Drawing…It’s all about testing my memory

My assignment this week was to draw the image of a stranger from memory. I had to look at the stranger’s picture for a minute after finding it from the Internet and come up with the sketch. Here’s the original picture I found: 

 And here is what I came up with from drawing:  

I am not an artist, so please do not judge. J

The stranger I drew had some remarkable features. The technique I used to remember his image was association with familiar images and colors. The man on the picture has a well-defined face. He also has a long face, just like my father. The shape of his face was something I remembered because it reminded me of my dad. This stranger also has thick eyebrows, I do not. Thinking of this contrast helped me remember that aspect of the stranger’s face, especially because I wish I had thicker brows. 

For the things I did not remember or notice: I  remembered that the stranger was wearing a colored shirt which I thought was green. I associated the color of his shirt with the UNT color and that helped me remember the shirt he was wearing. Anyway, his shirt looks more turquoise than green. Also, I did not pay attention to the background of the stranger’s picture.  It was blue with some letters going across it. I also did not know that there were buttons on the collar of the man’s shirt, even though I they black and actually quite visible. I actually thought he had more buttons running down the front of his shirt. This forgetfulness of mine can be explained by this National Geographic video that explains how selective the brain is. We therefore are unable to remember information that our brains do not deem valuable after 20 seconds.

References

National Geographic. (n.d.). National geographic: Test your brain episode 3 - memory. Retrieved from http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xq2gon_national-geographic-test-your-brain-episode-3-memory_shortfilms

Ha! My evolution as a learner…a journey from high school to grad school

I believe in working smart, not working too hard. That is a philosophy that I incorporate into my studies. This does not mean that I don’t commit 100 percent to my studies; it simply means that I have adopted learning techniques which make learning less strenuous for me.           

I knew from an early age that I loved stories. I was that student who read a novel assigned to high school students seven years before I was assigned that novel for a class. One learning strategy that I have used over the years has been to make stories out of my lessons. Stories are fun to remember and they have certain elements that help make them more memorable; such as: conflict, characters and the progression of the plot. I study subjects that appeal to me and that way, I can take on the role of the character(s). That helps me remember the things that are important to me. As fate would have it, I now teach a storytelling class which makes learning fun and memorable for our students.

Another learning technique that works for me is attending my classes and taking down notes. In high school, I tried to write down almost every word that my professors said in class. Luckily, that worked for me. However, I realized as the years went by, especially in graduate school that concentrating on writing so much actually distracted me. Now I listen more during lectures and only write down concepts and ideas that I may have had a hard time understanding when I read through my textbooks. Reading the short notes I take in class helps me remember my lectures.

“…Anything less than six hours—hurts women more than it does men” – Thanks, CNN!

I just had to use that quote from an article I read on cnn.com yesterday. You might be wondering why I started off this post with a quote from an article on heart health. Well, February is Heart Month in America. One of the things our hearts and brains need to function better is sleep. I have been taking Luminosity’s training exercises for the past 12 days and it’s been interesting to see how much better I’ve gotten as the days go by (most of those days).

My score on the first day of training was not great. I blame that on the medium being new to me. My speed, identification and retention of elements spiked up after that and I was on a continuous rise for days after that. However, three days ago, my sleep patterns changed. I slept late and woke up early. My Brain Performance Index stalled for the first time. Today, I even got less sleep, I feel grumpy, and I’m rocking a slight headache. My BPI dipped by 15 points L

On the good days, I noticed that I was paying attention to more than one thing because of the games Luminosity offered me. I would look out for birds and letters shown on different parts of the screen at the same time. I got to solve math problems given to me in raindrops that went down on my screen in seconds, and I also had to memorize patterns and repeat what I had seen on the screen.

I can therefore state that the daily use of activities offered by Luminosity helped me, and could help many other users memorize important facts, increase task speed and accuracy and solve problems. One of the instances when those activities might not help might involve sleep deprivation. Maybe someone needs to find out if a sleep-deprived woman’s cognitive processes slow down more than it does in a sleep-deprived male.

And so in honor of American Heart Month, y’all get some sleep!

Reference

Christensen, J. (2014, February 13). Women: 5 ways to protect your heart. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/health/women-heart-health/index.html?sr=fb021314womanhearthealth2p

Don't judge- It's all about perception!

I find myself doing this so often. Heck, I recently went out of my way at my local grocery store to have a second and long look at an interesting outfit I saw on some unknown lady. I stare. But usually, I don’t get caught. If I did, I might keep my curiosity to myself, but I think I have mastered the art of staring.

Just yesterday, I went to the Green Mountain coffee shop on UNT’s main campus. I bought my favorite beverage, a caramel macchiato and moved away from the shop. The sitting area just next to it was lightly occupied. About seven students, mostly male were seated there. Some studying, others discussing with friends. I found a seat far away from everyone else and took out a book and pen. At first it looked like I was writing, then reading, but all I was doing was drawing circles in anticipation of the staring match I was about to begin.

Then I found my muse. She had interesting hair like I sometimes do. It was dyed green (I usually stick with red). I think I chose her because she had dared to look different from everyone else. And so I looked at her face, my pen in my mouth for a long time as she toyed with her phone. She did not look up for a while. I stared some more. And then the moment I dreaded happened. She lifted her head and caught me watching. My reflex action was to turn my face.

The Name of the Game I Now Play

Happy New Year everyone! Where I come from (Cameroon) it's not too late to say  "happy new year" if you haven't communicated with someone since the first of the year. Considering that it's been over two years since I posted anything, Happy New Year again my friends! :)
This time around I am back to blogging because of my cognitive science class (sigh). Just kidding. I must admit that it is hard for me to put my thoughts together in a blog post. Persistence is however the name of the game I now play.
I look forward to an exciting semester of classwork and blogging.
Peace!
Jenny

Three down, one more to go!

I can hardly believe that I am almost completing my third semester here at the University of North Texas. I have one more semester to go before moving to next destination. Fall 2011 has not been the easiest semester to survive. Having to deal with an increased work load and the loss of a dear friend has left me feeling very tired. I once questioned if I was learning anything this semester, but I now know that I did.

I took three classes this semester and so I thought I should share what I learned from each of those classes. Hopefully, that could enlighten someone else.

Media Ethics

Media organizations have policies which govern them. There are also state and Federal laws which protect the audience from certain of the media’s actions. There are however so many things the media could do that would harm the audience, irrespective of the laws and guidelines. I have learned to consider the feelings of stakeholders in the execution of my duties. Having the power to publish something or hide it it does not mean that I must use it. I have to minimize harm at all times.

Seminar in Public Relations

Public relations is all about relationships. Technology has made it easier for people to connect these days. Once you make those relationships, maintain them, they always come in handy.

Writing a communications plan for this class has also been an eye-opener. I am not likely to forget the lessons we had on the importance of planning and research in the process of producing a communications plan. Those lessons are relevant for everything else I could do in my career.

Research Methods II

The great quantitative research class terrified me long before I signed up for the class. This is probably the most intense and challenging class I have ever taken. It is also one of the most rewarding classes I have ever taken. Noticing how much of the course material I could understand, I feel like a winner. I learned that journalists and PR professionals use statistics in their professions. This class was therefore not a plan by the school to frustrate me, but a necessity.

With only a week left before this semester rounds up, I can confidently say that it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!

Meet Eric Nadel, Broadcaster & PRO for the Texas Rangers

Eric Nadel has been the radio sports announcer for the Texas Rangers for 33 years. He is sharp, smart, funny and to some very important people. Eric is still in disbelief that the Rangers didn’t win the World Series this year.

Eric has known what he wanted to be in life from a very early age; get paid to announce baseball games. Upon graduating from Brown University, Eric held a few jobs including one with a minor league hockey team for six years.

Eric doesn’t have a degree in journalism, but he knows about being ethical in his broadcasts. He doesn’t have a degree in public relations, but he’s charged with portraying the Rangers in a positive light.

Here are a few things Eric shared with my media ethics class this past Wednesday: his first duty is to the audience, and also to the team. After all, who signs his paychecks? Eric says his job is not to release breaking news to the public, but he may talk about information that has already been published.

 He mentioned the 2009 incident involving Josh Hamilton as one instance where he had to think both about the audience and the team’s image. Eric says he learned that pictures of a half-naked Hamilton in a strip club were released on a website prior to a game. He had to decide whether or not to mention the incident in his broadcast and how often he was going to refer to it. He is fortunate to have a boss who is a public relations professional, and saw the importance of being honest with the crowd about the Hamilton affair.  Eric did what he thought was best for both the audience and the team, and led his presentation with details from Hamilton’s press conference. He told the truth, but didn’t repeat it.

·         Be aware of what is happening at your organization or in the news

·         Seek to know the truth from a firsthand source if possible

·         Verify with your boss if they want that information release, and build an argument for your position if your boss disagrees with you

·         Tell the truth, once people are aware of the truth, not mentioning it makes you look shady

·         Remember you don’t have to be repetitive once you’ve told the truth.

Make no mistakes; while Nadel may seem to you like a spin master for the Rangers, he says he is sometimes critical of them. He remembers his first years on the job when he was less likely to criticize the team. Not only was he new at a job he wanted to keep, but he had a personal relationship with many of the payers who were about his age. Now he is older than all the players, and only maintains a cordial and impersonal relationship with them, something which enables him to criticize them when necessary. At the end of the day, it always helps to be independent from your sources if you want to remain a fair and unbiased source of information. Eric Nadel shows us that there is a way to associate with your sources, yet tell the truth about them.