants:

Pia Tikka, Research Professor, CINEMATIC MINDS, Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School (BFM)

Centre of Excellence in Media Innovation and Digital Culture (MEDIT) Tallinn University, Estonia.

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk

To learn more about microphenomenolgy: https://www.microphenomenology.com/home

Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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In this podcast, Emily talks about how she came to write 'While the music lasts', her very personal account of her response to the death of her father, one of the key inspirations for her career choice. Her book documents how for several months after his death she avoided music as it made her angry and how eventually her musicologist training helped her navigate that period. This included an in depth look at the musical Boulanger sisters, the younger of whom died at 24. Emily talks about her father and their relationship and how going through his overloaded music stand (he was a guitarist) and creating the Spotify playlist that accompanies the book, was another way to adjust to his absence and bring him to mind. We briefly detour into grief dogs and the male bias over centuries of classical music and music academia before talking about Emily's trip to Cadiz, a journey her father suggested making with her, a week before he died. She made the trip alone and stayed a friend who was also grieving - a postive conclusion to her story..

Participants:

Emily MacGregor, musicologist and cultural historian, broadcaster; Research Fellow in Music, King's College London; Classical music Editor-at-large, Faber andd Faber. https://emilymacgregor.co.uk/

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk

Emily's book: https://www.welbooks.co.uk/shop/p/while-the-music-lasts-a-memoir-of-music-grief-and-joy-by-emily-macgregor

Emily's playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3FV5NJxh2jgQ9JcgYt4pqG?si=4c710734a5e14446

Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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Mark Solms is a clinical neuropsychologist, neuroscientist and psychoanalyst. In this wide-ranging conversation Marks talks about his career path and the influence of a brain injury in family member when Mark was a child. Mark talks about Freud's pre-psychoanalytic work as a neuroscientist and neurologist and his own ongoing retranslation of Freud's neuroscientific writing. We discuss Mark's discovery of the brain lesions that supress dreams (not those relating to REM sleep) and how this lead to his interest in the affective rather than cognitive nature of consciousness. We discuss the work of Panksepp and Damasio and Mark outlines the computational neuroscience model and the way Karl Friston is applying this before mapping all this on Freud's original model of mind.

Participants:

Mark Solms, Professor, Department of Neuropsychology, University of Capetown, SA. https://neuroscience.uct.ac.za/contacts/mark-solms

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk

Mark's book 'The Hidden Spring': https://profilebooks.com/work/the-hidden-spring/

Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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In this podcast Hugh Rickards reads his unpublished essay, 'The Lost Tribes of Neuropsychiatry', raising a number of interesting issues relating to neuropsychiatric services in the UK, and their lack. We chew over some of the issues raised including causes for the abandonment of poeple with chronic mental disorders arising directly from brain disease or damage, and whether the still small discipline of neuropsychiatry has facilitated this. Hugh talks about the historic shift away from the brain in psychiatric nurse training and how some centres are revertng to joint RMN/RN courses. Ken talks about the origins of the still thriving comprehensive neuropsychiatry service in North Staffordshire and Hugh also sketch some solutions. An interesting format this, so if anyone else has an essay that might be in our wheelhouse do get in touch.

Participants:

Hugh Rickards, Consultant and Honorary Professor of Neuropsychiatry, National Centre for Mental Health, Birmingham, UK. http//:www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/clinical-sciences/Rickards-Hugh.aspx

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk

Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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In this conversation we survey the field of contemporary visual neuroaesthetics. After defining terms, Ed talks through a current project by way of illustration before discussing the so-called 'aesthetic triad', dopamine and opioids, prediction models and computational neuroscience. We talk about neuro-investigation including recent techniques for processing an applications of EEG, a much more portable tool than fMRI and other scans.

Participants:

Ed Vessel, Eugene Surovitz Assistant Professor, Deprtment of Psychology, City College of New York, part of CUNY. https://www.edvessel.com

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and former psychophysiologist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Opening and closing music: Opening and closing music: Prelude to 'Brainland', the opera by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Follow us us on Instagram:#brainlandcollective #brainlandthepodcast

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