Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a disorder that affects the control of sleep and wakefulness. People with this disorder sleep excessively at day and have sudden sleep attacks. It is typically beginning is so at age 15-25 but it can happen to any age. Some symptoms include excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, and visual hallucinations and sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is a temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or waking up. Lasts about a few seconds to several minutes. People with Narcolepsy have very difficult life and can be very dangerous. They can fall asleep doing any type of activity at every time of the day. The video we saw in class tells us only one day of the life of a Narcolepsy called Mohammad. He lives in a constant fight to stay awake to be able for him to make different activities and tasks. He suffers form cataplexies and narcolepsy. He can have approximately about 60 sleeps attacks per day. This makes it very difficult to do normal tasks. Common activities such as walking and eating can be extremely dangerous to the people with this type of disorder. If he is left alone he can sleep risking himself to many different dangerous or even deaths.

Sleep and Dream

The brain needs to sleep to regenerate and while this process it dreams to reorganize data. The brain can shift into different stages when the person is asleep. The brain passes trough five different stages; these are called stage 1,2,3,4 and REM. In the REM period meaning rapid eye movement is where the brain does most of the dreaming. Scientist use people with REM disorder to help them understand this stage of sleep in the brain. These people brain does not turn off the connection of brain and muscle during their sleep making the act their dreams vividly. They have found that you could dream in any stage but REM is where the most vivid and real dreams are found. Scientists have also observed that REM dreams are typically more negative, the found that 3 out of every 4 dreams are negative. They have predicted this because the amygdule, the part that control emotions, is more active because the brain is more active as well. Deep sleep which is responsible by stages 3 and 4 help repair brain cell. REM sleep however organizes data or learns to act in a specific situation. The one who is responsible for the creation of dreams is the Parietal Lobe. Dreams are predicted to occur for many reasons. One is the remembering of thing we have seen or lived. Nightmares however also have their specific function; this is a form a survival. Nightmare help create situations and places that can be dangerous and it’s a drill or training of how to act. Traumatic events happen in the past can also be responsible for such dreams. Research concluded that lucid dreaming can be possible. Lucid dreaming is to become aware of the world while you are dreaming. This can be learned and can be a good training for you to become aware even when asleep.

Sensory Deprivation and It's Affect on the Brain

A very controversial experiment to test sensory deprivation was conducted using g regular normal people and depriving them for 48 hours in a bunk. They tested them for a series of areas in the brain and basic functions before they entered. Some tests were of memory, info processing, verbal fluency and subject. Stimulation is what helps and exercises the brain connections to improve the brain function. After 18 hours of the subjects inside they became to get disorientated and lost track of time. 24 hour through them started erupting upset behaviors. Their brain started to slow down as time passes with no stimulation and it starts to lose some brain connections. When they reach 30 hours they became pacing up and down their bunk. This is a natural response toward their deprivation which is a way for the body and brain to do something. As the clock ticks the subjects begin to struggle with getting distracted this results in the bran occupying itself with imagination. They start imaging and hallucinating things. These hallucinations are not only visual but they can also hear things. They do not control what they imagine but it is an immediate reaction of the brain from the deprivation. After 48 hours the experiment is complete and the subjects are released. They repeat the test given to at the beginning and the results decrease immensely. Their abilities are diminished and they have become much worse. When they go out they began appreciating more the little details around them. This experiments helped scientist observed the frangibility of the brain when humans are left truly alone.

Mental Abilities: Genius, Savant and Autism

1.Explain in detail what "savant syndrome" means.
-Savants are people who despite serious mental or physical disability have quite remarkable, and sometimes spectacular, talents. This is an exceedingly rare phenomena, although there are several well documented cases.( http://www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/drhiles/Savant%20Syndrome.htm)

2. What does genius mean? Explain the difference between genius and savant.
-someone who has exceptional intellectual ability and originality; brilliance: unusual mental ability, ace: someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field exceptional creative ability, a natural talent(wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn) the differences with savants and geniuses is that savants have a special ability but also has a disability or disorder while geniuses do not carry with their talents a disability in another area.

3. What is a stroke and how could it affect your mental functioning?
-Strokes happen when blood flow to your brain stops. Within minutes, brain cells begin to die. There are two kinds of stroke. The more common kind, called ischemic stroke, is caused by a blood clot that blocks or plugs a blood vessel in the brain. The other kind, called hemorrhagic stroke, is caused by a blood vessel that breaks and bleeds into the brain. (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/stroke.html ) Strokes can disabilities the affected area in the brain or the area that is not receiving oxygen. If a serious stroke it can lead to death.

4. What is a functional MRI and how does it help us understand brain activity?
-Functional MRI (fMRI) is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based neuroimaging technique which allows us to detect the brain areas which are involved in a task, a process or an emotion.( http://www.imagilys.com/functional-MRI-fMRI/)

5. What is the corpus callosum and what role does it play in your brain's activity?
- The corpus callosum is a huge bundle of nerve fibers found in mammalian brains. It connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and is responsible for most of the communication between the two. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-corpus-callosum.htm). This is responsible for the working together of the two hemispheres which allows you to perform task that require multiple functions.

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 disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism)

8. What is Asperger's Syndrome?
- Asperger syndrome or Asperger's syndrome or Asperger disorder is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome)

Synesthesia

1. Synesthesia: “a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization of a certain color.”(dictionary.com)

2. grapheme-color synesthesia: “is a form of synesthesia in which an individual's perception of numbers and letters is associated with the experience of colors.” (wikipidia.org) It is one of the most common form of it

3. ordinal-linguistic personification : “is a form of synesthesia in which ordered sequences, such as ordinal numbers, days, months and letters are associated with personalities”(wikipidia.org)

4. 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”(wikipidia.org)

5. sound-color synesthesia: “: 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”(wikipidia.org)

6. lexical-gustatory synesthesia: “individual words and the phonemes of spoken language evoke taste sensations in the mouth”(wikipidia.org)

Work Cited:
• http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/synesthesia
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia#Number_form_synesthesia

Nature vrs Nurture-accidental genius

Some people were born genius in one are but lacks this genius in other functions. This people are called savants and although quite rarely that are very advantageous in one way and disadvantaged in another. Savants occur because while fetus one side of their brain develops easier and faster than the other. This is because of the testosterones which intercept the process of the brain. Having one hemisphere lack functionality causes the opposite hemisphere to explode with ideas and skills. Savants can be also caused by brain damage. The functionality in the left side is more commonly the developed side in savants and tony is an example of a savants but a quite lucky one. George and tony are examples of savants. While George is autistic he can tell you the day of any date in seconds. George is an incredible artist but is obsessed with it and with writing. While they are exceptional in some things they have problems with others. Science has proven that certain abilities can be obtained by stimulating a side of the brain while shutting the other.

Nature vrs Nurture- made genius

Humans have shown to have accomplished extreme and magnificent things, but are all this people gifted? Many examples and evidence have proven us that with education and consistency in early ages geniuses can be made. This suggest that you can mold a child to do anything it is taught. With a right attitude a child can grow up to be a genius in a specific area. They have found males and females brain work differently but it does not point that one is better than the other. Girls see in a more logical way concentrating on detail while boys tend to see things in a more photographic way and have god special awareness. If a skill is constantly practice the brain will adapt to be able to perform those skills a best possible. Susan the daughter of a psychologist decided she could teach anything to his daughter Susan. He taught her all about chess making her a champion and a genius in everything about it. He proves that the brain can be molded nurtured. Humans naturally separate things into chunks to be able to remember them. Normally working memory has a short capacity but if things are constantly repeated they are stored in the hardware of the brain. Surprisingly scientist also found intuition is a learned skill. Intuition is to trust your experience and the brain can learn to do that quickly and accurately. We also learned that every brain has a face processor that record faces and makes matches with previous memory of faces. With this abilities people can use them in ways normally people do not use them for. For example Susan uses her face processor to detect and compare patterns inches boards. All this abilities in the brain can be stimulated and molded to create geniuses.

Nature vrs. Nurture-Born Genius

Is geniuses born with their abilities? It is still not completely proven whether intelligence is natured or nurture. Scientist and physiatrist conclude that musician’s brains work better in some areas than in others. When studying it they observed some areas bigger than common people and this is the areas they use the most to be able to play. A case od a girl who was isolated in a dark room by his father opened an opportunity to scientist form brain study. After being found she had the brain of an 18 month baby having not developed anything a normal 12 year old girl would have had. It is known the brain uses or loses. This means the brain stimulates areas that are used and loses the brain connections of functions that are not stimulated. If these brain connections are lost they can no longer be used. Marx’s in the other hand is an 8 year old boy who could play the piano since 2 years of age. He had not had any practice and without studying a note he could determine his sound. This led to intelligence being born with but he also practiced 8 hours a day reaching perfection. This in the other hands proves it can also be environmental. Genes can give you the advantages and it develops to become genius when it is nurtured.

Nature vrs Nurture-Homosexuality

Debate weather sexuality is nature or nurtured by your environment is a very discussed and controversial topic. Scientist use twins to help them study and prove this controversy. Identical twins have the same genes so their differences can be explained through nurture and environmental affect. Sings of homosexuality can be observed since a very small age. There is a disorder called childhood gender nonconformity were the child acts as their opposite sex. This can be an indication of homosexuality but is not completely necessary. To investigate further scientist study brain, genes and hormones from homosexual people to detect differences in straight people. Experiments on rats determined a theory of gays. This experiment proved male rats can act like female rats if changed hormones that are exposed to birth. His conclusion with this was that homosexuality is not genetic but hormonally. I agree with this theory because it is hormones that enable you to act in certain ways from your sexuality. It has also been proven strangely but true that the more older brothers a man has the more likely that he will become gay. This only works with males and it is because the mother when becoming pregnant her body attacks antibiotics into the “foreign” substance which is her baby and adds hormones to it. This says scientist is only true if the gay is right handed. I believe homosexuality has to do with both environment and a birth. At birth I believe is affected by the hormones but not implanted in the genetic structure. This evolves or even begins mostly by environmental issued and the way it is managed since early age.

Mind of a Murder

Surprising as it may sound criminal minds and normal people minds are not the same. Delinquents have been proved to have some sort of mental illness or hereditary violence. Normal people even not born always like this become violent because they are damaged. It is usually caused by a trauma and force in the skull that damaged the brain. Another cause of this violence can be by being victims or witnesses of abuse and other violence. When surrounded in a tense, violent and unhealthy environment the brain learns what it is surrounded by becoming aggressive. Even shaking or smacking in the brain can led to damage provoking violent human beings. As it has been prove the brain can learn how to behave if a person has not learn to be kind, gentle and a good person he will never be. It has been proved by many studies that the majority of criminals especially serial killers had had a trauma and mental illness caused by a brain damage. So studies conclude brain damage plus trauma or abuse equals an almost certain serial killer. Even though believed that criminal and normal people’s brain are the same studies have proven otherwise. By scanning some brains they have found differences in their images proving their statement. This different behavior and ability to determine what’s right or wrong or the consequences of their actions makes it even more believable that by having damage in the areas that control this can led to criminals. As more and more investigation is done they conclude criminal behavior is caused by and unhealthy undernourished damaged brain. These types of people have had records of hospitalizations and accidents that involve the brain as others have reported seeing or suffering abuse. All this traumas in life weather physically or emotionally led to a change in behavior and personality converting normal people into criminals.

Traumatic Brain Injury

Pressure, strong contact and swelling of the brain can led to brain injury. Specifically traumatic brain injury is caused when force is applied to the skull. The force is transmitted from the skull to the brain leading to deformity, bleeding or swelling of this soft and venerable part of our body. This force damages the neurons that make up the brain reducing its capacity to function. Depending on the area affected functions that are performed by that area are damaged. This causes the person to lose or reduce those functions and disables the full capacity of that area. Being disadvantaged because of our malfunctions in the brain in things we need for our everyday life is extremely hard. Each person depending on their injury need to adapt to certain lifestyle without using functions that they could use before. The damage in the brain can affect the person physically, mentally and emotionally. There are three main types of brain injuries; these include contusion, Axonal injury and bleeding in the brain. Contusion is where there is bruising in the brain caused by the impact of the force applied to the skull. Axonal injury is when the neurons axons twist or break. The third type of brain injury of bleeding is when a blood vessel in the brain is damaged leading to bleeding inside the brain. All this type of injuries can be classified in mild, moderate or severe. The more severe the damage the more time the brain will recover or even permanently stay damaged. It is very difficult to life with this disorders and disadvantages in the function of the brain. Relatives and friends of someone with brain damage needs to be patient with them and understand them.

MRI -the future of mind reading-

MRI is a machine used to see your brain and scan it while thinking. It is similar to an x-ray but it not only shows the bone and hard surfaces of the body but also the soft tissue. This astonishing new technology even allows us to observe the brain while it is at work. Light appears in the areas where most activity is resent at that time, which allows a sort of mind reading. Scientists have made experiments of the capability of an MRI. They would place someone inside the machine where they would tell the person to think of an object and later study where the brain lightens up. After knowing how the brain looks like when thinking of a precise object you can kind of mind read what they’re thinking by the pattern in the brain. It was very interesting and exiting to see the computer figure out the objects by analyzing its activity brain patterns. This excellent technology has helped improved the knowledge and understanding of the brain immensely opening the opportunity to study it in its work. This machine still has room for improvement making it capable in the future to be able to read entire thoughts and intentions instead of just objects. It was also discovered that the MRI can tract if you recognize a place that you had visited before. This will later need more protection and restrictions to who can be allow to use such a powerful weapon as mind reading trough the MRI.

Inside the Teenage Brain

The brain is composed of six different parts which are in charge of different functions. Teenagers act different from kids but are yet not the same as adults. This behavior teenagers have in common is caused by their brain. Teenagers have not yet fully developed their frontal lobe which is responsible for controlling personality traits, behavior, reasoning planning and emotions. For this reason teenager’s emotions and feeling changed dramatically from one moment to the next defining a blurry personality not yet defined. These dramatic changes are caused by the unfinished development of the frontal lobe and hormones. Teenagers are also more venerable in making bad decisions. As previously stated, the frontal lobe control reasoning and as this is not completely finished teenagers tend to make bad decisions for lack of reasoning. They have a short sight of the future, living only the present committing decisions they will later regret. This explains the amount of teenagers involved with drugs, alcohol, suicide or dangerous activity. The frontal lobe is also in charge of emotions that is why they interpret and express emotions differently. They see and analyze the outside world not the same as adults would because of their frontal lobe. As well as seeing differently they cannot regulate their own emotions, having ups and downs constantly. Naturally teenagers express independence and separation but they misinterpret their feelings having confused mind, leading to doing things they don’t really think about. As they express this dislike towards parents they also feel the love between them and like to have them around. They contradict themselves very often caused by the processing developing brain. This behavior can change depending of the people and connections they encounter in their life. This is why some teens are different and better in behaving, reasoning, planning and regulating emotions still with the same brain. So as teenage brain is different from adult and still not fully developed, the relationships with others help improve their making of decisions and the way they act.