Brain Structures & Memory Loss: The Case Study of H.M.- October 21th, 2011

    Scientists tested and saw that there were atleast two systems in the brain for creating new memories. One known as declarative memory record names, faces, and new experiences and stores them until they are consciously retrieved. This system depends on the function of medial temporal areas, such as hippocampus, now the object of intense study. The other system, motor learning is subconscious. This explains why people can jump on a bike after years of not riding which is proven by H.M.'s star test. They learned that without the hippocampus a human brain could not hold thoughts for more than about 20 seconds.
"The study of H.M. by Brenda Milner stands as one of the great milestones in the history of modern neuroscience."

Thought this was interesting, has to do with what we were talking about it class today

Alzheimer's Disease: What can we learn about memory? -October 19th, 2011

                 Alzheimer's Disease is the most common form of dementia, a serious brain disorder that impacts the patient's live daily through memory loss and cognitive changes. Right now 16 million people worldwide have this form of dementia. Symptoms of Alzheimer's worsen over time, progressing from mild forgetfulness to loss of self, mind and almost all of the patient's abilities because they forget how to use them. This disease starts in the hippocampus, the area of memory, and is caused by starchy tangles in the brain neurological system.

              The video for me was insightful because the students got a taste of the life of a family member of a victim of Alzheimer's Disease, which was honestly disheartening. The family must literally watch their loved one turn crazy and lose their mind, and cannot do anything about it. It was a great way to show the students that the patient loses their personality almost entirely, and what are you if you don't have your personality? It's also very different experience when you read about a certain disease in a textbook and watch the disease and how it affects the people around the patient on video. In a textbook, you just read it to read it, on video you can relate to the emotions the family, and patient are feeling. You feel sympathy and this as we learned today in class causes you to remember more of what you learned. In one sentence I can describe my own feelings on this disease. It's a monster. A monster that deprives you of your family, true emotions, interests, hobbies, friends, thoughts, skills, and finally your life. 

http://helpguide.org/elder/alzheimers_disease_symptoms_stages.htm

Culture & Gender: How do they affect emotion?- October 14th, 2011

• Two gender differences are women typically have a larger deep limbic system than men, which allows them to be more in touch with their feelings and better able to express them, which promotes bonding with others. Because of this ability to connect, more women serve as caregivers for children. The down side to this larger deep limbic system is that it also opens women up to depression, especially during times of hormonal shifts such as after childbirth or during a woman’s menstrual cycle.

Pain also differs for women and men, in studies, women require more morphine than men to reach the same level of pain reduction. Women are also more likely to vocalize their pain and to seek treatment for their pain than are men. The area of the brain that is activated during pain is the amygdala, and researchers have discovered that in men, the right amygdala is activated and in women, the left amygdala is activated. The right amygdala has more connections with areas of the brain that control external functions while the right amygdala has more connections with internal functions. This difference probably explains why women perceive pain more intensely than do men.

http://www.mastersofhealthcare.com/blog/2009/10-big-differences-between-mens-and-womens-brains/

Two Cultural/Ethnic Differences are

1. People persived as Latino, or African American are looked at most likely to be in a gang or drug cartel. This causes them to feel like they should have extreme masculinity and or respect/power just because they are black or latino.
2. Another cultural difference is for example there was this study on students who took some test and after the test they got their scores. The study shows that African Americans and White Americans (European decent also) differed from the Japanese students, showing more evaluative and exposure embarrassment. These results demonstrate that cultural differences, whether due to temperament or direct socialization of cultural values, influence their emotional  responses to achievement situations.

http://jbd.sagepub.com/content/34/1/53.short

The Gift of Fear- October 11th, 2011

What is emotion?

Emotion is a state of feeling that results in physical and psychological changes that influence thought and behavior. Emotionality can be catergorized into temperment, personality, mood and motivation. Human emotions involve physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience. Emotion may be an adaptive feature in human's quest for survival because certain emotions release certain hormones or chemicals that in turn help us in whatever situation we are in, or they may not help us. For example, I once heard a story about a mom lifting up an enormous object because her little baby was caught underneath it.. This woman regularly probably couldn't pick something up that was so heavy but when her baby was caught underneath her emotions released adrenaline, causing her to get more strength and save her baby. Another example is, when you're presenting in front of a class you may get nervous or embarassed and automatically you start to sweat or blush, these things are uncontrollable as you may have already known from experience. Your emotions make this happen.. Emotions allow humans to survive and be successful in the world because everybody has them, when you see a sad person you automatically feel sympathy or pity. When you see a happy person, you feel joy for that person for a second or two atleast. Since we all share emotions we all survive together successfully (with the exception of sociopaths manipulating some of  our emotions). Our emotions also give us survival skills because when you're stuck somewhere you don't know, your motivation kicks in..for me motivation would be considered an emotion, also fear, when you're fearful of a place you don't want to be there anymore, so this emotion will prompt you to get out, forcing you to use any tactic necessary.



http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologytopics/a/theories-of-emotion.htm