Don't judge a book by its cover

           When you see people thrown in the middle of the side walk while you are talking a stroll through town you immediately think that they either partied way to hard last night and are passed out or that they are on drugs, but has it ever crossed your mind that just maybe they suffer from narcolepsy?  Narcolepsy is a strange condition that some people suffer in which they are overcome by involuntary sleep episodes during the day. People who suffer this lose control over body muscles and simply collapse to the ground. However, the fact that they are in the floor does not mean that they are necessarily asleep; they can hear what is going around them in some cases, but are unable to control their muscles.

        In a video I watched recently in my psychology class a man named Muhammad has to live with this rare condition. He has to overcome many obstacles in his life. For instances, he must wear a helmet because if he falls he may hurt his head severely (specially in the kitchen with all the sharp and dangerous tools). He does not leave his home very often because if its hard enough being at home collapsing every few minutes, than imagine how hard it must be in public, were everyone judges and laughs at you. This condition is not to be laughed at, but informed and aware of.  This condition is truly more than what the eye meets.

http://encyclopediaofhealth.blogspot.com/2011/01/narcolepsy.html

What really happens at night

        

    At night, while you are sleeping believe it or not, your brain goes trough various stages of sleep. The first stage which consists of slowing muscle activity is the lightest stage of sleep. The second stage makes your eye movement stop and brain waves become slower. The third and fourth stages are very similar, they are known as deep sleep and this is when delta waves emerge. Finally, there is REM sleep, which stands for Rapid Eye Movement. During this stage breathing and heart rate increase and your muscle limbs are partially paralyzed, this stage is where most of the dreaming occurs. In this stage dreams seem very real. But, why do we dream? We do this because it helps the brain process new information and organize memories.

        There are people who suffer REM sleep disorder. This is a strange brain condition. The dreamer acts out his/her dream because the limb muscles are not paralyzed, this is very dangerous because they can harm not just themselves, but the people around them.  Dreams happen in the parietal lobe. What I find extremely interesting is the fact that if you hurt your parietal lobe, then dreams stop, this causes bad sleeping and people awaken during the night more often. Dreams fascinate everyone, they captivate ones attention. I believe that the fact that we dream every single night, even tough we don’t remember, is remarkable. “Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives”(William Dement).

http://www.quotegarden.com/dreams.html

http://www.free-extras.com/images/sleeping_and_dreaming-1727.htm

Alone

 Sometimes all we really need is peace and quite, sometimes we wish that people and sound would just vanish so we could do some thinking, however as someone once said be careful what you wish for.

 Sensory deprivation is when you block any type of communication or interaction with sound and touch. Well, you might think to yourself, what is wrong with having some alone time? The truth is that it all depends on the amount of time you are alone. When you are alone for too much time, then your brain starts to work differently, it starts to work slower. Stimulation helps process information in the brain, but how are you going to do this if it is deprived?

To help scientist understand the effect of sensory deprivation, six people were locked up in different  small rooms (each person in a different room) for 48 hours. Three of them had no light on, but they could touch. The other three could not see, touch nor hear. After several hours the subjects start to get bored; they start to talk to themselves.  When the long 48 hours have passed and some tests are done to them, scientists notice that they can’t answer simple questions or take more time than what they would usually take to answer them.

Sensory deprivation is so harmful that it is used as a form of torture. There are several prisons around the world that do this to the hostages. They are locked up in a windowless cell in which no light can come in. The result? Madness. Due to the lack of contact people start to hallucinate which I find quite interesting. Who would know that the lack of simple factors such as noise and touch can make you act and think so differently?

image - http://paradiseandroses.wordpress.com/

Post # 11

1. Explain in detail what "savant syndrome" means.

A condition in which a person with substandard intelligence is gifted in a particular area.

2. What does genius mean?  Explain the difference between genius and savant.

      A genius is a person with a strong rational supremacy. The difference between a genius and a savant is that unlike a savant, a genius does not just exceed in one area but in multiple areas. Geniuses don’t lack the ability to do essential things.

3. What is a stroke and how could it affect your mental functioning?
             A stroke is a “sudden impairment of brain function”; this is due either to low blood circulation in the brain or “intracranial bleeding”. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/569347/stroke).

A stroke may kill some brain tissues that enable you to due everyday activities; such as movement (body gets paralyzed), or the ability to speak. Your brain will not work the same way it used to before the stroke ever again.

4. What is a functional MRI and how does it help us understand brain activity?
           “FMRI is a technique used in biomedical research and diagnosis that detects changes in blood flow in the brain” (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1128872/functional-magnetic-resonance-imaging-fMRI). It helps understand brain activities because it creates a map of the brain and because it enables scientists to see how different parts of your brain work when “new blood” is going into the brain.

5. What is the corpus callosum and what role does it play in your brain's activity?

The corpus callosum is a group of nerves inside the brain that allow the right and left hemispheres to communicate. This facilitates the function of the nervous system due to the connection that it creates between the hemispheres.

6. What is epilepsy and how might it affect your brain's abilities?
            Epilepsy is a medical condition that produces seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions”( http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/about/). When someone suffers from epilepsy they have difficulties when it comes to learning.

7. What is autism?
             Autism is a “developmental disorder”. It affects your speech, and your social and physical abilities(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/44667/autism).

8. What is Asperger's Syndrome?

            “Asperger syndrome  is a neurobiological disorder that is part of a group of conditions called autism spectrum disorders” (http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/brain/asperger.html).

 INFORMATION:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/282018/savant-syndrome

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/229159/genius

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/569347/stroke     

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1128872/functional-magnetic-resonance-imaging-fMRI

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/138476/corpus-callosum

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/corpus-callosum-function.html

http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/about/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001714/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/44667/autism

http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/brain/asperger.html

IMAGES:

http://www.tubecad.com/2006/10/blog0082.htm
http://historicmysteries.com/savants
http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/corpuscallosum.html
http://autismoptimism.blogspot.com/2008/04/autism-signs.html

Synesthesia

·         Synesthesia: “condition in which the senses get cross-wired” (www.cerebromente.org.br).}

·         grapheme-color synesthesia :  kind of synesthesia is which people associate numbers and letters with colors.

·         ordinal-linguistic personification : type of synesthesia in which people relate linguistics with human qualities.

·         number-form synesthesia:  form of synesthesia where when the individual thinks about a number, he immediately creates a mental map of numbers.

·         sound-color synesthesia:  kind of synesthesia in which individuals see different color based on the music they hear.

·         lexical-gustatory synesthesia:  style of synesthesia where words cause certain taste in the mouth.

INFORMATION:
http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n17/mente/synaesthesia.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapheme-color_synesthesia

http://linguistics.researchtoday.net/archive/3/3/880.htm

http://www.synesthesiaweb.com/synesthesia_-_Various_forms_-_Number_form_synesthesia.htm

http://undacovabear.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/sound-colour-synesthesia/

http://www.purlla.com/about/synaesthesia/forms-of-synaesthesia.html

PICTURES :

http://www.manicvision.com/synethesia.html

http://listsoplenty.com/pix/synesthesia-feeling-the-numbers
http://images.clipartof.com/small/217334-Digital-Collage-Of-Colorful-Number-Characters-Poster-Art-Print.jpg
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-39633409/stock-vector-colored-music-theme-vector.html

Savants

Savants are people who are born with lack of abilities such as speaking, walking or even sight, however, this group of people have a great forte in one specific area, being music, art, or memory, among others.

There are three different groups of savants the normal savants, the gifted savants, who dominate extremely well a skill that has no practical purpose and lastly the prodigious savants who are the best in a certain area. What I believe is particularly interesting is the fact that there are only about one hundred savants around the world. This limitates scientist’s study of their brain, which is kind of the down side.

There is a case of a savatn named George, he is a gifted savant. He can remember any day of the week of any month and year…fascinating isn’t it? However he is limited in doing other things because he was born with autism.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4f2Ul2E-oUQ5mvYEuvh8kfPNtE-S66Pk-TnJwP-LK2imq-9emWuFhA42CFFCvclKBEdj0JZ4wvmYSSMHZjYhJVX-MP5fQjMN2SDAge3-WIaWavt4IrO8tabf1muM4d_UA4qdoTH5UD5I/s400/autism+mystery.bmp&imgrefurl=http://autismoptimism.blogspot.com/2008/04/autism-signs.html&usg=__eIO_kWsWyVk5WbJJTGVjYm5whMc=&h=383&w=239&sz=18&hl=en&start=35&zoom=1&tbnid=wV6HoMf5ZELkRM:&tbnh=158&tbnw=99&ei=RA5rTdPVLMGB8ga1lr2NCw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dautism%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D685%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10,1279&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=388&oei=Cw5rTfKlOJHAtgeV0_3nAw&page=3&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:35&tx=37&ty=79&biw=1280&bih=685

Make me a genius !!!

Can you truly make some one a genius?  I find this idea very interesting, but most importantly very challenging. However, there is  fascinating case, where a father proves that all it takes is practice and dedication.

Susan is one of the world best chess players in the worlds; she is the one who made chess be a sport not only for men, but women as well. As a very young child she found a chess board by mistake when she was looking for a new toy to play with at home, little did she know, she had found the sport that she would excel in.  Her father believed that geniuses could be made, they did not have to be born, and he proved everyone that his ideas were accurate.

He made his young girl practice every day for about six hours.  Susan got better and better very day. It is important to point out that girls are better at reasoning; this gave her a small advantage. Since she had so much time to practice, she remembered so many different chess moves by chunking. Chunking is the ability to remember things in groups rather than individually.

She is truly an admirable women, but I believe that  her fathers support and this admirable idea of being able to make a genius , made her who she is.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://sanbusco.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/chess.jpg&imgrefurl=http://sanbusco.com/news/chess-night-at-borders-2&usg=__6aAwW-pBpTiedsQjL_D1QBUGBHA=&h=486&w=411&sz=27&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=4dUiGab_1CCwEM:&tbnh=163&tbnw=153&ei=yQ1rTb-KEoautwfc4P3nAw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchess%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D685%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=798&vpy=127&dur=3725&hovh=244&hovw=206&tx=92&ty=158&oei=yQ1rTb-KEoautwfc4P3nAw&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0

Born Genius

Born genius? I believe that this question is debatable; there is no right or wrong answers. However, it is extraordinary when we get to see kids at a very young age doing things that grown ups struggle do accomplish.  A case which resembles this is Mark Yus' one.

Mark Yu is a seven year old boy, which by glancing at him , you would think he is a normal boy, however, when you hear him play the piano, you get transported to a different world. Suprisingly he has over fourty different piano pieces memorized and has played with five different orchestras just in one year.

Many people believe that this prodigies have genes that make them stand out from the ordinary and become extraordinary, however, other believe it’s due to environment. The fact that Mark Yu started playing the piano for the first time at the age of two without receiving any kind of lesson prior to that, supports the genes theory.  However, the fact that musicians brains are different because of how much they practice, supports the theory of environment, because they are not born with the different brain, they develop it.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://jodifabulous.blogware.com/genius.gif&imgrefurl=http://jodifabulous.blogware.com/&usg=__T-Ca0980sEV_XyhJeGE8UXnTvws=&h=300&w=330&sz=8&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=VDaWE1qgo5w6GM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=134&ei=mA1rTb3QEYjetgeGq5zoAw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgenius%2Bpeople%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D685%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10,335&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=299&oei=mA1rTb3QEYjetgeGq5zoAw&page=1&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:18,s:0&tx=103&ty=42&biw=1280&bih=685

Homosexuality

When you think of identical twins, you think that every thing they do, think, or say will be the same, rarely do you think about their sexual interests. However, not all twins are the same, even though they physically look the same.

There is a case where two male twins are physically identical, however they are very different. Jared is very masculine while his brother Adam is very feminine. Adam has childhood gender non conformity which means that he does not act like the typical stereotype. When scientist see this case they wonder like many people, is homosexuality genetic or does the environment affect you? Aren’t identical twins supposed to have identical genes?

Early behavior which determines homesexuallity such as choosing girly colors or playing with dolls rather than with toys support the genes theory. However, when one brother is straight and the other one is gay, the environment theory is supported.

I learned and found highly interesting the fact that for every new male baby that a woman has there is a one-third percentage chance that he will be homosexual. But what is more interesting is that this only applies when the baby boy is left handed. Bizarre isn’t it?

So, is homosexuality due to nurture or nature?

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.mylot.com/userImages/images/postphotos/2207156.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.mylot.com/w/photokeywords/homosexuality.aspx&usg=__wLclt2hUwPQAzQtTIaHx2I040_U=&h=295&w=300&sz=22&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=HdvcI8OUHQEebM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=131&ei=1a9hTYitF8Kt8AbI0pmADA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhomosexuality%2Bsymbol%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D685%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=290&oei=xK9hTdWAOoeFtgf7ovHcCw&page=1&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0&tx=74&ty=65

Murderers, can they be justified?

Have you ever wondered why people out there kill others? How is it possible for them to feel pleasure when they take someone else’s life, how can people enjoy it?

What makes/ creates a dangerous killer? Usually the people who grow up to be killers have a very hard childhood, they are generally abused as an infant, either being physically, verbally or emotionally.  They are tortured and they become mentally ill.

There is a wide difference between a violent and a non-violent person. Their frontal lobes work differently mostly because violent people have suffered some kind of head injury. People who kill don’t have a conscious they don’t feel bad or even guilty after they kill.

I find it absolutely repulsive when a person tries to justify a murder in which they are completely guilty of committing.  Scientists try to defend the murder claiming that they have brain damage due to the environment they grow up in; they claim that the murder lacks intelligence, that they have been beaten by their parents or even suffer identity disorder. However, does this give them the right to kill someone? I highly doubt it! How do scientists know if the murder is not lying?  Every single murder out there know that when they are asked about their youngster years, they must make it as dramatic as possible in order for every one to believe that that is what has driven them to commit the murder. Some of them may be speaking the truth, but that does not mean all of them are.

Murderers are made, not born. The surroundings in which they grow up can affect them greatly. However, I also believe that more murders rise when they see that different cases are dismissed and the murder is not found guilty because his/her actions were justified due to mental illnesses. Murders should not be 

justified.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.international-lawyers-firms.com/images/GAVEL_COURT.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.international-lawyers-firms.com/&usg=__C6u3om5gng3aZ3xxSBPpl1UQ_Ak=&h=860&w=558&sz=574&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=xDrU5E2KY2E_NM:&tbnh=172&tbnw=121&ei=IlhXTee_B8yatwfhgpi6DQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcourt%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D685%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=328&vpy=273&dur=748&hovh=279&hovw=181&tx=79&ty=132&oei=IlhXTee_B8yatwfhgpi6DQ&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0

Injuries that can change your life forever

Traumatic brain injuries, just like the title suggests, are injuries that change your life forever! Traumatic brain injuries happen when to much force is applied to the skull; this causes your brain to get damaged. The frontal and temporal lobes are the parts of the brain that suffer the most damage.  The types of injuries you can get are contusion, axonal injury or bleeding inside the brain. When your brain gets injured it may cause many problems in many different areas like in speaking, thinking and managing behavior or emotions.  So many vital abilities are lost. Many of these injuries are caused by fights, accidents (mostly automobilist) and falls.

It is hard to believe that a fight or even an accidental fall can re-write your story. This is when the saying “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone” truly has a meaning.  You don’t truly value what you have such as the ability to talk or even walk, because you take these things for granted but your life can change in a split second. I believe that traumatic brain injuries are to be taken seriously and it is sad and infuriating when you see people making fun of the victims.

After watching this video you truly reflect on your life and all the privileges you’ve been given and know that you have to be grateful!

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bryanking.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/traumatic_brain_injury.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bryanking.net/traumatic-brain-injury/&usg=__kbJeoGfFoJD_TZXtYbgLqJ0jgy4=&h=243&w=260&sz=14&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=SOkOZccjx51HMM:&tbnh=165&tbnw=200&ei=5E5XTb_FK4L6tgfM4vimDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtraumatic%2Bbrain%2Binjury%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26gbv%3D2%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D685%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=411&vpy=128&dur=3063&hovh=194&hovw=208&tx=89&ty=139&oei=5E5XTb_FK4L6tgfM4vimDQ&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0

Mind-reading.....wait WHAT??

When we were younger and used to watch cartoons, these characters could do impossible things such as read minds! Something way out of the ordinary, something which we believed was just science friction, but now it’s a fact. Luckily for us, the new generation, there are so many advances that make our life easier due to the fact that we live during the “ technology era” if so to speak.

I find the MIRs extremely interesting! The fact that they can get into someone’s brain and actually read or know what they are thinking is beyond extraordinary! The way these machines work is incredible, and even though they might just read object you are thinking of, I believe that that is a great starts and not to far in the future, they will be able to read even more than that.

As I watched the video I learned that these machines can help in marketing, something which I personally believe is pretty smart. They get into teenage or any human brain to see what attracts their attention, so they can sell more of their product, this is called Neural Marketing.

 Will there be more developed machines in the future, like cell phones, small and practical that will be able to read every single thought we have rather than just objects that we are thinking of…only time can tell.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/2100252/2156524/2160976/070316_HN_mindReaderTN.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.slate.com/id/2161936/&usg=__msIOFjJcv8R7ZcFM3qw4lcDeuy4=&h=212&w=205&sz=12&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=f514nuQ1LxzNKM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=122&ei=mERXTbrqMo2Etgesl5G3DQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmind%2Breading%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D685%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1075&vpy=86&dur=1621&hovh=169&hovw=164&tx=109&ty=109&oei=mERXTbrqMo2Etgesl5G3DQ&page=1&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0

Parents VS Teens

My parents don’t understand me! VS. My child is so ungrateful and disrespectful! Which side do you stand on?

Teens tend to be disrespectful to their parents because, as they see it, their parents don’t understand them, their parents don’t comprehend their point of view.  Parents tend to get angry at them because teens are disrespectful when they are just trying to help.

As children start to become teenagers their attitudes start to change severely.  Teens go through many mood swings, they can be extremely happy and just a split second afterwards they are angry or depressive. These mood swings eventually affect relationships with the people who surround them, even though this is not their intention.

Another factor that triggers the friction between parents and their teens is the miscommunication.  Teens use a different part of the brain to read or understand emotions. This means that they interpret adult’s facial emotions differently. The adult can be expressing concern and teens understand it as anger, this causes the teenager to react differently than how they would normally react if they knew the adult was concerned rather than angry.

As kids become teenagers their parents believe that their child has been invaded by someone else, however they must understand that it’s just the course of life taking action.

I believe that the video we saw in class was extremely informative.  It was interesting and fun. It talks about many different issues that teenagers and their parents go through, helping them both relate and understand one another.