The zombie brainThe zombie brain
All In The Mind
Hopefully you haven’t heard of the psychiatric disorder CDHD—because it describes the brain of a zombie. For All In The Mind, neuroscientists and zombie movie nerds unite in the quest for a better understanding of neuroscience—via the zombie brain.
28:50•17 Apr 2016
Zombie Brains, CDHD and the Weird Science Behind Horror
Episode Overview
- Zombie movie tropes such as aggression, slow movement and poor speech are used as hooks to explain core brain functions.
- The invented diagnosis CDHD highlights loss of conscious awareness and reduced activity in fictional zombies.
- Haitian voodoo practices involving tetrodotoxin show how neurotoxins can mimic death and inspire modern zombie stories.
- Damage to the cerebellum and fusiform face area offers scientific parallels to zombie gait and failure to recognise familiar faces.
- Real parasites, including Cordyceps and toxoplasma gondii, can subtly alter behaviour, echoing zombie-like brain hijacking.
“"We like to say that we're trying to use the book to trick people into learning basic neuroscience."”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This time, the focus shifts to brains that are anything but sober: zombie brains. All In The Mind leans into pop culture horror to unpack serious neuroscience, and you’ll get a playful, brainy ride rather than a clinical lecture. Host Lynne Malcolm chats with self-described zombie movie nerd and neuroscientist Tim Versteinen, whose obsession with zombies is "pretty pathological" but extremely useful for teaching how the brain works.
Together with colleague Brad Wojtek, he’s coined a tongue‑in‑cheek diagnosis for the classic movie zombie: Consciousness Deficit Hypoactivity Disorder, or CDHD. As Tim puts it, zombies are humans "who've lost all rational free will", and that makes them perfect teaching material. You’ll hear how Haitian voodoo traditions and the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin inspired modern zombie lore, and why Tim is careful not to make light of the real people involved in those rituals.
From there, he uses iconic scenes from films such as Night of the Living Dead and Shaun of the Dead to explain impulse control, aggression, language problems (think Tar Man endlessly shouting "Brains!"), and clumsy movement linked to the cerebellum – his "under‑dog" favourite brain region. The episode also looks at face blindness via the fusiform face area, and why zombies failing to recognise loved ones hints at what happens when this region is damaged.
Things get creepier when Tim moves on to real "brain hijacking" by parasites like the fungus Cordyceps and the single‑cell organism toxoplasma gondii, which can subtly push animals – and possibly humans – towards riskier behaviour. Throughout, humour and horror sit side by side as neuroscience uses zombies as a clever trick to make brain science feel accessible and fun.
If you enjoy mixing science with pop culture and a dash of dark comedy, this brain‑munching tour might leave you hungry for more questions about your own grey matter.
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