Psych News Brunel Psychology Society
http://on.fb.me/fHhxZ5 Issue #2
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April 2011
Inside this issue:
Letter from the Editor! By Emily Yates PsychNews Editor
Welcome to issue #2 of Psych News! Due to the popularity of the first issue Toby has shared his wisdom (and responsibilities!) on to me to give him a helping hand. Once again, you guys have been awesome at emailing in your articles and this news-
PSYCHOLOGY – FROM
2
THE VIEW OF AN
letter just wouldn’t be possible without them.
EPILEPTIC
As term 2 draws to a close we take a look at some of the studies Level Ones took part in, how to combat all your exam stress and much more. Have a good break guys!
LEVEL ONE STUDY GROUPS!
3
CELEBRATING BRUNEL’S FIRST BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK.
4
DREAM CREATURES
5
BEAT THE EXAM STRESS! 10 SIMPLE TIPS
6
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNIMONTH
7
THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP FOR SUCCESS.
8
LEVEL THREE: NATIONAL STUDENT SURVEY
9
SOFTWARE OF THE MONTH
10
BOOK OF THE MONTH
12
WEBSITE OF THE MONTH
12
COURSE REP FEEDBACK
13
VIDEO OF THE MONTH
15
STRUGGLING WITH A DISORDER? THERE’S HELP
15
A FEW WORDS ON EEG
16
FACE WEEK
17
BPS EVENTS
18
STUDENT MEMBER GROUP
20
BRUNEL VOLUNTEERS AWARD
20
WORDSEARCH
21
Emily Yates TY OF THE
Brunel Psychology Society Needs By Emily Yates & Keir Jackson L1 Psychology Students As a hatchling newsletter we would like to expand our reader base and find out more about what you want. So we’re asking you nicely to fill in a quick survey for us so we can get an idea of what interests you in psychology and what you would like to see more of!
Do you want more film screenings? Group outings? Or even just a coffee in Rococo’s? We want to improve your experience in the society, so please take the time to fill the survey in so we
Top Tip:
Regardless of what year you’re in or even if you’re not part of the society, we’d still like to know what you think. The survey will help us improve our new society in ways which benefit you. Next year we want to plan events and organise society meetings however, we need to know what types of things you’d like to be organised in order for it to happen.
What do you want from us?
can make what you want to happen a reality. http:// www.surveymonkey.com/s/ XFZM5TK
If you’re looking for a book in the library and can’t seem to find it, check behind the shelf; sometimes they get pushed back.
Photo taken by Lynn Myers, published in Glove Box Guide to the East Kimberley 2011 edition
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Psychology – From the view of an epileptic By Keir Jackson L1 Psychology Student
Keir “Clever Hans” Jackson.
“Epilepsy – A neurological condition caused by excessive neuronal activity within the brain.”
Top Tip: When you save a file, name it appropriately. Remember, your lecturer can see the name on U -link!
Epilepsy – A neurological condition caused by excessive neuronal activity within the brain. I have suffered from frontal lobe epilepsy for much of my life, the symptoms first manifesting a few years after I survived a brain tumour at the age of 7. After the surgery, I experienced a noticeable change in personality (even now my cognition now undergoes temporary changes following a seizure). Key changes were a large dulling of emotional attachment, or rather, the need for emotional attachment, compared to before where I was a classic “mummy’s boy”. This, as my parents incessantly point out, largely affected my approach to familial relationships.
Still, these unusual changes nurtured a growing interest within me for the nature of the mind and existence itself with both psychology and philosophy becoming integral to my interests (although with my limited vocabulary as a child I simply called this an interest in “asking questions”). Now at the age of 18, I am studying for a BSc in psychology, and I would say that even though symptoms occasionally appear despite my medication, I think that epilepsy does anything but hinder my ability to learn. In fact, I
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would go as far to say it is largely a motivational factor in me. Experiencing these changes and abnormalities, while often painful and confusing at the time, has lead me to be greatly fascinated in the workings of the mind. The brain is an incredible system and processor, as many of our recent lectures in brain and cognition have shown, and to be able to experience these dramatic changes myself is something I have come to view as a privilege, an opportunity to understand neurological symptoms firsthand. While psychology was something I could see myself inevitably being interested in, without the experiences I undergo I doubt my interest and willingness to learn more about the “hows” of the brain, mind, and life itself would be so prominent. Our lives and our society are controlled by our actions, every day we are exposed to our own and other people’s thoughts, ideas, differences in people’s interpretations of reality itself. There is not a single area of our lives in which psychology does not remain as a factor. Understanding and analysing the differences between the various “lenses” through which we view ourselves and others, the very cognitive and behavioural processes that govern our existence, are the crux of psychology.
Being a sufferer of a
condition that can at times affect my attention, awareness and mood, has pushed me to be able to fully empathise with all sufferers of mental conditions.” While the experiences are different, and indeed, unknowable to one another, I believe the study of psychology assists as a bridge of understanding and objectivity between people with different mentalities. It bridges areas from behavioural and cognitive abnormalities (such as myself), to mere emotional differences between people. This understanding helps us to relate to the lens through which another might view the world, making psychology itself an invaluable area of study.
“...to be able to experience these dramatic changes myself is something I have come to view as a privilege.”
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Level One Study Groups! By Emily Yates PsychNews Editor With exams around the corner and final coursework deadlines approaching I felt there was a need to write an article about the study groups we hold every Thursday. Many of you have commented on how you feel they would be useful and yet very few of you turn up! They’re held every Thursday from 11am-12pm.
You’re free to bring any work you want. Whether it’s brain and cogni-
tion revision, statistics or research methods, or even social sciences work.
We’re all in the same boat and we’re all here to help each other. So don’t feel shy or embarrassed about coming along. It’s very informal and we have chats about the work, discussions about our opinions and how we’re finding the modules, and we even eat doughnuts! Join the BPS Brunel Psychology Society on Facebook to find out what room the study
group will be in each week and come along. Whether you’ve got your revision sorted or you don’t even know where to start, we’re just here to support you and help you develop confidence in your own abilities. You’re more than capable of getting that First!
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“Every Thursday from 11am12pm”
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Celebrating Brunel’s First Brain Awareness Week By Sean Williams BBAW Administrator Throughout one week in March, 750 educational institutions in 52 countries united under the banner of Brain Awareness Week: Researchers and health professionals from across the globe contributed to a series of concurrent events aimed at advancing public understanding of the progress in and benefits of Sean Williams brain research. The Dana Initiative, the founding organi“provided ac- sation, proclaimed this year’s the most successful camcessible and en- as paign ever: Here at Brunel, gaging public we are extremely proud to have played a part in this lectures led by international celebration of our amazing brains.
expert researchBrunel’s first contribution this ers from across annual series of events was organised by Dr. Alex the University.” jointly Nowicky (Health Sciences
and Social Care), Dr. Adrian Williams, Dr. Andrew Parton, and Sean Williams (Social Sciences - Psychology). The organizers felt that the campaign provided an excellent opportunity for Brunel’s researchers to engage with both the public and the wider academic community on issues relating to brain health and function.
Toby Berriman puts his brain to the test.
Brunel Brain Awareness Week (BBAW), which took place from 15th 17th March, provided accessible and engaging public lectures led by expert researchers from across the University: The twelve talks showcased Brunel’s diverse contributions to brain research in an entertaining and enlightening manner. We are extremely
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grateful to colleagues from the School of Social Sciences, the School of Health Sciences and Social Care, the Brunel Institute for Ageing Studies (BIAS), Sports Sciences, Biosciences, and Computing for taking the opportunity to disseminate Brunel’s latest innovations in neuroscience to a broader audience. To view a full list of presenters, please visit www.brunel.ac.uk/brain. In addition to the contributions from Brunel, we were delighted to welcome Brian Butterworth, Emeritus Professor at UCL, to deliver the keynote talk on Tuesday 15th March: Prof. Butterworth, a fellow of the British Academy, presented his latest research into ‘dyscalculia’ – the science of failing to learn arithmetic. Advancing ideas presented in his seminal book ‘The Mathematical Brain’ (2004), Professor Butterworth contended that the reluctance to formally recognise dyscalculia heralds a great disadvantage, not only to those with the learning difficulty, but also to society in general. Whereas its linguistic counterpart, dyslexia, is systematically studied by eminent scientists, dyscalculia has been peculiarly overlooked – in spite of its high incidence rate, as well as its impact on economic and social factors. This lively talk, attracting around 50 people, presented what will surely become the focus of intense research in the near future. On Wednesday 16th March, the BBAW team, in collaboration with the Widening Participation office, invited sixty Year 10 pupils from local schools to attend a series of workshops held in various labs across campus: Dr. Gustav Kuhn opened the day with a brain-related magic show; Dr. Alex Nowicky demonstrated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS); Dr. Adrian
Williams taught the pupils about our brain’s sensory system using the two-point discrimination task; Professor Michael Wright convened an EEG demonstration; and Dr. Andrew Parton demonstrated the plasticity of our visual system via the prismadaptation paradigm. The Widening Participation day proved an excellent opportunity to inspire young pupils to consider following a path into higher education. The workshops showed that the brain sciences are not impenetrable and incomprehensible subjects; rather, they are accessible to all, and contain a wealth of exciting and invaluable practical applications. Having welcomed in excess of 100 attendees over the course of the two days of public lectures, BBAW highlights the enthusiasm harboured by individuals for discovering more about our amazing brains. The organising team would like to thank all those who came along during the event, as well as those who contributed to making this Brunel’s first Brain Awareness Week a success. To view our photos, please visit: http://www.flickr.com/ photos/ brunelbrainawareness/
“The workshops showed that the brain sciences are not impenetrable and incomprehensible subjects.”
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Dream Creatures: an adventure outside the Conference Comfort Zone By Professor Michael Wright
I aspire to elegant theories and hard data, but what attracts me to psychology are fascinating phenomena. In 1999 I decided to go outside my comfort zone (which at that time was the psychophysics of motion perception) and present a conference paper on dreams. I am puzzled by characters in dreams – they are creations of the dreamer, yet they are “ego alien” and autonomous. They do things to us (the dreamer) and are things to us (and those things can be nice, scary or just strange). I did a small study at Brunel in which I collected dream reports from students, asking particularly about any dream characters (people, animals, monsters, ghosts etc.) and supplemented them with a collection of published dream reports. In some of these reports, the intrinsic connection between the dreamer and the dream character revealed itself, by-passing of the rules of ordinary communication.
Thus the dreamer “just knew” what the character thought, wanted or was going to do. Or, despite appearances to the contrary, the dreamer “really knew” that the character was their mother, exboyfriend, or someone who had died. Freud (1922) wrote a very interesting paper entitled “Dreams and Telepathy”: telepathic-like phenomena are quite common in dreams. He sought psychological rather than supernatural causes for such anomalous experiences.
The Freudian part of my explanation would be that the dream characters arise from the primary process and have an intrinsic connection with the dreamer’s unconscious. Unconscious motivations construct who the characters “really are”, “really want” etc. However the guise in which they are clothed in the dream is based on the dreamer’s
Professor Michael Wright memories of waking experiences – but in no particular form or order. The Neuropsychological part of my explanation is that executive processes – those conscious
“...he extended the session for 30 minutes while we battled it out, obliterating the coffee mental processes that order our experiences - are weakened in the dreaming state. And Theory of Mind – our understanding of what other people can and cannot know, think and intend – depends at least in part on
executive processes. Therefore, just as the narrative of dreams does not conform to the constraints of reality (nor indeed to the rules of conventional fiction) Theory of Mind in dreams should appear somewhat “leaky”. When the dreamer communicates with characters in dreams, sometimes it appears in the dream reports as a fairly conventional interchange, but sometimes it appears as something different – something uncanny. That, at any rate was the gist of my theory, which I illustrated with extracts from dream reports and proper references. The effect on the conference was not what I expected. A very distinguished psychologist, notorious for his combative style, absolutely tore into my presentation. It was difficult to pin down what was making him so angry, but since he had worked with Perner (pioneer of Theory of Mind), I think he thought I was contaminating the theory. I stood my ground as best as I could, hoping that the session Chair would bring proceedings to a rapid close. This didn’t happen. Instead, the Chair was so caught up in the interchange that he extended the session for 30 minutes while we battled it out, obliterating the coffee break. Somehow after 30 minutes I was still standing, still able to speak coherently, and that felt like some kind of achievement. However I have often asked myself whether these interests and theoretical speculations were all complete and utter nonsense. I don’t think so. What do you think?
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“I am puzzled by characters in dreams – they are creations of the dreamer, yet they are ‘ego alien’ and autonomous.”
Top Tip: Did you know the library printers have a scanner function for just 2p a go? It can even email you the scanned pages!
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Beat the exam stress! 10 simple tips By Sidra Beg L1 Psychology Student In the stressful exam period there are simple ways we can manage our academic performance and our mental health, you don't have to compromise all your mental energy in order to do well, in fact often that is just counter productive. Here, I go through 10 simple every day things that hugely contribute in the success of maintaining my mental well Sidra Beg being and maximising my academic potential.
“Rather than spending time thinking about how much you need to do, actually get yourself to do it.”
1. Allocate a place to work I find it helps me not to work and sleep at the same place, by this I mean not putting the laptop on my bed, spreading out books and papers and working in that manner. It's much better to allocate working space to a table and resting space to your bed. You will find that you begin to associate your bed with working and eating and it becomes more of a living area rather than a sleeping area which may decrease the quality of both your rest and your work. 2. Keep a diary of events or study schedule
“Exercising is healthy for your body and your brain.”
Keeping a diary or an organiser of events helps in taking all the information that's crammed in your head and placing it on a piece of paper where it's nicely organised. This way you don't need to worry about remembering everything and you'll find that you plan more effectively when you have it written down and can refer back to it. It doesn't mean that you will rigidly follow this agenda how-
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ever just having that visual outlet can help in reducing the inner stress and being more productive. 3. Be productive When you do plan, try and stick to it. Rather than spending time thinking about how much you need to do actually get yourself to do it. Even if you don't finish everything on your list for one day you will find once you start being productive the stress levels decrease rapidly and you start planning more realistically. Getting work done whether it's doing the dishes or starting an essay always has a feel good factor which in turn calms your nerves and reduces stress levels. 4. Reward yourself Sometimes getting things done and the feel good factor are reward enough for being productive, however it's a nice idea to give yourself a treat every time you do something productive. For example for every weeks worth of effective revision you do reward yourself with a night out; on a smaller scale for every time you pass a practice paper give yourself a chocolate. This is an active way of recognising your own achievement and abilities however it does take self-discipline (don't just finish all the chocolate half way through a paper!). 5. Exercise This is something many of us know but very little of us actually do. Exercising is healthy for your body and your brain, getting that heart rate up and
pumping is a wonderful kick start to the day or even a good way to let out all the stress at the end of the day. Exercise can reduce your stress hormones such as cortisol and increase endorphins alongside generally taking your mind off stressful events. 6. Like what you see, hear and smell Engross yourself in positivity. Be kind to your eyes by maintaining a clean environment, reduce the chaos around you just by keeping your living area clean.
There is some research that indicates sleeping in a cleaner environment improves the quality of your sleep. Be kind to your nose by maintaining nice smells in your room, personally I love the smell of freshly cut grass (perhaps not something I would want in my room), light some soft incense or simply lovely smelling fresh sheets. Try and listen to sounds you enjoy, you may just enjoy the sound of running water or you may enjoy specific types of music. Here I'm not suggesting you leave the tap running for hours or have your favourite song on repeat on the iPod for hours on end but actually listen to them when the sounds occur rather than just hearing them. Also give your ears a rest sometimes, just enjoy the sweet sound of silence. 7. Don't let screens take over your life People
often
complain
of
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Beat the exam stress! 10 simple tips headaches and it very well could be because our lives are taken over by screens. Mobiles, laptops, iPads, iPods, lecture theatres, cinemas and televisions are things that are part of our everyday lives. Get out of your computer screens and spend time with some animate creation!
be for some people it's somewhat healthier to engage in more wholesome discussion. This will again give you a feel good factor because you're enriching your mind with goodness and are having a beneficial, enjoyable conversation. The feel good factor in turn reduces stress levels. 9. Have ‘me’ time
8. Talk to people When I say people here I mean people in person not through some sort of mobile or computer. Spend time with real people, socialise whether it's through sports or a night out get some human interaction and get talking! It's good to keep yourself in good company so long as you discuss healthy topics; as fun as finding out the latest gossip might
It' s just as important to give yourself a break and have time to yourself. This can become difficult if you have room mates or flat mates that constantly pester you but find a way to give yourself space just to absorb life. Give your mind a chance to cleanse itself, give your thoughts a chance to run free and get creative! You can indulge in some sort of art or even have
your ‘me’ time whilst you exercise but this time is important and is a key factor in your emotional stability. ‘Me’ time allows you to be selfish and for a while to only live for what you enjoy best.
“I find the more I smile the more I realise how much I have to smile about.”
10. Smile I find the more I smile the more I realise how much I have to smile about. Smiling is a great way to boost those endorphins and some opinions believe that smiling reduces the chances of getting a stroke or heart attack because it is such an effective stress reducer!
Volunteer opportunity of the month: MIND By Toby Berriman L1 Psychology Student Mind in Camden is an independent charity affiliated to national Mind that runs day centres in Camden Town and Swiss Cottage. There are volunteer opportunities at the moment for Foundation Support Time and Recovery Workers. “The volunteer Foundation STR volunteer will provide support and give time to an allocated group of day service members to assist and promote their recovery. The Foundation volunteer will work alongside paid Intermediate and Senior STR Workers and other volunteers.” Mind in Camden request that
Foundation STR Volunteers offer:
• At least 5 hours per week of volunteering
• 6-12 months of service • Submit to a CRB • Attend 2 days training before starting
“...a truly excellent thing to have on your CV...”
tal Health training, and is a truly excellent thing to have on your CV if you want to go into almost any psychology related field as you will have opportunities to improve and develop interpersonal skills, organisation, run groups for members, and first-hand experience with a variety of mental health symptoms. http:// www.mindincamden.org.uk/ Click here to find out more about it!
Mind in Camden provide opportunities for training, including the Level 2 NVQ in Men-
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“...an independent charity affiliated to national Mind that runs day centres in
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“The experiment was booked for 16:00 - plenty of time to sleep you may think: you obviously don’t live in halls.”
“Falling asleep inside a loud machine in one of the least comfortable positions possible...And then I woke up with a jolt.”
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The importance of sleep for success By Yazmin Banbury-Milton L1 Psychology Student Some of you may be aware that last term Professor Michael Wright was running an experiment that required participants to perform a task within an fMRI. I am a massive fan of neuropsychology so I leapt at the chance, I didn’t even care if he was offering credits or not. Just in case he is still running further trials I won’t go into details about the experiment but all I was required to do was press a button when a stimulus on the screen popped up; a very simple task. Now let us rewind to the night before. I live on campus and the girls in my flat (bless their cotton socks) like to party. A lot. They like it so much that they put the same amount of enthusiasm into everything they do as though it were a party. Making toast in my kitchen is an event worth cheering about. The night before the experiment someone made toast at 01:00. Then one of the guys in my flat came home with his drunk friends at about 04:00. They are the type of big lads that don’t know their own strength when closing doors and like talking loudly in the kitchen. At about 08:30 the cleaners came into the flat to empty the bins, clean the kitchen and loudly have a conversation. Did I mention that my room is next to the kitchen? The experiment was booked for 16:00 - plenty of time to sleep you may think: you obviously don’t live in halls. Throughout the day everyone in my flat went in and out of the kitchen
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to eat, listen to music or just stand in it and talk. Let us fast forward back to the experiment. I was extremely pumped to be inside an actual fMRI and see how it worked. For those that do not know an fMRI is a functional magnetic resonance imager. In order to find out what my brain is up to it correlates blood oxygenation with neuronal activities taking place in my thinker -box and records them. Then, using t-statistics (yeah all that statistics malarkey), creates a super amazing image of my brain in a way I cannot understand. It is also a massive cylindrical magnet large enough to fit a normal human body. The magnet makes a lot of noise. It is so loud that while inside the machine you have to wear earplugs and are given a panic button just in case you run into problems (such as pain that wasn’t there when you went in) and can no longer speak/be heard. Oh and it is quite expensive for the university to book a session on one; I believe the amount I was told was around the £400 mark. It is very important that you don’t move inside an fMRI, the simplest movement could make the difference between actual activity being recorded that supports your data or a complete waste of time. To ensure this won’t happen you are placed inside a head-rest and instructed to stay very still. So while I was inside this great whirring machine that was making a great deal of noise, restrained (in a very comfortable way) and completely tensed lest I ruin the experiment I came upon a rather amusing realization: It
Yazmin Banbury-Milton was much quieter than halls. Comfier too. Rather relaxing actually - I could almost imagine myself falling asleep how hilarious would that be? Falling asleep inside a loud machine in one of the least comfortable positions possible...And then I woke up with a jolt. Michael Wright and the man who was controlling the fMRI were standing above me and asking if I were okay. I had stopped answering them, without pressing the panic button, so they had come to check I was still conscious. I could have thought of a really interesting phenomenon to say had occurred, saved a little face, but instead I sleepily mumbled
I think...I asleep...sorry.
fell
The experiment couldn’t be repeated because by then I would have been used to the task and would have a different advantage than he was interested in studying. £400 and half of the data from my participation down the drain Michael Wright, his co-worker and I left. The drive back to Brunel was very long. When I got back to Brunel I bought earplugs.
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Level Three: The National Student Survey By Bridget Dibb Psychology Touchpoint Leader Level 3 students: Don’t forget that the National Student Survey (NSS) is open until the end of April so if you haven't already completed centage of students satisfied so if you are in the form, please click on anyway satisfied with your time at Brunel you need to tick the ‘definitely satisfied’ or www.thestudentsurvey.com ‘often satisfied’ options as all the other opResults will show the per- tions (including the middle one) are not included in this calculation. Page 9
The results from the main 22 questions are made available for prospective students and their advisors on Unistats.com to help them make informed choices of what and where to study.
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Software of the Month: Mendeley “How organised are your journal files?” By Toby Berriman Mendeley Advisor
Top Tip: Allocate set times for work and leisure.
How organised are your journal files? When you come to look for a specific journal do you know exactly where it is, or do you have to open different obscurely named files one by one to find the one you are looking for? That used to be me. I would be opening files looking for the one I got a reference from…”987234.pdf? hmm, no not that one. 2993302.pdf? No, not that one either dammit!”
Mendeley is piece of software which helps you organise and use your journals. Just drag and drop the PDF file onto the application and it will automagically extract the
metadata from the file (author, title, journal, year of publication, keywords and so on). It can even rename the physical file according to the metadata so instead of those obscurely named files you can have nice files like Haslam, Reicher - 2008 - Questioning the banality of evil.pdf – Much easier to manage! Once your journals are imported into Mendeley you can view them in a list, sort by title, year etc., and easily search through your documents. You can also add the journals to collections, making it easy to group related files together (for example for an essay). Mendeley also allows you to open your journals within the application. ...and
make highlights
and annotations rectly on the file.
For journals that have come down as images rather than as text you can use a square highlight rather than the text highlight you would usually use.
Finally, Mendeley can export citations in any of the supported styles (including APA). Simply right click on a document in the list, choose “Copy Citation” then paste directly into your essay to get “Haslam, S. A., & Reicher, S. (2008). Questioning the banality of evil, 21(1), 20052008.” If you want something even more advanced, install the Word plug-in then you can search journals by title
“Once your journals are imported into Mendeley you can view them in a list, sort by title, year etc.”
This is the main view of your journals in Mendeley. Notice how organised it all looks! Page 10
di-
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Software of the Month: Mendeley
“Mendeley synchronises your journals and annotations online so you can acThis is the search box you use when adding a reference to an essay. cess them directly from within word and included them in my referfrom anyadd a reference at the current ences list. And if I removed a “Simply right cursor position, reference from the essay I where.” click on a docwould invariably be left with
as well as automatically generating a reference list at the end of the document.
This last feature is a real godsend, without it I really struggled to keep track of which journals I had referenced in the essay and whether I had
ument in the list, choose “Copy Citation” then paste directly into your essay.”
entries in my references list for things that were no longer there! And if this wasn’t all enough, Mendeley synchronises your journals and annotations online so you can access them from anywhere. You can also join groups to keep up with, or participate in research in various topics!
Top Tip: It’s easier to save things to a memory stick than to mail them backwards and forwards from home to university.
This is the feature that allows you to highlight and make notes on your journals. Page 11
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Book of the Month: The Brain Book by Rita Carter By Toby Berriman L1 Psychology Student Wow. What a book.
“...an absolute must for someone who wants to learn about how the brain functions.”
I'm not sure what I expected from The Brain Book, but it surpassed any expectations I might have had. What looks on the outside like a fun but not very serious book about the brain for mid to late teens is actually intensely packed full of detailed information particularly anatomy wonderfully laid out and illustrated. The scope of this book and the quality of the coverage make this an absolute must for someone who wants to learn about how the brain functions and is
structured and the highly visual layout make it a great learning resource for people like me who find reams of plain text more effective than sleeping tablets! The Brain Book starts with 20 or so pages of sequential MRI scans, showing crosssections right through the brain to help you build up a real understanding of the internal anatomy and relate later discussions of brain parts (everything from the corpus callosum to the globus pallidus) back to a real brain. The illustration diagrams, again particularly of the anatomy of the brain, are clearer and easier to understand than any I have seen in any of the many psychology textbooks I have looked at. The book is broken into the following sections, making up
the circa 240 large-format pages of the book: Introduction The Brain and the Body, Brain Anatomy, The Senses, Movement and Control, Emotions and Feeling, The Social Brain, Language and Communication, Memory Thinking, Consciousness, The Individual Brain, Development and Aging, Disease and Disorders All in all this is a truly fantastic book, put together with amazing attention to detail to create something that is almost as much a piece of art as it is an informative resource! The glossy pages, high quality illustrations, and simple to read show once again the DK rule the roost when it comes to publishing the best nonfiction resources around!
Website of the Month: TED “...there’s so much to watch you can end up spending hours fascinated by the findings.”
By Emily Yates PsychNews Editor
Ever wanted to watch a professional talk but never known how to go about it? Have no fear, TED is here! With full recordings of over 900 talks by experimenters you’ll be studying. For instance http://bit.ly/19g2QJ this talk, by Zimbardo himself on people’s potential to commit evil is not only relePage 12
vant to our studies, but it’s also incredibly interesting! If you wanted to take your studying into new depths or just fancied having a listen to some new findings or different views on the topics you’re studying then you’ll love having them all at a click of your mouse.
Here’s one for all you neuropsychs out there http:// bit.ly/12scyE The search bar option ensures that the website is easy to navigate (even for us technophobes) and there’s so much to watch you can end up spending hours fascinated by the findings.
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Course Rep Feedback By Toby Berriman L1 Psychology Course Rep
Hi, I’m Toby one of your L1 course reps. You should all know by now what your course reps do, and how much effort goes into our work, but what you don’t hear about is the work that goes on behind the scenes. So here I am to fill you in on some of what is going on at the moment. Brunel’s scheme of course and school reps is excellent (and I haven’t even been paid to say that, although I am open to bribery!), but as good as it is there is still room for improvement and this is some of what has been coming up at the most recent meetings. Below are some of the suggestions that I have put forward to UBS, and that I am also pushing at course/school level (but please don’t think I am the only one with these ideas by any means!). Please bear in mind that at the moment these are only suggestions and are not guaranteed to happen, however we are doing our best to push for them for the benefit of all Psychology students!
• Currently reps raise issues with the staff at Student Staff Liaison (SSL) meetings once a term. It was agreed all round that having so few meetings makes it difficult to
get issues raised in a timely fashion. In light of this we have requested more regular meetings so we, the course reps, are better able to resolve any issues that need escalating.
• Due to the high workloads of individuals (who have kindly given their time and skills to the SSL meetings) the minutes of meetings are often not available until shortly before the next one. This makes it difficult to track actions and keep on top of issues, so we have suggested that possibly a student can take on the role of secretary and the psychology society have offered their own secretary for this task.
• When issues are dealt with feedback is sometimes not available until the next meeting (again simply because the people involved are so busy!), which means us reps cannot feed back to you in a timely fashion. To address this we have requested a “feedback meeting” to occur two weeks after each SSL meeting.
• When a new rep starts it can be confusing, even with the training that is provided there are a lot of questions that arise through the year that
can be difficult for newcomers to know how to handle. We have proposed a “Rep Mentor Scheme” whereby any new rep is paired up with someone who has already been in the role for a while and who can provide advice and answer questions. Hopefully this will lead to more effective course reps particularly at level 1.
“Currently reps raise issues with the staff at Student Staff Liaison (SSL) meetings once a term.”
• Finally, the course rep system is supposed to be a two way communication between staff and students. Currently it is very unidirectional with issues coming from students to staff, but we would like staff to make use of us too. To facilitate this we would like to see a “meet and greet” at the start of each year with the course reps and the lecture conveners and other key staff from the course, so that staff know who the course reps are as well as the students do. Hopefully that gives you an idea of what we are up to on a wider scale, and how we are trying to make improvements wherever we can to allow us to better support the student population!
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“…‘Rep Mentor Scheme’ whereby any new rep is paired up with someone who has already been in the role for a while…”
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Video of the Month: So you want to be a Clinical Psychologist? By Emily Yates PsychNews Editor
So you want to spend years working for a PhD to enable you to help people? Think again.
This imaginative video gives a whole new outlook to the comparison between Psychologists and Counsellors. Not only will it have you in fits of laughter but it’s also an entertaining idea; is it really worth the years of hard work and debt? Of course the temptation of the wages at the end of the hard work is a winning feature, kind of like the ‘gold at the end of the rainbow’ but who knows! http://bit.ly/efUgxc
“...kind of like the ‘gold at the end of the rainbow’.”
Top Tip: Post-it notes are your friend. Stationery will be your saviour for revision.
Struggling With a Disorder? There’s Help By Gabriella Ferrufino L1 Psychology Student It is a well-known fact among students that those studying psychology tend to be doing so to find answers about themselves or loved ones. Be it for a mental disorder, learning disability or neurological disease, these types of problems seem to promote a passion for learning about why our wiring is sometimes slightly askew. So, I wanted to highlight a service within the university that you may not know about. On the top floor of the library, there is the DDS, or Disability and Dyslexia Service. The DDS supports students from all levels and subjects with any kind of disability that may affect their time at university. They can help with registering you as a known disabled student and getting you help from lecturers; such as lecture notes in advance or special exam considerations like extra
time or coloured paper. They can also help you apply for a non-repayable Disabled Student’s Allowance, or DSA, from Student Finance that
helps to fund any extra costs you may incur from your disability. They also run Disability Link Up, a service which links current students registered with DDS with new disabled students to help them settle in. For example, I am registered with the DDS for Agoraphobia and Panic. Agoraphobia is a fear of not being able to escape crowded places. Things like lectures can sometimes be impossible for me to attend
due to my disorder. To help, Student Finance provided me with a voice recorder that I can pass on to a friend to record the lecture for me. This help has been incredibly helpful and I wouldn’t be managing my work without it. I know how hard it can be to disclose a disability but I really urge you to talk to the Disability and Dyslexia Service if you have one. They’re all really lovely people and incredibly supportive. No one else at the university has to know of your disorder if you don’t want them to, but the service is there to help you with anything you may need. You don’t have to suffer a lower degree or less of a great time at university because of a disorder and the DDS make sure you have the best and most effective time you can. http://intranet.brunel.ac.uk/disability Page 15
“The DDS supports students from all levels and subjects with any kind of disability.”
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“EEG is a non intrusive measure of the brain.”
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A Few Words on EEG By Joshua Maguire L1 Psychology Student Firstly I'd just like to say I took part in a study on Electroencephalography and got roped in to this by Toby, who took constant pictures, thankfully he didn't take any of me washing the gel out of my hair but that's another story ;)
This article is a explanation of what an EEG is and how it is carried out. I took part in a study on it but as it is still “...the elec- being ongoing it may ruin the surprise for anyone who still trodes are at- wanted to take part, so I mention what happens tached and won't in the experiment.
then injected with gel…”
Electroencephalography (Or EEG as it is abbreviated to) is a non intrusive measure of the brain. It works by taking a gross measure of the electrical activity of the brain. The electric activity it measures, or event related potentials, was the cognitive processing as a response to the stimuli. The measure is made up by thousands possibly millions of neurons firing. It can't read them individually, but when they are grouped it can which is recorded through electrodes that have been placed on the participant.
The cap used is handmade and costs about
Top Tip: Get involved in as many activities as you can, you might discover a useful talent for your CV!
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Joshua Maguire in the Faraday Cage
£1,700. The cap we used had 64 electrodes arranged in a linear style with gaps of 10% between them (other caps can be arranged in a geodesic pattern). The elec-
trodes are made from rubber and silver-plated ceramic, you can also get gold but it would cost even more. Each one is labelled individually to mark its position. For example an electrode over the
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A Few Words on EEG frontal cortex is labelled F1, one over the parietal cortex is labelled P3, and the central electrode is labelled CZ. The cap is placed in a specific position over the head, with CZ being positioned exactly halfway between the nasion and the inion.
ment and on the mastoids, this is because they generate signals that are so strong they interfere and by measuring them we can then subtract them from the recording.
Electric signals from the skin, muscles, blood and eyes can also inadvertently be measured by the EEG.
To get around this it's measurement rests on the fact that some EEG wave forms are associated with consciousness and specific pathways in the brain. They generally look and compare the After using alcoAlpha, Beta, Gamma, hol wipes to Delta, Theta and Mu make sure the waves. A method used area to where to help reduce backthe electrodes ground noise is to Sigare applied to is nal averaging, where a clean, the elecbase measurement is trodes are attaken after a load of tached and then This software screen shows resistance levels on tests and then cominjected with gel, each electrode pared to the measurethis gel to act as ment of when a stimulus is a conductor and is called saThe EEG is however prone to presented. line gel. The gel contains poa bit of interference so in the tassium and sodium salts, study I was placed inside a After the cap is on and the some starch for bulk, and a Faraday cage to make sure gel is in place the participant small quantity of soap. The no interference took place. is usually presented with a salts provide conductivity, and control task to make sure the the detergent breaks down The cage is grounded, so any cap is working and the readthe oils on the skin which can electromagnetic waves from ings are being made, and interfere with the conductivity. lights, computers air condi- any adjustments can be tioning and so on will be ab- made. Then the experiment The electrodes are placed sorbed by the mesh and flow can begin. around the eyes to record harmlessly to the ground. horizontal and vertical move-
“...EEG wave forms are associated with consciousness and specific pathways in the brain.”
“The electrodes are placed around the eyes to record horizontal and vertical movement...”
FACE Week
FACE is the Festival of Awareness and Creative Expression, and it’s all about YOU! It’s about creating a friendly environment, enhancing your profile, developing our Brunel community and interacting with more FACE’s of the student body.
“By having fun together we can learn to live together” It is also a chance for those of you who aren’t members of the Psychology Society (and those of you who are this year) yet to sign up for next year!
Watch out for what we’ve got planned for FACE week, we’ll most definitely be doing something so watch this space! Click the banner above to view the official FACE page.
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“By having fun together we can learn to live together”
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The psychology of the eyewitness: Staged violence, ethics, and technology Speaker: Graham Pike (The Open University) Date/Time: 24th may 2011 Location: BPS London Office, 30 Tabernacle Street, London, EC2 4UE
Free entry to BPS SMG members. Free entry by ticket only, available by emailing londonandhc@googl email.com Please type “Public Engagement” and add your BPS membership number as ‘XXX’ in the subject line of your email.
Graham Pike is Professor of Psychology, Head of the Psychology Department and Director of the MSc Forensic Psychology and Criminology at the Open University. His research interests are in forensic psychology and applied cognition, with a particular focus on eyewitness memory. He has worked with many UK policing services to develop new techniques and
technology to help improve the accuracy of information obtained from witnesses. This has included research with the West Yorkshire Police to develop the VIPER video parade system, and research developing several
iterations of the E-FIT system, particularly work with the Forensic Imaging Group at Kent to develop the
groundbreaking EFIT-V system. User and public engagement are a key feature of Graham’s research, as well as working with the police, he has worked with the Science Museum to produce two exhibitions and was recently the academic consultant and presenter of the BBC 2 series ‘Eyewitness’. His talk will investigate the psychology of the eyewitness and include footage from the BBC 2 series in order to explore the dilemmas and impact of using stage, violent crimes and cutting-edge research technology.
Top Tip: Take regular breaks when working hard to refresh your brain.
“Advance free registration is essential.”
History of Psychology Symposium Tuesday 11 October 2011 at the Wellcome Collection Conference Centre, Euston Road, London NW1 2BE Stories of Psychology: Archives, Histories and What They Tell Us 1.45pm-5.30pm
case of the social psychologist Henri Tajfel Dr Rhodri Hayward (Queen Mary, University of London) Psychological knowledge and the making of the modern state
convened by Dr Alan Collins (University of Lancaster) and Dr Geoff Bunn (Manchester Metropolitan University) Speakers: Professor Richard Bentall (University of Liverpool) How we have changed the way we think about madness Professor Michael Billig (Loughborough University) Archival knowledge versus personal reminiscence: The
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Graham Richards (Independent scholar and former Director of the History of Psychology Centre) The psychology of archives especially archives of psychology
Professor Sally Shuttleworth (St Anne's College, Oxford) Studying the child in the nineteenth century The symposium will be followed by a reception in the Wellcome Library Reading Room to celebrate the collaboration between the Wellcome Library and the British Psychological Society and to mark the transfer to the Library of the main BPS archives. Advance free registration is essential - register here For more information, e-mail hopc@bps.org.uk or call Peter Dillon Hooper on 0116 252 9528.
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BPS Event: Trauma, Neuroscience, and the Body Speaker: Dr. Andrew Harkin Date/Time: 12th April 2011 9:30am—4:30pm Location: Lecture Suite 1A7, School of Psychology, Pevensey Building, University of Sussex, BN1 9QH Cost: £120 (Members), £144 (Non-Members). Includes refreshments and buffet lunch.
Trauma not only has a devastating effect on the mind, but also on the body and brain. Yet working with the neurophysiological imprint of
trauma in the body is rarely foregrounded in more traditional forms of therapy. Current findings from neurosci-
ence research are showing major breakthroughs in what happens in the brain following trauma, indicating that
insight and understanding may only have limited influence on the operation of subcortical processes. A body-orientated approach, such as Sensorimotor psychotherapy, may therefore offer an alternative way of working more directly with the physiological implications of trauma. The primary focus of this event will be on understanding the neurophysiological impacts of trauma and how this may be addressed through somatically-focused therapeutic interventions.
If you would like to attend this event contact Sheila Simmons, Wessex Branch Administrator at Wessex@bps.or g.uk, placing Sussex: Trauma in the subject line. A booking form and further details will then be sent to you.
The BPS SMG has a number of events scheduled, some of which are free for members!
Career path talks—Careers in Occupational and Sports and Exercise Psychology Speaker: Anna Adams and Dr Hayley Mills Date/Time: 9th May 2011 6:15pm—7:45pm Location: UCL, Room LG04, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1 0AP Anna Adams works as the Employee Research lead in the Human Capital Performance team at UBS AG. This is a small, specialized HR team managing varied projects on a global basis. In this role she covers a variety of work, including strategic analysis of global performance management data, validation of UBS selection processes through links to performance and compen-
sation, management of all UBS global surveys, and design of global human capital strategic metrics to increase UBS’s understanding of the
value & impact of HR processes. Dr Hayley Mills is a Chartered Sport and Exercise Psycholo-
gist (BPS & HPC). She graduated from the University of Surrey with both a Psychology BSc (Hons) and an MSc in Health Psychology. She went on to complete a PhD in Exercise Psychology at the University of Gloucestershire. Her research interests broadly span the psychological outcomes of exercise participation, in conjunction with the processes involved in adherence and the interaction of health related motives. Her current research and applied projects involved partnerships with local health care and exercise providers.
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Free entry to BPS SMG members. Free entry by ticket only, available by emailing londonandhc@googl email.com Please type “Careers May” and add your BPS membership number as ‘XXX’ in the subject line of your email.
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“The SMG is a branch of the BPS for students.”
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British Psychology Society Student Member Group By Toby Berriman
all sorts of benefits including:
Most psychology students know about the British Psychology Society (BPS), but do you know about the BPS Student Member Group (SMG)? No? Well you’re not alone, but that’s why I’m here!
* Free or discount entry to certain events * An annual conference (this year featuring a Q&A with Prof. E. Loftus!) * Monthly magazine The Psychologist * Quarterly magazine PsychTalk * Discounts on BPS books
The SMG is a branch of the BPS for students, and offers
* Free transfer to graduate membership * Reader access to Senate House Library where the BPS library is held So lots of great benefits! For more info go to the website, or contact me, your BPS SMG Representative, at hs10ttb@brunel.ac.uk.
http://www.bps.org.uk/smg/smg_home.cfm
“If you have any difficulty backdating, please come to the Brunel Volunteers office …”
Top Tip: Ditch the energy drinks and get a good nights sleep.
The Brunel Volunteers Award By Anthi Vakali Hello all, Hope all is going well and that you are not too stressed with essays and exams. For those of you who are on the Brunel Volunteers record for having done a number of volunteering hours this academic year. What we would like to do at this stage is to invite you to update your records electronically. Please include any training/ volunteering/preparation hours you have done. If you have any difficulty backdating, please come to the Brunel Volunteers office and we will deal with any problems you may have. Your award will be given to you on the basis of your record and the record that your supervisor/ organisation has provided for you. The Levels: As you will see at the link provided below there are there levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. For Bronze you will need to have completed 25 hrs of
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volunteering. You are also required to provide evidence for two skills on the form provided below. If you want to receive your Bronze award this year on May 23rd you need to complete the form by April 25th. If you have not completed the 25 volunteering hours or the form, it’s not a problem, can simply roll over the hours for next academic year.
Anthi Vakali For Silver you need to have completed 50 hours and four skills on the form provided below. Again, if you have not completed the form by April 25th it is not a problem, you can simply roll over the hours you have accumulated for the next academic year. If you have not completed the 50
hours, you could apply for a Bronze award this year and carry the hours you have done to next year, making a silver award very easy. E.g. if you have completed 40 hours, you could receive your bronze award this year and you would only need a further 10 hours and evidence of two more skills to receive a silver award next year. For Gold you need to have completed 100 hours and to complete eight skills on the form provided below. Again, if you have not completed the hours or the form by April 25th is not a problem, can simply roll over the hours you have accumulated for next academic year. For example, if you have done 70 hours volunteering you could apply for silver this year and you would only need 30 hours and evidence of four more skills to get a gold award next year. NB: If you want to receive your award this year on May 23rd 2011 you need to complete the form given to the link below by April 25th Here is the link: https:// surveys.brunel.ac.uk/ awards2011
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Psychology Wordsearch After putting together this month’s newsletter we’re completely worn out, and we bet you have had just about enough reading for now! So here’s a quick wordsearch you can chill out with :) Achromotopsia Agnosia Amnesia Anterograde Apperceptive Astrocyte Attention Cognition Conditioning Frontal Microglia Neuron Occipital Oligodendrocyte Parietal Perception Retrograde Schema Stimulus Temporal
Submissions Wanted! Have you got something good to say? A new piece of research to share? Without your input this newsletter wouldn’t happen, so keep sending your submissions in!
Whether they’re long stories or just quick tips, it’s all useful and it all has a place in the newsletter, so get sending your stuff! bpsbru-
NEXT MONTH Next Month is BPD awareness month, we will also be announcing the new committee and be talking more about upcoming exams.
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Send us your submissionsbpsbrunel@gmail.co m