Outliers: The Story of Success
What is the author's main point (or two points) here? Is he correct?
The main point of Gladwell's (2008) excerpts is how culture can affect our behaviors, and in this case how having a culture of hard work and effort ingrained in your society can affect your view and behaviors surrounding education. I do believe that Gladwell is correct though I did find myself slightly incredulous when he wanted to so strongly tie it only to cultivating rice. If I've learned one thing about human behavior it is that there is never a simple explanation and it is never one thing.
How do the factors discussed by the author fit into a social cognitive theoretical framework (if they do at all)?
When Gladwell (2008) discussed Asian cultures he discussed how the expectation that hard work and effort is the explanation for success and how in North American culture we have expectations that your skill in math is based on something unchangeable like how smart you are. Clearly, Gladwell is of a similar mindset as Dweck. Dweck (2006) discussed the fixed mindset such as the belief that you are either good at math or not versus the more malleable growth mindset in which hard work, effort, and challenges lead to gains in your abilities. He also discussed how rice farmers must "believe in the efficacy of their own work" (Gladwell, 2008, p. 237). Again, this confidence in your effort and competence is echoed in Parajes (2006) article. Parajes (2006) states that those who are self-efficacious "work harder, persist longer, persevere in the face of adversity, have greater optimism and lower anxiety, and achieve more" (p. 343).
Are the author's views consistent with any other views we've read this semester? How so? How are they different?
In reading Gladwell's (2008) chapters I couldn't help but be reminded of Vygotsky. Like Vygotsky, Gladwell is putting a great deal of emphasis on the effect of one's culture. Gladwell also began the chapter by a very intriguing anecdote about how one's language could even affect memory. I also believe parallels can even be drawn between self-efficacy and the ZPD. The ZPD is slightly above a student's level and as Parajes (2006) writes "Academic work should be hard enough that it energizes, not so hard that it paralyzes" (p. 344).
Which theory of learning (or whose views) would this author most align with?
From these excerpts, it would seem that Gladwell (2008) is more closely aligned with a social cognitive perspective.
What might the author say is the role of failure in learning? How would the theorists we've read describe the function of failure?
I believe this author would agree with Parajes (2006) sentiment on failure: "self-efficacy is not so much about learning how to succeed as it is about learning how to persevere when one does not succeed" (p. 345). If your culture has instilled within you the belief that hard work, effort, and challenges line the road to success you would be more likely to view failure through the lens of self-efficacy.
Is there such a thing as a "recipe" for success that we could offer to teachers and parents? What are the ingredients?
I think like any recipe we make, we make it depending on our tastes. However, most everyone follows similar procedures. I believe pathways to success can be varied. However, I believe there are some "procedures" that everyone's recipe should follow. Above all, it seems most important that we instill in our children the view that effort can lead to many things and that challenges are not reasons to give up but instead things to learn from.
One caveat that concerns me in all of this is when I think of my own future children. Will I be able to accomplish all of these things if I myself do not act upon them? Will my telling my children these things merely sound hollow and in the end they will model what I actually do? When I think of behaviors I have taken from parents I know that not all of them would be behaviors my parents would like me to have.
Additional Questions
One thing I was reminded of while reading this is a recent SAT cheating scandal that occurred in South Korea. How does cheating fit in with this heritage of hard work and effort? Are these individuals outliers? Or does this show a shift in culture based on current pressures?
http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2013/05/28/group-of-south-koreans-barred-from-sat/
Gladwell (2008) spends a great deal discussing a girl going to a KIPP school. Because she is going to this school she seems to do nothing but homework and is unable to get a full night of sleep. While reading about her life I couldn't help but question the school's practices. What are possible alternatives to this KIPP school? Is the deal she made worth it?
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Activity 7.4
My Mindsets
Growth Fixed
In undergrad I took a Science of Art class and we had to complete a weekly drawing based on a scientist's quote. This drawing is supposed to represent my mindsets. The areas I have more a fixed view of are growing off stunted branches, most stopped growing after knots occurred. The areas that I feel I have more of a growth mindset about are sprouting from long, winding, and complex branches. Clearly they took effort to grow in such a way.
*I should note that I put IQ on a fixed mindset but not necessarily intelligence.
Activity 7.3
Imitation is Flattery; Social Learning is Fitness
While reading the article "But What About the Gigantic Elephant in the Room" the quote "People cannot be much influenced by observed events if they do not remember them" (Bandura, 2011, p. 1) had me scratching my head. From what we have learned and know of implicit learning, implicit biases, and memory is it true that we are not influenced by what we do not remember? I think one example of observed events influencing our behavior without us being consciously aware of it is in the media. The media portrays many stereotypes; many of which go unnoticed by most individuals. Despite our unawareness of these stereotypes they are still floating around in our brains affecting the schemas we create and the behaviors we display.
I was also drawn to Bandura's (2011) discussion of the misconception that modeling can only produce imitation or response mimicry. As a social animal and owner of three social animals I know that there is more to modeling than just imitation. I have often found it interesting to observe these social animals learn the "guiding principle" of a behavior and then "generate new version of the behavior that go beyond what they have seen and heard" (Bandura, 2011, p. 2). Everytime my husband and I make the trip back to Wisconsin and our dog gets to observe my parents' two dogs' behavior I notice new behaviors that she brings back with her to Kentucky. For example, after the first time we came home our pup had picked up the behavior of barking at intruders. However, she generated a more urban version of this and barked at dogs who were far away at the dog park. My own memories and experiences of my pets learning behaviors from each other inspired me to do a general Google search to see what other examples of modeling occurred and in particular with dogs. From this I ran across these two rather recent articles. Interestingly, many of the articles I read described dogs imitating human behavior; usually animals model behavior after animals of the same species.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/07/your-dog-is-a-copycat.html
http://news.discovery.com/animals/pets-dogs-imitate-people.htm
As is to be expected both articles discuss dogs' behavior as being imitation. Perhaps as Bandura states the dog imitate the human behavior and then later incorporate it into their own behaviors.
While reading the article "But What About the Gigantic Elephant in the Room" the quote "People cannot be much influenced by observed events if they do not remember them" (Bandura, 2011, p. 1) had me scratching my head. From what we have learned and know of implicit learning, implicit biases, and memory is it true that we are not influenced by what we do not remember? I think one example of observed events influencing our behavior without us being consciously aware of it is in the media. The media portrays many stereotypes; many of which go unnoticed by most individuals. Despite our unawareness of these stereotypes they are still floating around in our brains affecting the schemas we create and the behaviors we display.
I was also drawn to Bandura's (2011) discussion of the misconception that modeling can only produce imitation or response mimicry. As a social animal and owner of three social animals I know that there is more to modeling than just imitation. I have often found it interesting to observe these social animals learn the "guiding principle" of a behavior and then "generate new version of the behavior that go beyond what they have seen and heard" (Bandura, 2011, p. 2). Everytime my husband and I make the trip back to Wisconsin and our dog gets to observe my parents' two dogs' behavior I notice new behaviors that she brings back with her to Kentucky. For example, after the first time we came home our pup had picked up the behavior of barking at intruders. However, she generated a more urban version of this and barked at dogs who were far away at the dog park. My own memories and experiences of my pets learning behaviors from each other inspired me to do a general Google search to see what other examples of modeling occurred and in particular with dogs. From this I ran across these two rather recent articles. Interestingly, many of the articles I read described dogs imitating human behavior; usually animals model behavior after animals of the same species.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/07/your-dog-is-a-copycat.html
http://news.discovery.com/animals/pets-dogs-imitate-people.htm
As is to be expected both articles discuss dogs' behavior as being imitation. Perhaps as Bandura states the dog imitate the human behavior and then later incorporate it into their own behaviors.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Activity 7.2
In my life I've had several potential careers destroyed by the beliefs I held in my ability to accomplish the necessary tasks in these areas. As a child I was enchanted by great female authors like Laura Ingalls Wilder and Gail Carson Levine. Laura was the main reason I kept journals almost my entire life and I've kept a letter from Gail just about as long. It was my dream to write books similar to the fantasies I so cherished.
However, my confidence in my ability to write was quashed by a series of writing failures in high school. In particular, I prefer to point to a teacher who made it clear she hated all my writing and once called it "wishy-washy." When I think back on it now, though, I might have started the class with a bruised sense of competence. I took this class my freshman year of high school and the course required we pass some test to get into it. My score on the test was not high enough and my mom had to have me put into the class. I also had a best friend that I frequently compared myself to who was not only the amazing, quirky writer I longed to be but she was also the teacher's particular favorite. Parajes (2006) states that social comparisons help contribute to our own perceived capability and in this case that she was more capable was reinforced my feelings of inability. We also constantly completed these quizzes where we'd get sentences and have to fix the punctuation, grammar errors, and then label everything in the sentence. Not only a very stressful situation but one in which I quickly decided I was unable to perform adequately. I frequently thought to myself, "This is just something I'll never be able to do," and basically turned my mind off to learning any of the necessary skills for becoming a writer. My low self-efficacious feelings for writing were finally cemented my senior year of high school when I took a college credit English course and again I felt I was working as hard as I could but my effort was not shown in the grades and feedback I was receiving.
Even though I lack confidence in my skill as a writer I still have a reader's passion that pushes me towards the hope of someday writing some form of book. I guess it's as Parajes (2006) indicates "self-efficacy is not so much about learning to succeed as it is learning how to persevere when one does not succeed" (p. 345). I have accepted that I am not to be the great author like my childhood heroes but I have not resigned myself to fully giving up and never trying.
However, my confidence in my ability to write was quashed by a series of writing failures in high school. In particular, I prefer to point to a teacher who made it clear she hated all my writing and once called it "wishy-washy." When I think back on it now, though, I might have started the class with a bruised sense of competence. I took this class my freshman year of high school and the course required we pass some test to get into it. My score on the test was not high enough and my mom had to have me put into the class. I also had a best friend that I frequently compared myself to who was not only the amazing, quirky writer I longed to be but she was also the teacher's particular favorite. Parajes (2006) states that social comparisons help contribute to our own perceived capability and in this case that she was more capable was reinforced my feelings of inability. We also constantly completed these quizzes where we'd get sentences and have to fix the punctuation, grammar errors, and then label everything in the sentence. Not only a very stressful situation but one in which I quickly decided I was unable to perform adequately. I frequently thought to myself, "This is just something I'll never be able to do," and basically turned my mind off to learning any of the necessary skills for becoming a writer. My low self-efficacious feelings for writing were finally cemented my senior year of high school when I took a college credit English course and again I felt I was working as hard as I could but my effort was not shown in the grades and feedback I was receiving.
Even though I lack confidence in my skill as a writer I still have a reader's passion that pushes me towards the hope of someday writing some form of book. I guess it's as Parajes (2006) indicates "self-efficacy is not so much about learning to succeed as it is learning how to persevere when one does not succeed" (p. 345). I have accepted that I am not to be the great author like my childhood heroes but I have not resigned myself to fully giving up and never trying.
Activity 7.1
In completing this activity I couldn't help but be reminded of school psychologists' beloved Urie Bronfenbrenner's own Ecological theory of development. The Ecological theory of development seeks to see each individual within his or her whole environmental context, taking into mind individual factors such as personality and behavior as well the larger environment such as the individual's family, community, and culture. I also decided to take a general educator's view seeing as helping the general student population to become better learners will be one of my main goals as a school psychologist.
With Mr. Bronfenbrenner in mind, I created this list, doing my best to think of the learner with an Ecological view in mind.
One thing I struggled with in brainstorming this list was separating personal factors and behaviors. I sort of felt like behaviors could have fallen under the hat of personal factors.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Activity 6.3
Much Virtue in If
Though this chapter was difficult for me to grasp, I found some of the quotes in it to be some of the most eloquent in the book and one of the quotes I was most drawn to was this one:
"If free will were true, it would be absurd to have the belief in it fatally forced on our acceptance. Considering the inner fitness of things, one would rather think that the very first act of a will endowed with freedom should be to sustain the belief in the freedom itself. I accordingly believe freely in my freedom" (James, 1983, p. 93).
I have to admit my favorite line in this passage is "I accordingly believe freely in my freedom" (James, 1983, p. 93). I liked it so well I immediately read it to my husband who was slightly less interested than I. This quote speaks to my own struggle with determining the nature of free will. Do I only choose to believe in free will for a sense of security and control or is the fact that I believe in free will proof enough that free will exists? Is it habit to believe in having control over one's actions?
"The aim of the teacher should then be to make him simply forget. Drop the subject for the time, divert the mind to something else: then leading the pupil back by some circuitous line of association, spring it on him again before he has time to recognize it, and as likely as not he will go over it now without any difficulty" (James, 1983, p. 89). This quote brings to mind one of my favorite concepts learned in an Applied Behavior Analysis course I took last summer. One strategy we learned in this course is called High-p, or high probability requests. In this strategy if you are particularly struggling with getting a to complete a more difficult task it is recommended that you first ask the student to do tasks he or she has a high probability of being able to accomplish. Then, after asking the student to complete these easier tasks you next ask him or her to complete the more difficult task he or she was unwilling to complete before. Frequently, because of the prior success the student is more likely to attempt the more difficult task.
Finally, in James' response to what a moral act consists of his answer resonated with me and reminded me of both his past discussions as well as what we are currently learning:
"You can say that it consists in the effort of attention by which we hold fast to an idea which but for that effort of attention would be driven out of the mind by other psychological tendencies that are there. To think, in short, is the secret of will, just as it is the secret of memory" (James, 1983, p. 91).
According to James thinking is both key to memory as well as to free will. I believe thinking also ties into problem solving, learning, and Piaget's disequilibrium. Therefore, for me this quote not only ties into free will but also to a great deal of the content we've been learning about.
I found myself struggling with this post and hoped leaving it to the end would allow incubation to kick it. I sure hope it did!
Though this chapter was difficult for me to grasp, I found some of the quotes in it to be some of the most eloquent in the book and one of the quotes I was most drawn to was this one:
"If free will were true, it would be absurd to have the belief in it fatally forced on our acceptance. Considering the inner fitness of things, one would rather think that the very first act of a will endowed with freedom should be to sustain the belief in the freedom itself. I accordingly believe freely in my freedom" (James, 1983, p. 93).
I have to admit my favorite line in this passage is "I accordingly believe freely in my freedom" (James, 1983, p. 93). I liked it so well I immediately read it to my husband who was slightly less interested than I. This quote speaks to my own struggle with determining the nature of free will. Do I only choose to believe in free will for a sense of security and control or is the fact that I believe in free will proof enough that free will exists? Is it habit to believe in having control over one's actions?
"The aim of the teacher should then be to make him simply forget. Drop the subject for the time, divert the mind to something else: then leading the pupil back by some circuitous line of association, spring it on him again before he has time to recognize it, and as likely as not he will go over it now without any difficulty" (James, 1983, p. 89). This quote brings to mind one of my favorite concepts learned in an Applied Behavior Analysis course I took last summer. One strategy we learned in this course is called High-p, or high probability requests. In this strategy if you are particularly struggling with getting a to complete a more difficult task it is recommended that you first ask the student to do tasks he or she has a high probability of being able to accomplish. Then, after asking the student to complete these easier tasks you next ask him or her to complete the more difficult task he or she was unwilling to complete before. Frequently, because of the prior success the student is more likely to attempt the more difficult task.
Finally, in James' response to what a moral act consists of his answer resonated with me and reminded me of both his past discussions as well as what we are currently learning:
"You can say that it consists in the effort of attention by which we hold fast to an idea which but for that effort of attention would be driven out of the mind by other psychological tendencies that are there. To think, in short, is the secret of will, just as it is the secret of memory" (James, 1983, p. 91).
According to James thinking is both key to memory as well as to free will. I believe thinking also ties into problem solving, learning, and Piaget's disequilibrium. Therefore, for me this quote not only ties into free will but also to a great deal of the content we've been learning about.
I found myself struggling with this post and hoped leaving it to the end would allow incubation to kick it. I sure hope it did!
Activity 6.5
Despite my uncertainty of the implications of technology on humans, I do believe it is clear that technology touches our behaviors in clear ways. For example, some changes I have seen is in our ability to socialize and our ability to show patience. Frequently, when I’m out dining with my husband or walking around I will see a pair or group of people all with their devices out, no one looking at each other or interacting with each other. Another such time I’ve noticed this constant need to be entertained is while driving. Whenever I look at other people in their cars whether it be at a stop light or a traffic jam everyone has their devices pulled out, swiftly scrolling through some page or another.
As one of the few individuals I know without a smartphone, I have to ask how do you resist the pressure of obtaining such devices? Is it worth it to resist? What is it about American culture that makes us so busy and stressed? Are other cultures with as much technology dependency as America so stressed? If not, why?
As one of the few individuals I know without a smartphone, I have to ask how do you resist the pressure of obtaining such devices? Is it worth it to resist? What is it about American culture that makes us so busy and stressed? Are other cultures with as much technology dependency as America so stressed? If not, why?
I asked my husband about technology’s effect on cognition
and I found that what he had to say rang true. My husband said that with the
increase of technology we are better able to find information but less able to
remember it.
Activity 6.4
After taking a class on school interventions I became very interested
in study skills interventions. As I have said in a past blog post I was lucky
enough to implement such an intervention with a student last semester. It
quickly became clear to me that the intervention was mainly attempting to intervene
in the student’s self-regulation skills. Zimmerman (2002) states that “after
graduating from high school or college young adults must learn many important
skills informally” (p. 66). I contend that study skills, and in particular self-regulatory
skills, are never explicitly taught in schools at all, and instead are skills
expected to be self-propagated by the student themself. Zimmerman also
indicates that “conceptions of self-regulatory development at the time were
limited to acquiring desirable personal habits” (p. 64). Though Zimmerman
appears to feel that habits alone are not enough to develop effective
self-regulation in my opinion James would disagree that the development of
habits is not enough. Perhaps where they would agree is in the role of outside
sources in helping to propagate this skill. I also agreed with Zimmerman’s
point about the importance of self-efficacy. Chemistry is a subject I have never
felt self-efficacy in. Because of this I often find myself giving up very early,
becoming frustrated, and demonstrating no perseverance. All in all, I believe
self-regulation plays a pivotal role in learning.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Activity 6.2
The video on math instruction brought to mind what we've been learning about information processing. One thing the teacher discussed was how math books are designed to not have students problem solve which as we have been learning this week and with Piaget's theories is an essential process and even analogous to learning. I was also reminded of Vygotsky's scaffolding when the teacher was discussing the layers of the math problem. The teacher using native attention grabbing tasks brought to mind James' theories of using a student's passive attention. Finally, the fact that the teacher discussed the importance of perseverance reminded me of this week's PPT and Dr. Usher's points around the importance of perseverance if students want to become more effective problem-solvers. Notably, I found it interesting how this math teacher has been using technology to enhance students' mathematical thinking after discussing possible fallbacks of technology on cognition.
Watching the Marshmallow Challenge video I was reminded of an activity I did a few years back when I was a camp counselor working with at-risk and disabled high school-aged youths. The campers had to create a flying craft out of one soda can, duct tape, and box cutters. The winner was the pair of campers whose flying craft flew the farthest. Their high stakes reward was 2 free sodas! Watching the campers go through the problem solving process I am now able to see many parallels to the Marshmallow Challenge. Many of the campers struggled with determining who the leader in the group was (or whether there should even be a leader). Some of the pairs would get really nothing done because they were unable to accomplish collaboration (no one wanted to get the ball rolling or one person would take over and not let the other contribute). Another issue I noted was many of the campers tried to make their flying crafts look like airplanes, a behavior which falls under functional fixedness as well as learning set. In the end, the campers who were most successful (like the marshmallow challenge conqueror) were the pairs who were willing to try something different, persevered, planned, and willing to keep modifying their flying craft.
Watching the Marshmallow Challenge video I was reminded of an activity I did a few years back when I was a camp counselor working with at-risk and disabled high school-aged youths. The campers had to create a flying craft out of one soda can, duct tape, and box cutters. The winner was the pair of campers whose flying craft flew the farthest. Their high stakes reward was 2 free sodas! Watching the campers go through the problem solving process I am now able to see many parallels to the Marshmallow Challenge. Many of the campers struggled with determining who the leader in the group was (or whether there should even be a leader). Some of the pairs would get really nothing done because they were unable to accomplish collaboration (no one wanted to get the ball rolling or one person would take over and not let the other contribute). Another issue I noted was many of the campers tried to make their flying crafts look like airplanes, a behavior which falls under functional fixedness as well as learning set. In the end, the campers who were most successful (like the marshmallow challenge conqueror) were the pairs who were willing to try something different, persevered, planned, and willing to keep modifying their flying craft.
Activity 6.1
Why is problem solving
analogous to learning?
Once a person has determined the solution to a problem in the
future that person is able to apply that solution to a similar problem. When an individual has learned the process of problem solving that individual is more able to problem solve in
the future.
Is all learning
problem solving or do we learn without solving problems?
Because a problem can be almost anything from having to use
the bathroom to passing an exam almost all learning can be framed within a
problem solving context.
An Important Problem
A problem I recently encountered is one dealing with my
health. I’ve been lucky enough to not really be allergic to anything. However,
I do have one pretty serious Achilles’ heel: poison ivy. This past week I’ve
been camping in Wisconsin. As with anyone who has an allergy, I have quite a
bit of knowledge about my allergen. I know what poison ivy looks like and I
know what my symptoms look like. That being said, sometimes it is impossible to
avoid. This Saturday, I was swimming at my family lake with my family. I rowed
the boat out to our dock and began swimming. I began to notice my right hand
was turning red- I also noticed the tell-tale bumpy rash. I gave attention to
cues in the environment, what I had been touching and the reaction occurring on
my hands. As Pretz et al. (2003) indicated, when “we approach a new situation,
our knowledge based on prior experiences will influence our ability to define
and represent a problem correctly” (p. 26). I have had poison ivy many times in
the past and know the signs and symptoms- but did I ever really stop and think
what else the rash could have arisen from. Despite this, I immediately washed
my hands with camp soap and then washed the rest of my body. When we got back
to our cabin I took a Zyrtec and applied hydrocortisone to the offending areas.
Before bed I took a Bendaryl. I performed these behaviors because of my
knowledge of past analogous problems, i.e. when I’ve experienced rashes in the
past. When I woke up the next morning my hands had erupted in a rash covering
almost every part of my fingers. I also noticed a suspicious red spot growing
near my eyes and behind my leg. Typically, I am able to fight off an allergic
reaction with antihistamines and hydrocortisone. However, I knew my goal was to
travel back to Kentucky on Monday and it would be more of a constraint to find
a doctor under my parent’s insurance there. In the end, I solved my problem by
seeking expert help at an Urgent care center near my parent’s hometown. I am now
prescribed a steroid and hope to see my rash diminish in severity. As Pretz et
al. (2003) point out the earliest stages of problem solving process involve
“Recognizing that a problem exists, defining the scope and goals of the
problem, and representing information about that problem in a way that helps
establish a viable path to solution” (p. 25-26). And importantly, Pretz et al.
(2003) also discusses how when one problem is solved often another new problem
will erupt, in my case the possibility of my rash reoccurring with a vengeance
and not being able to find a doctor to prescribe new medication.
 |
| The horror!! |
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Activity 5.4
When looking for the video for Activity 5.3 I almost selected a video from PBS about how technology is affecting our memory. I did not select this video because currently I do not believe we know fully how technology is affecting our cognition. I remember in undergrad we discussed how the use of GPS devices might affect our ability to think spatially and the long term creation of maps within our minds. I was actually shocked to learn that some people in my class didn't know how to get home from our small university without their GPS device. When I moved to Lexington I bought a GPS device and relied on it heavily for the first month I lived here. After that, I would often put away my GPS and try to get places on my own. Now, after living in Lexington for 2 years I know it relatively well. I believe technology can be a helpful device if used correctly and can be harmful if overly relied upon.
It is clear there are demerits in technology and our reliance on the internet. Often I find myself considering how technology might be affecting the increasing rates of ADHD we see in children. As Carr (2010) points out many people seem to be having attention focusing issues these days as we have come to rely on our multitasking fixes from the world wide web. And as Carr (2010) is concerned about in his chapters in The Shallows, use of the internet might even have severe implications for our ability to create long term memories. However, I must also recall my own learning process and how that has been aided with the use of a computer and the internet. As Roediger and Butler (2011) show with their paper, retrieval practice has been shown to produce gains in long-term retention of information. The internet is teeming with practice quizzes, create-your-own quiz templates, flashcards, and make-your-own flashcard templates as well. I was also reminded of this quote from James (1983) that I had used in my previous post: "The doctor, the lawyer...differ from other men only through the fact they know how to get at the materials for decision in five minutes or half an hour" (p. 70). One such way to get at these materials is through the internet. So, although Carr (2010) points out James' early concern for our memory it must also be said that James supports the use of resources.
Finally, I was reminded while reading the Carr excerpts of research I heard on NPR. This research was surrounding parents' concern for young children's' interest in iPads and the potential implications for the children's brains. The author in the article did sort of Piagetian experiment (i.e. on her own child) and allowed him to have full access to the iPad. After a while, her son grew tired of the iPad like any other toy or game he owned. Will we as humans every grow tired of being plugged in to the internet?
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/24/175173111/your-kids-brains-on-touch-screens
Importantly, from Carr's (2010) chapters I also took away the fact that our brains are very plastic. Even if we are negatively affecting a very important process hopefully if we change, our brains can return to their former selves.
It is clear there are demerits in technology and our reliance on the internet. Often I find myself considering how technology might be affecting the increasing rates of ADHD we see in children. As Carr (2010) points out many people seem to be having attention focusing issues these days as we have come to rely on our multitasking fixes from the world wide web. And as Carr (2010) is concerned about in his chapters in The Shallows, use of the internet might even have severe implications for our ability to create long term memories. However, I must also recall my own learning process and how that has been aided with the use of a computer and the internet. As Roediger and Butler (2011) show with their paper, retrieval practice has been shown to produce gains in long-term retention of information. The internet is teeming with practice quizzes, create-your-own quiz templates, flashcards, and make-your-own flashcard templates as well. I was also reminded of this quote from James (1983) that I had used in my previous post: "The doctor, the lawyer...differ from other men only through the fact they know how to get at the materials for decision in five minutes or half an hour" (p. 70). One such way to get at these materials is through the internet. So, although Carr (2010) points out James' early concern for our memory it must also be said that James supports the use of resources.
Finally, I was reminded while reading the Carr excerpts of research I heard on NPR. This research was surrounding parents' concern for young children's' interest in iPads and the potential implications for the children's brains. The author in the article did sort of Piagetian experiment (i.e. on her own child) and allowed him to have full access to the iPad. After a while, her son grew tired of the iPad like any other toy or game he owned. Will we as humans every grow tired of being plugged in to the internet?
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/24/175173111/your-kids-brains-on-touch-screens
Importantly, from Carr's (2010) chapters I also took away the fact that our brains are very plastic. Even if we are negatively affecting a very important process hopefully if we change, our brains can return to their former selves.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Activity 5.2
Memory as Association
I found myself nodding along in awe to James' (1983) chapter on memory. Do not mistake me, I often enjoy James' character but find myself sort of updating things he says to be more applicable. In this chapter, I was amazed at how spot on James was about memory. I think my jaw literally dropped when I read the passage about cramming. People were cramming in 1892?
"In almost any subject your passion for subject will save you" (James, 1983, p. 67). When I wrote my blog post about my metaphor for learning one thing I really wanted to include was passion. The subject areas I have learned information for best have been those that I have been passionate about such as a Gender and Orientation class which resulted in my questioning of my everyday experience and how I defined myself as an individual.
There were a couple of excerpts in this chapter that I really thought were well written and thought provoking.
"Paths frequently and recently ploughed are those that lie most open, those which may be expected most easily to lead to results" (James, 1983, p. 59). This quotation actually reminded me of something Mary Ann said in class the other night after I had asked about how I was always taught the brain employs a "use it or lose it" theory. I believe Dr. Usher was discussing the stream of consciousness at the time and Mary Ann said that instead of getting rid of paths or roads altogether the paths unused become unkempt and hard to traverse.
A final quote that caught my eye in this chapter was: "The doctor, the lawyer...differ from other men only through the fact they know how to get at the materials for decision in five minutes or half an hour" (James, 1983, p. 70). Often I worry what I have gleaned out of my graduate education. Do I remember every topic I learned in every course? No, but as James elucidates I have learned the processes of finding this information.
One thing in this chapter I did question was, according to James, to memorize a sentence rather than hammering in the information you should analyze it and think about it. I had to think back to when I was in high school and participated in many plays. I would NEVER have been able to memorize my lines merely by analyzing and thinking about them. I think perhaps it would have aided me and perhaps I would've remembered them longer but I do not believe I would have been to memorize all those lines through that process.
I found myself nodding along in awe to James' (1983) chapter on memory. Do not mistake me, I often enjoy James' character but find myself sort of updating things he says to be more applicable. In this chapter, I was amazed at how spot on James was about memory. I think my jaw literally dropped when I read the passage about cramming. People were cramming in 1892?
"In almost any subject your passion for subject will save you" (James, 1983, p. 67). When I wrote my blog post about my metaphor for learning one thing I really wanted to include was passion. The subject areas I have learned information for best have been those that I have been passionate about such as a Gender and Orientation class which resulted in my questioning of my everyday experience and how I defined myself as an individual.
There were a couple of excerpts in this chapter that I really thought were well written and thought provoking.
"Paths frequently and recently ploughed are those that lie most open, those which may be expected most easily to lead to results" (James, 1983, p. 59). This quotation actually reminded me of something Mary Ann said in class the other night after I had asked about how I was always taught the brain employs a "use it or lose it" theory. I believe Dr. Usher was discussing the stream of consciousness at the time and Mary Ann said that instead of getting rid of paths or roads altogether the paths unused become unkempt and hard to traverse.
A final quote that caught my eye in this chapter was: "The doctor, the lawyer...differ from other men only through the fact they know how to get at the materials for decision in five minutes or half an hour" (James, 1983, p. 70). Often I worry what I have gleaned out of my graduate education. Do I remember every topic I learned in every course? No, but as James elucidates I have learned the processes of finding this information.
One thing in this chapter I did question was, according to James, to memorize a sentence rather than hammering in the information you should analyze it and think about it. I had to think back to when I was in high school and participated in many plays. I would NEVER have been able to memorize my lines merely by analyzing and thinking about them. I think perhaps it would have aided me and perhaps I would've remembered them longer but I do not believe I would have been to memorize all those lines through that process.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Activity 5.3
Watch Saving Hubble Update, Gangster Birds, How Memory Works on PBS. See more from NOVA scienceNOW.
I chose the NOVA video "How Memory Works." I remember when H.M. died and at the time I was taking Physiological Psychology. My professor was a quirky soon-to-be-retired type and made us all watch the streaming of H.M.'s brain being sliced into tons of thin slices. I recall, at the time, freaking out that we were wasting a class as it was a rather difficult class. I think, after watching this video, I understand why he was so fascinated with H.M.'s brain.This video is about long term memory. It starts with the anecdotal story of H.M. who struggled with severe epilepsy and because of this had his hippocampus removed. From H.M. we learned the importance of the hippocampus in long term memory because once H.M.'s hippocampus was removed he no longer could store memories from after the surgery. However, it was also discovered that although H.M. might have no recollection of learning he could still apparently learn. Finally, the video discussed current rat research which shows that if the animal is given a certain drug immediately after it makes a memory the rat will then forget that memory.
I made several connections and had one question in response to this video. The question I had deals with erasing the poor ratty's memory. Does the drug administered only affect the recently formed memory or can it delete other memories? Has research been conducted looking at the all the effects of this drug and its effects on memories? This erasure of memory also reminds me of the Radiolab I recently posted which also discusses the research on this topic. One thing that really drew me was when one of the doctors said that you have a "slightly different head than you had today" everyday. It reminded me of Vygotsky who said something very similar with human development. Finally, H.M. and the research conducted with H.M. brought to mind past research I have learned about dealing with split-brains. Sometimes when individuals have particularly bad seizures they will undergo surgery that separates part of the midline of their brain. This helps prevent the seizures from spreading all over the brain. Once this surgery is conducted all kinds of interesting research can then be conducted on the individual. For example, I recall learning about individuals who had this "split-brain" and would experience one of their hands doing something in which they never recalled having "asked" their brain to do.
Here is a Wikipedia link if you're interested about split-brains.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain
Activity 5.1
Though I believe learning and memory are related I do not believe they depend on each other.
In thinking about all things I have learned, at least in my college years, I often think about a course I took in Entomology. Entomology is the subject my husband is studying and as I was a biology minor in undergraduate college I decided to take a course in it. As part of the course we had to memorize all the major insect orders and be able to spot insects that were part of each order. After two years of graduate school and filling my brain up with school psychology when conversing with my husband or his friends from the Entomology department I started to notice I couldn't verbally call up insect orders with the confidence I had once been able to. In particular I struggled with insects I rarely see on a daily occurrence; I could verbally recall what order a firefly belonged to but I could no longer remember what order a thrip belonged to. The orders of insects that I regularly saw and therefore thought of were still easily recalled but the ones I had not practiced seemed to have vanished. However, when I discussed the orders with my husband it was like for each order a little light was turning on. "Ah yes! Praying mantises are members of the order Mantodea!" Instead of having to recode the information into my brain I just had to dust it off a little. I tried finding a quote from James (1983) that I felt was related to this but was unable to locate it. Since I was unable to find the excerpt, I will instead summarize the gist. In the quote James states that a student who says they know an answer but can't exactly say what it is is different than a student who does not know at all. I believe this speaks to the difference of being able to verbally recall something versus knowing knowledge is floating around somewhere in your brain and you just can't say what it is.
I believe we remember vividly what we want to forget because of something called rumination. Unlike the knowledge I had gained from the Entomology course, things we wish to forget we repeatedly call up in our memory and think about, i.e. we ruminate about them. For example, say I had just taken an exam and thought I had bombed it. Though I want to move on and think about other things I keep bringing up questions in my head, thinking about if I answered them correctly, questioning whether I filled out all the pages, or looking up answers in my book. Instead of moving on and thinking about something else I keep bringing up the memories of the test, in short reliving it over and over again.
In thinking about all things I have learned, at least in my college years, I often think about a course I took in Entomology. Entomology is the subject my husband is studying and as I was a biology minor in undergraduate college I decided to take a course in it. As part of the course we had to memorize all the major insect orders and be able to spot insects that were part of each order. After two years of graduate school and filling my brain up with school psychology when conversing with my husband or his friends from the Entomology department I started to notice I couldn't verbally call up insect orders with the confidence I had once been able to. In particular I struggled with insects I rarely see on a daily occurrence; I could verbally recall what order a firefly belonged to but I could no longer remember what order a thrip belonged to. The orders of insects that I regularly saw and therefore thought of were still easily recalled but the ones I had not practiced seemed to have vanished. However, when I discussed the orders with my husband it was like for each order a little light was turning on. "Ah yes! Praying mantises are members of the order Mantodea!" Instead of having to recode the information into my brain I just had to dust it off a little. I tried finding a quote from James (1983) that I felt was related to this but was unable to locate it. Since I was unable to find the excerpt, I will instead summarize the gist. In the quote James states that a student who says they know an answer but can't exactly say what it is is different than a student who does not know at all. I believe this speaks to the difference of being able to verbally recall something versus knowing knowledge is floating around somewhere in your brain and you just can't say what it is.
I believe we remember vividly what we want to forget because of something called rumination. Unlike the knowledge I had gained from the Entomology course, things we wish to forget we repeatedly call up in our memory and think about, i.e. we ruminate about them. For example, say I had just taken an exam and thought I had bombed it. Though I want to move on and think about other things I keep bringing up questions in my head, thinking about if I answered them correctly, questioning whether I filled out all the pages, or looking up answers in my book. Instead of moving on and thinking about something else I keep bringing up the memories of the test, in short reliving it over and over again.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Activity 4.5
As I read the Pinker (2002) article this week I found myself writing lots of notes responding to what he was saying.
"People have no trouble overriding a stereotype when they have good information about an individual" (Pinker, 2002, p.204). This statement is in direct opposition to what I've frequently learned about the nature of stereotypes. I was always taught that when we find an individual who does not fit our stereotype we think of this individual as an exception to the rule. This probably has to do with what James says, in that it's easier to fit these people in our categories rather than creating new categories all together.
Do we change all terms merely to freshen them or is there more purpose to the change?
"Give a concept a new name, and the name becomes colored by the concept; the concept does not become freshened by the name" (Pinker, 2002, p. 213). I used to struggle with name changes and what the current PC word of the day was. I have come to understand that although changing the name does not change the category or the stereotypes associated with them, it displays respect for the individual. Further, I believe groups who are discriminated against are the only ones to say what is or what is not offensive. In my opinion even though many such words do change there are some words that are always offensive and only ever said to degrade and hurt others.
Here is a clip of a very good example (or bad, depending on how you look at it) that changing terms is more than just "tinkering" with terms to reengineer people's attitudes (Pinker, 2002).
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2010/08/12/full-audio-dr-laura-schlessingers-n-word-rant/169161
*There is a very serious and offensive word spoken in this video so if you don't want to hear it please feel free to just read the article around the sound clip.
"People have no trouble overriding a stereotype when they have good information about an individual" (Pinker, 2002, p.204). This statement is in direct opposition to what I've frequently learned about the nature of stereotypes. I was always taught that when we find an individual who does not fit our stereotype we think of this individual as an exception to the rule. This probably has to do with what James says, in that it's easier to fit these people in our categories rather than creating new categories all together.
Do we change all terms merely to freshen them or is there more purpose to the change?
"Give a concept a new name, and the name becomes colored by the concept; the concept does not become freshened by the name" (Pinker, 2002, p. 213). I used to struggle with name changes and what the current PC word of the day was. I have come to understand that although changing the name does not change the category or the stereotypes associated with them, it displays respect for the individual. Further, I believe groups who are discriminated against are the only ones to say what is or what is not offensive. In my opinion even though many such words do change there are some words that are always offensive and only ever said to degrade and hurt others.
Here is a clip of a very good example (or bad, depending on how you look at it) that changing terms is more than just "tinkering" with terms to reengineer people's attitudes (Pinker, 2002).
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2010/08/12/full-audio-dr-laura-schlessingers-n-word-rant/169161
*There is a very serious and offensive word spoken in this video so if you don't want to hear it please feel free to just read the article around the sound clip.
Activity 4.4
Chapter 11: Attention
Summary
In this chapter, James explains his theories on attention and how teachers should instruct based on attention tendencies. He begins by explaining the difference between passive (spontaneous) and active (voluntary, requiring effort) attention. James discusses how teachers can attain and maintain attention in their students by both making subjects interesting and through the use of external methods for subjects that cannot be made interesting.
Connection 1
"Elicit interest from within, by the warmth with which you care for the topic yourself"(James, 1983, p. 56).
Dr. Usher has asked us at least once to recall our favorite teachers and what made them such. This quote from James clarifies what, in my opinion, is a characteristic of the best teachers and classes I've ever had. If your teacher does not care about the subject or topic he or she is teaching why should the student care? My favorite teachers were teachers who incited passion for a topic in me by demonstrating keen interest and passion in the subject themselves.
Connection 2
James' explanation of active and passive attention made me recall a concept from the Mayer (2012) article. With James' chapter on Attention it almost seems as if he is speaking to a learner's motivation. Mayer discusses motivation several times in his article but one passage that really stood out to me is Mayer's discussion of generative processing. According to Mayer generative processing "depends on the learner's motivation to exert effort to learn the material" (Mayer, 2012, p. 92). Therefore, I took this to mean that even if a learner must exert effort to pay attention if the learner has the proper motivation they will still learn the information.
Chapter 14: Apperception
Summary
Though I often get confused by James, I do really enjoy his "voice." With this chapter, James is using his particular voice to try and clear up confusions for teachers about apperception. According to James apperception is taking in information. What we perceive is colored by what we already know. Further, that at a certain point it becomes difficult to change the way you perceive things because of the influence of past information.
Connection 1
After conducting the perceptual activities for this week and then rereading James' Apperception chapter I came across this line, "We overlook misprints, imagining the right letters, though we see the wrong ones" (James, 1983, p. 78). It's amazingly true that our minds do just this. We've seen words over and over again and when things are slightly wrong our brain supplies what we know is right from our memory; ignoring that which does not make sense.
Connection 2
"In admitting a new body of experience, we instinctively seek to disturb as little as possible our pre-existing stock of ideas. We always try to name a new experience in some way which will assimilate it to what we already know" (James, 1983, p. 78).
As I read this excerpt my mind was immediately brought to Piaget's theory of assimilation. Clearly, James and Piaget had similar ideas about the process of constructing and categorizing knowledge.
Summary
In this chapter, James explains his theories on attention and how teachers should instruct based on attention tendencies. He begins by explaining the difference between passive (spontaneous) and active (voluntary, requiring effort) attention. James discusses how teachers can attain and maintain attention in their students by both making subjects interesting and through the use of external methods for subjects that cannot be made interesting.
Connection 1
"Elicit interest from within, by the warmth with which you care for the topic yourself"(James, 1983, p. 56).
Dr. Usher has asked us at least once to recall our favorite teachers and what made them such. This quote from James clarifies what, in my opinion, is a characteristic of the best teachers and classes I've ever had. If your teacher does not care about the subject or topic he or she is teaching why should the student care? My favorite teachers were teachers who incited passion for a topic in me by demonstrating keen interest and passion in the subject themselves.
Connection 2
James' explanation of active and passive attention made me recall a concept from the Mayer (2012) article. With James' chapter on Attention it almost seems as if he is speaking to a learner's motivation. Mayer discusses motivation several times in his article but one passage that really stood out to me is Mayer's discussion of generative processing. According to Mayer generative processing "depends on the learner's motivation to exert effort to learn the material" (Mayer, 2012, p. 92). Therefore, I took this to mean that even if a learner must exert effort to pay attention if the learner has the proper motivation they will still learn the information.
Chapter 14: Apperception
Summary
Though I often get confused by James, I do really enjoy his "voice." With this chapter, James is using his particular voice to try and clear up confusions for teachers about apperception. According to James apperception is taking in information. What we perceive is colored by what we already know. Further, that at a certain point it becomes difficult to change the way you perceive things because of the influence of past information.
Connection 1
After conducting the perceptual activities for this week and then rereading James' Apperception chapter I came across this line, "We overlook misprints, imagining the right letters, though we see the wrong ones" (James, 1983, p. 78). It's amazingly true that our minds do just this. We've seen words over and over again and when things are slightly wrong our brain supplies what we know is right from our memory; ignoring that which does not make sense.
Connection 2
"In admitting a new body of experience, we instinctively seek to disturb as little as possible our pre-existing stock of ideas. We always try to name a new experience in some way which will assimilate it to what we already know" (James, 1983, p. 78).
As I read this excerpt my mind was immediately brought to Piaget's theory of assimilation. Clearly, James and Piaget had similar ideas about the process of constructing and categorizing knowledge.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Activity 4.3
Universal Teaching with an Individualized Twist
After living and learning with another human being for the past five years I know indepthly that people have different learning styles, for me, this is incontestable. Despite this, while reading the Pashler et al. (2009) article I tended to agree that teaching to an individual's preferred learning style does not necessarily mean the individual will learn information better. Many thoughts raced through my mind as I read this article. The first that I considered is the matter of the self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think you learn a certain way will you learn better that way simply because of holding the preconceived notion that you will? I was also reminded of the age-old questions of "Are you an introvert or an extrovert?" or "Are you Type A or Type B personality?" It could be my indecisive nature, but I've always been flabbergasted by these typologies. Like Pashler et al. (2009) I've found that such categories "classify people into supposedly distinct groups, rather than assigning people graded scores on different dimensions" (Pashler et al., 2009, p. 107). This is also applicable for many of the labels that students are diagnosed with.
After reading this article and past material for this course, I started constructing a potential solution (at least in my head). My whole life, I've been taught that trying to learn through several modalities was most effective. I'm not sure if this is just something my mom told me or what, but it has worked for me. Usually this plays out as me reading material, writing on the material, reading concepts out loud, rewriting the concepts down on paper, talking to my husband about the concepts, and pacing around rooms reviewing information. Reading this article I questioned if it would be most effective for teachers to universally teach to best practice through multiple modalities. To follow James' (1983) advice of inciting interest and attention through pairing information with native interests. To avoid behaviors Dr. Usher reveals in her PPT as "minimizing how well student can register the information presented" such as through poor classroom management, distracting mannerisms/presentation, etc. And then to pair these practices with allowing students to individually engage in required learning activities based on how the students feel they learn best and further to pair this with Skinner's lovely idea of teaching machines.
Does being called a "good" teacher mean by definition that when you teach, the information reaches all students? Is this possible?
After living and learning with another human being for the past five years I know indepthly that people have different learning styles, for me, this is incontestable. Despite this, while reading the Pashler et al. (2009) article I tended to agree that teaching to an individual's preferred learning style does not necessarily mean the individual will learn information better. Many thoughts raced through my mind as I read this article. The first that I considered is the matter of the self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think you learn a certain way will you learn better that way simply because of holding the preconceived notion that you will? I was also reminded of the age-old questions of "Are you an introvert or an extrovert?" or "Are you Type A or Type B personality?" It could be my indecisive nature, but I've always been flabbergasted by these typologies. Like Pashler et al. (2009) I've found that such categories "classify people into supposedly distinct groups, rather than assigning people graded scores on different dimensions" (Pashler et al., 2009, p. 107). This is also applicable for many of the labels that students are diagnosed with.
After reading this article and past material for this course, I started constructing a potential solution (at least in my head). My whole life, I've been taught that trying to learn through several modalities was most effective. I'm not sure if this is just something my mom told me or what, but it has worked for me. Usually this plays out as me reading material, writing on the material, reading concepts out loud, rewriting the concepts down on paper, talking to my husband about the concepts, and pacing around rooms reviewing information. Reading this article I questioned if it would be most effective for teachers to universally teach to best practice through multiple modalities. To follow James' (1983) advice of inciting interest and attention through pairing information with native interests. To avoid behaviors Dr. Usher reveals in her PPT as "minimizing how well student can register the information presented" such as through poor classroom management, distracting mannerisms/presentation, etc. And then to pair these practices with allowing students to individually engage in required learning activities based on how the students feel they learn best and further to pair this with Skinner's lovely idea of teaching machines.
Does being called a "good" teacher mean by definition that when you teach, the information reaches all students? Is this possible?
Activity 4.2
I think these exercises are a pretty good indication
of the way my memory works. The exercises I did best on I had to be able to connect
to something. For example, I did rather well with the letter recall because I
used a strategy I often use for studying. We were given the letters NRVFTPLBH
(D). As soon as I saw them I came up with this mnemonic “Not Really Very Fun
Time People Let’s Be Honest.” This was much easier to recall than just a random
string of letters. Another example is with the country recall. First of all, I’m
awful at geography- sometimes the knowledge of this alone is enough to stress
me out into not learning it. For this exercise Dr. Usher hypothesized that we
would remember based on primacy, recency, and distinctiveness. I, instead,
remembered them based on personal associations, for example I have a friend
named Chad, I just watched a TV episode about Yemen, my best friend from high
school and I used to love the name “Botswana”, and I have a friend whose
brothers are adopted from Ethiopia. Finally, these exercises are also
indicative of what stress will do to my memory. For some reason, when I receive
information rapid fire I tend to get stressed and my brain “shuts down.” This
is what usually happens when I get a bunch of numbers! I try chunking them,
singing them, anything- but as each one comes I start to freak out.
Interestingly, I also see this occur when administering cognitive assessments
which have sections for short term and working memory. Students are given a
list of numbers and then asked to recall the numbers. Even if they are doing
well, once there gets to be a long list of numbers often they just shut down
rather than trying.
Activity 4.1: Facial Perception
In undergrad, I was lucky enough to conduct an independent research project as part of a class. My professor was really interested in perception and encouraged us to complete our experiment in this vein. My experiment was designed around my hypotheses of facial perception based on sex and expression. It was my thought that humans would be quicker to point out a face on a facial grid if it was displaying a threatening facial expression (in this case an angry face). I further hypothesized that individuals would also be faster based on the sex of the person making the facial expression, with males being recognized faster than females. I based these hypotheses on both evolutionary factors and societal upbringing; it would make sense that we are able to pick out threatening faces quicker for our own safety. Further, based on our upbringing people typically are taught to fear males more than females.
Here are the videos for my source of information:
This is a BBC Documentary called The Human Face. John Cleese is the host if anyone loves Monty Python (I do!). These are just 2 of the episodes (there are another 2 online). As these episodes are both long instead of watching them I'll just summarize some of the most interesting and relevant points. The videos elucidate several interesting factoids relating to facial perception. One that really stood out for me was the story of a man with Asperger's syndrome who struggled with understanding peoples' facial expressions; an ability that so many of us take for granted. The first part also discusses how in other cultures displaying facial expressions such as smiling are never really taught. This is connected to how at very young ages babies learn to emulate facial expressions from those around them. Part 2 is more related to facial recognition, but again is related to facial perception and our memory for faces. A particularly thought provoking anecdotal story was about a man who because of an accident was no longer able to recognize faces, even of his own children. From this video I also learned that we learn to recognize individuals by looking for features that differentiate them from the norm. Therefore, frequently we are better able to recognize caricatures than simple line drawings. It was also discussed how emotions are tied to our facial memories and how this tie can be both a helpful and complicating factor. A particularly distressing story was shared about a woman who was raped. The individual she identified as having committed the rape was then incarcerated for many years before DNA testing was developed and then revealed that another man had in fact raped this woman. This video brought up the fact that memory is complicated and we are not computer-like in our ability to remember facts. Everytime we think about a memory we reconstruct it potentially changing it (something the radiolab podcast talks about as well). This video also discussed our greater ability to recognize those within our own race; another potential explanation for this woman's tragic mistake (for both her and the man who was wrongfully incarcerated).
I first connected facial perception with the content for this week after watching the PBS video about magic in which they were discussing how the brain decides what to pay attention to and how even during a magic trick in which we are trying watch someone's hands we are still paying attention to that person's face. I also associated human facial recognition and perception with our evolutionary heritage to survive and adapt to our environment.
"The human brain equips us to thrive in a world of objects, living things, and other people. Those entities have a large impact on our well being, and one would expect the brain to be well suited to detecting them and their powers" (Pinker, 2002, p. 197).
"Our perceptual systems are designed to register aspects of the external world were important to our survival" (Pinker, 2002, p. 199).
There are many types of learning and learning to recognize the faces of individuals you know and understanding the emotions on someone's face; these are abilities that are essential to our ability to thrive.
This last link is unrelated to facial perception but is a fascinating link about memory. I also find Radiolab to be incredibly engrossing so if you get chance you should really listen to their podcasts.
http://www.radiolab.org/2007/jun/07/
 |
| The very old poster from my undergraduate experiment. |
Here are the videos for my source of information:
This is a BBC Documentary called The Human Face. John Cleese is the host if anyone loves Monty Python (I do!). These are just 2 of the episodes (there are another 2 online). As these episodes are both long instead of watching them I'll just summarize some of the most interesting and relevant points. The videos elucidate several interesting factoids relating to facial perception. One that really stood out for me was the story of a man with Asperger's syndrome who struggled with understanding peoples' facial expressions; an ability that so many of us take for granted. The first part also discusses how in other cultures displaying facial expressions such as smiling are never really taught. This is connected to how at very young ages babies learn to emulate facial expressions from those around them. Part 2 is more related to facial recognition, but again is related to facial perception and our memory for faces. A particularly thought provoking anecdotal story was about a man who because of an accident was no longer able to recognize faces, even of his own children. From this video I also learned that we learn to recognize individuals by looking for features that differentiate them from the norm. Therefore, frequently we are better able to recognize caricatures than simple line drawings. It was also discussed how emotions are tied to our facial memories and how this tie can be both a helpful and complicating factor. A particularly distressing story was shared about a woman who was raped. The individual she identified as having committed the rape was then incarcerated for many years before DNA testing was developed and then revealed that another man had in fact raped this woman. This video brought up the fact that memory is complicated and we are not computer-like in our ability to remember facts. Everytime we think about a memory we reconstruct it potentially changing it (something the radiolab podcast talks about as well). This video also discussed our greater ability to recognize those within our own race; another potential explanation for this woman's tragic mistake (for both her and the man who was wrongfully incarcerated).
I first connected facial perception with the content for this week after watching the PBS video about magic in which they were discussing how the brain decides what to pay attention to and how even during a magic trick in which we are trying watch someone's hands we are still paying attention to that person's face. I also associated human facial recognition and perception with our evolutionary heritage to survive and adapt to our environment.
"The human brain equips us to thrive in a world of objects, living things, and other people. Those entities have a large impact on our well being, and one would expect the brain to be well suited to detecting them and their powers" (Pinker, 2002, p. 197).
"Our perceptual systems are designed to register aspects of the external world were important to our survival" (Pinker, 2002, p. 199).
There are many types of learning and learning to recognize the faces of individuals you know and understanding the emotions on someone's face; these are abilities that are essential to our ability to thrive.
This last link is unrelated to facial perception but is a fascinating link about memory. I also find Radiolab to be incredibly engrossing so if you get chance you should really listen to their podcasts.
http://www.radiolab.org/2007/jun/07/
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