Sleep, Unconsciousness and the Brain. With Adrian Owen

Guest Interviewer: Ariel Garten, Muse Co-founder. Encore. Dr. Adrian Owen, a renowned neuroscientist, discovered that individuals in a persistent coma could still communicate- and he went one step further and listened to what they wanted to say. He’s also performed the largest sleep and cognition study in the world, and demonstrated why brain training apps are bunk, and what we can do to sleep better and improve our own conscious function. Dr. Owen is a Professor at The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, Canada and the former Canada Excellence Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging. His research combines neuroimaging (MRI and EEG), with cognitive studies in brain-injured patients and healthy participants. His lab studies patients who have sustained brain injuries that result in disorders of consciousness. They also study patients with neurodegenerative diseases in order to understand more about the causes and consequences of the memory, perception and reasoning problems that many of them experience. Finally, he develops web-based tools for the assessment of cognitive function, both in healthy participants and in patients with disorders of the brain. Check out choosemuse.com/meditationstudio for free meditations! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices