Edel Sanders is a researcher, lecturer, and the Dean of Psychology at the University of New
York in Prague (UNYP). After earning her bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude), from Columbia University, she documented the impact of musical learning on inner-city children’s self-esteem, as well as their mathematical and academic development through research with Columbia's Arts Education Research Center while completing two master’s degrees there.
Post-Columbia, Edel went on to pursue her Ph.D. in Education and Cognitive Psychology at the University of Cambridge. While there, she joined the Centre for Neuroscience in Education and the INSTRUCT Educational Psychology Research Lab. She later supported field research with the Comparative Cognition Lab at Cambridge, which investigated individual traits and social learning in the natural environment of wild jackdaws. Future research goals include exploring cross-species consciousness and cognition, fostering altruism in humans, and enhancing well-being through music, mantra, and other therapeutic interventions.
Here she explores whether size really matters…when it comes to brains. Dr. Sanders invites you to challenge the freshly archaic slur, “bird brain” by thinking about the potential advantages of having a smaller brain and noting technological contests wagering who can pack more information processing punch into smaller spaces.
Considering the brains of insects and birds, as well as our own, she notes recent research on avian brains that reveals new evidence elucidating how birds are able to memorize vast stores of information, solve complex problems, compute numerically and demonstrate superior navigational skills with such small brains. Revolutionary research suggesting the parallel evolution of bird and human brains illuminates the idea that while the structure may differ, the avian neural function can be quite similar to humans’ and even more efficient in some cases.
* Haller’s Rule states that the ratio of brain-to-body size increases as body size decreases. This phenomenon is consistent across species and yet is broken by humans when comparing among primates.
Edel Sanders is a researcher, lecturer and the Dean of Psychology at the University of New York in Prague (UNYP). Additionally, she lectures in pedagogy and psychology at Charles University. After earning her bachelor's degree, from Columbia University, she documented the impact of musical learning on inner city children's self-esteem and academic development through research with Columbia's Arts Education Research Center while completing two master's degrees there.
Post-Columbia, Edel went on to pursue her PhD in Education and Cognitive Psychology at the University of Cambridge. While there, she joined the Neuroscience Lab and the INSTRUCT educational psychology research group. She later supported field research with the Comparative Cognition lab at Cambridge University that investigated individual traits and social learning in the natural environment of wild jackdaws.
Edel is also an award-winning composer and opera singer who enjoys sharing her art in beautiful Prague and beyond. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at [ Ссылка ]
