Alien Abduction

This module will examine the psychological reasons why people believe in UFO’s and more specifically why they may believe that they have been abducted by aliens. One interesting fact that we will grapple with is that people who report UFO sightings and those who report being abducted are completely normal as measured by numerous psychological tests, including IQ and personality test. In fact the only thing that makes them discriminable from the rest of the population is their belief in UFOs. We will visit the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico. We will talk to a librarian there associated with the Research Center.

Gettin' High and Thinkin' About It

This module will focus on changes in cognition due to altitude. There have been a number of case histories of climbers who have experiences rapid changes in altitude that report confusion, amnesia and other cognitive difficulties. We will travel to southern Colorado into the San Juan National Forest and take a 4X4 tour to the top of Engineer Pass on the old Silver trail north of Silverton, CO, approximately 13,000 feet above sea level (Huntingdon is about 600 feet above sea level). While there, we will do several classic cognitive tasks. This module has an additional fee of $50.00. During this module we will visit: Durango, Silverton, and Ouray, CO Engineer Pass along the old silver trail Ouray Hot Springs.

Sex Differences in Spatial Navigation

There are a number of old wives tales about how both men and women navigate in their environment, including men never ask for directions and women get lost easily. As with most old wives tales, there is some falsehood and some truth in these statements. This module will investigate these tales in more detail, by more systematically examining how both sexes perform on real world navigation tasks. We will visit the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park. This area of “infant arches” is in fact an excellent example of a real world maze. The following day, we will wander around the downtown area of Moab, asking for directions.