Outstanding Masters Award
The 2011 Outstanding Masters Award goes to Níall Lally, of University College London, for his dissertation on the glutamatergic correlates of cognitive processing. Congratulation to Níall, who will be writing an article for the Quarterly in the near future! Below is an abstract of Níall’s award-winning work.
Simultaneous in-vivo proton spectroscopy and electroencephalography: preliminary results and evidence from a novel methodology
Although electroencephalography (EEG) has been used to probe the neural correlates of human perception for nearly a century, the exact neurochemical underpinnings of both event related potentials (ERPs) and oscillatory activity in the human brain remain to be determined. Here, we present a novel methodology of combined EEG and event related proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (ER-1H-MRS), which can be used non-invasively and concurrently,
to probe both electrical and chemical activity in the human brain. 14 healthy right handed individuals participated. Informed consent was obtained and ethical approval granted. In the scanner, participants were shown drawings of familiar and unfamiliar objects in a repetition suppression paradigm previously shown to modulate gamma oscillations (Gruber & Muller, 2005). Participants responded by pressing a button to indicate that the object was either familiar or unfamiliar. Each object, familiar and unfamiliar, was shown 3 and there were 256 per block, of which there was three. Time locked single voxel (15*15*20 mm) 1H-MRS data were collected from the lateral occipital cortex every 3s using a Philips 3T. EEG data were concurrently acquired using MR compatible hardware. Here we present, to our knowledge, the first successful evidence of concurrently acquired event-related 1H-MRS and EEG data. Utilizing this technique we find a strong positive correlation between Glu levels and evoked oscillatory activity in the gamma range. Additionally, we find increased glutamatergic activity in response to unfamiliar objects as opposed to familiar objects in the lateral occipital cortex. Finally, we also demonstrate a significant interaction between stimulus type and presentation, with familiar objects decreasing gamma activity when repeated and the opposite for unfamiliar objects.
These results together, evidence the strong utility of this technique in probing cognition. This multi-modal imaging method has particular potential for clinical practice, where numerous conditions present with abnormal EEG.
This work was funded by the Welsh Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and the Medical
Research Council
HEAPN/PsyPAG Postgraduate Teaching Award 2011
The 2011 National Psychology Postgraduate Teaching Award went to Yosef Gavriel Ansara, a second year PhD student from the Department of Psychology at the University of Surrey. Known as ‘Gavi’ by his friends, he was nominated for this award by Professor Martyn Barrett and undergraduate student, Alexander Eckardt for his enhancements to the departments learning and teaching and his outstanding support of students.
In Gavi’s nomination, Martyn described how when he and Gavi took over the department’s tutorial programme, they found it in need of serious revision and proceeded to undertake a complete redesign. While it was a team effort, Martyn notes how Gavi took the lead on the work to be done, all the while interjecting novel and exciting ideas about how to stimulate and challenge students and enhance their critical-evaluative skills. The changes made to the tutorial programme led to a complete shift to more of a student-led curriculum that focuses upon developing critical thinking skills, integrating cross-cultural and international perspectives and addressing the societal relevance of psychological topics.
In addition to the lasting impact made by Gavi on the tutorial programme, he has shown a deep commitment to supporting students academically and personally. Gavi actively challenges disablism having helped students to overcome barriers to achieving their academic potential. He provides support for a visually impaired student and mentors another with Asperger’s neurotype for the Office of Additional Learning Support. As the first elected Trans Representative Officer for the LGBT Society, Gavi works to promote equality and inclusion for students of all sexual orientations and genders. His advocacy for students who experienced harassment led him to make recommendations to improve campus support and safety which the University incorporated into their safety action plan.
Included in his nomination were many positive comments from Gavi’s students. However, Alex provided an endorsement sure to be inspiring to anyone who teaches.
He embraced his role as a tutor through the content of the material that he chose for us to study, the way that we studied it, and through his constant encouragement, positive feedback, enthusiasm for learning and always being there to help… He always chose issues for discussion in tutorials that were interesting and relevant to us as students, and which encouraged us to think ‘outside the box’ about the assumptions of research and the wider social implications of research. He offered great academic support in helping us to write …evaluative essays which not only provided a good description of theories and findings but also offered good evaluations of the research methods…he chose challenging journal articles for us to read which questioned the assumptions of whole lines of research in psychology…he would help us to think about alternative ways of looking at the material and how to question things that are laid down as fact in textbooks and journals.
His enthusiasm and love for Psychology really comes out in his teaching…He would never hesitate to help me when I needed it, whether during tutor time or not, and even now in my second year when I am no longer in his tutorial group, he is always there to offer me advice, feedback and support when I ask.
Finally, in terms of encouraging our interest in Psychology, we need to look no further than at Gavi to see what he has achieved himself. He is an inspirational role model, and his great mixture of cultures, positive personality and understanding and insight gives him a perfect psychological vantage point for us all to aspire to.
This annual award given by the Postgraduates who Teach (PGwT) and the Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group (PsyPAG) goes to a most deserving recipient in 2011. Congratulations, Gavi! Well done!
PsyPAG 2010 Conference Award Winners
This year’s conference offered up a bumper crop of excellent talks and posters, resulting in a tough decision for our judges. Congratulations to our winners, runners-up and honourable mentions! You can find the abstracts of their talks and posters here.
Oral presentation
Winner
* Kirsten Bartlett
Runners-up
* David Ellis
* Chantelle Bailey
Commendations
* Noelle McAra
* Rachael Martin
* Robin Kramer
* Andrew Thomas
* David Houghton
* Jack Melson
* Catherine Lawrence
Poster
Winner
* Katherine Burnett
Commendations
* Katie Dhingra
* Sophie Pettit
* Charlotte Taylor
* Lyndsey Hughes
Rising Researcher Award Winner
Congratulations to Sophie von Stumm of Goldsmiths University, who has been selected as the winner of PsyPAG’s 2010 Rising Researcher Award. Sophie’s doctoral research focuses on investigating methodological problems in computing intelligence-personality associations and examines if and how personality traits affect adult intellect. Sophie has had a number of publications, including articles in the British Journal of Psychology and Personality and individual Differences. You can find further information about Sophie and her research interests at her web page and she will be writing an article for a future edition of the Quarterly.