Narcolepsy

http://www.motifake.com/narcolepsy-demotivational-poster-59609.html

I feel really tired at many parts of the day. Imagine if every time we got tired we fall down asleep no matter where we are. Well this actually happens to some people who suffer from a disease called Narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is the neurological disorder that affects the control of sleep and wakefulness. They are sudden sleep attacks at any given moment. It usually develops in ages of 15 to 20. We saw a video about a man called Mohammed who has have to deal with narcolepsy through most of his life. He has up to 60 sleep attacks every day and never knows when or well he will have one. How dangerous is that? You could be in the middle of the street and suddenly just collapse down. That’s why he must always be using protection. Also, his wife is always taking care of him, she must love very much. However, Mohammed has gotten used to it, you can imagine all the scars and bumps he must have though. Regardless of his psychological disorder he still tries to live a normal life. It is interesting to see that he can be doing chores like washing dishes fall asleep and keep on doing it. Cases of Narcolepsy are very rare and there is people Muhammad who must deal with it.

Sleep and Dreams

http://mwmedular83-lanzarote.blogspot.com/

I’ve always wondered if dreams actually mean something. Why do we dream? Every night we dream something though sometimes we may not remember it. Dreams help us organize information in our mind. Such is the influence dreams have on human beings that they have been responsible for various Nobel prices as many inventors have found discoveries while sleeping. In dreams we also explore aspects of our daily life we not think about that much when we are conscious. I never understood the point of having nightmares and it turns out that though they may be unpleasant they are actually very helpful. We may dream for example of a close person dying. We know that it will eventually happen and our mind Is trying to prepare us for when it does. Researchers have actually found out that most of our dreams are nightmares. There are many stages we go through when sleeping and we dream in all of them but where we dream more intensely is in R.E.M. In this stage our muscles are paralyzed because if not we would be sleepwalking and acting out our dreams. I found really interesting that there are methods to actually make you control your dreams and decide what you want to dream. As powerful as the mind is it can be possible, I would like to try it sometime. Let’s see what I dream about tonight..

Sensory Deprivation

http://www.gearfuse.com/sensory-modding-is-the-new-black/

How would it feel like to be blind, worse yet, how would it feel to have no sense what so ever? This is called sensory deprivation. This is actually used in wars with prisoners as it is a very efficient method of torture.  There was recently an experiment to examine the effects sensory deprivation has on people. Six people volunteered to spend 48 hours inside an isolated room on their own, not being able to interact with anyone. Though it seems horrible, I think that I would’ve handled it; I would probably sing out loud, talk to myself or just fall asleep that whole time like a woman did.  People reacted in different ways, some just remained asleep and others went insane. Before the volunteers were sent to the rooms their mental abilities were tested, everyone did ok however after spending 48 hours isolated they didn’t do so well. They could not answer questions correctly after hearing a story. They would be asked about something which never happened in the story and still would answer it did happen. We could also see how after being deprived of our senses we tend believe anything they tell us. This is used with prisoners so they give information or ally to the enemy. It was interesting to see how happy they were when they got out of there.

Mental Abilities: Genius, Savant and Autism

 1. Explain in detail what "savant syndrome" means.

Savants are particular types of persons who have certain mental or physical disabilities but have some incredible talents being brilliant in a certain area. In 1887, he coined the term "idiot savant" - meaning low intelligence, and from the French, savoir, knowing or wise, to describe someone who had "extraordinary memory but with a great defect in reasoning power." This term is now little used because of its inappropriate connotations, and the term savant syndrome has now been more or less adopted. Something that almost all savants have in common is a prodigious memory of a special type. Also, many savants are found to have incredible artistic or musical abilities. A person with Savant syndrome understands a specific ability or subject to a near perfect level, but has other impaired. Savant-like skills may be in everyone and have actually been activated in people by directing low-frequency magnetic pulses into the brain's left hemisphere, which is thought to deactivate this dominant region (in at least 90% of right-handed people) and allow the less dominant right hemisphere to take over, allowing for processing of savant-like tasks.

http://www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/drhiles/Savant%20Syndrome.htm

2. What does genius mean?  Explain the difference between genius and savant.

 A genius is someone who is exceptionally intelligent, who has much creativity to invent, discover or create something new within their field of interest instead of just reciting existing information.  Most of them analyze the work of other great minds and use that information to make new discoveries. Still there are self-taught geniuses often explore information in unexpected or innovative ways. Genius are different from savants as they create and can be talented in many different areas while savants just hold on information and are good in one area.

http://people.howstuffworks.com/genius3.htm

 3. What is a stroke and how could it affect your mental functioning?

 A stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel or artery, or when a blood vessel breaks and interrupts blood flow to an and bleeding occurs into an area of the brain. It will affect us depending on which area of the brain is damaged losing any ability that is provided by that part. For example, the cerebellum controls much of our balance and coordination. A stroke that takes place in the cerebellum can cause abnormal reflexes of the head and torso, coordination and balance problems, dizziness, nausea and vomiting.

http://brainfoundation.org.au/a-z-of-disorders/107-stroke

4. What is a functional MRI and how does it help us understand brain activity?

 Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive medical test that helps physicians diagnose and treat medical conditions. MRI uses a powerful magnetic field, radio frequency pulses and a computer to produce detailed pictures of organs, soft tissues, bone and virtually all other internal body structures. The images are then analyzed on a computer monitor. Detailed MR images allow physicians to examine various parts of the body better and determine the presence of certain diseases. MRI is a relatively new procedure that uses MR imaging to measure minute metabolic changes that take place in an active part of the brain. Some common uses of MRI are to look at the brain’s anatomy, determine which parts of the brain are responsible for certain functions, and evaluate the causes and effects of traumas or strokes.

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=fmribrain

5. What is the corpus Callosum and what role does it play in your brain's activity?

 The Corpus Callosum connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and is responsible for most of the communication between the two. It is composed of white matter, that is, myelinated nerve cells, or axons, whose primary function is to connect grey areas together with neural impulses.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-corpus-callosum.htm

6. What is epilepsy and how might it affect your brain's abilities?

 Epilepsy is a brain disorder that causes people to have recurring seizures. The seizures happen when clusters of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain send out the wrong signals. People may have strange sensations and emotions or behave strangely. They may have violent muscle spasms or lose consciousness. Epilepsy has many possible causes, including illness, brain injury and abnormal brain development. In many cases, the cause is unknown.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/epilepsy.html

7. What is autism?

 Autism is a moderately rare condition caused by a complex developmental disability that mostly appears during the first three years of life. It is a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the developing brain, resulting sometimes in severe communicative, social and cognitive deficits. It is estimated autism occurs as 1 in 500 individuals, and is four times more prevalent in boys than girls. It has been concluded that autism does not have any relation with any demographic features, such as economic, class, racial, ethnic, etc. 

http://www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/drhiles/Savant%20Syndrome.htm

 8. What is Asperger's Syndrome?

Asperger syndrome  is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and it is distinguished by a greater or lesser degree of impairment in language and communication skills and repetitive or restraining patterns of thought and behavior. Children with AS differ from children with autism as they retain their early language skills. The most characteristic symptom of AS is a child’s obsessive interest in just a single object or topic excluding any other.  Children with AS want to know everything about their topic of interest. When having conversations with others they won’t talk about anything else.  They present high levels of vocabulary, and formal speech patterns.

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/asperger/asperger.htm

Images:

http://www.nlqb.net/2009/06/kim-peek-y-el-sindrome-del-savant.html

http://horthy66.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/aniversario-del-natalicio-de-ludwig-van-beethoven/

http://www.germansabogal.com/?p=3230

Synesthesia

Synesthesia

Synesthesia when real information of one sense is mixed with the perception of another sense. This is involuntary and this additional perception is also regarded by the synesthesia as real, often outside the body, instead of imagined in the mind's eye. Its reality and vividness are what make synesthesia so interesting in its violation of conventional perception. Some form of Synesthesia occurs in roughly 1 in 200 individuals.

http://web.mit.edu/synesthesia/www/

Grapheme-color synesthesia

Grapheme-color synesthetes perceive particular colors when seeing a letter, word or number (grapheme).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19302164

 Ordinal-linguistic personification

Oral linguistic personification is a variant of synesthesia in which the person ties numbers or words with a certain personality. “5 was a neutral “yes man”. 6 was always a good handsome guy. 7 was a pretty female, I always hated the number 8, 9 was a good guy who liked 8 but 8 liked 6. In my mind, 6 and 7 always went together.”

http://theparfaitprincey.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/ordinal-linguistic-personification/

Number-form Synesthesia

A number form is a mental map of numbers, which automatically and involuntarily appears whenever someone who experiences number-forms thinks of numbers. studies have shown that number-form synesthetes are faster to say which of two numbers is larger when the numbers are arranged in a manner consistent with their number-form, suggesting that number forms are automatically evoked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_form

Sound-color Synesthesia

Sound - color synesthesia is  voice, music, and assorted environmental sounds such as clattering dishes or dog barks trigger color and simple shapes that arise, move around, and then fade when the sound stimulus ends. It is said these people may see higher tones in lighter colors and lower tones in darker colors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

Lexical-gustatory Synesthesia

This is a case of Synesthesia in which when people associate words with a certain taste or flavor. According to James Wannerton, "Whenever I hear, read, or articulate words or word sounds, I experience an immediate and involuntary taste sensation on my tongue. These very specific taste associations never change and have remained the same for as long as I can remember." researchers have found that the Synesthetic associations are constrained by early food experiences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical-gustatory_synesthesia

Images: 

http://wearcam.org/synesthesia/synesthesia.html

http://www.manicvision.com/synethesia.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38944019@N06/4821370830/

http://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=23504

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsuler/2476450293/

http://drgateau.com/?p=1644

Genius by Accident

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1043692/Weve-got-wires-crossed-The-bizarre-stories-people-brains-rewired-themselves.html

 We have seen that genius can be born or made but it may happen by accident too. How can someone become a genius in a certain area late in his life after having a stroke or a severe injury? This happens because when a part of our brain is damaged we exploit other parts in our brain we didn’t use that much before. When our left hemisphere is damaged for example we develop our right brain. This is what happens to savants who van be genius in a certain area but lack of other abilities like social skills. We could see the example of Tommy McHugh who after suffering a stroke became obsessed with painting something he had never done before. There is another guy who can memorize the day of any specific date, since childhood however he was diagnosed with autism. They also mentioned a guy who can play a song after hearing it once! I would sure like to have that ability. It is truly amazing what all these savants can do but I guess I wouldn’t quite like to become one by accident, I’m ok the way I am. Still if someday it happens… I hope I get the ability to play song after hearing once! That would be sweet! 

Make Me A Genius

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2009_07_04_archive.html

            Genius can be made. Susan Polgar is the perfect example of this. Since a very early age her father taught her to play chess. He made this as an experiment to prove children could become experts in certain area if trained properly. Susan became one of the best chess players in the world beating many prestigious chess players, when chess was thought to be dominated by men. Something very interesting they mentioned in the video was how practice helps you develop instinct which is how we are able to quickly respond almost without thinking based on past experiences. This is how Susan can play so well. In the video they also talked about memory and featured a waiter called Vicente Santino who can remember different orders without writing them down. He uses chinking which many of use to memorize things like a phone number for example. I think that Susan Polgar shows that if your dedicated and determined you can become a genius in any field.

Born Genius

www.zimbio.com/pictures/K4mLlSBbdxd/San+Remo+Festival+della+Canzione+Italiana/8ELBAzI7w2h/Marc+Yu

Wow! That kid Marc Yu is amazing! I wish I could play piano that well, as a musician I must say it is really fascinating to see this and as him there many other children who can do amazing things like this. It’s evident to me that in these cases some children are born with something extra, it just comes naturally. The brain structure of these kids is different. However Marc’s mother contributed to this as she played classical music when she was pregnant and he put him piano lessons since he was 3 years old. We can see then that nurture is an important factor. Something that highlights this is the girl in the video who was kept inside a room all alone by her father and was not able to interact with anyone. She was never able to communicate properly, not even walk. This proves the theory of use it or lose it, which means that if we don’t use parts of our brain they will no longer be there. Stimulus is essential for a baby. They also showed in the video how  a kid can have a higher IQ and be more successful in life when an early education is given to them. 

Nature Vs. Nurture: Homosexuality

http://www.kingdomagenda.org/?page_id=24

Homosexuality for some reason has always been one of the most controversial topics. So are you born gay or are you made gay? Many people are harsh on homosexuals as there is not one religion which accepts the idea of homosexuality. I must say I don’t consider its right, I have been taught It’s just not natural for people of the same sex However it may be reconsidered when you find out gay people genetically born like that. There has been a lot of research on this. One of the most studied cases is twins as they have identical genes. Regardless of this we have seen cases in which one of the twins is gay and the other is straight. In the video for example they showed two 10 year old boy twins. One had his room filled with action figures and airplanes while the other had dolls and pinkish stuff. This really shocked me, he even had nail polish on! This was called childhood gender nonconformity and abnormality on the childhood’s behavior not typical of his gender. This boy had show signs of it since he was 18 months old when he asked for a Barbie. As we can see since a very early age children can show signs of homosexuality which can lead to think it is genetic. However I believe that it depends on the way your raise, if the parents of that kid for example wouldn’t have given him the Barbie it could be a different story. One very interesting fact was that it is scientifically proven that  if a boy you have older brothers he is more prone to be gay and it only happens of he’s right handed. This video has convinced me genetics may determine your sexual orientation but I still think that nurture may have an influence on some people.

Mind of a Murderer

Next time you see a criminal don’t judge him and say he is purely evil, there might be a psychological explanation for his actions. Criminals are generally formed by their environments as we all develop in it as well which in their case may turn them mentally ill. Some violent criminals could have been exposed to violence very often when they were growing. They were most likely abused in certain ways. We can see the example of the man who killed his family in Kansas, his father abused of him and his brothers in their childhood. He loved his wife so intensely that it all turned into blind fury and hate. He was did that unconsciously without much premeditation. I think it is fair for these criminals who suffer of mental illness have less time in prison than criminals who actually premeditate their crimes with much intention. Some however don’t think it is fair, they think that criminals with mental illness should still be punished severely as that is no excuse for what they have done as other they say people that also have mental illness are not criminals. Yet criminals have different backgrounds that have a great impact on their decisions.  I think it does explain why they have acted in such an atrocious way; their frontal lobe being damaged will be a factor when making bad decisions. We as human beings are not born evil but our surroundings make us who we are. I don’t say criminals should be forgiven for having mental illness but I think that this explains their behavior.  Criminals are sometimes misunderstood and we point at them and see them as entirely evil.  Sometimes they can’t explain why they commit a crime; it’s just something they cannot control because of their sickness. It’s important to understand why some criminals act this way so it can be prevented from the beginning. 

Brain Damage

We think it will never happen to us but we never know. Brain damage could change completely who you are as a person. When we have brain damage due to an accident we may lose a part of our brain responsible for a specific function, losing that as well. It is very likely to for memory, speech, or any physical activity to be affected.  Those were really touching cases. These people forgot how to eat, how to do their work, or do chores. They had to reconstitute their life again. I felt sorry for them specially Brian but I think they are also very inspiring. They keep on with life trying to bring it together. Just think how we complain about everything not appreciating that we have all parts of our brain functioning properly. Brian for example cannot walk and can barely speak but that does not prevent him from being happy. He still loves his children and still has courage to fight against that adversity. Our will and determination is what really matters to overcome great challenges like this. I would not know what I would do if I ever get caught up in some of these situations but a thank God everyday alive.

Mind Reading

It is actually kind of scary how technology is moving forward so quickly. Nothing seems to be impossible to reach by scientists. Mind reading! Who would say this is now possible? So people are put into a brain scanner and are asked to think about a certain object. The interesting thing is that when you think about an object like a pencil you think of it in different places of the brain. You just don’t think pencil but how it looks, how to use it, when to use it, you could also think about any experiences you’ve had with one. The computer then locates the activated parts of the brain and will identify what the object is. This discovery could be used in trails for example. You could read someone else’s mind to see if he is guilty or not. I don’t think this is right however, I think it would be considered to testify against yourself. It’s invading your thoughts and privacy, I personally am not comfortable with this methods, it’s not very ethical. Its against our human rights and principles to do such thing. Soon this technology will end in the wrong hands and will be used for evil purposes.

The Teenage Brain

So, my frontal lobe has not yet completely developed. Finally I've found an excuse that I now can tell my parents everytime I mess up. It is true when they say teen years are the most difficult we will face in our lives, I truly hope so. This is the stage of our lives in which we are trying to find who we want to be and its not easy. So many things happening through our minds, so many questions and yet it seems like no one can understand us, not our parents, not even ourselves. Still we want to take all these decisions that are not the best.

Its interesting how in the video they said teenagers are like a baby again. That might be true because sometimes that is exactly like a feel. I wish I could just lie there doing nothing sleeping all day. Ah sleeping, such an important aspect in a teenagers life. They said in the video how we need at least nine hours a day of sleep. I’m lucky if a get at least 7 with all the activity I must get through in the day. Band, French classes, homework, etc.

So we are still not mature enough until our mid 20’s. I sometimes wish I could be independent and live by my own. Its funny how we think we are adults and try to make decisions on our own but as soon as there is something that much to handle we go running to our parents. Guess we still need them.