2010 m. lapkričio 30 d., antradienis

Self assessment


English for special purpose classes proved to be very useful in helping one to understand the terminology of psychology not only in a native language but in English as well.

One of the hardest challenges in these studies was to adapt to translating terms of psychology from Lithuanian to English. This challenge was quite a nut to crack but nevertheless online exercises and a handful of tests combined with live discussions between classmates helped more than I could ever thought about. 

One of the main goals I can say I proudly achieved is the fact that native English speaking is not so complicated to understand to me anymore. In the past I found huge challenges in translating native English to Lithuanian. It is not surprising. As we all know people in Great Britain speak in very different dialects and an untrained ear is not able to distinguish these dialects and understand the meaning of information which is communicated to them. I am happy to say that due to English for special purpose classes my ear has been trained and I have fewer problems in getting the meaning of sentences stated in native English.
These lessons will be wary useful in the future if I decide to extend my psychological suites in other English speaking countries so I value them greatly.

Nevertheless of my achievements I stay with my past belief that learning something is a never ending process and the one can newer stop learning. Because of that I will continue to study hard and become even more fluent English speaking psychologist.

Richard Wiseman


Richard Wiseman was born on 1966. He is the Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. Wiseman started his professional life as a magician, before graduating in Psychology from University College London and obtaining a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Edinburgh.

Professor Wiseman is known for his critical examination and frequent debunking of unusual phenomena, including reports of paranormal phenomena. He is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. His research has been published in numerous academic journals, reported at various conferences, and featured on television. 

In 2004, he took part in a preliminary test of Natasha Demkina, a young Russian woman who claims to have a special vision that allows her to see inside of people's bodies and diagnose illnesses. The test was featured in the Discovery Channel documentary, The Girl with X-Ray Eyes.

In addition Professor Wiseman has studied the principles of good and bad luck, publishing the results in the self-help book The Luck Factor, He showed that both good and bad luck result from measurable habits; for example, lucky people, by expecting good luck, might expend more effort.

On the conclusion I might say that Richard Wiseman is a very wise man and we can learn much from him and his work.

2010 m. lapkričio 29 d., pirmadienis

The mystery of memory


The memory phenomenon became the object of scientific studies not so long ago. Nevertheless, psychologists managed to character short-term and long-term memory while also making some other discoveries.


One of them is the explained difference between procedural and declarative memory. The first one is more stable because it helps us remember how to execute motor functions.


The second discovery shows that it is easier to recognize information that to recall it. This explains it is much more difficult to remember how a person looks like and so easy to identify him when talking face to face.
Further studies also showed how our brain contains information. It is thought that every time we put something into our long-term memory a new pattern of nerve cells occur. This pattern makes a pathway for nerve impulses to travel. This is how our memories are being coded.


The memory researchers had been successful in making some discoveries but they agree that there are much more unanswered questions. One of them is to understand how different brain parts work together in giving us conscious experience.