Mindlab

Psychology Club for Santa Monica College, 2006-2007

Imagine you are reading your Psychology textbook, preparing for a class, and a particular subject caught your imagination and curiosity. It's about proprioception, and is a case where a doctor claims to be the first to amputate a ghost limb. Imagine you go to the source, read the popular science book he wrote, and find out it's a great story. You tell your friends and write a couple of words about the experiment. Imagine that you convince some of your friends to replicate some of the experiments he describes, like trying to trick yourself that an object, say, a book, is actually part of your body, and that you actually experience that phenomenon. You are all so surprised that you send a letter to the professor that make the original experiments and ask him to come and talk to some of you about it, and perhaps, how he went on to study psychology. He might even be looking for a research assistant.

That is what mindlab is.

Experiment. Connect. Network

I Experiment

In this lab we replicate experiments that are interesting to us, from maze-rats to clams, from Ash's to Ramachandran's. We read the actual experiments and then replicate them. We see if they work or not, and then come up with an explanation. Just doing science.

II Connect

Share with the community what you found. Can you trick yourself into believing a table is part of you? Do we actually comply with what majority say? Is there a connection with our face and our hands? Let others know what you actually found out, and contrast it with what other predicted, including the author of the original experiment.

III Network

Bring real scientist to SMC and ask them about the experiments you replicate. Maybe they did it to when they where undergrads, and that's how it all started for them. Hear what they are doing at graduate level research. Maybe they have a spot left in their lab.

Mindlab. You already have the instrument you'll need and the subject matter.

To join put your name, SMC ID, AS Sticker, Phone number, email address, and signature here: __________________________________________________