A Summary Of Ted Talk

The Ted Talk I chose to watch focused on the scientific study of adults growing new brain cells. This Ted Talk links back to psychology in many ways. The first way being that the Ted Talk describes a scientific study. We learned in Module 1 that Psychology is linked back to Science, because its the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. A scientific study’s purpose is to solve a question or theory. In this Ted Talk the question was, “Why were the oncologist adult patients who had been told they were cured of cancer still developing symptoms of depression?” Neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret the speaker in this Ted Talk answers this by saying that the drug that the oncologist gives to the patients to stop the cancer cells from spreading,

This is also a way this Ted Talk links back to psychology because it shows the adult brain’s neuroplasticity, which we learned about in Module 5. Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to change overtime from birth. Which now through Neurogenesis we know can continue changing throughout adulthood. The most important part of the brain being responsible for Neurogenesis being the hippocampus. This is the next way this Ted Talk links back to psychology. We learned in Module 5 that the hippocampus is a neural center located in the limbic system that helps with learning,memory,mood, and emotion. Neurogenesis expanded this knowledge through the recent discovery that the unique structure of the hippocampus is where new adult neurons can be generated. Estimating that we produce 700 new neurons per day in the hippocampus. Meaning that by the age of 50 we exchange all our neurons we were born with, in that structure for adult

I think it is amazing that we can improve our neurogenesis and in return improve our mood, increase memory formation, and prevent the decline associated with aging along the way. I also find it interesting that by looking at the cellular level of diets Neuroscientist found that your diet impacts your memory and mood in the same way it impacts Neurogenesis. Meaning that the healthier your diet is the more your brain's ability as an adult to produce new nerve cells is increased.This means things such as a high fat diet will worsen symptoms of