After careful consideration by the year’s examiners, I am pleased to announce the winners of the honorary prize for the best Bachelor’s Thesis and the best Master’s Thesis in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Skövde for the year 2016.
At Bachelor’s level, the prize goes to Consciousness Studies student Julius Wallenberg, for his thesis The Neural Correlates of Aesthetic Appreciation. Julius focuses on a relatively novel and specialized area of research – neuroaesthetics. In his overview of the field, he strikes an impressive balance between cognitive neuroscience and philosophy, both in the way he deftly discusses various limitations to empirical method, as well as the manner in which he shows a solid grasp of the conceptual (philosophical) particulars.
At Master’s level, the prize goes to Master program student Boushra Dalile, for her thesis Is the High Probability of Type II Error an Issue in Error Awareness ERP Studies? Boushra has undertaken an empirical event-related potential (ERP) study in the department lab. More specifically, she has investigated the relation between error awareness and the ERN (error-related negativity, a response-locked ERP component tied to commissions of errors), and sought to circumscribe problems with previous relevant findings by using a higher-than-standard number of research subjects (N=40). Her findings highlight the lack of meaningful empirical consensus in the field, serving to clarify some of the ways in which continued error awareness-ERN research may need to limit its focus.
Congratulations to both Julius and Boushra for the awards!