Dr Susan Greenfield

It was while studying for a degree in psychology that this week's castaway decided to change the direction of her life and become a neuroscientist. As she dissected a slice of pickled brain, she found herself wondering whether this was the part that generated a love of Beethoven, or held the memory of a sunny, summer day. From that moment, she determined to try to discover how our personalities and thoughts derive from this slurry of soggy tissue. Twenty years later, Professor Susan Greenfield is now one of the foremost thinkers on the question of consciousness, and a leading researcher into the causes of Parkinson's disease.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: The Ode To Joy (Symphony No 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa Luxury: An endless supply of curry