Neuromyths in schools; psychosis and prisons; the case of HM

Education Neuromyths

Many teachers are interested in the workings of the brain and how neuroscience might help their students to learn. But new research suggests that like the rest of the us, teachers have picked up many myths about the mind. Common neuromyths in wide circulation are that children have to be taught in their preferred learning styles in order to absorb information; that we only use 10% of our brains and that doing special co-ordination exercises helps the two hemispheres our our brains work together. Paul Howard Jones, reader in Neuroscience and Education at Bristol University, tells Claudia Hammond why he believes neuromyths are so widespread in the classroom.

Prisons and Psychosis

Prisoners are supposed to have exactly the same access to healthcare as everybody else, but in reality, there are big gaps in the service. When it comes to mental health care, the need for specialised care is clear to see. 5.2% of prisoners (compared to 0.4% of the general population) experience psychosis. Now a project in South East London aims to identify and treat prisoners before their illness escalates into a full-blown psychotic episode. Lucia Valmaggia of the Oasis in Prison project talks to Claudia about the sucess of this world-first project.

The case of "H.M." and emerita Professor Of Neuroscience, Suzanne Corkin

H.M., or Henry Gustave Molaison, is the world's most famous neurological patient. A case study in any neuroscience or psychology text book, Henry had amnesia, caused by an operation in 1953 to cure his serious epilepsy. His seizures were cured but the removal of a part of his brain left him unable to form new memories. For the next fifty years until his death in 2008, he was studied and researched, his condition revolutionising what we now know about memory. Emerita Professor of Neuroscience, Suzanne Corkin, at M.I.T. in the USA, and author of a new book, Permanent Present Tense, studied him for almost four decades. All in the Mind listeners get to hear original interviews, recorded back in 1977, whith Henry himself and Suzanne describes to Claudia, Henry the man and Henry's contribution to science.

Producer: Fiona Hill.