Gasping For Breath
Today is a bit of a lazy day. My brain is fried and it's only mid April.
I'm in the middle of a 3500 words psychophysiology proposal due in 10 days.
I'm looking at measuring EMG corrugator supercilii and zygomatic major responses to happy/sad facial expressions from Black and White dynamic avatars after priming participants to develop a greater negative bias towards Black people. It's a cruel setting but it's a test of how empathy towards outgroups can be negatively manipulated by the media, especially in times of war. I'm three quarters through the Introduction of this proposal. I still have to write my method and my predictions. Method will be a little difficult as I have to describe the electrodes...oops, the "sensors"... and the EMG process in details, something a little different from the other reports I've written. Effectively I'm looking at a 2 x 2 x 2 mixed quasi-experimental factorial design so I'm still overwhelmed with the predictions and how to formulate my hypotheses.
That's why I'm happily taking a break today. Woohoo!!
It's not easy to avoid feeling like a mad scientist. Blogging helps.
Actually on that topic, I'm still smiling at what my psychophysiology lecturer said in the first lecture:
Today we don't refer to electrodes as "electrodes". In front of the participants we tend to call them "sensors" instead. It's because we are trying to get away from the whole Milgram thing...
Anyway I thought it was funny.
So now onto a mental reckoning of the other uni subjects... I'm due for a Neuroscience Quiz in two weeks, the second in a set of three. This is where I'll have to remember all the charming names of neurotransmitters among other things. After that, I still have another Behaviour Analysis and Modification lab report assignment to complete, two workbooks to hand in, at least 4 psychophysiological lab practicals to complete (although that part is quite fun) and an oral presentation on the Prefrontal Cortex to prepare for. All this to be completed by the end of May while I continue to attend classes and try to have a life. And then it's exam period...
This is the hardest semester I've had for a while and so when it's completed, I'll feel great.
1 comment:
Hi Ms Candeau,
Excuse me for not knowing your name (have you ever mentioned it?). And for not reading your blog every week. In fact I do not know how often I read it. However I wanted to say 'thanks' to you because, by means of Les Nuits Masquées, you have accompanied me for about two years' time.
Sorry if my english is not perfect - I am just a spanish girl. I'm just 22. I am an Andalousian, but currently I am studying in Madrid. I want to be a diplomat, travel the world, try to have a say on current world events, have more to do with them than I do now. I want to change the newspapers headlines.
I am no consistent reader. I just choose a random entry of yours and read it, without further thought. I can spend months without checking your blog, but for some reason I always come back. I guess you have me charmed. There's this way of thinking you have, which transpires your words. It is not easy to find someone who has travelled this much, who has such a broad perspective on human nature, who tries to be true to herself no matter what people say, in Australia, in Spain, in Indonesia, married or not, no matter at what age; she's always the same spirit.
That's why I read your blog when I'm down. It's so positive. I just need and love to know there's people like you out there. It makes me love this world even more.
Thank you for the company. And for all the rest. Please keep on writing and never change. I love to get to know you.
rosana.bonaparte@gmail.com
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