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