Happy Brain Awareness Week!

Happy Brain Awareness Week!

This week we will be celebrating all things neuroscience in honor of Brain Awareness Week. Thanks to Psych Club for creating all the cool brain fact signs that are posted around the building. Special thanks to members Chloe Kofman and Brittney Webb who volunteered to post the 100+ pink "brains" last week Friday!

If you are currently in AP Psych, you'll be enjoying brain-themed review exercises this week in class.

However, everyone is welcome to join us on Friday (March 18) during Lunch B for a Brain Trivia Competition. You will need your Chromebook to participate, as you'll be answering questions in Quizizz, a review game platform. Everyone will be a winner (as there will be food... of some sort. Maybe cookies...) AND our top-scorer will take home the fabulous grand prize: The Amazing Squishy Brain!

(Look, even if you have no interest whatsoever in winning The Amazing Squishy Brain...though I can't imagine not wanting one of these...if you are currently an AP Psych student this will simply be a great way to brush up on your neuroscience in preparation for the AP Exam. So, what not give it a shot?)

A Bad Night at the ER

Today in class we looked at some (hypothetical) patients with neurological problems and attempted to match and generate diagnoses. Some of you didn't have a chance to finish and requested that I post the case files so you can complete your diagnoses. Here they are!

• Patient Case Files
• If needed for reference, here is the handout you were using to record your work.

AP Psych Lesson: Thursday PM

Hi AP Psych students!

Unfortunately, I have to be away for a meeting this afternoon. So, if you're viewing this, it's probably because you're in my 6th or 7th hour class and have been directed here by your substitute teacher. Lucky for you, all the directions for today's activities can be found below!

STEP #1: View the Slide Show (we began this yesterday) and take notes at your own pace. You may also refer back to your text as needed. You will want headphones, as there is a video clip to view. You will have to answer some questions in Socrative following the show, so please go through this information carefully before moving on to that step.



STEP #2: Answer the comprehension questions in Socrative. (The final slide in the show will prompt you to do this.)

STEP #3: View the video, "Inside the Teenage Brain." You will not complete all of it, but should get enough information to launch our discussion tomorrow. Particularly, please be ready to discuss how the teen brain is different from the adult brain and how this impacts behavior and decision-making. In the video, see if you can spot examples of the different devices used to study the brain that you just learned about (EEG, MRI's, etc).

Study Resources: Biological Bases of Behavior

The Biological Bases of Behavior test is almost upon us (scheduled for Tuesday, October 21). To that end, you'll want to take advantage of the spacing effect and break up your studying time over the next few days.

Just a reminder, your study session for this unit will start a little earlier than planned in order to accommodate the National Honor Society Induction also taking place that evening. So, we'll kick things off at 4:30 PM (rather than 5:00, as planned) on Monday, October 20.

In the meantime you may wish to use some of these handy tools to assist with your review:

• Your MC Study Guide Packet (distributed after the quiz on Wednesday). 
• The Unit Objectives - Can you do all of these things? If not, hit the books!
• Quizlet Flashcards for this unit (also embedded below for your convenience).
• Practice Multiple Choice Questions: on Neuroscience and The Brain
• Video Review: The Chemical Mind
• Video Review: Meet Your Master - The Brain
• 3D Brain - for practicing identification of those brain parts. 
• Materials we will be using at Monday's Study Session:
• Agenda/Slide Show
• Brain Damage Exercise
• Neural Transmission Practice WS
• Practice FRQ

Notes: Neurons, Neurotransmitters, and Drugs


Notes: Nervous System Divisions & Endocrine System


Notes: Techniques for Studying the Brain


Notes: Brain Anatomy & Hemispheric Specialization (10-14 through 10-20)

Brain Awareness Week Events

This year, Psychology Club is participating in Brain Awareness Week for the first time. The week is devoted to the celebration and promotion of neuroscience and is organized by the Society for Neuroscience, the Dana Foundation and Brainfacts.org. This year, Brain Awareness Week is March 11-17, so at today's Psych Club meeting, we finalized the details of some of our activities and events. They include:

• Posting quick Brain Facts around the building on bright pink "brains."
• Monday 3/11: Brain-themed music will be played during the lunch hour in the school cafeteria.
• Tuesday 3/12: Demonstrations during the lunch hour: visual displacement goggles.
• Wednesday 3/13: Brain-Related Team Trivia in Rm 136 during Lunch B!
• Thursday 3/14: This is Pi Day...we're taking a break and eating pie with the math department. Brains like Pi and Pie, we figure.
• Friday 3/15: Brain Cookies & Psych Club celebration in rm 136 during Lunch B.

Psych Club members create Brain Fact signs to be hung around the building during Brain Awareness Week.

The Teenage Brain

As often happens after we view an excerpt of this documentary in class, I got requests from my students to post this for parents. Today in class we watched the first few segments of Frontline's Inside the Teenage Brain, a great program highlighting recent neuroscience research that suggest explanations for many typical teenage behaviors (e.g., staying up late at night and sleeping in mornings, taking risks that make their parents uncomfortable, miscommunicating with adults...etc.)

The entire program is available for viewing online (Windows Media and RealPlayer users, try here) and its companion site has numerous links to more information that may be helpful for both parents and teenagers.

The short version of the program's message is that the adolescent brain is still developing, and parents may be able to respond with more empathy to the sometimes frustrating behaviors of their teens if they know some things about this process. While we have to exercise caution when attempting to translate neuroscience research into prescriptions for parenting or teaching, the conversation about teen brain development is an important one, and parents may actually find it quite uplifting.

Those looking for additional resources might want to try these links:

• A Work in Progress: The Teen Brain (2008) in Harvard Magazine
• Teenage Brains (2011) in National Geographic Magazine
• Inside the Teenage Brain (2010) in Parade Magazine
• The Teen Brain: It's Just Not Grown Up Yet (2010) NPR

Brain Food Contest & Extra Credit Opportunity

Mrs. Welle's Brain Cake - 2010

After completing the Orange Brain Surgery lab on Friday, you have undoubtedly figured out that the best models of the brain are edible ones. So, our next Psych Club meeting will feature a celebration of delicious neuroanatomy through a "Brain Food" contest.
Current AP Psych students who participate will earn 5 points extra credit (computed in test category), as this will help them review important structures in the brain/nervous system.

The Rules:

• Entries must be edible representations of the brain or portions of the nervous system (e.g. neuron, synapse, brain stem, etc).
• Component parts must be accurately labeled.
• Entries will be judged during LUNCH A, so they must be delivered to room 136 no later than 12:15. You have to set up/complete registration for your entry during lunch (or have a friend do so), so please don't just leave your creation in my room in the morning an assume it will get set out.
• Winners will be announced and snacking will commence during our regular meeting time (Lunch B)!

Even if you do not wish to enter (and earn Extra Credit), you are welcome to join us for the meeting and eating. There is always plenty of food to go around.

If Psych Club shirts arrive this week (which might happen), I'll be sure to distribute them so that we can wear them to the meeting!

If you are looking for inspiration and ideas, check out the AP Psychology facebook page for pictures of some of last year's entries and winners.

V.S. Ramachandran Coming to UWEC!!!!!!!!

I learned just on Friday that Vilayanur S. Ramachandran will be speaking at the Schofield Auditorium on the UW-Eau Claire Campus as part of the University's Forum Series THIS WEDNESDAY (February 29th) at 7:30 PM!!!!

Why all the exclamation points?

Mr. Ramachandran is a world-reknowned neuroscientist who has studied some of the most interesting and puzzling brain-related phenomena AND he is a fantastic speaker. For those reasons, he has been featured on the popular TED talks series, and I'm embedding one of those below for your viewing. Even more awesome? Tickets are only $8 for the general public and $4 for students!!!

His talk, entitled The Tell-Tale Brain: a Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human (also the title of his newly released book), will feature discussion of attempts by neuroscientists to understand the brain's relation to topics like self-awareness, free-will, and consciousness.

Here's the promotional blurb included on the flyer from UWEC:

Vilayanur S. Ramachandron is a mesmerizing speaker, able to concretely and simply describe the most complicated inner workings of the brain. His investigations into phantom limb pain, synesthesia and other brain disorders have allowed him to explore--and begin to answer--the most basic philosophical questions about the nature of self and human consciousness. In his new book, The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human (2011), Ramachandran addresses the mystery of human uniqueness, in an attempt to shed light on such complex areas as self-awareness, free will and consciousness. Ramachandran is director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego, and an adjunct professor at the Salk Institute. TIME magazine named him one of 2011's 100 Most Influential People in the World.

But let's pretend like that's not reason enough for you disrupt the tranquility of your midwinter break and travel through the cold to UWEC to go to this AMAZING, ONCE IN A LIFETIME opportunity to see a famous neuroscientist in person.

Because of the expense, time commitment, and travel required, Mrs. Welle is willing to offer a whopping 10 POINTS EXTRA CREDIT to anyone who attends. To prove your attendance, you'll have to save your ticket stub and program to bring to school later OR find Mrs. Welle and say hello while at the event (this second part may be hard to do because of the size of the crowd).

If you would like to go, some things to keep in mind:

• Student pricing (for UW-Students and those 17 & under) is half of general admission price only until the day of the show. If you buy your tickets at the door, you'll pay $8.
• If it is REALLY important for you to get in, buy tickets ahead, either by stopping by the UWEC Service Center in Davies to pay in cash, or by calling the Service Center (715-836-3727) and paying with a credit/debit card. When I called this morning (Saturday) to reserve mine, they said only about 100 tickets are left!
• If you are calling to purchase tickets, keep in mind that seating is assigned. That means, if you want to sit with a group of friends, you should purchase them all at once. You can either have a parent call with a credit card or email Mrs. Welle for help (I would be willing to place the order for you & a group with the expectation that you pay me back in cash).
• The event is in Schofield Hall (NOT Zorn Arena, if you've been there for basketball games or Bon Iver concerts). Check campus maps to get to the right place & plan for parking time.

I apologize for not hyping this in class prior to break. I only found out about it on Friday during 7th Hour, thanks to Mr. Gagnon, who sent me the flyers for the event. :) Otherwise, I would have provided you with much more lead time and some handouts with campus maps.

My goal for the night: get an autographed copy of his book. And maybe get my picture taken with him. Don't know if that's possible, but I'm going to try. :)

The Teenage Brain

Dr. Jay Giedd (U of M) studies teen brain development using MRI

Today in class we viewed a selected portion of a Frontline documentary entitled "Inside the Teenage Brain". The program provides an introduction to what recent advances in neuroscience have revealed about the biological causes behind well-documented differences between adult and teenage thinking.

As often happens when we view and discuss the program, I received a lot of requests to communicate this information to parents (e.g. "Could you please come talk to my dad about this?"). Since it seems a little presumptuous to phone my students' parents out-of-the-blue for a nice talk about neuroscience, I'll post the links here and let students start the conversations themselves. Students may want to watch the full version (we only watched a portion in class) and parents may find this extremely interesting as well.

The website to accompany the program also has numerous resources for the parents of teenagers, which some may find helpful.

Another helpful video resource can be found in another PBS series from a few years ago, "The Secret Life of the Brain." Episode Three is focused entirely on the unique developmental features of the teenage brain.

While this program is quite good, I would note that there are some remaining controversies about using the "underdeveloped prefrontal cortex" explanation to explain teen decision-making (this is one of the concepts presented in the Frontline video). These were highlighted in a recent article from National Geographic on the brains of teenagers.

Sand Brains

Check out this video of neuroscience enthusiasts building anatomically correct sand-art brains in London. If my classroom was located anywhere near beaches adequate to do this, it already would have happened. Brilliant.

Dyslexia Info

Today's class discussion and lecture, which featured information about how the brain processes language, sparked many questions about reading and language difficulties, particularly dyslexia.

For those interested in additional information about dyslexia research, the APA website has a number of links to information about the disorder.

For example, this article by Beth Azar describes two areas of difficulty that seem to accompany dyslexia: deficits in phoneme awareness (an inability to distinguish between different basic sounds in language) and slowed processing speed, which may be a more general problem for some (i.e. not limited to just language tasks).

Interestingly, researchers have developed ways for children to overcome some of these processing difficulties using video games. The games systematically train children to distinguish between similar sounding phonemes (e.g. "ba" and "pa"), a task essential for learning reading and writing. This may offer an alternative to costly and time-consuming speech therapy that was previously the popular treatment choice. fMRI scans have revealed changes in brain function following these video treatments.

The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) may also be a good source of information for those with further questions.

Prefrontal Cortex news...

This recent post on the nature of the prefrontal cortex from Neuroskeptic is worth a read. It reviews a current article which argues that the prefrontal cortex operates in a holistic manner (e.g. all together) rather than as distinct, independently functioning parts. I'm simplifying things a bit here, so check out the post and the original article for a more thorough version.

The post also includes a snippet reference to phrenology, so, bonus.

This is a great reminder of the complexity of the cortex in general and the importance of those "association areas" your textbook describes.

Brain Food: Extra Credit Opportunity

Friday, October 1 will be our next Psych Club Meeting, and given our current studies in Neuroscience, it will focus on fun with the brain.

We will be having a “Brain Food” competition. In order to participate (and earn some extra credit it AP Psych), you should bring some edible treat that features labeled parts of the brain or the nervous system.

The Rules:

1. Your entry must depict the brain or nervous system, or some component part of either (e.g. a neuron).

2. It must have labels for the component parts. This is educational food, after all.

3. Your name should be marked somewhere on or near your entry, so we know who gets credit.

4. Although items will not be judged on taste, it should be something edible; we will be eating all of the entries during Lunch B, so don’t get too attached to your brain. This also means hygiene/food safety is important. Wash your hands, all right?

5. You must have your entry here at the beginning of Lunch A so our guest judge can make his/her determination of winners, which will be announced during our meeting (Lunch B).

6. Although you can get reasonable assistance from family members, your creation must be your own. For example, you cannot have your mom or dad simply make your entire entry or do all of the decorating, but they can help you with the recipe. Likewise, you cannot order a pre-made treat from, say, a professional bakery.

7. This is a one-shot deal, so if you are sick or for some other reason unable to bring your treat on Friday, you’ll have to wait for the next extra credit opportunity. Sorry, but we don’t want your old cupcakes/dessert/jello/whatever three days later.

5 Points EC (in test category) for All Participants!
Though, Mrs. Welle reserves the right to adjust points (or not award them at all) if your entry seems to not reflect any effort/learning. Don’t bring us one crudely-constructed cupcake. That’s lame. Bring your A-game.

Need some ideas? Here are some links to inspire you, but be creative! With Halloween coming up, supplies are bound to be out there if you are motivated.

• Brain cheese spread
• Cerebral Cortex cupcakes (I'll be making some of these if time allows...)
• Brain Pate
• Brain Jello Mold
• Brain Cake
• Another Brain Cake
• And another Brain Cake

And the Winner is...

Emily S.! (And no...that's NOT her picture)

Emily was the lucky participant whose name was drawn to win the fabulous Therapist in a Box prize from last evening's AP Night festivities. Like many others attending, she participated in our mini-research project on facial recognition.

All participants were shown the image at right. They were asked to determine which of the two images on the left best resembled him.

Two-thirds of participants chose the lower image (labeled "B" on the wall chart used), while only one-third selected the top image. Neither answer is more "correct" because each is simply a composite image created by "mirroring" one half of the face in the original photograph. So why did people prefer the "mirrored" left side to the right?

Here's the presumed explanation: The right half of the brain is responsible for interpreting information from our left visual field (i.e. the left side of the man's face). It is also more frequently used for facial recognition and emotional interpretation. When you look at the two possible choices, the part of your brain that is most adept at recognizing faces detects a match in the lower photograph: "here's that same left side"! It does not see a "match" in the upper photo because your right brain was not studying that part of the original photo (that was your analytical left brain).

Of course, we can all "see" that the images are equally representative of the man. But thanks to your wonderful brain...it's not necessarily what we perceive.

Project H.M. - Watch the Dissection!

Psychology enthusiasts (and my students, who will read about him in their psychology textbooks this unit) remember fondly the case-study patient known as "H.M." One of the most intensely studied subjects in the history of psychology, "H.M" had undergone brain surgery in 1953 but awoke with no ability to form new memories. "H.M." (and the researchers who studied him) taught us a great deal about the types of memories human beings possess. Sadly, H.M. passed away about a year ago, but he did donate his brain to science, continuing his incredibly legacy in the history of neuroscience and memory research.

TODAY, Researchers at the University of California, San Diego begin the delicate task of slicing his brain into tiny, tiny pieces 70 microns thick and scanning them for digital preservation. When they are done, researchers from around the world will be able to peek into the brain of this incredible man.

You can watch the dissection live over the web, starting today.

We watched some of this in my afternoon classes and students were fascinated! They've now actually started cutting the slides (for the first few hours, they were just trimming the gelatin block in which the brain is encased). Amazing!

To learn more about the delicate procedure being used to preserve H.M.'s brain, check out this article from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Here's what the Brain Observatory says (as of 3:40 PM CST):

We are going to cut through the entire brain over the next 50 hours. The very thin slices are going to be preserved in serial order and each will be ultimately stained and preserved in glass slides. The collection will represent a complete microscopic map of the brain of patient HM. This process will be extremely costly. Each glass slide alone costs $4! Any contribution, however small, will be crucial to the completion of this historic collection. To become a sponsor of patient H.M.’s giant histological glass slides, send your check to: The Brain Observatory, 3510 Dunhill Street, San Diego, CA 92121 Or make your generous donation by following this link: Donate

Great Example of Case Study: The Woman Who Had No Sense of Personal Space

If, by now, you are into the reading for Chapter 1 (don't worry, I'll post some cool stuff for the Prologue soon), you'll have come across one particular type of research method in psych: the case study.

Though limited in the conclusions you can draw from them, case studies are a great way to study one individual, often with a weird (i.e. rare) condition, in depth.

My latest favorite case study comes to us via the blog of the British Psychological Society and involves a women, called S.M., who apparently has no sense of personal space. This is a great example of the kind of questions that can (and cannot) be answered via case studies.

Edible "Brain" Projects

I've found the perfect activity for our next Psych Club meeting: making Brain Cakes. This seems the ultimate way to combine two AWESOME passtimes, studying neuroscience and eating fattening confections. Though, if you check out these directions it seems we might not be able to finish this in one lunch period.

Up for something easier? How about creating a cortex from Jello using a Brain Jello Mold? Though given the disturbingly realistic result, it may be a better activity for your next game of Truth or Dare.