Introduction: Research suggests benefits for incorporating popular press books into courses to encourage critical thinking and student-instructor interactions about concepts. Objective: This article offers a summary and critique of "7 ½ Lessons about the Brain" by Lisa Feldman-Barrett along with pedagogical strategies for integrating the…

College students in two sections of a general psychology course participated in a demonstration of a simple neural circuit. The activity was based on a neural circuit that Jeffress proposed for localizing sounds. Students in one section responded to a questionnaire prior to participating in the activity, while students in the other section…

Thomas E. Ludwig is the John Dirk Werkman Professor of Psychology at Hope College, where he joined the faculty in 1977 after receiving his PhD in development and aging from Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on developmental issues in cognitive neuropsychology. He is also the author or coauthor of more than a dozen sets of…

Erin Rasmussen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Idaho State University where she teaches learning, behavioral pharmacology, senior seminar, and introductory psychology. She received her MS and PhD in experimental psychology (with a minor in behavioral pharmacology and toxicology) from Auburn University. She taught at…

We describe 3 computer-based neuroscience laboratories. In the first 2 labs, we used commercially available interactive software to enhance the study of functional and comparative neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. In the remaining lab, we used customized software and hardware in 2 psychophysiological experiments. With the use of the computer-based…

Maintains that, although the relation of the mind to the brain is a common topic in teaching psychology; psychogeny, the study of the mind's origin, is a neglected problem. Outlines and discusses two theories: (1) identify theory; and (2) emergentism. Presents student reactions to psychogeny. (CFR)

Presents a method for simulating the behavior and perceptual deficits demonstrated by patients who have undergone the split brain surgical procedure. Presents several activities in which two volunteers are required to accomplish certain tasks as one person. Suggests that these activities show how split brain patients illustrate certain lateralized…

Provides a series of simple mnemonic exercises for memorizing terminology related to the central nervous system. The exercise chooses a keyword for a set of specific functions ("medal" for "medulla") and then constructs an imaginary situation, expressed in one or two sentences, illustrating some of those functions. (MJP)

Claims little information exists in undergraduate education about clinical neuropsychology. Outlines an undergraduate neuropsychology course and proposes ways to integrate the subject into existing undergraduate psychology courses. Suggests developing specialized audio-visual materials for telecourses or existing courses. (NL)

Presents an interview with Susan Lederman that contains a fascinating and informative overview of the recent developments in neuropsychological research concerning the sense of touch. Discusses the physiological processes that support this sensory experience and reveals them to be much more flexible, intricate, and adaptive than previously…

Describes an active participation exercise that demonstrates the propagation of action potentials (the ability to transmit information through the neural network, dependent upon chemical interactions in the brain). Students assume the structure and function of the network by lining up around the room and communicating through hand signals and…