Author: odm5032

Ivan Pavlov was physiological doctor and an academic in field as well.  He became famous from a certain experiment in which the idea of classical conditioning was developed.  Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism learns to associate stimuli, Pavlov was able to demonstrate this using a dog, a bell, and food. Before starting the experiment, Pavlov noticed that the food caused the dog to salivate.  He labeled the food as the unconditioned stimulus and the salivation as the unconditioned response. The reason for labels is to display that all the stimulus and the response are not manipulated by Pavlov. He would then condition the dog by ringing a bell when serving the dog food over a period of time.  The bell is labeled the neutral stimulus because the stimulus doesn’t serve any purpose besides being stimulus. Eventually the bell becomes conditioned stimulus because every time the dog hears a bell it assumes it is going to be fed. This results in the dog salivating everytime it hears the bell, which is conditioned response.  This was revolutionary for the time because it shows subconscious learning that can be examined.

My last year in highschool I took a psychology course and my teacher had us participate in a similar experiment to show just how real classical conditioning is.  The unconditioned stimulus in the experiment was exercise and unconditioned response was an increase in heart rate. We then incorporated the neutral stimulus, a bell, to signal the commencement of the exercise.  The exercise was only jumping jacks for thirty seconds but there was still a noticeable jump in heart rate. After ten trials of repetitively doing jumping jacks, we measure the student’s heart rate after simply ringing the bell.  As expected, her heart rate had increased almost as much as it had during the exercise. Similar to Pavlov’s experiment, the bell was the conditioned stimulus because it resulted in the conditioned response, the increase in heart rate.  Subconsciously her bodied recognized that it should increase heart rate because the bell means there is going to be physical activity. Although it doesn’t seem like she actually learned anything, her brain learned that it needs to increase heart rate in order to adapt to the current environment.

Retrograde amnesia is loss of all or some of memories due either injury or a possible disease.  A sufficing head injury to inflict retrograde amnesia would be a concussion.  It is believed to be related to the consolidation process, in which memories are stored in the long-term memory.  Depending on the severity of the concussion, the patient could have full lost or partial loss of memories.  In concussions though, the patients’ memories almost always come back to them after a certain amount of time.  A disease that is associated with retrograde amnesia is Alzheimer’s.  The cause for the disease is yet to be determined however it is thought to be genetic.   Once a certain age is reached the patient’s memory begins to slowly dissipate until they almost all their memories are gone.  Korsakoff syndrome is also associated with retrograde amnesia.  This disease occurs due to excessive alcohol consumption because of a deficiency in thiamine.  Thiamine deficiency is seen in almost all diseases relating to memory loss, including Alzheimer’s.  Losing memories is an awful occurrence and seems quite scary especially when present in family members.  Nevertheless, it is much more awful when experienced first person.

Last year I was skiing with a close friend at a local ski resort.  It had just snowed, and school was cancelled so we decided it would be a perfect day to go.  For the most part it was the perfect day until the last few runs.  We were going down a trail when I caught an edge and face-planted.  It almost didn’t hurt at all except for my lining goggles hitting my eyes quite hard.  When I got back up I noticed a massive gap in the middle of my visual field.  I thought it would go away soon, somewhat like the stars that one sees when standing up too fast.  I finished my run and got on the lift with my friend.  I started to tell him about the fall when I noticed the gap in my vision begin to gradually increase.  After that I don’t recall the next thirty minutes and only know what my friend told me.  Apparently, I started asking him various questions such as “Where are we?”, “How did we get here”, and many other questions along those lines.  When we got to the top of the mountain, he decided I need to go to ski patrol to get checked out.  I remembered how to ski perfectly fine, but I couldn’t recall any events prior.  During our ride down the mountain I kept asking him the exact same questions repeatedly.  Once we got to the bottom, we walked to his car to drop off our equipment.  When we arrived at his car my memory came back and I could recall everything except past thirty minutes.  It was evident I had a severe concussion and had to make sure I rested my brain for the next few weeks.  This event was quite frightening especially actually feeling yourself start to forget everything and then all of the sudden you’re somewhere completely different.  Although this was only a brief loss of memory, it gave me insight as to what losing your actual memory could be like, and hopefully it something I won’t be experiencing again.

When examining two variables is often easy to assume, they’re related in some feasible manner.  Many often believe any two given variables are related, given a relationship in which there is an inverse or direct correlation, even if there is no correlation whatsoever. A great example of this phenomena are superstitions.  Superstitions are defined as an unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event.  This belief tends to influence people’s decisions regarding a possible future event.  Beliefs, such as these, are most commonly seen in the professional sports world.  If someone’s favorite team is playing that person might feel the urge to wear the jersey he or she was wearing for their last win.  The jersey and the outcome of the game have absolutely no correlation whatsoever.  The players’ performance won’t change based on one fan wearing a specific shirt, however that fan believes it does.  This incorrect correlation occurs due to prior bias and stereotypes, based off past experiences.  I had my own superstitions which were also based off bias from past experiences alone.

Throughout my entire childhood I played football.  Throughout all my years I always had a pregame ritual, although it would vary year to year depending on what I though worked best.  If I missed any part of the ritual, I would blame any mistake I made on my failure to complete my pregame routine.  In high school, the routine started during the night before the game.  Every Thursday my dinner would consist of some type of pasta, accompanied by a Bodyarmour sports drink.  After I ate, I would drink a Gatorade and take an ice bath while listening to a specific playlist.  The next day the only music I would listen to was from that same playlist.  Once I got out of school, I would eat a chicken dinner with another Bodyarmour.  I would then change into the same shirt I’ve been wearing for games since middle school.  Finally, I would listen to a different playlist before going out on the field.  This most likely seems very extravagant; I was well aware of that.  In addition to its extravagance I also knew it didn’t affect my performance whatsoever.  However, I continued to do it because it worked in the past so why change anything.  This experience is a prime example of illusory correlation; all those different variables have nothing to do with my performance in the game.  Although, they worked for me in the past which prompted me to continue to do them.  Just because two different variables have a relationship that doesn’t provide valid date for correlation.