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HOW THE BRAIN WORKS (BIG BRAIN)
1
WINDOW INTO THE BRAIN
Prior to 1970s, neuroscientists had to
study brains postmortem. Modern
technology has allowed psychologists
and neuroscientists to better
understand the workings of the brain
using electrode to measure brain
activity
2
QUESTIONS
WHAT IS THE MIND?
1 What “stuff” is the mind made of?
WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY FEATURES OF

2 THE MIND?
Can you know your OWN mind?
IS THE MIND THE BRAIN?

3 Do the mind and brain form unity?
3
“
MIND TALK
VS.
BRAIN TALK
4
MIND TALK VS. BRAIN TALK
1. What is the difference 4. Do you think the brain
between mind and brain and the mind are different
talk?
or one and the same?
2. Why is the “mind” so
controversial?
3. Do you ever
interchange the mind and
brain in conversation?
5
CASE STUDY:
PHINEAS GAGE
Read the article and case study, then reﬂect:
1. Do you think the change in behaviour was a matter of

“brain” damage OR could it have been an issue of the
“mind”? Explain.
2. Based on other studies that you may be aware of, what
else could have caused the change in behaviour
experienced by Gage?
6
SENSE AND
PERCEPTION
All branches are concerned
with human mental
processes. There are 2 stages:
sensation and perception.
7
SENSATION PERCEPTION
The process that The process that
activates our sense allows us to select,
receptors: sight, organize and
hearing, smell, taste interpret sensory
and touch - signals in the brain.
transmitting signals
to the brain.
HUMANS
We make regular decisions about what to pay attention to and
what it means, which is an ability that is essential for survival and
success.
We are able to process situations and immediately determine

what to do.
Ex. You are driving a car and see a light in your peripheral vision.
You determine that it is a car moving in your path, and you swerve
to avoid an accident.
COMPUTERS
Cannot sense, perceive or react.
The human brain can compensate when our senses are off.
Ex. If you lost your sense of smell, it is likely that one of your
other senses becomes heightened in order to make sense
of what you are experiencing.
Can you think of a situation where this has occurred?

During the process of
perception, the mind
performs 3 tasks:
1 2 3
Selecting Organizing Interpreting
Paying attention to some Shaping information into Deciding what the sensation
other things and not to something we understand means.
others
Ex. if something is safe or
dangerous
Good example of a Brain study: Can you read this?
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The famous "Stroop Effect" is named after J. Ridley
Stroop who discovered this strange phenomenon
in the 1930s.
Here is your job:

Name the colors of the following words.
Do NOT read the words...rather, say the color of
the words. For example, if the word "BLUE" is
printed in a red color, you should say "RED".
Have your peer time you.

BLUE GREEN YELLOW
PINK RED ORANGE
GREY BLACK PURPLE
VIOLET WHITE BROWN
None of us see the world in exactly
the same way, and perception is
influenced by these factors:
1. The object itself;
2. The background or surroundings;
3. The experiences and feelings of the person who is perceiving.
COGNITION
This is the term used by psychologists to describe how we
acquire, store and use knowledge
18
Negative thoughts
No one likes me
I feel sad
I stay in bed all day

PERCEPTUAL SET
Our perceptual sets are influenced by our experiences and
expectations - this in turn is how we view the world
Ex. if in your experience, babies dressed in pink were girls,

you might be surprised to learn that a pink-outfitted infant
was named William
THINK ABOUT IT:
1. Describe a situation where your perceptual set
influenced your behaviour.
2. Why do you think our brain needs to interpret

what our eyes see?
3. How might advertisers use the psychological

study of sense and perception to market and sell
their products? Consider how the advertiser
presents the object and the surroundings. What
does the advertiser attempt to appeal to?
CONTROLLING
OUR BRAIN
“Everything we do
[meditation, diet, exercise,
studying and virtually all
other activities] alters the
brain.” 22
ARE YOU
HAPPY?
23
CASE STUDY
University of Wisconsin-Madison wanted to
know if it’s possible to control the changes in
our brains that help people?
MEDITATION
Claim: Buddhist Monks are the happiest people on
earth.
Monks are not born with this frame of mind, it’s based
on 10,000 hours of meditation.
This study did in fact find that through meditation,
the monks had altered several pats of their brains.
YOGA
What did the Harvard Medical School study find?
In another study conducted by Harvard Medical
School, they found that yoga did in fact also have an
impact on the brain
The research showed promise in improving symptoms
linked to depression, anxiety and epilepsy
THINK ABOUT IT:
1. Have you ever meditated or practiced yoga?
If so how did you feel after? If not, why?
2. Why do you think the research shows
“promise” rather than being conclusive? What
reasons can you give?
Give it a try…
Enlarge the reading
and complete the
questions.
Does language affect
thought?
How do we learn language?
What do we learn at different stages?
By ages 1-2 - single words
Age 2+ multiple-word statements
B.F. Skinner Noam Chomsky
Language through association Biologically prepared to learn words
Elizabeth Bate: Psycholinguistics

Language occurs in many areas of the brain
Enlarge the reading and
and take notes.
SAPIR-WHORF hypothesis
The hypothesis states that a person’s perception of the world and how they
experience the world is determined and influenced y the language that they
speak
Example:
- Constructions of Gender in Language: Many languages are “gendered:, creating
word associations that pertain to the roles of men and women in society.
- Perceptions of time in language:

Structured in a language may dictate how people perceive the concept of time.
Is language
ACQUIRED OR
LEARNED?
Language and thought
SAPIR-WHORF hypothesis: Speakers of different languages think and
behave differently. Thoughts are shaped by the language that we speak
The 1930S theory has recently been supported by Stanford University
Ex. English speakers remembering certain acts, vs. Spanish language speakers
focusing on different actions, thus recalling and remembering different details
The “Teenage Brain”
BIOLOGY SOCIALIZATION
- Use it or lose it - Studies show that not all teens
- Crucial brain development experience difficult transitions
- Ages 10-25 - Issue: in western culture, teens
- Late development of front of usually interact only with other
temporal lobes could explain teens, but when interaction with
erratic and poor decisions adults are treated like children
- Thus not taught to become
adults
Enlarge the reading
and and take notes.
Use the information
to support your
responses to the
questions not the next
slide
Enlarge the reading
and complete the
questions.
THINK ABOUT IT:
1. Why do you think psychologists study
language acquisition?
2. How do the ideas of Chomsky and Boroditsky
connect to your understanding of learning
new words or languages?
3. Which explanation of teenage behaviour do
you think is more accurate? Why? Provide
examples to support your ideas.

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HOW THE BRAIN WORKS (BIG BRAIN)

WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY FEATURES OF

IS THE MIND THE BRAIN?

1. Do you think the change in behaviour was a matter of

We are able to process situations and immediately determine

Can you think of a situation where this has occurred?

7H15 M3554G3 53RV35 70 PR0V4 H0W 0UR

1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG 1T WA5 H4RD BU7 N0W,

Here is your job:

Have your peer time you.

I stay in bed all day

Ex. if in your experience, babies dressed in pink were girls,

2. Why do you think our brain needs to interpret

3. How might advertisers use the psychological

Elizabeth Bate: Psycholinguistics

- Perceptions of time in language:

The 1930S theory has recently been supported by Stanford University

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