PsychMedia News Feed

Prof Busemeyer Featured in New Scientist Article

2011-10-12T09:09:00.004-05:00

Professor Jerome Busemeyer's work has been featured in a recent New Scientist article on quantum minds, the deep connection between quantum theory and human thought. The article talks about how like quantum theory, human thinking doesn’t follow the rules of classical logic. A new field called "quantum interaction", is researching how quantum theory can be used to establish human decision making. In most cases human reasoning defies probability and any form of rules, just like the quantum theory. One example of this is the principle called the "sure thing". This principle is the indication that if one person prefers object A over object B at both morning and evening of a day that, that same person will prefer object A at any time, even if they do not know the time of day. However, humans do not follow this principle, thus defying probability.

Yet, additional research proposes that the illogical effects in quantum theory can fit in a model that will create new possibilities and predictabilities, called the quantum interference. In the middle of the article, Professor Busemeyer and psychologist Emmanuel Pothos explain that humans violate the rules of the "sure thing" principle the same way that the quantum theory defies classical logic, further suggesting that humans can be explained using quantum interference. Busemeyer states, "Quantum probabilities have the potential to provide a better framework for modeling human decision making."

This idea would in fact show that human thinking is not operated solely on classical logic but largely on the unconscious level. Many scientist agree that this could lead to further understanding of the human brain. Research will continue to look into the connection between quantum theory and the human decision-making process. "Perhaps only humans, without seemingly illogical minds, are uniquely capable of discovering and understanding quantum theory", Mark Buchanan.

Buchanan, M. (2011). Your Quantum Minds. New Scientist, 3, 34-37.

Prof Karin James' Research Sailing the Popular Media

2011-06-22T07:07:00.002-05:00

Professor Karin James' cutting-edge research on the diverse benefits of writing by hand has been riding a wave of interest in popular media. Last year it was featured prominently in the Wall Street Journal, in an article that received almost 10,000 Facebook "Likes." Since then, her work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune and LA Times, The Globe and Mail, and throughout the blogosphere. Her research finds that handwriting, which many consider to be a forgotten skill, actually has strong benefits beyond fine penmanship. Learning to actively write on paper improves letter recognition (a strong predictor of reading ability) in ways above and beyond merely learning the appearance of letters.

Prof Goldstone Featured in NYTimes Article

2011-06-08T07:29:00.004-05:00

Professor Rob Goldstone's work has been featured in a recent New York Times piece on teaching abstract concepts. Toward the end of the article, Goldstone's work with local Jackson Creek Middle School students is described. His recently-published research project (with Samuel Day) investigated how abstract concepts learned in one context might spontaneously transfer to another context. This work is relevant to educators who hope that, when teaching abstract material such as mathematical operations, students will generalize what they've learned toward new situations that weren't explicitly described when learning. As the article notes, "This ability to transfer, as it’s known, is fundamental to scientific reasoning and is among the highest goals of teachers at all levels."

Sporns named Provost Professor

2011-05-12T08:10:00.000-05:00

Professor and Associate Chair Olaf Sporns, along with three other professors, has been named Provost Professor by IU Bloomington Provost Karen Hanson and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Tom Gieryn.

Provost Professors carry the title for the remainder of their Indiana University careers. Each receives a $2,500 award for each of their first three years with the title and a $5,000 grant to use for any project they choose.

Read the full story here.

Lecture hall construction begins

2011-05-10T14:59:00.009-05:00

Remember sitting in a hard, wooden chair with a broken desk in PY 100? After the spring 2011 semester, this will never happen again for our students.

The Irving J. Saltzman Lecture Hall is currently being renovated. Early this week, workers began by removing all of the seats and desk trays from the room. Stay tuned to Facebook or Twitter to view photos of the construction throughout the summer. Leave us your comments on Facebook, or reply @IUPsych on Facebook to tell us your memories of teaching and learning in PY 100.

2011 Graduate Award Winners Named

2011-05-05T08:18:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to the following students in our graduate programs, who have recently received awards:

NSF Recipients
Asaf Beasley
Lisa Byrge
Katie Van Loo

Estes Summer Research Award
George Kachergis

Heller Summer Research Award
Michael Endres

Kantor Graduate Award
Molly Erickson

Kato Summer Research Award
Ashley Waggoner Denton

McFall Summer Research Award
R. Joanne Jao

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor
(Instructor of Record for course other than P211 Methods)
Tony Walker

Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant (TA)
Elizabeth Bendycki
Katie Van Loo

Outstanding P211 Associate Instructor (Fall 2010)
Elizabeth Wakefield

Saltzman Award
(to student who has completed the program)
Jackson Goodnight

Steinmetz Summer Research Award
Julia Li

Young Summer Research Award
Kathryn Macapagal, Robin Ballard, Isaac Petersen

Find out more about how to contribute to graduate student funding at psych.indiana.edu/giving.php.

Toast the class of 2011

2011-05-04T09:05:00.002-05:00

We will be hosting our annual graduation party after the afternoon commencement ceremony, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 7, on the front lawn outside the Psychology Building (1101 E. 10th St.). All undergraduate and graduate students, their friends and families, and departmental faculty and staff are invited to attend.

Please note that this event will be outdoors. Be advised that if there is light rain on Saturday, May 7th the reception will continue as planned but if heavy rain moves into the area this event will be cancelled. Academic Apparel is not required.

Undergraduates honored at 2011 banquet

2011-05-03T10:15:00.004-05:00

We would like to congratulate our many graduates on completing their degrees in psychology and neuroscience, along with our many honors recipients and other awardees. The following students received departmental awards at the 2010-11 J.R. Kantor Undergraduate Honors Banquet:

Laura Englehardt: J.R. Kantor Prize in Psychology
Yi Cai: J.R. Kantor Prize in Psychology
Desiree Cossyleon: James Dinsmoor Excellence in Research Award
Patrick Eddy: Excellence in Research Award
Alexander Houston: Excellence in Research Award
Katie O'Connor: Excellence in Research Award
Nathaniel Herman Shannon IV: Excellence in Research Award
Geoffrey R.O. Durso: Excellence in Research Award
Hanna Stanton: Excellence in Research Award
Ian Kaelble: Robert Weiskopf Award
Amy Price: Robert Weiskopf Award
Ann Bortner: Psi Chi Scholarship

Additionally, three students received scholarships from the College of Arts and Sciences:

Erin Gould: Abel Scholarship
Christopher Haskins: George H. & Ruth J. Asdel Scholarship
Parth Patel: Malcom A. Kochert Scholarship

Sporns named Guggenheim fellow

2011-04-20T10:53:00.003-05:00

Professor and Associate Chair Olaf Sporns is one of three IU recipients of the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for 2011. His award will fund his year-long sabbatical, during which he will compose a book about brain connections.

Click here to read more.

Vlachos-Weber named Outstanding Faculty Member

2011-03-30T07:53:00.003-05:00

Faculty member Irene Vlachos-Weber has been named one of five of this year's 2011 Student Choice Awards Outstanding Faculty Members. The awards are sponsored by the Indiana University Student Alumni Association and recognize professors for hard work and a positive impact on student life.

Winners will be recognized Saturday, April 17 at the Student Alumni Association ceremony.

GPSO Spring Travel Award winners announced

2011-03-24T16:09:00.002-05:00

Three students in Psychological and Brain Sciences have received travel awards from the Graduate and Professional Student Organization:

Viridiana Benitez

Daniel Yurovsky

Olga Rass

These awards help support travel expenses to conferences, workshops, training, competitions and other professional functions.

Welcome to the NEW psych.indiana.edu!

2011-03-17T11:38:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the all new psych.indiana.edu!

We are pleased to present a new website to provide you with a more engaging and user-friendly experience. We hope that the new site will help you find the information you need about our programs, with an improved presentation of our department's cutting-edge faculty and research. The new psych.indiana.edu was designed by department lecturer Ben Motz in association with our Web & Branding Committee.

Please take note of a few important new additions to psych.indiana.edu:

The Participate tab in the top navigations provides access for students to sign up for experiments, for parents to register their children for experiments, and for teachers and other interested parties to request tours of our facilities. To the left of the news and announcements, below the lefthand navigation, you will see a list of Upcoming Events. These are primarily colloquia on campus that are free and open to the public and may be of interest to our faculty, staff and students. You can find information about our faculty, staff, programs, social networking sites, more in the about us in the lefthand navigation menu. Please direct any questions to Jenny Porter Tilley, Web Content Manager, at jptilley@indiana.edu.

Hill honored for Kinsey Institute research

2011-02-14T12:22:00.002-06:00

Congratulations to Yvette Hill, one of the 2011 awardees of the Kinsey Instute Student Research Grants. Hill's topic is "The Interaction of Sexual Interest, Motivation and Testosterone in Sexually Coercive Men." Click here to find out more about her work and the work of the other winners.

Brown named Outstanding Junior Faculty member

2011-02-08T13:15:00.001-06:00

Joshua Brown was one of four recipients of the Indiana University Outstanding Junior Faculty Award this year. Brown directs the Cognitive Control Lab in the department.

Click here to read more.

Bingham study investigates throwing ability

2011-01-25T13:10:00.002-06:00

Professor Geoffrey Bingham's recent study in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior shows that throwing long distances is a unique evolutionary trait in humans. Click here to read more.

A new generation of women in science

2010-11-29T09:10:00.003-06:00

Department faculty, staff and students joined the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana November 20 to teach young girls how to be "brain scientists." Psychological and Brain Science was featured on this year's patch for Brownie Math & Science Day. Special thanks to all of our volunteers for making this event a success.

Visit our Facebook gallery for photos of the event.

Olaf Sporns to be featured on Big Ten Program

2010-11-09T10:11:00.002-06:00

Seats for Olaf Sporns' talk on the Big Ten Network's "Beyond the Syllabus" taping for Nov. 19 are now full. Sporns will discuss recent discoveries about the way the human brain works.

Click here for more information.

How handwriting trains the brain

2010-10-27T09:18:00.002-05:00

Research by Karin Harman James was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal. To read, visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518.html

Strangers influence our dating preferences

2010-06-09T12:02:00.002-05:00

New research by department researchers Peter Todd and Skylar Place has been featured in several prominent media, including the following:

Graduate student summer research awards

2010-05-11T11:50:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to the following graduate students who have received 2010 summer research awards:

Lile Jia: Gordon Kato Summer Fellowship
Katie Van Loo: Steinmetz Summer Research Award
Trista Chan: Richard D. Young Summer Research Award
Isaac Peterson: Richard D. Young Summer Research Award
Francisco Parada: McFall Summer Research Award
Michael Endres: Heller Summer Research Award

Congratulations, class of 2010!

2010-05-10T13:38:00.002-05:00

We would like to congratulate our many graduates on completing their degrees in psychology and neuroscience, along with our many honors recipients and other awardees.

The following students were honored at the 2009-10 J.R. Kantor Undergraduate Honors Banquet.

Natsuki Atagi: Cheryl Burnham Buhler Award, Excellence in Honors Thesis Research Award. Natsuki was also chosen as one of the first undergraduate speakers at the 2010 commencement ceremony.
Sabrina Yufang Sun: J.R. Kantor Prize in Psychology
Jennifer Long: James Dinsmoor Excellence in Research Award
Nicole Beckage: Excellence in Research Award
Gabriela Rodriguez: Excellence in Research Award
Roxana Ortez: Excellence in Research Award
Ryan Stadnik: Excellence in Research Award and Robert Weiskopf Award
Ross VanDerKlok: Excellence in Research Award
Sarah Myers: Robert Weiskopf Award
Kaitlin King: Psi Chi Scholarship

Additionally, three students received scholarships from the College of Arts and Sciences:

Lukasz Cerbin: Tracy C. Owens, M.D., and Anna L. Sproull Owens Memorial Scholarship, Fernandus & Elizabeth J. Payne Scholarship
Christian Frye: Sally Kissinger Wilt Merit Scholarship
Laura Strodtman: Jeanice Bartling Lewis Memorial Scholarship

Building a vision of brain networks

2010-03-05T09:31:00.001-06:00

An article on the Dana Foundation's Web site this week featured professor Olaf Sporns' brain mapping research.

Read more here: http://www.dana.org/news/features/detail.aspx?id=25690

LexisNexis internship info session rescheduled

2010-02-04T13:25:00.002-06:00

An internship information session, hosted by Dr. Rich Miller and Dr. David Pfenninger, will take place at 3 p.m. Monday, March 22, in the Gill Center Conference room (room 102 of the Multidisciplinary Science Building II, behind Psychology).

Dr. Rich Miller is part of the LexisNexis Applied Research Group, which includes expertise in computational linguistics, information retrieval and software development. His role in the group is monitoring technology areas encompassing analytics and visualization, rich media, personalization, mobile computing, user experience design and human-computer interaction. Miller has a degree in experimental psychology from Miami University.

In a special session for psychology and neuroscience majors, Miller will discuss internship opportunities at LexisNexis. Undergraduate and graduate students with experience in computer programming and research interests in natural language programming, text analytics should attend to hear more about this opportunity.

LexisNexis® is a leading global provider of business information solutions to in a variety of areas, including: legal, corporate, and government practices, law enforcement, accounting, and compliance assessment. A member of Reed Elsevier, LexisNexis helps customers in more than 100 countries and has 13,000 employees.

Dr. David Pfenninger will introduce Dr. Miller and provide his own insights about internship opportunities. Pfenninger serves on advisory councils for both the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the Department of Informatics and Computing. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology from our department in 1983.

A clinical psychologist, Pfenninger also has founded two companies: Performance Assessment Network (www.panpowered.com), the largest Web-based testing company in the United States, and BubbleUp (www.bubbleup.com), a technology leader in the entertainment industry that makes extensive use of social networking techniques. In his roles as corporate CEO, entrepreneur and board of directors' member, Pfenninger has utilized internships as a solid way to get fresh thinking and talent into his firms.

To ensure you will have a spot in this session, please e-mail Jenny at porterjl@indiana.edu by 5 p.m. Tuesday, February 9.

Cognitive Science Movie Index

2010-02-04T13:23:00.002-06:00

Indiana University is now hosting a cognitive science movie index. It includes a broad list of movies that showcase various themes in the cognitive science.

Visit it at https://www.indiana.edu/~cogfilms/.

Study finds complexity affects dieting success

2010-01-12T08:34:00.002-06:00

Professor Peter Todd, along with other cognitive scientists at IU and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, recently compared the dieting behavior of women following two radically different diet plans. They found that the more complicated people thought the diet was, the sooner they were likely to drop it.

"For people on a more complex diet that involves keeping track of quantities and items eaten, their subjective impression of the difficulty of the diet can lead them to give up on it," Todd said.

Click here to read more.

Fall "PsychNotes" newsletter available

2009-11-30T08:40:00.002-06:00

The Fall 2009 issue of "PsychNotes," the department alumni newsletter, is now available online. Visit psych.indiana.edu/PsychNotesOnline to read the latest news about faculty, staff, alumni and current students.

Student honored by Society for Neuroscience

2009-10-29T13:07:00.002-05:00

Sunah Kim, a graduate student who works with Tom James, received a graduate travel award at the 2009 Society for Neuroscience conference this month.

Winners are chosen based on the scientific merit of abstracts presented at the society's annual meeting. The award includes complimentary registration and a stipend to offset travel expenses for the event. For more information, visit www.sfn.org.

Shiffrin awarded for excellence

2009-09-22T12:08:00.002-05:00

Professor Richard Shiffrin recently won the 2009 Henry R. Besch, Jr. Promotion of Excellence Award from the Indiana University Alliance of Distinguished and Titled Professors. The award recognizes outstanding service at Indiana University.

One of Shiffrin's many service contributions to IU includes being the founding co-director of the Alliance. Additional local services include being founding director of the Cognitive Science Program and charing the committee to form a School of Informatics (now called Informatics and Computing) at Indiana University.

Faculty members to judge Cardboard Boat Regatta

2009-09-18T09:39:00.003-05:00

Faculty members Phil Summers and Lisa Thomassen will be judges for the Council for Advancing Student Leadership's 9th Annual Carboard Boat Regatta. The event takes place at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, at the IU Outdoor Pool at 17th Street and Fee Lane.

The Cardboard Boat Regatta will feature boats made solely of cardboard and duct tape, racing the length of the pool. The top three fastest teams will receive awards, and special awards will go to the most creative votes.

Teams must register by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, to participate. For more information, click here.

Department team No. 1 in Alzheimer's walk

2009-09-17T07:50:00.003-05:00

The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences team for the 2009 Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk is ranked No. 1 in fundraising. The walk takes place Saturday, Sept. 26 in Bryan Park.

Thanks to staff members and fundraisers Char Wozniak and Patricia Crouch, the team has raised a total of $1,250 for this event. Click here to join the team.

NIH grant awarded to study risk-taking

2009-09-02T15:02:00.002-05:00

Assistant Professor Joshua Brown has received a two-year $683,736 grant from the National Institutes of Health for a project aimed at understanding how certain parts of the brain learn to predict the outcome of one's own actions.

The project, which will use fMRI technology and sophisticated computational neural models, will focus on risk-taking. Some individuals, Brown said, are very sensitive to the possibility of making a mistake and will avoid risky behavior. Others, he said, engage in risky behavior such as drug-taking and unprotected sex despite the consequences.

"Our research explores how the brain learns to predict moment-by-moment the possible consequences of behavior, whether good or bad, and how those areas contribute to better decision-making in risky situations," Brown said.

The two-year award is funded through the NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse, with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"We have found specific parts of the brain that detect and help avoid risky behavior," Brown said. "In substance dependent individuals, those brain areas are pretty much asleep at the wheel, so individuals look for pleasure no matter the risks involved."

Brown expects that his research will one day lead to a better understanding and better treatment for substance dependence.

Brown's research interests focus on the frontal lobes of the brain, exploring how people and animals learn, optimize and control goal-directed behavior in complex and changing environments. These abilities involve reinforcement learning, planning, prediction, expectation, evaluation and sequential ordering of movements, in addition to complex sensory processing. For more information about Brown's Cognitive Control Lab, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~cclab.

IU cognitive scientists receive $3.1 million

2009-08-25T09:31:00.000-05:00

Cognitive scientists at Indiana University Bloomington received a five-year, $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create and employ innovative methods for training future scientists.

According to the NSF, the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program is intended to "catalyze a cultural change in graduate education" with innovative new models for graduate education and training that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. IGERT also is "intended to facilitate diversity in student participation and preparation, and to contribute to a world-class, broadly inclusive, and globally engaged science and engineering workforce."

"This highly-competitive award is a strong recognition of the quality of the cognitive science program at IU Bloomington," said Randall Beer, principal investigator. Beer is professor of cognitive science and professor in the School of Informatics and Computing. "Building on our existing strengths in the psychological and brain sciences and complex systems, as well as our new activities in robotics, this award will allow us to offer a unique training program on situated, embodied and dynamical approaches to cognition."

IU Bloomington's program, one of 18 funded this year out of more than 400 initial proposals, will focus on the role that the interaction of an agent's body and environment with its brain plays in the production of behavior and cognition. The dominant approach in science consists of breaking things down into smaller and smaller components. The core motivation for the "dynamics of brain-body-environment interaction in behavior and cognition" IU training initiative is to not only decompose systems into their parts, but to compose these parts back together again to show how they interact to form a functioning and adaptive whole. The graduate students will receive training in a variety of methods, including computational simulations, mathematical analysis, experimental methods, robotics and neuroscience. The systems that they study will span many levels, from individual neurons, to neural circuits, to developing infants, to groups of people forming organizations.

Co-investigators include Robert Goldstone, director of the Cognitive Science Program; Linda Smith, Chancellor's Professor and chair of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences; and Olaf Sporns, professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. The 20 faculty members participating in the program have appointments in the Cognitive Science Program, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Department of History and Philosophy of Science, in the College of Arts and Sciences; and the Department of Computer Science in the School of Informatics and Computing.

The new program will include courses and professional development activities, an extended colloquium series, domestic and international summer research internships, a summer program for undergraduate students from underrepresented groups, and an annual research showcase.

The first class of fellows will begin in the spring. They are Jennifer Trueblood, Paul Williams and Carlos Zednik, doctoral students in the cognitive science program; Skyler Place and Thomas Wisdom, doctoral students in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences who are working on joint degrees in cognitive science; and Richard Veale, doctoral student in computer science who is working on a joint degree in cognitive science.

Beer can be reached at rdbeer@indiana.edu. For more information about the program, visit http://mypage.iu.edu/~rdbeer/IGERTOverview.pdf.

Peter Finn competes in swimming championships

2009-08-18T12:01:00.006-05:00

Professor Peter Finn recently competed in the U.S. Masters Swimming Long Course Nationals competition in Indianapolis.

Finn placed fourth nationally in the 50 and 100 meter breaststroke. His relay team won gold medals in the 200 and 400 medley relay events. The team also broke the national record in the 400 medley relay. Finn's team members were Joel Stager, professor of kinesiology, Gary Hall Sr., IU alumnus and three-time Olympian, and Ed Silva, IU alumnus and graduate of Bloomington High School South.

The event is supported by U.S. Masters Swimming, a group founded in 1970 to promote continued competition for former swimmers.

College "Themester" honors Charles Darwin

2009-08-17T15:29:00.002-05:00

This fall, the College of Arts & Sciences will mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of his publication On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection with its first Themester, titled "Evolution, Diversity and Change."

For more information, visit themester.indiana.edu.

Undergraduate scholar Q&A

2009-08-17T15:29:00.001-05:00

The Indiana University Scholarships Web site recently featured neuroscience major Tarlise Townsend and Psychology major Laura Englehardt.

Townsend, a Cox scholar, s also majoring in Germanic studies and minoring in mathematics and biology. She hopes to eventually attend graduate school in neuroscience.

Englehardt is pursuing another major in Spanish and a minor in human development and family studies. She plans to attend graduate school for psychology.

Phil Summers honored by freshman class

2009-08-17T15:28:00.000-05:00

Professor Phil Summers was selected as the favorite professor of the 2009 freshman class of the honoraries Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma, Indiana University Bloomington chapters.

The two academic honor societies for first-year students were founded in the early twentieth century. Summers received the most nominations from students who were initiated in Spring 2009.

Research at IU Bloomington, IU School of Medicine given $3 million boost

2009-08-17T15:26:00.001-05:00

In 1979, Chancellor's Professor David Pisoni brought the first two postdoctoral researchers to Indiana University's campus when he was awarded a five-year training grant by the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders. Today, the same grant supports six postdoctoral researchers, six doctoral students and six medical students in Bloomington and Indianapolis.

The grant, now funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), has received additional funding to continue through 2014--making it the longest existing training grant in NIDCD history. During the next six years, the NIDCD will provide more than $3 million for training in research concerning the use of sensory aids, such as cochlear implants and hearing aids.

READ MORE...

Colloquia this Friday

2009-04-01T13:15:00.003-05:00

Looking for a talk (or talks!) to attend this Friday, April 3? Here are some options:

Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics talk

1:30 p.m. Friday, Wells Library 001

"Facing the flood of information in the supermarket: Helping shoppers make better choices"

Peter Todd, Indiana University

Informatics Colloquium

3 p.m., Informatics East 130 (New addition)

"From cellular networks to population disease patterns: A systems approach"

Natali Gulbahce, Havard School of Medicine/Northwestern University

Social Psychology Seminar

3:30 p.m., PY 128

"Image bite politics: News and the visual framing of elections"

Betsi Grabe, Indiana University

Animal Behavior Colloquium

4 p.m., Myers Hall 130

"Getting caught in peculiar positions: Variation in the mechanisms of monogamy"

Steven Phelps, University of Florida

For more upcoming events, visit psych.indiana.edu.

Scholars Day at Women's Basketball game Sunday

2009-02-27T10:05:00.003-06:00

If you would like to represent the department at Scholars Day this Sunday, you can pick up a free shirt in PY 229 before 5 p.m. today.

At the game, all departments and organizations there for Scholars Day will meet in the south bleachers behind the pep band. Krystie Herndon, Scholars Day co-chair, will be there in her Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology shirt. Find her and let her know you're there to represent Psychological & Brain Sciences.

Well, you asked for it...

2009-02-12T08:51:00.005-06:00

Participants from our last graduate school Facebook discussion and live chat have requested that we have another chat this semester. This would give all of our undergraduates one last chance this year to ask their final burning questions about choosing schools, attending graduate school and what to do if you don't get into your chosen school.

We're tentatively scheduling our next discussion for 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday, April 13. More info to come. If you want to receive regular updates, become a fan on Facebook.

Last night's live chat

2009-02-05T08:42:00.005-06:00

Thanks to all who attended the live chat yesterday evening. A transcript is available online: http://mypage.iu.edu/~porterjl/chat0204.html

Some of the topics discussed were:
- How many grad schools should I apply to?
- When will I hear back from schools?
- How can I find out information about the schools I'm applying to?
- How do I prepare for an interview or recruitment weekend?
- How can I find professors I'm interested in working with?
- How should I prepare for the GRE?

We need your input to make decisions about future discussions! Reply here, or take our online survey to give us some feedback about the chat and Facebook discussion:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rugWYU9PeU_2fK2APZ_2f1s4JA_3d_3d

Live chat for students and alumni

2009-02-02T12:55:00.001-06:00

You may have seen a few notes on Facebook about the chat room we will host next Wednesday during our discussion group's target time. This was based on suggestions from those of you who took surveys after past discussions. In response to your suggestions, we now have a chat room available through Adobe Acrobat Connect. You will not need any software to enter--only a Flash reader for your browser, which most people already have.

Here are some additional instructions to help you:

- The chat room will open at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 4 at the following link: http://breeze.iu.edu/IUBPsychGrad
The same link will be used for future discussions, so please bookmark this page.

- We will still use the discussion board on the Facebook group page for the Q&A. Please post your questions there starting next Wednesday morning. We will try to copy these into the chat and address

- The chat function in Connect is very easy to use - just type in the chat window to join the discussion. There is also a drop-down menu at the bottom; you can choose to speak to the entire room, or send a private message to one person.

- There are also other functions of the chat room that we could potentially utilize, such as file sharing, so if at any point during the chat you would like to share a file with someone, we will attempt to give you that ability when it comes up.

- I will be on hand during most of the target time to help out, so feel free to message me through the chat room at any time or e-mail me at porterjl@indiana.edu.

We would like to have as many participants as possible to help us test out this new feature, so please drop by the chat room Wednesday.

2008-09 Psi Chi Alumni-Community Dinner

2009-01-14T13:48:00.000-06:00

We will be hosting this year's Psi Chi Alumni-Community Dinner, hosted by the Psi Chi honors society and the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 11 in the University Club at the Union.

I'm seeking some local alumni, especially if you are a recent graduate, who would be able to come to the dinner and talk about careers with current undergraduate students. We're looking for individuals in various careers that would interest our students. The event is free of charge; it's an opportunity for you to give back to students, and for us to provide you with a delicious meal!

If you are interested in attending, please contact me with your name, address, phone number and current employment information. A formal invitation will be mailed to anyone interested, so even if you are not 100% you can attend, please respond.

Thanks!

Jenny Porter
Media & Event Coordinator
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Indiana University Bloomington

Story on autism

2008-08-04T13:09:00.000-05:00

An interesting story on traveling with autistic children:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/traveltips/08/04/autism.traveling/index.html

Study: Girls equal to boys in math skills

2008-07-26T08:59:00.000-05:00

Check out this new research!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/07/24/girls.math.ap/index.html

Flooding Update

2008-06-10T08:36:00.003-05:00

As of today, the Psychology Building is back in business for the most part. Until further notice, classes will still meet in their reassigned rooms (see previous post).

In other breaking news, for the first time in the history of the building, the refrigerator on the third floor that smells like roadkill has been cleaned out! (Some of you former lab workers may remember this fridge.) We can thank the power outage for this.

New Summer Room Assignments

2008-06-06T19:20:00.003-05:00

The psychology building has sustained flooding damage and a power outage due to Wednesday's storm. For anyone taking summer courses, here are the new room assignments for this session:

P101 Thomassen - Myers Hall 130

P102 Roberts - Business 109 (across Fee Lane)

P211 Klein - Ballantine Hall 015

P304 Thompson - Ballantine Hall 005

P324 Vlachos-Weber - Business 109 (across Fee Lane)

P330 Bingham - Ballantine Hall 146

P346 Garraghty - Ballantine Hall 105

K300 Guth - Ballantine Hall 219

K300 Clark - Jordan Hall A100

Welcome!

2008-05-29T08:02:00.002-05:00

The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences has created this blog to help alumni keep in touch, stay connected with the department and hear about current events here on 10th Street.

Your feedback and contributions are vital to the success of these efforts! Please help us out by letting us know what you think and what kinds of information you'd like to see here and in our Facebook group. More importantly, let us know what you've been doing since college.

Thanks for visiting,

Jenny Porter
Media Coordinator
porterjl@indiana.edu