Psych W1001y, The Science of Psychology, Spring 1999

TAKE-HOME WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT ONE

(DUE THURS. MARCH 11; AT LATEST, MON. MARCH 15, 1999)

Due either at the beginning of the lecture on Thursday March 11, 1999 or in Room 373 Schermerhorn at the following times: Thurs. (3/11/99) 2:45- 4:15 PM, or Fri. (3/12/99) 11 AM- 5 PM, or Mon. (3/15/99), noon - 5 PM. Or else you may FedEx (or any 1-day express service) on Monday March 15th so it arrives here on Tuesday March 16th. (To Prof. Norma Graham, Dept. of Psychology, 406 Schermerhorn Hall, Columbia Univ. NY, NY 10027, phone: 212-854-3608, Fax: 212-854-3609). Faxing before 4:30 pm Mon. will be allowed but, if you do fax, please mail a hard-copy also on that same day in case the quality of the fax is insufficient. If too many people try to fax at the last moment, they will not all be able to get through so don't count on it. (Papers may also be turned in at an earlier class, but, if you do so, please make sure to give the paper directly to one of us and tell us what it is. Do not leave the paper in any of our mailboxes or under the doors of our offices.) Please do NOT come late to lecture on Thursday in order to turn the paper in.

READ THE GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS (GIVEN IN ANOTHER HANDOUT) THOROUGHLY NOW AND AGAIN WHEN FINISHING THE ASSIGNMENT.

The major point of this assignment is your education, in particular the part of it that concentrates on actively integrating scientific material and thinking about it. We’d like to see evidence both of integration and thought. This is not an exam with "correct" or "incorrect" answers, but a chance for you to be more actively involved with the material.

A secondary aim is to provide some writing experience. But, unfortunately, we will not have the time to give you feedback about the writing. (Fortunately writing practice is apparently useful even without explicit feedback.)

The page limits below are for single authors. If you collaborate see general instructions.

 

Section I. Three examples of localization of function in the nervous system (2-3 double-spaced pages plus drawings, 50 points).

Write about three examples of the localization of function in the nervous system. One example should be a part of the nervous system involved in vision or another sensory system (classes 6-8). Another should be a part of the nervous system involving motivation at the level of an individual (classes 9-11). And the third should be a part of the nervous system involved in learning and or memory (classes 11-14). By "part" here I am intentionally vague. A part could be as small as a synapse, or as a large as a lobe, if appropriate to your example. Whatever you choose is perfectly fine.

• To illustrate each example, you should have at least one drawing that shows the location of the nervous-system part under consideration, and that at least indicates this part's relationship to other structures. (Scientific drawings should clearly make the point they are trying to make, but they needn't be finely detailed or works of art. In other words, although fine craftsmanship or artistry will be admired, it is not required.)

• For each example, you should briefly describe what has been learned about the function of that part of the nervous system. And how it was learned: more specifically, you should give at least one piece of evidence that this part of the nervous system has the function you ascribe to it.

One more constraint: In the course of writing about all three examples you should mention at least 3 of the 6 classes of methods for studying localization of function that were presented in lecture. But you only need one class of method for each example.

 

Section II. Essay on evolution, genetics, and behavior (3 double-spaced pages, 40 points)

Take at least two of the things in the list below, and speculate on their evolution and function. That is, try to answer the evolutionary question "Why do humans and/or other animals have __________?" In the course of this essay, you must consider 2 or 3 of the "Cautions re evolutionary thought" illustrating them by example or counter-example. (Note: For the evolutionary cautions, see book and handout #15.) You might also speculate on the relation of that (genetic) evolution to other forms of change (cultural evolution and learning).

Oriented Receptive Fields (V1)

Color Vision

Sleep (or, more generally, Circadian Rhythms)

Dreams

Classical Conditioning,

Operant Conditioning

Chunking in Memory

Working AND Long-Term Memory (why 2 different things?)

You are not expected to be wildly inventive, only clear and logical using material presented in lecture and the book. (You are NOT expected to bring in extra material. If you do see the general instructions for guidelines.) Make it interesting and not long-winded. Look for GOOD examples. Think logically.

Everything else is up to you within the constraints just offered. (For example, the essay could be with the behaviors themselves as the main topic, or with the "Cautions" as the main topic, or anything else you want that is relevant.) Do not ask us questions like "What do you want in Section II?", because we have no answers beyond what is written here.

 

Section III of Assignment. Report on the face-perception experiments (3-4 double-spaced pages plus graphs, 60 points)

Note: If you missed the face experiments, or if you were there but took insufficient notes, you will have an opportunity to see again how these studies were run by coming to Class 16 on March 11th or by going to certain question-and-answer sessions (times to be announced).

We did a face-perception experiment in class two different ways. In Study 1, the faces were presented on a screen in front of the class. In Study 2, they were presented on a handout. Some of the actual data we collected from these two studies will be handed out soon..

Your report should be organized as shown below, which is a traditional (although not universal) organization of scientific papers. I have asked that you make it much shorter than traditional papers however because the T.A.s do not have enough time to read long papers from each of you. Please use headings indicating the sections.

(A) Introduction (what was the point or points of the experiment? that is, what did the experimenter hope to learn?)

(B) Methods (description -- how was it done)

(C) Results -- Presentation of results (analyzed data).

Include at least one graph.

Either at the end of the Results or at the beginning of the Discussion section, you should give a brief summary of the results of the two studies (considered in light of the original reason given for doing the experiment that was presented in the Introduction).

(D) Discussion (interpretation of the results). Then go on to consider the following two topics (the first in some detail, the second much more briefly).

(i) Carefully describe (taking at least one page): How do the results of the two studies compare? Is one set "cleaner" (more compelling, better) than the other? There were many differences between the two ways of running the experiment. Take two or three of these differences, describe them, and explain what effect you think they might have had on the results. (ii) Briefly describe: How do the results of these studies fit in with the results from other kinds of studies (some sort of integration of this study into the scientific literature in short -- frequently continues things that were started in the introduction). You won't be able to do too much of this but try some.