Author: Mackenzie Hammers

Blog Post 3, Aversion

One thing in this section that i found particularly interesting is aversion. As we all know, aversion is a strong dislike for something we have had a traumatic experience with. For example, getting sick after eating/ drinking something and then never being able to eat it again. Aversion happens  between the hypothalamus and the habenula of the brain.

In my lifetime, i have noticed many people have aversion to many different things. For example, my brother dislikes chinese food because he drank chocolate milk with it and threw up. Another example would be my roommate with s’mores. I think this is a very interesting concept because our brain associates getting sick with that type of food, and swears you off of it completely. My roommate can eat all parts of a s’more separately, but not all together.  The fact that aversion often requires therapy to overcome it is intriguing. based off of this, is aversion also disliking something because you have had it so much? or only when you truly get sick from it? My experience with my first question is when i was in middle school, I used to eat yogurt every morning with the granola and fruit pieces. Since I would have it everyday, I eventually became tired of it. If i tried to eat it past the threshold of me getting tired of it, I would almost gag while eating it for breakfast. I feel like this is closely related to aversion in same way. Any thoughts?

Piagets Theory

In class, we have been talking all about Jean Piaget’s theory on the development of a child’s brain and the stages they go through. It was proven to be very accurate with some slight error in the possible age frames. Piaget says this is something every child goes through. And they must complete one phase before going onto the next. I think this is a very interesting notion and I want to explore it more. For example, in class we watched the little girl look at her cookie and the woman’s cookie. She said the woman had more, but when hers was broken in half, she claimed they had the same amount now. When does this phase change? Do they have to go through this part of Piaget’s theory to figure out that they do not have the same amount? Also how does the brain learn later on that the broken pieces are no longer the same? The way the brain transforms and matured is truly amazing. I think that all kids have to go through this stage and through more experience the child acquires the more they start looking into the finer pieces of the broken cookie.  I have actually experienced this with a child I babysat. Every time he would want a peanut butter sandwich, instead of giving him two, I would give him one piece of bread and split it into fourths with some peanut butter smeared on it. This worked for awhile but then slowly as he got older and the more I used this trick, the more it began to dull. The more times they are exposed to this type of thing, they more they pick up on and build upon from prior experience. This is what I think. Does anyone else have any other viewpoints on how the brain transforms to learn that all pieces are not the same? Is it just a natural thing that can’t be explained?

Sensory adaptation

Sensory adaptation is when there is diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation. What comes with sensory adaptation is attention and attention span. Attention is partially a mental effort  some of it is effortless. We can not focus on too many things as an individual because we will miss key parts if we try to on more than one.  I have first hand experience with this because when I study, I will be reading my notes or writing something down when someone in the room tries to talk to me. I try to continue to write as I listen to what they have to say and it just doesn’t work. I either have to stop writing or ask them to “give me a second”. This ties back with the idea that we can not really do more than 1 thing at a time effectively. If i tried to do both, I would subconsciously not really listen to the person, or I would forget completely what I was supposed to be writing down and have to restart.