Twins! And Parents!

TwInS

From what I read on the Minnesota Center for Twins website, one is led to believe that human beings are shaped off of nature, not nurture. On a subsection of the research page, it explained two men, Jim and Jim, who had been separated at birth. The twins were only four weeks old. Both men went on to marry women with the same name, divorce women with the same name, name their first sons the same thing with the exception of one letter, and even named their dog the same thing! How does this happen?! One would have to conclude that the two men had some kind of preset disposition to such actions. But how? How is it possible that they fell in love with women of the same name, as Betty is not a very common name. And how would they name their children the exact same thing!?! This has to be more than coincidence. If these twins, in different settings, ended up so similar, then how are some twins living under the same roof completely opposite? I know girls that have completely different taste in music, men, and most everything else, and these twins share a stinkin bedroom. Crazy stuff, man. Crazy.

PaReNtS

Read. Blog. We know the drill.

Gay Men and Mental Illness
http://www.psychologymatters.org/hooker.html

As late as 1973, being a gay man meant you had a mental disorder. Seriously. The American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disorder, a diagnosable, and implied to be treatable disease. However, a woman named Evelyn Hooker did a study that conclusively discredited this assumption. This double blind experiment sent a group of 60 men, 30 gay and 30 straight, through a series of three tests measuring mental stength, in a Rorschach, TAT, and MAPS sequence. The results may be a bit hard to take on their own, as the sample size is a bit small, but no matter the case, the study found that two thirds of both the gay and straight men were in the highest adjumstment categories, no differences showing between the two. This was the first time someone had actually proven gay men the same mentally as straight men, even the first time it was tested. The stigma is still there, but the facts are more telling. This study, though, was in the 1950's. There are much more advanced means of psychological testing today, and it's not that i'm implying that gay men are any less mentally fit as straight men, I just wonder the means scientists today would use to study the same concept, or if they would do it just the same.

You Make That Money, Honey!http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20081119_When_the_woman_is_the_top_earner.html

Men traditionally make more money than women. It is not a sereotype, it is a fact, as only 13% of households as of 2003 placed the salary of the wife over that of the husbands. This article examined the emotional and practical response, examining how society and marriage affect the out of the ordinary circumstances, as there is no set psychological studies involving female bread winners. To me, it has to depend on the family, I don't think there's a test for perception and feelings. It'd be interesting to survey men to see if there is a greater amount of damage to authority within the household, ego, or even decision making within a marriage given that their wives make more money, as I think it'd be clear that they feel diminished somehow in all areas. My personal opinion is that if a man is secure in his relationship and his contribution to the family, there shouldn't be an issue, but I also see how there could be one. Ego to a man is everything, and many men see it as their natural duty to provide for a family. Maybe this will be my family someday. It really depends on the woman, the man, the family, and the conditions in this case. There can be generalizations, but no real, discernible, recordable facts.

Eat a Salad

http://www.psycport.com/showArticle.cfm?xmlFile=ap%5F2008%5F11%5F20%5Fap%2Eworldstream%2Eenglish%2Egeneral%5FD94IL7D81%5Fnews%5Fap%5Forg%2Eanpa%2Exml

Gosh, I am so sick of everyone pointing fingers when it comes to childhood obesity. This new study promotes cutting the TV ads for fast food, which if done cold turkey, will presumably reduce the number of obese chikdren by 18%. NO WAY! HERE'S AN IDEA. GIVE YOUR KID AN APPLE, NOT TWO DOUBLE CHEESE BURGERS. Everything in moderation. Parents fault. Sigh. I have nothing to say. It's insane.

Like A Rolling Stone...

Gosh, I love Rolling Stone. I look for it in the mail and I can't wait to read the newest from my favorite writer. I have to say, this blog really doesn't match the magazine, but it's a nice outlet to have between issues or when I'm just browsing on my computer. There was lots of cool stuff to read, tour dates to check, artists to learn, but I like the stories the best. I scrolled down quite a bit through standard music-y stuff, and then I saw an article on Bob Dylan. It's from only two days ago, but there have been so many since then, I was shocked. It was a little segment on how Dylan made a quick pit stop while on tour at Neil Young's childhood home. I guess the current owners get a lot of visitors, but what's crazy is that this guy didn't recognize the star at first. It's frikin Bob Dylan, dude. I can just imagine coming home from Wegmans, turning the car off, and seeing Bob Dylan on my front porch. Wowza. So yeah. This blog is cool, but I'd rather have paper in my hands.

Shut Up Heart

We are all stupid. Not a single one of us has our head on our shoulders when we're in love. It's this crazy, indescribable, tummy turning feeling that makes us all lose every bit of common sense our mothers enstilled in us from birth. But I'm sure there have been studies on how we fall in love, what parts of our brain we use, what excites, etc. That's the easy part. But when we know that a love has run it's course, when our heads are trying to convince us it's over, why can't we let go? If the human body is a map of advanced activity, shouldn't we be holding the compass? Where research needs to be done is in falling out of love. WHY CAN'T WE FALL OUT OF LOVE? Why must our "hearts" rule our heads? And if our bodies do let our love die, what happens? Do parts of us die to only to be rebirthed by a new love? Do those excied parts of our brain need to pop a prozac? The experiment that needs to be done is on unwilling victims of love. Those who pine for a best friend, a married man, a teacher, a cousin(ick sorry). There must be a way for your head to quiet your heart. There MUST be a psychological explanation to how(mostly) and why we fall out of love. We're supposed to be rational. But as much as we can protest and reassure the outside world that we've moved on and we're over him/her, there is often times still that feeling, that gut love that you just want to release. How is it released? Is there a set time for how long it should take? Are there drugs for it? Can you read something or do something? Let's put psychology to use for those who just want to move on, for there are many more of them than people afraid of tigers, or crowed spaces, or whatever.

Science in the Future

It's all about treatment. There are countless medical journals and magazine articles on prevention, heck there's an entire magazine dedicated to it. But no matter how hard we try to prevent those things in our lives, they always seem to creep up on us. The future will be about finding comfort for the afflicted. Those videos made it clear that we are very well on our way. I believe people are instinctively nurturing and sympathetic, and the the ultimate goal of a human being is to be independent and have a purpose. Science in the future will attack diseases just as severely as they attack our bodies. We will study the anatomy of the human and aim to mimic the natural "fighters" we each have. Also, technology through computers, as seen in the videos, will provide growing outlets to patients with bodily restrictions and brain damage. Ultimately, I believe we will find a less expensive and more accessible way to communicate with those who are currently without speech. Also, if this country and world can see the benefit of stem cell research and application, and bans are lifted, huge leaps will be made. These undifferentiated cells are the key to a scientific and medical revolution in the future.

The Back Of Yo Head Is Ridiculous

BlogginG! YEAH YEAH YEAH!

Video: Pleasure and Addiction
http://www.learner.org/resources/series150.html

An experiment was done implanting chemicals into the pleasure systems of clinically depressed patients. The chemicals were directed at the Nucleus Accumbens, the powerhouse of emotion and addiction. Test subjects were allowed to control their own tests, and what was found was that drugs simulate the same areas of the brain as sex and food. The primary example given was that of the rat and the shock. A rat was exposed to a peddle, which when stepped upon, created a pleasurable stimulus. The rat was so inclined to experience this stimulus, that even after it was required that the animal endure an extremely painful shock, it tolerated it to reach that pleasure. This is a clear example of association of objects with pleasure, a concept connected to mood's link to memory. In terms of humans, drugs such as heroin and cocaine stimulate the exact area of the brain as food and sex. In the case of heroin, the higher cortex is shut down and the emotional brain is left to act alone. Coke, however, boosts the entire brain, centering on pleasure centers. This information was not shocking to me or even all that new. My skepticism comes in personal experience. I have been told that drugs can be a replacement to sex, by someone who's engaged in both on several occasions. This is impossible to believe for me. I really don't care what science says, the contact of another human being, the physical touch, is a totally different sensation than a needle or a rolled piece of paper lit into action. These experiments are not accounting for emotional attachment, desire, or the affects of repeating actions of different manners several different times. Food is a replacement for sex, drugs a replacement for sex. But this doesn't mean they're interchangeable, just a bit similar. The research is all well and good, but I've got to rely more on life lessons for this one.

Video: Mnuemonics For The Brain
http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2008/09/22/episode-72-video-memorize-the-parts-of-the-brain/

This guy is kind of a wackadoodle, but he's good at what he does. I took crazy notes for this video, so I'm basically going to throw back what I wrote down and comment on a few of the choices he made...basically I'm going to blog=]. The cerebral cortex is involved in complex thinking, like e=mc sq. Tex makes one think of texas...cowboy hat. Hat sits right on the head, and the cortex is right under the hat. Corpus callosum. I thought his first method was pretty great, the second suggestion, not as great. CorPLUS ColloSUM. Adds parts of the brain toether, and communicates, a.k.a. call someone. The thalamus. Ok this one was a little weird. He named two guys Hal and Amos, and these guys have the job of directing the signals of the brain to their processing centers. I guess I just have to think of two little airplane-stick holding dudes. Next came Hypothalamus. Hypo-the llamas. Cool them off with a hypodermic needle after a long trip whrn they are thirsty. The hypothalaums controls thirst, body temperature, and drives. This must have taken him sveral sill hours to come up with. Now up, the hippocampus. The hippo carries a compass to remember where home is and the hippocampus controls memory. This one was cute. Number six, the amygdala, the fear center. I guess there's something calleda mig and it's scary. Tah Dah. Pons is easy. Ponds are relaxing, the pons controls relaxation and sleep. Easy peasy puddin and pie. The cerebellum. OK this one was jsut dumb. You have to picture athlethes balancing cells, as the cerebellum controls balance and motor control. Whatever, dude. Maybe this crazy image will work. Reticular formation arouses and alerts. When you're tickled you're alert. Wow, guy, took the easy road for this one. FINALLY. The medulla. His were dumb so I made my own. The purple heart is a medal, the medulla regulates the heart and lungs. See, I could totally be him.


Reading: Ecstasy
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainBriefings_ecstasy

E damages axons. This club drus is viewed as nothing more than a boost to a great night out, but the studies presented in this article showed that with repeat use, this drug can weaken users memory and strategic mental abilities. Besides the immediate effetcs of naseau and sweating, Ecstasy damages the axons carrying serotonin related neurons, pleasure centers of the brain. However, it also made it obvious that most effects were minor and still being researched. I don't think i'll freak out over a little E until the research is more solid. That's not to say that I'm going to run out and snag some, but this article just wasn't a scary enough deterence, honestly.

Reading: Learning From Mistakes Only Works After Age 12
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080925104309.htm

Aha! So when we ask, " Why did he just stick that marble up his nose again?", we can know that he just didn't learn. What a novel concept. This article suggests that younger children do not respond to negative feedback, just encouragement, regulated by the cerebral cortex. Conversely, the older one gets, the more responsive the brain is to negative feedback. The question, though, is if this difference comes from experience, and no one really knows yet. Positive feedback, though, has been pinpointed to the basal ganglia. I did a project on Huntington's last year and the basal ganglia was the primary area affected. How does this relate? Hmmm. I'm a bit confused...

Readin. Watchin movies. Doin Work.

WARNING MR. WALTMAN- WHITE FONT!!!
Reading: Mirror Neurons. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-mirror-neuron-revolut
This article was really cool. I was extremely interested, and I think it was mostly because I actually understood what the heck was being said. So, what i gathered is this. Mirror neurons are social butterflies. Their job is to interpret social cues within the brain, exchanging neurotransmitters to one another. They work with social tensions, connecting to the social psych unit in terms of attitude, and maybe even in group and out group. If someone has defective mirror neurons; if they cannot transmit the proper signals through their terminal branches, one may be viewed as awkward, hence, the out group. Also the connection to language and emotion shows how closely connected the parts of the brain truly are.

Video: Natural Morphine http://www.learner.org/resources/series150.html
The war imagery that prompted this video definitely spoke to a heightened reality and an endorphin rush. This brief clip began with the background of drug abuse becoming prevalent in the Vietnam war, and it's positive effect on scientific exploration. It was discovered that heroin, the drug of choice, fit in the identical reaction sites as the brain's natural substances! Easily obtained poppy extracts do the trick, too. Hans Kosterlitz, in 1972, found natural opiates in the brain in the form of morphine. It took a basic experiment with just a strip of muscle to make a breakthrough. Honestly, I didn't find this super exciting. It was nothing I didn't know. I watched the Drug Years. I know what's up. It WAS cool though that the government gave scientists the go ahead, even though Nixon had declared a drug war. Huh, the government is a far out thing, man.

Reading: Memories Are Made of This http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/10/memories-are-made-of-this.php
Yay! Review and new material all in one. So, this started by exploring memories. It discussed encoding, not in the sense of failure or bettering memory, but in how we recall what's in our brains in a neurological sense, of what we encoded. This was helpful in connecting encoding and the several types in review to help learn this new material. Moving on. It looked at epilepsy, and this study was pretty sick, and kind of seemed like I had seen in on Grey's Anatomy. But, what they found was that neurons were firing, aka action potential, hundreds of times when exposed to TV clips. The breakthrough part was that they found the same neurons firing when the clip was showed again. Also, through unconscious recollection, the neurons were firing ahead of the clip. I don't think 'resurrection of neuronal activity from the past' is insensitive, maybe just not cool with moms and mushy gushy types.

Video: Hormones and Brain Developmenthttp://www.learner.org/resources/series142.html
This video was repetitive, but interesting none the less. In rat brain studies, it found that there is a definitive link between sex hormones and the shape of both the brain and the body. Females tend to have more symmetrical hemispheres in both rats and humans, and male rats have a thicker right hemisphere. However, when female ovaries are removed, the right cortex is thicker, and when male testes are removed, the left cortex is thicker, unlike typical males. This is an undeniable link. The studies also showed that the cortex can change at any age with certain experiences. The section I found the most insightful was on impoverished environments versus nurtured, enriched environments. The rats in more enriched environment actually had bigger brains! It was a clear link to humans, and the ignorance argument of the poor and downtrodden. There is genuine scientific evidence that it's not a fruitless point. Wowza, science explained social conditions. Isn't that called psychology....

I Just Wanna Be Used.

This chapter simply put labels to the things we encounter everyday. None of the concepts were overly forein or difficult to understand, just a bit tough to tell apart at times. So I think the best way to apply them is in everyday situations. 1.) When a stupid girl makes up a rumor based on a look I gave her or laugh in her direction---Fundamental Attribution Theory. 2.) When I slack off in Econ becuase I'm crazy bored---Social Loafing. 3.) When I'm a jerk to my best friend when she's a jerk---equity. 4.) I wear a skirt that's too short on Halloween---Normative Social Influence. 5.) I like this girl because she also hates that other girl that I hate more than I hate her---Superordinate Goals. 6.) Oh my God! I hate her too! And so do these 4 girls---Group Polarization.
Ahhh. Psychology at work=]

oops=]

I read some of the other blogs and I'm not sure if this is right...but I'm going to write a story. About attraction and conflict. Two things that often come hand in hand in my life. So, this is a real life story, because I don't really care to be private or touchy about things that are no big deal. Plus, I'm sure I'm not the only one that this has happened to.
I fell for this guy. And he was handsome, smart, and so so bad. Which I loved. He was different than any guy I'd ever fallen for. He was extremely intelligent, but not because of formal education, just because he was. School wasn't his thing, and I think his anti-conformity was aluring, since I'm a total school geek. He read constantly and listened to the best, most chill music, and had cool posters on his walls. We fell into a "relationship" I guess? We were together, we didn't really label beyond that, but we were happy. He balanced me out, the opposite of my intense, neurotic, constantly busy self. I was attracted to him, but more so I think I was attracted to the way he made me feel and act, changed me when I was with him. I guess of the four points of attraction(physical*, proximity*, familiarity, similartity) we filled two. Things were good, they were easy. But there was somebody else.
Don't you just feel like as soon as someone new enters your romantic life, someone else tries to squeeze in simultaneously? It is so unfair. I was finally feeling right with this guy, we were meshing and had gotten past the "gettting to know one another" stage, when stupid guy #2 pranced in. I must admit, he was somethin. We'd been friends, but never anything more, not to say I hadn't thought of him as anything more in the past. CONFLICT. arg. So anyhow, he enters the picture. At first it was no big deal, harmless flirting, hanging out a few times a week, whatever. The thing is, I never told guy #1, because he wasn't my "boyfriend", and although we had talked about our connection to each other, we hadn't really set rules. Yeah, that was a mistake. Justification at it's finest. So, I crossed the line with guy #1, rather he crossed the line( yes, justification and finger pointing again). He kissed me. But I pulled away! See, I'm not that bad of the bad guy. It was weird though. I don't think I wanted to pull away, it was just immediate. My head knew it was wrong, even if animalistic instinct disagreed. It was the perfect example of cognitive dissonance. I did it, but I felt awful, and to cover it up, I justified it. #1 wasn't my boyfriend. The worst part of this intense conflict, was that I didn't tell #1. For quite a while. I guess I convinced myself that he was doing the same, so it was fine. Turns out he wasn't. And I am such a bad person, but it's like I was glad that #2 cared so much. It's like social facilitaion kind of? I don't know. I just know this is a very real version of conflict and attraction is psychology.

Read Me! Watch Me! Try Me!

Ok. I'll break this down into three sections. Video. Experiment. Reading. Ready, Go.

1.) Let's watch some killer psych videos, eh?!

I watched #24 on aggression and violence in the brain. My computer was being weird and didn't stream the video right, so I just saw pictures that moved every so often with words atop them. I think if I took anything from this video it was the importance of situation and conditions. At first hearing what this man had done, it was only natural to assume that he was a bad guy,because bad guys do bad things. That's what the attribution theory tells us. But when we discover his cruel acts were linked with a type of medical condition, everything changes. Our attitudes of disgust and horror change to sympathy and pity. This can be applied to situations in everyday life. If we actually knew what was going on inside someones head, if we even cared, I bet perceptions would change. Aggressive behavior could become a reaction to abuse. Harsh words could be just ways of hiding jealousy sparked by an event. This video demonstrated that we never truly know.

2.) Experimenting is fun fun stuff.

I did a few. Because I think they're great. There's not really much to say about them, really. I did the facial attractiveness experiment for men first, but I was ticked because it didn't give me results, it just gave made me do another experiment. But, if I had to guess, I could summarize my data. I picked broader faces, eyes, noses, the works. No small eyes or feminine features. I like men who look like strong willed, masculine, intelligent individuals. And for some reason, I attribute all of these characterises to a more solid face. I'm attracted to confidence. Next I did one that associated characteristics to faces, again no results. I guess the more cultured looking, smaller faced and more groomed hair older men I saw as more intelligent and successful. The more feminine older woman seemed more caring and maybe even successful, but the more rugged, weathered woman I judged as more trustworthy and intelligent. Life wears you down, and this woman showed it. Finally,I did male attractiveness on a scale of 1-7 for something like 16 photos. Turns out I'm picky. The average is about 2.7. Mine was 2.2. What are ya gonna do. I like em handsome.

3.) Read to Achieve!

So, I read about why we do dumb things. Nothing too shocking. It broke down some experiments we've looked at. I.e. Milgram and Stanford, and the concepts we've done a lot with in class. Prejudice, conformity, bystander effect, all that fun stuff.The halo effect was kind of a fancy name for attribution theory. I feel like I should write more, but I really have very little to say and feel like the rest will be filler. Maybe I'll add more later if I suddenly feel inspired by this article. Fingers crossed.

Norm Schmorm

This was so freakin fun. I almost died of embarrassment. But then I just said screw it, and went all out. And it was great. So what did I do, you ask? I defied a social norm, silly. Duh=]. One of my best friends and I were headed to UB this weekend, so we decided to make a quick stop at the Galleria mall, and I thought to myself, what a perfect location to be a little nuts. I don't know anyone there, and tons of wack a doodles flock to malls. So we decided to pick a place where lots of normal people go, Old Navy. I figured this would give me a broad range of subjects and a fairly open space, room to project. Oh yeah! I should probably mention the norm I defied. When shopping, one is expected to do certain things. They pull cute tops from the racks, maybe hum the tune playing around them softly to themselves, even oogle at a baby or shoot a stare at a punk ass kid. Singing at the top of your lungs as you prance down the aisle, not normal. Especially off-key. That's just ludicrous, ludicrous I say. Well, I did it=]. It took me a while to muster up the courage. I was basically spazzing out. I'm putting up the video from Try #1, the unsuccessful trial run. Pardon Heather's language. She says sorry. Finally though, I just did it. My stomach was in complete knots. I felt like an idiot. But it was so fun, I cannot even explain how amazing it felt to just let go of all of my inhibitions and do whatever the heck I wanted. The looks were funny. These two tween boys just laughed like I was a weirdo. Moms tried not to stare, but could not help themselves and shot me stares as if I wasn't raised right. Sorry Ma. Some people just ignored it. Probably easier. My favorite though, by far, was an old Russian woman. I ran out of the store, and as I was exiting, she walked up to me casually, muttered something at me in Russian with a disapproving tone, looked me up and down, and sauntered away. It. Was. Perfect. Heather was embarrassed to be seen with me, which I couldn't have cared less. She and I were just falling down laughing. This was an epic assignment.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

QUESTION
c. Consider the psychological consequences of stripping, delousing, and shaving the heads of prisoners or members of the military. What transformations take place when people go through an experience like this?
QUESTION
d. At first push-ups were not a very aversive form of punishment, but they became more so as the study wore on. Why the change?
QUESTION
f. Most prisoners believed that the subjects selected to be guards were chosen because they were bigger than those who were made prisoners, but actually, there was no difference in the average height of the two groups. What do you think caused this misperception?


ANSWER: C.

There are few greater personal challenges than losing sight of your own identity. You look the way you do. You may not like what you see, or even feel like the person you're looking at reflects the inner you, but at the end of the day, you know your face and you fall back upon that same image in the mirror each morning. Prisoners lose themselves, and it's completely intentional on the part of the superiors. Being shaved is the first step to becoming a nobody, just another face in the guilty crowd. Especially for women, hair obviously is the decoration to a bland face. It's the first step in both a physical and emotional wearing out. The same is to be said for delousing or stripping. These acts bring out the most self conscious side of a person, a vulnerable side that can be molded and manipulated. The most important trait lost is pride. Pride in oneself and one's view of themselves pertaining to the outside world. They become small, unimportant, and shameful. The perfect specimen of a broken soul to be manipulated.

ANSWER: D.

At first, push ups were no big deal. Many people incorporate push-ups into their everyday workout patterns, a routine common to get fit and healthy. Also, these are young college men. I'll bet everyone of them is coursing with ego and pride, just waiting to show each other participant in this crazy test exactly what they're made of, and at first, they may even revel in the idea of a few man-ups. However, these feelings will quickly change. The social facilitation will run it's course. As with anything, connections change actions. Push-ups are no longer a menial punishment, rather a drudgery and embarrassment, a spectacle of insubordinance and failure. Push ups will become tell alls to nosy inmates and constant reminders of failure, the reason you are where you are.


ANSWER: F.

Intimidation. Their perception stems from their unproud fear of these men who were once considered equals outside the cell walls. It's almost as if it's justification, like there could be no other reason that these men are holding power over them other than the fact that they're bigger. Their insecurities grow with every passing day and this is yet another example of how they are personally putting themselves below a "greater" authority. They're not being bullied into belief, rather they genuinely believe that they are becoming lesser. It's almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more the "smaller" individuals examine the situation and search for incongruity, the bigger and bigger the guards will become, both literally and figuratively.

This is completely disgusting. I have never viewed anything so horrific in my entire life, and when trying to pinpoint who was at fault for the events that occurred, there was no question in my mind.The individuals who had the evilness of spirit and cruelty within them can be the only ones committed of the given crimes of humanity. There is no logic in blaming the government, or Rumsfled, or even Janis Karpinski, the commander at the Abu Gharib prison, for the acts that were committed. There is certainly fault in ignorance, as in the case of the commander, as she claims she was never aware of the inhumanity taking place. In her defense, she stated ignorance as a justifiable excuse and made herself out to be a scapegoat for the true individuals who should have received the greatest reprercuttions. I genuinely don't find justification in the ignorance argument, however, when it comes down to it, she was not committing the acts. The pictures didn't show her with a cigarette cavalierly protruding from her lips, fingers fires blazing. Only those who had the capacity to torture and humiliate other human beings can be held fully responsible. This is America. We are a country that finds prode in justice, fairness, and humanity. These choice individuals, like Ricardo Sanchez, Charles Graner and his fiance Lynndie England, should've had no chance to explain. With pictures like those published, there are no words. I may not be a religious person, but if there is a hell, I hope there's a toasty spot awaiting these military men and women's arrival. I am, however, for capital punishment, and that can be the only restitution for these things, not even people. You cannot blaim circumstance or government coaxing. Every human being has a choice to do what is right, or to ignore the concious goodness I believe all posess. These men and women made a choice. And for that, their lives should not be a choice, but a memory to be erased.

Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha rockin everywhere.

So this isn't the actual picture of what I wanted.Because the actual picture is illegal to take=]. My freshmen year I had the amazing opportuinty of traveling to Japan with my grandfather for two weeks. To say it was phenomenal is a serious understatement. Never before have I felt so welcome anywhere besides my own home. The people I met were unbelievable, but more so I just completely fell in love with the country and the culture. Everything. Everything was so different. It was clean and simple and just so picturesque. This picture, though, is from the home of one of my host families during the first half of my trip. It represents the best part of my trip, during a day tour of a temple, the name of course I have forgotten. We went to a long row house looking building that housed hundreds and hundreds of statues. In the middle of one of the shrine-like exibits, sat a huge golsen Buddha. It was the most majestic and powerful symbol I have ever witnessed, and it actually moved me to tears. Never since then have I felt such a connection to anything before. After that day, I started to reevaluate. And oddly enough, it made me move away from faith, an adverse effect indeed. I'm not and have never been religious. But after that experience, I really started to think about what I believed because of the way this religious representation made me feel. These last few years I have found a love of Asian art and design and idelogy. I think it really drew out a spiritual side of me that I didn't know I had. That Buddha changed me. Japan changed me.

I learned! Woot!

Wow, a class where I can actually apply what I learned. This unit has been fairly basic, but the information is extremely applicable to everyday life. Again, I will talk about my job. Sometimes it's easy to get frustrated with my old geezers, but this memory chapter reminded me that it's not their fault. The brain basically does what it wants, and all we can do is try to manipulate it, try being the operative word. This unit really did help me with studying, though. Connecting images with words has helped me recall information more effectively. Now, when I make flashcards, I also make visual associations. Also, when talking to people, I connect my recollections with vocabulary, which is nerdy, but whatever. I can actually say what I need to say and label it as more than, "you know...that thing, like you know". Memory is a part of everyday life, and by learning about it's logistics, it makes it easier to learn. Makes sense. In the real world, this unit could be applied to law enforcement or in a study skills class.

so there were assigned videos...

ok. I'm an idiot. there were assigned videos. which makes much more sense. so here it goes. the real assignment. sorry Mr. Waltman=].

LiViNg WiTh AmNeSiA.

This is going to sound mean, but of all of the memory impaired individuals we've met this year, this guy seems to have it the best off. First let's break down what happened to him. As a junior in high school, Mike was in a car accident, leaving him with a back fracture and an overall stint of 4 weeks in a coma( broken up by 2 conscious weeks). In Mike's case, his cognitive abilities were left almost unaffected, allowing him to live a nearly normal everyday life. However, his hippocampus was severely damaged. For this reason, Mike must rely on constant notes and reminders, all extremely specific, to get him through life. With his disability came great depression.The easiest way for him to retain information is through hands on experience, using touch as a way to recall objects or events.
The video goes on to describe LTP, or Long Term Potentiation. This act reflects the hippocampus's role in memory consolidation within the hippocampus, as the synapse increase firing potential and increase brain productivity. Synaptic changes are the basis of all learning and retention.
A case like this shows us that memory damage is tough, but not the end of the world. Like anything, it's about getting into new habits and patterns in life.


ClIvE wEaRiNg PaRt 1

This is so sad. But not for Clive, for he is oblivious. I feel awful for his wife. That woman is a warrior for going to visit a man who remembers nothing of her now, just who she used to be. It's amazing that he has retained such intense and unwavering love for her, proving that maybe love does conquer all things.
I didn't catch the name of his affliction, but I did catch that it sucks. Clive has suffered serious damage to his hippocampus, only allowing him to remember back less than two minutes. His diary demonstrates that he constantly believes he is coming alive for the first time. BUT. philosophical note. How does one know what it is to be alive and cognitive that it is the first time if they've never before experienced it or witnessed it? But anyhow. The damage to his frontal lobes give way to his highly erratically emotional behavior, I.E. the heated reprimanding of his wife. His highest form of memory, which recalls the past and projects the future, is gone. He has no declarative memory. Even his flashbulb is gone, as he does not recall his wife even entering a room moments earlier. Amazingly, however, he remains a phenomenal composer, singer, and piano player. Such skills are permanently ingrained and unconscious or implicit.
This made me think of my nursing home folks, yet again. I know it's different, but some of the same occurrences are prevalent in both parties. So many ask when they are going home, and claim to have never tried something, done something, or met someone before. I'm curious, does Clive's condition directly link to mild Alzheimer's? Maybe it's just intense source amnesia in the folks case. hmmmm....


lEaRnInG aNd MeMoRy
This one was a lot of "he said this" and "he was wrong". Lashley concluded, from what else, research on rats, that memory was not stored in a specialized location, rather dispersed throughout the brain, and he was essentially right. He did find though,that the larger the section of the cortext removed, the greater likelihood of forgetting. His research was built upon and somewhat discredited by Wilder Penfield. His studies found that memory storage was primarily in the tempral lobe. Like most, he would electronically stimulate the brain before experimentation, therefore pin pointing activity and excitement within certain areas. This video was pretty basic. It covered the basis of neuron firing and inhibitors at it's conclusion. It was interesting, and a great study aid.

So. It didn't totally suck doing this assignment again. It was super helpful in studying for the test and the videos were pretty cool. Yay psych.

psych videos are for cool kids.

Blog 4.

P-to the- arkinsons
The first video I chose to watch was on Parkinson's brain transplants. I was interested in this because of my work at a nursing home and the effects I see of the disease in my workplace. Parkinson's patients vary greatly, but all share a similarity in that their basic mechanisms are present. Basic movements are doable, but their brains are targeted in specific areas of balance, coordination, and both voluntary and involuntary movement. Parkinson's affects the release of Dopamine, a chemical supplied by the Substantia Nigra, the area that slowly wears away, not allowing the patient full use of their Basal Ganglia. In 1970, a miracle drug called "el dopa" was introduced and was extremely effective in regulating body movements, as it created a false dopamine in the brain. However, the largest breakthroughs came in 1988, when experiments began on awake patients brains. 1/2 of the transplants performed were legitimate, as the patients received fetal tissue in their Basal ganglia. The other half, however, underwent a placebo operation. This was so cool, but the information was incomplete. Yes they gave the example of Margaret who had miraculous results, but she was one of the patients who received the actual fetal tissue. What happened to the placebos? If a study is going to introduce these two variables, it ought to document results for both sides. I was waiting to hear if both sets of patients had the same or different results. Another question I had was how far off the scientists estimate was for the cell reproduction in brains. It's been twenty years. What's the deal???

Pleasure and Addiction
An experiment was done implanting chemicals into the pleasure systems of clinically depressed patients. The chemicals were directed at the Nucleus Accumbens, the powerhouse of emotion and addiction. Test subjects were allowed to control their own tests, and what was found was that drugs simulate the same areas of the brain as sex and food. The primary example given was that of the rat and the shock. A rat was exposed to a peddle, which when stepped upon, created a pleasurable stimulus. The rat was so inclined to experience this stimulus, that even after it was required that the animal endure an extremely painful shock, it tolerated it to reach that pleasure. This is a clear example of association of objects with pleasure, a concept connected to mood's link to memory. In terms of humans, drugs such as heroin and cocaine stimulate the exact area of the brain as food and sex. In the case of heroin, the higher cortex is shut down and the emotional brain is left to act alone. Coke, however, boosts the entire brain, centering on pleasure centers. This information was not shocking to me or even all that new. My skepticism comes in personal experience. I have been told that drugs can be a replacement to sex, by someone who's engaged in both on several occasions. This is impossible to believe for me. I really don't care what science says, the contact of another human being, the physical touch, is a totally different sensation than a needle or a rolled piece of paper lit into action. These experiments are not accounting for emotional attachment, desire, or the affects of repeating actions of different manners several different times. Food is a replacement for sex, drugs a replacement for sex. But this doesn't mean they're interchangeable, just a bit similar. The research is all well and good, but I've got to rely more on life lessons for this one.

Subliminal Perception.
This was neat-o. But it was less cool because my computer was a jerk and the video player didn't stream constantly, rather it showed compiled stills. The study of the unconscious is subliminal, conscious study is superliminal. This video outlined an experiment in which words were flashed in front of a nervous nelly college student too afraid to speak out in class. The data showed that the word disrespectful, flashed for only thousandths of a second, incurred a sharp spike in brain activity. Though the student could not consciously declare he had seen the word, as an explicit memory, his brain rapidly responded to it. However, when the word wild was shown, at a much more delayed speed, the brain took nearly twice as long to perform activity displaying much less anxiousness. So cool. The brain works to defend the mind against conscious recognition of things it knows will cause the individual distress. It naturally represses such images. The fact that our brains respond even when we have no clue they are makes me think we are so much more complex than anyone can even know. The studies presented may have been a bit vague, the only reason being that they weren't relate able. I'm sure there are such things as subliminal messages in the everyday world. That type of experiment, testing how brains respond to everyday, unnoticeable stimuli would be much more applicable. However, that would be pretty darn hard I bet.


yay 4 blogs done=]. feeling quite accomplished.

experimento de memoria

These experiments were cool. I thoroughly enjoyed them.The first one I chose was the facial recognition. My first thought was, "this creeps me out". I'm not a big fan of America's Most Wanted and stuff like that. Not my thing. But anyhow, what I tried to do was apply what we'd learned in class. I attempted to make visual connections to objects or faces I already know. For example, one of the men looked like a chipmunk. So as soon as his face appeared in slide show of photos, I immediately recognized him as chipmunk guy. Another guy I thought looked like that guy from the Soprano's who did the dirty in his car with another large, Italian mobster. Again, instant recognition. I found that by making connections, my mind was able to retain more information, and to focus on the tougher faces after I had locked down the distinguished gentlemen. I'm not sure what a good score is really? I got 10 right, and one false alarm, whatever that means. At least I enjoyed this experiment, unlike the next. The word recognition made me bonkers. Like the numbers, I presume this was testing the affect of spacing between viewing a list of letters and having to recall them. I hated it. First of all, the letters were vertical, so I had a harder time reading them, something obviously intentional. Secondly, I wish they had used more kindergarten style words. I realize ether isn't immensely difficult, but it's a heck of a lot easier to assume it was either. Also, bugle. I must have entered bulge at least 3 times, convinced the computer had made an error. The biggest problem I had was not knowing when it would end. I'm the type of person who likes to have a time frame, or at least some time of realm of reference. My average time to recall was 0.1, ranging from 0.09 to 0.15, but mostly falling at 0.1. Is that good? No idea. Overall, this is my favorite part of the class. Actually applying psychology is so fun to me. I am officially a nerd.

the brain game.

Ok. Post 2. Let's learn something! I'll break down my articles by color, as that seems to be a popular way of doing things in this class. Shockingly enough, I genuinely enjoyed the reading from the book due Friday. I know, insane to think that something pertaining to school could be even the least bit interesting. I found the closing section on memory repression mind blowing. I'd heard of this phenomenon before, but the examples given seemed almost unreal. But, on to the task at hand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueMJQ5OAS-4

"Estrogen May Help Sharpen Fuzzy Memory"

I was drawn to this article first because, of course, I'm an estrogen tank. My favorite feature of this new study was it's focus on implanting something foreign into something pre-existing, utilizing the presently function systems and heightening them rather than inserting something completely new. By working with rats, researches found that short memory lapses in older women may be due to low estrogen levels. Some rats required no new estrogen, simply a way of restarting their natural ways of producing it. In the hippocampus, the receptor of this estrogen can be directly targeted. Coming from personal experience, however, influxes of estrogen, like when one goes on birth control, can lead to serious emotional and even physical changes. The article notes the action of estrogen as a cancer growth agent, a discovery disheartening at best. However, one must remember that with the good sometimes comes the bad. Hopefully, as research continues, scientists will be able to manipulate just the afflicted area, creating a healthy balance. The goal of these studies, after all, is the breed the best results possible.

"How Big is Your Brain? It may protect you From Memory Loss"

Working at a nursing home, i see first hand the effects of dementia every time I enter the building. Who would have thought that the bigger someone's brain is, the better chance they'll have of avoiding Alzheimer's. I guess it makes sense really. It's like a dirty floor. If you sweep all the dirt on the floor into a little pile, it's all right in front of you, glaring. When it's packed together, it's harder to create the illusion that the floor isn't really all that dirty. But if you leave it spread out, the dirt and bits of gross have an easier time staying hidden. This is just like the plaque of the brain. In a more tightly confined space, there's really no way to avoid it in memory processing. But if it is spread out more expansively across the brain, the processes have an easier time avoiding the negative plaque. That makes sense, right? It may not be super scientific, but as with any chunking or mnemonic device, it's best to make connections in order to retain information. At least now we know. Size really does matter.

"Infant Memory Works From Very Early"

This article wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it would be some huge breakthrough on people having vivid memories from infantry. But I kind of already knew this information from the book. Sigh. It was certainly interesting, but I'm not sure if I was necessarily impressed. However, the continued section on the remembering of a particular mobile struck me quite differently. The fact that they had established a sense of long-term memory at such a young age wasn't the remarkable part, it was how quickly they had encoded the information. For someone fascinated by their own toes, this seems quite an accomplishment. The testing pool seems a bit small, though. I think to find more validity more tests are certainly necessary.

Woot! Blog 2 done. Success. I'm an official blogger=].

oh hello.

I am Makenzie. I'm nobody, but I am someone. And i am unoriginal, as those are Ani DiFranco lyrics, not incarnations of original and witty thought. It still hasn't set in that I am sitting in a desk, in a classroom, in a building, that I will never again call home in less than 10 months. It's exciting, I guess, to look into the future and have no clear picture of what I am looking at. In the present, however, it just seems a bit terrifying. This year will be much like last. My class schedule is intense, as I insist on thinking that I am smarter and more driven than I actually am. Three AP's isn't that bad, but it's certainly a stretch for a girl who can't read more than fifteen pages of a novel in one sitting. I think psych will be tougher than I previously anticipated, but a class in which the topics I study are actually applicable to my everyday life sounds much more appealing than one in which I learn formulas I will forget as soon as my AP test is complete. Home life is kind of great. Mom and dad are still together, she's a teacher, he's an orthotist. My sister is just about the absolute coolest person I know. She's a senior at SUNY Cortland, majoring in communications and acting as a radio personality/ TV anchor extrordinare. I'm super involved here at school,acting as executive council president, as well as a member of Spanish club, Rotary, circle of Friends, Blue Notes and more. The things I do I do because I love them, not for a resume. I love Devendra Banhart, hydrangeas, chocolate cake, and collaging. And now, I think I like blogging. I think Kate Nash describes me best.

This is my faceI've got a thousand opinions

And I've got time and time to explain

And this is my body

And no matter how you try and disable it

Yes I'll still be here

And, this, is my mind

And although you try to infringe

You cannot confine

And, this, is my brain

And even if you try and hold me back

There's nothing that you can gain