BIO 12 UNIT 13: Divisions of the Nervous System BCLN Rev.

July, 2015

Name: ___________________

Project 2: Brain Paper Review

Potential Credits: /15

Project Goals:
to expand upon and demonstrate your understanding of how the brain works

to practice reading peer-reviewed, scientific papers as this is an extremely valuable skill

if you wish to be an independent learner within the world at large

Instructions:
Please read the Unit 13 Lesson, Divisions of the Nervous System and Brain, in its entirety.

Please find, read and do a brief review of a scientific paper related to how the brain
functions. This paper may be found online or in print source however, it must come from
a peer-reviewed scientific journal/magazine.
o Please note that there are some excellent psychology magazines that are readily
available at bookstores such as Chapters including:
Psychology Today
Scientific American Mind
o Please note that there are also many on-line Psychology Journals/Magazines with
full or partial free content. Many of these journals/magazines can be found and
accessed through the world-newspaper.com website at:
http://www.world-newspapers.com/psychology.html

Please complete the Scientific Paper Review template (provided below) in point form.
Please feel free to provide all of the same information on a separate piece of paper if you
do not have enough room. However, please keep in mind that the idea is to keep your
summary and response as clear and concise as possible.

Marking Guide:
summary of basic article information and source /1
identification of main focus of article /1
description/explanation of key ideas and findings of article /5
definitions of important and/or new terms /3
critical response to article /5
Total = /15

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BIO 12 UNIT 13: Divisions of the Nervous System BCLN Rev. July, 2015

SCIENTIFIC PAPER REVIEW

Paper Title The Incredible Thinking Machine

Author(s) National Science Foundation

Scientific Journal yes

Date Published March 16th 2017

Pages 8

Volume

Issue

URL (if accessed online) http://discovermagazine.com/galleries/2017/march/the-brain

Main Focus/Thesis The article is about different functions and facts of brains in many
What is the article about? organisms.

Summary of Key
Ideas/Findings/Conclusions
What are the key
ideas/findings/conclusions?
How are these key
ideas/finding/conclusions relevant
or how might they be applied?
Small creatures like sea hares brain can be used for
research to learn about functions of the brain.
As human neurons develop, they build elaborate social
networks.
Thinking and action is based on neurons give and take
with each other which triggers the brain circuits.

Definitions of Any New or Key Terms Cerebral Cortex - outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of
the brain

Diffusion tensor imaging - MRI-based neuroimaging technique

which makes it possible to estimate the location, orientation, and
anisotropy of the brain's white matter tracts.

The strengths of the research is that it is able to research other

Critical Response creatures to benefit humans as we can learn to control chemicals to
If any, what are the strengths of advance in treatment of many neurological disease.
the research/approach?
If any, what are the weaknesses of A question that I had about the article is if all the brains of all the
the research/approach? organisms have similar structure.
If any, what lasting impressions
and/or questions did the article
leave you with?

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BIO 12 UNIT 13: Divisions of the Nervous System BCLN Rev. July, 2015

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