In Episode 17, I discuss the topic of relaxation and how we can engage in breath work to help reduce tension and anxiety. I talk with Tessa Hughes, an experienced mindfulness practitioner about the benefits that mindfulness and meditation can bring to our thinking and wellbeing.

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In Episode 16, I discuss advances in research and technology that are attempting to provide new information to improve the safety of playing high impact adult and youth sports. I talk with Damien Hawes about an innovative mouthguard developed by HITIQ that aims to provide an incredible surveillance system that has the potential to further our understanding of the effects of high level impacts during sport on our brain health and cognition. I also talk about the role neuropsychologists play in a world of virtual reality and cutting edge technology.

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In Episode 15 Part 2, I discuss some of the symptoms of stroke including coordination and communication issues, and explain how this is organised in the brain. I complete my interview with Cassie Watson, who explains how stroke has affected her Dad’s abilities and how humour and resilience has helped shape a new future for Paul and his family. I also provide some information and links to apps and therapy tools for people living with stroke to aid recovery and enhance quality of life.

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In Episode 15 Part 1, I discuss what is stroke, how to identify the potential signs of stroke and that ‘time is brain’. I share with you the latest strategies to treat stroke including the use of mobile stroke units. Due to the impact that stroke has on the individual and their loved ones; we look at stroke from the viewpoint of those who have been affected by it. In part 1 of a 2-part interview, I talk with Cassie Watson, who courageously shares her Dad’s experience of stroke and what it was like to go through such a traumatic event as a family.

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In this episode, I discuss the huge benefits that recreational travel or taking a holiday can have on your thinking and wellbeing. I will introduce research that shows that the benefits to our mood occur both at the time of taking a holiday and in the time thereafter. I will share with you how even the thought of your next holiday can raise your perceived happiness levels, can build your knowledge and enhance your social skills. This podcast will also look at reasons why people do not take vacations and offers ways to reduce travel anxiety and panic.

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In this episode, I introduce the topic of ethical considerations in psychological research and describe past research experiments that are now deemed as potentially harmful. I will be telling you about three famous studies that may make you question not only the impact that taking part in research has on participants, but also on the investigators and how the results are portrayed, with some now the focus of docudramas such as the 2018 movie, Three Identical Strangers.

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In this episode, I discuss theories of human development including a look at the psychologists who proposed them and how these contribute to our current understanding of learning. I talk about neuroimaging research of the developing brain and how this lends support to the psychological theories. I also look at how we use internal concepts called schemas to help understand and modify our knowledge of the environment and how these can shape the way we form relationships in adult life, including the use of schema therapy.

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In this episode, I discuss goal setting and implementation including a review of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. I talk about ways to maximise your success as an individual, small business or as an entrepreneur using goal attainment strategies such as mental contrasting and fantasy realisation theory. I also look at the cognitive and anatomical bases of creating goals using future thought and episodic foresight.

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In this episode, I invite you to take part in tasks to help illustrate the use of schemas, or packages of information, that help to guide our memory and how such energy saving ‘short-cuts’ by our brain can lead to distortions in recollection. I talk about the misbeliefs we have about our own memory abilities and reasons these occur using evidence from research. In the final part of the episode, I discuss the rise in interest in true crime and eyewitness testimony, how errors occur and why this is an area of controversy in the study of memory.

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In this episode, I discuss the topic of apps and how they are becoming increasingly used to support symptoms relating to brain damage. I provide a summary of a novel virtual peer delivered memory support app that was also able to enhance wellbeing. I talk about the efficacy of brain training apps and games and provide links to useful support apps for those living and working with brain injury.

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