Brainwave: it could change your mind
About Brainwave
Brainwave brings people from diverse walks of life together to engage with neuroscientists in one-on-one conversations in order to better understand the workings of our minds. Starting February 2013 we will start with the (Buddhist) premise that everything is an illusion, and that the processes of the brain make that perception necessary.
Presenting Sponsor of Brainwave 2011 and 2012 was
Brainwave 2012 was made possible, in part, by support from the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism. Here is an overview, with links, to last year's program whose main topic was memory. "Central Asia is home to some of world culture’s greatest feats of memory. The 12th century epic poem of King Gesar, the early mythic king of early Tibet, is assessed at a million verses long, for example. Tibetan Buddhist culture in particular makes use of ‘artificial memory’ in retaining sacred teachings through the form of elaborate iconography in painted and sculptural form. In this year’s series we will look at the role of memory has played in the past, and the debatable role it plays in our contemporary cut-and-paste culture." – Tim McHenry, Director, Public Programs & Performance
Programs
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Sat, Feb 4
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Sean Scully + Anjan ChatterjeeAbstract Cognition Painter Sean Scully engages with neurologist Anjan Chatterjee on the role art plays in cognitive enhancement and how it relates to identity and memory. |
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Sat, Feb 4
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Laurie Anderson + Dean BuonomanoBrain Bugs Performance artist Laurie Anderson explores the fallibility of our brains—everything from why we forget our shopping lists to the cause of the 2008 market crash—with neuroscientist Dean Buonomano, author of Brain Bugs: How the Brain's Flaws Shape Our Lives. |
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Wed, Feb 8 |
Jane Pauley + Sebastian SeungWelcome to Connectome Sebastian Seung is on a quest to discover the biological basis of identity. Seung explains to broadcaster Jane Pauley his belief that our identity lies in the pattern of connections between the brain’s neurons: the connectome. |
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Sat, Feb 11 |
Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche + Marsha LucasMindfulness, Meditation and Memory How can we master our minds in order live more fully? Shyalpa Rinpoche draws upon the prescriptions in his new book Living Fully: Finding Joy in Every Breath to equip us with the tools we need to experience genuine inner freedom, uncorrupted by endless craving for something better. |
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Wed, Feb 15 |
Just Trial and Error:
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Sat, Feb 18 |
Just Trial and Error:
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Sat, Feb 18 |
Just Trial and Error:
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Wed, Feb 22 |
Just Trial and Error:
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Wed, Feb 29 |
Kurt Diemberger + Philip LiebermanMind the Altitude Alpinist Kurt Diemberger sits down with Philip Lieberman to explore how memories are shaped by extreme environments and how the brain copes with the effects of altitude. |
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Sat, Mar 3 |
Randall Wolf + Miguel NicolelisThe Robotic Mind Are brains and machines about to be merged? Imagine living in a world where people use their computers, drive their cars, and communicate with one another simply by thinking. Duke University neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis shares his revolutionary findings with a surgeon who has pioneered robotic surgery. |
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Sat, Mar 3 |
Rivka Galchen + David LindenMemory and Identity Novelist Rivka Galchen sought to enter the mind of a psychiatrist in her first prize-winning novel (Atmospheric Disturbances) that addressed memory and identity. Here with Johns Hopkins neuroscientist David Linden, she ventures into her own mind, in particular her memory in search of her literary influences. |
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Sun, Mar 4 |
Scott Shepherd + John KubieMemorizing the Great American Novel Actor Scott Shepherd knows all 47,094 words in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby off by heart. And in the right order. He has 'read' the work countless times as part of Elevator Repair Service's highly acclaimed dramatic presentation of Gatz, shortly to be revived at the Public Theater. The neuroscientist John Kubie explores the process of memorization and how it affects interpretation and his ability to recall his shopping list. |
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Wed, Mar 7 |
Caris' PeaceFilm + Talk: Lewis Black and Barry Gordon, MD, PhD Comedian Lewis Black and Johns Hopkins neurologist Barry Gordon, MD, PhD discuss the implications of short-term memory loss for an actor after the New York City premiere screening of Gaylen Ross's film Caris' Peace. |
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Sat, Mar 10 |
Caris' PeaceFilm + Talk: Mark Linn-Baker + Robert Landy Actor Mark Linn-Baker and drama therapist Robert Landy discuss the implications of short-term memory loss for an actor after the screening of Gaylen Ross's film Caris' Peace. |
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Fri, Mar 16 |
Jonatha Brooke + Gayatri DeviDealing with Dementia The singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke recently lost her mother to dementia after caring for her in her own home for over a year. She discusses the role of music and caregiving with Director of the New York Memory and Healthy Aging Services, Dr. Gayatri Devi. |
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Sun, Mar 25 |
Caris' PeaceFilm + Talk: David Carr and Andre Fenton New York Times media columnist and author of "Night of the Gun" David Carr and NYU neuroscientist Andre Fenton discuss the implications of short-term memory loss for an actor after the screening of Gaylen Ross's film Caris' Peace. |
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Wed, Mar 28 |
Caris' PeaceFilm + Talk: Allan Lokos and John Deluca Meditation teacher Allan Lokos and neuropsychologist John DeLuca compare the Buddhist notion of 'living in the moment' with the moment-to-moment existence of someone suffering from short-term memory loss following the final screening of Gaylen Ross's film Caris' Peace. |
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Wed, Apr 11 |
Joshua Foer + Daniel KahnemanAs Time Goes By US Memory Champion Joshua Foer and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman debate how memory works as a function of time. |
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Sat, Apr 14 |
Diane Ackerman + Todd SacktorUsing and Losing Language Writer Diane Ackerman's literary husband Paul West "had a draper's touch for the unfolding fabric of a sentence, and he collected words like rare buttons." In 2003, West suffered a stroke that left him with global aphasia: an inability to produce words or to understand words spoken to him. Her book One Hundred Names for Love documents her remarkable process in helping him repair his brain. Poet, essayist, and naturalist, Diane Ackerman is the author of two dozen highly acclaimed works of nonfiction and poetry, including the best-selling A Natural History of the Senses. |
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Mon, Apr 16 |
Eric Kandel + George ProchnikThe Age of Insight Nobel Prize-winner Eric Kandel exquisitely bridges science, medicine, and art to show how the unconscious was exposed during Vienna 1900. At a time when Sigmund Freud, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Alois Riegl, among others, were all living in the same city, they were all also simultaneously exploring the unconscious mind. |
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Mon, Apr 23 |
Ruth Reichl + Paul RozinThe Madeleine Syndrome Proust's evocation of childhood conjured by the tasting of the scalloped madeleine has become the template for remembrance of things past. But why does taste bring forth memories of such emotional power? Gourmand Ruth Reichl seeks to analyze our taste buds with psychologist Paul Rozin, who returns to Brainwave after his conversation with chef Mario Batali in Brainwave 2009. |
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Fri, Apr 27 |
Nick Flynn + William HirstBased on a True Story Nick Flynn's memoir about his encounter with his absentee father in a Boston homeless shelter, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir in 2006. With psychologist William Hirst, an expert in trauma and collective and autobiographical memory, Flynn explores the degrees of truth in a memoir remembered. Presented in association with Urban Zen |
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Sat, Apr 28 |
Marilu Henner + Suparna RajaramTotal Recall Marilu Henner has Superior Autobiographical Memory-an uncanny ability to recall details of every day of her life-a talent known to be shared by only six other people in the world. Her latest book Total Memory Makeover: Uncover Your Past, Take Charge of Your Future which describes how an enhanced memory can help improve the quality of life, will be the subject of her discussion with cognitive psychologist Suparna Rajaram. Presented in association with Urban Zen |
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Sat, Apr 28 |
Vernon Reid + Gary MarcusThe Science of Learning (to Play the Guitar) One of our most eminent neuroscientists spent a year teaching himself to play the guitar. Why? Scientist Gary Marcus was keenly interested in how the brain can essentially rewire itself to make up for deficits caused by trauma. In the presence of Vernon Reid, #66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, he is put to the test. Presented in association with Urban Zen |
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Wed, May 2 |
Memory PalaceDo you want to be able to remember names at parties? Or where you last left your car keys? Or memorize The Wasteland? Attend this training by Mr. Memory himself: Ed Cooke, columnist of the London Times, author of Remember, Remember. Presented in association with Urban Zen |
Films
Just Trial and Error: Conversations on Consciousness
(US Premiere)
2010, UK, Alex Gabbay, 62 min.
February 15 – 22, 2012
What do art and science have to say about consciousness? Perhaps no aspect of the mind is more familiar or more puzzling than consciousness – it is something that has defied definition. Yet our conscious experience of self and the world is what shapes us and our history.
In an attempt to understand consciousness, filmmaker Alex Gabbay invites sculptor Antony Gormley, eminent neuroscientists Prof. Brian Butterworth and Dr. Beau Lotto and internet entrepreneur Twain Luu—whose study of the 'global brain' makes fascinating reading—to explore its meaning and how it affects their area of work.
View Just Trial and Error Trailer >>
Thank you to all of our distinguished guests who joined us for post-screening discussions.
Caris' Peace (New York City Premiere)
2011, USA, Gaylen Ross and Rebecca Nelson, 76 min.
With Lewis Black, Kate Burton, Caris Corfman, Nancy Giles, Tony Shalhoub
March 7 - 28, 2012
She was an exceptional graduate of the Yale School of Drama. She was a rising star among such luminaries as Lewis Black, Kate Burton, and Mark Linn-Baker. She played opposite Tim Curry and Ian McKellen in the Broadway hit play Amadeus. And then she had a brain tumor. And then she lost her short-term memory. Gaylen Ross with collaborator Rebecca Nelson create a wrenching documentary which tells the story of Caris Corfman, a brilliant actress who was robbed of her ability to learn, recall, and recite lines. Unlike dementia sufferers who gradually lose awareness of their deteriorating condition, Corfman was swiftly forced to recognize that her career was over. This film captures what it is like to live trapped in the past, with only the thinnest slivers of the present.
Post-screening discussions featured: Lewis Black + Dr. Barry Gordon, Mark Linn-Baker + Robert Landy, David Carr + Andre Fenton, and Allan Lokos + John Deluca.
Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory (World Premiere)
A film by Michael Rossato-Bennett. An Ximotion Film.
Wednesday, April 18 - Saturday, April 21
Presented in association with the Alzheimer’s Association, New York City Chapter
Alzheimer’s disease is terrifying because one loses one’s memory. 5.6 million people in the U.S. are struggling with dementia and memory loss and 10 million more people are connected to them. There is no known cure and the numbers of sufferers is on the rise. Alive Inside follows Dan Cohen, a social worker who decides on a whim to bring iPods to a nursing home. What Dan Cohen discovers by accident, and scientists have been studying for years, is that a person suffering from memory loss can seem to "awaken" when given music they have an emotional attachment to. As Oliver Sacks explains, "Music imprints itself on the brain deeper than any other human experience. Music evokes emotion and emotion can bring with it memory."
The film is witness to this reawakening of 'lost' patients. The effect on the patient, the family, the caregiver is both touching and inspiring. The introduction of personalized music into patient’s lives seems to be able to open new vistas of experience, especially those with the least ability to interact. The aim of this film is to encourage widespread adoption of personalized music programs in nursing homes. The reward is enormous and the cost low.
Thank you to our post-screening guests, Dan Cohen, Dr. Scott Small, Music Therapist Alejandro Berti, Dr. Ottavio Arancio, Dementia Care Trainer Nancy Hendley, Dr. Concetta Tomaino, Dementia Care Trainer Lauren Volkmer, Rachael Bachleda, Dr. Peter Davies, and filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett.
Ancilliary programs include:
Lunch Matters: the regular Wednesday lunchtime series of short mind science documentary screenings is followed by moderated discussion sessions.
Cabaret Cinema: the regular Friday late night screenings will present feature films that use memory in a significant way. An Affair to Remember, Casablanca, Kaurismaki's The Man Without a Past, Wenders' Paris, Texas, Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps.
For videos and information about past Brainwaves please visit Brainwave 2011 or Brainwave 2010
