Inheritance by Dr. Sharon Moalem is an exceptional book. Dr. Moalem’s goal for writing this book is to convey a new idea of genetics and inheritance to the reader. In middle school and high school we were taught that our genetics comes from our parents and that they are fixed throughout our lifetime, but Dr. Sharon Moalem brings the idea that the environment may alter them. He states that the food we eat and the trauma we endure during life can imprint onto our genes. Dr. Moalem works with rare genetic disorders where he accumulates his knowledge from research to help treat his patients with changing some environmental factors in their lives.
She said that thanks to technology people won’t have to pass through a several perceptions, emotions and behavior. The way that technology helps is by letting neuroscientists and psychologists to “ explore the neural mechanisms by which memories are made and stored”. Every time that they research they end up finding useful information such as physiological interventions, electrical currents and well-timed pharmacology. These help “destabilize fearful memories” this can also be a pathway to finding something more
Brain science is hard to understand. Very hard. However, Dr. Norman Doidge describes the current understanding of brain plasticity by using relatable examples and comprehensible diction instead of arduous textbook style writing. In The Brain that Changes Itself, Doidge challenges the age-old belief that the brain's structure is concrete by providing countless experiments that prove the brain to be malleable. Doidge shines a light on traumatic injuries and brain illnesses by providing individual cases from patients around the world.
In the excerpt, Loren Eiseley discusses the evolution of the human brain, from being primitive and slow growing to the cognitive and advanced brain that it is now today. Eiseley uses Gavin de Beer’s suggestion as evidence that explains that because various characteristics from the primitive ancestor changed, such as the “hairy covering”, teeth, and sex life, it led to the evolution of longer infancy, which links to the reason why our brains have grown so much. It is through this longer stage of infancy that the brain has more time to develop and grows at a faster rate, which is the reason as to why humans have evolved to be the way they are mentally and physically. Eiseley, through the topic that he discusses, intended for his essay to appeal
Perception of aging and BSN core competencies discussion My perception of aging and senility were different when compared with the facts on aging pre-assessment quiz. The prevalence of individuals that have symptoms of dementia is much higher than I believed. Another misconception I had was believing elderly people were happier than younger individuals. Honestly, the thought of retiring, experiencing the freedom to spend time with loved ones, and enjoying hobbies would lead me to think elders would be happier than younger people.
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains is a non-fiction book written by American writer Nicholas Carr published in 2010. The book follows Carr’s argument that the invention of new technology leads the networking of the brain to significantly change, lowering our attention span and concentration. Carr’s novel became a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. Carr utilizes chapter two of his book to explore the history of theories of the brain relating to the topic of brain plasticity. He starts the chapter by introducing Friedrich Nietzsche, who suffered various health problems relating to an incident where he fell off a horse.
Once again, Epstein shatters the ideals behind the human brain and the limits we set for ourselves
` In the article Beautiful Brains by David Dobbs, evolutionary research conveys that during the adolescent and teenage years the brain encounters an astonishing amount of growth and transformation. Dobbs states that these developments contribute to many of the irresponsible decisions made by teens. In the past, the brain was thought to cease maturing around the age of ten, however, new investigations have found that between the ages of twelve and twenty five, the brain continues to develop, undergoing a considerable metamorphosis. During this metamorphosis, myelin insulates a greater number of neuron’s axons, increasing the speed in which messages are exchanged, dendrites branch out and become broader, accelerating the rate at which messages are received, and synaptic pruning occurs which causes the brain’s cortex to become slimmer and more adept. During teenage years, the brain is still learning to network as well as deal with day to day obstacles such as stress, exhaustion and problems.
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, epiphenomenalism is defined as, “the view that mental events are caused by physical events in the brain, but have no effects upon any physical events”. So what does this mean? It means that our reactions to things are based on life events, but still have no causal impact on the world. Say for example we got thirsty, we would go get a cup of water, correct?
Since a person’s brain is so fragile, considering how important it is becomes even more daunting. After all, the brain, is the body’s ultimate controller, taking charge of even a person’s own desires and actions once it is compromised by injury, illness, or other ailment (Cahalan, 2012, pg.87). As much as the human race wants to believe they are in control, the truth is one event could drastically change
Biological psychology deals with studying the mechanisms of the brain and nervous system from the standpoint of how they evolved and effect our behaviors. Naturalist believe that over time as we evolved we adapted to our current environment. An example of a Naturalist’s way of thinking would include the idea that a certain aspect of a species evolved over millions of years because it adapted itself for the survival of the species. A Naturalist’s view leaves no room for the possibility that God devised the whole universe and made everything as He saw fit.
There is only one approach in psychology that studies thoughts, feelings and behaviour. The biological approach believes that the way we are is due to our genetics and physiology. They believe that the activity going on our nervous system’s is what affects the way we think, feel and behave (Sammons, 2009). The physiology in the biological approach looks into how the brain functions. The brain is a very complicated machine as such, the brain is what controls our every move, every feeling and every action.
Human development happens continuously throughout ones lifespan as we develop and change. Genes exemplify biological factors in human development. Some biological factors are visible, for example skin tone and hair color. Some biological factors are unobserved, for instance genetic abnormalities and risks for diseases. From a biopsychosocial perspective what one becomes is the product of genes, or biological forces.
Epigenetics is the study of how some circumstances in life can cause genes to be either turned on or turned off. Circumstances like where one lives, teratogens (environmental toxins) (Siegler et al., 2014), or what one eats can potentially cause modifications to the genes that either turn on or off specific genes over a period of time. In other words, people often think their “fixed” a birth, however experiences play a vital role in gene expression. Epigenetics can affect development because depending on one’s life experiences it can change the course for better or worse.
However in spite of this, Ben demonstrates our third class topic of positive successful aging. Ben offers a perfect example of how aging well can still have a positive effect on his own life, as well as that of others. Ben appears to proceed through his life experiences with an