Thesis on the Mind
So for those of you who were wondering, I feel the need to stay up a little later then I should, to post about my thesis after our baseball game (which we lost btw). Now most of you will have no clue what I'm talking about, so you can skip the rest of this blog, and I'll write something a little more interesting later this week. For those who care (mostly you, Nicole), here goes nothing.
The short version: I have decided to study criterion changes in single item and associative recognition in the context of strength-based mirror effects in recognition. Basically (or not so much) the idea is to differentially strength pictures and words (both within and between lists) to see whether I can find mirror effects.
For those of you who don't study cognitive psychology, and are still reading for some reason, the simple version is this: When people see lists of words or strings of pictures, they tend to remember them differently based on a few main conditions. Firstly, if you see a list of very common words, then it is likely that you wont remember if you saw the word in the list, or if you just think you might have seen it. So, any words in the list that are used less frequently in English are more likely to stand out at test if you did see it in the study list. Secondly, if you study a word for a longer period of time, you are also more likely to commit it to memory than if you only see it for a second. So...this works about the same for pictures, and people change the way they think when they are tested depending on these things.
For example, if you are being tested on the words or pictures that tended to "stand out" at study, then you are tougher on yourself when you have to make the decision that the word/pic is old or new (have you seen it before at study?). Basically, people will generally adopt a more conservative decision criterion following "easy" study lists, and a more liberal criterion following "difficult" study lists, because they know that their memory will be different in the two conditions. Hense the term "mirror effect", because you will have more correct decisions and less incorrect when the study list is easy, and the opposite if the study list is hard. The question is, can people change their criterion item-by-item, or only list-by-list.
For those of you that are confused, take my word for it, if you were participating in my experiment you would likely criterion-change. It's something we all do without thinking. So...this hasn't been studied with pictures and words together in the same lists...that's where I come in...
So, I've bored some of you.
Truth is, I suck at coming up with ideas and when my thesis prof sent me his paper (currently in progress) I picked up on an aspect of it that hadn't yet been studied. This late in the game, I can't be choosy. I'm scared to death of writing this thing. I am also scared to make a decision about taking my masters. I don't want to write the graduate record exam, and I don't know what I want to do with my life.
So, for those of you that have made this decision already, be happy that you aren't 22 and can't answer the grade 1 question "so, what do you want to be when you grow up?" A shitty thing happened. I grew up already. I will fall into something.
Anyways, it's WAY past my bedtime now. I'm thinking too much, and so I must retire to my room to numb my mind with some TLC and try to get some sleep.
Can I tell you, it sucks being pretty good at most things, and having no passion for anything. I can enter bills like a bitch though I tell ya...
Aimee
The short version: I have decided to study criterion changes in single item and associative recognition in the context of strength-based mirror effects in recognition. Basically (or not so much) the idea is to differentially strength pictures and words (both within and between lists) to see whether I can find mirror effects.
For those of you who don't study cognitive psychology, and are still reading for some reason, the simple version is this: When people see lists of words or strings of pictures, they tend to remember them differently based on a few main conditions. Firstly, if you see a list of very common words, then it is likely that you wont remember if you saw the word in the list, or if you just think you might have seen it. So, any words in the list that are used less frequently in English are more likely to stand out at test if you did see it in the study list. Secondly, if you study a word for a longer period of time, you are also more likely to commit it to memory than if you only see it for a second. So...this works about the same for pictures, and people change the way they think when they are tested depending on these things.
For example, if you are being tested on the words or pictures that tended to "stand out" at study, then you are tougher on yourself when you have to make the decision that the word/pic is old or new (have you seen it before at study?). Basically, people will generally adopt a more conservative decision criterion following "easy" study lists, and a more liberal criterion following "difficult" study lists, because they know that their memory will be different in the two conditions. Hense the term "mirror effect", because you will have more correct decisions and less incorrect when the study list is easy, and the opposite if the study list is hard. The question is, can people change their criterion item-by-item, or only list-by-list.
For those of you that are confused, take my word for it, if you were participating in my experiment you would likely criterion-change. It's something we all do without thinking. So...this hasn't been studied with pictures and words together in the same lists...that's where I come in...
So, I've bored some of you.
Truth is, I suck at coming up with ideas and when my thesis prof sent me his paper (currently in progress) I picked up on an aspect of it that hadn't yet been studied. This late in the game, I can't be choosy. I'm scared to death of writing this thing. I am also scared to make a decision about taking my masters. I don't want to write the graduate record exam, and I don't know what I want to do with my life.
So, for those of you that have made this decision already, be happy that you aren't 22 and can't answer the grade 1 question "so, what do you want to be when you grow up?" A shitty thing happened. I grew up already. I will fall into something.
Anyways, it's WAY past my bedtime now. I'm thinking too much, and so I must retire to my room to numb my mind with some TLC and try to get some sleep.
Can I tell you, it sucks being pretty good at most things, and having no passion for anything. I can enter bills like a bitch though I tell ya...
Aimee
posted by Aimee at 8:23 PM
3 Comments:
Despite the confusion...that's right I don't get it and I live with ya, YOU are also a GREAT daughter! You will find something that inspires your career!
Love you!
Mom
Hey chick, boo to thesis and masters!
What I'm doing now is starting to email profs from grad schools, just to find out more of what they're doing. It's a sort of easy way to ease into it, and you get to see what type of research is out there.
Also, the other thing i keep reminding myself is that it's not the end of the world if I don't go to grad school RIGHT AWAY. I can always take a year off, get a job in a lab or whatnot, volunteer places, make money, and eventually pick something to do.
Are you thinking of doing psych or bio? Or can't decide?
ALSO... turns out I've forgotten *all* cognitive psych I learned... mirror effect what? heh...
OH oh and one more thing... you should consider applying for NSERC... they give you $17,000/year for your masters. woop woop. Just requires an A- average... you have that, right??
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