Meet the Neuroscientist Measuring Consciousness! Dr Joel Pearson

About the conversation

Dr. Joel Pearson is a psychologist, neuroscientist, and founder of Future Minds Lab at UNSW — a cutting-edge research group exploring consciousness, intuition, mental imagery, and the psychology of decision-making in the age of AI. He’s the world’s leading expert on aphantasia — the inability to visualize mental images — and author of The Intuition Toolkit, a science-backed guide to harnessing the power of the subconscious mind. Buy the Intuition Toolkit: https://amzn.to/3EjYupB Expect to learn how intuition really works in the brain, the 5 science-based rules for trusting your gut, how to train intuition like a skill, the surprising link between interoception and unconscious decision-making, the neuroscience of flow and instinctive action, what aphantasia reveals about emotion and memory, how visual imagery amplifies anxiety, why some people are immune to mental pictures, how AI companions are already warping human psychology, and what happens when we start outsourcing love to machines… ... 00:02:03 Exploring the Unconventional Lab of Dr. Joe Pearson 00:08:05 Understanding Intuition: Definitions and Mechanisms 00:13:50 The Role of Context in Intuition 00:17:00 The Neural Mechanisms of Intuition 00:19:59 Intuition in Decision Making 00:22:54 Practical Applications of Intuition 00:26:03 Intuition in Sports and Motor Skills 00:32:38 Intuition and Career Choices 00:34:47 The Role of Intuition in Decision Making 00:38:20 Agency and Mental Health 00:39:52 The Science of Intuition 00:41:31 Real-Life Applications of Intuition 00:45:30 Honing Intuition in Daily Life 00:48:39 Flow State and Intuition 00:54:13 Improving Intuition in the Lab 01:00:31 Measuring the Mind: Psychophysical Technologies 01:02:11 Intuition and Learning: Understanding Decision-Making 01:05:15 Aphantasia: The Inability to Visualize 01:09:34 The Journey into Mental Imagery Research 01:12:44 Personal Experiences with Aphantasia 01:21:26 Memory and Aphantasia: How Do They Interact? 01:29:28 Adaptive Advantages of Aphantasia: A New Perspective 01:30:33 Diverse Cognitive Approaches to Mathematics 01:31:32 The Emotional Impact of Imagery 01:32:57 Risk Perception and Empathy in Aphantasia 01:35:09 Understanding Aphantasia Prevalence 01:36:28 The Limits of Understanding Aphantasia 01:38:38 Exploring Multisensory Aphantasia 01:40:23 Future Directions in Aphantasia Research 01:43:55 The Psychological Impact of AI 01:49:00 The Future of Human-AI Relationships 01:51:41 Exciting Developments in Neuroscience ... Follow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249 Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet at https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL (use Code GIANTSMANTA10)