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.
The Unplanned Human Experiment “Too spicy,” said Elijah, the son of Dr. Steingraber, after trying a food that some believe to be a stereotypical child’s favorite. In Steingraber’s essay, “But I Am a Child Who Does”, she writes about her accidental “human experiment”. Her experiment consists of her two children, Faith and Elijah, having a very particular food preference. Their taste perception was based solely on direct experience and was not exposed to any manipulating advertisements. However, she does not address that advertisements are righteously wrong.
After reading the Chapter 3, “Expanding the Mind”, I gained more knowledge on how to sing well. The reading material also helped me correct some points. I thought that my voice was responsible to my singing. The emotion was secondary. However, it was not sure.
The brain accounts for the main portion of one’s personality: “The cerebrum is also the seat of intelligence and personality.” More specifically, the prefrontal cortex of the brain accounts for the personality of one person; therefore, biology is the reason for decisions as biology determines personality, and personality is a part of the decision making process. One instance of this may be seen in the Stanford Prison experiment, an experiment complete at Stanford, where several college students played the guards and some prisoners. From the experiment extreme treatment and abuse from the guards to the prisoners was seen; however, this abuse depended on the guard, “Not all of the guards showed sadistic tendencies, with some seeking to actively help prisoners and show sympathy towards them.” (Shuttlewarth).
Native American warfare was more than just killing for territory. There was meaning, spiritual connections, and traditions behind it. Native Americans did most everyday activities for a reason. There was never hunting for sport, farming for fun, or basket weaving for pleasure. Each of these activities was done for a reason.
1. Using the biopsychosocial model, clearly identify the source and external presentation of Will Hunting’s problems. Biological influences include brain mechanisms. Will Hunting’s ill temperament attributes to an abnormality of his amygdala. The amygdala is a part of the limbic system in the brain that influences aggression and fear.
The components of the amygdala vital for fear conditioning are lateral nucleus, basal nucleus, intercalated cells and central nucleus. The amygdala is suggested to be essential in recognition of fear in facial expressions as well as multiple emotions in a single facial expression so that any lesion of the amygdala can result in selective deficits in the recognition of fearful facial expressions. The lateral and basal nuclei of the amygdala are believed to be the location of memory storage in fear learning. For fear related memories, new protein synthesis in the amygdala is required for reconsolidation after retrieval and disruption of reconsolidation erases a fear memory trace in human amygdala, thus supporting the fact that the amygdala plays an important role in an evolutionarily conserved memory-update mechanism. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway is thought to play a crucial role in fear conditioning and synaptic plasticity in the amygdala.
The study is guided by Fear Conditioning by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician. Fear Conditioning is a behavioral model in which individuals learn to predict aversive incidents. The brain mechanism of fear have examined widely utilizing Pavlovian fear conditioning, an approach that authorizes exploration of how the brain learns and later identifies and retaliates to threats. It is a type of classical conditioning that includes pairing an aversive stimulus with a neutral stimulus. Fear is the most widely contemplated feeling, and the way it has frequently been explored is through Pavlovian fear conditioning.
The orbitofrontal cortex mediates facial recognition and expression of emotions which is stimulated when changing facial expressions indicate a signal for a change in behaviour (Uekermann.& Daum, 2008). This is supported by evidence concerning human lesion impairments when recognising emotional facial
One of the most infamous experiments conducted in the history of psychology was the Stanford Prison Experiment. The main objective of this experiment was to see what effects would occur when a psychological experiment into human nature was performed. As I read through the material provided, I noticed that my thoughts on the matter were similar to many; that it was a complete failure as a scientific research project. However, his findings did provide us with something much more important that is still being talked about today; insight into human psychology and social behavior.
Whalen discusses human behavior in light of the amygdala and how it has seen a rise in scientific interest, Whalen compiled diverse research and knowledge of the amygdala, and how the amygdala plays a key role when it comes to psychological issues that affect human behavior. Early chapters focus on animal subjects and how the research opened the door to human amygdala research when it comes to psychology, and how the amygdala affects human emotions and how the emotions are processed. The research conclusion discusses the effects of the amygdala on depression as well as anxiety, in addition to other mental disorders that have an effect on motivation and behavior. The amygdala plays a big part in the emotional behavior in humans when it comes
Neuroimaging studies continue to demarcate these brain mechanisms by which unattended emotional stimuli are processed preferentially. The dominant hypothesis is that the amygdala rapidly detects the emotional salience of a certain stimulus after brief and superficial representational processing. Subsequent to this, the amygdala then enables more detailed sensory processing via projections to sensory cortices, facilitating attention and perception. Anatomical studies show that the amygdala mediates this via both direct and indirect influence on sensory cortices; direct reciprocal connections are present between the amygdala and sensory cortices, alongside a projection from the central nucleus of the amygdala to the cholinergic nucleus basalis of Maynert which allows for an indirect ascending neuromodulatory effect upon the same
In addition, Vergnes pointed out that our brain regions other than the amygdala, also the area called hypothalamus and periaqueductal gray are related to human aggressive behavior. Also it has been shown through several experiments that the increase of serotonergic synapse, a type of neurotransmitter, in our brain will constrain aggression behavior on human. Because of this, some psychological therapist would use the serotonergic drugs to use against aggressive behavior. One of a research conducted at the University of Texas supported the relationship between serotonergic synapse and aggressive behavior.
There have been studies that in non-human animals, high level of testosterone can facilitate aggression, which is a type of behaviour that
The fact that animal personality is consistent within individuals suggests that its ultimate causation has, at least, some intrinsic factors to individuals (Dall et al., 2004; Réale et al., 2007). Previous studies suggested that the neuroendocrine system was involved in emotional reactivity. Differences in its activity would be responsible for the observed behavioural differences (Boissy, 1995). More recent studies narrowed the question down to the brain monoaminergic system, which seems to play a crucial role in behaviour control and modulation
