In this episode, we invited a pair of neuroscientists: the student Roshni Lulla and her advisor Dr. Jonas Kaplan. They talked about the difficulties of neuroimaging studies, the brain regions for empathy and even consciousness, how Roshni balances her PhD work with her startup role, and Dr.Jonas’s interesting idea on how to choose best grad students.
 
Roshni is a second year PhD student in University of Southern California, her research focuses on emotional processing. She also hosts the Behind Your Behavior podcast with her cousin, where they interview professional neuroscientists and explore concepts from social interactions to decision-making.

Dr. Kaplan is an Associate Professor of Research in Psychology at USC's Brain and Creativity Institute, he is also the Co-Director of the Dana & David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroimaging Center, and the Associate Director for Mindfulness and Neuroimaging for the USC Center for Mindfulness Science.

Terms mentioned
- fMRI: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, it measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow.
- Voxels: a value on regular grid in the three-dimensional space. It represents a tidy cube of brain tissue in fMRI studies.
- Valence: referring to the intrinsic "good"-ness or "bad"-ness of an emotion.
- Insular cortex: a portion of cerebral cortex folded deep within the brain, believed to have roles in consciousness and emotional processing.
- Frontal cortex: the cerebral cortex of the frontal lobe, important for higher cognitive functions.
- Confounds / confounding variable: an unmeasured third variable that influences the study of a cause-and-effect relationship.

Credits
Host | Zhiwei Li
Edit | Xiaoyue Zhu
Theme music | Cody Cook, Zhiwei Li
Cover | Puzzle Man by illot

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Website: researchjourney.org
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Thank you for listening.