Mind Field Season 2

Synopsis

In the second season of Mind Field, creator/host Michael Stevens takes us on an even deeper dive into the mysterious depths of the human psyche. Working with top Universities and cutting-edge Research Labs, Michael travels the world to explore the latest frontiers in psychology and neuroscience through groundbreaking demonstrations that test the powers and limits of the human mind. From investigating psychedelic drugs in the Amazon jungle to testing how unsuspecting test subjects handle terrifying life-or-death decisions, each episode offers an unprecedented journey into the ever-shifting boundaries of the Mind Field.

Main Cast

Michael Stevens

Himself - Host

Age : 38 | Popularity : 3%

Episodes

Episode 1

06 December 2017 - The Greater Good

Would you reroute a train to run over one person to prevent it from running over five others? In the classic “Trolley Problem” survey, most people say they would. But I wanted to test what people would actually do in a real-life situation. In the world’s first realistic simulation of this controversial moral dilemma, unsuspecting subjects will be forced to make what they believe is a life-or-death decision.

Episode 2

06 December 2017 - The Psychedelic Experience

Do psychedelic drugs really bring about self-healing and personal enlightenment? New research says they may. In this episode, I travel to the Amazonian jungle of Peru to experience the mind-expanding effects of the psychedelic brew Ayahuasca. I’m joined by Imperial College London’s Head of Psychedelic Research, Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, who measures the impact of Ayahuasca on my brain.

Episode 3

06 December 2017 - Interrogation

Psychology. Neuroscience. Drugs. All can be tools of interrogation. In this episode, an expert shows me how to coerce unsuspecting subjects into signing false confessions; a police psychologist questions me about my personal life after I am injected with a truth serum; and I match wits against a new brainwave-reading lie-detection method developed at Northwestern University.

Episode 4

06 December 2017 - Your Brain on Tech

Technology isn’t just changing our lives. It’s literally changing our brains -- and maybe for the better. In this episode, I’m a human lab rat in a groundbreaking study at UC Irvine, where scientists test how playing 3D video games affects my spatial memory. Will 10 days of gaming improve my ability to physically navigate a giant, 60-foot maze? And will an fMRI machine detect any physical changes to my brain?

Episode 5

13 December 2017 - How to Make a Hero

What makes a hero? Dr. Philip Zimbardo, the psychologist behind the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, now runs seminars to teach everyday people how to be heroes. But can heroism be learned? I put his unsuspecting students into a fake crisis situation to see if they would act heroically. Also, I asked employees to help me run a seemingly dangerous experiment, to see if they would blow the whistle to stop me.

Episode 6

20 December 2017 - The Power of Suggestion

Exactly how do placebos work? Researchers believe that, through the power of suggestion, placebos may unleash the power of our own subconscious minds to cure ourselves. I was honored to participate in McGill University’s groundbreaking study of an accessory-assisted placebo. Could a fake, non-functioning “Sham Brain Scanner” enable children with ADHD and other neurological conditions to alleviate their own symptoms?

Episode 7

27 December 2017 - Divergent Minds

Scientists can’t dissect living people’s brains to study their function. But by examining the behavior of people whose brains are atypical (due to stroke, injury, or being born that way), we can learn a lot about all our brains. In this episode, I travel to London to meet a blind, autistic savant with astonishing musical abilities, and I volunteer to have my own brain’s function temporarily disrupted at UCLA’s Neuromodulation Lab.

Episode 8

03 January 2018 - The Electric Brain

Our nervous system is fundamentally electric. We move our arm by sending a signal to the muscles that control it. That means we can bypass our brains and use electricity to control our bodies, or use our minds to control other bodies. In this episode, I explore how we can use electricity and our brains to control cockroaches, move other people’s limbs, restore motion to people who are paralyzed, and even read people’s minds.

Crew

Department	Role	Name
Production	Executive Producer	Michael Stevens David Wechter Eli Holzman Aaron Saidman
	Producer	Phillip Barbb Travis Dowell Jen Friesen Andy Wood
Sound	Main Title Theme Composer	Jake Chudnow
Department	Role	Name

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