How do you tap into your unique intelligence? On Incredible Mind, host Michelle Cross Smith interviews neuroscientists, psychologists, doctors, artists, and others, getting insight into the workings of the brain and simple ways to engage your natural brilliance.
Ready to change how you see the space around you? In this Season 1 closer for Incredible Mind, Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics post-doc researcher Vasiliki Meletaki explains neuroaesthetics from the perspective of architecture and nature. In this conversation, we revisit the aesthetic triad, explore the three psychological dimensions of architecture and design, and learn how we can apply these insights in the real world. You’ll be surprised how this information changes your awareness of the built environment!
Episode Guide
0:00 Intro
2:03 Architecture, nature, and the Aesthetic Triad
9:30 Impact of personal experience on our perception of spaces
11:17 Philadelphia’s unique architecture
14:54 What people generally like or dislike in building design
16:08 Coherence, fascination and hominess
22:24 Biophilia and nature
29:33 Applying neuroarchitecture to improve quality of life
31:58 The nuance of research results and how to use them
34:24 Conclusion
17 Sept 2026
Made of Clay: Simon van der Ven
What does it mean to be an artist in today’s world? How do you practice your art and survive? This episode features Simon van der Ven, ceramicist and owner of van der Ven Studios. Siem walks us through the life of an artist-craftsman, the ceramic process, and what it means to follow a deep calling to create. If you know an aspiring artist, you’ll want to share this with them!
Episode Guide
0:00 Intro
1:45 Sim’s journey to ceramics
6:08 Clay wants to be itself
09:38 Ceramics, humanity & philosophy
14:34 The ceramic-making process
18:30 Workflow strategies during repetitive processes
24:16 What is a professional artist, really?
25:53 Potter-Artist or Artist-Potter
32:14 Conclusion
10 Sept 2026
The Invisible Art: Product Design with Cathy Bergstrom
You interact with the human-made world every day, from apps and login accounts to furniture and supermarket checkouts. Behind all these things is a designer, crafting the product with your experience in mind. In this episode we hear from Cathy Bergstrom, a Director of Product Design with deep knowledge of the process. If you want to learn how products are born, this episode is for you!
Episode Guide
00:00 Intro
02:18 What is product design?
06:55 Product design vs. UX design
07:50 Elements of good design: Apple Notes
11:00 Cathy’s journey to product design
12:50 The product design process
17:38 How new products are born: Amazon Prime
22:51 Defining the problem
27:52 Great design: familiarity or novelty?
30:40 Alternate use: Segway
32:23 Cathy’s final thoughts on product design
34:36 Conclusion
3 Sept 2026
Episode 8: Leap of Faith
Alyssa Bowser’s Second Chance Dance offers true dance education to adults, providing both novices and experienced dancers the opportunity to learn and move in community with others. In this episode, Alyssa shares the unexpected way Second Chance Dance (SCD) came to be, why dance matters, and how people travel across state lines to fulfill their heart’s desire to practice ballet, modern, tap and other genres. You’ll leave this conversation inspired!
Episode Guide
0:00 Intro
01:34 Meet Second Chance Dance (SCD)
03:11 The origins of SCD
07:06 Recitals and their Impact at SCD
10:49 Michelle’s transcendent recital experience
13:27 Learning dance- emotional, mental, and physical work
16:55 Choreography
22:56 Experience of dancer versus audience
24:53 SCD as its own living entity and how to maintain its heart
30:01 Juggling community mission with dance education
32:01 Alyssa says: answer the call
34:50 Credits
27 Aug 2026
Episode 7: You Can Create
What would you like to create? Creative ideas come in many forms, from a screenplay to a new cookie recipe. While emotions can keep us from getting started or completing our work, we can harness our emotions to overcome a variety of creative challenges. In this episode, we hear from Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, author and Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Zorana’s book, The Creativity Choice is an insightful and inspirational guide to getting us through the emotional and cognitive hurdles we face as creative beings.
Episode Guide
0:00 Introduction
02:15 Why Zorana wrote The Creativity Choice
04:39 Uncertainty is part of creativity
05:26 Defining creativity
07:56 Big C, little C and pro C creativity
11:37 Creativity in unexpected places
14:57 Making your creative idea happen
18:43 Exploration of the idea and willingness to change
21:04 Expanding or refining your idea
26:26 Challenges of the creative process
32:36 Dealing with blocks
34:22 Harnessing our emotions
38:41 The Power of frustration
42:30 Creativity is social- strong and weak ties
45:24 Conclusion
20 Aug 2026
Episode 6: The Neuroscience of Musical Narratives
How are music and imagination linked? Is it possible to transmit images and even stories using music? In this episode, post-doc researcher Itamar Jalon shares the mind-expanding research happening at the Music Cognition Lab, part of Princeton University’s Neuroscience Institute. Whether you like neuroscience, music, or simply letting your mind wander, you’re going to love this conversation.
Link to the research article: https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10690083 (https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10690083)
Episode Guide
0:00 Intro
1:53 Itamar describes the research project
7:05 Why the comparison data of spoken story is important
09:21 Defining Neural Patterns
16:32 Extramusical Thoughts
17:56 Areas of the brain activated by imagining musical narratives
19:29 Default Mode Network
20:06 Association cortices
22:22 How do we apply this information in our daily lives?
23:45 Attention harvesting
24:45 Boredom
27:27 Other ways to experience music
28:31 Controlled vs naturalistic studies
29:49 Shared meaning-making and conversations
33:22 Closing Remarks
13 Aug 2026
Episode 5: Meet a Neurologist
Today’s episode explores neurology, Parkinsons’s Disease, brain science and creativity with Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a neurologist who is also an artist. Johnathan specializes in Parkinson’s Disease, so our conversation explores neurology and brain science through the Parkinson’s lens, while also delving into movement and creativity as critical to brain health.
Episode Guide
0:00 Intro
1:42 What is a Neurologist?
4:39 Defining Parkinson’s Disease
8:17 Dopamine deep dive
11:04 Is Parkinson’s a male disease?
11:40 Deep Brain Stimulation DBS origins, how it works
16:57 Brain anatomy in context
23:45 Maintaining quality of life w/Parkinson’s
28:04 Creative Urges with Parkinsons
29:22 Johnathan’s Creative life
31:08 Conclusion
6 Aug 2026
Episode 4: You Need to Act, Now
From improv classes and stage acting to cosplay conventions, renaissance fairs, and sharing skits on social media, many of us love to act. In Episode 4 of Incredible Mind, Thalia Goldstein shares fascinating and widely applicable insights from her work on the 8 Acting Habits of Mind. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in psychology and its application in the real world.
To check out Thalia’s book and get a printable copy of her Acting Habits of Mind, visit
https://www.thaliagoldstein.com/why-theatre-ed-matters (https://www.thaliagoldstein.com/why-theatre-ed-matters)
Episode Guide
0:00 Intro
1:48 Thalia’s Journey
4:17 Defining Habits of Mind
8:02 Acting Habits of Mind Origins
12:17 Body Awareness and Control (interoception, emotion)
13:38 Release Inhibitions and be playful (creativity, divergent thinking)
15:28 Commit to Choices
17:05 Reflect and Think Metacognitively (providing feedback)
22:32 Consider Others (empathy, theory of mind, default social network)
26:37 Collaborate, the 21st century skill
29:07 Collaboration in the digital space
31:57 Emotion contagion and embodies awareness
33:37 Imagine and Envision
36:32 Bringing Acting Habits of Mind into our lives
39:51 Releasing our inhibitions to play as adults
43:57 Conclusion
30 Jul 2026
Episode 3: Neuroaesthetics
What is neuroaesthetics? Is it simply the study of aesthetic beauty, or can neuroaesthetics help shape a more positive experience of the world around us? This special episode takes place at the Neuroaesthetics Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, where researchers Soma Chaudhuri and Vasiliki Meletaki share their knowledge and work on this intriguing topic. Due to some technical issues, the audio quality on this episode is lower than usual. For closed captioning to support your listening, you can find this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/94TqfUKc4F4?si=3Sbcps7LdupOn1Xf (https://youtu.be/94TqfUKc4F4?si=3Sbcps7LdupOn1Xf)
Episode Guide:
0:00 Intro
1:32 Defining Neuroaesthetics
5:18 How the brain processes aesthetics
12:22 How expertise impacts aesthetic experiences
15:00 Vasiliki’s journey to neuroaesthetics
16:23 Impact of the immediate environment on our well-being
20:34 Soma’s journey to neuroaesthetics
22:31 Impressions, beauty and facial anomalies
24:57 Social categorization and the possibility of change
28:03 Human definitions of beauty
29:13 Study on art therapy projects
32:03 A word of caution on “neuro” marketing and bold research headlines
35:24 Conclusion
23 Jul 2026
Episode 2: Experiencing Art
Art is a widely accessible mood-booster, if we take the time to really look and reflect on an artist’s work. In this episode of Incredible Mind, Katherine Cotter, Associate Director of Research at the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project at U Penn’s Positive Psychology Center, explains what happens in our brains when we look at art, what is meant by everyday creativity, and how experiencing art contributes to our sense of well being.
Episode Guide:
0:00 Intro
1:22 Defining Positive Psychology
3:03 Katherine’s Journey to Research
4:14 Democratization of creativity
6:45 Art and the Brain
9:24 The ways people experience art today
11:19 Making a case for museums
15:39 What is flourishing?
18:03 Public Art and well-being
22:55 Social prescriptions for art (loneliness, dementia and more)
26:34-29:11 Everyday Creativity and aesthetics
29:12 Creativity is for everyone
30:24 Getting kids to enjoy museums
31:55 Conclusion
13 Jul 2026
Episode 1: Your Brain on Music
What's happening in your brain when you listen to music? How about when you play music? Can music heal? In this inaugural episode of Incredible Mind, host Michelle Cross Smith gets you answers from Anna Palumbo, Research Manager at NYU's Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy.
Episode Guide
0:00 Podcast Intro and Episode Intro
1:38 Anna introduces Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy
3:54 Playing and experiencing music during music therapy
6:05 Motivation for work and how Anna got into music therapy
9:33 Power of music + what happens in our brains when we listen to music
12:33 What's happening cognitively when we play music
14:24 About strokes and how music helps the brain heal
20:29 What's so special about improv?
25:06 Intrinsic Motivation
26:18 Tips for improv anxiety
29:41 Music, dancing and Groove
31:40 Advice from Anna
34:40 Conclusion and credits
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
9 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Contact Incredible Mind
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Incredible Mind?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
