The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain

I was going through my books today and rediscovered a wonderful reference for class.  It's called The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain.  It takes a person from 5 am and waking up, what brain chemicals are activating us and other sensory issues.  It goes on to deal with coming to consciousness, morning emotions, directions to work, facing others, performance at work/stress, decision making, the hungry brain, the tired brain, boredom, pain, exercise, the dimming of the day, getting home from work, music, humor, love and lust, getting to sleep, falling to sleep, sleeping and problems, and people who have to work at night.  The book is at a reading level appropriate for those of use brushing up on brain science as well as high school students.

In short, take any person on any day and the book will have a section on what is happening in a person's brain.  I can imagine a creative teacher, with proper resources, making this a class assignment--what is going on with the brain and rest of the biology of humans during each part of the day, and dividing it up like the chapters/sections of this book.  If you do that, just keep this book hidden ;)


posted by Chuck Schallhorn

"Multi-tasking"/Task Switching tests

I discovered two "multi-tasking" tests via Twitter recently and they both look like they might be useful during the Cognition or Sensation and Perception chapters (whenever you discuss selective attention, etc.)

• The Dual Task website created by Hal Pashler has several very effective tests for "multi task performance." The one I tried is the "Visible PRP Effect" When you click on that link, you may have to wait a bit for an "applet" to load, but after that the test ran smoothly, and it is a very effective demonstration of how trying to attend to more than one "channel" impairs performance. 
• Sue Frantz tweeted a test from the Scientific American website: "Test Your Multitasking Skills" This demonstration is more complicated, with graphics and more complex instructions, but the scenario it uses is engaging and effective. 

These demonstrations could be extended into conversations about the "multi-tasking" many of us commonly engage in, and the specific topic near and dear to many of our students hearts: talking on the phone while driving. 

posted by Rob McEntarffer

CRAVINGS!

The post "Hack Your Brain to Use Cravings To Your Advantage" on the Lifehacker blog got me thinking: How many of you get students involved in using psychological principles/theories to "change" something about themselves? I know this could be thin ice and we need to be careful (including parent permissions? some kind of "IRB-like" review?) but it could be a very powerful learning experience for students.

The only activity I did with students that is similar at all is "Habits and Perspectives" : Students pick a personal habit they want to change, analyze their behavior from different psychological perspectives, and design a plan to change their behavior based on one or more of the perspectives.

Anyone else do anything similar? Good idea? Dangerous idea?

posted by Rob McEntarffer

Psych demos from Joe Swope - multi-modal learning

Quite a while ago, Joe Swope sent me this list of classroom demonstrations about multi-modal learning. They languished in my inbox, but I'm finally getting around to posting them (thanks Brad, and sorry it took me so dang long!)

(explanation from Joe below)

Even though we know we shouldn’t, many psychology teachers often fall back on old faithful – lecturing from bell to bell. Not that lecturing is always bad of course, but psychology teachers should use what we teach. Students should encode multi-modally and we should present information to tickle all of the types of intelligences that our students bring to the class room. Here is a short list of 10 easy to pull off class room demonstrations that will get students out of their seats and into the lesson.

Joe's full description of the demos is available at this link - below are the titles of each demo:

1) Depth perception – echo location

2) Where rods and cones are and aren’t

3) Classical Conditioning

4) Conformity

5) Serial Position Curve

6) Remembering by Schema

7) Priming and “reading students’ minds”

8) Operant conditioning using token economy

9) Speed of neural impulse

10) Taste transduction and spatial coding

posted by Rob McEntarffer (impersonating Joe Swope!)

How to get the most out of studying - Dr. Stephen Chew

Dr. Stephen Chew from Samford University is a good friend to High School Psychology: Former AP Psychology reader, and he is very generous about sharing resources and news on several list serves.

A while back he posted a series of very clear and effective (to me) youtube videos that explain important connections between cognitive psychology and student learning. There are piles and piles of advice (good and bad) about "how to be a better student," but Dr. Chew's videos very quickly get to practical advice that is supported by cognitive psych research. These may not be the most exciting videos students ever receive, but they might be some of the most useful!

I recommend starting with the first video and then picking and choosing where to go next. The first video covers 4 mistaken beliefs and will help set the stage for students before watching the rest of the videos. The 4 mistaken beliefs:

1: Learning is fast

2: Knowledge = learning isolated facts

3: Multitasking is possible

4: Being good at a subject depends on inborn talents

posted by Rob McEntarffer

Innattentional Blindness and Ghosts - Happy Halloween!

I was happy to find a Halloween-themed article by Daniel Simons in my RSS feed this morning: In his latest post, "Ghost busters, parapsychology, and the first study of inattentional blindness", Simons writes about discovering a very early study about innattentional blindness in a book by Mary Roach (Roach's books are all great, by the way. I think "Stiff" is my favorite). In 1959, a psychologist (at Cambridge decided to test how people would react to seeing a ghost on campus:

"Each night, Cornell or his assistants dressed in a white sheet and strolled down a path, making various hand gestures before shedding the sheet 4.5 minutes later. Other assistants observed how many people were “in a position to observe the apparition.”

Simons points out that "Although Cornell’s finding is consistent with later studies of inattentional blindness, his conclusion isn’t." Hardly anyone on campus admitted to seeing the "apparition", which Cornell attributed to an unconscious desire to NOT see a ghost. This finding is actually very consistent with Simons' and others' findings about innattentional blindness (and the invisible gorilla!).

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope all your costumes and fun Halloween surprises are noticed by all the bystanders :)

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/klearchos/3916626559/sizes/m/in/photostream/ - some rights reserved via CreativeCommons

posted by Rob McEntarffer

NPR moments, revisited - How Psychology Solved A WWII Shipwreck Mystery

Following up on Chuck's NPR Moments post - A friend at work excitedly told me about a great memory/psychology/mystery story on NPR this morning. He said it was great, details, and that I would love it - he was right!

How Psychology Solved A WWII Shipwreck Mystery

Briefly: Memory researchers used what they learned about how our memories change over time in predictable ways to examine the stories of captured German WWII soldiers and figured out where a ship likely went down. GREAT example of application of research, and the methodology they used in the original "how memories of stories change over time" could be easily replicated by students, I think.

image credit: http://m.npr.org/news/front/140816037?page=0


posted by Rob McEntarffer

New Stereotype Threat research

In a previous Teaching High School Psychology post I referenced Daniel Willingham's great summary of some of the implications of the stereotype threat. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal briefly summarized new stereotype threat research that high school psych teachers and students might find useful and provocative.

"Sunk by Stereotypes"

I haven't been able to get at the journal article yet, but according to the WSJ summary, the researchers made up a fake learning styles inventory and categories ("convex or concave learning styles" - might be just as (in)valid as auditory, visual, and kinesthetic :) and told participants that either their learning style would likely impact performance on a working memory test or that would probably have no effect. As predicted, the more strongly a participant identified with the fake learning style, the lower their test score.

This study might be easily replicable by high school students (after following ethical guidelines and getting the permissions you need in your district, of course), and students might be VERY interested in how stereotypes may be impacting their learning!

image source: http://www.photoxpress.com/stock-photos/woman/girl/man/1924891

posted by Rob McEntarffer

Love this: How Will Shortz Edits a New York Times Crossword Puzzle

Okay, I promise one day to post my "how I got five crossword puzzles published in the New York Times" story here. I can tell you the blow by blow of making a puzzle and the chutzpah needed to sell your very first puzzle to the Times. I know at least one of you (thanks Rob!) is looking forward to reading this.

Until then, let me strongly encourage you to check out How Will Shortz Edits a New York Times Crossword Puzzle in the Atlantic. Shortz talks about the process that happens after the puzzle gird is finished, when the constructor (Liz Gorski, in this case) creates the clues. The editor's job is then to make the clues a little snappier, less obvious, more "fresh" -- fresh is a word that Will Shortz loves.

This is a great example of his mind, talking about Liz's clue for the word snow:

One clue that's fun and twisty is 11 Down: "Wet blanket" for SNOW. I can check the database—I bet she's not the first person to ever use that clue. That's just too nice a clue never to have been used before. Hold on one second, I'll see. There is a database of every clue back to my start. [A pause.] I see previous clever clues for SNOW that include "winter fall," "white blanket," "winter blanket," "white coat," "falling flakes"—that's not all that clever. This one's sort of cute—"serial killer." Snow on your TV, it's going to hurt your reception of a serial. Oh, one more. "Drifter," with a question mark. Well, I don't see "wet blanket." Maybe it is fresh.

How can you fit this into psychology? I suppose you can make it fit nicely into the Cognition unit when you talk about algorithms and heuristics. Me, I put it squarely in the Intelligence section, under Genius.  :-)

--posted by Steve

Placebo bands, get your red hot placebo bands

If you (like Rob McEntarffer) are big fans of the placebo bands that Rob posted about back in January, you're in luck - they're back in stock! I just placed an order myself and will report back to the blog when mine arrives. I believe it will cure everything that ails me, so I can't wait!

--posted by Steve

Critical Period - another TED talk, but it's great! Really!

Yes, its yet another TED talk, but its a fabulous summary of recent research on language acquisition and the critical period. Patricia Kuhl summarizes work in her lab about babies and language acquisition and exactly when the critical period window is "open" and when it shuts. I love how she summarizes what's happening cognitively in babies' minds: "They are taking statistics about the languages they hear." Also, I love her slides - great examples of data representation.

This talk might be a great to show in combination with a discussion about the Genie case study, and your bi or tri-lingual kids in class could come up with great examples of phonemes that mono-lingual kids in your class won't even be able to hear.

posted by Rob McEntarffer

Placebo Effect and other "faulty thinking"

I saw this list of "Top 10 Common Faults in Human Thinking" and it looks to me like it might start useful discussions:

• Would students choose these 10 or would they argue for others?
• Some of the terms used in the list probably aren't in textbooks (e.g. reactance? Herd Mentality?). Are there terms similar to these concepts that could be used to be more precise?
• How were these "top ten" chosen? Is there a way to do this empirically?
  

One of the (many!) books on my psych. reading list is Cialdini's Influence - I bet it has a much more focused and researched list of "faulty thinking"

Note: I think someone tweeted a link to this Top 10 list, but now I can't find who so I can't give them credit. Help?

By the way, the picture attached to this email shows "Placebo Bands", which are, alas, sold out at the moment (I wanted to buy them for my psychology club!). Any enterprising teachers/clubs out there want to get in the ground floor of a new market? :)

posted by Rob McEntarffer

Music in Psychology Class--A Different Way to Approach Things

Most of us have seen the items on the listservs about lists of music that go with particular units.  Some of us use the music as a transition into class.  Some of use show the lyrics on the board/screen while the students listen to the song, adding observations or comments afterward.  A nice little combination, a free one, can be found on YouTube.com.

The first example here is The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel.  The poster has already printed the lyrics for you/us.  Some concept ideas include schema, the role of individual in society, perception,  states of consciousness, communication, hearing versus listening, and more.


A perennial favorite of my students is the Green Day song, Basketcase.  This song questions the writer's sanity while he is reaching out for help.  Some great psych idea are used including "neurosis," perception/misperception, therapy, dream interpretation, the role of drugs in interpreting reality, and more. 




As with anything from the internet, I would caution that you view everything first prior to sharing it with your students.  While they may be superficially mature and sophisticated, they are still children and we have an obligation to screen and contextualize everything we do with them.  Also, each community has different standards--what may be usable and successful in one class may not work in another school. 

There will be more of these posts coming up with some of my personal favorites.

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Multitasking or Task-Switching?

A previous post on this blog referenced a great NYT article about attention, focus, and "multitasking" ("Ear plugs to Lasers")

Since reading that article, I feel like I keep seeing good articles about the "myth of multitasking" (this is a good reference list, I think). The general idea of "multitasking" is so pervasive and impacts all our students (and us!) so it might make for a great discussion topic whenever you tackle selective attention? When would it "fit" in your classes?


posted by Rob McEntarffer

On Happiness and Long Life: Dan Buettner-Another NPR Find

On this morning's NPR Weekend Edition show, I caught a piece of an interview with Dan Buettner, a researcher examining why people are happy (or unhappy) in an interview titled, "How To 'Thrive': Dan Buettner's Secrets Of Happiness."

He's recently published some fascinating results that had me sitting there in the car with the engine running rather than taking my groceries inside-you know, typical NPR.  His results are cross-cultural, examining people from Denmark, Singapore and the US.  The happiest people are just over an hour away from me in San Luis Obispo, California where they had taken steps back in the 70s to focus on quality of life rather than commerce.  It seems to have paid some 'happy' dividends.  Buettner also examines the myriad factors that go into happiness including health, financial security, sunshine, location, vacation time, jobs we love (or not), and more.  Check out the story at the link above.  

Below is a YouTube link for a speech to a TED conference.

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Giving Thanks

Please forgive the possible cheesiness of this blog entry's title.  As we approach this particular holiday, I'd like to share a couple of thoughts I have every year at this time and a personal perspective.  First is that I am thankful for my health and happiness along with the people in my life.  I am also thankful for having a full-time job that I love and am happy to go to nearly every day and work with teenagers who benefit from my work.  I live in arguably the most gorgeous part of the nation near both mountains and the ocean.  I am also thankful for having the opportunity to be a part of this blog and working with the tremendously talented, intelligent and committed colleagues with whom I work with on this endeavor.

However, I do not "celebrate" Thanksgiving.  Every year, I have the same discussion with my various classes--"what are you doing for Thanksgiving?"  My reply is that I do not celebrate that national holiday.  The first response is that they are aghast with horror that I could possibly not celebrate any and every potential holiday that is available.  I explain that I am thankful for all the positives and challenges in my life on a daily basis and that  I do not need a date that someone else gives me to be thankful and grateful (and that I do not endorse or celebrate genocide, whether intentional or not).  I also do not celebrate my birthday--I do for others, but mine holds no special place in my heart.  I give gifts to myself and the people I care about throughout the year when I think the time is right.  For those who know me well, they "get" me and understand.  No worries. 
I find that a daily "thanksgiving" makes me more aware and appreciative of all I have and a peace at a deeper level.  With this daily attitude, I find that I am nicer, more forgiving, and more loving.  I do not appreciate just the larger, grand aspects of life.  I am grateful for the small things, like the smile of the cashier at the grocery store, the wave of a person letting me go in traffic, a student thanking me for helping, as well as waking up to the awareness that I have more than everything I need to live a happy life.   I look around at the people in Haiti, the Sudan, Afghanistan, and in other places around the world and re-realize that I have a tremendously fortunate existence.  I may complain from time to time, but my focus is generally upon the positives which, in turn, reduces my ability to be angry and resentful.

After our discussions, my students seem to acknowledge the merit of my choice not to eat turkey and spend time with my family (the closest is 2000 miles away).  I spend the time doing the things that I want to do--they are private and personal.  Ultimately, they may be confused or disagree with my choices, but they are my choices, not anyone else's.  I am comfortable with that.

If you'd like some good reading to raise your spirits, check out Louis Schmier's Random Thoughts.   You will find either inspiration there.  Here is another blog extolling the virtues of being actively thankful.

During this brief time away from the classroom, I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday weekend.  May you have all the free time, football, turkey, family, food, hugs, and smiles you can handle.  Make it a tremendous weekend and thanks to you all for reading our blog.

Chuck Schallhorn

Can you think it if you can't say it?

Our current textbooks are fabulous at summarizing mounds of existing research and reaching a conclusion, but how often do our students get to form their own conclusions about psychological phenomena? At first, this might seem like an overwhelming task that would take way too much time, but we have an advantage in our "young" science of psychology: in many other sciences (e.g. physics, astronomy), you need to get to graduate school before you really get to do original research, but in psychology MANY important issues are still "undecided" and the relevant research is accessible and understandable. Students won't be able to form a final decisive "conclusion" about the issue (and we shouldn't pretend that anyone can) but the experience to looking at the evidence and forming a "conclusion for right now" is a valuable part of critical thinking.

I think the connection between thinking and language is one example of an accessible "open" issue. How much does our language impact our thinking? This NYTimes article provides a good overview of the issues, includes the ups and downs of Whorf's linguistic relatively hypothesis (and it includes one of my favorite untranslateable German words: Schadenfreude).

A recent Radiolab podcast looked at the topic in three different ways:
1) a teacher's breakthrough with a deaf adult who grew up with no language (this one made be cry!)
2) a neurologist's story about her brain injury that left her without any language or "brain chatter"
3) a summary of a longitudinal research project with an isolated group of deaf children in Nicaragua who developed their own language whil researchers watched! (full disclosure and bragging: One of my former students was involved in this research.)


posted by Rob McEntarffer

The Human Brain Book by Rita Carter

I've been able to purchase and read several books this past spring and summer.  I will be posting about several of them.  The first summer review is The Human Brain Book by Rita Carter (the subtitle is "An illustrated guide to its structure, function, and disorders).  The book makes for not just a great coffee table book (it's over sized), but also includes a DVD that has some additional features one can use in class. The publisher is D/K, the wonderful publishers whose books are among my favorites.



Oh, how I wish I had a book like this when I began teaching psychology.  From a visual learner's point of view, this book hits the jackpot. It begins with a history of studying the brain, landmarks in neuroscience and photos of a series of brain scans.  You know all those pesky little questions that your students ask, but you're not sure of the answer because your neuroscience course was 20+ years ago and the images (I mean drawings) were in black and white?  This book has those answers.  There are 70+ pages of pictures and explanations of brain anatomy (all the parts, not just the ones in our texts), brain zones, neurons, and research to satisfy the best of us. 

This book has a chapter on the senses, one on movement and control, emotions and feelings, the social brain, language and communication, memory, thinking, consciousness, the individual brain, development and aging, and concludes with diseases and disorders.

Although I have not read every word on every page, just for the illustrations, I am giving this book my highest recommendation.  It is a must for every psychology class.  Order by clicking below.  You will not be disappointed.





Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Smithsonian Magazine-Memory and More

I've been reading from Smithsonian magazine for a number of years, but had never thought to visit their website due to the relatively few directly psych-related articles in the paper-version.  In their most recent issue (May 2010) there is an excellent article on memory and how memory works.

 As I perused the online version of the article, I noticed that they had several other sections with articles of note.


Articles on the Brain
Articles on Psychological Issues/Topics
Thought Innovation & Behavior--which could have some articles of interest


Overall, if you like to read quality writing on any topic, I recommend the magazine/website.  Great stuff there.

Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Mind Over Money--Behavioral Economics

The new big thing in the field of psychology and its natural connection to other sciences is in the field of behavioral economics.  I will do some posts on some recommended books later, but for now, you can get your feet wet with an episode of NOVA on PBS called Mind Over Money.  I've collaborated with my economics colleagues and have gained some fascinating insights into human behavior as a result of learning more about this field of decision making and money.  It also will give you additional examples of any aspect of cognitive psychology.

The show first airs on April 27 and is viewable online on April 28, 2010.

Chuck Schallhorn