Last week we focused on the biology of psychology and its connection to the human experience of thinking and behavior.  This week we turn to Perception and Memory.  Perception is the second part of chapter 4  (pages 159-181), where we will now learn how we construct our experiences in our minds (connecting what we bring in with our senses to what happens in the mind).  We will learn about research support theories that explain much of what we encounter in our daily lives, which will aid in understand ourselves and others.  I encourage you to read through the figures and work through the labs to demonstrate each of these incredible concepts. 

In chapter 7, we introduce the fascinating study of memory, which is a cognitive function that happens at the unconscious level as well as the conscious level.  Memory yet another area of psychology that pervades our lives on a series of levels, and a variety of contexts.  Fun fact, my early research was in memory as this is an area I have always found interesting as it intersects in our lived in many many ways.  This assignment will help you process what you learned as you read the assigned readings. As with last week, and you will see this common theme, the concepts introduced in these two chapter readings do not stand in isolation but rather integrate into the many facets of life.

Once again, adopting and implementing the concept of reflective reading, I want you to reflect on your reading of the assigned chapters for this week (chapter 4, pages 159-181 and chapter 7) and share what crossed your mind as you read the various information presented to you.  Address the following questions as you reflect:

• Are there any concepts that jumped out at you? 
• Did you have any ah-ha moments?  What connections did you make as you were reading? 
• Did you engage in the study break activities provided to you within the chapter and did you find that you had difficulty completing them and/or did you find them helpful?
• Did you develop questions as you were reading that were answered?  Were any of them left unanswered? 
• After reading the assigned reading this week, has it piqued your curiosity to learn more and if so, what questions do you have moving forward?

Use the questions I listed as a guide (use them to guide your reflection – your thinking about your thinking, aka metacognition).  Please share your reflection in a minimum of one full page, not to exceed two pages.  

***Please note, this is not intended to be an exhaustive paper, rather a reflective paper of what you learned (similar to an informal journal entry or an informal conversation).  The purpose of this exercise will help me learn what interests you, where you may need clarification, as well as give you an opportunity to write out your thoughts and deepen your level of learning.  In order to achieve this purpose, please provide at least one full page response.  Let your thoughts flow and then just reread it to be sure that it is readable (your thoughts are clear and make sense to the reader – in this case me).