Reply to comment

This class has had a surprisingly profound influence on how I receive and how I digest what I learn in my science classes. While our discussions have opened my eyes to what a wealth of information and knowledge we do have at our fingertips, I think the most salient realization I've come to is about how much we don't know. A lot of the topics we've covered have highlighted how much we (both as people in the world and also as scientists) assume to be true, without having any hard evidence -- and when we do have this hard evidence, how questionable even that can be. I've noticed that, over the semester, I've begun to view psychology and neuroscience as less of a fact-based, research-supported discipline and more of a theory-based, research-confused puzzle. This, though, means that I have a far deeper appreciation for the complexity of the field, and a heightened desire to involve myself in research that can contribute to the piecing-together of the puzzle. Four years of liberal-arts education have taught me to not just accept what I'm told; rather, to always pose questions and be receptive to new ideas. This class was the icing on the cake, in a sense -- it reaffirmed why it's so important to me to be open-minded about what and how I learn. In short, this class and the discussions we've engaged in have helped frame my questions about the brain and the mind that are the basis of why I love what I study. So thanks, everyone, for such an inspiring and thought-provoking class.