Shows
BJKS Podcast113. Damian Blasi: Over-reliance on English hinders cognitive science, linguistic diversity, how to study a language you don't speakDamian Blasi is a professor at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. We talk about his article 'Over-reliance on English hinders cognitive science', linguistic diversity, how to study across the world's languages, his career path, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Why Damian studied physics0:06:31: How to deal with small, sparse, incomplete, imbalanced, noisy, and non-independent observational data0:09:38: Evolutionary advantages of different languages0:14:01...2025-03-101h 41BJKS Podcast112. Gordon Pennycook: From Carrot River to Cornell, misinformation, and reducing conspiracy beliefsGordon Pennycook is an Associate Professor at Cornell University. We talk about his upbringing in rural Northern Canada, how he got into academia, and his work on misinformation: why people share it and what can be done about it.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Straight outta Carrot River: From Northern Canada to publishing in Nature0:37:01: Exploration vs focusing on one topic: finding your research topic0:48:57: A sense...2025-02-171h 50BJKS Podcast110. Ella Marushchenko: Scientific illustrations, digital vs. classic art, and how to improve scientific figuresElla Marushchenko is a scientific illustrator who runs a studio of artists and scientists that creates cover art, scientific and illustrations, and more. We talk about her unlikely path from artist in Russia to scientific illustrator in the US, digital vs classic art, how to interact as scientists with illustrators, how to improve scientific figures, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Ella's unlikely path to doing scientific illustrations0:33:17: Running...2024-12-181h 32BJKS Podcast109. Roberto Bottini: Cognitive maps, visual impairment, and image spacesRoberto Bottini is an Associate Professor at the University of Trento. We talk about his recent work on unusual cognitive maps in blind people, image spaces, metaphors, and he gives me some advice for writing successful grant applications.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Roberto's background0:03:20: Start discussing Roberto's paper on altered grid cells in visually impaired people: theoretical background0:16:28: Methods & results: walking on a clock face / altered grid cells: fourfold...2024-12-081h 24BJKS Podcast108. Robert Wilson: 10 simple rules for computational modelling, phishing, and reproducibilityRobert (Bob) Wilson is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Georgia Tech. We talk about his tutorial paper (w/ Anne Collins) on computational modelling, and some of his recent work on detecting phishing.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Bob's strange path through computational cognitive neuroscience0:07:37: Phishing: a computational model with real-life applications0:25:46: Start discussing Bob's paper 10 simple rules for computational modeling of behavioral data0:32:15: Rule 0: Why even do computational...2024-11-221h 50BJKS Podcast107. Nick Wise: Publication fraud, buying authorships, and tortured phrasesNick Wise is a postdoc in fluid dynamics at Cambridge University. We talk about his 'detective work' on publication fraud which has gotten more than 800 papers retracted to date, including tortured phrases, discovering Facebook groups and Telegram channels in which people sell authorships on papers, how 'Special' issues can be exploited, and what we can do about this.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: How Nick got involved with publication fraud: tortured phrases2024-11-152h 01BJKS Podcast106. Eugenie Reich (Part 2): The legalities of scientific fraud, why fraudsters rarely go to prison, and what whistleblowers are allowed to doThis is the 2nd part of my interview with Eugenie Reich, who is a lawyer who represents scientific whistleblowers, and a former investigative science journalist. We talk about her transition from journalism to law, and discuss the legal aspects of scientific fraud: why fraudsters rarely go to prison, what whistleblowers are legally allowed to do, how and when to seek legal advice, and much more. Obviously, none of this is legal advice, but hopefully it provides some useful pointers.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.2024-11-081h 09BJKS Podcast105. Eugenie Reich (Part 1): Plastic Fantastic, scientific fraud, and institutional normsEugenie Reich is an attorney who represents scientific whistleblowers, and a former investigative science journalist. We talk about her previous work as a science journalist, in particular her book Plastic Fantastic about one of the biggest fraud cases in physics, the case of Jan-Hendrik Schön. We'd planned to also discuss Eugenie's current work as an attorney, but spent all our time on the Schön case. Eugenie kindly agreed to do another interview, in which we cover the legal aspects of fraud, which will be the next episode (#106).BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, an...2024-11-011h 26BJKS Podcast104. James Shine: Integrating neuroscience with fMRI, collaboration, and the importance of dumb questionsJames (Mac) Shine is a PI and fellow at the University of Sydney. We talk about his background in sports, using fMRI to integrate various parts of neuroscience, collaboration, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Mac's sporting background0:07:46: Overview of Mac's review in Nature (w/ Emily Finn and Russell Poldrack)0:14:03: The role of great editors in improving scientists and their work0:32:53: Connecting different levels of description0:40:07...2024-10-251h 48BJKS Podcast103. Brandon Brown: Farms not grants, academic negotiations, and unusual academic contributionsBrandon Brown is a professor at University of California Riverside, where he studies global health and ethics. He also writes career columns for Nature and Science, which we talk about: negotiations in academia, his sabbatical, his life owning and working a farm, different types of grants and contributions in academia, and much moreBJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Brandon's path to becoming a scientist0:20:39: Start discussing Brandon's career columns in Nature2024-10-181h 53BJKS Podcast102: Soledad Gonzalo Cogno: Sloooow oscillations in entorhinal cortex, mentoring, and the physics approach to neuroscienceSoledad Gonzalo Cogno is a group leader at the Kavli Institute for Science Neuroscience in Trondheim. We talk about how she went from studying physics in Argentina to working on the brain in Norway, the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to neuroscience, why researchers should give their research animals a nice life, mentorship, and discuss her recent Nature paper on ultraslow oscillatory sequences in medial entorhinal cortex.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Studying...2024-10-111h 37BJKS Podcast101. Julie Old: Wombats, saving endangered species, and the difficulties of studying wild animalsJulie Old is as Associate Professor at Western Sydney University. We talk about her experiences and research with wombats, various aspects of wombat behavior, conservation efforts, challenges such as sarcoptic mange and roadkill, the Northern hairy-nosed wombat's critically endangered status and efforts to translocate them safely, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: How Julie got into working with wombats0:03:14: What are wombats?0:11:40: How Julie started researching wombats0:15:34...2024-10-041h 14BJKS Podcast100. Tom Chivers: Thomas Bayes, Bayesian statistics, and science journalismTom Chivers is a journalist who writes a lot about science and applied statistics. We talk about his new book on Bayesian statistics, the biography of Thomas Bayes, the history of probability theory, how Bayes can help with the replication crisis, how Tom became a journalist, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Tom's book about Bayes & Bayesian statistics relates to many of my previous episodes and much of my own...2024-08-161h 19BJKS Podcast99. Laura Luebbert: gget, hunting viruses, and questionable honeybee dancesLaura Luebbert just finished her PhD in computational biology and will soon be a postdoc with Pardis Sabeti, to hunt some viruses. We talk about how she got into biology, how she created a widely-used software project (gget) with no prior coding experience, her recent reports when she discovered questionable data in key papers about honeybee dances, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Why Laura studied biology in Leiden/the...2024-08-021h 51BJKS Podcast98. Laura Wesseldijk: Behavioural genetics, music, and the importance of twinsLaura Wesseldijk works at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt at the Behavioral Genetics unit in collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry at Amsterdam UMC. We talk about her research on the genetics of music and mental health, methods in behavioural genetics, the role of large samples, the importance of twins for behavioural genetics, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Did Beethoven have bad genetics for music...2024-07-191h 20BJKS Podcast96. Benjamin Ehrlich: Santiago Ramon y Cajal, the neuron doctrine, and combining art & scienceBenjamin Ehrlich is the author of the recent biography of Santiago Ramon y Cajal (The brain in search of itself), and The Dreams of Santiago Ramon y Cajal. We talk about Cajal's life and work, Cajal's unlikely beginnings in a rural Spain, how he discovered that neurons were separate from each other, leading to the neutron doctrine, how Cajal became famous seemingly overnight, Cajal's rivalry with Camillo Golgi, the relationship between art and science, how to write a biography of someone whose autobiographical writings were heavily influenced by picaresque novels, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a...2024-04-161h 06BJKS Podcast95. Emily Finn: Neural fingerprinting, 'naturalistic' stimuli, and taking time before starting a PhDEmily Finn is an assistant professor at Dartmouth College. We talk about her research on neural fingerprinting, naturalistic stimuli, how Emily got into science, the year she spent in Peru before her PhD, advice for writing well, and much more.There are occasional (minor) audio disturbances when Emily's speaking. Sorry about that, still trying to figure out where they came from so that it won't happen again.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon...2024-03-021h 43BJKS Podcast94. David Van Essen: The Human Connectome Project, hierarchical processing, and the joys of collaborationDavid Van Essen is an Alumni Endowed Professor of Neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. In this conversation, we talk about David's path to becoming a neuroscientist, the Human Connectome project, hierarhical processing in the cerebral cortex, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: David's childhood: ravens, rockets, and radios0:05:00: From physics to neuroscience (via chemistry)0:13:55: Quantitative and qualitative approaches to science0:19:17: Model species...2024-02-181h 01BJKS Podcast92. Tom Hardwicke: Meta-research, reproducibility, and post-publication critique Tom Hardwicke is a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. We talk about meta-science, incuding Tom's work on post-publication critique and registered reports, what his new role as editor at Psychological Science entails, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: What is meta-science/meta-research?0:03:15: How Tom got involved in meta-science0:21:51: Post-publication critique in journals0:39:30: How Tom's work (registered reports) led to policy changes at journals0:44:08: Tom i...2024-02-021h 06BJKS Podcast91. Jessica Polka: Preprints, publishing peer reviews, and the joys of pipettingJessica Polka is Executive Director of ASAPbio, a non-profit that promotes innovation and transparency in life science publishing. We talk about her work at ASAPbio, how she got into it, preprints, the many functions of peer review, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: The Jessica-Polka0:01:25: What is ASAPbio?0:03:53: Do we still need to convince people to use preprints in 2024? / Different uses for preprints0:17:53: Are preprints really that b...2024-01-261h 16BJKS Podcast90. Brian Boyd: The life & works of Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, and writing biographiesBrian Boyd is a Distinguished Professor in English and Drama at the University of Auckland. We talk mainly about Vladimir Nabokov: Brian wrote the defining biography on Nabokov (in addition to books on more specific aspects about Nabokov), so we discuss Nabokov's life & work, Brian's approachh to writing biographies, with some hints of the new biography Brian is writing about Karl Popper.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Why this is a special...2024-01-191h 40BJKS Podcast89. Camillo Padoa-Schioppa: Value in the brain, orbitofrontal cortex, and causality in neuroscienceCamillo Padoa-Schioppa is a Professor of Neuroscience at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. In this conversation, we talk about Camillo's work on economic values in the brain, whether it is causally involved in choice, Camillo's career, working with different species, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: The historic background of economic value0:12:31: How Camillo became a neuroeconomist0:38:50: What does neuroscience add to our understanding...2024-01-131h 52BJKS Podcast88. Juliana Schroeder: Talking to strangers, undersociality, and replicable field studiesJuliana Schroder is a professor at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. In this conversation, we talk about her research in which she asks people to talk to strangers, and how this experience is usually a lot more pleasant than people expect. We talk about how the research came to be, what they found, how culture and norms affect the results, how to create robust and replicable field studies, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni...2024-01-051h 02BJKS Podcast86. Elisabeth Bik: Reporting scientific misconduct, the arms race between fraud & fraud detection, and the microbiome of dolphinsElisabeth Bik is a science integrity consultant. In this conversation, we talk about her work on reporting scientific errors and misconduct, how one becomes a full-time scientific integrity consultant, her postdoc work on the microbiome of dolphins, reactions to her work (both positive and negative), how to deal with online abuse, the arms race between fraudsters and fraud detectors, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: How Elisabeth became a full-time...2023-12-221h 32BJKS Podcast84. Brian Nosek: Improving science, the past & future of the Center for Open Science, and failure in scienceBrian Nosek is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, and Co-founder and Executive Director of the Center for Open Science. In this conversation, we discuss the Center for Open Science, Brian's early interest in improving science, how COS got started, what Brian would like to do in the future, and how to figure out whether ideas are working.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps00:00: Brian's early interest in improving science2023-12-081h 02BJKS Podcast83. Rachel Bedder: Rumination, teaching without grades, and managing yourself as a PhD studentRachel Bedder is a postdoc with Yael Niv at Princeton. In this conversation, we talk about her research on rumination and repetitive negative thinking (in the context of a partially observable Markov decision process), her work as a curator, why she enjoys teaching without grades, how to manage yourself as a PhD student, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Teaching maths in prison0:06:40: Teaching without grades0:15:42: Working as...2023-12-031h 36BJKS Podcast81. Brooke Macnamara: Growth mindset, deliberate practice, and the benefits of diverse experiencesBrooke Macnamara is an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University. In this conversation, we talk about her research on growth mindset and deliberate practice, whether deliberate practice is falsifiable, the benefits of diverse experiences, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: How Brooke started working on mindset and deliberate practice0:02:10: (Growth) mindset: does it matter?0:21:10: Mindset interventions0:36:48: Deliberate practice0:47:06: Benefits of diverse experiences0:56:20: Is the...2023-11-171h 06BJKS Podcast80. Simine Vazire: Scientific editing, the purpose of journals, and the future of psychological scienceSimine Vazire is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Melbourne. In this conversation, we talk about her work on meta-science, the purpose of journals and peer review, Simine's plans for being Editor-in-Chief at Psychological Science, the hidden curriculum of scienitic publishing, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: What is SIPS and why did Simine cofound it?0:05:10: Why Simine resigned from the NASEM Reproducibility & Replicability committee0:13:07: Do...2023-11-101h 21BJKS Podcast79. Nanthia Suthana: Invasive brain recordings in humans, learning as a PI, and the joys of mentorshipNanthia Suthana is an Associate Professor at UCLA. In this conversation, we talk about her research using invasive brain recordings from humans, how the technologies have changed and what might happen in the future. We also talk about how she runs her lab, how to learn as a PI, and what Nanthia enjoys about mentoring students and postdocs.We had some minor audio issues, so Nanthia switched her recording setup twice during the conversation. Sound should still be good though.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps00:00: Was it good that...2023-11-0349 minBJKS Podcast78. Gillian Coughlan: Dementia, spatial navigation, and menopauseGillian Coughlan is a postdoc whose work focuses on the role of spatial navigation in dementia. In this conversation, we talk about how Gillian went from Ireland to doing a PhD in the UK, different ways for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, what beta-amyloid and tau are, what spatial navigation has to do with dementia, and whether early menopause can affect women's spatial navigation performance and risk of getting dementia.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps2023-10-2757 minBJKS Podcast77. Lynn Nadel: Collaboration, Hippocampal History, and clinical applications of hippocampal developmentLynn Nadel is an emeritus professor at the University of Arizona, where his research focuses on the role of the hippocampus in memory. This is our second conversation. We discuss how the Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map was received, Lynn's career, including his years as head of department at the University of Arizona, how to foster collaboration, why Lynn started the Hippocampal History project, and the development and clinical aspects of the hippocampus.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni...2023-10-2048 minBJKS Podcast74. Moin Syed: Glorious PNAS, editing a journal, and masterful procrastinationMoin Syed is a professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, where he studies identity and personality development. Our conversation focuses on his work in meta-science, especially the role of journals and editors in the scientific process.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: The silliness of prestige journals (especially PNAS)0:18:45: Deep description are necessary for science and theory0:29:43: Where should I submit my paper?0:35:51: Why would one want to...2023-08-111h 34BJKS Podcast73. Tom Hostler: Open science, workload, and academic capitalismTom Hostler is a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. In this conversation, we focus on his recent article on the increased workload caused by open science.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:00: Start discussing Tom's paper 'The Invisible Workload of Open Research'0:29:22: Does open science actually increase workload?0:44:26: How open science changes the research process0:54:02: Are open science requirements especially time consuming for labs without lots of funding?1:01:44...2023-06-231h 18BJKS Podcast72. Nico Schuck: Replay, cognitive maps, and multivariate decoding with fMRINico Schuck is Professor and head of the research group 'Mechanisms of learning and change' at the University of Hamburg, where his research focuses on the neuroscience of learning, memory, and cognitive maps. In this conversation, we discuss his work on cognitive maps and replay in Orbitofrontal Cortex and Hippocampus, decoding even brief events with fMRI, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps00:00: Nico's work elicits 'limited enthusiasm'04:36: Multivariate decoding...2023-06-0458 minBJKS Podcast71. Lynn Nadel: Memory, The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map, and the importance of behaviourLynn Nadel is an emeritus professor at the University of Arizona, where his research focuses on the role of the hippocampus in memory. In this conversation, we talk about the early years of Lynn's career: why he chose to do chemistry, how a course with Donald Hebb made him switch to psychology, how his postdoc was disrupted by the Soviet invasion during the Prague Spring, John O'Keefe's discovery of place cells, how Lynn and O'Keefe wrote The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related...2023-04-231h 01BJKS Podcast70. Mona Garvert: Cognitive maps, fMRI adaptation, and computational psychiatryMona Garvert is Lead Research Scientist at Alena where she uses her background in cognitive neuroscence to advance computational psychiatry. In this episode, we talk about her academic research on the neural basis of cognitive maps, how she got into this topic, fMRI adaptation , and her recent move from academia to working at Alena.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/bjks_podcastTimestamps00:00: How Mona started working on cognitive maps15:28: Repetition suppression/fMRI...2023-04-081h 06BJKS Podcast69. Peter Gärdenfors: Conceptual spaces, knowledge representation, and semanticsPeter Gärdenfors is an Emeritus Professor at Lund University at the Department of Philosophy. His work is at the intersection of philosophy, cognitive, psychology, and linguistics. In this conversation, we discuss his book Conceptual spaces and many of the topics discussed therein (convexity, prototypes, metrics), whether the theory is falsifiable, how it can explain aspects of semantics and of how children learn, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:04: Where i...2023-04-011h 06BJKS Podcast68. Isabel Thielmann: Economic games, personality, and affordancesIsabel Thielmann is a research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for the study of crime, security and law. In this conversation, we talk about her background as a competitive sprinter, her research on prosocial behaviour and personality, the role of affordances, how game theory and interdependence theory can helpus understand human social behaviour, and Isa's experiences in having started a lab.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps0:00:04: Isa used to be...2023-03-191h 51BJKS Podcast67. Daniela Schiller: Social spaces, cognitive maps, and clinical applicationsDaniela Schiller is a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where she studies the neural mechanisms of emotional control and flexibility. In this conversation, we talk about her work on cognitive maps for social behaviour, the importance of power and affiliation for our social lives, the difficulties of measuring spatial navigation with fMRI, and potential psychiatric applications of cognitive maps.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google...2023-02-1251 minBJKS Podcast66. Rafael Pérez y Pérez: Story Machines, Creative AI, and Mexian serenadesRafael Pérez y Pérez is a professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Cuajimalpa, where he studies computational creativity, in particular in relation to computer programs that can write stories. In this conversation, we talk about MEXICA, the story generator he has been working on for most of his career, his newly released book Story Machines (with Mike Sharples), the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to creating stories with AI, what the future holds, whether large companies like Amazon are working on these topics, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psy...2023-02-051h 01BJKS Podcast65. Adam Mastroianni: Conversational doorknobs, improv comedy, and a very dumb academic revolutionAdam Mastroianni is a postdoctoral research scholar at Columbia Business School. In this conversation, we talk about his work on conversations, his Substack/blog, his article Things Could Be Better and why he chose to publish it this way, improv comedy, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per month. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.). Timestamps0:01:20: Did Adam fake having a girlfriend when h...2022-12-101h 34BJKS Podcast64. Gareth Barnes: MEG, OPM-MEG and the beauty of tinkeringGareth Barnes is a professor at University College London, where he is Head of Magnetoencephalography. We talk about how Gareth randomly stumbled into working on MEG, what MEG is, and some of his recent projects, including the exciting new generation of MEG scanners: OPM-MEG.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes appear roughly twice per month. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.). Timestamps0:00:03: How I found out about Gareth's work0:02:31: What is...2022-11-171h 25BJKS Podcast62. Nils Köbis: AI, corruption, and deepfakesNils Köbis is a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, where he studies the intersection of AI and corruption. In this conversation, we talk about how Nils got into working on this topic, and some of his recent papers on AI, corruption, deepfakes, and AI poetry.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per month.Timestamps0:00:04: Moral Games0:13:09: How Nils started working at the intersection of AI and corruption0:30:12: Start d...2022-09-131h 34BJKS Podcast61. Eva Krockow: Social dilemmas, antimicrobial resistance, and the value of qualitative studiesEva Krockow is a lecturer in psychology at the University of Leicester, where her research focusses on the psychology of antimicrobial resistance. We talk about her educational background, her work on the Centipede Game, social dilemmas, antimicrobial resistance, and the value of qualitative studies.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per month. Timestamps0:00:04: How Eva ended up studying psychology in Leicester0:07:16: Before her PhD, Eva worked in international relations0:13:06: The Centipede Game/Eva's PhD...2022-08-131h 13BJKS Podcast60. Rickesh Patel: Mantis Shrimp navigation, walking bumblebees, and scientific illustrationsRicky Patel is a postdoc at Lund University, where he studies the neural basis of navigation behaviours in arthropods. In this conversation, we talk about his work on spatial navigation in Mantis Shrimp and bumblebees, the difficulty of recording from moving insects, science communication, and scientific illustrations.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per month. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.). Timestamps00:04: What is a Mantis S...2022-07-0359 minBJKS Podcast59. Chris Frith: Two Heads, social neuroscience, and the history of the FILChris Frith is an Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychology at University College London. His research has spanned several topics, including social cognition, schizophrenia, volition, and consciousness. We talk about Two Heads (a book co-written with his wife and son), his career, and the history of the FIL.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per month. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.). Timestamps00:04: Why did Chris not become a...2022-06-191h 02BJKS Podcast58. Cameron Brick: climate change, pro-environmental behaviour, and illusory essencesCameron Brick is an Assistant Professor in Social Psychology at the University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on the psychological aspects of climate change. In this conversation, we talk about climate change, the psychological aspects behind it, the difficulty of defining pro-environmental behaviour, and his recent article on Illusory Essences in psychological (and neuroscientific) research.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per month. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.). 2022-06-121h 10BJKS Podcast57. Peter Vuust: music in the brain, predictive coding, and jazzPeter Vuust is a Professor at the Center for Music in the Brain in Aarhus, a jazz musician, and composer. In this conversation , we talk about his recent review in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, how he got to where he is, active inference in music, jazz improvisation, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per month. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.). Timestamps00:05: How Peter b...2022-05-281h 02BJKS Podcast56. Mary Elizabeth Sutherland: scientific editing, behavioural sciences at Nature, and how to improve submissionsMary Elizabeth Sutherland is senior editor at Nature, where she edits submissions in the behavioural sciences and cognitive neuroscience. In this conversation, we talk about how she became an editor, what editors do all day, how to improve your submissions, the future of publishing at Nature, the harp, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per month. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.). Timestamps0:00:00: I...2022-05-211h 09BJKS Podcast55. Angelika Stefan: p-hacking, simulations, and Shiny AppsAngelika Stefan is a PhD student at the University of Amsterdam in the Psychological Methods group (lead by Eric-Jan Wagenmakers). In this conversation, we talk about her preprint 'Big little lies: A Compendium and Simulation of p-Hacking Strategies', which she just uploaded to PsyArXiv. We also discuss how she created the Shiny App that allows users to play around with the simulations and run simulations that didn't make it into the paper.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per...2022-05-0154 minBJKS Podcast54. Jessica Kay Flake: Schmeasurement, making stats engaging, and the Psychological Science AcceleratorJessica Flake is Assistant Professor for quantitative psychology and modeling at McGill University, where she studies measurement. In this conversation, we talk about her recent paper 'Measurement Schmeasurement: Questionable measurement practices and how to avoid them' (with former guest of the podcast Eiko Fried), how she makes stats lectures interesting, and her work on the Psychological Science Accellarator.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per month. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/G...2022-04-071h 33BJKS Podcast53. Chris Chambers: Registered Reports, scheduled peer-review, and science without journalsChris Chambers is professor at Cardiff University where he is Head of Brain Stimulation. He is also one of the pioneers behind Registered Reports, a type of article where researchers receive peer review and in-principle acceptance before the results are known. In this conversation, we focus on Registered Reports and talk about how Chris got Registered Reports started at Cortex, how the review process differs between Registered Reports and regular papers, whether they are suited for scientists on short-term contracts, and what the future holds for Registered Reports and scientific publishing in general. BJKS Podcast is a p...2022-03-1658 minBJKS Podcast52. Postdoc fellowship applications (with Toby Wise)In this conversation, I talk with Toby Wise about applying for postdoc fellowships. Toby has received and completed the Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship, where he worked with Ray Dolan and Dean Mobbs. He answers some of the questions I have about applying for postdoc fellowships in general, such as how to write a proposal, how to contact potential supervisors/sponsors for your application, when to start, and what kind of scientist a fellowship is even for.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will...2022-03-061h 27BJKS Podcast47. Book club: Conceptual Spaces by Peter Gärdenfors, chapters 3 & 4This is the second episode of a book club series on Peter Gärdenfors's book Conceptual Spaces. In this episode, we will discuss chapters 3 and 4, in which Gärdenfors explains how properties and concepts fit into his theory of conceptual spaces.For this series, I'm joined by Koen Frolichcs, who was already my cohost for the books club series on Lee Child's Killing Floor. Koen and I are PhD students in the same lab.Podcast linksWebsite: https://geni.us/bjks-podTwitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twtKoen's linksGoogle Scholar: https://geni.us/fr...2021-12-1044 minBJKS Podcast46. Book club: Conceptual Spaces by Peter Gärdenfors, chapters 1 & 2This is the first episode of a book club series on Peter Gärdenfors's book Conceptual Spaces. In this episode, we will discuss chapters 1 and 2, which provide an overview over the book, and a discussion of the three kinds of representation: subconceptual, conceptual, and symbolic.For this series, I'm joined by Koen Frolichcs, who was already my cohost for the books club series on Lee Child's Killing Floor. Koen and I are PhD students in the same lab.Podcast linksWebsite: https://geni.us/bjks-podTwitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twtKoen's linksGoogle S...2021-12-0340 minBJKS Podcast45. Michael Hornberger: Sea Hero Quest, developing games for science, and Alzheimer's diseaseMichael Hornberger is a professor of applied dementia research at the University of East Anglia who developed Sea Hero Quest, a mobile game for studying spatial navigation that was downloaded more than 4 million times. In this conversation, we talk about Sea Hero Quest, how Michael (together with Hugo Spiers) developed it, the first findings, and dementia in general.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. New conversations every other Friday. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.).2021-11-261h 03BJKS Podcast44. Dan Quintana: Synthetic datasets, science communication, and podcastingDan Quintana is a senior researcher at the University of Olso, where his research focuses on oxytocin, autism, and meta-analyses. In this conversation, we talk about Dan's primer on synthetic datasets, science comunication, Everything Hertz, and podcasting in general.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. New conversations every other Friday, available on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.).Timestamps0:00:04: From Australia to Norway0:09:37: Synthetic datasets0:41:15: Software tools in science (for writing and analysing data)0:58:41: Dan's multifaceted o...2021-11-191h 45BJKS Podcast43. Postdoc applications (with Matthias Stangl)In episode 42 I interviewed Matthias Stangl about his work on spatial navigation. I wanted to ask him a few questions about postdoc applications, but we ran out of time. Matthias kindly agreed to meet again for a few questions that I would add to the end of our conversation. We ended up speaking for almost an hour, so instead of adding this to an episode that was already more than an hour long, we decided to release this part of our conversation as a separate episode for people who might also be applying for postdocs.Podcast links2021-11-1250 minBJKS Podcast42. Matthias Stangl: grid cells in aging, path integration, and neural representations of actual physical movement in humansMatthias Stangl is a postdoc at UCLA, where he studies the neural representations of spatial navigation in social situations. In this conversation, we talk about his PhD work about aging, grid cells, and path integration, about his recent Nature paper, about the difference between movement in VR and actual physical movement, and much more.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. New episodes every Friday. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.).Timestamps0:00:04: Stangl.Stangl...2021-11-051h 09BJKS Podcast41. Reviewing all books called "Prisoner's Dilemma" Part 2: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma (Stewart), and Prisoner's Dilemma (Yardley)This is the second episode of an experiment: I'll be reviewing all books called "Prisoner's Dilemma". Today I'm reviewing The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart and Prisoner's Dilemma by Ilexa Yardley.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. New conversations every other Friday. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.).Timestamps00:00: Intro01:07: Reviewing Trenton Lee Stewart's The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma18:04: Reviewing Ilexa Yardley's...2021-10-2934 min