Full PreFrontal

What war can you win with a deck of cards, a bible, a dictionary, and a bottle of sherry? A war against the drudgery of daily mundane. To bring a semblance of normalcy, to push against her personal limits and to invoke her creative genius, for many years, Maya Angelou rented a hotel room where she placed these four simple objects and did her best work. Known for her prolific writing career, Maya Angelou could not have accomplished her success if it weren’t for a complete surrender and a deal of great respect for carefully crafted meaningful routines. On today’s Full PreFrontal podcast my guest Dr. Christine Carter, the author of the best-selling books including, “The Sweet Spot: How to Achieve More by Doing Less” (2017) returns to talk about ways to elevate personal productivity while enjoying the day-to-day rigmarole.

Have you ever wondered if you’re doing it right, particularly when it comes to parenting? Have your good intentions to push your kids failed you? Have you reacted in an unflattering way when dealing with your kids’ distractibility, stubbornness, or argumentativeness or have your children pointed out that your reactions of frustration and anger are very unbecoming of you? It turns out that just because you're a talented, successful, and good person doesn’t mean that you will automatically be an effective parent. Everybody needs a little help in raising well-adjusted kids. On today’s podcast my guest, Dr. Christine Carter, a sociologist and Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and a very successful author of many books including “Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents” will address important issues including the connection between parenting and self-regulation, becoming less of a critic and more of a model, and how to raise well-adjusted kids.

The game of Chutes and Ladders, originally invented in India and known for the snakes instead of chutes, is a great allegory for life. With the luck of the draw, you get a leg up when you land on the ladder only to be taken down a several notches often to an irretraceable set back. It takes a lot of mental maneuvering and an executive control to handle the frustration of sliding down from 87 to 24 and to patiently wait to rise up again or watch others win. And it’s true wisdom to not lose sight that after all, it’s just a game! On today’s podcast, our guest, Dr. Ronald D. Siegel, a renowned author, psychotherapist, and great teacher of mindfulness practices will discuss how mindful self-regulation is the seat of resiliency and how it allows us to gain a sense of equilibrium.

World-class athletes, politicians, artists, and even entrepreneurs have fallen from grace because of their personal salacious digressions or public tantrums. The talent that makes them rich and famous is not the same talent that helps them ward off the chaos in their vulnerable mind. The emotional brain is inherently wired to duck from social perils or to protect itself from the painful misery of negative experiences. If mindlessness is at the heart of impulsive, silly, or even dumb mistakes then it's the well-cultivated mindfulness that insulates the human being from thoughtless words, judgmental attitudes, or harmful actions. On today’s podcast, our guest Dr. Ronald D. Siegel from Harvard University and author of Essential Skills for Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy, will discuss the link between emotional-regulation and Executive Function and the path to well-being through mindfulness.

Would you be willing to head-butt a ram for an icy cold bottle of Mountain Dew? That’s the kind of lighthearted foolery that got a lot of laughs during a Super Bowl commercial one year. At the end, we see the young man sipping from the winning drink, but you’re not quite sure if he is okay because you can hear a stutter in his speech as he staggers away in a disoriented haze. Even though our precious brain comes in a special protective casing, not everyone is lucky enough to keep it safe from harm. Whether it is a tiny bump, a big jolt, or a hard blow to head, the result can often be life altering. Today, my guest, Professor Jerry Hoepner, will discuss the art and science of neurorehabilitation after a traumatic brain injury and its relationship with executive function and real-world functioning.

In NBC’s award winning series, This is Us, Mandy Moore’s character Becca, a new mother of three, leaves the house for the first time after the childbirth to buy groceries so that she can make something special for her husband, Jack. Ordinarily, Becca plays by the book and goes with the flow but an encounter where another shopper grabs the last bag of yellow onions that Becca wanted for herself leads to a massive meltdown. One can clearly see what happens when the demands on a capable and caring person like Rebecca exceeds her capacity as woman who’s recovering from postnatal blues and warding off the unlimited pressure of raising babies. Today, my guest, Professor Jerry Hoepner, will talk about the daily tug of war where a novel context causes a seismic shift in the demands and deterioration in the performance as it exceeds capacity.

What’s the difference between blowing bubbles in the yard, watching a drunk shovel snow in a shopping cart, and listening to Rodney Dangerfield deliver a monologue? The first one is fun, the second one is funny, but only Rodney Dangerfield’s one-liners makes you laugh every time. It takes Executive Function skills such as adapting off-stage comedic talent to the stand-up comedy environment, restructuring the jokes, and adjusting your timing to succeed in the business of entertainment. But talented individuals with ADHD experience everyday chaos as their lives are riddled with a lot of mismanagement, impulsivity, and poor decision-making. This makes it difficult to let the talents be discovered or actualized.  Today, in a candid interview, my client, Karate (Kate) Wellington, talks about finding a home in comedy and entertainment and how her creativity has always managed to surface and give her hope in spite of the painful realization that ADHD is there to stay and Executive Dysfunction is a beast that needs to be tamed. See how Kate has come to acknowledge that the secret of finessing her progress as a comedian lies in mastering her Executive Function.

Taking care of children by feeding them, protecting them, and loving them is not the same as preparing them for their future. American education has been through an evolutionary process; which is just a few centuries old and the quest is yet to be fulfilled. We forget, a century ago, attending school past age 12 was not mandatory, the classrooms were often filled with 50-60 kids of varying ages and demanding kids to recite and regurgitate facts was a standard practice. Forecasting the needs of tomorrow continues to be an enigma in spite of the rapidly evolving information technology age and serving the needs of all types of learners continues to be as opaque as ever. Today, my guest, Dr. Sam Goldstein, a clinical neuropsychologist, will discuss how to rethink educating self-sufficient students with Executive Function at the heart of learning.

If you’re trying to bum a cigarette from someone outside a bar after midnight be prepared for them to say no. Talented actor, Shia Lebeouf, wasn’t prepared. Ironically, he who has painstakingly portrayed Tennis’ tempestuous bad-boy, John McEnroe, in “Borg vs McEnroe,” himself has been arrested one time too many for emotional volatility, impulsivity, and disorderly conduct. Not everyone has strong executive function to circumvent life’s obstacles with grace. Today, my guest, Dr. Sam Goldstein, a clinical neuropsychologist, will discuss how Executive Function helps us negotiate everyday bumps and insulates us from bad decisions and self-destruction.

The creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening, once described Homer Simpson as “a loving father but he’s ruled by his impulses”.  Homer often comes across more of a juvenile adult than a parent; never quite equipped to handle Bart’s bratty behaviors or Lisa’s intellectual curiosity. In spite of being endowed, the virtuous, talented, and sensitive middle child Lisa is often ignored in the Simpsons household. As it is, parenting is hard but it’s even harder to tailor it to an individual child’s needs. Today, my guest, Dr. Stephanie Carlson, in her second interview will expatiate on how certain type of parenting can be instrumental in raising autonomous children who learn to temper their behaviors and emotions into resiliency.

When, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” hit the bookstores in 1984, authors Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel had no idea that their book would become a bible for expectant parents and it would top the Best Seller’s list for years to come. Even though the parents’ search to figure out the mysteries of parenting does not dwindle once the baby is born; it surely gets complicated and there is no single book that guides parent to raise self-disciplined children. Today, my guest Dr. Stephanie Carlson, will demystify Executive Function and children’s capacities to successfully self-regulate their thoughts, feelings, and actions to function autonomously and independently by pausing for reflection.

The end of the year inventory often reveals a track record of failed diets, disorganization, and an ever-so thinning bank balance which is why a recent poll suggested that "lose weight," "get organized," and "spend less money" are the top 3 New Year’s resolutions. To change your ways upon self-reflection you need strong Executive Function skills. It’s the self-aware people who create attainable and reasonable New Year’s resolutions, but better yet, it is the self-regulated people who see them through. Striving to better oneself means developing a better relationship with yourself and cultivating strong habits. Today, my guest, Phil Zelazo, Ph.D. discusses how parents and teachers can promote the development of strong Executive Function and how better regulated members of the classroom, household, or community foster better, more modulated responses – which is the true foundation of a harmonious society.

“In order to avoid buying those unnecessary items, don't go shopping at those stores.” Says a financial adviser Michael Markey. But anyone who is not a stranger to temptations knows that it takes a lot to resist the holiday shopping season, starting with Black Friday to Cyber Monday and until the day-before Christmas eve, the online as well as brick and mortar retailers craft seductive deals to trap every eager consumer and last-minute shopper. For every ad, e-blast, and coupon that goes out into the cyber space, the self-help realm bulges with tips and suggestions for us to curtail powerful craving, desires, and temptations. Today, my guest Phil Zelazo, Ph.D. discusses two distinct systems – a top down a reflexive versus a bottom up more of a deliberate that blocks the onslaught of internal chatter and external distractions.

What does a fatal plane crash by a veteran pilot and a patient death from a wrongful dosage by an expert nurse have in common? They both might have been interrupted in the middle of critical procedures and may not have remembered to come back to where they left off. While processing information in working memory, your attention acts like a 360° searchlight and whatever it happens to illuminate is what gets attended. Even though we cannot multitask or ‘multi-attend,’ our mind foolishly persuades us that we can. Today, my guest, world-renowned working memory expert, Dr. Randy Engle, discusses how the secret of training our working memory lies in managing our attention and intention.

If life was a play, some activities would be the star of show and others would be just ‘extras’. The mind is often full of thoughts about the upcoming main act while plowing through the mundane, such as unloading the dishwasher, taking out the garbage or rescheduling a doctor’s appointment. But no matter what the task is we are always deploying Working Memory. Working Memory is the fine-china of cognition on which you either serve an ordinary burger and fries or a rib-eye steak. On today’s podcast, Dr. Randy Engle will talk about the fascinating ‘system’ that let’s you hold on to, for example, a riddle, “Throw away the outside and cook the inside, then eat the outside and throw away the inside” and solve it without getting distracted by cars honking, people talking, or computers humming.