Final Exam Grades

Hi all,

I've just finished grading the final exams. Here's some info:

Mean: 83.67%
Std: 10.7%
Max: 99%
Min: 61.42%

Overall, I think Prof. Johnson has been really impressed with exam grades this quarter. Learning this amount of material in the short time seemed like it would be a monumental task; I think it was, I just think y'all came through in a major way. It's great to see the hard work and effort, and you guys are showing a class average that I think is well above normal. That's speaks directly to you all as individuals.

Below is a link containing grades. If you signed the privacy waiver and checked "yes", you can pick up your final exam (and any other papers) in the cogsci kitchen (first floor) anytime the building is unlocked. There is a basket that says "COGS 17 Summer Session II, Johnson".

Have a fun two weeks off, and hope to see you all in the fall. Thanks again for your efforts.

Ben

Final Exam grades:
http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~bcipolli/SU08/COGS17/Final/Final.pdf

Midterm 3 Grades

Hi all,

After some rough spots, we finally got Midterm 3 grades done. I've linked to a PDF where you can see your grades (if you signed a waiver).

Thanks,
Ben

http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~bcipolli/SU08/COGS17/M3/M3.pdf

The Iowa Gambling Task: Details & Explanations

Hi all,

In our lecture on emotion, Prof. Johnson discussed two major areas of the brain--the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. In order to highlight the similarities and differences in these areas, she pointed out results on the Iowa Gambling Task for normal control subjects, subjects with prefrontal damage, and subjects with damage to their amygdala.

Below is a more detailed explanation of the task and a reiteration of the results that Prof. Johnson presented in class. I think this task does a good job of illustrating the different parts of the emotion system, and so is very relevant for midterm 3. Hope this helps explicate things a bit further.

In the Iowa Gambling task, subjects are given 4 decks of cards, face down. Subjects can choose any deck to flip a card over. On the face side of the card is a dollar value. Two decks ("bad") have large rewards but even larger penalites, and thus overall have a negative dollar value. Two decks ("good") have smaller rewards and smaller penalties, and thus overall have a positive dollar value. Overall, you would expect subjects to (a) learn which decks produce an overall positive result and choose cards from them, (b) begin to avoid the "bad" decks, and (c) feel "anxious" when choosing from one of the "bad" decks.

Here is a picture that summarizes the four decks used in the task:

(courtesy of Wikipedia)

Notice that in decks "A" ("bad") and "C" ("good") you get a reward 50% of the time, and in decks "B" ("bad") and "D" ("good") you get a reward only 10% of the time. These decks are well-balanced in their experimental variables.

The result is that:
* Normal controls will feel "anxious" when choosing from "bad" decks (A or B), will learn to choose from "good" decks (C and D), and will "feel bad" when they pick up a card with a severe penalty.
* Prefrontal damaged patients will not feel anxious when choosing from "bad" decks, nor will they learn to choose from "good" decks, but they will "feel bad" when they pick up a deck with a severe penalty.
* Patients with damage to the amygdala will not feel anxious when choosing from "bad" decks, nor will they learn to choose from "good" decks, and they will not "feel bad" when they pick up a deck with a severe penalty.

A quick (but real) apology

Hi all,

Just wanted to apologize to the class and, of course, especially Dave. I was being too jovial this afternoon and made a joke that I didn't really like. I apologize for speaking in a way that doesn't fit a teacher-student relationship. I did not exercise good judgment.

Ben

Adenosine and sleep

Hi all,

We didn't really go into details in class, but there is an interesting chemical ("adenosine ") which builds up in cells during the day and which leads to sleep. Adenosine is the "A" in ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Apparently each time "energy" is used from ATP, a phosphate "arm" is removed. After 3 such removals, only adensoine is left. Thus, a buildup of adenosine in a cell is a marker of high energy levels.

Details about how this system works and how adenosine is then used to trigger sleep can be found in this article.

The Claustrum and Consciousness

Hi all,

We didn't have much of a chance to talk about the basal ganglia in class. Professor Johnson mentioned that the claustrum, a less well-known part of the basal ganglia, has actually been discussed by some famous consciousness researchers as the "seat of consciousness".

This is actually really cool, so I grabbed some articles on the topic:


Nature article introducing the basic idea:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v435/n7045/full/4351040a.html

Original source paper (by Sir Francies Crick & Christof Koch)
http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/r9nm1tuxan9yd7ap/fulltext.pdf

More info about the claustrum (a comparative neuroscience paper in BBS)
http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowPDF&ArtikelNr=6581&Ausgabe=224657&ProduktNr=223831&filename=6581.pdf

Midterm 2 Grades

Hi all,

I've finished grading midterm 2. Here are some results:

Mean: 81.05%
Max: 99%
Min: 55.83%

For all who signed privacy waivers, your grade is posted here. Exams will be handed back on Tuesday. Remember, no study section on Monday (school is closed for the holiday!)

A histogram showing the distribution of scores can be found here.