College Record 2013

Mind, Brain and Behaviour
This cluster (MBBC) was founded in 2012 to promote an inter-disciplinary
dialogue between scholars interested in the interaction between mind and brain
and its implications for behaviour change. Key members come from various
disciplines which include Experimental Psychology, Psychiatry, and Social Policy
and Intervention, but membership is open to a wider range of fields from lifewriting
to quantum physics and philosophy. MBBC aims to use both internal and
external sources of support to create a series of talks and workshops, integrating
the interests of Fellows, Graduate Students and Common Room Members in this
area.
MBBC was launched in Trinity 2013 with a series of lectures on the theme of
Neuroscience and Education, the speakers being leaders in the application to
education of evidence drawn from basic research on mental and neural processes.
Professor Anne Castles (Macquarie University) spoke on ‘Reading and dyslexia’,
and Professor Charles Hulme (UCL) on ‘Identifying causal factors in dyslexia’.
There were presentations by Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore (UCL) on ‘The
adolescent brain’, and by Professor Sue Gathercole (Director of the MRC Cognitive
and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge) on ‘Working memory and learning during
childhood’. A ‘speed-dating’ exercise followed by members of the Cluster, who each
spoke briefly about their research interests and what topics they would like to be
discussed at meetings. Several clear topics of interest emerged, including the design
of complex intervention studies and the use of new technology for diagnosis and
intervention, and they will be the subjects of a talk each term next academic year,
linked to a Wolfson guest night. In 2014 we also plan a workshop linked to the visit
by Professor Stephen Pinker to give the Haldane Lecture.
Glyn Humphreys (GBF 2011–), Co-ordinator
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