Interacting Minds Interacting Minds

Scientists are busy. Always with the next deadline in sight. Looking back at a century of technological progress and theoretical debate is quite a daunting task. Yet, taking some distance is always a good idea to ground your work.

During their visit to the IMC, Arnault had the opportunity to organise a recording session with two lifelong researchers: Chris and Uta Frith. As we discuss the past 60 years of theoretical, technological and cultural changes they experienced in research. Their stories will take us through the beginnings of the IMC, the early days of neuroscience, and the evolution of research in the field of social cognition.

To learn more about  the topics and resources mentioned in the episode, visit the Show Notes.

On a fundamental level, perspective-taking and storytelling are the main undertakings of both artists and scientists. They take an object, study it - sometimes deconstruct it - to reveal a new aspect of it. Yet, they evolve in clearly distinct social niches. So what happens when scientists and artists are brought together to crack the same object? Can their perspectives be complementary? Or does something new emerge?

For this podcast, Arnault visited artist Olafur Eliasson (Olafur Eliasson Studio) and anthropologist Andreas Roepstorff (Interacting Minds Centre) to discuss what brought their organizations together in EER: Experimenting, Experiencing, Reflecting - an ever-shifting project that blurs the line between art and science.

To learn more about  this shared project and the topics and resources mentioned, visit the show notes for this episode.

Political hostility is on the rise. The increasing polarisation in the political landscape stands hand in hand with political disengagement and apathy of third parties, and presents a challenge to our democratic institutions. 

This growing hostility couldn't be more palpable than on the web. Scrolling on your favourite social media platform, you probably run into some hate speech from time to time. How do you typically react in these situations? While research within political science has focused on the hostility and explored how politically hostile behaviour develops, much less attention is given to bystanders and the potential of pro-social bystander reactions to mitigate the negative impact of online political hostility.
So this week, we have invited Lasse Lindekilde (Political Science at Aarhus University) & Simon Karg (Political Science at Aarhus University & Interacting Minds Centre) from the STANDBY project to discuss how their research focuses on reactions of bystanders when exposed to online political hostility.

Through an array of mixed methods, this project aims at studying the behaviour of bystanders on various social media platforms. How do we react when we encounter online hostility targeted at others? What makes an UPstander and what motivates them? What role plays the platform's incentives in managing hate speech?

To learn more about STANDBY, its team, their research, and resources mentioned in the episode, visit the Show Notes on our website.

Are dreams just cognitive trash? Or do they fulfil a specific role in human evolution? How does dream time work? And what has Harrison Ford to do with dumb dream brain and eel related dice rolling games? 
Philosopher and former Interacting Minds colleague Melanie Rosen (Trent University) has spoiled us with a visit from Canada to take us along on a journey into the depths of dream research. We get to talk about the continuity theory of dreams, explore the potential explanations for why humans might dream in the first place, and unpack the relationship between dreams and virtual reality.

To learn more about Mel Rosen's research and the topics and resources mentioned, visit the show notes for this episode.

Consciousness, despite millennia of heated debate, remains one of the most puzzling phenomena to humankind. Theories are vast and continue to evolve with new technologies and fields of study. Yet, what happens when we move away from the theoretical discourse and enter a clinical setting where our conception of consciousness has critical implications to the lives and survival of patients at the borderlands of living. 
Lise Marie Andersen (Interacting Minds Centre & Region Midtjylland) & Bess Boelsbjerg (Interacting Minds Centre, Heart openings) have joined us this week to dig deeper into the research of the Borderlands of Living project. We explore their interdisciplinary research with clinicians trying to understand how to best treat patients with Disorders of Consciousness. How do we enact and assess consciousness when patients are not able to communicate with us? How are personhood and consciousness related to each other in this liminal space? And what uncertainties can new technologies bring?
To learn more about the Borderlands of Living project and the topics and resources mentioned, visit the show notes for this episode and listen to: 
Research * Clinical Practice: Exploring the Borderlands of Living (Mette Terp Høybye) for an overview over the research projectResearch * Clinical Practice: Explainable AI at the Borderlands of Living (Lise Marie Andersen & Alberte Seeberg)

Clinicians tending to unresponsive patients with serious brain injuries face critical end-of-life decisions. They must decide to continue or withdraw life-sustaining treatment based on the best available knowledge and resources. Looking into the future, can researchers aid this decision making process by designing supportive computational tools? And if yes, what considerations should they keep in mind?
Lise Marie Andersen (Interacting Minds Centre & Region Midtjylland) & Alberte Seeberg (Center for Music in the Brain) have stopped by this week to help us dig deeper into the research of the Borderlands of Living project. We get to talk about the intricacies of explainable AI in prognostic assessments for patients with Disorders of Consciousness and the role of accuracy, transparency,  and uncertainty in designing a meaningful prognostic assessment tool to aid clinicians in their decision making. 
To learn more about the Borderlands of Living project and the topics and resources mentioned, visit the show notes for this episode and listen to: 
Research * Clinical Practice: Exploring the Borderlands of Living (Mette Terp Høybye) for an overview over the research projectResearch * Clinical Practice: Understanding personhood and consciousness at the Borderlands of Living (Bess Boelsbjerg and Lise Marie Andersen)