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What I Did On My Summer Vacation… By Fiona Shaw ‘10

What I Did On My Summer Vacation… By Fiona Shaw ‘10. What I Did On My Summer Vacation… By Fiona Shaw ‘10. University of Pennsylvania. What Brought Me To UPenn. Search Online for Neuroscience Researchers in the Philly Area. Applied for Funding Through Haverford KINSC Program.

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What I Did On My Summer Vacation… By Fiona Shaw ‘10

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  1. What I Did On My Summer Vacation…By Fiona Shaw ‘10

  2. What I Did On My Summer Vacation…By Fiona Shaw ‘10 University of Pennsylvania

  3. What Brought Me To UPenn Search Online for Neuroscience Researchers in the Philly Area Applied for Funding Through Haverford KINSC Program Interested In Summer Research Summer Job! Dr. Anjan Chatterjee

  4. Penn is a Huge Research Institution… Department of Neurology (HUP) Department of Neurology (CHOP) Department of Psychology (UPenn) Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Department of Radiology (HUP) Department of Linguistics (UPenn) Among Others…

  5. My Research at UPenn Worked on Two Projects • Directionality and Memory • Language and Color Perception Senior Thesis This Presentation Green Blue

  6. Language and Perception • Ongoing debate as to whether language can affect one’s perception of the world • i.e. if someone is raised speaking English vs. Chinese, do elements of these languages affect perception? • Ex: Russian Blue (goluboy and siniy) • Past research is controversial, results depend on methods • This study follows up on the area of color perception

  7. How Can Language Affect Perception?

  8. Does Language Affect All of Perception? • Brain regions for language are primarily in the left hemisphere The effects of language on perception should vary for left and right visual fields!

  9. Gilbert et al. (2006) Between Color Boundary: Participants asked to identify whether a target square occurred on the left or right side of the circle. Target Square Base Square Green Blue

  10. Gilbert et al. (2006) Within Color Boundary: Target Square Base Square Green Blue

  11. Gilbert et al. (2006) Within Color Boundary: Results? - Faster for between - But only for RVF Green Blue

  12. How Make Inferences to the Brain? • Siok et al. (2009) performed fMRI scans while participants did previous task • Found significantly more activation in language areas of the brain for between-category color pairs Siok et al. (2009)

  13. Our Study • Rationale • If we can selectively inhibit the language areas of the brain, then this effect of language on color perception should disappear • i.e. the right visual field will no longer have any advantage over the left in color discrimination Easier Discrimination Color Category Boundary Language Area of Brain

  14. Our Study • Rationale • If we can selectively inhibit the language areas of the brain, then this effect of language on color perception should disappear • i.e. the right visual field will no longer have any advantage over the left in color discrimination Easier Discrimination Color Category Boundary Language Area of Brain

  15. How to Inhibit Areas of Brain? • New Technology: tDCS (Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation) • Weak electrical currents (equivalent to 9V battery) are safely passed through specific areas of the brain to inhibit function • In this case, align with language areas • Expect to see color category advantage disappear • Data collection ongoing

  16. To Wrap Up:Opportunities at Penn • Collaborative interdepartmental lab meetings • Article meetings • Access to technologies • Great extension of Haverford’s research focused curriculum

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