Class Assignments (aka "Reading Responses")

This page will contain all of your "reading response" prompts. As a reminder, all reading responses must be between 150-200 words in length, and are submitted through Canvas. Please pay attention to the due date; while most of these assignments are due on Tuesdays, not all are! (Including even the first one.)

1. Assigned 8/28, due 9/4:

   In class we compared the brain to both a sponge and a bicycle. Which of these comparisons better fits the case of Phineas Gage, and why?

2. Assigned 9/4, due 9/9:

   In class today, Prof. Firestone gave an example of an important difference between understanding language and doing calculus. What was that difference, and how did we demonstrate it in class?

3. Assigned 9/11, due 9/16:

   “Perception is impossible”. (a) Explain why someone would say this, and (b) give an example from class about how the visual system overcomes this problem.

4. Assigned 9/30, due 10/7:

   Although forming a memory has something in common with storing a file in a cabinet or saving a file on a computer, it also is different than those processes.
   
   Use an example from one of our in-class “memory tests” to make this point — i.e., to make the point that memory doesn’t work exactly the same as storing a file in a cabinet or a computer.

5. Assigned 10/9, due 10/14:

   In our lecture today, we discussed the “Three Ds” of mental illness. Give an example from everyday life where someone’s experience does not count as mental illness because they experience only one, but not all, of the three Ds.

6. Assigned 10/23, due 10/28:

   Your friend is a medical resident currently on the 24th hour of their shift. Using material that we covered in class, explain to them why it would be safer for their patients if they got some sleep. Try to be concrete in making your case; go beyond saying that people generally make better decisions on a good night's sleep.