56 | New Scientist | 18 April 2020
The back pages Q&A
ALIS PHOTO/ALAMYSo, what you do?
I’m a clinical neuropsychologist, which means
I see patients with known or suspected brain
injuries or diseases and assess cognitive skills such
as memory. My research is on how music can
trigger memories in people with dementia.Why did you choose to work in this field?
I read Oliver Sacks’s book The Man who Mistook his
Wife for a Hat when I was 15 and found the case
studies incredibly fascinating.Your book is about how our brains control our
sex lives. Is this a specific part of the brain?
Our brains control all aspects of our sex drives and
lives. There isn’t just one part of the brain that
controls sex, but among people who experience
a change in their sex life after a brain injury,
the frontal and temporal lobes are most
commonly damaged.In what ways can people’s sex lives change?
The most common change after a brain injury is a
decline in interest in sex. Some people who have
had a temporal lobe removed due to epilepsy can
experience a dramatic increase in sexual thoughts
and behaviour. This can also occur after a brain
injury or in response to treatments used for
Parkinson’s disease. It can have a devastating effect
on relationships and even lead to criminal acts.Can brain injuries affect feelings of love
and affection too?
Yes, in some cases. Barry was a patient of mine who
had a stroke and it affected the left hemisphere of
his brain. His wife Sue said that before his injury he
was grumpy and only grunted at her. She was close
to filing for divorce. After his stroke, he became
loving and romantic, always telling her how much
he loved her. His brain injury saved their marriage.What is the most unusual case you
encountered while researching your book?
There is a case study of a man who had temporal
lobe epilepsy and a fetish triggered by safety pins.
Both disappeared with surgery to remove his left
temporal lobe. The case is over 60 years old but it
remains extraordinary – for the unique nature of
the fetish and its unequivocal evidence that the
temporal lobe is a crucial part of the “sexual neural
network”, the parts of the brain that control our
sex drive and behaviour.What are you working on right now?
I’m finalising some papers from my dementia
research, including one looking at cases in which
people with dementia have committed murder.
I’ve become increasingly interested in the issue
of criminal responsibility in such cases.How has your field of study changed in
the time you have been working in it?
The rapid advances in neuroimaging are the
biggest change. When I did my PhD in the early
2000s, I had to manually colour in a structure
called the amygdala to calculate its volume,
but now this can all be done automatically.As a child, what did you want to be when
you grew up?
I knew I wanted to be a doctor of some kind. My
parents have an old kitchen table that I crawled
under and practised writing my signature as
“Dr Amee Baird” repeatedly.What scientific development do you
hope to see in your lifetime?
A cure for dementia.Do you have an unexpected hobby?
I like to collect bicycles – not full size ones,
but mini models. I have a shelf in my study that
is full of mini bicycles from around the world.How useful will your skills be after the
apocalypse?
Not at all! I don’t think anyone would be seeking
a neuropsychological assessment if they were
struggling to survive.OK, one last thing: tell us something that will
blow our minds...
Sex can actually blow your mind! Having sex can
cause a pre-existing brain aneurysm to burst. It can
also trigger a rare condition called “transient global
amnesia”, or sudden loss of short-term memory. ❚Amee Baird is a researcher at Macquarie University in
Sydney, Australia. Her book Sex in the Brain is out now
(Columbia University Press)“ One of my
patients, who
his wife said was
grumpy and only
grunted at her,
became loving
and romantic
after having
a stroke”
Our brains influence all aspects of our
lives, including our sexual desires. This
means brain injuries can have some
surprising effects, says Amee Baird