Author: jus1688

Classical Conditioning

We as humans  learn by making associations.  Our minds connect events that happen in a sequence.  Classical Conditioning is a process where a human or animal learns by associating stimuli.  In classical conditioning there is a US (unconditioned stimulus) NS (neutral stimulus) CS (conditioned stimulus) UC (unconditioned response) and CR (conditioned response.  For classical conditioning to occur, the neutral stimulus must come before the unconditioned response because it has to predict something happening.  Acquisition is associating a neutral stimulus with a unconditioned response.  An example of classical conditioning Pavlov’s Experiment which consisted of  training a dog to salivate to the sound of a bell (tone).  Extinction is diminishing of a conditioned response; this happens when the US no longer follows the CS.  Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a distinguished response after a break.  We can all relate to classical conditioning; I will give an example of how I personally relate.

All-Star Cheer competitions are very loud an noisy which can make someone anxious.  Always wearing your uniform when you feel this emotions make me associate the uniform with anxious feelings.  In the morning of the competition when I put on the uniform it would make me feel anxiety and have an accelerated heart rate.

US – loud noise at cheer competitions

US – accelerated heart rate and anxiety

CS – putting on my cheer uniform that morning

CR- accelerated heart rate and anxiety

 

Selective Attention

Selective Attention is the process of putting more energy into processing what’s important and funneling out what some one finds not important.  We are able to bring information into our Short-term memory through selective attention.  Selective attention can happen with us purposefully doing it and it can happen unintentionally as well. If you’re in a loud class room and you are trying to hear the professor talk, you are going to use selective attention to only listen to the professor.  Unintentionally may be a scenario like this: your walking down the street with your friend while they are telling you a story, you see a car coming and so you stop at the cross walk but you didn’t hear anything your friend said.  Your attention was on the car because you found it more important to not get hit by a car rather than to hear your friends story.

Every time we listen to something, hear something, or taking any type of sensory information in, we process it through selective attention.  Anything that seems important will be brought to our short term memory.  Anything that wasn’t important, we will funnel out and it will not reach our short-term memory which will result in no memory of it at all.  If we do not encode something, we can not retrieve it.

Personally an example of selective attention that has happened to me is the following: I was home with my sister and watching a movie that interested me, she got up from the couch, walked right in front of me, and I had no memory of her leaving the room.  A few minutes later, I went to talk to her and i realized she wasn’t there.  This was selective attention because I found watching the movie was more important and interesting then my sister walking across the room.

I feel that we have all experienced the, “Wait, when did you leave the room…?” example of selective attention.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Many people have confusion about the difference between an X-Ray and an MRI.  MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging.  According to Mayo Clinic, “Magnetic resonance imaging is a medical imaging technique that uses a magnetic field and computer-generated radio waves to create detailed images of the organs and tissues in your body.”(1) MRI scans are similar to X-Rays, however MRI’s look at soft tissue such as the following: lungs, brain, heart, tendons and muscles; as opposed to X-Ray scans which show bone.  MRI’s have very good special resolution (down to the millimeters) which is why it is easy to find damage to tissues and where they are located.  I am able to apply the concept of MRI’s personally because I have had both MRI’s and X Ray’s done.

Initaially I was confused between the differences of an X-Ray and MRI, however now fully understand that they are two different machines with different functions. For example, roughly four years ago I sprained my foot coming down out of a cheerleading stunt. I was given an MRI, which was able to show stretched ligaments, being it is soft tissue.  A year later, I was dropped head first onto a gymnasium floor out of a stunt.  Moreover, I was diagnosed with a concussion as well as given an X-Ray which showed that I had fractured my left orbital socket.  An MRI would not have shown a fracture because MRI’s don’t pick up bone.

I hope this clarifies what an MRI is and it’s functions.  Below is an image of an MRI Machine and an X Ray Machine.

MRI

See the source image

Accorning to The Mayo Clinic, “Most MRI machines are large, tube-shaped magnets. When you lie inside an MRI machine, the magnetic field temporarily realigns water molecules in your body.” (1)

X-RAY Machine

Image result for x-ray machine

Sources:

“MRI.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 3 Aug. 2019, www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/mri/about/pac-20384768.

Bing and Google picture was used to find images of the MRI and X-Ray Machines.