eric kandel. >> we first of all have evolved to live in a second world and the brain of human beings has evolved to live in the world we live in. it's different in an snacks who have very visual spectrum wired than we have, they see a different world than we see. our capability of seeing the world is in part determined by this genetic program. we learn all the time how to recognize objects and we make those associations the next time we see an object like this. this involves alterations in the brain and this continues as long as we live. we continue to encounter new images, new people and we acquire that information and store it in the brain. >> charlie: 9 brain series -- n series with eric kandel coming up. understanding the brain, the series is made possible by grant from the simmons foundation. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> charlie: this series is a journey to the most exciting frontier of science, the brain. every day we're learning more of how this miraculous organ works. last month was our introduction. w

eric kandel. as you know, he is a nobel laureate, a professor at columbia university, and also a howard hughes medical investigator. he has been our companion, he has been our guide, he has been our guy on understanding the brain. good to see you again. >> pleasure to be here. >> so we begin with the question what do we mean by the developing brain? >> we are exploring together one of the great miracles, as you indicated, in the natural world: the emergence of the human mind. this is an extraordinary adventure. an infant comes into the world with an enormous curiosity to learn and acquires these systematically. not only to recognize faces and abstract things. they learn how to acquire language, they learn how to acquire numerical systems. they don't do this instantaneously. they don't do it simultaneously. they do in the stages. >> rose: this name, who is famous for understanding the developmental stages. >> jean piaget. he's a giant in understanding the steps whereby kids learn about the natural

eric kandel. he is a noble laureate, a professor at columbia university, a howard hughes medical investigator and the man who is the inspiration, the guide, the spirit of this series and it's always good to have him right here in this studio. >> pleasure to share this with you charlie. >> charlie: what's important to understand about the aging brain. >> there is good news about the aging brain. we are living longer as you indicated and we're living better. because of public health measures, improved diet, increased exercise that people do, increase social involvement. people live better lives. one thing that interferes a number of instances with people to live productive mature lives as they age is interference with memory. memory is very susceptible to age. and therefore one of the issues we want to address is what is the nature of memory. what is the biological base of memory. where is memory localized in the brain. as we discussed in earlier programs. we now know that most mental functions are

eric kandel. he is a noble laureate as you know, a professor at columbia university and a howard hughes medical investigator and he has been a good friend to this broadcast. we could not do it without him. he has been the person who has linked our curiosity to an extraordinary amount of research and achievement understanding the brain. so i begin with this question in this episode. social brain. tell me what we mean by that. >> as you pointed out, very nicely in your introduction, we are immensely social beings. we use our social behavior to find a partner, to build a many family, to build a community, to build a culture. and also as you indicate, that can go into disarray and lead to aggression. social behavior is so important that it is conserved in evolution and you findate not only in people but you find it in simple an sulz some of which like ants build complex societies. although much of social behavior's learned, important aspects of it are determined by genes. for example, you can show in

eric kandel, he is, as you know, a nobel laureate, a professor at columbia university and also an investigator at the howard hughes medical research center. i'm pleased to have one more time a chance to talk about this extraordinary thing, this brain. we've gone from the... we've gone from the general, to visual now to movement. what are the themes we'll look at tonight? >> well, charlie, you outlined them so beautifully in your introduction. every behavior is mediated through the motor systems, from the simplest to the most complex. all sensory perception, visual perception reaches its completion through the actions of motor systems. in fact, we can think of the motor systems in some ways as being the mirror image of the sensory system. the sensory systems create a ski ma, an internal representation in our brain of the outside world. the motor system uses that internal representation in actions. and like the sensory systems, the motor system is localized to particular regions and it has three important components, a high arkky, if you will, to decide, to make an action, to pick up a glass of