...Brain Functions and Psychology Abstract Different specialties within the field of psychology are interested in various divisions of the human brain due to its elaborate and multifaceted relationship between behavior and the brain. The brain or encephalon can be divided in to a varying number of divisions that are explored by different specialty groups within the field of psychology including biological psychologists, cognitive neuroscientist, cognitive psychologists, neuropsychologists, and general research psychologists. Research performed by different psychology professionals on the brain offers a venue for gaining further understanding of certain conditions such as multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer's. This paper concludes by discussing personal reasons for wanting to research memory and the opposing factor of forgetfulness. Part 1: Psychological Interest in the Human Brain Different specialties within the field of psychology are interested in various divisions of the human brain due to its elaborate and multifaceted relationship between behavior and the brain. The first part of this paper will be looking at the divisions of the brain which appeal to research and cognitive psychologists. The second part of the paper will be looking at the division of the brain which this counselor is interested in researching further and the thought process for choosing said particular division. Scientific Interest in the Brain The brain...
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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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...Brain Structures & Their Functions The brain forms part of the central nervous system together with the spinal cord. The nervous system is the center of all communication and decision making. There are two parts of the nervous system: the central, and the peripheral nervous system. The nervous system as a whole is in charge of every part of our daily lives. Breathing, blinking, reaching to grab your phone, these are all motions brought on by our nervous system. Sensory nerves are the group of nerves responsible for gathering information from the body, and passing it along to the spinal cord which sends that message to the brain. The brain will then combine the message, and produce a response. The spinal cord acts as a superhighway of messages. It’s made up of a collection of nerves that go up and down the spine sending messages back and forth to the brain. The brain is composed of three sections: the hindbrain, the midbrain, and the forebrain. The hindbrain includes the cerebellum, the ponds, and the medulla. The midbrain includes the tegmentum and the tectum. Lastly, the forebrain includes the cerebrum, the thalamus, and the hypothalamus. The hindbrain is an area of the brain that coordinates information coming in and out of the spinal cord. It controls the most basic functions of life such as respiration, and our motor skills. There are three structures that make up the hindbrain: the medulla, the cerebellum, and the pons. The medulla is located just above the spinal...
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...Thousands of neurotransmitters rush through the axon terminal, flying into the millimeter-long chasm before meeting the beckoning dendrites of the new neuron. It is the brain’s most beautiful gift: the “synaptic kiss” I am many things—an advocate, a researcher, the owner of an expansive collection of dog-eared classics. I can cook minute rice in thirty seconds and spew countless statistics on the dangers of secondhand smoke. Yet, after all my tobacco control work, the field of science had thus far failed to satiate my intellectual voracity. That was, until the first semester of my senior year, as my psychology class tackled the Goliath that was the brain unit. As we pieced together the different segments of neural networks and glial cells, Mrs. Hobbs taught us how neurotransmitters bind to their receptor sites A miraculous journey dubbed the “synaptic kiss”. Something about that euphemism stimulated me, brought me to the forefront....
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...Psychology 220: Brain and Behavior: The brain’s unique behavior Brain and Behavior JoAnn Rissman 08/20/2012 Abstract “Ouch! That’s really hot!” Forcing your brain to speak to your body is one simple example of how the brain is to human behavior. “Ouch! Don’t touch that!” This is what is your brain is registering as you touch a hot surface. Your brain is sending a message to your hand that is touching the extremely hot surface, saying “pull away now”. The brain is a wonderful machine that controls all of the body’s functions, the one’s you think about and the one’s you don’t. We are going to take a brief look into these functions and how they benefit ourselves and our lives. Central Nervous System (CNS) There are two parts to the CNS, the brain and the spinal cord. The Brain The brain is the central hub or better known as the main computer. The brain is the main controller of everything, and the storage of our memories, including the good and bad, our feelings, and who we are as a person. Without the brain we would be a sack of skin, bones, blood and water, with no function(s) or use. The Spinal Cord As the brain controls what we do, the spinal cord communicates what to do. The messages travel up and down the spinal cord like a great highway to and from the brain. With points along the spinal column to correspond to the brains desired reaction. Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) Here this system uses the CNS to communicate and control all aspects of the...
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...BNCS311 INTRODUCTION TO BRAIN AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES Electroencephalography (EEG) Brain Imaging: Function, Pros and Cons Submit To: Prof. Dr. Christian Wallraven Cognitive Systems Lab Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering wallraven@korea.ac.kr Done by: Dk Norhaziratulbillah Pg Hj Hashim 2015951229 Visiting Student Program (VSP) Spring 2015 One of the most complex systems that researchers are continuously demand to understand is the human brain. The human brain consists of billions of nerve cells or neurons connected via electrical and chemical activities (NeuroPro). In the early 20th century, German physiologist and psychiatrist named Hans Berger was the first to record these electrical activities in the brain and this was the birth of the electroencephalography (EEG) (Collura, 1993). The EEG is a brain imaging technique used to evaluate and diagnose brain disorders that affect brain activity for example, epilepsy, brain’s lesions, Alzheimer's disease, certain psychoses and a sleep disorder (Johns Hopkins Medicine). Berger’s first application of EEG was on the 6th July 1924 in a neurosurgical operation of the 17 years old boy who suffered from brain tumor (Collura, 1993). Since then, this technique had been increasingly practiced in many research as it can be seen that the EEG was mentioned in 3,950 research papers in 2000, 5,330 and 10,600 in 2005 and 2010 respectively. The basic components of the EEG machine include electrodes with conductive media...
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...Biopsychology The brain is the control centre for the body and it sits in the skull at the top of the spinal chord. The brain is so complex that doctors and scientists still don’t know what some parts do. The brain is made up of different sections consisting of the frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes. Memory Part of the brain that is responsible for memory is also known as the hippocampus, it is located within the temporal lobes, adjacent to the amygdale. The hippocampus is involved in memory forming, organizing and storing information. It is particularly important in storing new memories and connecting emotions and senses, such as smell and sound to, memories. A case study of H.M. (1953) highlights how important the function of the hippocampus is. H.M. was a man who suffered from epilepsy who had surgery to remove the hippocampus to prevent his severe symptoms. After his operation he suffered from major memory loss, which then went on to cause an inability to transfer new information into his long term memory. This resulted in the realisation that the removal of the hippocampus can have detrimental effects on the brains memory. Language and speech The Boca’s area is one of the main areas of the brain which is responsible for producing language. It is located in the lower portion of the left frontal lobe and was discovered by French neurosurgeon Paul Broca .He realised that people who had language difficulties often had damage to this area of the brain. This part of...
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...Altered State of Consciousness Chuck Detwiler Grand Canyon University General Psychology PSY-102 February 06, 2014 Altered State of Consciousness There are multiple ways of obtaining an altered state consciousness, some of them are rather harmless and some of them can be extremely risky and even fatal. There are multiple reasons why a person wishes to achieve these altered states, some for relaxation and relief of stress and yet others simply to experience a euphoria. Hypnosis and Meditation Hypnosis and meditation are a less harmful form of altered consciousness and do not normally involve the use of any drugs to induce this state. In hypnosis, the practice is put in to a trance-like state where they become susceptible to suggestions. In this level of consciousness they actually appear to be asleep. This may be one reason why there is some controversy over whether or not hypnosis is a level of consciousness that is different normal waking consciousness. A more detailed analysis of the brainwave activity may prove useful in determining the true level of consciousness a person is at when they are hypnotized. Meditation is another form of trance-like consciousness that is a learned technique that allows you to relax your body and gain greater control over involuntary aspects of brain activity. As a person becomes more skilled in meditation thru practice, they will be able to achieve greater control over areas such as breathing, heartbeat and even blood pressure...
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...follow all four principles to be considered ethical. Copy and paste your answer only for each case to the student comments section of 1.07 and submit for grading. It is not enough to just approve or deny, you must also Case 1: The Psychology Department is requesting permission from your committee to use 10 rats per semester for demonstrations in a physiological psychology class. The students will work in groups of three: each group will be given a rat. The students will first perform surgery on the rats. Each animal with be anesthetized. Following standard surgical procedures, an incision will be made in the scalp and two holes drilled in the animal's skull. Electrodes will be lowered into the brain to create lesions on each side. The animals will then be allowed to recover. Several weeks later, the effects of destroying this part of the animal's brain will be tested in a shuttle avoidance task in which animals will learn when to cross over an electrified grid. The instructor admits the procedure is a common demonstration and that no new information will be gained from the experiment. She argues, however, that students taking a course in psychology must have the opportunity to engage in small animal surgery to see firsthand the effects of brain legions. Your response: Since there can be no potential positive results from harming a small animal and you are using it for your own personal benefits, I would...
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...psychological life ... have as their biological bases the activity of neuronal systems in the brain’ (p.259). Does this mean that psychological life can be reduced to neuronal activity? Illustrate your answer with examples from Chapter 4, ‘Biological psychology’, from Book 1, mapping psychology The case study of Phineas Gage referred as being within the subject of Biological Psychology. As we human beings are a “biological species”, we need to be able to understand our biological make-up, to further study the Physiological field, only once we can fully understand the different part of our bodies, including the brain can we then apply Psychological research methods to study & develop understanding . Science constantly evolves to study and gain understanding, which then can lead to data interpretation methods like Psychological .The Theorist Crick,-: His belief and scientific approach called “Reductionism” (Mapping Psychology, Pg 230) Suggests that “Potentially all psychological events and experiences can fully and only explained in terms of the activity within the components of the brain”. Other Scientists do however argue that there should be a much broader view taken, and other views et should be considered.(Bolton and Hill, 1996, Stevens, 1996: Toates, 2001) These other theorists, and studies are suggested (Mapping Psychology, Pg 230) as having equally possible explanations of how our brains components affect our actions and how we are. Phineas Gage, the study and interpretation...
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...What event kicked off the field of psychology as we know it? WWII * Who were some key players in the field? * What “schools” of psychology are they associated with? Introspection, functionalism, structuralism, humanists * What were their major accomplishments? * Why didn’t some of these schools of thought (e.g., structuralism) stick around longer? * What is the definition of psychology? The science and behavior of mental process * What is the Nature-Nurture question, and what is the currently accepted view on this issue? To what extent are our traits already set in place at birth (our “nature”) and to what extent do our traits develop in response to our environment/experience (our “nurture”) We are born with traits and develop traits from our environments * What is the biopsychosocial model of analysis? What are examples of factors that make up each of the 3 parts? Biology (genes, brain, neuro-transmitters, survival, refluxes, sensations) Psychology (thoughts, emotions, moods, choices, behaviors, traits, motivations, knowledge, perceptions) and Environment (social influences, culture, education, relationships) * What are some of the different perspectives within psychology? How might each interpret a clinical question (e.g., anxiety)? Biological influences: natural selection of adaptive traits, hormonal influences Social-cultural influences: presence of others, cultural, societal and family expectations...
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...Psychology 111: Introduction to Neuroscience Course Paper Glia and Alzheimer’s disease Glial cells (also known as neuroglia, or simply glia) are small non-neuronal cells that have numerous functions to maintain a healthy brain. When Rudolf Virchow founded glial cells in 1856, glia was thought to be the glue, which held the nervous system together. (Kalat, 2013) This is not the case. In fact, glial cells are essential to support brain function. “Morphofunctional changes resulting from the plasticity of all the glial cell types parallel the plastic neuronal changes that optimize the functionality of neuronal circuits. Moreover, neuroglia possesses the ability to adopt a reactive status (gliosis) in which, generally, new functions arise to improve and restore if needed the neural functionality.” (Álvarez, M. I., Merino, J. J, Rodríguez, J. J, Toledano, A. & Toledano-Díaz, A., 2015) Due to these features, neuroglia cells can playa crucial role in Alzheimer’s disease. The most common forms of glia are Astrocytes, Oligodendrocytes, Schwann cells, and Microglia. The most abundant type of glial cells in the brain is the star-shaped astrocytes. Astrocytes have multiple functions that include “regulating pH, storing and releasing glucose, detoxification, modifying the immune response, modulating synaptic activity, inactivating neurotransmitters, and inducing and maintaining the blood brain barrier.” (Freet, August 28, 2015) Oligodendrocytes are “located in the brain and the spinal...
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...the Brain | AbstractIn this paper I will talking about how a person can refrain using drugs. And how drugs can affect the human brain structures and the functions. Jennifer Shumate PSY 355 | Motivation and the Brain | AbstractIn this paper I will talking about how a person can refrain using drugs. And how drugs can affect the human brain structures and the functions. Jennifer Shumate PSY 355 | Motivation and the Brain Jennifer Shumate PSY/355 June 22, 2015 Christopher Crimson Motivation and the Brain Introduction When I comes to refraining from using illegal drugs, smoking and or alcohol it can be a hard task for anyone. But motivation is the key to get things done. Even if it is refraining from using illegal drugs or remaining in treatment to stay off the illegal drugs. Motivation is what is required to complete the basic tasks to be able to keep the body strong and from any kind of destruction. However this also consist of the brain. Though out my paper, we will being viewing the brain assemblies and the purposes that is affected when someone is using drugs. We will also be looking at the extrinsic and intrinsic factors that can help a person refrain from drug use, and we will also be looking at the genetic and environmental issues that it take to be able to get treatment. Brain structures and Functions Neuroscience and psychology has...
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...Sensory Adaptation Experiments Task 1 Experiment 1: The sandpaper felt very coarse after rubbing my index fingers on it for the first time. I rated the coarseness at 6. The sandpaper feels less coarse after allowing my fingers to rest for two minutes and I rated the coarseness at 3. Experiment 2: The sugar water became less sweet after swishing it around my mouth for several seconds. The taste of the fresh water surprised me because it tasted salty. Experiment 3: I dipped my right hand in cold water and my left hand in hot water. At first the water in the bowl 1 felt very hot while the water in bowl 2 felt very cold. After a few seconds, the water temperatures felt normal. When I dipped my hands in the lukewarm water, I felt like I had dipped my right hand in hot water and my left hand in cold water. Task 2 I chose three experiments to demonstrate the concept of sensory adaptation. In the first experiment, I rubbed my index fingers over sandpaper for several times and rated its coarseness on a scale of 1-7. I allowed my fingers to rest for two minutes before rubbing them on the same sandpaper for the second time. The first time I rubbed the sandpaper, it felt very coarse, and I rated its coarseness at 6. However, the sandpaper felt less coarse the second time, and I rated its coarseness at 3. In the second experiment, I sipped sugar water and swished it in my mouth for several seconds before disposing it. The sugar water tasted less sweet as I swished it in my mouth...
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...A Tour of the Brain Michelle Luman Rasmussen College Author’s Note: This paper is being submitted on April 27, 2013, for Dana Greiner’s G148/PSY1012 Section 04 General Psychology course. The brain is a marvelous, yet fragile thing. It keeps us going, it takes care of us. If it wasn’t for the brain we would not be who we are today. On this tour we will cover the span of two hemispheres, three major parts of the brain and everything in between. So buckle up and follow along as we follow the intense roadmap of the human brain. As we travel up the spinal cord and jump over to the brainstem, you can see that this part of the brain helps to regulate your reflexes, and controls your heart and lungs. Thanks to this special part of your brain, your doctor can check your reflexes by lightly tapping sensitive areas of your body like your knee, wrist and elbow to make sure you are responding correctly. As long as your brainstem is intact, this is a test you will always pass! Have you ever wondered why you become aroused? Yes it helps to have a partner you are attracted to, but thanks to that part up there, the reticular formation, you are able to become physically and mentally aroused. The reticular formation runs through your brainstem and connects to your spinal cord; it helps to screen information as you receive it. You may ask, “What is wrapped around the reticular formation?” Well, that would be your medulla, thanks to her you are able to breathe and have your heart beat...
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