Memory, Poverty, and the Brain

On today's show, we take a look at your brain. Specifically, your brain at that maddening moment when you run into an old acquaintance, but just can’t place their name. Ben? Bob? Brian? You’ve got the “b” part, but the rest just seems to stick on the tip of your tongue. Science editor and writer Jonah Lehrer, became fascinated with this phenomenon, and he stopped by our studio to tell us more.

We also look at the possible links between childhood poverty and brain development. Dr. Martha Farah, director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, studies how the stress of growing up in a lower socio-economic status may be damaging to how the brain develops, and is providing new insight into the age-old question of why poverty persists.

And we hear a story from public radio station KQED's QUEST about researchers at Stanford University using complex brain imaging to study how we make financial decisions. They’re finding that emotions play a pretty big role in everyday purchases. Andrea Kissic visited the lab to see what the scientists are coming up with.

(Photo by Piper Falk)