I'm back and I'm...meh

I was productive up until I left for Thanksgiving break. I finished one of two weekly goals. Now I'm sick so not feeling particularly motivated, but here goes.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Evolutionary Cognitive Archaeology: A History (done)
Chapter 3: The Evolution of Working Memory (in progress)
Chapter 4: The Contributions of Neuroarchaeology to Human Language Origin Theories (done)
Chapter 5: Materials and Methods (done)
Chapter 6: Functional Neuroimaging of Early Stone Age Toolmaking Reveals an Executive Function Network (In Progress)
Chapter 7: Discussion of ch. 6 results (done)
Chapter 8: Results of language exaptation hypothesis study
Chapter 9: Discussion of ch. 8 results
Chapter 10: Results of longitudinal motor learning study
Chapter 11: Discussion of ch. 10 results
Chapter 12: General discussion and conclusion
Appendix A: Subject Selection Materials (done)
Appendix B: Motion Processing Parameters (done)
Appendix C: Subject Interviews (done)
References (In Progress)

Daily Goals:

Friday 12/4

• read Perone et al. (2011)
• read Spencer and Perone (2008)
• revise intro of ch. 6

Saturday 12/5

• Revise results of ch. 6
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

Sunday 12/6

• revise discussion of ch. 6
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

Monday 12/7

• revise methods of ch. 6
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3
• Write 1st half of A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

Tuesday 12/8

• Ch. 10 analyses GroupxTask effect
• Ch. 10 analyses SessionxTask effect
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

Wednesday 12/9

• Finishing touches on ch. 6 and send to John
• Find several articles for A Developmental Approach section of ch. 3
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

Thursday 12/10

• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3
• Write 2nd half of a Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

Weekly Goals:

12/4-12/10

• Finish revising ch. 6 and send back to John
• Finish ch. 10 whole brain analyses
• Finish A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

12/11-12/18

• Finish A Developmental Approach section in ch. 3
• Finish ch. 10 analyses
• Write outline for ch. 10

12/19-12/25

• Final revisions and submission of ch. 6 to Science
• Work on analyses for ch. 8
• Write half of ch. 10

12/26-1/1

• Finish What the Archaeological Record Has Offered section in ch. 3
• Finish ch. 8 analyses
• Write 2nd half of ch. 10

      Monthly Goals:

      December

•       Give IPFW talk
•       Finish ch. 6 and submit to Science
•       Finish ch. 10 1st draft

      January

•       Finish ch. 3
•       Finish ch. 11
•       Finish outline of ch. 8

      February

•       Finish ch. 8
•       Finish ch. 1
•       Finish ch. 9

      March

•       Finish ch. 12
•       Submit completed dissertation to John and Bob
•       Finish Acknowledgments and other formatting edits

      April

•       Revise dissertation with John and Bob's edits
•       AAPA and Paleoanthro talks
•       Submit edited dissertation to committee

      May

•       Defend dissertation
•       Walk at graduation

Ready or not, here's Thanksgiving break

I got side tracked by all the additional analyses I have had to do this last week just to get caught back up to where I was. I got comments back from John on ch. 6 at least, so I can start working on that. This week will be tough to get a lot done because it's Thanksgiving, so I'm being more realistic with the number of goals to work toward.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Evolutionary Cognitive Archaeology: A History (done)
Chapter 3: The Evolution of Working Memory (in progress)
Chapter 4: The Contributions of Neuroarchaeology to Human Language Origin Theories (done)
Chapter 5: Materials and Methods (done)
Chapter 6: Functional Neuroimaging of Early Stone Age Toolmaking Reveals an Executive Function Network (In Progress)
Chapter 7: Discussion of ch. 6 results (done)
Chapter 8: Results of language exaptation hypothesis study
Chapter 9: Discussion of ch. 8 results
Chapter 10: Results of longitudinal motor learning study
Chapter 11: Discussion of ch. 10 results
Chapter 12: General discussion and conclusion
Appendix A: Subject Selection Materials (done)
Appendix B: Motion Processing Parameters (done)
Appendix C: Subject Interviews (done)
References (In Progress)

Daily Goals:

Tuesday 11/24

• Do Baseline ANOVA tests to find the most stable condition and pace across sessions.
• Fix table in ch. 6 (change to center of mass)
• Meet with John about Baseline.

Wednesday 11/25

• Redo Group effect and GroupxSession effect analyses for ch. 10.
• Ch. 10 analyses-Session effect 
• Ch. 10 analyses-Task effect

Thursday 11/26

• Find some relevant articles to A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3
• Ch. 10 analyses GroupxTask effect
• Ch. 10 analyses SessionxTask effect

Friday 11/27

• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

Saturday 11/28

• Write 1st half of A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

Sunday 11/29

• Write 2nd half of A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

Monday 11/30

• Revise Intro of ch. 6
• Revise Results of ch. 6
• Revise Discussion of ch. 6

Weekly Goals:

11/24-11/30

• Finish A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3
• Finish Baseline analyses

12/1-12/7

• Finish redoing ch. 10 analyses
• Second draft of ch. 6 done and sent to John and Sobana
• Finish A Developmental Approach section in ch. 3
• Give IPFW talk

12/8-12/14

• Write outline for ch. 10
• Final revisions on ch. 6 and sent to co-authors
• Finish Evolutionary Studies section in ch. 3
• Work out how to do analyses for ch. 8

12/15-12/21

• Submit ch. 6 to Science
• Write half of ch. 10
• Work on analyses for ch. 8
• Finish What the Archaeological Record Has Offered section in ch. 3

      Monthly Goals:

      December

•      Finish ch. 3
•      Give IPFW talk
•      Finish ch. 6 and submit to Science

      January

•      Finish ch. 10
•      Finish analyses for ch. 8

      February

•      Finish ch. 8
•      Finish ch. 11
•      Finish ch. 1

      March

•      Finish ch. 9
•      Finish ch. 12
•      Submit completed dissertation to John and Bob

      April

•      Finish Acknowledgments and other formatting edits
•      Revise based on John and Bob's edits
•      AAPA and Paleoanthro talks
•      Submit edited dissertation to committee

     May

•      Defend dissertation
•      Walk at graduation

These things always take longer than expected

I don't know that I can divide my focus between two or more chapters at a time. I did well at writing ch. 7 but didn't get far on ch. 3. I am still being too overzealous with my amount of daily goals. I am backing down to 3 a day.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Evolutionary Cognitive Archaeology: A History (done)
Chapter 3: The Evolution of Working Memory (in progress)
Chapter 4: The Contributions of Neuroarchaeology to Human Language Origin Theories (done)
Chapter 5: Materials and Methods (done)
Chapter 6: Functional Neuroimaging of Early Stone Age Toolmaking Reveals an Executive Function Network (In Progress)
Chapter 7: Discussion of ch. 6 results (In Progress)
Chapter 8: Results of language exaptation hypothesis study
Chapter 9: Discussion of ch. 8 results
Chapter 10: Results of longitudinal motor learning study
Chapter 11: Discussion of ch. 10 results
Chapter 12: General discussion and conclusion
Appendix A: Subject Selection Materials (done)
Appendix B: Motion Processing Parameters (done)
Appendix C: Subject Interviews (done)
References (In Progress)

Daily Goals:

Tuesday 11/17

• Practice interview over Skype with Christina
• Finish Baseline ANOVA analyses
• Work on redoing ch. 10 analyses

Wednesday 11/18

• Work on redoing ch. 10 analyses
• Write Introduction section for ch. 7
• Fix table and wording in ch. 6

Thursday 11/19

• Work on redoing ch. 10 analyses
• Write Summary section for ch. 7
• Finish edits on ch. 7

Friday 11/20

• Meet with John about analyses
• Skype interview with Vassar College
• Work on redoing ch. 10 analyses

Saturday 11/21

• Find some relevant articles to A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3
• Work on Minnesota application
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

Sunday 11/22

• Turn in Minnesota application
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

 Monday 11/23

• Finish redoing ch. 10 analyses
• Make John's edits on ch. 6
• Write A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

 Weekly Goals:

11/17-11/23

• Finish ch. 7
• Second draft of ch. 6 done and sent to co-authors
• Finish Baseline analyses
• Finish redoing ch. 10 analyses
• Skype interview with Vassar
• Finish A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3

11/24-11/30

• Finish A Developmental Approach section in ch. 3
• Finish any additional analyses for ch. 10
• Write outline for ch. 10
• Submit ch. 6 to Science

 12/1-12/7

• Finish Evolutionary Studies section in ch. 3
• Work out how to do analyses for ch. 8
• Give IPFW talk
• Write half of ch. 10

12/8-12/14

• Finish What the Archaeological Record Has Offered section in ch. 3
• Finish first draft of ch. 10
• Work on analyses for ch. 8

Monthly goals:

December

• Finish ch. 3
• Finish ch. 10
• Finish analyses for ch. 8
• Give IPFW talk

January

• Finish ch. 8
• Finish ch. 11
• Work on ch. 9

February

• Finish ch. 9
• Finish ch. 1
• Work on ch. 12
• 
  

March

• Finish ch. 12
• Submit completed dissertation to John and Bob
• Finish Acknowledgments and other formatting edits

April

• Make Bob and John's edits
• Submit edited dissertation to committee
• AAPA and Paleoanthro talks

May

• Defend dissertation
• Walk at graduation

Overzealousness

So, I was overzealous with my 4 goals a day to try to meet. I did well in the first day and then quickly fell behind. I think it's more realistic to have 3 goals a day, especially if one of those goals is writing two sections of a chapter, or I could split up readings and sections but still have 4 goals a day. It does feel nice to cross things off a list when I finish. This might make me feel more accomplished. Yeah, let's do that!

As I've been writing the Discussion chapter, I'm thinking it might make for an easier read to split it up into three shorter follow-up chapters after their corresponding Results chapters, and then have one final general discussion and conclusions chapter. This would mean the outline will be...

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Evolutionary Cognitive Archaeology: A History (done)
Chapter 3: The Evolution of Working Memory
Chapter 4: The Contributions of Neuroarchaeology to Human Language Origin Theories (done)
Chapter 5: Materials and Methods (done)
Chapter 6: Functional Neuroimaging of Early Stone Age Toolmaking Reveals an Executive Function Network (In Progress)
Chapter 7: Discussion of ch. 6 results (In Progress)
Chapter 8: Results of language exaptation hypothesis study
Chapter 9: Discussion of ch. 8 results
Chapter 10: Results of longitudinal motor learning study
Chapter 11: Discussion of ch. 10 results
Chapter 12: General discussion and conclusion
Appendix A: Subject Selection Materials (done)
Appendix B: Motion Processing Parameters (done)
Appendix C: Subject Interviews (done)
References (In Progress)

Just realized again that it is no longer Monday. It is indeed Tuesday, so I should have made this blog post yesterday evening. Oh well...

Daily Goals:

Tuesday 11/10

• Find a couple more articles for Basics of Working Memory section of ch. 3.
• Write Speculations about Earlier and Later Stone Tool Industries section of Discussion.
• Write What the Group Main Effect Tells Us section of Discussion.
• Read one article for Basics of Working Memory section of ch. 3.

Wednesday 11/11

• Read one article for Basics of Working memory section.
• Write Basics of Working Memory section of ch. 3.
• Write Bigger Picture Hypothesis section for ch. 7.
• Find a couple articles that are relevant to A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3.

Thursday 11/12

• Write Even Bigger section for ch. 7.
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3.
• Meet with John and discuss ch. 8 results.
• Practice interview questions on video.

Friday 11/13

• Fix table and wording in ch. 6.
• Work on additional analyses for ch. 10.
• Write introduction section for ch. 7.
• Write summary section for ch. 7.

Saturday 11/14

• Practice interview questions over Skype.
• Work on Minnesota application.

Sunday 11/15

• Turn in Minnesota application.
• Finish edits on ch. 7.

Monday 11/16

• Make John's edits on ch. 6.
• Work on additional analyses for ch. 10.
• Read one article for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3.
• Find a couple more articles for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3.

Weekly Goals:

11/10-11/16

• Finish ch. 7.
• Finish Basics of Working Memory section in ch. 3.
• Meet with John about ch. 10 results.
• Practice Skype interview with Mom.
• Second draft of ch. 6 finished and sent to co-authors
• Finish any left-over analyses for ch. 8.

11/17-11/23

• Finish A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3.
• Skype interview with Vassar
• Finish A Developmental Approach section in ch. 3.
• Write outline for ch. 10.

11/24-11/30

• Finish Evolutionary Studies on Working Memory section in ch. 3.
• Write half of ch. 10.
• Finish What the archaeological record has offered so far on working memory section of ch. 3.
• Submit ch. 6 to Science.

112/1-12/8

• Finish ch. 10.
• Finish writing ch. 3.
• Work out how to do analyses for ch. 8.
• Give IPFW talk.

   Monthly Goals:

  December

• Finish ch. 3.
• Finish ch. 10
• Finish analyses for ch. 8.
• Give IPFW talk.

January

• Write ch. 8.
• Write ch. 9.

February

• Write ch. 1.

• Write ch. 12.

March

• Submit completed dissertation to John and Bob.
• Finish Acknowledgments and other formatting edits.

April

• Make John and Bob's edits.
• Submit edited dissertation to committee.
• AAPA and Paleoanthro talks

May

• Defend dissertation.
• Walk at graduation.

Time Is Swift

Time is swift, and I feel it ticking away. I am back to writing a blog, even if I'm the only one who will ever see it. I need daily, weekly, and monthly goals to keep me moving forward.

GOALS

Daily

Tuesday 11/3

• Contact John for a meeting to discuss the latest results. 
• Write an outline for the paragraphs in the Discussion that will discuss ch. 6.
• Read Semendeferi and Damasio (2000) and Bruner (2004).
• Add the last few slides to AIA talk.

Wednesday 11/4

• Write Setup of Experiment and Areas that Overlap with Stout sections in the Discussion.
• Write Appendix C.
• Read Bruner (2008) and Bruner et al. (2011).
• Find some articles that are relevant to Basics of Working Memory section in ch. 3.
• Answer a few interview questions.

Thursday 11/5

• Write Areas Specific to Mode 1 Toolmaking and Areas Specific to Mode 2 Toolmaking sections in the Discussion.
• Read Shultz et al. (2012) and Reader and Laland (2002).
• Read a couple articles for Basics of Working Memory section in ch. 3.
• Practice AIA talk.

Friday 11/6

• Write Speculations about Earlier and Later Stone Tool Industries and What the Group Main Effect Tells Us sections of Discussion.
• Read a couple articles for ch. 3.
• Write a couple paragraphs for Basics of Working Memory section in ch. 3.
• Answer a few interview questions.

Saturday 11/7

• Finish Arizona State application.
• Finish answering interview questions.
• Practice AIA talk.

Sunday 11/8

• Practice AIA talk.
• Practice interview questions on video.

Monday 11/9

• AIA talk
• Finish Basics of Working Memory section for ch. 3.
• Write Bigger Picture Hypothesis and Even Bigger Picture sections in the Discussion.
• Find some articles that are relevant to A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3.
• Read a couple articles for A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3.

Weekly

11/3-11/9

• Finish reading all the articles in ch. 6.
• Finish ch. 6 portion of Discussion.
• Finish Basics of Working Memory section in ch. 3.
• Meet with John about ch. 8 results.
• Give AIA talk.
• Finish answering interview questions.

11/10-11/16

• Finish A Comparative Approach section in ch. 3.
• Second draft of ch. 6 finished.
• Finish any left-over analyses for ch. 8.
• Practice Skype interview with Mom.

11/17-11/23

• Finish A Developmental Approach section in ch. 3.
• Write Introduction for ch. 8.
• Practice Skype interview with Christina.
• Finish talk for IPFW.

11/24-11/30

• Finish Evolutionary Studies on Working Memory section in ch. 3.
• Write Results for ch. 8.
• Finish Skype interview for Vassar.

Monthly

November

• Write half of ch. 3.
• Finish all analyses for ch. 8 and start writing chapter.
• Polished draft of ch. 6 to Bob and John.
• Finish Skype interview with Vassar.
• Give AIA talk.

December

• Finish ch. 3.
• Finish ch. 8
• Submit ch. 6 to Science.
• Finish analyses for ch. 7
• Give IPFW talk.

January

• Write half of ch. 7.
• Write ch. 8 portion of Discussion.
• Write ch. 1.

February

• Finish ch. 7.
• Finish ch. 9 Discussion.
• Finish ch. 10 Conclusion.

March

• Submit completed dissertation to John and Bob.
• Finish Acknowledgments.

April

• Make Bob and John's edits.
• Submit edited dissertation to committee.
• AAPA and Paleoanthro talks.

May

• Defend dissertation
• Walk at graduation.

I am nobody until I am somebody

Yu-Chi's recent post about her long-term goals and my comment on that post got me to thinking about writing with characters. I have always considered myself more of a creative writer than a scientific writer. Luckily, the skill of creative writing has transferred well to my scientific writing. But when I actually got to thinking about how I write my scientific papers, I realized that I approach them very similarly to how I approach writing fiction.

When I write fiction, I really try to put myself in the shoes of the characters I am trying to portray. What does this character feel? What are her hopes and dreams? How would she react in this situation? I should feel so much that I am that character that if she is hurt and crying, I should be crying as I write it. This is what makes writing such a fun journey, but it can also be exhausting. This can transfer to the dissertation. While there aren't really any characters to portray in my dissertation, there is the most important character of all, the person writing the story. It doesn't necessarily have to be me. Because who am I? I'm a shy, awkward nobody with insecurities and imperfections who has no business being a PI on grants and writing a dissertation. But who am I when I write my dissertation? If I stick with myself, my dissertation is never going to get done. But if I am a different character writing this dissertation, a very confident woman who is smart and sassy and has her life together, who can face any challenge with her head held high, then the result can be pretty amazing.

This is how I approach a lot of situations, not just writing. Teaching, for example. Who would have ever thought that this shy girl from Indiana who was so dreadfully frightened of talking to strangers could ever get up in front of a classroom full of students and teach them about evolution? She couldn't. Of course she couldn't. But a different character could, someone who is funny, outgoing, entertaining, and really knows her shit. That's the person who has been teaching the past six years, not me.

Fear should never cripple you from doing something that you want to do or something that simply needs to get done. If you are afraid, then you are simply playing the wrong character. Choose someone else.

Aim High

I received an email from one of my committee members today. Let's be honest; he is basically my mentor as far as my experiment goes. Anyway, he said he had looked over the timeline for my dissertation that I sent him and had a few concerns about me being overly ambitious (imagine that!). My goal is to pump out a chapter each month, while also polishing three of these chapters for publication. He didn't seem to think I would have trouble completing my ten chapters by February, but he said polishing the manuscripts for publication will take a lot more work than I anticipate. I have published a couple articles already, so I am aware of the whole rigamarole. He is probably right, but I don't regret aiming high. I think if you set your mind to something, you can do just about anything. 

According to my overall timeline, I am supposed to finish a draft of the chapter I am currently working on by mid-June. I have written a little over 21 pages so far, but I don't think I'm even at the halfway mark quite yet. I also found out recently that the trip my boyfriend and I were planning to Colorado at the end of June is actually beginning this Saturday. So, there goes a week of writing to get this chapter done by my self-imposed deadline. Maybe I can shoot for the end of June.

Anyway, today was productive. I rearranged my outline a bit last night because I felt like it was holding me back from writing more freely. This seemed to help because I wrote 3 pages this morning.

I. Introduction
II. Pre-World War II
III. Post-World War II
IV. 1979: Contemporary evolutionary cognitive archaeology begins
V. 1980s: A Piagetian framework   
VI. Alternative approaches to the Piagetian model
    A. Steven Mithen's Prehistory of the Mind
    B. Language, archaeology, and lateralization
        1. Endocast studies from the 70s and 80s
        2. Lateralization and language
        3. Evidence for brain lateralization
        4. Evidence for right hand dominance
    C. Critique of stone tools as markers of cognition
VII. Resurgence of archaeological clues for language
    A. Greenfield (1991)
    B. Wynn (1991)
    C. Davidson and Noble's (1989) depictive origin for language   
VIII. Minds and brains of hominins
IX. A coming of age in the US
X. New approaches of new millennium
XI. Introduction of neuroimaging techniques
XII. Summary

You can see that I added a new section (VI). This has been my concentration today. My goal is to read the articles for Section VI.B.1 tonight, and I'll try to write this section up tomorrow morning. I don't know how much focus I want to give to this section. I might skim these articles rather than spend time taking down detailed notes. I might finish it faster than I think, in which case I will move on to Section VI.B.2 before my next blog post.