What I'm reading

Martin, A., & Chao, L. L. (2001). Semantic memory and the brain: Structure and processes. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 11, 194-210.

Levine, B., Turner, G. R., Tisserand, D., Hevenor, S. J., Graham, S. J., & McIntosh, A. R. (2004). The functional neuroanatomy of episodic and semantic autobiographical remembering: A prospective functional MRI study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16 (9), 1633-1646.

Ashby, F. G., & O'Brien, J. B. (2004). Category learning and multiple memory systems. Trends in Cognitive Science, 9 (2), 83-89.

I have to read these articles for my Learning and Memory course with Prof John Kihlstrom. It's not my area of research, so it's nice to be exposed to the material. However, much more reading is assigned every week than I'm willing or able to read. For instance, one week there were 4 chapters in a book and 9 articles assigned. That's a lot, but I learned my first year of grad school that there's really no way you can get everything done that you want/need to, at least not at the super-high-absolute-best-of-your-abilities level. So that week I only read 2 of the chapters, which were each 30 pages, and part of one article. Recognizing that you can't spend as much time as you would like on all areas of your work is a grad school life saver. When I was an undergrad, I was a super overacheiver trying to maintain my 4+ GPA. That's just not the way it works in grad school, and grades no longer matter because no one's ever going to look at them, not when you're applying for a job nor when you're applying for a grant. So in that one aspect, grad school is less stressful than undergrad. I've shared this life lesson with Nathan, and I think it's helped him a bit with his recently acquired grad school stress level. But that's enough about this, because I've got reading to get back to.