Dr Guy Sutton Psychology Expert

On June 18th the Year 12 A-level Psychology students and their teacher Mrs King embarked on an enlightening field trip held at the RGS with Dr Guy Sutton, a leading neuroscientist.
The day was thoroughly planned and involved multiple activities including a sheep’s brain dissection, fascinating talks about neurodevelopmental disorders and the interface between brain and computers. All this took us deeper into several areas of psychology
The highlight of our trip was the captivating lecture given on the violent mind. This included learning how chemical poisoning and brain tumours can cause an individual to commit violent crime.
During his lecture, he delved into the recent advancements in neuropsychology and the latest in brain scanning to enhance our understanding of the brain and its functions. Dr Sutton took us deeper into several areas of psychology and drew upon real-life examples and case studies about how neuropsychology is changing our world so quickly.
Following the lecture, we participated in the brain dissection, which was an unforgettable experience and intriguing, we gathered round to watch Dr Sutton perform the dissection, as he gave detailed explanations of what he was doing, and the different parts of the brain seen by the students. We were given various parts of the brain to pass around and take a closer look at for ourselves. This was a great addition to help our learning.
After the dissection of the brain, we were able to participate in another interactive activity where we were asked to create a model out of sweets on the effect recreational drugs have on our synapses. When constructing our models, we were in groups with students from different schools which gave us the opportunity to socialise and gave us new perspectives and facts about psychology.
The day ended with a fascinating talk on the future of brain research, where we learned about how human brain tissue is being grown in labs; we discussed what the ethical implications of this may be.
This was an incredible day and Mrs King has secured 20 places for Great Marlow students at next year’s event.

By Oliver Braid (12K1) and Ruby Keyes (12K1)