Smooth Brain Society
In an attempt to change the way information is presented, we’ll be speaking to researchers, experts, and all round wrinkly brained individuals, making them simplify what they have to say and in turn, hopefully, improving our understanding of a broad range of topics rooted in psychology. Join us as we try to develop ourselves, one brain fold at a time.
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Episodes
54 episodes
#48. Booze, Dads and Drunken Rats - Dr. Sahir Hussain
Finally! after 47 episodes as host, Sahir takes his place in the wrinkly brained experts chair to talk about his research on how alcohol drinking by fathers can impact development of the future generations.Amer Hussain and Jeremy Hall c...
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Season 2
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Episode 48
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1:19:52
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#47. Bayesian Statistics in Psychology Research - Dr. Taylor Winter
Bayesian Statistics allows combining prior information of a population to the current sample of experimentation to create stronger inferences. Dr. Taylor Winter, Senior Lecturer in M...
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Season 2
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Episode 47
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1:30:20
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#46. Why we need to research Parkinson’s Disease - Bethany Facer
Bethany Facer, PhD student at University of Liverpool and Science Communicator explains the intricacies of Parkinson's Disease. We discuss Beth’s Neuroimaging research into the neurodegenerative condition as she goes over some of the key biolog...
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Season 2
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Episode 46
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1:20:13
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#45. Maternal Depression and Antidepressant Use - Dr. Stephanie D'Souza
There is often a tendency to focus on physical rather than mental health during pregnancy. While rates can vary by country, research suggests that about 10 - 20% of pregnant women experience depression during pregnancy. This is higher than the ...
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Season 2
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Episode 45
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1:17:50
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#44. The Influence of Stoicism on Psychology - Dr. John Sellars
At its core, Stoicism is a tool in the pursuit of self-mastery, perseverance, and wisdom: something one uses to live a virtuous life. However, the English language has dealt great injustice to the word “Stoic.” Dr. John Sellars, Reader in the H...
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Season 2
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Episode 44
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1:20:16
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#43. Subjective Fear and The Experience of Presence - Dr. Christopher Maymon
Dr. Chris Maymon, of Victoria University of Wellington, talks to us about his research on the experience of being Present. Him and his team use virtual reality to test the causal role of subjective and physiological components of fear in genera...
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Season 2
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Episode 43
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1:14:57
#42. Do No Harm: A Neurosurgeon's views - Dr. Dilnavaz Bhiladvala
Dr. Dilnavaz Bhiladvala is a neurosurgeon with over 30 years of experience working in various hospitals across India and the UAE. She is the Head of Department of Neurosurgery at Al Dhaid Hospital, Sharjah, UAE before which she was the Head of ...
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Season 2
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Episode 42
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1:11:24
#41. ‘Ngaruroro’: Understanding Māori Wellbeing - Finley Johnson
Finley Ngarangi Johnson and Colleagues introduce 'Ngaruroro' which is a new model for Māori wellbeing. Fin, who is a PhD student at Victoria University of Wellington and a Researcher at the Ministry of Social Development, talks about the effort...
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Season 2
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Episode 41
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1:13:53
#40. Voice of Aroha - Kodrean Eashae & Luis Perez
World Refugee Day is on the 20th of June each year and is dedicated to refugees all around the world. We spoke to Kodrean Eashae and Luis Perez from Voice of Aroha. Voice of Aroha does incredible work ...
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Season 2
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Episode 40
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1:04:15
#39. Reimagining the Role of the Catholic Church - Geo Robrigado
The Catholic church is the only religious entity to hold a seat in the United Nations through the Vatican city’s status as a state. Geo Robrigado, Law graduate and former Preside...
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Season 2
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Episode 39
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1:16:42
#38. Planetary Melancholia - Prateek Shankar and Valerie Navarrete
Prateek Shankar and Valerie Navarrete are founders of the
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Season 2
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Episode 38
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1:19:45
#37. Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics - Dr. Liza Bolton
The use of stats and throwing around numbers in conversation is incredibly common, yet statistics itself is poorly understood. Dr. Liza Bolton from @universityofaucklan...
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Season 2
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Episode 37
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1:10:19
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#36. Drugs 101: Cannabis - Professor. Tim Karl
Professor Tim Karl of Western Sydney University. He joined to give us a basic overview into the world of cannabinoids. He spoke about what happens in our brain when we us...
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Season 2
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Episode 36
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57:34
EA #4. Atheism After Near Death Experiences - Dr. Alex Fry
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are common amongst those coming close to death and profoundly impact how they make sense of the world. Dr. Alex Fry of the University of Bournemouth draws on interviews with atheists who have had a NDE to explore w...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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1:20:21
#35. International Law and Armed Conflict - Prof. Alberto Costi
As the term "international law" is brought up frequently in discourse these days we sat down with Professor Alberto Costi to get an introduction into international law and laws of armed conflict. We cover how international law works and how it ...
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Season 2
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Episode 35
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1:38:37
#34. How Virtual Reality is Reshaping Neuroscience - Dr. Chris Maymon
On this episode, Dr. Christopher Maymon, Head of the Virtual Reality lab at Victoria University of Wellington delves into the captivating realm of VR and emotion research. Explore with us as we dissect groundbreaking studies and innovative expe...
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Season 2
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Episode 34
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1:21:02
#33. So Emotional - Assoc. Prof. Gina Grimshaw
Associate Professor Gina Grimshaw leads the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab at Victoria University of Wellington. She joins to talk about emotions and her research on how emotiona...
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Season 2
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Episode 33
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1:16:46
#32. Elite Dominance and Inequality in Academia - Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Orhan
Dr. Mehmet Orhan, Associate Professor of Management and Organizational Behavior at EM Normandie Business School joined us to talk about authorship inequality, elite dominance, and the ethical and problematic issues of doing science and academic...
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Season 2
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Episode 32
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1:09:44
EA #3. Unholy Catholic Ireland - Dr. Hugh Turpin
Dr. Hugh Turpin of Oxford University joins Feryl and Sahir on the podcast to share his work on the decline of Catholicism in Ireland and the factors which have led to it. We ...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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1:30:04
EJOP #1. Muslim Women's Experiences of Identity and Belonging in Switzerland - Rachael Loxston
For the very first episode of our collaboration with Europe's Journal of Psychology, Rachael Loxton joins to discuss her research paper titled “Liberty Can Be for You One Thing, and for Me Something ...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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1:10:38
EA #2. The Rise and Fall of Rituals - Dr. Martin Lang
Dr. Martin Lang is assistant professor at Masaryk University, Czech Republic. And is the Director of the Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion (LEVYNA). ...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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1:15:41
#31. AI and Māori/Indigenous Data Sovereignty - Dr. Karaitiana Taiuru
Dr. Karaitiana Taiuru is a Māori technology ethicist specializing in Māori rights with Artificial intelligence, Māori Data Sovereignty and Governance with emerging digital technologies and biological sc...
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Season 2
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Episode 31
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59:02
#30. Unravelling the Role of Dopamine - Dr. Kate Witt
Dr. Kate Witt, lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, joins to discuss her research on Dopamine. Dopamine is an integral neurotransmitter, mainly associated with ...
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Season 2
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Episode 30
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1:20:38
EA #1. Explaining Māori Deconversion from Christianity in Aotearoa (New Zealand) - Dr. Sara Rahmani
For the first episode of our Explaining Atheism series, Dr. Sara Rahmani from the School of Social and Cultural Studies at Victoria University of Wellington joins us to talk about her project...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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1:11:58
