Profile
Lydia Barnes
My CV
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Education:
Southern Cross University, Macquarie University, University of Cambridge
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Qualifications:
Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Psychology Honours (in Australia this is a separate 4th year of uni), Master of Research in Cognitive Science
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Work History:
Waitress, Sales Admin Assistant, Research Assistant, Tutor/Demonstrator
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Current Job:
PhD Student
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About Me:
I live in Cambridge with two friends. I’m learning guitar, very, very slowly. I like listening to podcasts while I make dinner, or watching silly TV with my housemates and shouting advice at the characters.
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I live in Cambridge, but I grew up in Sydney, Australia. I miss the sunshine and trees but not the heat! I live with two friends in an old creaky house. We kept ourselves busy through lockdown by tuning our ancient piano. On the weekends I enjoy cycling out of town, or getting a coffee and going to watch people punting on the river. The best part is catching the look on someone’s face when they’re about to fall in.
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Have you ever thought about how you are able to go the cupboard, choose a cup, and make a cup of tea? Or how you can notice cars while you cross a road, but ignore the feeling of your shoes or the smell of the tarmac? Every moment, thousands of different sensations reach your brain. How do you pick what you’re going to notice and respond to?
You might not have thought about this, or thought that it was a special skill. But the way that our goals change how we experience the world is a mystery that we are only just beginning to understand. Even very advanced computers struggle to do what you can do so casually. You can decide that you want your favourite blue cup, notice that cup and NOT all the other cups in the cupboard, then move on effortlessly to notice where the kettle is, the fridge, all in a few seconds.
As soon as you look in that cupboard for your cup, light from the cups sends messages to your brain. Straight away, the messages start a race for your attention. As they go, they give off tiny electrical sparks.
I can measure these sparks outside your head with a brain scanner that we call a ‘MEG’. It looks like a big white helmet attached to a chair.
What’s amazing is that the sparks for things that are relevant, like the colour and shape of your cup, are boosted in less than half a second — long before you could notice or reach for it.
We can also see that the boost comes from an intense conversation between parts of the brain that process what you see, and a big brain network that cares about what you are trying to do. The network is like an octopus, with lots of arms reaching to our brain areas for seeing, hearing, speaking, and acting. The moment you need to turn away from your cup and toward the kettle, it passes new instructions through the brain so that it’s ready to help.
Next time you get yourself a drink, remember how hard your brain is working under the surface to support you!
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My Typical Day:
I usually spend the day at my computer. I love tea (if you hadn’t guessed), so most of my day is a cycle of write code, drink tea, repeat. Often I join a talk or a discussion group to break up the day.
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On testing days, I meet volunteers at the lab. I put electrodes on their head–little metal discs–with some gel to help the electrodes measure their brain activity. Then they do a difficult and very repetitive computer game! I make sure the recording from the electrodes is OK. These days can be stressful, because we have to be in and out of the scanner quickly. But they’re often fun because I get to meet the volunteers, and catch up with the person who runs our brain scanner.
Other days, I plan new experiments, make the computer games for them, or analyse the recordings we have from our volunteers. If a volunteer moved during a recording, the brain scanner often treats that as brain signal. I have to go through and take the movement signal out. I do it by writing computer programs, which I love!
Around lunchtime, I stop for a talk or discussion group. Both of my housemates are in my department, so we put the talk on the TV and sit around to watch it together. Before COVID, the whole department would rush to use the microwaves before the talk and then race up the stairs to the lecture hall. One of our senior scientists always looked like he was asleep during the talk, but could still ask brilliant questions at the end.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I think the prize money should go to the Brilliant Club. They connect kids in state schools with young researchers like me to get a sneak peek at what university is like.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
curious, sceptical, COVID-stir-crazy
What did you want to be after you left school?
I wanted to be a psychologist who worked with businesses...mostly because I heard they got paid well!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I wouldn't say trouble, no. But there were definitely subjects I didn't care about. Especially biology, hah!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
That's really hard. I like Sampa the Great and Jordan Rakei, but also love going back to golden oldies like Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell. This week I'm listening to The Japanese House.
What's your favourite food?
My housemate's butternut squash lasagne.
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
I'd wish I could teleport. I used to live 2 h from uni and I'd have loved to skip the grumpy commute home. Then I'd wish I could read super-quickly. And maybe become hungry at will, because food is so much better when you're hungry.
Tell us a joke.
Uh...no?
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