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Happy Friday!
I cannot even tell you how excited I am to share this conversation with you all.
Apparently, this year I’m on a stint of interviewing some of my favorite colleagues from my graduate school days and have the opportunity to nerd out with them about the brilliant work they’re doing in the world.
This month, I’m joined by Dr. Brooke Charbonneau, a cognitive psychologist, a dog parent of two very cute rescue dogs, and a fellow lover of all things fantasy-related. Brooke is currently doing her post-doctoral work fellowship at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and our conversation reveals validating and interesting science around attention.
When I met Brooke early on in graduate school, she was continuing her research on the restorative properties of creativity in nature-based settings, and I could immediately tell by the way she talked about her research that she was someone who deeply cared about maintaining scientific nuance, while also making her research accessible to the general public. As a science communicator at heart, I was always impressed with her ability to break down the highly complex aspects of cognitive psychology and make them accessible.
It was obviously a huge bonus for me that, as a backcountry guide, Brooke’s research exploring creativity and nature helped me find productive ways to daydream while I was stuck in my windowless office crunching statistics.
My interview with Brooke is sweet, lively, and left me wanting to stay on Zoom with her for another 10 hours so I could ask her 1,000 more questions about the work she’s doing in the world.
I’m consistently impressed by how many people out there are working to make the world a better place, and Brooke’s research certainly falls within that category. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Dr. Brooke Charbonneau. I certainly did.
If you don’t have time to enjoy our conversation now, don’t forget that you can download the episode and listen to it the next time you’re digging around in your garden or restoring your attention out on your next hike.
If you’re interested in connecting with Brooke to follow up about any questions or request any of her recent papers, you can connect with her here via LinkedIn. You can also read Brooke’s full (and impressive!) bio in the footnotes below1.
As per usual,
Thank you for being here,
Dagny Rose
Did your little nerdy brain light up from this conversation as much as mine did? Don’t forget to share it with someone you love.
Freeflow River Camp — August 22 - August 25 — Freeflow Institute — An adventure for women of all backgrounds, focused on cultivating river skills, resilience, and tools for creative expression in a supportive, connective environment | Women Specific | Registration Ends May 10
Ground: Forest Retreat — May 29 - June 1 — Yoga, Sauna, Music, Great Food— My dear friend, and extraordinary yoga facilitator is hosting a cozy, spring yoga retreat. The cabins are built right into the hillside an hour outside of Missoula and it will be a sweet mixture of yoga, food, sauna, and time on the land. Her very affordable pricing keeps this yoga retreat accessible and is absolutely worth checking out.
Two Week Land-Based Training — August 7 - August 22 — The School of Lost Borders — This training is an experimental immersion ceremony model that is designed to inspire, strengthen, and create rites of passage containers and ceremonies for women in the modern day.
Here, the Art of Rest honors and acknowledges that there is no one “right” way that works for everyone. There are so many valid ways of knowing, and we need each and every one.
We believe deeply that a diversity of thoughts, creative practices, and perspectives is what keeps our lives rich and evolving. In this section, “Community Wisdom” is where we post short interviews with creatives, scientists, and inspiring restful people4 so that we might continue to learn from each other’s inherent and earned wisdom.
Hello! My name is Brooke Charbonneau and I was born and raised in Littleton, Colorado. My little family includes two very cute rescue dogs and an incredible chef husband who cooks dinner for me every night. Recently, I graduated from Montana State University with my PhD in Psychology! During my time there, my research investigated why some people control their attention better than others and how the control of attention can be improved. Research from my lab at MSU suggests individuals with greater attentional control are better at maintaining and flexibly using attention while avoiding distractions. Also, my research suggests that viewing images of nature increases parasympathetic activity which improves later ability to control attention. Therefore, attentional control seems to be tightly linked with the rest and regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Many clinical groups, such as individuals with Alzheimer’s or pediatric cancer survivors, have impaired cognitive control, which has led me to a post-doctoral fellowship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. There I intend to characterize attentional control ability and autonomic nervous system regulation in pediatric cancer survivors to improve existing interventions for cancer related cognitive impairment. When I’m not controlling my attention to think about attentional control (
) you can find me reading fantasy or mystery books, playing Dungeons and Dragons, or crafting/drinking wine with the girls (we call ourselves grandma club)! If you would like to contact me for questions, please reach out to me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/brooke-charbonneau-13403a15a
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