After watching the lectures/videos for the chapters this week, post FOUR comments – these can be insights you may have had while watching, perhaps about something from the videos that was useful to for you to learn, or made you think about something differently, or resonated with you, etc. It can also be a question you may have. Each of the 4 comments needs to be at least 100 words long, and EACH post needs to have to do with a DIFFERENT topic from the lectures/videos for the week. Posts need to contain specific references to the content of the video – (so “informative video” doesn’t work as a post).
Guidelines for posting:
Post FOUR times to participate for the week – once with an initial post, and then 3 more posts as responses to a class-mate’s post.
Each of the 4 posts are worth 2 points each, for a total of 8 points; if posts do not contain references to content, or are less than 100 words long, they will not count toward the posts for this week. Remember each post should be about a different topic you learned something about during the week.
Be thoughtful about what you write, and above all, be respectful of the opinions of your classmates. You can choose one of the lecture videos I attached and student post for the replies are below.
Alondra post
Research Methods
While watching this topic I found it very interesting how there are multiple different research methods. The only one I was aware of was descriptive, but then learning about correlation was very interesting. I found it interesting how in correlation can be illusory. The example about people being crazy when it is a full moon was something I used to believe in, because of movies and what they show, but there has not been any scientific evidence behind that. The graphs shown for this method was something we did in math, but I never realized it’s connection to psychology. Learning about the method experiment was also something I learned more about. Although this method may be biassed in some cases, the example of double blind was honestly very convincing that this method may actually work. At first I used to doubt methods like this, but getting participants that are not aware is very convincing and honestly accurate.
Neuroscience
The Nervous System is composed of two main systems the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. Each of these systems are crucial for the functioning of the body. The central nervous system includes the brain and spine, while peripheral is basically the nerve cells outside the brain and spinal cord. The Nervous System is made up of neurons, the brain itself has over 100 billion neurons. Neurons don’t communicate randomly, but communicate selectively which I found very interesting. When the cell is at rest the positively charged sodium ions are kept outside the cell. The only way they are going to come in is when the neuron is in its excited state. Meaning the inside of the neuron will have passed the threshold of -65mV.
Sensation
Learning about absolute threshold was really honestly very confusing to understand without the examples provided in the next slide. I found it interesting how subliminal is not about thinking, but quickly judging. It’s definition is “when stimuli are below one’s threshold of conscious awareness.” So basically people can be effected by split second judgment, but not long term. I found it interesting how different animals have different receptors. Which explains to why some animals such as bats and wolves have night vision. The cells in the retina that process light are called receptors and they are specialized neurons of sensation.
Perception
What I found interesting is that we filter sensory’s in three ways. The first one is sensory adaptation and that is when our receptors fire less because there are repeated stimulation. The second is Habituation and that is when your brain ignores frequent stimuli. The third one is selective attention, which is when our awareness is focussed on just a limited aspect. So basically you choose what you want to pay attention too or listen too. Form Perception also had three components to it as well. The three are form perception, depth perception, and perceptual constancies. I find it interesting how the different components within each of the three make us think of something. Like the closure for instance, when looking at it I did see a triangle, but then hearing that it is an illusion and how our brain jumps to conclusions made me think more about it. Our perception of things are so unique I feel like, because some people see things that others do not which I find so interesting.
Briannas post
A topic I would like to discuss that I found incredibly interesting is the video on the split brain patient. A man was facing seizures everyday and had his brain separated down the middle and in two. A brain scientist, Mike Gazzaniga was working with him for 10-15 years to see how his brain works differently than a normal brain. Our left side of the brain controls the right side of our body and (vice versa) so in the study, Dr Gazzaniga did multiple tests with him to show that he sees something differently than we do.
In the first research method video, Ms St George talked about the illusory correlation which is when you think something is related between two things, but there is not. Ive often told myself Im so emotional it must be because of the full moon which I found out was completely false and the two things dont relate at all. I did end up going down the rabbit hole of people trying to find correlation between the full moon and accidents that occur and it was very interesting the amount of effort people put in trying to prove this was true. If there wasnt a full moon during this time, I would not correlate the two together incidents together.
The brain surgery video with the patient, Linda getting the tumor removed from her was fascinating. My mom had a non-cancerous tumor on her brain and had to have a metal plate put it so it was very interesting for me to see a similar surgery to that. I think its amazing how much medicine and computers have changed from 1996 when this surgery took place. I had no idea that patients are awake during this surgery and that they can move and still communicate during it. Dr Peter Black showed a 3D image of Lindas brain and her head which I had never seen before. They color coded the veins and the tumor making it easy to spot.
We also learned about neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine controls your movement, making decisions, learning, attention and emotion. Too much dopamine has been linked to schizophrenia. When you have too much dopamine it can cause depression, ADHD and psychosis. If someone needed a medication like an antidepressant to help balance their dopamine and serotonin levels, its best not to be on that medication long term because there is many risks. Serotonin affects your mood, hunger, sleep and arousal. Acetylcholine controls the muscle action, learning and memory. Its very interesting to know that my brain knows what Im going to do before my body does them.
Fun facts that was also discussed this week!
The human brain is most similar to a monkey and a seal slugs brain.
80% of your brain is the cerebrum cortex which is the largest part of your brain.
Thalamus is the sensory part of your brain- everything goes through it first.
Different parts of your brain process different information.
We use all parts of our brain.
Katherines post
I have learned about research methods in the past in my science classes and as well as my research method class. From what I learned, research methods are organized ways people can figure out and understand things by carefully studying and collecting information through experiments, observations, or surveys. Understanding I learned about research methods from a scientific point of view, it was interesting to read and listen about it from the psychology point of view. Overall as I watched the lecture, I would say the beginning of the slides with the true and false was the most interesting to me because I though it was intriguing to learn about some ideas that I thought may have been true or false be the opposite. I think it was a great way to start off the lesson because I was excited to learn more about research methods from a different perspective than what I have known.
I thought it was interesting to learn about the three aspects of research methods, descriptive research, correlation, and experiment. I vaguely remember talking about each of them in my past classes so it was nice to follow along the video with the notes. Understanding that descriptive research is like taking a close look at things without changing anything. A case study Case, “study one person in great depth problem info you learn doesnt always generalize.” It zooms in on one person, but it might not tell us about everyone. Surveys, “study thousands of people with questionnaire (not much depth),” It ask lots of people questions, but they’re not super detailed. Be careful with surveys because the way questions are asked can mess things up, and sometimes the people you ask might not be like everyone else. Naturalistic observation, “study behavior of humans or non-human animals in natural surroundings.” Watches what happens in everyday life, whether it’s people or animals. It’s not always easy to say what it means for everyone. So, descriptive research is helpful, but you need to be careful about jumping to big conclusions.
Next, is correlation. As described in the video, correlation is the most important topic. Correlation in research indicates a connection between two variables, showing that when one changes, the other tends to change too. However, it doesn’t reveal which variable causes the change in the other; it just highlights their mutual association. Correlation doesn’t imply causation, meaning we can’t conclude that one thing directly causes the other. To understand cause and effect relationships, experiments are necessary. While correlation is useful for identifying patterns and relationships, researchers must be cautious not to assume direct causation without further investigation through controlled experiments.
The last comment and topic from the lecture is experiment. Experiment is the second most important topic from this lecture. It includes researchers manipulating variables to observe their impact on behavior or mental processes. Random assignment of participants to conditions helps control factors, ensuring that observed differences are due to the manipulated variable. The independent variable, what is manipulated, affects the dependent variable, what is measured. Experimental control involves comparing conditions or groups, like testing the impact of alcohol on math performance. Blind and double-blind techniques prevent biases. Labeling variables and groups clarifies roles. Examples include studying the influence of videos on four-year-olds’ activity levels, testing a drug’s effect on ADHD teens’ note-taking, exploring testosterone’s impact on aggression in female rats, and examining room temperature’s influence on worker productivity.
