Today concludes the first week of my internship at the University of Colorado (CU) Change Lab. I am writing to you from the beautiful town of Boulder, Colo.., where it is currently 92 degrees (which I cannot say I am extremely thrilled about). Despite the heat, I absolutely love spending time in such an amazing place, and cannot wait to see what the next few weeks have in store.
Under Dr. Angela Bryan, a professor of Social Psychology at the University of Colorado, I am working with a group of undergrads, grads, and postgrads who are, in this particular lab, collaborating to assess the influence of exercise on cognitive function and overall health. From what I understand from my currently limited time in the lab, participants come in for an initial analysis (which involves several neurologic exams that test the person’s memory, speed, and accuracy, followed by a fMRI –functional magnetic resonance imagine—scan). The participant will then take part in a multi-week exercise program, which culminates with final neurocognitive tests and another fMRI scan.
The fMRI allows us to receive detailed images of the brain, which is quite mind-blowing when you think about it. So far, I have witnessed two fMRI scans, and hope to have more opportunities to become more involved with this area of data collection, and to learn what the images can tell us about the human brain.
The CU Boulder East Campus where the CU Change Lab is located.
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