In psychology, and in the social sciences in general, much of the research conducted is performed by research institutions like Stanford University. Here at Stanford, and other colleges and universities like it, exists the largest and easiest sample of people to do research on: undergraduate college students. I found an article examining the legitimacy of generalizing college students to the general population in social sciences research. I think it yields some interesting results.
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JCR/journal/issues/v28n3/280307/280307.web.pdf
Monday, July 30, 2007
cross-recurrence analysis
I wanted to follow up on Raven and Deep's questions on cross-recurrence analysis and the plotting system because my answer was pretty rushed and probably unclear. So this is in reference to Figure 3 in Richardson, Dale, & Kirkham (2007), mentioned by Nicolette and Group 2, and also the figure I showed from Richardson & Dale (2005). For Figure 3, the gray band encompasses the area in which there's recurrence (overlapping eye movements by speaker and listener) at 0 ms (no time lag between speaker and listener). So the black boxes contained within this gray band represent the time points at which both speaker and listener were looking at the same thing at the same time. i is time course for the listener, and j is time course for the speaker. The time course is the duration of the experiment, beginning at time 0 until the end (exact duration wasn't listed for Study 2).
For the Richardson & Dale (2005) figure, recurrence occurs at 0 ms and then with a 2 ms lag (listener lagging behind speaker). The axes of t-listener and t-speaker here represent the time course of the experiment. The black diagonal lines are drawn within the gray boxes only when there was recurrence, so at certain time points (such as time 2, as seen on the left-hand scarf plot), at 0 ms (no lag) both speaker and listener were looking at the same thing at the same time. Also at a 2 ms lag, there was recurrence (even more so) of speakers and listeners looking at the same thing, but listeners looked at the thing 2 ms after the speaker did. Had there been recurrence at a 4 ms lag, that would've been plotted on a diagonal below the 2 ms data points.
Hope that helps to clarify things!
For the Richardson & Dale (2005) figure, recurrence occurs at 0 ms and then with a 2 ms lag (listener lagging behind speaker). The axes of t-listener and t-speaker here represent the time course of the experiment. The black diagonal lines are drawn within the gray boxes only when there was recurrence, so at certain time points (such as time 2, as seen on the left-hand scarf plot), at 0 ms (no lag) both speaker and listener were looking at the same thing at the same time. Also at a 2 ms lag, there was recurrence (even more so) of speakers and listeners looking at the same thing, but listeners looked at the thing 2 ms after the speaker did. Had there been recurrence at a 4 ms lag, that would've been plotted on a diagonal below the 2 ms data points.
Hope that helps to clarify things!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
While reading the articles for my research project and
for the class quizzes I have noticed that some scientists
that are noted are followed with an "et al."
In the Richardson, Dale and Kirkham article it notes a
scientist as follows: (Allopenna et al., 1998)
I was wondering if anyone knew what the "et al."
stood for.
Thanks
for the class quizzes I have noticed that some scientists
that are noted are followed with an "et al."
In the Richardson, Dale and Kirkham article it notes a
scientist as follows: (Allopenna et al., 1998)
I was wondering if anyone knew what the "et al."
stood for.
Thanks
Saturday, July 28, 2007
The Secret Life of the Brain
I received this website suggestion from a colleague in Australia -- it's for the PBS series called "The Secret Life of the Brain" and includes various bits of information on the developing brain, brain scanning methods, 3-D models, and more. Enjoy!
The Real Transformers
This weekend's New York Times magazine has an interesting cover story. The blurb summarizes it as:
"Researchers are programming robots to learn in humanlike ways and show humanlike traits. Could this be the beginning of robot consciousness — and of a better understanding of ourselves?"
It's a pretty long article, so I won't post the text, but you can access it here. You have to be a TimesSelect member to read it though. If you're not already a member, it's actually free for students who have valid college/university email addresses. You can go here to sign up.
"Researchers are programming robots to learn in humanlike ways and show humanlike traits. Could this be the beginning of robot consciousness — and of a better understanding of ourselves?"
It's a pretty long article, so I won't post the text, but you can access it here. You have to be a TimesSelect member to read it though. If you're not already a member, it's actually free for students who have valid college/university email addresses. You can go here to sign up.
Brain scans reveal why meditation works
Hello all, this was an interesting article I came upon on the latest FMRI research on the effects of meditation on emotion. I thought it would be interesting. Enjoy!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070630/sc_livescience/brainscansrevealwhymeditationworks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070630/sc_livescience/brainscansrevealwhymeditationworks
Friday, July 27, 2007
Computer program can learn baby talk
This article reminded me of Dev's question in class last Wednesday regarding a baby's capacity for learning language. This is work done by one of our Cognitive faculty, Jay McClelland; Gautam Vallabha, a former post-doc here; and colleagues. I haven't been able to track down the article in PNAS, but it's called "Unsupervised learning of vowel categories from infant-directed speech". Jay mentioned that he'd be doing an NPR interview about it today on "Science Friday", so that should be available on the Web soon.
Here's the Reuters press release anyway:
*Computer program can learn baby talk *
Wed Jul 25, 9:04 AM
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A computer program that learns to decode sounds from different languages in the same way that a baby does helps to shed new light on how people learn to talk, researchers said on Tuesday.
They said the finding casts doubt on theories that babies are born knowing all the possible sounds in all of the world's languages.
"The debate in language acquisition is around the question of how much specific information about language is hard-wired into the brain of the infant and how much of the knowledge that infants acquire about language is something that can be explained by relatively general purpose learning systems," said James McClelland, a psychology professor at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
McClelland says his computer program supports the theory that babies systematically sort through sounds until they understand the structure of a language.
"The problem the child confronts is how many categories are there and how should I think about it. We're trying to propose a method that solves that problem," said McClelland, whose work appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Expanding on some existing ideas, he and a team of international researchers developed a computer model that resembles the brain processes a baby uses when learning about speech.
He and colleagues tested their model by exposing it to "training sessions" that consisted of analyzing recorded speech in both English and Japanese between mothers and babies in a lab.
What they found is the computer was able to learn basic vowel sounds right along with baby.
"It learns how many sounds there are. It figures that out," he said in a telephone interview.
And if the computer can do it, he said, a baby can, too.
"In the past, people have tried to argue it wasn't possible for any machine to learn these things, and so it had to be hard-wired (in humans)," he said. "Those arguments, in my view, were not particularly well grounded."
Here's the Reuters press release anyway:
*Computer program can learn baby talk *
Wed Jul 25, 9:04 AM
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A computer program that learns to decode sounds from different languages in the same way that a baby does helps to shed new light on how people learn to talk, researchers said on Tuesday.
They said the finding casts doubt on theories that babies are born knowing all the possible sounds in all of the world's languages.
"The debate in language acquisition is around the question of how much specific information about language is hard-wired into the brain of the infant and how much of the knowledge that infants acquire about language is something that can be explained by relatively general purpose learning systems," said James McClelland, a psychology professor at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
McClelland says his computer program supports the theory that babies systematically sort through sounds until they understand the structure of a language.
"The problem the child confronts is how many categories are there and how should I think about it. We're trying to propose a method that solves that problem," said McClelland, whose work appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Expanding on some existing ideas, he and a team of international researchers developed a computer model that resembles the brain processes a baby uses when learning about speech.
He and colleagues tested their model by exposing it to "training sessions" that consisted of analyzing recorded speech in both English and Japanese between mothers and babies in a lab.
What they found is the computer was able to learn basic vowel sounds right along with baby.
"It learns how many sounds there are. It figures that out," he said in a telephone interview.
And if the computer can do it, he said, a baby can, too.
"In the past, people have tried to argue it wasn't possible for any machine to learn these things, and so it had to be hard-wired (in humans)," he said. "Those arguments, in my view, were not particularly well grounded."
Any connection?
I found an interesting, and controversial, article in the New York Times about the spead of obesity among friends. One of the explanations for the findings of this particular study is as follows:
"Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, a physician and professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School and a principal investigator in the new study, said one explanation was that friends affected each others’ perception of fatness. When a close friend becomes obese, obesity may not look so bad."
I thought this idea was interesting, and since this is a cognitive psych course, I thought I'd bring up the topic within a psychological framework. Can you think of any explanations for this finding in terms of cognitive processes, mental schemes, protptypes, etc? I know this is a pretty far-out discussion, but I thought it might provide some interesting debate (and the opportunity for people to write some blogs).
Here is a link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/health/26fat.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1185567477-np7nw98CwaXbLnF53K/N6A
"Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, a physician and professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School and a principal investigator in the new study, said one explanation was that friends affected each others’ perception of fatness. When a close friend becomes obese, obesity may not look so bad."
I thought this idea was interesting, and since this is a cognitive psych course, I thought I'd bring up the topic within a psychological framework. Can you think of any explanations for this finding in terms of cognitive processes, mental schemes, protptypes, etc? I know this is a pretty far-out discussion, but I thought it might provide some interesting debate (and the opportunity for people to write some blogs).
Here is a link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/health/26fat.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1185567477-np7nw98CwaXbLnF53K/N6A
Science Friction by Michael Shermer
Science Friction is an interesting book that i bought when i was home in seattle. The slogan on the front states "where the known meets the unknown", and this has always intrigued me. How do we humans know that we are in possession of all scientific knowledge? Can we know what we dont know, and subsequently pursue a scientific explanation to the unknown?
The book explores a variety of scientific hypotheses and disproves a variety of myths. Basically, it explains the ability of science itself to conflict with itself, hence the name Science Friction.
More importantly, it talks about the shortcomings of human psychology. For example, we assume that the origin of the universe is beyond comprehension, and is a mystery in itself. However, the problem may very well lie within the human mind. In past centuries we have failed to grasp concepts such as infinite and zero, for example, only to later derive a mathematical explanation for both. Similarly, we assume such an issue exists within the origin of the universe, but we fail to consider the fact that our minds may simply be too primitive to comprehend an alternative explanation.
Just thought id throw that out there.
The book explores a variety of scientific hypotheses and disproves a variety of myths. Basically, it explains the ability of science itself to conflict with itself, hence the name Science Friction.
More importantly, it talks about the shortcomings of human psychology. For example, we assume that the origin of the universe is beyond comprehension, and is a mystery in itself. However, the problem may very well lie within the human mind. In past centuries we have failed to grasp concepts such as infinite and zero, for example, only to later derive a mathematical explanation for both. Similarly, we assume such an issue exists within the origin of the universe, but we fail to consider the fact that our minds may simply be too primitive to comprehend an alternative explanation.
Just thought id throw that out there.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Synesthesia
This is really just a personal anecdote, but I thought I’d share this interesting experience with you all (out of class time). My friend came over last night to introduce me to his younger brother. While looking at the map of Europe on my wall, they started arguing about what color different countries and states were – this seemed odd until they explained to me that they both have synesthesia!
Imagine my delight! I started questioning them about their conditions, associations, family history, and how their perceptual experiences compared to each other. They have both had strong color associations with letters, words, states, and countries (among other things) for as long as they can remember. Neither of their parents have synesthesia. Here are some interesting things I learned from them.
They experience these colors as strong associations, but they can suppress them to a certain degree. For example, letters do not have distracting colors when they are reading.
When they were younger, they just assumed that other people had the same perceptual experiences. In fact, they thought it was rather strange that I do not perceive certain states as certain colors.
California is yellow. Maine is pink (according to one) or purple (according to the other).
My name is green (Raven, mostly because the first letter is R).
My friend’s brother described the color as analogous to a toy some of you might know: the fluid-filled plastic tubes that you can squeeze in your hands and slide around. He said that the colors of letters are like the glow of that liquid with silver glitter inside.
My friend also sees numbers on a continuum, increasing from East to West and moving up to the thousands.
He also has a mental calendar, so when someone mentions a particular month, he sees the calendar months in a visual scene. He also gets certain months confused because they have the same color. For example, June and July share a color, although June is a lighter shade of brown. August and September are also different shades of blue.
Imagine my delight! I started questioning them about their conditions, associations, family history, and how their perceptual experiences compared to each other. They have both had strong color associations with letters, words, states, and countries (among other things) for as long as they can remember. Neither of their parents have synesthesia. Here are some interesting things I learned from them.
They experience these colors as strong associations, but they can suppress them to a certain degree. For example, letters do not have distracting colors when they are reading.
When they were younger, they just assumed that other people had the same perceptual experiences. In fact, they thought it was rather strange that I do not perceive certain states as certain colors.
California is yellow. Maine is pink (according to one) or purple (according to the other).
My name is green (Raven, mostly because the first letter is R).
My friend’s brother described the color as analogous to a toy some of you might know: the fluid-filled plastic tubes that you can squeeze in your hands and slide around. He said that the colors of letters are like the glow of that liquid with silver glitter inside.
My friend also sees numbers on a continuum, increasing from East to West and moving up to the thousands.
He also has a mental calendar, so when someone mentions a particular month, he sees the calendar months in a visual scene. He also gets certain months confused because they have the same color. For example, June and July share a color, although June is a lighter shade of brown. August and September are also different shades of blue.
Lera's Interview
Prof. Lera Boroditsky has been doing some fascinating research on the cognitive processing of language for quite some time now. Here's a link to a really interesting interview about language and thought:
http://cognation.stanford.edu/press/interview-low-quality.html
http://cognation.stanford.edu/press/interview-low-quality.html
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
"Less is more" online
I just read this news story from the University of Missouri-Columbia about a study done on attention and memory related to the amount of pictures viewed online. When people were given fewer pictures to view, they had better memory for those pictures vs. people who viewed a larger amount of pictures. Makes sense, given our knowledge of divided attention, right? Maybe some Web designers will take note and stop overloading/overstimulating us with all kinds of stuff on their websites.
So like some of the eye-tracking studies done on the Web (connecting to a post I wrote ages ago!), it has interesting implications for Web-related behavior, advertising, etc.
So like some of the eye-tracking studies done on the Web (connecting to a post I wrote ages ago!), it has interesting implications for Web-related behavior, advertising, etc.
Deep Structure Ambiguity
On this website, I found a helpful explanation of technical differences between phrase structure ambiguity and deep structure ambiguity that clarifies some questions we had in class. Using the sentence "the duck is ready to eat", the website explains that "duck" can either be the logical subject or the logical object. Also, on the third page of the article there are more examples of phrase structure (surface-structure) ambiguity and deep structure ambiguity.
The study that these examples are part of is also fairly interesting. It examines how children of different ages detect ambiguity in sentences and is slightly related to our discussion today about children's acquisition of language.
The study that these examples are part of is also fairly interesting. It examines how children of different ages detect ambiguity in sentences and is slightly related to our discussion today about children's acquisition of language.
Language- Koko the gorilla
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Po2JGdx9WBI
This is a really bad video example of Koko but it was the only one that would show up on the search. Anyway, today we talked about language, and when the topic of language with the chimp, Kanzi, was brought up it reminded me of a video I saw on the discovery channel. Koko was brought up by a woman and Koko communicates through sign language. I can't remember if the woman used sign language as well but I thought it was amazing how well Koko and this woman were able to communicate with each other. Koko was able to express sadness, anger, and happiness through body language. If anyone can find a full video on Koko, I'd appreciate it. It's easier to watch the video versus me describing it in words.
This is a really bad video example of Koko but it was the only one that would show up on the search. Anyway, today we talked about language, and when the topic of language with the chimp, Kanzi, was brought up it reminded me of a video I saw on the discovery channel. Koko was brought up by a woman and Koko communicates through sign language. I can't remember if the woman used sign language as well but I thought it was amazing how well Koko and this woman were able to communicate with each other. Koko was able to express sadness, anger, and happiness through body language. If anyone can find a full video on Koko, I'd appreciate it. It's easier to watch the video versus me describing it in words.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
book recommendation
In Chapter 11, the authors of our text introduce the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. I took an anthropology course last semester entitled "Language, Culture, and Society," in which I spent a lot of time studying this hypothesis, its criticisms, and its implications for intercultural communication. I'd like to recommend a book that I read for that course: "Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation" by Michael H. Agar. It's an interesting read with lots of entertaining stories and some great contemporary ideas about the importance of language. I also wrote a paper involving the theories proposed in this book - I'd be happy to pass it along if anyone is actually interested.
Monday, July 23, 2007
lateral inhibition
While studying the section in the text on optical illusions, I noticed that the authors only briefly mention lateral inhibition (page 111). They note that lateral inhibition explains illusory contours, but they do not actually explain what that means. I thought this concept would be worth a closer look for some of you. Lateral inhibition is an interesting neural process - I studied it a lot for a course in sensation in perception, so I thought some of you might be interested.
Here is a link that gives a pretty good explanation:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/latinhib.html
Here is a link that gives a pretty good explanation:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/latinhib.html
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Not a false memory...
...but it may have been a dream. Well, it's probably in the book somewhere...I just need to find it. This is regarding the little disagreement we had during the review session regarding commissurotomy vs. callosotomy. Please check out the above wikipedia links. Are they the same or is there a difference between the two surgical procedures? Now, since Devika and I were both right, what is to be the outcome of the bet?
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
More on False Memories
Everyone seemed to get into the false memories discussion today. It is indeed very interesting, so I thought I'd follow up with a few notes.
The Harvard researcher that studies false memories and alien abduction (I'm an X-Files fan, too, but I know it's not real!) is Susan Clancy. Here is an article in the NYTimes about her work. She is very careful with her methodology because it is such a sensitive topic.
Another researcher who studies false memories is Jennifer Freyd at the University of Oregon. Her story is quite interesting. She is someone who recovered some memories of abuse from her childhood. She accused her father, and her parents completely denied everything. The parents started a False Memory Syndrome Foundation to create a network of people who have been accused of abuse by their children or other people. Their main argument for why they couldn't possibly have abused their children is that they are upstanding citizens of the community. Anyway, Jennifer Freyd has devoted her life's work to proving that recovered memories are not false. The whole debate is very interesting and controversial. What do you guys think about this controversy?
Fun fact #1: I worked in a consulting firm for a couple of years in Massachusetts. My boss's boss (the CEO of the company) is Kevin Clancy, the father of the aforementioned Susan Clancy.
Fun fact #2: They just announced that they are making another X-Files movie to come out sometime in 2008 or 2009. Hooray!
The Harvard researcher that studies false memories and alien abduction (I'm an X-Files fan, too, but I know it's not real!) is Susan Clancy. Here is an article in the NYTimes about her work. She is very careful with her methodology because it is such a sensitive topic.
Another researcher who studies false memories is Jennifer Freyd at the University of Oregon. Her story is quite interesting. She is someone who recovered some memories of abuse from her childhood. She accused her father, and her parents completely denied everything. The parents started a False Memory Syndrome Foundation to create a network of people who have been accused of abuse by their children or other people. Their main argument for why they couldn't possibly have abused their children is that they are upstanding citizens of the community. Anyway, Jennifer Freyd has devoted her life's work to proving that recovered memories are not false. The whole debate is very interesting and controversial. What do you guys think about this controversy?
Fun fact #1: I worked in a consulting firm for a couple of years in Massachusetts. My boss's boss (the CEO of the company) is Kevin Clancy, the father of the aforementioned Susan Clancy.
Fun fact #2: They just announced that they are making another X-Files movie to come out sometime in 2008 or 2009. Hooray!
Lexical-Gustatory Synesthesia
Hey,
I was talking to my grandpa about our class (he has a degree in psych), and it led up to him telling me about my great grandpa who apparently had synesthesia. The variation that he had is called lexical-gustatory synesthesia, where sounds (phenomes) are replaced by taste sensations. This is a particularly rare form of synesthesia and studies have shown that it is developed by early food experiences. Anyway, just thought I'd throw it out there because it's not something you'd hear about every day.
-Nishant
I was talking to my grandpa about our class (he has a degree in psych), and it led up to him telling me about my great grandpa who apparently had synesthesia. The variation that he had is called lexical-gustatory synesthesia, where sounds (phenomes) are replaced by taste sensations. This is a particularly rare form of synesthesia and studies have shown that it is developed by early food experiences. Anyway, just thought I'd throw it out there because it's not something you'd hear about every day.
-Nishant
False memories and brain activation
During the discussion on false memories today, I had the thought of posting this article for you guys on differential brain activation for "true" vs. "false" memories. It might be helpful in terms of mapping what's happening in the brain during recollection of these two types of memories.
Here are two links for more information:
Short news-digest version
Journal article version (which includes fMRI scans)
Also, here's an NPR segment that you can listen to -- it includes an interview with a researcher that studies the creation of "real-life" false memories and what's happening in the brain as that happens.
Here are two links for more information:
Short news-digest version
Journal article version (which includes fMRI scans)
Also, here's an NPR segment that you can listen to -- it includes an interview with a researcher that studies the creation of "real-life" false memories and what's happening in the brain as that happens.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
A lot on your mind
I have a question about thinking while trying to fall asleep. There are times that I go to bed, and just can't fall asleep. Though I wasn't, at the time, thinking of anything, my dad said that there was a lot going through my mind which kept me from sleeping. After staying up for about 2 more hours, I eventually fall asleep from exhaustion, but in the morning, I spent time trying to think about what was bothering me that kept me from sleeping. What do you guys think? Sometimes, this still happens, and it really does get annoying to not be able to sleep and not figure out why.
Monday, July 16, 2007
A use for prions?
My questions open to anybody to answer are, "What are the known roles for memory proteins? What types of memories can be stored in this media? Where can I find new information on this subject?" Thanks. This link might help: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9353594&dopt=Abstract
Eidetic (photographic) memory
There were lots of really good questions and comments on the topic of eidetic memory towards the end of class today. Noah mentioned the expert chess players who could recreate pieces on a chess board from memory. Here's some more information on this topic:
"Scientists who study memory phenomena generally believe that eidetic memory (more popularly known as 'photographic memory') does not exist. Early experiments on eidetic memory were intriguing, but could not be replicated.
People do show extraordinary memory performance in certain circumstances. For example, expert chess players can typically play blindfolded chess against several opponents at the same time, easily memorizing many chessboard configurations. Others use special tricks to memorize long lists of randomly selected numbers.
Impressive as these feats are, scientists attribute them to specialized ways of thinking about the information, not to any kind of enhanced visual memory. One interesting experiment that makes this point was performed by a cognitive psychologist named DeGroot. Expert chess players were shown a chess board with pieces on it for a brief period, such as 15 seconds, and then asked to reconstruct what they had seen on a new chess board. That is, they were asked to place chess pieces in the same positions as they had appeared on the board they'd been shown. The expert players were very good at this, much better than novice players. One hypothesis was that the experts had developed an enhanced ability to memorize visual information.
In the next experiment, the expert chess players were asked to do the very same thing; but this time, they were shown boards whose pieces were arranged in ways that would never actually occur in a game of chess. Not only did their ability to remember the positions go down, but it went down all the way to the level of the novice players. We can conclude that the original, enhanced performance at remembering chess positions came from the experts' ability to mentally organizethe information they had observed, not from any ability to 'photograph' the visual scene."
"Scientists who study memory phenomena generally believe that eidetic memory (more popularly known as 'photographic memory') does not exist. Early experiments on eidetic memory were intriguing, but could not be replicated.
People do show extraordinary memory performance in certain circumstances. For example, expert chess players can typically play blindfolded chess against several opponents at the same time, easily memorizing many chessboard configurations. Others use special tricks to memorize long lists of randomly selected numbers.
Impressive as these feats are, scientists attribute them to specialized ways of thinking about the information, not to any kind of enhanced visual memory. One interesting experiment that makes this point was performed by a cognitive psychologist named DeGroot. Expert chess players were shown a chess board with pieces on it for a brief period, such as 15 seconds, and then asked to reconstruct what they had seen on a new chess board. That is, they were asked to place chess pieces in the same positions as they had appeared on the board they'd been shown. The expert players were very good at this, much better than novice players. One hypothesis was that the experts had developed an enhanced ability to memorize visual information.
In the next experiment, the expert chess players were asked to do the very same thing; but this time, they were shown boards whose pieces were arranged in ways that would never actually occur in a game of chess. Not only did their ability to remember the positions go down, but it went down all the way to the level of the novice players. We can conclude that the original, enhanced performance at remembering chess positions came from the experts' ability to mentally organizethe information they had observed, not from any ability to 'photograph' the visual scene."
The pi guy
Here's more information on the "super-memorist", Rajan Mahadevan, who was able to recite all those digits of pi.
Interestingly, he has a doctorate in Cognitive Psychology from Florida State!
Interestingly, he has a doctorate in Cognitive Psychology from Florida State!
More demos and info on memory processes & strategies
Here's the site I mentioned in class -- I had taken the "Biology of Working Memory" diagram from here. It has good, interactive demos on memory processes we discussed in class today, and a couple of other specific memory strategies that we weren't able to get to in class (but which are discussed in your textbook).
On a different note, thanks so much for taking the time today to discuss our class with Mariatte!
We really appreciate it, and we'll address your general feedback at the beginning of Wednesday's class.
On a different note, thanks so much for taking the time today to discuss our class with Mariatte!
We really appreciate it, and we'll address your general feedback at the beginning of Wednesday's class.
question on the reading
About the first article on amnesia.. are the people with amnesia able to remember "how to's" more than things that are more factual due to different regions of the brain not functioning properly? The idea that they could remember how to perform a certain action but not remember factual events (the words they were shown) reminded me of something we discussed in Affective Neuroscience the other day.. we learned about how damage to the hippocampus or the amygdala can affect how a person reacts to or perceives a stimulus... for example, if there is damage done to the amygdala, the person will be able to be aware of the arousing (fear-inducing) qualities of the stimulus that they are faced with, but are unable to produce the typical physiological responses evoked by arousing stimuli. If the person's hippocampus is damaged, they will not be aware of the arousing qualities of the stimulus, but they will produce the physiological reponses. This concept seems similar to the idea of amnesia and being able to learn tasks that are behavioral, but unable to learn explicit information. Are the general concepts somewhat related?
Sidenote... I love how the classes I am taking overlap.. it is so cool! =)
-Taylor Wiesmann-
Sidenote... I love how the classes I am taking overlap.. it is so cool! =)
-Taylor Wiesmann-
Sunday, July 15, 2007
evolution of consciousness
The following was discussed in class, but an exact answer was not given:
Human consciousness is unique in that it has not been identified as a clearly visible or physical substance. Though it is present in other organisms, the role of consciousness is insignificant relative to the function of consciousness in humans. Do animals utilize their surroundings to aid their survival, or use their intelligence to explore the unknown? Humans are able to consistently reason and judge, applying intelligence where no other organism is capable of doing so. Because of this, can it be inferred that human consciousness, similar to any other biological trait, has evolved with time? Is the ability to recognize one's own existence a product of years of evolution, originating with the simple ability to, for example, recognize and use fire?
Personal experience has shown me that some may view conscious thought as 'above materialism', or outside the realm of substance; some view consciousness as something that exists, but cannot be seen or touched. Personally I find this hard to believe. Conscious thought is clearly a cognitive process, for we see the products of its existence (e.g., questioning, reasoning, problem solving). And with a damaged brain, as in the case of Terry Schiavo for instance, conscious thought is clearly damaged as well. And even in the case of death, for example, death of the body means death of consciousness. In summary consciousness very much a physical substance contained within the brain.
And this brings me to my question: In our original ancestors, were human consciousness and self-awareness always present in a more primitive form, such that it has evolved to its current state? If so, what is to prevent other organisms from evolving in a consistent manner? If not, where did this cognitive process come from? Why is it unique to humans?
Human consciousness is unique in that it has not been identified as a clearly visible or physical substance. Though it is present in other organisms, the role of consciousness is insignificant relative to the function of consciousness in humans. Do animals utilize their surroundings to aid their survival, or use their intelligence to explore the unknown? Humans are able to consistently reason and judge, applying intelligence where no other organism is capable of doing so. Because of this, can it be inferred that human consciousness, similar to any other biological trait, has evolved with time? Is the ability to recognize one's own existence a product of years of evolution, originating with the simple ability to, for example, recognize and use fire?
Personal experience has shown me that some may view conscious thought as 'above materialism', or outside the realm of substance; some view consciousness as something that exists, but cannot be seen or touched. Personally I find this hard to believe. Conscious thought is clearly a cognitive process, for we see the products of its existence (e.g., questioning, reasoning, problem solving). And with a damaged brain, as in the case of Terry Schiavo for instance, conscious thought is clearly damaged as well. And even in the case of death, for example, death of the body means death of consciousness. In summary consciousness very much a physical substance contained within the brain.
And this brings me to my question: In our original ancestors, were human consciousness and self-awareness always present in a more primitive form, such that it has evolved to its current state? If so, what is to prevent other organisms from evolving in a consistent manner? If not, where did this cognitive process come from? Why is it unique to humans?
Friday, July 13, 2007
Selective Attention Experiment
I found this link on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wK5_P_qc4w.
It's an experiment done just like the one done in the Simons and Levin Article. I found it interesting to watch because it showed people of various age groups being tested and also showed how people were more likely to notice changes if clothes color was different or if the individual's attention was focused more on the person he or she was helping than on the map.
It's an experiment done just like the one done in the Simons and Levin Article. I found it interesting to watch because it showed people of various age groups being tested and also showed how people were more likely to notice changes if clothes color was different or if the individual's attention was focused more on the person he or she was helping than on the map.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Gestalt jokesters
Has anyone noticed a problem with the cartoon on page 112 of the textbook entitled "Gestalt jokesters test an illusion"? If the firemen were only holding up truncated circles, then the bottom of the building where it touches the ground, and the fireman's legs should be visible. Perhaps I've been in engineering far too long and have begun to expect consistency even in humour.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
More on neurons and neural networks
I wanted to add these two links in response to Phillip's comment on the neurotransmission video post:
Computation in the brain - talks more about neural networks and how synapses play a role, synaptic learning, etc.
Hubel and Wiesel videos - beyond the scope of our class and our coverage of cognitive neuroscience, but I wanted to include this if you're interested (and since I mentioned it in my comment reply).
Computation in the brain - talks more about neural networks and how synapses play a role, synaptic learning, etc.
Hubel and Wiesel videos - beyond the scope of our class and our coverage of cognitive neuroscience, but I wanted to include this if you're interested (and since I mentioned it in my comment reply).
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Yesterday in my General Psychology class, we had a discussion on the
IAT (Implicit Associations Test) and we discussed a book called Blink.
I bought the book last night and have began to read it, it's a very interesting
book. If you are interested in different Psychological experiments about married
couples and subconcious thinking, I highly recommend this book.
Again, the book is Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.
IAT (Implicit Associations Test) and we discussed a book called Blink.
I bought the book last night and have began to read it, it's a very interesting
book. If you are interested in different Psychological experiments about married
couples and subconcious thinking, I highly recommend this book.
Again, the book is Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.
Synesthesia Article
I'm really interested in synesthesia and have had some great discussions about it in psych, neuro, and even anthropogy courses. I found a couple of links that give some more details about synesthesia. This first link is a good overview and covers some of the questions that came up in class today:
http://www.neurologyreviews.com/jul02/nr_jul02_mindseye.html
Here is a link to one of Ramachandran's articles - it also includes the kiki and bouba finding. This is a pretty dense and in-depth article, but take a look at some of the sections if you are interested in the topic.
psy.ucsd.edu/chip/pdf/Synaesthesia%20-%20JCS.pdf
http://www.neurologyreviews.com/jul02/nr_jul02_mindseye.html
Here is a link to one of Ramachandran's articles - it also includes the kiki and bouba finding. This is a pretty dense and in-depth article, but take a look at some of the sections if you are interested in the topic.
psy.ucsd.edu/chip/pdf/Synaesthesia%20-%20JCS.pdf
Brain plasticity in children after hemispherectomy
Continuing with my response to Dev's comment to the last post, here's more info on what happens to kids that have one hemisphere completely removed:
"There are cases, however, in which the affected part of the brain [in epilepsy] is quite large, the seizures completely unmanageable, and the only recourse is radical surgery. Since severe chronic epilepsy due to brain lesions is usually first diagnosed in young children, it is such children who are the usual patients in radical brain surgery for epilepsy. The most radical and fairly common procedure is hemispherectomy, removal of an entire half of the brain, and the most remarkable aspect of this is that when the surgical procedure is successful, not only are the seizures eliminated, but the child can function as well or almost as well as any other child. It is an example of a phenomenon well-known to neuro-biologists called "brain plasticity", the ability of the brain to recover the function of a damaged or removed region by assignment of the function to an undamaged location. The language area of the brain, for example, is often considered to be fixed on the left side of the brain by genetics, but in truth it is not so fixed, and if the left side of the brain is removed at an early age, the right side of the brain will quickly develop a language center and there will be little functional impairment. In a recent publication, Eileen P. G. Vining (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD US) reports the progress of 54 children who underwent hemispherectomy for recurrent severe epileptic seizures. The majority of the patients were seizure-free following surgery, no longer needed drugs, and many of the patients are now in school. One of the most significant facts about the human brain is that its histological development continues at least until adolescence, and the dynamism of this histological development is what is responsible for its remarkable plasticity. QY: E. Vining, Johns Hopkins University (410) 516-8171. (Pediatrics August 1997)."
"There are cases, however, in which the affected part of the brain [in epilepsy] is quite large, the seizures completely unmanageable, and the only recourse is radical surgery. Since severe chronic epilepsy due to brain lesions is usually first diagnosed in young children, it is such children who are the usual patients in radical brain surgery for epilepsy. The most radical and fairly common procedure is hemispherectomy, removal of an entire half of the brain, and the most remarkable aspect of this is that when the surgical procedure is successful, not only are the seizures eliminated, but the child can function as well or almost as well as any other child. It is an example of a phenomenon well-known to neuro-biologists called "brain plasticity", the ability of the brain to recover the function of a damaged or removed region by assignment of the function to an undamaged location. The language area of the brain, for example, is often considered to be fixed on the left side of the brain by genetics, but in truth it is not so fixed, and if the left side of the brain is removed at an early age, the right side of the brain will quickly develop a language center and there will be little functional impairment. In a recent publication, Eileen P. G. Vining (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD US) reports the progress of 54 children who underwent hemispherectomy for recurrent severe epileptic seizures. The majority of the patients were seizure-free following surgery, no longer needed drugs, and many of the patients are now in school. One of the most significant facts about the human brain is that its histological development continues at least until adolescence, and the dynamism of this histological development is what is responsible for its remarkable plasticity. QY: E. Vining, Johns Hopkins University (410) 516-8171. (Pediatrics August 1997)."
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Split-brain patients in daily life
Raven, thanks very much for commenting on the last post and for bringing up those key points - I appreciate it!
The split-brain patient's actions in the video were not representative of what happens in daily life, and yes, it is true that motor functioning is not impaired. Here's a quote from a paper that addresses this:
"[M]ost of the changes are subtle and require special laboratory tests to emerge. But it is true that the daily lives of 'split-brain' patients stand in sharp contrast with their performance in laboratory tests and defy some simple, unitary understanding of how the mind is organized in the brain...[I]n daily life, the patients appear to behave as if there was no evolutionary purpose to this major forebrain neuronal connection [corpus callosum] between the hemispheres. Certain functions considered by some to be specialized in the right hemisphere such as voice modulation or prosody appear unimpaired. Left hemisphere functions such as speech and language comprehension also appear unimpaired. Previously learned functions that require bilateral interaction such as, cooking, cycling, swimming, or piano playing appear unchanged, and have remained so until now, as long as 30 years post-surgery in some cases. Neither have there been major changes in personality or mannerisms, or in general intelligence. There are no psychiatric symptoms such as hallucinations, dellusions, fugue states, or multiple personalities. Each patient behaves as one with a single personality and unified consciousness."
So in short, the split-brain experiments are an oversimplification of brain functioning within a controlled environment and shouldn't be taken as representative of what those patients go through every day. But they are an interesting example of hemispheric functioning in that specific setting.
The split-brain patient's actions in the video were not representative of what happens in daily life, and yes, it is true that motor functioning is not impaired. Here's a quote from a paper that addresses this:
"[M]ost of the changes are subtle and require special laboratory tests to emerge. But it is true that the daily lives of 'split-brain' patients stand in sharp contrast with their performance in laboratory tests and defy some simple, unitary understanding of how the mind is organized in the brain...[I]n daily life, the patients appear to behave as if there was no evolutionary purpose to this major forebrain neuronal connection [corpus callosum] between the hemispheres. Certain functions considered by some to be specialized in the right hemisphere such as voice modulation or prosody appear unimpaired. Left hemisphere functions such as speech and language comprehension also appear unimpaired. Previously learned functions that require bilateral interaction such as, cooking, cycling, swimming, or piano playing appear unchanged, and have remained so until now, as long as 30 years post-surgery in some cases. Neither have there been major changes in personality or mannerisms, or in general intelligence. There are no psychiatric symptoms such as hallucinations, dellusions, fugue states, or multiple personalities. Each patient behaves as one with a single personality and unified consciousness."
So in short, the split-brain experiments are an oversimplification of brain functioning within a controlled environment and shouldn't be taken as representative of what those patients go through every day. But they are an interesting example of hemispheric functioning in that specific setting.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Brain lateralization, ambidexterity, split-brain, and the two-headed turtle
All your great questions today intrigued me, so I wanted to write and share some resources that will hopefully add more to my (limited) answers:
Do you notice that when you try to think of something, your eyes move either to the left or to the right? Here's a site with instructions on how to do a mini-experiment with someone to observe this in action.
Other sites:
Handedness and brain lateralization
Becoming ambidexterous(?) - this discussion forum reminded me of a lot of comments/experiences shared in class today -- Christopher and air rifle shooting, Philip and pool playing, Nicolette and batting righty, and Minerva talking about her dad (was that right?)doing different things with his left vs. right hand.
But actually there are two different terms, and we generally conflate the two:
1. Cross-dominance (or mixed-handedness) -- a term not really used -- but this term is more accurate for what we talked about today. We have preferences for using each hand for certain tasks, like Noah mentioned opening jars with his left hand though he's right-handed.
2. Ambidexterity -- having equal ability for both hands, which is rare!
Badminton players - another discussion forum that talks about playing left-handed or playing against left-handers (also a challenge in tennis -- I've never played against any left-handers though)
Gazzaniga review article on split-brain research - the author was the researcher in the last video we watched in class.
Here's another example of two split-brain patients and their behaviors (written report, not video -- but there are more videos on YouTube that you can check out.)
And I did find a video clip of the two-headed turtle that I told you about!
Do you notice that when you try to think of something, your eyes move either to the left or to the right? Here's a site with instructions on how to do a mini-experiment with someone to observe this in action.
Other sites:
Handedness and brain lateralization
Becoming ambidexterous(?) - this discussion forum reminded me of a lot of comments/experiences shared in class today -- Christopher and air rifle shooting, Philip and pool playing, Nicolette and batting righty, and Minerva talking about her dad (was that right?)doing different things with his left vs. right hand.
But actually there are two different terms, and we generally conflate the two:
1. Cross-dominance (or mixed-handedness) -- a term not really used -- but this term is more accurate for what we talked about today. We have preferences for using each hand for certain tasks, like Noah mentioned opening jars with his left hand though he's right-handed.
2. Ambidexterity -- having equal ability for both hands, which is rare!
Badminton players - another discussion forum that talks about playing left-handed or playing against left-handers (also a challenge in tennis -- I've never played against any left-handers though)
Gazzaniga review article on split-brain research - the author was the researcher in the last video we watched in class.
Here's another example of two split-brain patients and their behaviors (written report, not video -- but there are more videos on YouTube that you can check out.)
And I did find a video clip of the two-headed turtle that I told you about!
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Neurotransmission video
Here's a good, short video on neurotransmission to help liven up the textbook reading. Make sure you have a Flash Player to watch -- if not, you can download it at the website.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Response to illusions post
(I had problems with the links when I posted this as a comment to Raven's post, so here's a new post:)
I was also struck by this in reading the text. I did a Google Scholar search on "illusory contours" for papers published this year and I got 41 hits. Most of the papers are from neuroscience journals -- here's one short paper on it.
Even now, researchers don't seem to agree on the mechanisms behind it. Here's another site that mentions 8 different hypotheses that have been proposed to explain it.
I was also struck by this in reading the text. I did a Google Scholar search on "illusory contours" for papers published this year and I got 41 hits. Most of the papers are from neuroscience journals -- here's one short paper on it.
Even now, researchers don't seem to agree on the mechanisms behind it. Here's another site that mentions 8 different hypotheses that have been proposed to explain it.
Illusions
In Chapter 4 of our text, the authors note that illusory contours “have real perceptual presence, although the observer seems to have the feeling that they are not really ‘real’” (110). They note that this gap in the research literature should be further investigated.
It seems to me that in the context of visual illusions such as the one printed in the text, the effects of past experience could logically explain this concept. If people have seen similar illusions in the past, then they have the feeling that the contours are not “real” because they are aware that they are viewing an illusion and have prior experience with similar perceptual experiences. Of course, this explanation would not hold if someone naïve to illusions also experienced the doubt of the contours being “real.”
I’m just curious to see if anyone has any other possible explanations for this, or just any ideas about the phenomena. If so, is there a way to test these hypotheses?
It seems to me that in the context of visual illusions such as the one printed in the text, the effects of past experience could logically explain this concept. If people have seen similar illusions in the past, then they have the feeling that the contours are not “real” because they are aware that they are viewing an illusion and have prior experience with similar perceptual experiences. Of course, this explanation would not hold if someone naïve to illusions also experienced the doubt of the contours being “real.”
I’m just curious to see if anyone has any other possible explanations for this, or just any ideas about the phenomena. If so, is there a way to test these hypotheses?
Book Recommendation
I’d like to recommend a book to those of you who are interested in the discussion that came up in class about the distinction between the mind, body, and soul. Paul Broks writes about his clinical work in "Into the Silent Land: Travels in Neuropsychology." This book contains a lot of interesting scientific and psychological information, which is presented in entertaining prose (à la Oliver Sacks). It circles around to bigger questions about the mind and soul. This book was truly an inspiration that lead me to pursue neuropsychology – I highly recommend it.
Here is a link to a review of the book:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,976721,00.html
Here is a link to a review of the book:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,976721,00.html
More "change detection" videos
There is actually a multitude of change detection videos on the internet.
I found this video on Youtube, and it is pretty interesting (although unfortunately there aren't any dancing gorillas in it). I have shown it to some of my friends and none of them could describe any specific changes; although, a few of them said "something looks different".
Also, I found many videos on this website that features work by Daniel J. Simons. In the "changes across cuts in a motion picture", there are 9 intentional changes, but even after I watched it at least 5 times, I had trouble finding all of them. I believe the changes in that video were not obvious enough. Anyways, I just wanted to point out all of these videos for people who are fascinated by change detection.
I found this video on Youtube, and it is pretty interesting (although unfortunately there aren't any dancing gorillas in it). I have shown it to some of my friends and none of them could describe any specific changes; although, a few of them said "something looks different".
Also, I found many videos on this website that features work by Daniel J. Simons. In the "changes across cuts in a motion picture", there are 9 intentional changes, but even after I watched it at least 5 times, I had trouble finding all of them. I believe the changes in that video were not obvious enough. Anyways, I just wanted to point out all of these videos for people who are fascinated by change detection.
Partial Report Experiment
Hey Guys,
I found a great site that refers to the Partial Report Experiment (Sperling) in the textbook. The site lets you be the participant of the 3 x 3 short term memory experiement. Enjoy!
-Nishant
I found a great site that refers to the Partial Report Experiment (Sperling) in the textbook. The site lets you be the participant of the 3 x 3 short term memory experiement. Enjoy!
-Nishant
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