https://youtu.be/AJ4IrFApbYU Dr. Faye Skelton is the program lead for Applied Criminology and Forensic Psychology at the Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. She joins us to talk about miscarriages of justice, factors involved in wrongful imprisonment, false confessions and memory issues which affect eye witness testimony. Lastly, Faye talks about how some of these can be fixed and tools which may help in future identification like police…
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#27. I’m not rude, I’m just face blind (Prosopagnosia) – Dr. Tirta Susilo
https://youtu.be/ZIoZ-SNXNuA Some people are poorer at identifying faces. Dr. Tirta Susilo, Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, talks about what prosopagnosia is, what research tells us about how we perceive faces and objects, and what about those who have super face recognition abilities? Support us and reach out!Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsocietyTikTok: @thesmoothbrainsocietyTwitter/X: @SmoothBrainSocFacebook: @thesmoothbrainsocietyMerch and all other links: Linktreeemail: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com
#26. What is Artificial Intelligence?- Dr. Andrew Lensen and Amer Hussain
https://youtu.be/nOOEu-9YzF8 Dr. Andrew Lensen and Amer Hussain from the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Victoria University of Wellington come on the podcast to talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI). They cover how it works, the different types of AI, ethics around data protection and the shortfall in the current laws to protect people when it ultimately takes over. Support us and reach out!Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsocietyTikTok:…
#25. Politics, Rugby and Emotion Regulation: A snapshot of New Zealand (2023) – Prof. Marc Wilson and Terise Broodryk
https://youtu.be/dp2Yl8BFge8 It's election and rugby world cup time in Aotearoa New Zealand and Professor Marc Wilson and his team from Victoria University of Wellington are surveying the nation on aspects ranging from general well-being to politics in order to get a snapshot of the people of the country. Marc along with co-researcher Terise Broodryk join us to discuss the survey, some of the preliminary findings…
#24. Perception of Ambiguous Images and False Memories – Dr. Marina Wimmer
https://youtu.be/k5VYFhYuGI4 Dr. Marina Wimmer, Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University calls in from Scotland to talk about the perception of ambiguous figures, “seeing” images without any stimulus and the development of false memories. She talks about her research with children on the development of cognitive processes underlying these phenomena Support us and reach out!Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsocietyTikTok: @thesmoothbrainsocietyTwitter/X: @SmoothBrainSocFacebook: @thesmoothbrainsocietyMerch and all other links: Linktreeemail: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com
#23. Leadership and Mental health: Experiences from the Military – Dan ‘Zia’ Joseph
Dan Zai Joseph, author of Backpack to Rucksack: Insight Into Leadership and Resilience From Military Experts, joins from the United States to speak about mental health among military personnel and veterans, the importance of understanding mental health as a leadership quality, steps to improve mental health, his research on jiujitsu as a mechanism for anxiety control and his upcoming books. Dan's website: https://combatpsych.com/ Support us…
#22. Cultural Embeddedness: Complexity of Māori identity – Dr. Ririwai Fox and Ellie Rukuwai
https://youtu.be/hFjgz2b3gpk Multiple factors shape the complex relationships people have with their own culture and identity. This particularly affects indigenous communities the world over and has given rise to a wave of leaders working towards uplifting their communities into mainstream discourse. Rirwai Fox, Principal Kaupapa Māori Researcher, Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand and Ellie Rukuwai, PhD student focusing on the role of identity and culture…
#21. Diagnosing Wokeness: Researching what being ‘woke’ is and cancel culture – Prof. Paul Jose
Professor Paul Jose is a developmental, cross-cultural and political psychologist currently working at Victoria University of Wellington. He is the first psychologist to develop a thorough measurement of the concept of wokeness and joins us to define what wokeism is, where people in political discourse go wrong, why it is so polarizing and what are the results of his initial research on participants from USA…
#20. Risks and opportunities of living in the digital age – Dr. Kasia Kostyrka-Allchorne
Dr. Kasia Kostyrka-Allchorne is the lead researcher of two National Health Service (NHS) projects in the United Kingdom. One looks at the use of mental health apps for parents with neurodiverse children (OPTIMA) and the other is setup to understand the risks and benefits of mental health digital technology use (DIORA). She calls in to the podcast to discuss her work on these projects and…
#19. Poverty is Painful: Pain perception and socioeconomics – Dr. Marianne Reddan
Dr. Marianne Reddan, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City, USA. Joins Sahir and Olivia to talk about social factors which influence pain. We try to improve our understanding of what pain is, how emotional pain is different from physical pain and how acute pain works differently from chronic pain. We cover factors such as peoples relationships, economic status, gender and race…
#18. Neuropsychology in Context – Dr. Carolyn Wilshire
Dr. Carolyn Wilshire is a neuropsychologist who examines the cognitive processes and neural systems involved in high-level mental functions (such as motivation and planning). Her work aims to critically analyze difficult-to-diagnose health complaints and provide context to health psychology, psychopathology and neuropsychology. As these are all fancy words Dr. Wilshire joined Alex and Sahir to help us understand what neuropsychologists do, common media misconceptions and…
#17. Language and Culture in Child Development – Associate Prof. Mele Taumoepeau
Associate Professor Mele Taumoepeau of Victoria University of Wellington joins Olivia and Sahir to talk about the use of language in child development and differences in growing up between cultures. Assoc Prof. Taumoepeau speaks to why babies so much better at picking up languages and how different cultures influence child development as well as her research about the benefits and problems of being from bi-…
#16. Being Creative – Prof. Vlad Glaveanu
What do we mean when someone is creative? Professor. Vlad Glaveanu from Dublin City University video called in to talk about his work with creativity, imagination, culture, societal changes and possibility. We cover topics like the factors useful to creativity, types of creative identities, creativity and culture and Prof. Vlad's recent work on possibility and researching memes. Prof. Vlad Glaveanu's webpage Support us and reach…
#15. How to stop a Murderer – Prof. Adrian Raine
Dr. Adrian Raine, is one of the leading voices in neurocriminology. He was the first scientist to use neuroimaging to study the brains of murderers and is noted for his research on the neurobiological causes violent behaviour in children and adults. He currently holds the chair of Richard Perry University Professor of Criminology & Psychiatry in the Department of Criminology of the School of Arts…
#14. Why do we perform rituals? – Dr. Johannes Karl
Dr. Johannes Karl, Assistant professor in Psychology at the Dublin City University, Ireland, joins us to talk about what rituals are, why they come about and what benefits they provide. Dr. Karl's research covers topics including Mindfulness, Contemplative Practice, Rituals and Non-Ordinary Experience, Personality and Values, and rituals across cultures. Support us and reach out!Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsocietyTikTok: @thesmoothbrainsocietyTwitter/X: @SmoothBrainSocFacebook: @thesmoothbrainsocietyMerch and all other links: Linktreeemail: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com
#13. Religion – Dr. Aiyana Willard
Dr. Aiyana Willard, Senior lecturer at the Centre for Culture and Evolution at Brunel University London and research associate at the Institute for Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford. Dr. Willard along with Feryl Badiani, PhD student focusing on Hinduism in India, talk to us about what religions are, why they exist, the reasons for some religions being more successful than others and what explains…
#12. Panel Discussion: Queering Psychology
For Pride month at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington, post-graduate students at the School of Psychology held an event showcasing their research and sharing their experiences as members of the rainbow community. To continue the discussions started, students Clare Bradley, Lee Bravestone, Tatyana King-Finau and Maggie Shippam along with Dr. Gloria Fraser, Research Fellow at VUW, join us this episode and cover a wide…
#11. Mental Health Awareness Special with Youthline, Bravely and Jasmin Shoukri
Aotearoa New Zealand celebrated Mental Health Awareness week 2022 from the 28th of September to the 2nd of October. To pay tribute to the work done by people who do not fit directly under the traditional psychologist, psychiatrists and therapist roles, we had 3 interviews with guests covering different styles of support work and mental health resources available to communities. This episode contains discussions on…
#10. Drugs 101: Psychedelics – Prof. Bart Ellenbroek
The criminalization of multiple recreational drugs in the 1970s also led to a reduction in the research on them. Research on psychedelics (example, LSD and magic mushrooms) had previously shown to be beneficial in certain mental health treatments. In the past 20 years, clinical and pre-clinical research on psychedelics has picked up again. Professor Bart Ellenbroek, Head of the Behavioural Neurogenetics lab at Victoria University…
#9. The Ancestors in Us – Dr. Richard Johnson
Dr. Richard Johnson, Lead of The Indian in Me project and Senior Lecturer in the School of Education Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, talks to us about people coming from hyphenated ethnicities. Using his own example as an Anglo-Indian (people with British and Indian backgrounds) he goes through the challenges of identity faced by people from similar cultures, the influence of dominant cultures in…