Young people need to know as much as possible about the different cognitive enhancers, as well as what we know (and don’t know!) about how they work and what they do.
Mark Forshaw concludes his lecture at @theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
How we view the boosting of human capabilities can vary somewhat between contexts… interesting philosophical debate, although there are differences between these cases I think
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
There’s a paradox between the attempt to ‘enhance’ alertness by using preventing sleepiness, given that over time sleep deprivation is clearly cognitively harmful! Called ‘paradoxical cognitive decline’
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
10% of students at Cambridge University report having used a cognitive enhancer/smart drug
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
Professor Mark Forshaw talking about ‘Chemically modified minds’ - young people and drug taking. This is the current state of play…
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
Guy Sutton: cortical organoids (human neurons grown in the lab) grown from the cells of people with a rare variant of autism, show the same disordered communication patterns found in the brains of the sufferers
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
Covid lockdown effects on brain development now becoming clear. Larger effects (cortical thinning) in females, especially in cases of disturbed family/friend environments
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
Brain changes in pregnancy… it can take at least 2 years or longer for the brain to ‘recover’ to pre-pregnancy state
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
We’ve known for a while that learning might be better when handwriting compared to typing eg scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=e...
But neuroscience data increasingly backing this up and explaining why
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025 #psychology #UKEd
Early life experiences, and their effects on the development of the brain (even many years later) is a big area of neuroscience research currently…
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
Maternal diets as well! ‘Western diet’ (= high in ultra processed food) increases ADHD and Autism diagnoses @theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
Guy Sutton talking us through some recent research on (poor) diet and the brain, both in terms of neurotransmitter synthesis and genetic expression Good diets, in contrast, slow down biological aging in the brain @theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
“There is a vast array of different types of neurons linked to different types of behaviour in mammals” Guy Sutton @theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
Guy Sutton kicking off day 2 of @theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025 with his annual update on neuroscience research. A packed house as always
What do students say motivates them in the classroom in Marc Skelton’s research?
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
Marc Skelton talking us through his research into what *students* think successful learning and motivation look like @theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
@luciabpsychteach.bsky.social @theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025 outlining how she helps students to create academic posters following practical #psychology research projects
Great to see @paulclinepsy.bsky.social and my book on the @johncattedu.bsky.social stand at @theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
www.amazon.co.uk/How-Teach-Ps...
Simon Baron-Cohen talking about the study of Greenberg et al on empathising and systemising traits in autistic and non-autistic males and females pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30420503/ for #psychology teachers the systemising graph has lovely positive skew!
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
Simon Baron-Cohen summarises causal factors in autism
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
#UKEd
#psychology
#Edusky
A positive correlation between prenatal testosterone exposure and autistic traits… Simon Baron-Cohen talking about factors which can “masculinise the brain”. Interesting that this terminology is still used.
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
Heritability of autism from Simon Baron-Cohen. Large estimates, but (as almost always) it’s the ‘non-shared heritability’ that is the largest component… ie… we don’t really know what the mechanism is! I think that’s how @ent3c.bsky.social would summarise it…?
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
Simon Baron-Cohen talking about www.sfari.org/resource/sfa... which lists all (1231!) genes implicated in some way with autism.
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
The eyes convey a lot of subtle information about a person’s emotions or theory of mind.
You can have a go at the ‘reading the mind in the eyes test’ here psytests.org/arc/rmeten.h...
females generally outperform males cross-culturally
@theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
@luciabpsychteach.bsky.social introduces Simon Baron Cohen’s keynote on 40 years of autism research @theatp.bsky.social #atpconf2025
#psychology
#UKEd
www.delegate-reg.co.uk/atp2025/ I’ve booked my place and am very excited! 🎉🎉 I hope that many psychology teachers and @bpsofficial.bsky.social professionals will join me there! #theatp #atpconf2025
