...well kind of. I haven't finished collecting data yet (stupid saliva being a biohazard delaying my experiment), but since I have to present what I've got so far at the conference in NY I've had to analyse it already.
And things actually happened! While you might expect that when you have a reasonable idea, and test it, that it should work out as expected, this actually happens a lot less than you'd think. Then you have to set out to look for why things didn't happen how you wanted. So for this to work is very exciting (well for me at least). In short (see here for longer explanation of my experiment), people that experienced a greater cortisol (stress hormone) change following watching a film, were more likely to have false memories of the film a week later. Also, those who experienced a greater cortisol change were also more likely to report more distress symptoms in the following week too. HOORAY! Well, not hooray for people having distress symptoms (nothing too bad don't worry), but considering I thought they'd be related and they are, I'm very happy. Hopefully that made sense and you can see why I'm excited.
 |
| Professor Frink, my favourite nerd |
Or you can see why I'm a giant nerd.
Yay, that's so exciting!! Hope New York goes great :)
ReplyDeleteI saw the picture of Professor Frink before I started reading the post, and my brain got stuck reading the entire damn post in his voice... it's like my brain has a mind of its own.
ReplyDeleteThat's my best shot at a psychology joke for you ; )
and honestly, reading it in his voice actually made me laugh out loud a little. Fun times.
p.s. I'm really curious about what kind of distressing videos you're showing these people! Are you allowed to tell me?
ReplyDelete@ April - the distressing film is of emergency services tending to victims of a car accident, it's a bit gory. I feel a bit mean showing it really!
ReplyDeleteSo, the more stressed I am, the more my mental recollection can't be trusted? Does that mean if a guy walks around angry all of the time, then there's a great chance that he has a warped sense of reality?
ReplyDeleteWhoa :-O