It might have been a regular afternoon for you, but not for me. I sat down with Michael Halassa to talk brain architecture and evolution.
Brain architecture can sound daunting - and truth be told it is - but I had one assignment for Mike: to make it accessible for the level of understanding of a therapist interested in neuroscience (or anybody else just interested in inner workings of the mind).
Mike totally delivered IMO, but I will let you be the judge.
Also, I am really kicking myself, as I did not realise the internet connection on my end was bad, and so the quality of the video on my end is shocking at time - Mike’s end is OK, so I guess that is the most important bit. Still, it comes across as sloppy and I can only apologize. Will definitely pay more attention to the tech aspect the next time. My sincere apologies.
In this live, we covered:
05:00 Is Neuroscience Fundamentally Useful to Therapy (or Is It Just a Distraction)?
11:15 What Is Brain Architecture?
16:10 What Is a Neural Circuit?
Circuits, computation, inputs and outputs, connectivity and functional organisation
21:45 Brain architecture across scales
Macro-, meso- and microarchitecture, Brodmann areas, why vision is easier to study than emotion, limitations of emotion research
27:55 Architecture features of the Cortex vs Thalamus vs Basal Ganglia
Cortical layers, inhibitory neurons, thalamus, basal ganglia, neuromodulators and their relevance for therapy and psychiatry
32:30 Predictive Processing Explained (thanks Cathi Spooner, LCSW, RPT-S !)
Generative models, top-down predictions and prediction error using vision as an example.
35:40 How Is the Cortex Organised?
Laminar structure, neocortex, agranular cortex, hippocampus, insula, subcortical structures and why cortical layers are still debated.
40:05 Brain Evolution Without the Triune Brain
Why emotions are not lower-level processes, emotion and cognition as inseparable, reflexes versus emotion, future directions for therapy.
46:45 Why the Triune Brain Is Wrong
52:10 Emotion as Cognition
Emotions as computations, understanding other people's minds, inference about the social world
55:35 What counts as good model or metaphor?
Explanatory value versus neurobabble, recognising when neuroscience genuinely adds understanding
57:30 Mike’s three take home messages for therapists interested in neuroscience integration
Michael Halassa, MD, PhD, is a neuroscientist and a professor at Virginia Tech. His groundbreaking research has redefined the role of the thalamus in cognition. Mike spends lots of time thinking about brain architecture, brain circuits and how different levels of brain functioning are integrated into one whole.
I hope you enjoy it and find it useful. Any questions, let us know in the comments. 🙏
