...Aditi Shankardass Dr. Shankardass studies the brain. She says 1 and 6 children have a developmental disorder. This is a growing problem in the United States. The most important factor is that many of these children are diagnosed only by symptoms and not by analyzing the brain. Dr. Shankardass says, “It seemed so intuitive to me to diagnose and treat a brain disorder accurately it would be necessary to look at the brain directly.” Dr. Shankardass also says, “Looking at behavior alone can miss a vital piece of the puzzle and provide an incomplete or a misleading picture of the child’s problems.” She came across a team at Harvard that took this evidence and came up with a groundbreaking technology. They use an EEG or electric activity in real time allowing them to watch the brain as it performs various functions and detect slight abnormality in any of their functions. Then they use a program called brain electrical activity mapping which triangulates the source of that abnormality in the brain. Then another program is used called statistic probability mapping which performs mathematical calculations to determine if any of these abnormalities are significant allowing them to provide a much more accurate neurological diagnosis. Dr. Shankardass became the head of neurophysiology for the clinical arm of the team and used this technology for helping children with brain disorders. She had a 7yr. old boy named Justin that came to her clinic with severe Autism. Justin’s mind would...
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...expression of ''Radiant Thinking'' which is a natural function of the human mind (Tony and Barry Buzan 993). It is powerful graphic techniques which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain. The mind map can be applied to every aspect of life where improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance. It has four essential characteristics. They are the subjects of attention crystallized in a central image, the mind themes of the subject radiate from the central image as branchers, and branches comprise the key word printed on associated line. Topics of lesser importance are also represented as branches attached to higher level branches and the branches from a connected nodal structure. Mind map then can be enhanced and enriched with colors, pictures, codes and dimension to add interest, beauty and individuality. These will in turn aid creativity, memory and specially the recall of information. Tony Buzan in his book mind maps for kids (2003) said that mind maps are the tool of choice to help us to get our memory tuned. Mind maps work so well because they work with two sections of our memory, which are the imagination and association. He said that mind mapping is a special form of note-taking and planning that work with your brain to make it easier for you to remember things. We must use colors and images to help get our imagination whirring and the way we draw them with words or images resting on connecting, curvy lines or branches...
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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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...Visual perception is the interpretation of the visual world by processing the information transmitted by visual light, transducing the information into a medium the brain can understand. Understanding the mechanisms behind visual perception is important in understanding incidences when visual perception goes wrong. Receptive fields are one mechanism to understand how the brain processes the visual world. A receptive field is a discrete area of visual space that elicits a response in a specific neuron (Allman et al, 1985), and hence stimulation in a receptive field should result in activity in its associated cell. Receptive fields display precise organisation and structure that differs in complexity with progression through the visual system,...
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...Hannah, of Wake Forest University in the United States, said: 'Once we have confirmed how the brain works in these leaders, we can create an 'expert' profile. 'This profile can help us develop brain training methods to enhance brain functioning in leaders, such as the neurofeedback techniques that have been successfully used with elite athletes, concert musicians and financial traders.' The discovery could revolutionise how organisations assess and develop leaders, with brain scans being used to identify those with the 'leadership gene' The discovery could revolutionise how organisations assess and develop leaders, with brain scans being used to identify those with the 'leadership gene' Scans of 103 volunteers from the US Military Academy at West Point, ranging in rank from officer cadet to major, found neural networks in the frontal and prefrontal lobes of those deemed 'leaders' were different from the rest. These areas of the brain are associated with self-regulation, decision making and memory. The study was published in the American Psychological Association's Journal of Applied Psychology. The officers, 87 of whom were men, were defined as being more psychologically complex if they had a more diverse sense of their own abilities and accomplishments as leaders. In addition to a series of questions, and physical and mental tests, half underwent 'brain mapping' - a quantitative electroencephalography scan. Using electrodes placed on 19 different locations...
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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 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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...unconsciously but do not understand we are using it. Some researchers in the scientific community believe that this unconscious act is controlled in the area of the brain known as the pre-frontal cortex (PFC). The information that follows is an attempt to explain what top-down process is, explain the pre-frontal cortex and will discuss why researchers believe the two are connected. Top-Down Process In simple terms top-down process could be described as large to small thinking. Alleydog.com defines top-down process as: “large chink” processing and states that we form perceptions (or focus attention) by starting with the larger concept or idea (it can even be the concept or idea of an object) and then working our way down to the finer details or that concept or idea (n.d.). This definition leads to the question of where this processing could be taking place. Reasoning leads us to believe that top-down processing occurs in the prefrontal cortex. Prefrontal Cortex According to Miller and Cohen, the prefrontal cortex, “is a collection of interconnected neocortical areas that sends and receives projections from virtually all the cortical sensory systems, motor systems and many subcortical structures” (p. 168, 2001). The prefrontal cortex is responsible processing large amounts of information. This area of the brain is used without instruction from subjects and processes information at speeds that we cannot comprehend. Miller and Cohen (2001) state that: The prefrontal cortex...
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...Dayton Street, WI 53706, USA c W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA d Department of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA e Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA f Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Canada b Received 5 October 2004; revised 22 November 2004; accepted 3 December 2004 Available online 10 March 2005 We present a novel data smoothing and analysis framework for cortical thickness data defined on the brain cortical manifold. Gaussian kernel smoothing, which weights neighboring observations according to their 3D Euclidean distance, has been widely used in 3D brain images to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. When the observations lie on a convoluted brain surface, however, it is more natural to assign the weights based on the geodesic distance along the surface. We therefore develop a framework for geodesic distance-based kernel smoothing and statistical analysis on the cortical manifolds. As an illustration, we apply our methods in detecting the regions of abnormal cortical thickness in 16 high functioning autistic children via random field based multiple comparison correction that utilizes the new smoothing technique. D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Cortical thickness; Autism; Brain; Heat kernel;...
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...Development of the social brain during adolescence Sarah-Jayne Blakemore Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK Adolescence is usually defined as the period of psychological and social transition between childhood and adulthood. The beginning of adolescence, around the onset of puberty, is characterized by large hormonal and physical changes. The transition from childhood to adulthood is also characterized by psychological changes in terms of identity, self-consciousness, and cognitive flexibility. In the past decade, it has been demonstrated that various regions of the human brain undergo development during adolescence and beyond. Some of the brain regions that undergo particularly protracted development are involved in social cognitive function in adults. In the first section of this paper, I briefly describe evidence for a circumscribed network of brain regions involved in understanding other people. Next, I describe evidence that some of these brain regions undergo structural development during adolescence. Finally, I discuss recent studies that have investigated social cognitive development during adolescence. The first time Uta Frith made an impression on me was when I was 15. That year I was given a copy of her book Autism: Explaining the Enigma (U. Frith, 1989), which had recently been published. I knew nothing about autism and found Uta’s book captivating. It inspired me to write to its author and ask if I could...
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...Motor Resonance Humans are adapted to living in social groups with complex patterns of social interactions. Understanding the meaning of other people’s behavior is an essential aspect of human communication, and a large amount of our daily life is spent watching and interpreting the actions of others (Barresi & Moore, 1996). The neural mechanism underlying our ability to represent others’ goals by the mere observation of their motor actions has been the target of considerable research. Behavioral experiments had suggested that the system for generating and representing actions is also used in the perception of actions (Knoblich & Prinz, 2001). This approach was strengthened by the discovery of “mirror” neurons in the macaque monkey brain, a class of neurons found in the parietal and the premotor cortex. They were seen to discharge not only when the monkey performed an action but also when the monkey was observing an experimenter or another monkey performing the same action (di Pellegrino, Fadiga, Fogassi, Gallese, & Rizzolatti, 1992). Similarly, neuroimaging studies in humans have revealed parietal (PAR) and premotor (PM) activations both during execution and action observation, suggesting that action observation automatically triggers action representations (Grèzes, Armony, Rowe, & Passingham, 2003). The superior temporal sulcus (STS), involved in the perception of...
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...Sensation & Perception * Sensation is the detection of physical energy from the environment which we encode as neural signals. * Perception is when we organize and interpret our sensations * The beginning level of sensory analysis is also known as bottom- up processing * Top-down processing is the information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when someone constructs perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations. * Bottom up processing is sensory analysis that begins at the entry level, with information flowing from the sensory analysis that begins at the entry level with information flowing from the sensory receptors to the brain * Psychophysics is the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them. * Absolute threshold is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time Sensory Adaptation * Sensory Adaptation- lowered sensitivity due to constant exposure from stimulus. For example, when you go into someone’s house you notice an odor…but this only lasts for a little while because sensory adaptation allows you to focus your attention on changing environment. * This adaptation allows the person to focus on informative changes, leaving out uninformative constant stimulations. Vision * Transduction refers to Sensory energy being convert (transformed) into neural energy/impulses...
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...products (Lanni et al., 2008). There are other types of cognitive enhancers, such as electrical brain stimulation and psychotropic drugs, which will not be discussed in this paper. Many of the medications used by healthy individuals to enhance cognitive abilities were designed for other purposes, specially treating some traits of mental illnesses....
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...Tiesha Cooper Trinity Christian College Basic Research Skills Dr. King Lucid Dreaming Holzinger (2009), suggests that dreams have been a major importance to cultures throughout the ages. Native Americans viewed dreams as portals to the spirit world, paths to prophecy and quests. A common phenomenon states, there is an experience in which one is aware that one is dreaming and is able to control what happens in the dream. This experience is known as lucid dreaming. Aristotle may have been the first to write about lucid dreaming, although he did not have a term for it (Holzinger B. , 2009). And some Tibetan Buddhists have been practicing something like lucid dreaming for a long time. In Tibetan Buddhism, it was practiced as a form of yoga, called dream yoga, from the eighth century. The goal of dream yoga is to examine your consciousness and bring you to a constant state of awareness. A big part of the belief system of Buddhism is recognizing the world for what it is, free from deception. A lucid dreamer recognizes the dream world for what it is, a dream (Holzinger B. , 2009). A Dutch psychiatrist named Frederik van Eeden came up with the term for lucid dreams in 1913. He claimed that there are nine well-defined types of dreams in all, including ordinary, symbolic and vivid dreams. He recorded several of his own lucid dreams, and his thoughts during them and upon awakening. He remarked that they often involved...
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...Activity 1 As a child with hashimoto’s thyroiditis my body’s development is slower than others. But I do not use my condition as an excuse not to work as hard as everyone else. One of the methods that I have used in the past was mind-mapping because I went through a stage where I felt as if mind maps was a reflection of my brain. It was all over the show and it was really messy. I also tried physical studying. I would use diagrams and physical objects such as cue cards to help me study. I found it difficult to adapt to certain study methods and it got frustrating. In actual fact I became despondent always thinking I won’t be able to find the proper study method. I then tried studying with music. This method also failed as I am someone who gets distracted easily. I moved on and tried studying everything out of my workbook in a parrot fashion...
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