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All in the Mind

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Factual: Health & Wellbeing

The show with the latest evidence on psychology, mental health and neuroscience.

The show on how we think, feel and behave. Claudia Hammond delves into the evidence on mental health, psychology and neuroscience.

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All in the Mind: Taxi Drivers - Mental Illness and Work - Neuroscience and the Law

Taxi Drivers - Mental Illness and Work - Neuroscience and the Law

13/12/2011

BBC Radio 4 - All in the Mind, Taxi Drivers - Mental Illness and Work - Neuroscience and the Law

Taxi drivers' brains; disclosing mental health problems at work; neuroscience and the law.

Taxi drivers' brains grow on learning the Knowledge, disclosing mental health problems at work, and how will neuroscience influence the law and evidence that can be used in court?

London Taxi drivers have to learn 25 000 streets and 20 000 landmarks to qualify and get the Knowledge. New research by Professor Eleanor Maguire from University College London has followed trainee taxi drivers over the years they learn the knowledge and found an area of their brains important for memory and navigation grows in response to learning. Does this mean all our brains have this plastic capacity? 

Should you disclose if you have any mental health problems to your employer? Listeners give their opinion and Seaneen Molloy, author of the Secret Life of a Manic depressive talks about her experiences of going back to work. 

The Royal Society publishes its latest Brain Waves report on Neuroscience and the Law. Claudia explores what the latest developments in neuroscience could mean for the legal process and asks what kind of new brain based information might be submissible as evidence in court? What are the ethical and legal issues raised by the possibility of predicting criminal behaviour? Could sentencing and probation decisions be influenced by a better knowledge of the brain basis for certain kinds of behaviours? Professor of psychology, Nick Mackintosh and Joanna Glynn, QC discuss what this means for our understanding of decision-making, notions of free will and responsibility and the law. 

Producer: Pam Rutherford.

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