Teenage brain

This week we saw a video about how teenage brains work and why they might act in that way. I found very interesting this video because know I learn and also the parents know how their kids act by the time they are finish developing their brain so it becomes mature. While we are changing our brain also changes, specially the frontal lobe of the brain. To be able to have a normal and relaxing day you have to sleep 9-11 hours that the majority of the teenegers don´t sleep the enough hours you need then you will be tired and maybe will be in a bad mood because of the cause of don´t sleeping the hours you need to. They had proved that there were positive changes amongst teens by giving them extra hours for sleep. But,  when a late start affects after school activities that are said to benefit a person even more than sleep. Teenagers seem to be always in a bad mood, or having a terrible time, and some times they treat in a bad way their parents and the parents should not suffer how their son or daughter treat them only because they did not sleep well. In my opinion, parents should be patients with their sons or daughters because they need to understand the problems that they are passing through.

How our brains work?

1. What does the word "hemisphere" refer to when talking about the brain?
Are two different region of the eutherian brain. Each of these hemispheres has an outer layer of grey matter called the cerebral cortex that is supported by an inner layer of white matter. Each hemisphere does a different job, without hemisphere the other one wouldn´t knew anything about it.
2. What are the major differences between the left and right sides of the brain?
- It is divided into two hemispheres connected by a thick band of nerve fibers which sends messages back and forth between the hemispheres. And while brain research confirms that both sides of the brain are involved in nearly every human activity, we do know that the left side of the brain is the seat of language and processes in a logical and sequential order. The right side is more visual and processes intuitively, holistically, and randomly.
3. What is the corpus collasum?
- is a wide, flat bundle of neural fibers beneath the cortex in the eutherian brain at the longitudinal fissure. It connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres and facilitates interhemispheric communication. It is the largest white matter structure in the brain, consisting of 200–250 million contralateral axonal projections.
4. Explain the study performed by Paul Broca in which he discovered "Broca's Area."
- The discovery of Broca's area revolutionized the understanding of speech production. New research has found that dysfunction in the area may lead to other speech disorders such as stuttering and apraxia of speech. Recent anatomical neuroimaging studies have shown that the pars opercularis of Broca's area is anatomically smaller in individuals who stutter whereas the pars triangularis appears to be normal.
5. Explain the study conducted by Roger Sperry in regard to "split brain."
- ¨ Split-brain is a lay term to describe the result when the corpus callosum connecting the two hemispheres of the brain is severed to some degree. The surgical operation to produce this condition is called corpus callosotomy and is usually used as a last resort to treat intractable epilepsy. Initially, partial callosotomies are performed; if this operation does not succeed, a complete callosotomy is performed to mitigate the risk of accidental physical injury by reducing the severity and violence of epileptic seizures. Prior to callosotomies, epilepsy is treated through pharmaceutical means.¨

6. Explain the study conducted by Karl Wernicke which led to the discovery of Wernicke's Area."
- ¨is one of the two parts of the cerebral cortex linked since the late nineteenth century to speech (the other is the Broca's area). It is involved in the understanding of written and spoken language. It is traditionally considered to consist of the posterior section of the superior temporal gyrus in the dominant cerebral hemisphere (which is the left hemisphere in about 90% of people).¨

7. Which lobe is most responsible for vision?
- occipital lobe.
8. Which lobe is most responsible for hearing and language?
- Tempoal lobe.
9. Which lobe is most responsible for performing math calculations?
- Frontal lobe.
10. Which lobe is most responsible for judgment, reasoning and impulse control?
- Frontal lobe.
Bibliography: - http://frank.mtsu.edu/~studskl/hd/hemis.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_callosum
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Broca
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernicke's_area

Phineas Gage

Phineas Gage was  an american railroad construction foreman now remembered for his incredible survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe , and for that injury's reported effects on his personality and behavior. He had an accident that occur like this:

¨On September 13, 1848, 25-year-old Gage was foreman of a work gang blasting rock while preparing the roadbed for the Rutland & Burlington Railroad outside the town of Cavendish, Vermont. After a hole was bored into a body of rock, one of Gage's duties was to add blasting powder, a fuse, and sand, then compact the charge into the hole using a large iron rod. Possibly because the sand was omitted, around 4:30 PM:the powder exploded, carrying an instrument through his head an inch and a fourth in , and three feet and  inches in length, which he was using at the time. The iron entered on the side of his face...passing back of the left eye, and out at the top of the head.¨

Amazingly Phineas was strong enough and did not die his is a little summary about how he continued his normal life that I found in wikipedia, ¨By November 25 Gage was strong enough to return to his parents' home in Lebanon, New Hampshire, where by late December he was "riding out, improving both mentally and physically." In April 1849 he returned to Cavendish and paid a visit to Harlow, who noted at that time loss of vision (and ptosis) of the left eye, a large scar on the forehead, and "upon the top of the head...a deep depression, two inches by one and one-half inches wide, beneath which the pulsations of the brain can be perceived. Partial paralysis of the left side of the face." Despite all this, "his physical health is good, and I am inclined to say he has recovered. Has no pain in head, but says it has a queer feeling which he is not able to describe.¨ The ideas of why we learn  braim localization is because different parts of the brain perform different functions. a Brain lateralization is A longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage#Gage.27s_accident

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

google images

Athletic ability..Nurture or Nature???

Having an athletic ability would it be nature or nurture? first of all nature is something you have genetically and nurture is something you learned also sayed as ¨enviromental¨. I choosed the topic of athletic abilities because it is something that peoples struggles of it like if it was nurture or nature. In my opinion a athletic ability it is both nature and nurture, for example lets see the soccer players like Ronaldinho or Messi, these both players have great abilities that some people think if it genetical or enviromental. As I said before they are both because a player can be born to be a great soccer player but without training it will not work. Yes, it can come genetically but to be able to get to be a famous soccer player you have to train hard. Also, I think that looking if it is biological if very difficult for the reasons above. In th next paragraph their are some opinions of experts and how they are trying to solve this problem.

 Some thoughts of psychologists are ¨ Is a child's athletic ability inherited, or simply a product of training? If one parent has schizophrenia, will his child acquire the disease? The genetic foundations of behavior are studied by behavior genetics, an interdisciplinary science which draws on the resources of several scientific disciplines, including genetics, physiology, and psychology. From a genetic point of view, physical traits, such as the color of a person's hair, have a much higher heritability than behavior. In fact, behavior genetics assumes that the genetic bases of an individual's behavior simply cannot be determined. In theory, these links probably exist; in practice, however, researchers have been unable to isolate traits that are unmodified by environmental factors. ¨ In this paragraph is an opinion of some psychologists that what they think is that they are having many difficulties looking for a idea that explain what an athletic ability is. In my opinion this athletic ability are bot biological, and enviromental because some people have the genetics to be a great athlete but only because of the genes you will not be the best, you also have to have hard training to get to a great position, until you become one of the best one like early last year Lionel Messi demonstrated and also Ronaldinho in some years before that demonstrated being the best three years in a row. That are experts and my opinion of what could this subject could be.

                                                                

In conclusion, what could this subject be? This is a very interesting topic to research about. Finaly, I think that not all people are born with a future for greater abilities like these two athletes and their or much more in other different sports. As experts said , this is a subject that could not be determined if it is biological or enviromental but in my opinion it is both. Also not always could be biological because if a person is not good in a sport and practice a lot and then be the best it would mean something else. This topic could be nature or nurture, all of the people have different points of views and their could be many different arguments about this.

Sources: - http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0002/ai_2699000233/

- Google images

Nature vs Nurture

Nature and Nurture is a term that regards the influency of heredity and enviromental, ¨ for its binary simplification of two tightly interwoven parameters, as for example an environment of wealth, education and social privilege are often historically passed to genetic offspring.¨ The english victorian polymath Francis Galton was the first to use this term.
This topic debates ¨ concern the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities versus personal experiences in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits.¨ Like some topics of how some of the following topics could be nature or nurture: Athletic abilities, Intelligence, Criminal Behaviors, Personality, Creativity, and the last and most difficult to see if it is nature or nurture..Homosexuality. ¨In scientific circles, this conflict led to ongoing controversy of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology¨
¨ To disentangle the effects of genes and environment, behavioral geneticists perform adoption and twin studies. Behavioral geneticists do not generally use the term "nurture" to explain that portion of the variance for a given trait that can be attributed to environmental effects. Instead, two different types of environmental effects are distinguished: shared family factors and nonshared factors.¨

I think that Nature vs Nurture is a very interesting topic and also impresioning of how some thingsare, before I study Psycholgy I didn´t knew what Nature vs Nurture was and know that I know I find it really interesting.

Bibliography: - Google images

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_versus_nurture