Imagine a world where everyone looks the same and you can't recognize one person from another – even you own child! It sounds like a frightening episode from the "Twilight Zone", but it's just every day life for people with prosopagnosia, better known as "Face Blindness".

We humans use parts of our brains to see, process and recognize faces that are different from recognizing anything else in our lives, which is not surprising when you consider how important faces are to understanding the situations we are in and the emotions of the people closest to us.

In this episode, Dr. Brad Duchaine, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth College and one of the world's experts on face recognition, explains how how the face blind perceive the world, the strategies they use to mange their lives, and the unfortunate people who experience the rare (and almost unpronounceable) condition of "prosopometamorphopsia."

Plus, hear how "Super Recognizers" are using the opposite of face blindness to help fight crime.

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit
https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit
https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org

Why do we sometimes drink too much, even when we know the risks? In this episode, surgeon, author, and recovering alcoholic Dr. Charles Knowles joins us to explore the neuroscience of alcohol use and addiction. Drawing from his book "Why We Drink Too Much" and his own lived experience, Dr. Knowles describes how alcohol alters the brain's reward pathways, and how drinking problems exist on a spectrum. Through neuroscience and deeply personal insight, he speaks to alcohol's impact on mental and physical health and gives inspiration to others through sharing his own journey to recovery.

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit
https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit
https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org

Although memories fade, hearing declines and our bodies suffer aches and pains, there is one benefit to aging that we can actually gain with each passing year.

It's called wisdom.

But just because someone is older, it doesn't mean they are wiser. It takes a certain type of person to learn important lessons from their life experiences.

Dr. Dillip Jeste reveals what he has discovered after studying wisdom for decades, including the neuroscience of the wise brain, emphasizing how cultivating wisdom enhances brain health as well as offering some insights on how to develop and nurture wisdom in yourself, at any age.

In a larger view, Dr. Jeste discusses the importance of wisdom for the health of our society.

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit

https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit

https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org