Cognition Unit

Howdy, and sorry that I told you there was a link to all the Discovering Psychology videos on the blog... there was not. Proactive interference got the best of me and my memories of last year distorted my memories of what I put on the blog this year.

The whole Philip Zimbardo Discovering Psychology series can be found at this page. Once there click on the program you want to watch an look for thebutton which allows you to stream the "Video on Demand."

Can testing yourself actually make you learn and remember more? The short answer is, "YES!."

This article in the Science Section of the New York Times discusses research which shows that being tested on material is one of the best ways to study and REMEMBER new material.

Notice that retrieval practice works best for both direct and inference questions. This shows that retrieval practice not only helps us remember facts, but it helps us UNDERSTAND how those facts relate to each other and to our wider knowledge.

How did Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords survive being shot in the head?

 Arizona Congressional Representative Gabrielle (Gaby) Giffords was shot in an assassination attempt as she met with people from her congressional district. She survived a point-blank shot through her brain. 13 others are also injured and tragically, 6 people were killed by the gunman before bystanders wrestled him to the ground.

Based on what you know about neuroanatomy, what might Congresswoman Giffords' recovery be like? What abilities may she lose due to this injury?

Why did doctors remove a large portion of her skull? Why is she being kept in a "medically induced coma?"

The site WebMD has a good set of answers to frequently asked questions
http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20110109/gabrielle-giffords-brain-injury-faq

The New York Times also wrote about the issues around Rep. Giffords' injury.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/health/10medical.html

Learning Links

(Note, the links to videos are to YouTube, so you can't watch them at school unless you are an awesome hacker and know a proxy work-around)

Classical Conditioning:

Try your hand at conditioning Pavlov's Dog in this animation on the Nobel Prize site. 

Here is the John Watson Little Albert video clip we saw in class. It has Spanish subtitles which is nice.

This article on the APA website describes how some college students figured out who "Little Albert" really was.

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/01/little-albert.aspx

Unfortunately we don't know if is fear of furry things lasted beyond Watson's research.
 

Operant Conditioning:

Here is the Skinner video clip we saw in class.

B.F. Skinner shaping a pigeon to turn around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtfQlkGwE2U

And pigeons playing ping-pong? 


Observational Learning:

Here is a video of Bandura's Bobo doll experiment.

This Australian commercial shows how observational learning can affect kids.

Perception

Click the image to see her spin.
Which direction is she spinning?








You can see the Basketball Video at this link... but it is on YouTube, so it's blocked at school.

Color Mixing Demo...

R    G    B  
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/color-vision

See what colors we see as R G and B hit our cones.

Sensation... The Ear Pages on NobelPrize.org

The organization that gives out the Nobel Prize has a great website about the ear and how it works.

If you're having trouble understanding the accessory structures and the cochlea this site is for you.