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The Science of the Mind

Andrew Marr discusses the brain's ability to change with Mark Williams, Heidi Johansen-Berg, Charles Fernyhough and Ben Shephard.

Andrew Marr discusses how far the brain can change and adapt with the neuroscientist Heidi Johansen-Berg. Decades ago it was thought that the adult brain was immutable but later research has shown that even brains damaged by stroke have the capacity to adapt. The writer Ben Shephard looks back to the turn of the 20th century and the birth of modern neuroscience, while the novelist Charles Fernyhough asks whether knowing more about the way the brain works will have as big an impact as the findings of Darwin and Freud. The clinical psychologist, Mark Williams, is interested in how we can relieve the despair of feeling trapped in our thoughts, and is one of the pioneers of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.
Producer: Katy Hickman.

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43 minutes

Heidi Johansen-Berg

Heidi Johansen-Berg is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and heads the Plasticity Group at The Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB).

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Ben Shephard

Ben Shephard is a historian and author.

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Headhunters: The Search for a Science of the Mind is published by Bodley Head.

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Charles Fernyhough

Charles Fernyhough is a writer and psychologist.

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A Box of Birds is published by Unbound and Pieces of Light: The New Science of Memory is published by Profile Books.

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Mark Williams

Mark Williams is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford.

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Cry of Pain: Understanding Suicide and the Suicidal Mind is published by Piatkus.

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Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Andrew Marr
Interviewed Guest Mark Williams
Interviewed Guest Heidi Johansen-Berg
Interviewed Guest Charles Fernyhough
Interviewed Guest Ben Shephard
Producer Katy Hickman

Broadcasts

  • Mon 30 Jun 2014 09:00
  • Mon 30 Jun 2014 21:30

Podcast