The View From Carnegie 210: May 2008 Archives

Let's Go Pens!

Image from pittsburghpenguins.com

Tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins play the Detroit Red Wings in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The last time the Pens were in the finals, I was a crazy high school fan screaming for Mario to blast it past the goalie. Now, I'm a crazy old fan screaming for Crosby and Malkin to blast it past the goalie. I know there are thousands of other fans who are going to feel young again when the Pens take the ice. It's wonderful to feel the excitement of the city.

IT'S A HOCKEY NIGHT IN PITTSBURGH !

Be sure to check out the great Mike Lange T-Shirts as well!

UPDATE!

The Pens win an historic Game 5 in the third overtime...visit Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to view a cool video of Coach Therrien, Crosby, and Sykora talking about the game. And, a shout out to Dominos pizza, which seems to have fueled Sykora's goal in overtime!

Posted by Aimee Knupsky at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Update! Can't get those letters out of my mind...

This past semester, the Cognitive Group discussed an article by Nelson, L. D., & Simmons, J. P. (2007) investigating the Name-Letter effect (see the previous entry for details). The group was surprised by the finding that students whose names began with C or D had lower GPAs than students whose names began with A or B. We did our best to analyze the design of the study and to critically consider the context in which the results were presented.

The need for such critiques is made apparent with the publication in Newsweek (November, 2007) of a summary of the effect. A comparison of the Newsweek synopsis with the article itself provides an excellent illustration of how the popular media presents findings from Psychological Science.

To read the Newsweek summary, please continue reading...

Name-Letter Effect

Thanks to Katie Cross for finding the excerpt.

Posted by Aimee Knupsky at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Allegheny Owls...?

Photo: Cindy Hoesch

Looks like Allegheny has a new contender for a mascot...a Great Horned Owl has (temporarily?) made its home in the trees around Carnegie, Shultz, and Bentley halls. Cindy has taken some cool pictures of the owl and has named him Bentley. She's also taken a scary video of the crows trying to scare him away.

To read more about Great Horned Owls, for more pictures of Bentley, and for the scary video, please continue reading...

UPDATE!

After Cindy found Bentley on the ground last week, Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation Center came and took the owl to their center. Unfortunately, Bentley had suffered a concussion and did not make a recovery. However, the Tamarack people informed Cindy that Bentley was an old, female owl and her passing was made peaceful in their center.

Bentley%20the%20Owl%205.jpg

All About Birds: Great Horned Owl

When Crows Attack!

Posted by Aimee Knupsky at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Goodbye To You...

Goodbye to everything I thought I knew...

A fond farewell to my fabulous 2008 comp group! I enjoyed getting to know each of you and it was an honor to work with you all to complete projects that were meaningful, well-designed, and unique. You have certainly created a legacy in terms of fruitful research questions and designs and I hope you will stay in touch to see where future students take your ideas. I am proud of the research community that you have all helped to generate.

Good luck in your future endeavors--please check in often to share your adventures, passions, and achievements.

Posted by Aimee Knupsky at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Embodied Cognition Explained

Image from Deviantart.com

Over the last two years, students in our lab have become interested in the concept of embodied cognition...perhaps due to my enthusiasm for this growing area of research. This year, senior Jamie Skender completed her comprehensive project utilizing ideas from embodied cognition to examine the influence of congruent movement on the recall of words in children (poster). Next year, senior Amber Sharp will be examining the influence of teaching strategies derived from embodied cognition on reading comprehension in children.

In addition, Liz Marsh, a 2009 alum, was recently offered a position in the lab of Art Glenberg, prominent embodied cognition researcher. Liz is particularly excited to be part of the transition of Glenberg's lab from the University of Wisconsin to Arizona State University. Those of us in the cognitive labs at Allegheny hope that Liz will keep us up to date regarding this exciting field.

In the meantime, however, you can listen to Arthur Glenberg explain the early roots of this field as well as his journey through it in the Brain Science Podcast #36: Art Glenberg on Embodied Cognition.

Posted by Aimee Knupsky at 6:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)