Episode 11: Interview with Dr Michael Graziano from Princeton about Peripersonal Space the protective bubble about our body.

When I thought about starting this podcast Michael was at the top of my list of people to speak with. I thoroughly enjoyed his book, "The Spaces Between Us." Reading it from a Polyagal lens I could not help but make many connections......I hope you do too!

Please enjoy this incredibly interesting discussion with Micheal Graziano, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at Princeton University, author of both novels and science books, his most recent book is Rethinking Consciousness.

In this episode, you will learn about:

• Peripersonal neurons processing the space about our body like a layer of bubble wrap
• Multi-sensory neurons in the motor strip of the brain....what!
• A subconscious neural system with sophisticated computational processing for visual auditory and tactile stimuli moving toward the body triggering defensive responses to protect it.........what happens if these computations are inaccurate?
• The vestibular system .... "acts as a glue to bind the senses together- without it- those neurons may not be able to build their properties correctly. You wouldn't know where you are with respect to the world or where objects are with respect to you- the peripersonal mechanism would be crippled." 
• Spatial boundaries and body schema in relation to processing self to the environment.
• How stress impacts the startle reflex and rethinking the startle as a social messaging system.
• How our peripersonal space expands to encompass the tools we use....eating utensils, writing implements, hammers........what happens when this system crashes!
• Evolution of the smile
• How our emotions impact the protective bubble about our bodies
• The devastating social impact of Dyspraxia, which is the difficulty coordinating the body in space

To find out more about Michael- https://pni.princeton.edu/faculty/michael-graziano

Books by Michael- https://www.amazon.com/Michael-S-A-Graziano/e/B001JS3WKW