Somebody please read and critique this!!!
Statement of Purpose
I was born in a small town, just outside of Chicago. Being the son of two teachers (one of which teaches the hearing impaired, the other a 2nd grade teacher who works as a carpenter in the summers) I have always maintained a passion for learning.
Having grown up so near Chicago and having teachers for parents I was afforded many opportunities-namely, access to museums and books on a by-demand basis-to further my knowledge of the natural world. I went to the Field Museum often and my parents were always more than happy to take me as well as buy books concerning questions I would ask post-visit. I very quickly came to appreciate the acquisition, devination and dissemination of knowledge through my museum visits and early readings. I knew early that whatever I would become it must have something to do with science and the general pursuit of knowledge.
After highschool I took a year off, being careful to pick and choose what I would do for the rest of my life. I chose to attend Indiana University Northwest (IUN), a regional branch of Indiana University in Gary, for at least a year, to save money and test the academic waters. At IUN I signed on to get an Associates degree in Anthropology. I was not to finish that degree, because a year later I transferred to IU and upgraded the Associates I was seeking to a Bachelors in Anthropology. Approximately a year after my move I tacked on another major in East Asian Studies and continued my studies of the Japanese language as well as East Asian culture (both historic and prehistoric). I had difficulties with socio-cultural works as often they were prone to omit references concerning base levels of analysis. I soon realized that I was better set for the study of the natural sciences in conjunction with the social sciences or emergence of mind and organism phenomena. Mathematical and analytical learning/explication come easy to me as does cultural analysis (in either classic sociological or more post-modern styles), however I struggled to find the connections in my anthropological-course load. I weighted my course load, as such, in the direction of the field of anthropology that seemed to straddle the borderlands, the emergence of organism oriented field of bioanthropology (primatology, sociobiology, genetics, evolutionary psychology, bioarchaeology, medical anthropology, paleoanthropology etc.)
Approximately another year later, in a discussion course with Dr. Kevin Hunt entitled Advanced Readings in Primate Social Behaviour our class extensively discussed primate behaviour, not only in terms of evolutionary ecology, but as well in terms of evolutionary psychology and the neurosciences.
During this period of time (c. 2005) IU began to extensively reorganize their Psychology and Brain Sciences Department, gaining, among other things, a 3-tesla fMRI machine. Also during this period IU began to offer a Certificate in Neuroscience-their first neuroscience related degree (this certificate is equivalent in its foundational courses to the existing recently added majors and minors in neuroscience with only the number of courses varied). I jumped on the perceived opportunity that all this entailed and immediately began my studies.
Initially I was only interested in comparative primate cognition and neurobiology (Indeed I still am), however, very quickly I came to be enraptured by the function of nervous systems across phyla. I then took a course with Dr. Karin James entitled, simply, Cognitive Neuroscience. We read all of Gazzaniga’s undergraduate text (Cognitive Neuroscience) and studied the many different types of neuroimaging; issues therewith associated as well as multidisciplinarity. By the end of our discussions on multidisciplinarity I had fallen in love. The main reason I had gotten into anthropology was none other than its proclivity to seek holism and multidisciplinarity-the neurosciences are no different, except that they straddle the borderlands of emergence of mind and organism that I am most interested in.
By my last semester at IU I had joined Dr. Karin James’ research team in the Cognition and Action Neuroimaging Lab (CAN Lab). We had diverse research projects, all bound by the common thread of developmental, ontological, experiential studies concerned with disconfirming or providing further evidence to support theoretical neurobiological studies. For instance, I personally handled (with one other student) a music cognition study, attempting to disentangle the complexities of language’s processing similarities to music. Many studies long have said that music is processed no differently than language. To explicate the ins and outs of what really goes on we used a block design consisting of professionally chosen (selected for similarities in style and composition) Jazz and Classical musical sound bytes as well as jumbled sound. We then recruited around 15 novices, 15 Jazz only musicians, and 15 Classical only musicians for testing (with which we had associated a behavioural test of indicating fast or slow tempo to gauge attentiveness and differences in individual perception). I personally tested and analysed the data of 30 of these individuals (Using 3-tesla fMRI and BrainVoyager). The meta-analysis is still underway, however from some of the data I have seen and the smaller version meta-analyses I have done, we seem to have confirmed our hypothesis that musical cognition likely occurs in some but not all structures associated with language. Further we seem to have shown that primary determinates seem to lay in both ones familiarity with musical theory as well as which musical theory one is familiar with (in this case Jazz is a more communicative form of music and therefor cognition in those able to play Jazz more resembles what is expected of language cognition).
During my fMRI research I also took a course in the cognitive sciences with Dr. William Timberlake and Gary Lucas attempting to review and formulate a coherent picture of our current understanding of consciousness. Alongside this course I also took a course with Dr. Anne Prieto entitled Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology. While studying for these two courses in addition to doing fMRI research I became quite interested in understanding neurotransmitter interactions and cognitive function with the goal of developing better clinical treatments (e.g. cognitive, behavioural, and medicinal) for pathologies (neurobiological and otherwise) such as: autism, schizophrenia, epilepsy, bipolar, etc. After all, what good is knowledge without purpose. Ultimately, I believe a better understanding of the processes and systems summing to the emergence of consciousness can best be had by studying their development and what happens when they develop inappropriately (i.e. in the case of the above stated pathologies) or are otherwise altered by particular experiences. Such an understanding would, inherently, provide us with the kinds of premises needed to better construct and conduct treatments for those in psychologically compromised positions as well as provide us with better tools for constructing analogue systems that could better interact with humans or approximate and exact human behaviour therefor providing further means of inquiry.
Importantly, it seems that absolutely all the foundation I would need to accomplish my goals is incorporated in the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München’s NCP program. The focuses and areas of research stated for the NCP program read like a wish list of all the knowledge, skills, and experience I wish to acquire to further my understandings and contributions to the field.
I am especially interested in coupling psychophysical and behavioural analyses with imaging and EEG analyses to provide for the basis of understanding and assessing the benefits of clinical treatments and diagnoses. That is to say, I am quite interested in possibly conducting research into the efficacy of particular clinical treatments regarding pathologies such as autism, schizophrenia, epilepsy, bipolar, etc. By no means however am I committed to the limits of such study, I would find any of the research goals the NCP program has proposed to be more than compatible with regards to my own pursuits.
I am completely committed to my studies and as such have been studying and preparing for further study since my graduation from IU in May; reading Gazzaniga’s The Cognitive Neurosciences III, Edward D. Levin’s Neurotransmitter Interactions and Cognitive Functions (2006 edition), James H. Austin’s Zen and the Brain, as well as a multiplicity of various other articles relating to consciousness and the neuro-cognitive psychological sciences.
If I am admitted for study to the NCP program, I will utilize the program to its fullest extent.
I was born in a small town, just outside of Chicago. Being the son of two teachers (one of which teaches the hearing impaired, the other a 2nd grade teacher who works as a carpenter in the summers) I have always maintained a passion for learning.
Having grown up so near Chicago and having teachers for parents I was afforded many opportunities-namely, access to museums and books on a by-demand basis-to further my knowledge of the natural world. I went to the Field Museum often and my parents were always more than happy to take me as well as buy books concerning questions I would ask post-visit. I very quickly came to appreciate the acquisition, devination and dissemination of knowledge through my museum visits and early readings. I knew early that whatever I would become it must have something to do with science and the general pursuit of knowledge.
After highschool I took a year off, being careful to pick and choose what I would do for the rest of my life. I chose to attend Indiana University Northwest (IUN), a regional branch of Indiana University in Gary, for at least a year, to save money and test the academic waters. At IUN I signed on to get an Associates degree in Anthropology. I was not to finish that degree, because a year later I transferred to IU and upgraded the Associates I was seeking to a Bachelors in Anthropology. Approximately a year after my move I tacked on another major in East Asian Studies and continued my studies of the Japanese language as well as East Asian culture (both historic and prehistoric). I had difficulties with socio-cultural works as often they were prone to omit references concerning base levels of analysis. I soon realized that I was better set for the study of the natural sciences in conjunction with the social sciences or emergence of mind and organism phenomena. Mathematical and analytical learning/explication come easy to me as does cultural analysis (in either classic sociological or more post-modern styles), however I struggled to find the connections in my anthropological-course load. I weighted my course load, as such, in the direction of the field of anthropology that seemed to straddle the borderlands, the emergence of organism oriented field of bioanthropology (primatology, sociobiology, genetics, evolutionary psychology, bioarchaeology, medical anthropology, paleoanthropology etc.)
Approximately another year later, in a discussion course with Dr. Kevin Hunt entitled Advanced Readings in Primate Social Behaviour our class extensively discussed primate behaviour, not only in terms of evolutionary ecology, but as well in terms of evolutionary psychology and the neurosciences.
During this period of time (c. 2005) IU began to extensively reorganize their Psychology and Brain Sciences Department, gaining, among other things, a 3-tesla fMRI machine. Also during this period IU began to offer a Certificate in Neuroscience-their first neuroscience related degree (this certificate is equivalent in its foundational courses to the existing recently added majors and minors in neuroscience with only the number of courses varied). I jumped on the perceived opportunity that all this entailed and immediately began my studies.
Initially I was only interested in comparative primate cognition and neurobiology (Indeed I still am), however, very quickly I came to be enraptured by the function of nervous systems across phyla. I then took a course with Dr. Karin James entitled, simply, Cognitive Neuroscience. We read all of Gazzaniga’s undergraduate text (Cognitive Neuroscience) and studied the many different types of neuroimaging; issues therewith associated as well as multidisciplinarity. By the end of our discussions on multidisciplinarity I had fallen in love. The main reason I had gotten into anthropology was none other than its proclivity to seek holism and multidisciplinarity-the neurosciences are no different, except that they straddle the borderlands of emergence of mind and organism that I am most interested in.
By my last semester at IU I had joined Dr. Karin James’ research team in the Cognition and Action Neuroimaging Lab (CAN Lab). We had diverse research projects, all bound by the common thread of developmental, ontological, experiential studies concerned with disconfirming or providing further evidence to support theoretical neurobiological studies. For instance, I personally handled (with one other student) a music cognition study, attempting to disentangle the complexities of language’s processing similarities to music. Many studies long have said that music is processed no differently than language. To explicate the ins and outs of what really goes on we used a block design consisting of professionally chosen (selected for similarities in style and composition) Jazz and Classical musical sound bytes as well as jumbled sound. We then recruited around 15 novices, 15 Jazz only musicians, and 15 Classical only musicians for testing (with which we had associated a behavioural test of indicating fast or slow tempo to gauge attentiveness and differences in individual perception). I personally tested and analysed the data of 30 of these individuals (Using 3-tesla fMRI and BrainVoyager). The meta-analysis is still underway, however from some of the data I have seen and the smaller version meta-analyses I have done, we seem to have confirmed our hypothesis that musical cognition likely occurs in some but not all structures associated with language. Further we seem to have shown that primary determinates seem to lay in both ones familiarity with musical theory as well as which musical theory one is familiar with (in this case Jazz is a more communicative form of music and therefor cognition in those able to play Jazz more resembles what is expected of language cognition).
During my fMRI research I also took a course in the cognitive sciences with Dr. William Timberlake and Gary Lucas attempting to review and formulate a coherent picture of our current understanding of consciousness. Alongside this course I also took a course with Dr. Anne Prieto entitled Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology. While studying for these two courses in addition to doing fMRI research I became quite interested in understanding neurotransmitter interactions and cognitive function with the goal of developing better clinical treatments (e.g. cognitive, behavioural, and medicinal) for pathologies (neurobiological and otherwise) such as: autism, schizophrenia, epilepsy, bipolar, etc. After all, what good is knowledge without purpose. Ultimately, I believe a better understanding of the processes and systems summing to the emergence of consciousness can best be had by studying their development and what happens when they develop inappropriately (i.e. in the case of the above stated pathologies) or are otherwise altered by particular experiences. Such an understanding would, inherently, provide us with the kinds of premises needed to better construct and conduct treatments for those in psychologically compromised positions as well as provide us with better tools for constructing analogue systems that could better interact with humans or approximate and exact human behaviour therefor providing further means of inquiry.
Importantly, it seems that absolutely all the foundation I would need to accomplish my goals is incorporated in the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München’s NCP program. The focuses and areas of research stated for the NCP program read like a wish list of all the knowledge, skills, and experience I wish to acquire to further my understandings and contributions to the field.
I am especially interested in coupling psychophysical and behavioural analyses with imaging and EEG analyses to provide for the basis of understanding and assessing the benefits of clinical treatments and diagnoses. That is to say, I am quite interested in possibly conducting research into the efficacy of particular clinical treatments regarding pathologies such as autism, schizophrenia, epilepsy, bipolar, etc. By no means however am I committed to the limits of such study, I would find any of the research goals the NCP program has proposed to be more than compatible with regards to my own pursuits.
I am completely committed to my studies and as such have been studying and preparing for further study since my graduation from IU in May; reading Gazzaniga’s The Cognitive Neurosciences III, Edward D. Levin’s Neurotransmitter Interactions and Cognitive Functions (2006 edition), James H. Austin’s Zen and the Brain, as well as a multiplicity of various other articles relating to consciousness and the neuro-cognitive psychological sciences.
If I am admitted for study to the NCP program, I will utilize the program to its fullest extent.