BBC - In Our Time- Neuroscience (Audio)
BBC - In Our Time- Neuroscience (Audio)
BBC | 13 November 2008 | MP3 128kbps | 19,7 MB
BBC | 13 November 2008 | MP3 128kbps | 19,7 MB
In the mid-19th century a doctor had a patient who had suffered a stroke. The patient was unable to speak save for one word. The word was ‘Tan’ which became his name. When Tan died, the doctor discovered damage to the left side of his brain and concluded that the ability to speak was housed there.
This is how neuroscience used to work – by examining thedead or investigating the damaged – but now things have changed. Imaging machines and other technologies enable us to see the active brain in everyday life, to observe the activation of its cells and the mass firing of its neuron batteries.
But what picture of the brain has emerged, how has our understanding of it changed and what are the implications
for understanding that most mysterious and significant of all phenomena – the human mind?