The Human Brain

1. The Human Brain Cognitive Process Sensation and Perception Left & Right Brain Dominance Gender Differences

2. Cognitive Process Thinking, Knowing, Remembering: Memory Language Problem Solving Reasoning

3. Cognitive Process • "the process of thinking” and "the operation of remembering”… • the mental functions, mental processes of humans *information processing *applying knowledge *can be conscious or unconscious.

4. Cognitive processes are very important for human behavior, which is very important to psychology! • It is about knowledge and the way people use their knowledge. • Cognitive Psychology: • Intelligence, Language, Thinking, Memory, Attention, Perception, Problem solving

5. What is Cognition? • The process and content of “knowing”, including thinking, remembering and communicating. • how we acquire, process and store information. – things going on inside • In the brain and nervous system

6. How do we mentally organize info? • By using “concepts” which are stored in hierarchically organized categories. • Ie. group similar “things” together, in our mind • Concept: “Chair”

7. Hierarchies: help organize items into categories. • Ex: animals • Domestic/wild • Dogs/cats • Mixed/pure

8. Prototypes • Mental image or best example of a category • The closer something is to the prototype of a category, the easier it is to recognize it as being in the category.

9. Language • Language production • Audience design • Speech execution and errors • Language understanding • Visual representations *multiple languages!

10. Language Evolution • 1st fossil record of language 50,000+ years ago. • May have evolved with walking, running, and tool making.

11. Language Development • Babbling stage: 4 months sounds “goo-gah” • One-word stage: 1yrs old • Telegraphic speech: before 2yrs, “want juice” • Complete sentences: 2yrs + *we learn language before we learn #’s

12. We structure knowledge through grammar, semantics, syntax • Combine verbal and visual representations *between 1-18yrs, we learn approx 10 words/day, 3,500/year *By end of high school, 60,000 word vocab.

13. Problem Solving • Thinking that is directed towards solving specific problems • Move from initial state to goal • Initial state • Goal state • Set of specifications

14. Can you draw 4 straight lines through a 9 dots w/o lifting your pen off the page?

17. Obstacles to Problem Solving • Confidence Bias – eagerness to search for ideas that confirm what we think. • Fixation – inability to see a problem from a different perspective. • Functional Fixedness – thinking only of what an item is usually used for. • Mental Set – use the mind set that has worked in the past.

18. Reasoning • Process of thinking in which conclusions are drawn from a set of facts (directed towards a given goal). • Inductive: makes conclusions about the unknown based on probability estimates derived from available evidence or past experience • Ex: all school classes are boring, therefore, university next year will be boring too! • Deductive: drawing conclusions by logically following two or more statements • Mr. Drummond is a teacher • Teachers are amazing! • (Therefore) Mr. Drummond is AMAZING!!

19. Sensation and Perception

20. All psychology is concerned with mental processes. • To understand these processes better it is best to break them up into two stages: • Sensation • Perception

21. Sensation • Sensation is the first stage as it uses the environment to stimulate our sensory organs, sending messages to our brains • Our main human senses are: • Taste • Smell • Touch • Sound • Sight • Bodily Movement • Sense of balance

22. In the event of a loss of one of our senses the body/brain compensates by making/training our other senses to be sharper • Case Study: Helen Keller

23. Perception • The next stage of the mental processes is Perception: the way we make sense out of our senses • The world consists of various kinds and levels of physical energies • Our knowledge of the world comes through our sense organs, which react to these energies • The sense organs and the brain transform physical energy from environmental stimuli into information about the events around us.

24. Factors Affecting Perception • The Object Itself: tend to see movement, contrast, change, repetition, size and intensity • Background and surroundings: dancing in your house alone vs. dancing at the school dance • Experiences and feelings: we tend to relate situations to past experiences. Can also be based on need and personal attitudes.

25. Try these perceptual illusions. • Spinning Dancer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spinning_Dancer.gif • Which way is she spinning? • Can you make her change direction?

26. Vase vs. Faces

27. Duck vs. Rabbit

28. Stair at the dot. Do the circles spin?

29. Lilac Chaser • Follow the Dot. • What happens? • Stair at the cross. • What happens? • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lilac-Chaser.gif

30. Rorschach Ink Blots • The concept of perception has been used in the field of psychology for many years. • Test such as the famous Rorschach Ink blots have been used to help unlock the unconscious mind and understand the persons sense of perception • What to you see?

37. Left & Right Brain Dominance

38. General Info • A longitudinal fissure (a deep groove) separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the Corpus Callosum. • Each side is a visual mirror of each other, however, the functions of each hemisphere are very different.

39. Roger W. Sperry (1913 – 1994) • Nobel price in Medicine in 1981 for his work/theory /research of “split-brain” and brain dominance • His research contributed greatly to understanding the lateralization of brain functions. • As a person develops a dominance towards one side of their brain, they tend to have certain characteristics and areas of interest in common

40. Left Brain • Linear reasoning (direct fact retrieval) • Numeric computations (exact calculations, numerical comparisons, estimations) • Language functions (grammar and vocabulary – writing and speech) • Logic and thinking • More logical, analytical and objective

41. Left Brain • Here are just a few things associated with the Left: • Left brain controls the right side of your body • Prefer verbal instructions (attentive for long periods) • Good at math, like to read (non-fiction), very logical • Don`t enjoy `clowning around` • Need total quiet to study • Usually rational • Likes to be organized • Skilled at prioritizing ideas • Almost never absent minded • Uses specific details and facts

42. Left Brain Student and School • In history class, you are able to remember dates and processes. • In math class, you enjoy going through long calculations • You like the order of science • In English class, you have a good understanding of grammar and sentence structure.

43. Here are some `typical` occupations for left brained individuals • Lab scientist • Banker • Judge • Lawyer • Mathematician • Librarian • Sports judge

44. Right Brain • Numerical computation (approx calculations, estimations) • Think of figuring what a tip would be based on the taxes at a restaurant. • Prosodic language (rhythm and stress - intonation and accentuation) • Visual and audio stimuli, spatial manipulation, artistic ability (music, art, 3-D forms). • Creativity and Imagination • More Intuitive, thoughtful and subjective

45. Right Brain • Here are just a few things associated with the Right: • The right brain controls the left side of the body • Prefers visual instructions • Good at sports • Enjoy `clowning around` • Prefer group activities/work/studying • Prefer to read fiction • Can listen to TV or music while studying • Likes to organize things to show relation or act things out • Occasionally absent minded • Very spontaneous and unpredictable

46. Right Brain Student and School In history class, you enjoy the social aspects the most. You like to explore the effects of things that happened in history. You like the essays, too. You can do well in math class if you apply yourself, but get bored doing long problems Science? boring! You do well in English class too, especially when it comes to reading literature and writing essays. You also do well in creative writing exercises.

47. Here are some `typical` occupations for right brained individuals: • Forrest ranger • Wildlife manager • Beautician • Politician • Athlete • Artist • Craftsman • Actor

48. Conclusion • LB – more organized, will watch the clock and will analyze information and process it sequentially. Often cautious and will follow rules and schedules. • RB – dreamers, typically more spontaneous and quick to follow their own gut feelings. • BOTH – Everyone is different, everyone has characteristics from both types. Some are very equal when it comes to characteristics, and can have strong qualities from both hemispheres.

49. Left brain more likely to appear on the show Apprentice or jeopardy • Right brain more likely to be on Survivor

50. Brain Dominance Quiz • Take the Left/Right Brain Quiz. • What type are you? Left, Right or Both? http://homeworktips.about.com/library/brainquiz/bl_leftrightbrain_quiz.htm http://www.intelliscript.net/test_area/questionnaire/questionnaire.cgi