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Brain Sailing: August 2010

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Saturday, 28 August 2010. In the end, I think I turned in a really good piece of work. I hope so. It has certainly had a lot of praise from the two individuals who will be marking my work, which can only be a good sign. As an extra bonus, it looks likely to be published in a peer-reviewed academic journal, which will be a huge boost to my fledgling career. The answer, is yes. When subjects were being conditioned with the shock, they became much better at telling apart tones that were very close in fr...

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Brain Sailing: February 2011

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Tuesday, 8 February 2011. One frequent criticism of psychological research is that much of it is inconsequential. That it produces little more than 'cool' illusions which, although illuminating how are minds work, are little more than party games. Often this may be true, but it neglects to see the influence such illusions have on wider science. Watch the rubber hand illusion. The research, described here. Involves attaching a prosthetic arm to an amputee. The remaining nerve endings, which had previo...

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Brain Sailing: May 2010

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Sunday, 16 May 2010. Finally, some rest. By pure chance, it turns out that my research project supervisor is out of the country this week, the week immediately after my final coursework assignment was handed in, meaning that I have had an entire week with absolutely nothing to do. It has been total bliss. Obviously I shall keep you up to date with our progress! Posted by Chris Fassnidge. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). Visit my career and academic website at chrisfassnidge.com. Want to subscribe to this blog?

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Brain Sailing: Oscillations

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Tuesday, 20 April 2010. I am currently attempting to steer myself through the penultimate essay on my MSc course, which unfortunately is proving to be without a doubt the hardest essay I have ever had to write. It's about 'the functional role of brain oscillations', and is quite interesting at the same time as being obscenely dull. Essentially, I am writing about how there has always been a bias toward examining where. The brain works it's magic are just as essential. So, as I said - the timing of brain ...

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Brain Sailing

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Thursday, 27 January 2011. You might be wondering where I've been. Well, so am I. I shall leave you with a little reading material, that hopefully you will find enthralling. The royal society recently published a series of articles on neuroscience, with topics ranging from the technical methods by which neuroimaging works, to some of the ethical quandaries of studying brain function. The whole selection can be found here. Anyway, that is enough from me. I'll be in touch. Posted by Chris Fassnidge.

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Brain Sailing: April 2010

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Tuesday, 27 April 2010. I have noticed a worrying trend in my academic career - they always leave things on a downer. My last lecture on the MSc was on the subject of depression. When I did my undergraduate degree, our final module was on the psychology of ageing, which was structured in a chronological way so that we ended up covering the cheery topic "bereavement, loneliness and dying". My final essay topic for the MSc? Hmm, am I subtly being set-up for a lifetime of professional disappointment? It tur...

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Brain Sailing: February 2010

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Saturday, 27 February 2010. Gosh, it has been quite some time since I last posted an update. Everyone I talk to on the MSc keeps saying how tired they are feeling, and I am no exception. I find it very hard to concentrate on getting work done, as I am distracted by the prospect of just finishing this course and getting out into the world, finding a decent job and (hopefully) earning a respectable wage for the first time in my life. Posted by Chris Fassnidge. Monday, 15 February 2010. I just submitted 2 m...

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Brain Sailing: November 2009

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Wednesday, 25 November 2009. Not much to report over the last couple of weeks, I had a reading week recently and actually managed to get rather a lot done, having spent several hours in the library making notes on this and that. It was a much needed 'break' of sorts, if only from the time-tabled activities. Of course, there has to be some degree of plasticity in the brain, otherwise we couldn't form new memories, but we now know that the brain is far, far more plastic than previously thought. When somebo...

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Brain Sailing: January 2011

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Thursday, 27 January 2011. You might be wondering where I've been. Well, so am I. I shall leave you with a little reading material, that hopefully you will find enthralling. The royal society recently published a series of articles on neuroscience, with topics ranging from the technical methods by which neuroimaging works, to some of the ethical quandaries of studying brain function. The whole selection can be found here. Anyway, that is enough from me. I'll be in touch. Posted by Chris Fassnidge.

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Brain Sailing: October 2009

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Friday, 23 October 2009. The third week in, and things are getting tougher. On the plus side, though, certain things are getting more interesting. For example, we had a lecture explaining how an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner is able to capture such detailed images of the brain. Would you like to know how it works? The operator can then send a strong sudden magnetic pulse through the scanner, which flips every single proton in the scanner chamber to one side. To help you imagine this, pictu...