Vision is a phenomenon between cones and rods reacting to the perception of light and the brain reading the signals from the eyes and creating a picture for us to see. I was in fifth grade when I fist noticed my vision getting fuzzy. It was minor so I didn’t mention it to my mom, but it was just noticeable enough to start to have difficulty reading the board in class. But soon it got bad enough that I couldn’t make out the board and my grades were dropping. Eventually I told my mom and we got my eyes checked out. It turns out I was near sighted. I was given glasses. My vision progressively got worse over time too. Now a days if an object is more than 5 feet away from me it is blurry almost to the point of no recognition. I have friends that are able to drive and function without their prescribed glasses or contacts. I also have friends that have perfect vision and will take my glasses and make fun of how bad my eyesight is. Poor eyesight hinders my every day life. Every morning I have to wake up unable to clearly see the world and choose whether to put on glasses, that get greasy and and dirty throughout the day, or to touch my eyeball just to put a weird flexible piece of plastic against it so I can see. These products are also expensive. Glasses can be up to a couple hundred dollars and contacts cost a few hundred dollars a year, and insurance only covers so much of it. All in all there is a big hindrance from society just because a persons eyes and brain were not wired correctly and some of us aren’t able to see without assistance from glasses or contacts.
Month: September 2019
The Feral Child: Brain Plasticity
In Dr.Wedes Psychology course we have learned about the brains plasticity and the concepts of empiricism and nativism. Nativism is the idea that our thoughts and ideas are inborn. Empiricism is the idea that knowledge is gained through experience. We now know that the brain is mostly sculpted by our genes but also relies on our experiences and changes due to plasticity. The plasticity of the brain describes the brains ability to modify itself after some type of injury or illness. We learned that the plasticity of the brain is much more resilient in children.
While talking about the concept of plasticity concept I couldn’t help but think about Genie Wiley. In my psychology class in high school we learned about a young girl named Genie who is known as the ‘feral child’ because she lived in almost complete isolation for her entire childhood.
Above are pictures of Genie after she was rescued. From the time she was born she spent her life locked in a small bedroom and was abused. She was not taught any form of language and was beaten any time she made any type of noise. She had trouble walking and controlling her voluntary movements. This is certainly a unique case and would be an unethical experiment but, it is an intriguing case to gain information from. Once Genie was saved by child services, she was assigned a rehabilitation team to help her. Unfortunately, the psychologist on the team described Genie as the most damaged child she had ever seen. The psychologist compared Genie’s emotional and cognitive abilities to a one year old. Although Genie was able to learn a few more words over time a linguist concluded that Genie would never be able to fully be able to comprehend or speak language (Cherry). She could not put sentences together and did not understand the idea of grammar. This helped to prove to psychologists that learning language needs to be done during a critical time in a child’s life. “The ‘critical period’ theory states that there is a very specific period when a child needs to learn their first language, or they will never have full command over the language” (Villarreal). Genie clearly missed this period in her life while she was isolated from all human interaction.
https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/brain-architecture/
This simple chart from Harvard University exemplifies how hard it can be for the brain to adapt after the age of ten and the amount of effort it requires from that point on. Genies case is unique because she suffered abuse and social isolation making her case more severe. The plasticity of Genie’s brain was not able to change or adapt even though she was experiencing new things. This is a real-life case of how important early learning and plasticity of the brain is. Since Genie’s case was so extreme her brain was unable to adapt but in many situations of damage the human brain is able to recover and adapt.
Works Cited
Cherry, Kendra. “The Story of ‘Genie,” a Child Deprived of Nearly All Human Contact.” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 30 June 2019, www.verywellmind.com/genie-the-story-of-the-wild-child-2795241.
Villarreal, Daniella. “Genie Wiley: The Feral Child.” StMU History Media, 29 Mar. 2019, stmuhistorymedia.org/genie-wiley-the-feral-child/.
“Brain Architecture.” Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/brain-architecture/.
Designing an Effective Experiment
In Lecture 3, we learned about the various different types of research that psychologists use to analyze and learn more about a myriad of various topics. Like many other scientists, psychologists love to experiment. However, there are many limitations that psychologists face when trying to come up with answers to solve the most difficult cases. That is where experimental research comes in. Experimental research makes up the backbone of most scientific research done in the psychological field, as well as in various other applications in the medical and everyday worlds. Experimental research is a great tool for researchers to use, but in order to reap the maximum benefits of it, it must be used correctly. Evidently, it is crucial to design your experiment in a way that a well-represented group of people can answer and fully understand without much difficulty.
In experimental research, the crucial element that makes or breaks studies is the concept of random sampling, which guarantees that any given person in a population has the same chance of being selected in a sample as anyone else does. This is important to note, because a sample that is hand-picked by the researcher (or skewed towards a certain demographic) can result in biased, and inaccurate results. Representing a population properly can go a long way in ensuring your results are unbiased and accurate. Many researchers look to use samples to demonstrate the characteristics of a given population, and a poorly represented sample can lead to inaccurate generalizations about the population. In addition to random sampling, there are other elements that researchers must pay attention to when creating their experiments. One of the most important aspects to watch out for is the wording of the questions asked. Surveys and experiments should be succinct, brief, and clear. Clarity is key in making sure that people accurately answer your questions or cues. In addition, experiments should utilize words and concepts that the respondents are familiar with. Wording means everything, and confusing verbiage can skew your results significantly. An example of this would be from class, when we discussed the 1992 Roper Poll in Lecture 3. The researchers asked the question, “Does it seem possible or does it seem impossible to you that the Nazi extermination of the Jews never happened?”. In this scenario, the results of the poll were quite shocking. 35% of respondents stated that it was possible that the Nazi extermination of the Jews never occurred. This is a textbook example of how wording can affect your results, as the people who answered this were quite confused by the verbiage, and didn’t quite understand exactly what the researchers were trying to ask. Simply, a majority of the people polled responded with that answer due to lack of understanding or confusion. A follow up poll conducted in 1994 proved that the respondents answered without a full and clear understanding of the question being asked, as the results were drastically different from the initial ones, thus showing the importance of ensuring a sample is easy to understand and analyze.
Clock Ticking Adaptation
Early last year, I purchased a Penn State Analog clock I found at Walmart. I’ve never owned an analog clock and thought it would look cool on my wall. When I got home, I set it up and left my house for the night. At the end of the day, I went back and got in my bed. When I closed my eyes to try and fall asleep, all I could hear was the ticking from the clock. Eventually, I fell asleep. For a few nights, I struggled to ignore the constant sound. Finally, I completely forgot the clock was even there and never noticed to sound. This concept is called sensory adaption.
Sensory adaptation is when humans are exposed to unchanging stimuli over some time; our brains reduce the sensitivity to the stimuli. Hearing is not the only sense we can adapt to. We can change our sensitivity to smell in the air or get used to the cold on an autumn morning. Arguably, sight and hearing are the most critical adaptations we make. When we are exposed to a loud sound over some time, the muscles in our ears limits the amount of vibration. This adaptation is done to protect our eardrums from any damage. Our sight adapts to allow us to see better in the dark. Our pupils open wider to let more light in. Our rods and cones also become more sensitive to pick up light better. In my case, being exposed to the constant ticking of the clock over some time, my brain reduced to the sensitivity of the sound so that I can fall asleep. Sensory adaptation is an essential function that our minds have. If we didnt have sensory adaptation, certain stimuli would be overbearing to withstand. Being able to desensitize ourselves to certain stimuli allow us to focus on the things we want to focus on. Imagine if I didn’t adapt to the clock. The ticking would drive me insane and force me to take it down.
https://explorable.com/sensory-adaptation
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/health-and-medicine/nervous-system-and-sensory-infor/sensory-perception-topic/v/sensory-adapting
Sarah Mae Sincero (Jun 6, 2013). Sensory Adaptation. Retrieved Sep 18, 2019 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/sensory-adaptation
Sahyouni, Ronald. “Sensory Adaptation.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/science/health-and-medicine/nervous-system-and-sensory-infor/sensory-perception-topic/v/sensory-adapting.
Applying Sensory Adaption
Throughout the class discussions of the brain, we have discussed many different topics involving the senses the their perception. One example of how our brain interprets our senses is through sensory adaption. All five of our senses are constantly receiving a response from a stimuli. However, sometimes the receptors receive a prolonged and persistent stimuli. This results in diminished sensitivity and the receptors then block out the stimulus. One simple example of this would be putting a bandaid on a cut or scrap. At first, you can feel the bandaid as it pulls on the hairs of your skin, making you constantly aware of the bandaid sticking to you. Over time, you adapt to the feeling of the bandaid on your skin and you forget that it is even there. Another example of sensory adaption is taken from a personal experience. When I was in seventh grade, I broke my wrist. After I went to the doctor, I found out that I needed to get a cast and wear it for a certain amount of time until my wrist was completely healed. The first couple days and weeks with the cast, was so uncomfortable and felt so different. However, as time went on living with the cast, I did not even know the difference of not having it on my arm. When it was time to get the cast off, it felt so weird, yet again, having a drastic change to my arm. But yet again, sensory adaption took place and I was used to not having the cast on anymore. In conclusion, getting the cast on and then off again are both examples of sensory adaption. This is because the body sensed a stimulus, but then quickly became used to the sensation and reduced the sensitivity due to the prolonged state of the stimulus.
Frontal Lobe
The Frontal Lobe
The brain is something that controls basically our entire body. However, there are certain parts of the brain that control different parts of the body. For example, the frontal lobe is a section of the brain that controls cognitive skills in humans. Cognitive skills include things like emotional expression, problem solving, memory, language, judgment, and sexual behaviors. It could be considered the control room of personality and ability to communicate. The frontal lobe also controls primary motor function, which is the ability to move muscles consciously. It also involves the Broca’s area, which has to do with spoken and written language. The human frontal is more developed than any other organism on the planet. That is why it has so many functions and is so complex. Obviously like its name suggests it is in the front of the brain. The left and right hemispheres of the frontal lobe control their opposite sides. For example, the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the other way around. The frontal lobe is the most common place for brain injury, which is extremely dangerous because it causes changes in personality, limited facial expressions, and difficulty in interpreting surroundings. Damaging it could also lead to not being able to asses risk and danger. That is why in 7th grade my English teacher would tell us to tap our frontal lobe twice if we ever did something unintelligent. This is because at that age our frontal lobe is not fully developed, which is the reason why kids do dumb things and cannot explain why they did it. For example, when I was 12 years old, I jumped down a flight of stairs and hurt myself for absolutely no reason. When my friends asked me why I jumped I truly could not think of a reason. That is because the frontal lobe controls things like judgment, which was not fully developed in my situation. Even with the length of time that has gone past, every time I hear the words “frontal lobe” I tap my head twice unconsciously.
Sources:
“Medically reviewed by Healthline’s Medical Network”. Healthline. 2 March 2015. Medically reviewed by Healthline’s Medical Network March 2, 2015 https://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/frontal-lobe#1
What Neurotransmitter Is Affected by a Traumatic Brain Injury?
In order to understand what neurotransmitter is affected by a Traumatic Brain Injury, one must understand the basic functions of a neurotransmitter. A neurotransmitter is a chemical that sends signals across the synapses, a structure that enables a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron, between neurons. These travel across synaptic spaces through a terminal button of one neuron and the dendrite, the branched projections of a neuron that act to conduct electrochemical stimulations that have been received from another neuron, of other neurons binding to the dendrites in neighboring neurons. Different buttons release different transmitters. Also, different dendrites are sensitive to different transmitters. Another important term to understand is an agonist. An agonist is a drug that has chemical properties similar to a particular neurotransmitter which mimics the effects of the neurotransmitter. These agonists bind receptor sites in dendrites that will excite the neuron. An antagonist is a drug that reduces or stops the normal effects of a neurotransmitter. There are six different types of neurotransmitters each serving their own functions and receiving different electrochemical signals and expressing different reactions.
Now that there is an understanding of how neurotransmitters operate, we can find the answer to what neurotransmitter is affected by a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). One of the six neurotransmitters that is mostly affected by a Traumatic Brain Injury is Dopamine. Dopamine’s function is that it is involved in the movement, motivation, and emotion. Dopamine produces a feeling of satisfaction and is also involved in learning. A dysfunction that is contributed to posttraumatic brain injury includes damages in the hippocampus, (located under the cerebral cortex), striatum (nucleus in the subcortical basal ganglia of the forebrain), and the frontal cortex. Together these mediate attention, executive functions, learning abilities, and memory. The use of a Dopamine agonist has benefits in memory and attention recovery. Although Dopamine has a commonly known relation with Parkinson’s disease, there is not an increased risk of this disease due to a Traumatic Brain Injury. There are other deficiencies of Dopamine transmission that are related which include PTSD, substance abuse, and short-term memory loss. With these deficiencies there are two phases that can divide brain injury. Phase one also known as the primary phase is a direct mechanical damage of neurons. Phase two includes the promotion of cell death which regress over time.
A scientific study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5657731/) has found some ways that hold therapeutic value of targeting the dopamine system include a treatment with a low dose of methamphetamine that can improve behavioral and cognitive functions after Traumatic Brain Injury while being able to restore learning and memory functions to near normal levels. Another way is Bromocriptine which is an agonist with significant antioxidant properties that enhance spatial learning and hippocampal neuron survival.
How is this related to me personally? I have endured two Traumatic Brain Injuries playing soccer. The first concussion was in high school and I did suffer from some deficiencies, I was monitored over several months to see any improvements in brain activity, I also was advised to do exercises that would help improve some functions that were damaged such as memory loss and everyday movements. For example, I had to do eye exercises to help strengthen my eye movement. Another exercise I had to do was a memory test then I would have to work out for a certain amount of minutes then try to remember some of the information before the workout in order to improve my short-term memory under stress. Overtime the workouts would increase in time and the memorization of the information would increase due to improvement in dopamine releasement. Although I underwent all that observation, due to the traumatic brain injury I noticed I was having difficulty reading and having my eyes focus on the words on a page, so I was given reading glasses that had a special prescription to help reduce headaches. After the second traumatic brain injury, my eyesight continued to get worse.
Neurotransmitters are an important part in our body’s functions. Every action has a reaction.
Blog 1: Sensory Adaptation
Sensory adaptation is the diminishing of sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation. What this means is our brain can adapt to certain situations and can choose to ignore some information coming in through our senses. This is why it may feel really chilly when you first walk outside but after several minutes the cold is far less noticeable. You didn’t get any warmer, (with respect to a situation where you aren’t exerting a lot of energy) but your brain decided to ignore that information coming in and as a result, you don’t feel as cold. Personally, I have dealt with sensory adaptation many times. In May of this year I got an ear infection that left me with fluid in my left ear, making it very difficult to hear for several months. At first, I was constantly annoyed by the fact I could barely hear out of my left side and what little sound I could make out was muffled. It was terribly aggravating until sensory adaptation took over. I slowly stopped noticing the lack of hearing until after a month or so, I would often forget my one ear was not functioning properly. Additionally, after 3 months of not hearing correctly from my left ear, I had a procedure done to fix my hearing. During the procedure, I also experienced sensory adaptation. At first, the doctor set up a device in my ear that sat still and was very uncomfortable. I sat there waiting, for the doctor to gather his tools, with this device stationary in my ear. After about 15 minutes of waiting I had completely forgot the device was even in my ear. In reality, my brain didn’t forget the device was there but instead decided to ignore that information coming in, which is known as sensory adaptation.
Lateralization of the Brain for Lefties
Our brain is divided in two hemispheres. Within this structure comes a unique kind of processing called contralateral processing. Contralateral processing explains that the brain processes on the opposite side of the body. So, the left arm is controlled by the right side of the brain while the right arm is controlled by the left side of the brain. The corpus collosum is a mass of neural fibers that is located in between the two hemispheres. The corpus collosum is the communication site between the left and right hemisphere of the brain.
Because of this hemispheric specialization, there is lateralization between the two hemispheres. Lateralization refers to the specialization of some cognitive processes on one side of the brain. In class, we discussed that the left side of the brain is linked to spoken and written language, mathematical thinking, logical thought processes, analysis of detail, reading, and right-hand control. While, the right side of the brain is linked to art, creativity, imagination, insight, holistic thought, music, and left-hand control.
Because the left-handed population only takes up 10% of the world population, most of the studies were done on right-handed people. When left-handed people were studied, it was found that there was less lateralization in their brains. In other words, left-handed people tend to use both the left and right regions of the brain instead of only one side (also called bilateral language function or reversed lateralization) For example, Oxford conducted a study to compare left-handed and right-handed people on brain lateralization during face perception. Face perception, in right-handed individuals, is processed on the right side of the brain. But, they found that left-handers tend to use both regions of the brain when they see a face.
When I was looking into anxiety treatment options, I decided to look into how each medication would work in my brain. I was interested to see how there is a common theme of increasing activity on the left hemisphere with medication. The left hemisphere is associated with motivation. So, it would make sense that medication would increase activity in this area of the brain.
As I am a left-handed person, I was interested to dive into the idea that there could be less lateralization of my brain, especially when looking at medication. A 2012 study published in the journal PLoS ONE explains that motivation shows more activity in the right hemisphere for left handed people, while the opposite is true of right-handed people. Because anxiety treatment is usually targeting to increase neural activity in the left hemisphere, the attempt would be to increase motivation for right-handed people. Because this research proposes that left-handed peoples’ brains organize emotion differently than the majority, I talked to my doctor about the effectiveness of each proposed anxiety medication. I was able to be in a more engaged part of the conversation as my doctor and I talked about how this could affect my prescribed medication.
Sources:
Willems, R. M., Van der Haegen, L., Fisher, S. E., & Francks, C. (2014). On the other hand: including left-handers in cognitive neuroscience and neurogenetics. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15(3), 193.
Brookshire, G., & Casasanto, D. (2012). Motivation and motor control: hemispheric specialization for approach motivation reverses with handedness. PLoS One, 7(4), e36036.
File:Brain Lateralization.svg. (2018, November 22). Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Retrieved 00:30, September 19, 2019 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Brain_Lateralization.svg&oldid=328835878.
Psychoanalysis
What many people fail to realize is that Psychology has many branches of study that all focus on different parts of behavioral and mental processes. The five roots of Psychology include the following: structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and Gestalt psychology. Focusing on Psychoanalysis, which emphasizes unconscious conflict and past events, scientists see how past events, mainly childhood experiences, affect the influence of personality traits and psychological problems in humans. More often than not, the reason why people develop psychological problems is because they have unresolved issues from a traumatic experience. Many people try and talk to Psychoanalytic Psychologists about the problems rooted in their minds in order to help them. While Psychoanalytic Psychologists are not always the solution to people’s problems, there is a direct connect to traumatic experiences and people’s future psychological problems (simplypsychology.org).
Many people in the United States experience a car accident in their lifetime, and when I was 16 years old, I flipped my car while my sister Sam and my friend Erin were in the car. Not only was it a traumatic experience for myself, but also my sister and Erin. Thankfully, none of us were hurt, not even a scratch or concussion, but there was a dramatic mental toll on us, especially myself. After the accident, I refused to drive anywhere for about three months and hated driving with anyone but my parents. The accident also happened in the snow so now I am even more cautious and paranoid when I drive in the snow. I also hate when people make sharp turns because I have this paranoia of the car flipping, like it did in the accident. Affecting my sister as well, Sam is not very trusting of anyone driving, and sometimes not even myself. She too fears cars flipping and becomes very uncomfortable when people exceed high speeds in cars.
Due to this traumatizing car accident, my sister and I have now developed certain psychological problems and characteristics traits. From this past event, I still have unresolved psychological problems, like my fears of getting into another car accident as well as being claustrophobic. Always being claustrophobic, I think the accident only increased my level of claustrophobia because we were trapped upside down in my car until the fire department came to rescue us. Although I was a teenager, my sister was a child at the time, but regardless, both of us are forever going to remember this car accident, and have influenced our personalities. Another important aspect or term to understand is unconscious conflict, which is a personal inner mind conflict that is buried deeper into the mind and allows people to process or cope with what they have traumatically experienced. Where unconscious conflict comes into play in our accident is the fact that I tried to bury this experience and pretend it didn’t happen, which in return was a catalyst to the growth of my psychological problems (quora.com). Psychoanalysis can become an extreme issue for people who go through things such as abusive relationships or traumatic loss of a family member. Although not all people are affected by traumatic events in their child, many causes for people’s future personality traits and psychological problems are due to these experiences.