...The Brain I chose to learn more about psychology and the advances made in neuroscience. I specifically read Carl Zimmer’s article in National Geographic called, “Secrets of the Brain.” I was able to learn about Van Wedeen’s research and the new technologies being used that are allowing us to discover more about how the brain actually works. It is a very interesting article because it is written first hand by Carl Zimmer, as he is being “experimented” on by Wedeen. Neurological discoveries are significant to me because I am able to expand my knowledge of the brain and apply these findings into my own life. Wedeen discovered a way to “grid” the brain by using a fMRI scanner. This scanner is able to trace white matter patterns in the brain, and therefore can record the brain as it is in action. This has “helped reveal networks involved in all manner of thought processes, recognizing faces, to enjoying a cup of coffee, to remembering a traumatic event,” Zimmer explains. The brain has always been a huge mystery to the scientific/medical community, so being able to understand a little more about how it works, signals, and organizes is a very big deal! Not only is it...
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...Children's Health Network The brain Kids' Health Topic What is the brain? The brain is the control centre for your body and it sits in your skull at the top of your spinal cord. The brain has three main parts. The cerebellum (say se-re-bell-um). The cerebrum (say se-re-brum), which has two parts, the left and right cerebral hemispheres, (say se-re-brell hem-iss-fears). The brain stem, that controls a lot of the 'automatic' actions of your body such as breathing and heart beat, and links the brain to the spinal cord and the rest of the body. Your brain is wrapped in 3 layers of tissue and floats in a special shock-proof fluid to stop it from getting bumped on the inside of your skull as your body moves around. What the brain does Your brain is more powerful, more complex and more clever than any computer ever built. It is constantly dealing with hundreds of messages from the world around you, and from your body, and telling your body what to do. It gets the messages from your senses - seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching and moving. The messages travel from nerve cells all over the body. They travel along nerve fibres to nerve cells in the brain. Cranial nerves (say cray-nee-al) carry messages to and from the ears, eyes, nose, throat, tongue and skin on your face and scalp. The spinal cord carries messages to and from the arms, legs and trunk of the body. Sensory nerves collect the information and send it to the brain along one network then motor nerves...
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...Left Brain Compared to Right Brain Joel M. Flores COLL 100-190 American Military University Shannon Voyles Left Compared Right Sided Brain Learners Left and right sided brain learners learn through different pathways of input to comprehend. When considering emotions both sides of the brain are responsible for emotions; the right side is known for negative emotions and the left side is known for happy emotions. The left side of the brain is responsible for language and math learning. As a left sided brain learner a person is a logical detail learner that focuses on facts and rules of language. The left sided brain learner is also focused on math and science in relation to pattern perception. These individuals are able to learn strategies through numbers, objects or verbal cues. The right side of the brain is responsible for nonverbal communication, recognizing shapes/patterns and auditory recognition. Right sided brain learners always are trying to take in the larger picture of issues and are often known as the philosopher of the learning group. There are some that do not believe that individuals are left or right sided brain learners at all, but have brain that developed differently and compensate for the different development. Brain regions with more gray matter in one hemisphere may develop lateralization of brain functions ascribed to those regions. Alternately, if a functional asymmetry develops in a brain region, it is possible that there may...
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...they often times do not focus on the aging brain, but rather on the aging body. Along with the many stages of life, comes the many stages of the brain. The aging brain is a very intricate process that happens to all. The process of the aging brain has many different stages. The infant, adolescent, and adult stages are a much simpler explanation of each. Development of the brain begins in the back and finishes in the front. Each stage has its own unique characteristics that set them apart from one another. During each stage, the brain goes through changes that affect the outcome of ones later life. That is why taking all the proper precautions to a live a healthy life, is vital in order to having a healthy brain as one’s future...
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...inety minutes of sweating can temporarily shrink the brain as much as one year of aging? Everyday scientist are doing tests and finding new data about the human brain. There are thousands of interesting details that scientist have discovered, however, there is so much that is yet to be found. Because the brain can be so confusing, a person might compare it to something such as a clock. What most scientists find more productive for a person’s understanding of the brain is comparing it to a computer. One might think how a PC or a Mac can be compared to the brain. In the course of this paper, one will learn about the comparison between a computer and the human brain, as well as discovering the differences and new facts. Whenever a person’s laptop dies from low battery what do you do? Of course your first instinct is to grab the charger and plug it in. But how is our brain related in this way, you don’t just plug it into a charger do you? Surprisingly that’s basically what you do. Instead of plugging yourself into a wall, the type of charger a person uses is food. The food turns into a form of glucose creating energy for the brain and body.The amount of energy that a person gives their body all depends on their diet. This diet needs to have the proper amount of vitamins, such as C and D, to deliver the energy that is needed to function. Unfortunately though, the brain does not have an off button that you can push. Some may think sleeping is that off button, but come to find out, the brain is always activated...
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...The coping brain is when we are faced with a new experience or challenge and our brain must come up with ways to deal with what is going on. The three coping brain functions are thinking, feeling, and self-protection. These functions help us get over certain experiences or situations that cause use stress, worry, or anger. As we get older we begin to train our brains to use healthy coping methods instead of unhealthy methods. Some healthy coping methods include listening to music, going out with friends or family, and exercising. Some unhealthy coping methods include drinking alcohol, not sleeping, and over-eating. We train our brain to use healthy coping methods so that we feel better about ourselves or feel confident. There are three parts of the coping brain. The three parts of the coping brain are the Reptilian Coping Brain, the Emotional Coping Brain, and the Thinking Coping Brain. The Reptilian Coping Brain is our instinctive part of the brain that is shared with all humans and reptiles and mammals. It is the oldest and most powerful out of our coping brain functions since we wouldn't be able to survive without it. The Emotional Coping Brain is the part of the brain where our emotions come from. For example, if you talk about your feelings towards someone you are getting those sensations from the...
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...I. The human brain weighs on average three pounds or 1.5 kg. II. Dimensions of human brain are mind scratching. III. Average brain width = 140 mm Average brain length = 167 mm Average brain height = 93 mm IV. The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and makes up 85% of the brain’s weight. V. Human skin weighs twice as much as brain. VI. The brain is made up of about 75% water. VII. The human brain is composed of about 100 billion neurons plus a trillion glial cells. VIII. The human brain is the fattest organ in the body and may consist of at least 60% fat. IX. Neurons develop at the rate of 250,000 neurons per minute during early pregnancy. X. Human brain has more brain cells as a newborn baby than it will ever have again. At birth, brain has...
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...“Welcome To The Brain” Welcome boys and girls to the tour of the brain. The human brain is unique. It is part of your central nervous system which contains billions or nerve cells and trillions of support cells. The brain is the central computer that controls all bodily functions; the nervous system relays messages from the brain to different parts of the body. It gives us the power to think, plan, speak, and imagine. It controls body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing. The brain also accepts information about the world around you from your five senses. It handles physical motion when walking, standing or sitting, and it lets you think, dream, reason, and experience emotions. The brain has five key parts that work together to make your brain function; the cerebrum, cerebellum, brain stem, pituitary gland, and the hypothalamus. All this fits inside your brain which is about the size of a head of cauliflower. The cerebrum is the biggest part of your brain; it makes up about 85% of your brains weight. It is the thinking part of your brain and it controls your voluntary muscles. Your memory is also part of your cerebrum, both short-term and long-term. The cerebrum is divided into two hemispheres. The right hemisphere helps you with music, colors and shapes. The left hemisphere helps you with math logic and speech. The cerebellum is at the back the brain right below the cerebrum. The cerebellum processes input from other areas of the brain, spinal cord and...
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...The Female Brain emphasizes that the birth of a female brain is already structured different at birth. The female brain utero sprouts more connection in the communication center cells and areas that process emotions, causing little girls to be more talkative and better at reading emotions. For instance, the female brain compels a baby to study faces of people around her, and if a person lacks the facial expression necessary to show one's emotions, this can be confusing to them. Baby girls are born already interested in emotional expression. This leads to girls feeling more empathy and staying tuned in when talking or connecting with someone. They feel the need for attention and approval, and if not given, will turn to the next person to look...
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...The Human Brain: Reaction Paper Human beings are regarded as the ultimate life form on earth. Why is that? How different are we from other living creatures that make us superior from them? It’s simple, our brain. The human brain is a fascinating subject, and the videos shown to us on Thursday, February 18, 2016 were only a fraction of what is to learn about the brain. What distinguishes us from other animals that have brains is the ability to reason, to think, to process, to speak, and many more. I learned that there are different regions in the brain that control different functions in our body. The fact that a single organ controls me, and is aware of itself, it is so amazing to me. We were shown a caricature of person, where it shows that the largest parts are the parts of the body that are given a lot more attention by our brain, the lips and the hands in particular. It makes sense that our hands require more brain activity because we use it for almost everything we do every day. The brain works to keep us alive and functioning all the time, and it never rests. I learned that the brain is symmetrical on both sides, and the two sides of the brain are referred to as the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere. I learned that the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and is focused more on things that require logic. On the other hand, the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and is focused on more creative tasks. Although...
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...Brain imaging techniques Introduction to brain imaging techniques and other methods A number of techniques are available to investigate the question of how and where in the brain particular perceptual and cognitive processes occur. Tasks or tests can be devised that place varying levels of demand on the cognitive, sensory or motor capacities of the participant being tested. Performance of these tasks is then correlated with physiological measurements, and on the basis of these results, we may go on to ascribe functions to areas of the brain. Whilst there is a growing fascination with imaging techniques in the popular media (e.g. ‘This is your brain on politics’), it’s important to bear in mind that each technique has limitations that often don’t get picked up on by newspaper editors who themselves have little-to-no experience using them. The most often overlooked limitation is the issue of ‘reverse inference’ – just because cognition X (e.g. using one’s memory) is associated with brain activation Y (e.g. activation in the prefrontal cortex), that doesn’t mean that if a participant displays activation Y, they are necessary engaging in cognition X. Below we highlight some key neuropsychological and neuroscientific techniques, and a few of their limitations. There are also a number of great blogs that deal with issues relating to neuroscience, particularly in the popular press (e.g. Bad Science, The Neurocritic, [citation needed]). Testing brain damaged subjects (Neuropsychology) ...
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...The consideration about the mind and the brain being an identical subject raises issues amongst the philosophers. In order to resolve these conflicts philosophers came up with four theories. These theories include dualism, functionalism, behaviourism and mind-brain identity theory. Each theory has its own perspectives toward the mind body related conflicts. There are oppositions between each theories as well as similarities. The most creditable and criticized theory can be said to be the mind-brain theory. The mind-brain theory states that the mind and the brain are one thing with different terminology. “At a certain point in the history of science, it was discovered that water is made of H₂O molecules…same point applies to the relationship of mental terms and neurophysiologic terms” (Sober, p.257). The mind-brain theory is compared to the science, where in the past when there was limited knowledge about a certain fact and how it was developed and changed dramatically over time like water and its molecular formula. By referring to the science, the mind-brain identity theory states that the current knowledge obtained to date is only limited and cannot prove the relationship of mind and the brain with facts. Since there is limited knowledge regarding this issue, as more knowledge is obtained through time, the mind-brain identity theory states that the relationship will be proven based on the future facts about the mind and the brain where it will show that they are one object...
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...The complexity and magnificence of the human brain are something that has impulsed grand desire for scholars to understand this arsenal of neurons and bunched up human flesh; its role in the human body and the millions of ways in which it functions has created a cloud of curiosity in the minds of many. There has been a great controversy for years debating whether a mentally ill person who has committed a crime should be prosecuted to the same extent as a person who willingly committed similar actions. Many people disagree with this view because they lack knowledge in the ways the brain affects an individual’s actions, and are furthermore stuck on their conservative views; they don’t understand that extraordinary advancement in neuroscience have allowed us to see the way the brain affects our will. Are neuroscience and justice two subjects that should be applied in the same category?...
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...Neurological Processes Ugur Unal PSY/340 July 15th, 2016 Neurological Processes The brain is the most complex part of the body. This organ is the center of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior. For centuries, scientists and philosophers have been infatuated by the brain, but until recently the brain has been viewed as perplexing. Now, however, the brain is beginning to show its secrets. Scientists have learned more about the brain in the last few years than in all previous centuries because of the accelerating pace of research in neurological and behavioral science and the development of new research techniques. The brain is like a committee of experts. All the parts of the brain work together, but each part has its own special properties. Biological causes of clinical depression continue to be studied extensively. Great progress has been made in the understanding of brain function, the influence of neurotransmitters, and other biological processes, as well as how they may relate to the development of depression. Depression or anxiety causes individuals to have many changes in their behaviors. They tend to become isolated from their family, friends, or be social. Their eating patterns lead to either weight gain or loss; and sleeping patterns change where they either do not sleep or sleep excessively. They become agitated, irritable, and fatigue or have lack of energy. Biological psychology aims at finding the...
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...The Brain The brain is one of the most complex and magnificent organs in the human body. Our brain gives us awareness of ourselves and of our environment, processing a constant stream of sensory data. It controls our muscle movements, the secretions of our glands, and even our breathing and internal temperature. Every creative thought, feeling, and plan is developed by our brain. The brain’s neurons record the memory of every event in our lives. Anatomy of the brain There are different ways of dividing the brain anatomically into regions. Let’s use a common method and divide the brain into three main regions based on embryonic development: the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain. Under these divisions: The forebrain (or prosencephalon) is made up of our incredible cerebrum, thalamus, hypothalamus and pineal gland among other features. Neuroanatomists call the cerebral area the telencephalon and use the term diencephalon (or interbrain) to refer to the area where our thalamus, hypothalamus and pineal gland reside. The midbrain (or mesencephalon), located near the very center of the brain between the interbrain and the hindbrain, is composed of a portion of the brainstem. The hindbrain (or rhombencephalon) consists of the remaining brainstem as well as our cerebellum and pons. Neuroanatomists have a word to describe the brainstem sub-region of our hindbrain, calling it the myelencephalon, while they use the word metencephalon in reference to our...
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