UGHHHH that frustrating moment when your internet is running extremely slow. Or maybe you’re running for the elevator and you just miss it. Or perhaps you just can’t figure out one last blog post topic for class. We all have those frustrating moments when we just want to scream UGHHH! But, what is exactly happening, besides the fact that things aren’t going our way.

Neuroscientist have taken the time to research what is happening in the brain when a person gets extremely frustrated. Rongjun Yu, and his colleagues put together a study where participants had a limited time to click the correct key, according to the direction of the arrows on the screen (right or left), and if they were successful at this task they recieved $3.30. There was a progress bar that let the participants know how much more they had to go, and they had numerous attempts. However, “the whole thing was actually fixed so that a lot of times they were thwarted at various stages of proximity to the reward, and after expending various degrees of effort.” Proximity, and expended effort caused the participants to feel and show frustration. Their frustration was displayed in their body language and actions, such as pressing harder on the keyboard keys.

Yu, and his colleagues repeated the same thing with another group of participants, and then scanned their brains. Proximity and the effort expended increased frustration, leading to increased activity in the same circuit of the brain structure. Researchers say that this activity is similar to what is called the “rage circuit”, which has been identified in rats. Yu suggests that the purpose of this brain response following frustration might be to give you a jolt of energy so that you try harder to get what you want.

So next time you’re really frustrated, don’t cry and don’t give up!

source:

http://www.wired.com/2014/04/neuroscientists-conduct-the-most-frustrating-brain-scanning-study-ever/

Growing up, I was the “artsy” kid everywhere I went. “She’s just different.” my mom would always explain if I did something that appeared a bit odd to others who didn’t quite understand me. I didn’t think I was very different, I just knew I liked music, and theater, and poetry, so what? Well, there are studies that suggest artists, such as myself, really do have different brains.

A study entitled “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Analysis of Observational Drawing” used 44 graduate, and post-graduate art students, and non-art students and had them to complete various drawing tasks. Once completed, they were measured and scored and the results were compared to “regional grey and white matter volume in the cortical and sub-cortical structures” in the brain.

They observed that there was a density increase in grey matter on the left anterior cerebellum and the right medial frontal gyrus were observed in relation to drawing skills. The scans displayed that the artists had more grey matter in the pecuneous, which is an area that is involved with skill, but mainly linked to controlling the mind’s eye for creativity.

While this study is very interesting, it isn’t large enough to tell us if the brain structure plays a definitive role in artistic enough.

Source

http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/study-shows-that-artists-have-different-brains-compared-to-everyone-else

Ladies, have you ever been talking to your boyfriend about an event that you both attended, or just a time that you did something together, and he acts like he can’t remember ANYTHING; almost as if he weren’t even there. Well, he’s not always just trying to get out of conversation, a lot of times he just really doesn’t remember. Or boys, have you ever been with your girl and she just started bring up old shit, and you have no idea how she peeped that; let alone REMEMBERED it.  Women tend to have better memories than men do.

Different research indicates that women excel in verbal episodic memory tasks, such as words, pictures, or simply everyday events. Men are better at visuospatial  processing, which makes directions easier. However, women are better at remembering the location of an object, which requires verbal as well as visuospatial processing.

It was also found that women remember faces a lot better than men as well, especially the faces of other women. There was a study where psychologist presented three groups of participants with black and white androgynous hairless faces. They then classified them as “male”, “female”, or just a face. The results were that women remembered the androgynous faces that they were told were women a lot better than the “male” faces. 

Psychologists also discovered that women were better than men at performing tasks that involved little to no verbal processing; for example recognizing familiar odors. The advantage of female episodic memory increases when women use their verbal skills, and decreases when the use of visuopatial processing is required.

There isn’t a clear reason why women tend to hold memory better than men, however the results of many studies suggest that women have better memories. I think it is also important to add that memory probably has outside influences, such as different experiences, which may cause results to vary.

Sources:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080220104244.htm

People come in many different shades. The various shades come from the earliest migrations out of Africa over 100,000 years ago. Humans, who started out with darker skin,  migrated to areas where the sun was less intense, causing their skin to eventually lighten, while the humans who stayed in Africa or migrated to areas where there was intense sun, had darker skin.

Why? Well, the sun produces ultraviolet (UV) lights, that have a great affect on the skin, either beneficial or damaging. When a person receives a moderate amount of UV, it is beneficial to the bones. However, if a person is exposed to too much, the skin can be damaged, wrinkled, it can cause aging, as well as skin cancer. The dark pigment in the skin is called melanin. The melanin is what helps block too much UV.

People in Africa are constantly exposed to the sun at an intense level, which means more melanin is required for them to survive. Those who traveled to colder climates, where the sun wasn’t as intense, loss a lot of melanin in order to better absorb Vitamin D.

Fast forward to years later, when Africans began to migrate to colder climates, their darker skin, which was originally there to protect them from the sun, made it difficult to absorb vitamin D. Which is the reason why today, many darker skin African Americans are Vitamin D, including my dad. However there are vitamin D pills that prevent the risky health issues that come along with being vitamin d deficient.

Source:

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/vitamin-d-deficiency

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vitamin-d-deficiency-united-states/

http://www.livescience.com/7863-people-white.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2671032/

We are all well aware of how terrible and traumatic sexual abuse can be, it’s taken very serious. However, how deep are the affects? Do they affect women (and men) physically and mentally long term? When thinking about it, I would assume so. But how?

There was a study conducted by researchers from the University of Southern California and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center that followed a racially diverse group of 80 girls, ages 6-16, for 23 years. It was found that they had higher rates of obesity and depression, they also had problems with regulation of brain chemicals, and other issues, compared to those in the control group, who were not abused.

The study participants were assessed six times at various ages, and stages in their lives. It was found that those who were abused were more likely to become sexually at a younger age, have lower mental health issues, and have a lower educational status. They faced severe affects during different stages in their lives that affected their sexual and cognitive development, their mental and physical health, and their brain chemical profile.

When they were children, they had higher levels of cortisol, which is also known as the stress hormone. However, the older they got there was a decrease in the level of corisol, and by the age of 15, the cortisol level was below normal, compared to the controlled group of girls who were not abused. Lower levels of cortisol have been related to depression, ability to deal with stress and post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Frank Putnam, professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Cincinnati Children’s Hostpital Medical Center states, “The cortisol levels (of some of the participants) wound up looking like Vietnam vets…That tells us they are in a chronic state of stress, and never feel safe.” During their last assessment, when participants are in their 20’s, their cortisol levels are still lower than the average compared to the control group.

However, not all women were severely affected. In the abused group, only 40% were obese, which means their were 60% that were not obese. There are many factors that could play into that. For example, some women may exercise when they’re stressed.

The studies shows that the women who have been sexually abused are more likely to experience mental and physical health issues than those who have not. However, that doesn’t mean that they can’t go on with their lives like normal.

Sources:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/43594639/ns/health-health_care/t/effects-sexual-abuse-last-decades-study-finds/#.VEYMoPl4pV0

When families get together, they like to share stories from the past. They’ll bring up the time when you were a baby and dumped a bowl of cheerios on your head, or the stressful time when you were teething. They will even go as far as bringing up the embarrassing poopy diaper stories. While they are fun to hear, you just can’t remember these moments; it is almost as if you weren’t there. But why? At what age do we just erase the memories from our past?

This memory loss is referred to as Childhood Amnesia,  which basically means adults can’t retrieve memories from the past. Psychologist at Emory University decided to document the earliest age that we begin to loose our memory. In the research, 83 children at the age of three are interviewed by their parents about six past experiences; such as trips to the zoo, or their birthday. They then returned to the study, only once between the ages of five through nine, being asked to recall the events that they spoke about at the age of three. It was found that children between the ages of five and six remembered more of the events, their descriptions of the events weren’t the best. However, the children ages seven and nine remembered fewer events, but the ones they did were expressed and described them with more detail. Why? Well, children don’t have the strong neural processes like adults do, and that is required to pull together all the needed pieces for the autobiographical memory.

I guess if you think about it, as a baby, there is a lot of information that we have to retain. In my opinion, I think we loose our early memories in order to make room for the endless amount of information to come.

Sources:

http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2014/01/psychologists-document-age-our-earliest.html

It’s the night before an exam, and you’ve pushed studying to the side until now. I guess you’ve better grab a coffee and take yourself to the library, looks like you’ll be pulling an all-nighter cramming. Don’t feel too bad, we’ve all been there. Surprisingly, I’ve earned some pretty good grades this way, so I haven’t quite learned my lesson yet. Can it really be that bad?

Okay, apparently it’s pretty bad. First of all, you’re sleep deprived, which hinders your daily performance in general, making it difficult to concentrate. You also only contain that information you crammed in your brain for that short amount of time. You’re essentially not learning anything, instead you’re just holding the information for as long as you need it.

A study UC-San Diego confirms it all. They took 1,354 volunteers, and had them remember 32 trivial facts. The volunteers studied the answers for several minutes to several months, and were then tested a year later. The results showed that the volunteers performed better when they spaced their studying out, rather than cramming everything in, in one session.

Luckily,  there is a trick to cramming, but procrastinators seem to be out of luck. Researcher say if one must cram, choose a date that’s closest to the time you learned the information, but not too close. For example, if you learn material monday, and will be tested on it the following monday, try to study wednesday.

So I guess cramming isn’t all that great, and spacing out study sessions are more affective.

Sources

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-11/cramming-not-long-term-study-strategy

You know the feeling of reliving something? Maybe you’ve read something, or saw, or smelled something that made you say, “Hey, this happened already.” That’s the feeling of Deja Vu.

Scientist have been trying to figure out Deja Vu since the 19th century. Researchers now say that Deja Vu is the result of a miscommunication in the brain that happens when go through something that has a familiar pattern. However, some theorists say that Deja Vu happens when parallel universes sync, and you’re experiencing the same thing somewhere else. I’m not sure about that, lets take a further look.

A study was done that suggests that Deja Vu is simply a memory malfunction. Researchers at Colorado State University put together a study where they gathered volunteer students to participate. In the study, they designed a town of structures. The rooms and buildings were designed to share some of the same elements such as layout, artwork, patterns, and graphics. In result, students could remember obvious similarities. However, if the room had vague similarities, it created the feeling of Deja Vu for the students. The results illustrate that there can be a sense of familiarity, but not enough for the brain to connect it to when and where.

There is another theory that Deja Vu is simply a glitch in the information process in the brain, specially information that passes though memory and perception. This theory is due to the high numbers of reported Deja Vu cases in people with epilepsy. Cases of Deja Vu begins to decrease, once Epilepsy and seizures are controlled. This suggests that the way the brain interprets images and what it thinks it remembers may have a connection.

I’m still not sure exactly what is happening when we experience Deja Vu. Essentially, I don’t think any of these studies or theories are strong enough to be valid. However, by reading these theories, I’ve personally gathered that there is some sort of glitch in the brain that triggers the memory of a past time and event.

Source:

http://knowledgenuts.com/2014/03/24/the-weird-science-and-fringe-theory-of-deja-vu/

You know that moment of piercing pain that you feel after someone rips your heart out?

Or That exhausting feeling after realizing you put so much time, and energy into something that has disappeared right before your eyes?

Well, that’s what we would call a broken heart. It hurts so bad, you may feel like your going to  die. My question is, is it possible to die from a broken heart? According to the “Broken Heart Syndrome” it is. Usually when a person looses a loved one, they go through stress, and extremely deep sorrow, which can take a life threatening toll on the body.

A recent study showed that the chances of experiencing a stroke or a heart attack doubles within the first 30 days after loosing a loved one. The study included 30,447 people who’s partners were deceased and 83,588 people who’s partners were alive (the controls).  The research team measured the rate of stroke and heart attack in people over the age 60 who have just lost their partner, and compared the results to those who still had a living partner. They found that 16% of people who just lost their partner experienced a stroke or a heart attack, while only 8% of people who still had their partner. They also found that after the 30 days, the higher risk begins to decrease.

I think this study does a good job of proving broken heart to be deathly. It increases chance of stroke or heart attack, in which some may live through and some may not. However, I still wanted to know what exactly it was that caused these strokes and heart attacks. I found that stress cardiomyopathy is when the left ventricle is weakened. Stress cardiomyopathy essentially feels like a heart attack and has all of the same symptoms, however, unlike a heart attack, stress cardiomyopathy shows no signs of clogged arteries.

In the above picture, you will see the left ventricle is larger in the Broken Heart than it is in the Normal Heart. That’s because the left ventricle in the Broken Heart puffs out with each heart beat.

Source:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/broken-heart-syndrome/basics/definition/con-20034635

http://medicaimaging.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/can-you-really-die-of-a-broken-heart/

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-science-behind-broken-heart-syndrome-201202144256

http://www.today.com/health/died-broken-heart-science-behind-close-couple-deaths-8C11018276

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/21/kidding-ourselves-book_n_5359253.html

Music is an essential part of life. It provides culture, it provides a place of escape, it sets the mood for every occasion, and it’s always there for simple entertainment. When I in put my headphones, I drift into another world, taking a step away from reality. If I ever feel angry, I will listen to music to calm down.

Music has been recommended by therapists as a way to cope, for years, because they believe it helps reduce anxiety, pain, and stress; which is why there is such thing as Music Therapy. Doctors, are beginning to believe that Music Therapy in hospitals and nursing homes cause faster healing. In one study by Michael Thaut, found that patients who were victims of stroke, cerebral palsy, and Parkinson’s disease and worked with music, were more productive in therapy than those who worked with no music.

According to research found at University of Missouri, people can improve their moods and happiness in just two weeks. In this study, participants were told to try to improve their mood,  and only those who listened to upbeat music as opposed to solemn music succeeded.  Other participants who listened to music without an attempt of bettering their mood, showed no signs of increased happiness. So is it the music that altered the mood? Or is it the attempt of being happy that did it? I think by basing the conclusion off of this study, I can’t say that music is what affects peoples moods. This is true, because there is another role playing in between the change in mood and the music, which is the attempt in trying to change their mood. Those who weren’t told their goal is to increase their happiness didn’t change at all, but those who knew to try and be happier and had the music were successful. If both parties weren’t told to elevate their happiness, then the study might be a bit more convincing.

I believe that, there are different circumstance when it comes to music altering your mood. I believe that if you want to feel better, and you listen to upbeat music, sure you can feel better and if you’re listening to music with no intentions to feel better, you probably wont. I do however believe that music can remind you of a happy or sad place, putting you in a familiar mood without you meaning for that to happen, but it’s not the music it’s the memory that is altering your mood.

My sources:

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/mental-listening-to-music-lifts-or-reinforces-mood-051713#1

Dim lights, Lana Del Ray’s new album playing, and…of course a hookah. That’s the perfect way for me to relax after a long stressful week of school. However, when smoking hookah, I personally can’t help but wonder how much better is this, than smoking a cigarette? I’ve always known cigarettes to be terrible for  you, I would be fooling myself to believe a Hookah is harmless. For those of you who don’t know, a hookah is a water pipe that is used to inhale flavored Tabaco. it stems from Middle Eastern culture, used to bond with family and  friends.

There’s the idea that smoking Hookah isn’t as bad as cigarettes. After all, the water is to filter out the toxins, right? Wrong.

Much like a cigarette, a hookah contains nicotine, carbon monoxide and carcinogens. A research was done where 13 healthy adults (eight men, and five women) who were experienced hookah and cigarette smokers were asked to smoke hookah for four days, and later cigarettes. This study compared the affects of the different smoking methods in the same person. It was found that the hookah exposed the participants to half of the amount of nicotine as cigarettes. It was also found that Carbon monoxide levels were 2.5 times higher than those who smoked cigarettes. The results show the danger in the hookah, because Carbon monoxide increases the risk for heart attack, stroke and sudden deaths.

I personally believe that the study was fairly valid. The results show the danger, toxins, and complications that come with it, that a smoker inhales into the body while they smoke hookah. However, I can see where a person wouldn’t be convinced. I think to improve the validity of the study, there should have been a lot more participants, and a longer duration, four days isn’t even a full week of smoking. In order to be a lot more convincing, I think that the study should be at a much larger scale than just 13 people, and four days.

My sources:

http://www.medicaldaily.com/smoking-hookah-just-bad-or-worse-cigarettes-245127

Hi everyone! I am Teona Ringgold, and I am from Pittsburgh, PA. I am currently in the division of undergraduate studies, however, I plan to go into communications.

I am taking this course specifically, because I was never able get into science in high school. I am also taking this course mainly to fill my science gen-ed credit, and being that this course dives deep into really interesting topics, the choice was almost a no brainer.

I am not planning to be a science major, because I was never able to get interested in my science classes, however forensics science was the most interesting to me. We got a lot of hands on experience, and we watched a lot of CSI, which was awesome!

Here is a picture of my favorite unit in forensics: