Summer Session Week 1

What a great week! Ya’ll have some real promise as junior psychologists!

Take a second glance at what we explored, let it sink in and please, bring any questions that you need clarity on up in our session on Monday.

Alright, so first we explored evolution and natural selection and many of the misconceptions that the general public have about this "theory". Carl Sagan's classic video does a nice job of providing the basics. Then we attempted to get a grip on natural selection by first understanding how artificial selection operates. We "bred" foxhounds and also read an article about breeding for genetic tameness in foxes and rats as well as watching video footage of Belyaev's domesticated foxes.  To better understand our own evolutionary history, we memorized (hopefully:)) human taxonomical classification. In order to clear up confusion about what "survival of the fittest" actually means, ya'll read the "Survival of the Sneakiest" comic and found what it means to have "game" (if you're a cricket).

We also got a grip on the unit that natural selection works on, the gene. I think the Genetics 101 cartoons did a great job of spelling things out in an easy to understand way. Perhaps you were shocked to discover that "slightly more than half of everything you are" is thanks to mom, this was artistically revealed in the Biologists Mother's Day song.

Finally we took a look at the basic unit of communication within the body, the neuron. I think everyone was shocked by my incredible flow demonstrated in the neural transmission song. To top off an awesome week we recorded a skit depicting neural transmission in which it was revealed that George Lopez, is in fact, a sac.

Neurons: their messages and potential!

You can find an excellent and really detailed review of how neurons communicate at Psych Sim. It's a bit more than you actually need to know (for example, no need to get hung up on axon chemistry and all that) but provides great diagrams, interactives and a summary.

I highly reccommend that you also watch some of the following videos:


A generalized introduction, this clip doesn't get into specifics about neurons until about 1:51, but the intro will serve you well.

This is a summary that is useful if you can deal with the British spellings ("neurones" in particular drove me crazy) and the "club soul?" music.

Straight up action potential, force yourself to watch it.

Get to know your neural synapses.

An instant classic: Neurotransmitter Love Song

The more of these you can watch, the better. They're all pretty short and should help you get a better grip on your neurons.