Maria Anderson

Home Institution
Russian State Pedagogical Institute, Department of Pedagogic and Psychology

Host Institution
Otto von Guericke-Universität Neurologie 2, Magdeburg
Mentors: Dr. med Michael Sailer and Melanie Talley, Ph.D.

E-Mail:
andersonm@mail.ru

Research Topic
see Abstract
Personal Reactions to the German Experience
I have been in Magdeburg for one month with the support of IALS program. I really enjoyed my stay there. The chief of the clinic Pr. Heinse and our supporter, Dr. med. Sailer, create really great conditions for the researchers there. I had a practice at the neurology clinic under the support of the clinical neuropsychologist, Melanie Talley, and I have a very good impression of this time. It was exciting for me to get to know more and more about the topic that I had no possibility to study at the home institution, for instance, fMRI technology. I can not help noticing about the communicative sphere: the people I worked together were very competent, intelligent and friendly.
Greatest Difficulties Encountered
As I have already said, I enjoyed everything in Germany, and frankly speaking, I can not remember any difficulties or problems that I had there. Perhaps, the only difficulty was connected with a language barrier, but this problem was over in a period around ten days.
Most humorous incident
My time in Germany was not devoid of funny episodes. Once I was lost in the centre of Magdeburg and asked a walker to help me. A guy could not understand me at all, as I thought, because of my pronunciation. I tried more and more and got really tired, when he shouted, "I do not speak your language! I am Russian!"
Helpful Hints for Future Students
There are two things I would like to say to the Russian students: first, study languages, English and German. Of course, English is enough to survive, but if you want to know more about Germany and Germans - study German. It is very useful, believe me. Also, do not forget about a rest. Magdeburg is like a specially created town for the researchers: very calm and the atmosphere is very scientific there. So, do not forget to walk and make photos. Magdeburg is worth looking at, so you will get a very good impression of it in your free time!

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Abstract on Research Topic

There is a protocol of project I had been participating in during my stay at the clinics, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg. This project is connected with integration of fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) and skin conductance in order to study human amygdala and hippocampical activity during emotional processing.

The fMRI recording shows the brain substrates activity at the moment of the emotional influence of stimuli, while the GSR (galvanic skin response) recording measures electrodermal activity at this moment. The visual stimuli we took from the IAPS (International Affective Picture Set).

The psychological meaning of this project is in studying emotional influence to the different levels of processing, selective attention, deep, shallow and episodic memory and emotional perception. On the whole, I learned theoretically and practically about EEG (electroencephalography), MEG (magnetic encephalography), fMRI technology, and galvanic skin response in process of perceptional tests.

I conducted literature searches on emotion and memory, as well as on unilateral left neglect; and screened pictures from the IAPS for the development of the Russian normative database for emotional responses to various photographs.