What exactly is the frontal lobe of the brain, and why is it important? In this podcast, PPLS’s Sarah MacPherson, Senior Lecturer in Human Cognitive Neuroscience in the Psychology Department, explains the complexities of frontal lobe functions in healthy ageing and damaged brains.
Want to know how best to protect yourself against dementia symptoms? Dr Thomas Bak’s new blog post for the British Medical Journal explains why language lessons might bring unexpected benefits.
In his blog, Dr Bak outlines recent evidence suggesting that regularly using more than one language can have health benefits across the lifetime, from doubling the chances of cognitive recovery from stroke, to delaying the onset of dementia symptoms by 4 – 5 years – more than any available drug.
This month’s podcast is a fascinating interview with Dr Caroline Watt. It coincides with the recent launch of her book; Parapsychology: A beginners guide (2016). The book draws on Caroline’s years of experience as a senior lecturer in Psychology, and a founder member of the Koestler Parapsychology Unit (KPU), based here at the University of Edinburgh. Last year was the 30th Anniversary of the KPU and we were lucky enough to catch up with Caroline following her successful Fringe show, to talk to her about the history of the unit, her scientific research, and people’s attitudes to parapsychology and the paranormal.
Dementia: it’s difficult to think of a more pressing topic. But what do we really know about dementia and about the ways to prevent it? In this podcast, Dr Tom Russ tell us that people living in the north of the UK and Sweden are 2 to 3 times more likely to develop dementia. Why is this the case? Dr Russ explains that we have some good candidates to explore in more detail.