Overall, I had a wonderful experience working under Dr.Allyson Mackey in the Changing Brain Lab this summer. My internship began with an in-depth conversation with a postdoc in the lab, Julia. Throughout this conversation, Julia and I discussed my academic interests and career aspirations in order to pinpoint a specific project within the lab that I would be interested in working on. From there, we decided that it would be best if I worked on her Learning Curves project since the research questions driving the project interested me, and this project would allow me to work directly with children. While working on this project I investigated the questions: “Are children sensitive to the trajectories of their past performance?” and “Do children use this information to decide how difficult of a task they are willing to take on in the future?” In order to investigate these research questions I personally went to the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia to test children using the experimental design that Julia, the postdoc, had created. Then, once I began testing children, and had spent more time around the project, I was able to offer my own insights and ideas regarding changes to the experimental design and research protocol. Some of my fondest memories from working in the Changing Brain Lab this past summer were created while brainstorming with Julia about the direction of our project. These brainstorming sessions were filled with “Aha!” moments and riveting conversations that were indicative of the passion Julia and I share for our project and developmental psychology as a whole. In conclusion, the combination of working on a project that is personally interesting and engaging and working with people that share my love for psychology and intellectual discovery was not only rewarding, but a true delight.
Overall, I had a wonderful experience working under Dr.Allyson Mackey in the Changing Brain Lab this summer. My internship began with an in-depth conversation with a postdoc in the lab, Julia. Throughout this conversation, Julia and I discussed my academic interests and career aspirations in order to pinpoint a specific project within the lab that I would be interested in working on. From there, we decided that it would be best if I worked on her Learning Curves project since the research questions driving the project interested me, and this project would allow me to work directly with children. While working on this project I investigated the questions: “Are children sensitive to the trajectories of their past performance?” and “Do children use this information to decide how difficult of a task they are willing to take on in the future?” In order to investigate these research questions I personally went to the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia to test children using the experimental design that Julia, the postdoc, had created. Then, once I began testing children, and had spent more time around the project, I was able to offer my own insights and ideas regarding changes to the experimental design and research protocol. Some of my fondest memories from working in the Changing Brain Lab this past summer were created while brainstorming with Julia about the direction of our project. These brainstorming sessions were filled with “Aha!” moments and riveting conversations that were indicative of the passion Julia and I share for our project and developmental psychology as a whole. In conclusion, the combination of working on a project that is personally interesting and engaging and working with people that share my love for psychology and intellectual discovery was not only rewarding, but a true delight.