Minds Matter Beth Fisher and Ava Ma de Sousa

Is more of a good thing always better? We know this isn't the case with exercise and eating, but does the same idea apply to meditation and mindfulness? This week on the podcast Dr. Sarah Strohmaier talks about her research on 'dose' meditation. Her research found that more mindfulness isn't always the best approach. We discuss how mindfulness and meditation help reduce anxiety and stress and what brain regions are involved in these processes. Ava and Beth share their own experiences with meditation practices.

Have you ever wondered why we are drawn to characters like Tony Soprano, even though he carries out morally bad actions? One possible explanation is our moral curiosity. This week on the podcast Dr. Jordan Wylie helps us understand what moral curiosity is and why we are allured by morally ambiguous characters. Dr. Wylie also speaks to us about her research on ‘phantom rules’, rules such as jay-walking that are rarely enforced, as well as how our moral values influence what we believe about harm-reduction policies. Ava and Beth discuss what they believe a ‘moral saint’ to be and we find out one of our hosts is a Marvel fan!

A Minds Matter bonus episode! This week we step away from the research questions and have a chat with a Buddhist monk. Bhikkhu Sadaro (Kevin Berryman) is a Buddhist monk from the Ajahn Chah forest meditation tradition who has been practising for the last 17 years. We speak to him about everything from enlightenment, love, loss, and the self.

How do you feel about hierarchies? Dr. Sa-Kiera Hudson joins us to discuss how the answer may influence empathy and intergroup conflict. Support for hierarchies can lead not only to reduced empathy, but to increased counter-empathy for competitive groups. We further discuss what happens when hierarchies intersect and how psychology can study multiple identities (race, gender, sexual orientation) simultaneously.

Have you ever wondered why some days you order your same favourite meal whereas others you decide to try something new? How do we know when we should exploit previous choices or explore new possibilities? In this episode, Noor Sajid discusses her work on active inference, a framework that can answer this problem. Noor uses active inference to investigate many properties of our brain and behaviour, including why two brain lesions can be better than one. Ava & Beth talk through the basics of modeling and the motivations behind this scientific field.

What actually makes for good sleep? Dr. Lauren Whitehurst joins us to discuss how the brain, and crucially, the rest of the body, interact to support cognitive functions like memory consolidation and insight. Dr. Whitehurst shares how vital sleep is to overall health, and what happens when some communities systematically get less sleep than others. Beth & Ava discuss their own experiences with sleep spilling over into other facets of life.