The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain

I was going through my books today and rediscovered a wonderful reference for class.  It's called The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain.  It takes a person from 5 am and waking up, what brain chemicals are activating us and other sensory issues.  It goes on to deal with coming to consciousness, morning emotions, directions to work, facing others, performance at work/stress, decision making, the hungry brain, the tired brain, boredom, pain, exercise, the dimming of the day, getting home from work, music, humor, love and lust, getting to sleep, falling to sleep, sleeping and problems, and people who have to work at night.  The book is at a reading level appropriate for those of use brushing up on brain science as well as high school students.

In short, take any person on any day and the book will have a section on what is happening in a person's brain.  I can imagine a creative teacher, with proper resources, making this a class assignment--what is going on with the brain and rest of the biology of humans during each part of the day, and dividing it up like the chapters/sections of this book.  If you do that, just keep this book hidden ;)


posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Scientific American--Recent Articles

Scientific American has been rife with articles about psychological topics of late. In addition to the usual in Scientific American Mind, recent articles deal with cognitive enhancers, depression, blushing and more.

Depression's Evolutionary Roots
Why Does Music Make Us Feel?
Girl Brain, Boy Brain
Why We Blush: The Social Purpose of Showing Embarrassment
A New Vision of Teaching Science
Smile: It Could Make You Happier

I am such a fan of these two magazines. They highlight current research as well as give us potential examples of nearly everything we do within our psychology classes. If you are not already a subscriber, I recommend it. Otherwise, keep up with the news with what they post online.

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