Unusual Presentation Formats
The fellows had a "data blitz" tonight. Twenty-two of us (presumably those with more dubious judgment than the other 130) gave Powerpoint presentations on the research we did before the fellowship--in 90 seconds each, with cowbells and audience mocking if we went over time. This is a sufficiently limiting format all by itself, but...
S and I had an argument a few weeks ago about whether rhyme or alliteration was a better mnemonic technique. S opined that either was preferable to the usual presentation format at scientific conferences...
So, Experiment 1 from my masters thesis:
Some say that memory is pure and clear:
If photographic, photoshop’s to blame;
Beliefs and distant outcomes we hold dear
Can quickly shift a face, a fact, a name.
Two psychics split predictions, ill and good:
One knows the future eight times out of ten;
One errs more oft than guessing ever could;
We ask the readers who said what and then
Using ANOVAs we compare recall
Of trusted sources saying things desired
And saying what we hate to think at all
And thus we see the way the mind is wired:
What’s wished for trumps the truth, often with ease;
The mind holds back much trouble the eye sees.
And yes, it went over well. In a room full of biologists and chemists. One of whom invited me to a Shakespeare reading party. Have I mentioned that I love my colleagues?
I'm never going to look at Enrique Borgos's seduction attempts in A Civil Campaign quite the same way again.
S and I had an argument a few weeks ago about whether rhyme or alliteration was a better mnemonic technique. S opined that either was preferable to the usual presentation format at scientific conferences...
So, Experiment 1 from my masters thesis:
Some say that memory is pure and clear:
If photographic, photoshop’s to blame;
Beliefs and distant outcomes we hold dear
Can quickly shift a face, a fact, a name.
Two psychics split predictions, ill and good:
One knows the future eight times out of ten;
One errs more oft than guessing ever could;
We ask the readers who said what and then
Using ANOVAs we compare recall
Of trusted sources saying things desired
And saying what we hate to think at all
And thus we see the way the mind is wired:
What’s wished for trumps the truth, often with ease;
The mind holds back much trouble the eye sees.
And yes, it went over well. In a room full of biologists and chemists. One of whom invited me to a Shakespeare reading party. Have I mentioned that I love my colleagues?
I'm never going to look at Enrique Borgos's seduction attempts in A Civil Campaign quite the same way again.