RELEASED: Oct. 23, 2003

DANVILLE, KY—Don't let the silly hats fool you: there's some serious thinking going on in Centre's Pyschology 110 lab.

The class, taught by Professor of Psychology Mykol Hamilton, is learning about brain waves and their implications. Students put on their "thinking caps" and their brain waves are monitored.

There are various kinds of brain waves and students test hypotheses about them by trying different activities such as silently working on mental math problems, imagining a beach scene or remembering something sad.

Hamilton's classes have been engaging in this type of activity for 15 years.

"I think the students really enjoy it," she said. "It's very hands-on. It's funny to see each other with strange hats on and to inject electrode gel onto each others scalps and try the various activities."

Matt Steinfeld, a sophomore from Hopkinsville, Ky., is a fan of the experiment.

"I really enjoy the hands-on aspect of my psychology class," he said. "The ability to participate in a laboratory setting and to work with your professor right beside you is a great experience. With the EEG exercise, we were using equipment that actual psychologists use. It's one thing to hear about it in a lecture, but much more enriching to get to interact with it."

To learn more on interesting courses at Centre, go to
http://www.centre.edu/web/academic/majors/.

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