Alan Alda, Eric Kandel and Jim Simons Join Forces to Explore the Past and Present of Brain Science
A packed audience of students, faculty/staff and the community recently filled the Staller Center’s main stage to hear three giants of science discuss mathematics and the brain. The special event, hosted by the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, was held in celebration of the 20th Annual Swartz Foundation Mind Brain Lecture Series. Actor/director and science advocate Alan Alda lead a lively discussion with Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel and renowned mathematician Jim Simons.
Alda, a visiting professor at Stony Brook University and founder of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Center, steered the conversation as Kandel and Simons shared their insight into how psychology and mathematics were both crucial in the development of cognitive neuroscience. The trio touched on subjects such as memory, schizophrenia, autism, mathematical matrixes and more. After some discussion, Alda noted that “cognitive psychology gives neuroscience the questions to be answered,” and that neuroscience needs mathematics to develop the models to help answer those questions.
For more information on the Mind Brain Lecture series, please visit stonybrook.edu/mindbrain.
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