Psych. 300P Social Neuroscience

 

Fall 2005 Paper Assignment

 

 

x    Related links:




The following are required to fulfill the NEIU capstone requirement:

 

1.  Proposal.  Must be approved by 2 reviewers on the NEIU capstone committee, in addition to Dr. Rueckert.  You should expect to turn in at least 2, and probably more, drafts of this proposal to Dr. Rueckert before it is forwarded to the committee.  For more information on what is required in the proposal, click here.

 

2.  Paper.  The final paper must be at least15 pages long (not including the Title, Abstract, Reference pages, or any Tables or Figures).  It must include at least 15 primary references, and be written according to APA style.  You will have to turn in at least 2, and maybe more, drafts of this paper.

 

The paper must include a Title page, Abstract, and Reference list, in addition to the main text.  You may want to break the main text down into smaller subsections.   If you choose Option 2, below, it must also include a Method, Results, and Discussion section.  

 

The paper must include at least 15 primary references.  A primary reference is one written by the original experimenter, and does not include textbooks, popular newspaper or magazine articles, or Web pages.  Most articles you find with Psych. Info. will be primary references.  NEIU librarians may recommend that you use the free online journals instead of Psych. Info., but these are usually not as good as the journals covered by Psych. Info.  You should expect to get some of your articles through Interlibrary Loan, and make sure you factor that into your time frame.  In some rare cases, you may find it impossible to get 15 references (e.g. if your topic is a relatively rare neuropsychological disorder).  In this case, you can see me and I may give you permission to have fewer than 15 references.

 

Whenever possible, you should cite the original source.  If you can’t cite the original source, you may cite a secondary source under certain conditions (see APA manual for proper format).  When you cite something you should have read the whole article, not just the abstract.

 

 

3.  Oral presentation.  Everyone will be required to give a short oral presentation of their paper.  Information on this will be given later.

 

 

 

Choosing a topic

 

 

You should choose a topic covered in class that you would like to know more about, and research it in more detail.  Your topic can be any area covered in class, but make sure it’s not too broad, or you will have too much to cover.  For example, you wouldn’t want to write a paper on “autism”, but you might want to do “role of the cerebellum is autism”.   Because this is a class in social neuroscience, the topic of the paper must include both social and neural aspects. 

 

Because the Capstone paper is a large project that requires in-depth knowledge of the topic, you are strongly encouraged to do a project that is an extension of something you have done, or are doing, in another class, such as social psych., physiological psych., or a lab class.  Obviously you cannot turn in the same paper you wrote before – you are expected to cover the topic in much greater depth, or to add some dimension (i.e. add a physiological dimension to a paper you wrote for social psych).

 

You don’t necessarily have to know exactly what your topic will be to start.  You may identify a general area, obtain and read a few articles, and then narrow it down.

 

You are very strongly encouraged to discuss potential topics with me (Dr. Rueckert) via email, prior to the first day of class.  Note that you are expected to turn in a brief summary of your topic on the second day of class. 

 

 

Option 1, Empirical Research Report.  This option would involve designing a research study, and collection and analysis of data.  It would also include a literature review, but that would probably be shorter than if you did only the lit review.  This option would be limited by what it would be feasible to do in one semester with no funding.  It would be easiest if your study was an extension of something you did in another class, such as a lab class.  If the study you design involves testing human subjects, you will have to include an IRB application along with your proposal.

 

Possible topics are listed below:

 

Correlation between brain asymmetry, as measured by the free-vision chimeric faces test (available online), and social behavior, or other aspects of personality.

 

Gender differences in personals ads.

 

Gender differences in jealousy.

 

 

 

Option 2, Literature Review.  This is similar to the papers you have probably written for other classes.  It is essentially an Introduction and Discussion section, in which you summarize, integrate, and try to make sense out of studies that have been done by others.  It does not involve any data collection on your part.

 

Possible topics:

 

How do social interactions affect hormonal levels?

 

How do social interactions affect immune function?

 

How are gender differences in social behavior related to differences in the brain?

 

How are gender differences in social behavior related to hormones?

 

Do high levels of testosterone lead to high levels of aggression?

 

Do the frontal lobes control “theory of mind”?

 

Do autistic people have deficits in “theory of mind”?

 

Which neurotransmitters are involved in autism?

 

Which parts of the brain are involved in Asberger’s syndrome?

 

Which parts of the brain are involved in Williams’ syndrome?

 

Which hormones or neurotransmitters are involved in the development of attachment?

 

What is the neurobiological basis of menstrual synchrony?

 

Which parts of the brain are involved in recognizing faces?

 

Which parts of the brain are involved in recognizing emotional expression?

 

 

 

Capstone requirements:  The only difference between Capstone and non-capstone papers is that correct APA style will be somewhat more important for Capstone papers.  Also, the 15 page and 15 reference minimum will be more strictly enforced for Capstone papers.

 

Your paper must not simply explain what has been learned in the past – it must add something to what others have done.  In other words, it must be designed to answer a question that has not yet been answered.  This is easy to do if you are doing an empirical research paper, so long as you are not simply replicating some one else’s study.  It is more difficult if you are doing a lit review.  In your Discussion, you must use what you have learned to draw some new conclusions.

 

 

Due Dates:  (You may actually turn these in earlier in order to ensure finishing the project by the end of the semester).  Points will be deducted every day for late proposals.

 

Sept. 6.  One paragraph summary statement of what your project will cover.

 

Sept. 13.  First draft of proposal.  (20 points)

 

Sept. 27  Second draft of proposal  (20 points)

 

Oct. 25  Oral presentation outline (10 points)

 

Nov. 1.  First draft of paper. (30 points)

 

Nov. 8 through Nov.29?.  Oral presentations of project.  (30 points)

 

Dec. 6  Final draft of paper (30 points)

 

 

Scoring of the paper.  The paper will be scored according to the Psychology Department Capstone scoring criteria (notice the different weight given to different aspects).  For more details, see “Social Neuroscience scoring criteria” handout on the web. 

 

The oral presentation will be scored according to a separate rubric that will be made available later.