biology

The Yipping Tiger

The Yipping Tiger is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Yipping Tiger rather than just read about it. In short: The Yipping Tiger and Other Tales from the Neuropsychiatric Clinic is a book by neuropsychiatrist Perminder Sachdev, M.D. consisting of ten case studies which explore the relationship between the brain and the mind. The case studies are based on Sachdev's experience in the neuropsychiatric clinic at the Neuropsychiatric Institute, Sydney, Australia.

Key takeaways

The Yipping Tiger belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Yipping Tiger to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Yipping Tiger from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Yipping Tiger and Other Tales from the Neuropsychiatric Clinic is a book by neuropsychiatrist Perminder Sachdev, M.D. consisting of ten case studies which explore the relationship between the brain and the mind. The case studies are based on Sachdev's experience in the neuropsychiatric clinic at the Neuropsychiatric Institute, Sydney, Australia. Each case study examines a different medical condition, the current research findings related to the condition, and the challenges these conditions pose for the doctor and patient.

Contents The Yipping Tiger (Golfer's cramps) Shaking hands with Dr Strangelove (The Alien hand syndrome) Swearing like a Spanish sailor (Coprolalia in Tourette's syndrome) The Mozart Complex (Brain enhancement) The mirror always lies (Anorexia nervosa) The dead homunculus (Frontal lobe disorder) Serotonin's seductive song (Major depressive disorder) A chesty problem (Obsessive-compulsive disorder) Lord Nelson's ghost (Phantom limb) Freudian slips and semantic slides (Mild cognitive impairment)

Reception G. Boucher, ‘Off-putting tales from a yipping yarn’. The Australian 2009 (8 August): http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/off-putting-tales-from-a-yipping-yarn/story-e6frg8no-1225758241816 J. Horder, ‘Medicine: IN BRIEF’. The Times Literary Supplement 2010 (23 July), page 27: S. Hussein, ‘Brains, Minds, Hearts and Souls’. New Matilda 2010 (20 May): https://web.archive.org/web/20110823213551/http://newmatilda.com/2010/05/20/brains-minds-hearts-souls K. Ridel, ‘Book Review: The Hidden Brain and The Yipping Tiger and Other Tales from the Neuropsychiatric Clinic’. Neurology 2011; 76:e77. D. Turney, ‘Think again: reinterpreting the brain’. The Sydney Morning Herald 2010 (1 April), page 19: http://www.smh.com.au/world/science/think-again-reinterpreting-the-brain-20100331-rexx.html ‘All in the mind: On the couch: Perminder Sachdev and Norman Doidge’, radio interview presented by Natasha Mitchell, ABC Radio National 2010 (25 September): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2010/3016990.htm ‘All in the mind: Q & A - the audience asks. Norman Doidge and Perminder Sachdev’, radio interview presented by Natasha Mitchell, ABC Radio National 2010 (4 October): https://archive.today/20121231044544/http://blogs.abc.net.au/allinthemind/2010/10/qa-the-audience-asks-norman-doidge-and-perminder-sachdev.html

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Yipping Tiger

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Yipping Tiger claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Yipping Tiger before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Yipping Tiger ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Yipping Tiger

In research: The Yipping Tiger appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Yipping Tiger in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Yipping Tiger is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2009 non-fiction books, Australian non-fiction books, Neuroscience books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Yipping Tiger outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Yipping Tiger in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Yipping Tiger means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Yipping Tiger out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Yipping Tiger in simple terms?

Why does The Yipping Tiger matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Yipping Tiger?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Yipping Tiger.