Guest Lecture

Hey guys!

Sorry for not telling you about this sooner, it slipped my mind, but I was one of the lucky attendees of the Susan Fiske lecture. I've read about her work in both this class as well as my Neurohumanities course and I think her work, along with Dr. Harris, is quite intriguing and offers a perspective on social interactions that I haven't really thought about.

In this lecture, Dr. Fiske talks about the classifications of in-groups/out-groups, which can be divided into four categories. These categories are as follows:

• pride (in-group)
• envy (out-group)
• disgust (out-group)
• pity (out-group)

She surveyed the research she was involved in, and gave everyone a great idea of how this classification works. There were some interesting perspectives given, and what I found truly amazing is how the mPFC may not even react to people classified in the disgust out-group category. It was mentioned however that the slightest though about something as trivial as what they had for breakfast, can activate the mPFC despite the way we initially think about them. This collective four group system was named the Stereotypic Content Model (SCM), which divides people into these groups based on the parameters of, "warmth," and "competence. 

The whole concept makes a lot of sense and I would be interested in seeing how this manifests itself in children, who aren't as quick to stereotype as adults are. You should definitely look into their research though, it is really interesting!

My Experience with fMRI

Hey all!

In the midst of studying for finals I almost forgot to tell you about my experience with an fMRI study! I participated in the Duke Neurogenetics study run by Dr. Ahmad Hariri's lab, which is an ambitious study with regard to the amount of participants they wish to run. I think they menitoned it was something like 600...that's 600 fMRIs! That must cost at least $6000.00, not counting the $120 dollars they pay participants once they have completed the study. So anyway, let me tell you a bit about the study.

This study took place over three sessions. The first session was an intensive psych/IQ test, in which we were asked to perform memory tasks and psych evals and whatnot. This continued into the second session which consisted of a 2-3 hour survey, asking more questions about mental health and all that jazz. THe third and final session consisted of an fMRI, and man was that interesting!

So I probably shouldn't say what the paradigm was, but what I can say is that the preliminary set up of the fMRI took way longer than the actual trials. I must've spent 30 minutes lying down in a tight space, tucked in quite nicely with a blanket , and listening to the soothing sound of jackhammer like banging (if it wasn't for the ear buds, I probably would be deaf). Even though I was quite restricted in movement, I was able to complete the task, which consisted of pushing buttons in response to on screen cues. I think the hardest part of the study, in addition to trying to stay awake, was trying not to move, as I am one to fidget a lot, it's hard to stay in one place for a long period of time. But despite that, the people at Hariri lab were great, and even helped me give a saliva sample through the presentation of delicious food a la world wide web.

Overall it was a pleasant experience and I recommend it to all of you!

And That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles...

Hey all!

I just want to say that watching everyone's presentation has been a lot of fun. I've been exposed to movies I've never even heard of before and I must admit, my interest is piqued. Working on this project would not have been nearly as fun without my partners Jen and Anthony. I like to think of us as the three musketeers, three quirky individuals who complement each other extremely well. We presented on Eagle Eye, Tron: Legacy and Stealth. I have watched all of these movies at one point and hope that you enjoyed these clips as much as I have! We each worked on our movie independently (mine was Eagle Eye) and then met to assemble the presentation. It took a bit of practice to nail down the timing, but once we got it down we were able to have fun with it. I think we met all of the requirements and were able to make it entertaining as well. This project was a great conclusion to the class and really got us thinking about AI in ways we never have before.

Thanks for a great semester everyone!

Best,

Chris