In my previous blog post, https://sites.psu.edu/pscyh256su15/2015/06/14/eidetic-synaesthesia/, I talked about the experience of synaesthesia, a condition where the sensory areas of the brain are cross-wired. The difficulty of explaining this condition to other people is that the most common question is whether I physically see the images in question or whether they’re ‘just in my head’. The truth is that the images are mental ones, but mental images I have no control over.

One example is that the same piece of music will consistently produce the same mental imagery for me. Chopin’s Berceuse is always the exact shimmery silver-blue with ripples like raindrops falling on it, though each different recording by a different pianist changes the precise ripple effect. My spouse’s voice is never anything other than crimson silk velvet, despite the exact shade of crimson varying based on tone, mood, and other factors. The letter A is always red, no matter where it’s located in a word, and the letter E is a robin’s egg blue. The imagery created by my synaesthesia is highly consistent, on the same level as actual sensory perception, and current theories state that synaesthesia creates that actual sensory perception in other areas from a single stimulus that would usually be perceived by only one sense.

There is a difference between normal mental imagery and synaesthesia. Where mental imagery for most people is entirely voluntary, such as re-creating a room to remember where they left a book, synaesthesia is an involuntary sensory experience triggered by one stimulus perceived by one sense, and setting off other senses in combination. The consistency of the resulting imagery marks it as different from other kinds of mental imagery, which leads to it being categorised as a separate sensory perception despite the imagery being mental. For example, the colours that I ‘see’ that are caused by sounds are mental rather than with the eye: like having a flashlight with different coloured slides in my brain, not like having a pair of glasses with lens colours that change based on sounds.

The imagery of synaesthesia takes the same pathways and activates the same areas in the brain as mental imagery, but has been found to have similarly-heightened activity in the rear areas of the brain to perception. In addition, the sensation of synaesthesia as opposed to mental imagery can be differentiated for synaesthetes, as mental imagery only usually incorporates visual images and synaesthesia is multi-sensory. There are synaesthetes who have reported tastes with sounds, for example, and one variant of synaesthesia known as ordinal-lingual personality is when letters and/or numbers have personalities. A friend of mine has this variation and has reported that when she had to learn her multiplication tables, the number 8 had such an unpleasant personality to her that she had to change the way she learned the 8s, turning 7 x 8 into 7 x 7 + 7, or the negative association with 8 would have been too overpowering for her to actually learn the required multiplication tables. I had a similar experience myself with the key of C-major in music, having to transpose pieces in that key to another that had a less unpleasant image. The association of positive and negative traits with synaesthesia imagery also points to top-down processing, given that emotions are involved.

Synaesthesia is both predictable and unpredictable for synaesthetes as we know what our sensory experiences will be with familiar stimuli, but new situations and stimuli can be overwhelming. A synaesthete’s brain is constantly on sensory overload and this can be draining, not to mention that the experience intensifies when under the influence of alcohol or pain medications, and synaesthetes who experience neurological conditions like migraines and seizures often find that these conditions are more severe. Despite this, synaesthesia makes the world a bit more of a beautiful place and creates an almost-magical way to see the world.

Goldstein, E. Bruce. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

http://www.daysyn.com/Definition.html

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027713001212

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-5879-1_10

Blog #3

Reasoning with Assumption Verses Fact

Written by: Tina Arsenault

If someone returns to work later than usual from lunch, does that make them late? What if they left for lunch late because of a meeting causing them to return late but the person watching them return does not know they left late for lunch, does the assumption they took a long lunch then become assumed fact? How many people make assumptions causing inaccurate conclusions each day? I have witnessed the issues occur in my personal life and work life which cause negative circumstances.

Reasoning requires the ability to process pieces of information to then form a logical conclusion. Whether the information received is based on fact or assumption determines the probability of the accurate conclusion. When making fast decisions in the workplace, assumption is often considered as fact due to lack of time or lack of information. The dangers of using assumption as fact can create stereotyping by using assumption to form opinions based on pre-conditioning, prejudice and false reasoning. One example of a stereotype projected by someone is the classification of someone as lazy if they are over weight or the classification that someone is a slow worker if they are old or the assumption someone is a criminal if they are black. All these stereotypes create negative and false opinions that are not based on fact.

According to the textbook “Cognitive Psychology Connecting Mind, Research, And Everyday Experience” 3rd edition, to form accurate logical conclusions, various forms of reasoning is required with use of both inductive and deductive reasoning. Furthermore, it requires reasoning by using information based on validity and truth in syllogisms. Deductive reasoning can not be based only on assumption or bias or lack the use of fact. When first looking at information inductive reasoning is used and then deductive reasoning is used to form conclusions based on probability. Deductive reasoning is used to make definitive decisions to form probable conclusions.

Without use of reasoning to establish accurate conclusions there will be increased probability of inaccuracy that will cause negative choices. All choices have consequences to yourself and others so the use of logical reasoning is a moral obligation of everyone. The dangers of assumption in everyday decisions are real and the requirement of thought and rational thinking cannot be ignored when making accurate conclusions or choices. One quote to consider before making assumptions is; “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it” ~Aristotle.

References:

Goldstein, B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience, Third Edition. Belmont, CA. Cengage Learning

As I read chapter 13 in Goldstein’s Cognitive Psychology book; particularly, the subjects of reasoning and emotions, I began to travel back to Iraq, a place that almost eerily felt too familiar after serving 27 months in combat there.  I couldn’t help but remember some of the events that occurred while being deployed, which makes the topic of suicide really hit home for me:

Army SGT Toney (name change), age 29, from Hawaii was assigned along with me in an aviation unit in Iraq in 2007.  He died on March 17 of that same year in Muqdadiyah, Iraq.  SGT Toney’s death was announced as “death by non-combat related causes” by the Department of Defense to the public; however, a suicide note left by Toney stated otherwise.  SGT Toney’s suicide note mentioned that his fiancé was separating from him for another man; therefore, he had no reason to live any longer.  In my own reasoning, SGT Toney’s death was tragic, yet preventable.  He had several “friends” and “battle buddies” who could have possibly prevented his death that day if his displayed signs and warnings of suicide were properly addressed prior to.  I often wonder what his reasoning for feeling as if he no longer needed to live was.  According to Leighton and Kurtz, reasoning is defined as “the process of drawing conclusions (Leighton, 2004) and as the cognitive processes by which people start with information and come to conclusions that go beyond that information” (Kurtz et al., 1999).  According to Goldstein, “we can appreciate the process of reasoning by realizing that decisions are often the outcome of reasoning.” (Goldstein, 2011)  But how is reasoning appreciated, when the decision is suicide?

I ponder, was the nature of Toney’s reasoning inductive? Knowing that he had faced concerns previously in regards to his relationship, did he make a prediction about what was going to happen to his family based off of evidence and events from the past? (Goldstein, 2011)  Did he encounter a confirmation bias roadblock, which prevented him from reasoning accurately? (Goldstein, 2011)  Did he have valid information that simply wasn’t true?  Only SGT Toney will ever truly know how his emotions affected his ability to reason.  On the day that the call came in, I was one of the first to receive the news due to my job.  Toney was primarily alone that day on a mission at an outlying site with only a couple of other Soldiers; unfamiliar faces.  He managed to seclude himself long enough to place the muzzle of his rifle under his chin and pull the trigger.  As I had the duty of inventorying and packing his personal belongings in Iraq to mail back to his mother and loved ones, I found myself alone in his living quarters sorting through pictures.  I saw several pictures of his baby boy who was only a couple of years old, pictures of him smiling (as he always did), pictures of him and his fiancé, and other personal reminders of a blissful life that would no longer exist.  As I began to hold back tears, I did not realize that my expected emotions would turn out quite different than predicted, but I had a job to do and I could not allow any emotion to get in the way of that.  I had to honor my brother in arms, by ensuring that his belongings as well as his body were flown home to his loved ones respectfully.

Even today, I wonder what Toney’s immediate emotions were prior to pulling the trigger.  According to Goldstein, “integral immediate emotions are associated with the act of making a decision.”  Anxiety is the integral emotion associated with making the decision and is probably the emotion that affects the decision. (Goldstein, 2011)  Even after draping the United States flag over Toney’s casket and watching him (his body) get placed inside an aircraft to take his final journey back to the United States, I possessed so many emotions of my own.  I certainly inaccurately predicted what the outcome would be.  For weeks after the aircraft left the runway, I still saw Toney. Everywhere I went, I found myself looking at someone twice because I would see him in other people, even though I knew he was no longer around. After talking with some of his other buddies, attempting to reason, I unexpectedly developed incidental emotions.  I became angry over the fact that Toney’s buddies who were with him more missed the signs.  How could we lose anyone we love if we are really paying attention to what’s going on in their lives.  My emotions became less about what happened and more about what failed to happen.  It took a while to accept the truth, that a cherished life was gone senselessly; however, Toney lives on in so many hearts.  Just like with Toney, I’ve seen the pain and endured the sting of at least 4 other comrades succumbing to events in their lives that left them in a state of what seemed to be too emotional to reason…still searching for a way to appreciate it all.

Rest in Peace Toney!

Tunnel vision can really work against us when trying to solve a problem. The way in which we aim to solve problems depend heavily on the manner in which we process and strategize to find a solution. Committing to the usual step-by-step role of figuring a problem can lead to utter frustration and inevitable surrender. I found this to be very true of a game I had been introduced to back in fourth grade: Challenge 24.

There were various educational used in elementary school to help develop the young brain, but one particular tool that has remained in my oft practiced activities is a math game called “Challenge 24”. The game was simple. There were four numbers on a card and the player had to make up an equation through subtraction, addition, multiplication, or division to make 24. Even though while playing this game one can come up with multiple ways of obtaining 24, the problem would be considered well-defined as a concisely correct answer is the result.

Now I play the game while at a stop light or waiting in traffic with the numbers on license plates. Having played this game for many years I have come to rely on a standard of computing the numbers, but because I use the few same formulas over and over again I can sometimes miss out on the answer because I don’t think of something so simple as just adding all the numbers together. I think there must be a more complicated way to get to the answer. This fixation keeps me stuck in the problem. When I finally do consider other options and make 24 I gain the insight of realizing that by viewing the problem narrowly and only using a limited number of techniques in an effort of solving I am keeping myself from the answer. This insight also allows me to open my mind in later games and more quickly conjure the procedure to 24.

The brain encompasses great capabilities, but we are the one who sometimes inhibit those capabilities from being fully realized. As soon as we allow ourselves to think outside the box we allow ourselves to use more of our potential to navigate the problem at hand and come to a conclusion.

The first three years I studied Spanish, it was the same routine in every classroom: vocabulary lessons, grammar activities, and painful comprehensive readings. Then, in my fourth year, my teacher tried another strategy. Instead of just memorizing lists of words, we had to actively look into Spanish-speaking music, TV shows, and films. It was as time-consuming and dragging as it sounds. Yet, surprisingly, after a season into a bad Spanish soap opera, I found myself able to piece out individual words from a once indistinguishable stream of conversation and comprehend common phrases without looking at the subtitles.

Much of this is because I learned the different phonemes, the sounds and segments of speech, and morphemes, the meaning of that speech, as discussed in Chapter 11. While it was originally difficult to perceive words from one another because of the accent and speed, I was able to eventually pick out where one word started and ended, and then attached meaning to it. After a few sessions of a Spanish ER drama, I learned quite a lot of conversational phrases, questions, and medical lingo.

Listening to it also helped me better reproduce the language. Reading off paper can make it hard to get pronunciation and inflection correct. However, by listening to conversations, it made it easier to reproduce conversation. The conversations on television followed Grice’s maxims (as most of us do unconsciously) so the dialogue and speech were sensible. Listening and practicing speech helped me learn Spanish faster, and helped me interact better with native speakers (which, really, is my goal when it comes to producing language).

While I thought this was a surprising phenomenon, I quickly learned it’s not so rare. One of my good friends comes from a Chinese family and can understand and speak Chinese fluently thanks to household conversations, even though she never learned to read it. Another one of my Thai friends picked up a good amount of Korean thanks to K-Pop music and her roommate picked up Japanese thanks to Japanese dramas. I wouldn’t recommend relying solely on Spanish soap operas to pass your Spanish 3 exam but a good way to pick up a new language isn’t just “watch and learn”, but also “listen and learn”.

References:

Goldstein, B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience, Third Edition. Belmont, CA. Cengage Learning

Every year around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s national holiday, I always think of an event that took place in my life when I was in the 4^th grade. I was assigned to remember his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Usually around Dr. King’s birthday, documentaries highlighting important milestones in the civil rights movement are played on television. As soon as I see those black and white images it takes me back to my 4^th grade classroom when my teacher informed us that we would be performing a play, commemorating special events that took place in Dr. King’s life.

My teacher, Mrs. Hughes, asked, “Now who wants to take on the challenge of memorizing and reciting one Dr. King’s most famous speeches?” I raised my hand along with another student, and we were told that we had one week to do our best in memorizing the speech because we would be competing for the honor of reciting it. I remember what time it was when I got home to tell my parents, I remember my father pulling out a video recording of Dr. King actually reciting the speech, so I could work on my delivery and tone. I remember practicing and standing in the mirror with flash cards, reciting the speech for grandmother, being critiqued by my mother, and saying the speech word for word with along with the videotape my father found for me.

After a week, the other student assigned and I had to recite the speech in front of my teacher, my class, the principal, and two other teachers assigned with organizing the play. I was so nervous, so scared, and so excited all at the same time. I remember how I felt standing at the podium, what I was wearing, and what was hanging on the walls in the classroom. I also remember finishing the speech without missing a single word, and also watching my challenger recite the speech and where he stumbled and his expressions as he stumbled to remember certain parts of the speech. I won the honor of reciting the speech for our school play, and to this day I still remember every word, but most importantly how proud my parents were during and after the play.

These vivid memories of the time and place of my flashbulb memory are a result of episodic memory. If I understand the concept of semantic memory correctly, the speech and the fact that it replays in my mind year after year, is a result of that type of memory. What most people find, including myself and to whoever watches the recording of my reciting that speech, is my ability to memorize the entire speech at such a young age. To this day, I am so humbled and so grateful that this experience took place in my life, and I hope I’m able to remember it as long as I live.

*This post touches upon sensitive topics*

At 17 years old, I was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa and entered into both individual and group therapy. To my surprise, adults in my family as well as my therapists began to question me often on the subject of sexual abuse. I quickly realized that they believed my symptoms were similar to those typical of an abuse victim, and there were men in my life who they felt were to blame for my struggles. At first, I was hurt by these accusations, as these men were my friends and mentors, and they had never violated me in any way. As time went on and I began to study psychology, I found that these assumptions were common for those in therapy, and that occasionally they led to false memories of abuse. I believe that it is wrong for therapists to suggest such memories, as they can lead to innocent men and women being blamed for terrible offenses.

Studies have shown that the falsification of memories is most likely for negative events, such as abuse. Therapists and patients often look at negative memories, hoping to blame someone or something for their mental turmoil. There was a time in the mid to late 20^th centuries when therapists often suggested sexual or other abuse by family members based upon perceived hostilities. In many cases, patients had many memories of this abuse not long after it was initially suggested. Such cases tore families apart and painted many innocent people as criminals. Although I am sure that the abuse did occur in some cases, it was proven that in several cases, no one had really been harmed.

As we learned in this class, it is fairly easy to suggest memories to participants that they will come to believe. Participants have made up full stories to accompany childhood mistakes and air balloon rides that never happened. These studies brought to light the fact that our memories are imperfect, and that suggestion is powerful. I believe that it is very important for mental health workers to keep this in mind and be careful when prompting patients to remember what may have caused their distress. I know from experience that such practices are still in use!

Brainerd, C. (2008). How Does Negative Emotion Cause False Memories? Psychological Science. Retrieved July 1, 2015, from http://pss.sagepub.com/content/19/9/919.short

Goldstein, B. (2011). Language. In Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (Third ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Brain Learning.

I’ve written about this in a few other blog posts, but its something that I can not speak of enough.  I am a proud father of two.  My son and daughter are the reasons for everything I do, and my adulthood is littered with the most vivid memories I have of them growing up.

Nothing burns brighter in my mind than the days in which they were born.  My son, who is 7, has asked me a few times about the day he was born.  Thankfully those vivid images have not faded over time, as those two days are the two happiest of my life.  I can still remember what I was wearing, the names of the doctors, the events leading up to their delivery, etc.  I of course leave out some of the more disturbing details no child needs to hear, but it still amazes me how clearly I can recall the most minute of details from those days.

Those flashbulb memories are burned so brightly into my brain, I hope they never fade even a little.  The most frustrating thing about them is that there are aspects of those memories, (the colors of the hospital walls, the little cowlick of hair on their newborn heads) that I can’t figure out how to adequately express into words.  There are emotions tied to every little detail, and there’s no way to explain them and feel that I’m giving them their due.

It is an amazing thing, emotion.  Other instances in my life where I was excited and full of adrenaline, while able to be recalled, do not have near the vividness of those two particular memories.  It is as if subconsciously my brain realized that these were the moments I would never ever want to forget, and began taking video.  I have hundreds of photos from the days of my childrens’ birth, but they’re for everyone else.  I don’t need them to recall those days, and I couldn’t be more thankful for my “brain” taking care of those memories when I needed it to.

Until I became I a parent, I did not realize how much language can effect another individual especially one being an infant who is relying on you to teach them how to form proper words.

Language is how we communicate our thoughts, emotions, feelings, and ideas by creating sounds with our mouths, making gestures with our hands, and using other forms of communication to get our points across such as drawings and paintings. (Goldstein, 2011)  Children learn language through acquisition as their parents speak to them.  The sounds that are produced when an individual speaks a word are known as phonemes.  Phonemes can also change the meaning of the word that an infant is hearing. (Goldstein, 2011)  For example, when my 11 month old is saying “Mama”, however I want him to say “Nana”, I tell him “no, not Mama, Jaxon say Nana” which changes the way the word sounds.

Another part of language is speech and how we perceive words.  People tend to talk differently depending on their accents and at different rates therefore, what is perceived may be different from what the individual was saying. (Goldstein, 2011)  This tends to be a problem in my household as I have two other children.  When they both speak to their baby brother or even to each other it is often in hurried words and sentences.

My 9 year old may be looking at his baby brother who is reaching up for him and say hurriedly, “What dis Jaxon want?” when he should have slowed his speech down and said, “What does Jaxon want?”.  My 5 year old is guilty of the same thing and will say “whatcha wanna do?” instead of slowing down his words and saying “what do you want to do?”.  How one perceives these words in sentences is called speech segmentation. (Goldstein, 2011)  Understanding the meaning of words in speech segmentation is helped when the individual knows the meaning of the word being spoken.  Unfortunately for an 11 month old baby, they are not aware of the meaning of “whatcha wanna do?”.

Language is something that is unique to humans. (Goldstein, 2011)  In a household where the kids out number the adults, that language can sometimes be spoken in different ways and perceived in ways not intended to especially when there is an infant who is learning to speak.  Sometimes I just have to remind my kids and myself to slow down our speech especially around Jaxon.

Goldstein, B. (2011). Language. In Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (Third ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Brain Learning.