Amanda Bright

Blog post 3

Introduction to Language

It is said that language is one of the most important skills that we as humans have.  It is how we communicate with other human beings and separates us from all other living species.  Other living things can communicate but it is done is another way.  The other interesting thing about language is the way we can communicate ideas to other people.  For instance, I can have an idea in my head about something that I want to do and I can express that through language to another human being so that they understand.  An article I came across on CNN a while ago caught my eye. A teenage boy was playing soccer and was kicked in the head and in result he was in a coma.  Prior to the coma he spoke fluent English however after waking up after his coma he spoke fluent Spanish.  When we got to lesson 11 and we started to learn about the “Introduction of Language” I could not help but think about language and how we learn it and how something like a coma can change a person’s language.

It was not until I learned in this lesson that there are two sections of the brain that affect a person’s language.  Those two sections are the frontal lobe and the junction between temporal and parietal lobe.  After learning that those two areas of the brain affect the language I then understood that this high school soccer player had to be kicked in the head in one of those two areas.  It still did not explain why when he woke up from a coma that he spoke a totally different language fluently however it did give me an indication and better understanding of the area of his head that he was kicked in.

Sources:

1. Criss, D. (2016, October 25). Before his coma he spoke English; after waking up he’s fluent in Spanish. Retrieved April 15, 2018, from https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/24/health/teen-spanish-new-language-trnd/index.html

The topic I decided to examine is Short Term Memory.  When I think of STM I think of storing something in my head for a short period of time and that is exactly what it is.  Every single person is equipped from birth with a STM and a LTM.  Although short term memory is helpful and comes in very good use throughout our lives long term memory is actually the more important of memories.   Short Term Memory is our present/active memory.  For example, when a person is first learning about a new topic and they are reading about it all that information they are learning is being stored in our Short Term Memory.

Recently I had an experience where I realized in the middle of something and I was using my Short Term Memory.  For an English course I am also taking this semester we have weekly readings that are due with our assignments.  One night I was in my room reading and while I am reading my brain is storing all this new information so I will remember it for the questions that I need to answer after.  A week later when I had my new readings to do I was skimming through the pages and I came across the prior week’s readings and I could not even remember what I read last week for the assignment or what is was about until I went to my submission for the assignment and re-read my answers.

This is a demonstration of how our Short Term Memory works.  When we first are learning about anything it is stored into our Short Term Memory.  If we never have to learn about this topic again or if it just doesn’t interest the person it will just leave the Short Term Memory soon after.  If it is something that a person is interested in and is continuing to learn about that is when it will move to the Long Term Memory.  Short Term Memory plays a very important role anytime we are learning something new.

According to an article I read the Short Term Memory duration rages from fifteen to thirty seconds and can only store about seven things at once.  Short Term Memory is very delicate and information can easily be forgotten.  Another example that happens to me often is if I schedule an appointment I will forget about it unless I write it down on the calendar and visual see it for a few weeks.  That is the only way that I will remember I have something to do on a certain day.  Short Term Memory information can easily be forgotten with time and/or because people can be easily distracted.

In conclusion, Short Term Memory plays a big role in storing present information and then deciding what to do with that information.  It also may not be the most important out of both memories however it still has great importance to get tasks done.  I learned that on a daily basis we use our Short Term Memory more than our long term and it is constantly storing new information and getting rid of old information simultaneously.

Although I am a discreet person and don’t normally share my life experiences I felt like I should use this blog post to relate my person experience with MRI and fMRI testing while measuring the brain. A topic we have discussed in this course so far is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Functional MRI (fMRI).  We discussed this topic when we were studying “Measuring the Brian under Lesson 2.”   According to our lesson an MRI is a detailed testing tool that is done to help doctors see parts of the “brain as well as other body parts as small as millimeters to determine what’s wrong.”  While fMRI’s are a little different and look at different locations in the brain that require different amounts of blood and oxygen to function and work properly.  Many people who experience “strokes or brain injuries are giving an MRI to check for blood vessel problems in the head.”

An example of an event that illustrates this topic is an accident that occurred to my paternal uncle about three-four years ago.  My uncle was out one night and was punched in his face and fell straight onto his back while hitting the back of his head on the concrete.  The cops were called and they found him lying on the ground passed out cold.  They immediately called for an ambulance and my uncle was brought to the hospital until he regained consciousness but since he was out at a local bar they assumed he passed out from acute alcoholism and they did not know what really happened to him.  He was treated for acute alcoholism and released that same night.

However, the next day he returned home to my parents’ house and seemed fine but then he stopped coming out of his room and complained of a persistent headache, had very slurred speech, and extreme confusion along with dizziness.  He refused to go to the doctor so my mother took initiative and called the ambulance to take him back to the hospital.  When he was taken back to the hospital they immediately sent him to get an MRI.  They found that he had bleeding on the brain and needed emergency surgery.  They then rushed him to another hospital’s trauma center because this bleeding was occurring from the night he was knocked to the ground when his head hit the cement.  They found from the MRI and CT scan that the occipital lobe was deeply affected after the surgery.

Having taken courses in both Anatomy and microbiology in the past I have learned a lot about the body and know that the occipital lobe affects many important normal day to day functions of the human body.  I did not know prior to this life experience that the most traumatic brain injuries result in damage to the occipital lobe.  “Most traumatic brain injuries occur to people who have accidents such as car accidents, firearms, and falls.”  After he recovered from surgery he was sent to a Traumatic Brain Injury rehabilitation center and still resides there till this day.  He has a team of doctors that include a general physician, a neuropsychologist, a psychiatrist, a physical therapy doctor, a speech therapist, a social worker, along with a team of nurses.  All of them constantly work with him while making realistic plans for his future.

Thankfully, there are tests that can be done to see underneath the skin even if the person appears physically fine.  My uncle appeared normal on the outside but his behavior, loss of appetite, slurred speech, and confusion, is what helped determine initially that something just was not right with him.  They knew once they seen how delusional he was that some type of area in the brain was being affected and sent him immediately to get an MRI.  If this was “early days of Psychology they would have to waited for a person to die to study the brain.”  Luckily that is no longer the case and they have advanced testing that can produce results to see what is affecting our cognitive psychology.

References

1. “Intracranial Hemorrhage Evaluation with MRI .” Intracranial Hemorrhage Evaluation with MRI: Practice Essentials, Goals of MRI in the Evaluation of ICH, Pathophysiology, 7 Dec. 2017, emedicine.medscape.com/article/344973-overview.
2. “Intracranial Hemorrhage Evaluation with MRI .” Intracranial Hemorrhage Evaluation with MRI: Practice Essentials, Goals of MRI in the Evaluation of ICH, Pathophysiology, 7 Dec. 2017, emedicine.medscape.com/article/344973-overview.

For my first blog post I decided to look a little more closely at “Computers and Cognitive Revolution”.  I choose this topic that we discussed in class thus far because it is so prevalent and applies to basically everyone.  Everyone today needs to use the computer either for personal needs or work means.  Computers just like our brains work in similar ways and both are pretty remarkable.  For instance the relationship between brains and computers both share these three processes.  First we input/take in information, second we process it, and third it results in an output.

Since our brains work almost like computers I found an interesting news article from NBC that was published on 05/05/17 by Kate Baggaley.  The article is called “These Brain-Boosting Devices Could Give Us Intelligence Superpowers.”  The article is about a time that we can merge our minds with technology to do amazing things such as treat diseases and more.  They go on to discuss that possibly creating a microchip that could eventually be inserted into our brains for more “superpower” like features such as “remembering every word during a meeting, finishing a crossword puzzle faster, driving better due to enhanced senses, or even picking up a new language.”

They go on to discuss the first steps into establishing the product.  In order for them to create the product they need to understand and work on the connection between our brains and machines.  They need to do that first because then they can figure out how our brains can eventually control machines like robots.  According to “Kevin Warwick who is a emeritus cybernetics professor at Coventry University and Reading University in the United Kingdom suggest that technology will be able to use electrical signals crackling through our nervous system to help command computers.”  The article has to do what we learned in class because researchers are realizing that we can become more advanced combing the brain with computers and technology.

Some benefits of merging the brain with computers and technology can advance people who suffer from certain conditions that limit their accessibility.  For example, people who suffer from paralysis and can’t do certain tasks with this new product will be able to. A person who can’t move any of their body parts from the neck down now will now be able to control a computer curser with their brains impulses.  Researchers are also doing other tests/studies to see if sending impulses to the brain or body can have positive effects and outcomes in our learning and memory.

In conclusion, Computers and Cognitive Revolution can be on the rise and be extremely beneficial.  By learning more about it in class and relating it to another article really proves how mixing both brains and computers can be life changing and evolving.  By combing both it can help people achieve things that they never could have and it can also help us maximize our natural abilities such as memory and learning.  All in all, Computers and Cognitive Revolution can merge and create Brain-Boosting Devices Could Give Us Intelligence Superpowers.

Reference

1. “These Brain-Boosting Devices Could Give Us Intelligence Superpowers.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 5 May 2017, www.nbcnews.com/mach/technology/these-brain-boosting-devices-could-give-us-intelligence-superpowers-n755006.