Psychology’s ‘Brain Day’ gets students thinking

Psychology students enjoyed the subject’s annual ‘Brain Day’ as specialist, Dr Guy Sutton, visited the College to give an insight into the role that our grey matter plays.

Over a number of sessions, Dr Sutton helped students discover what each compartment of the brain is responsible for, but not before he’d performed his sheep’s brain dissection, which proves ever-popular amongst those with stronger stomachs.

The brain expert explained about the impact that brain damage can have in multiple forms, and expanded the students’ understanding of the relationship between brain functions and human behaviour.

Dr Sutton went on to give a special talk on the criminal brain, including notable controversial cases surrounding mental health such as Mark Chapman’s assassination of John Lennon and the chilling story of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe.

The visiting specialist went on to concentrate on schizophrenia, starting by dispelling the popular myth than schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder are one in the same thing.

A Level Psychology student, Ben Harding, took a lot away from Dr Sutton’s talk, saying: “The talk was extremely detailed and provided such a vast insight into the world of Schizophrenia and how it overlaps with most of society. Discussing the complexities of diagnosing a person with schizophrenia, and the cases of law and schizophrenia, is what made it such an intriguing talk!"