Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a condition in were an individual has sudden sleep attacks without being able to control it, this occurs whether or not the individual has previously slept. The cause of this happening has been proven to be a malfunctioning of the brain in where the brain seems to paralyze the body unconsciously making the individual unable to control their own bodies. The video we watched in class narrated the story of a group of journalists who follow a man with narcolepsy during a whole day in were the audience learns different aspects of the disease. Narcolepsy is portrayed as a very life changing disease that seriously affects an individual’s daily life, in the video we could see how the victim randomly fell asleep in the middle of the road or at home in were serious injuries may happen very rapidly and unpredictably. I personally believe that this video was very interesting and made me realize about how dangerous and awful it must be to have something like narcolepsy. Finally I really appreciated the interesting points, ideas, and different things that the video had to offer to its audience including the ability to comprehend how this so made- fun- of disease shouldn’t be overlooked at all as it can actually be a horrible thing to live with.

Image Bibliography: is, a period of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. REM sleep. "Narcolepsy." Encyclopedia Health of Diseases and Disorders. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. <http://encyclopediaofhealth.blogspot

Sleep and Dreams

By watching this documentary there were numerous things I personally learned including the importance of sleep, and how the process of dreaming really Works. Another thing I learned that was very interesting to me was that there has been found that there are different stages of sleep and that dreaming may occur various times during the night most probably in the area of REM sleep. In the documentary scientists investigated through  a very interesting experiment this theory, for example, to see the topic of lucid dreaming a scientist investigated people in their sleep and put a light in front of their eyes previously telling them that if they ever saw a light they had to move their eyes a certain way which they continuously did in the middle of the experiment proving the theory, other experiments shown included one of looking at a person sleep and waking them up at certain hours and asking them about they’re dreams proving the theory of REM sleep and dreams.  In conclusion I believe that sleep is a very important aspect of our daily lives as we need it to survive and I learned that dreams are categorized as a way in which the brain reorganizes the information taken during the day and that’s why you would learn better if you learned and then slept.

Image Bibliography:

"Sleeping And Dreaming Pictures and Images." Pictures and Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2011. <http://www.free-extras.com/images/sleeping_and_dreaming-1727.htm>.

Sensory Deprivation

In this documentary I learned the theme of sensory deprivation which refers to the action in were a human being is cut off one or more of hi/her senses. In the documentary we saw how scientists cut off some of the people’s senses and experimented their changes by subjecting them to a mental test before and after the experiment was conducted. I think this experiment was very shocking and interesting as it made me realize that leaving someone without a sense can really affect them and could and it is a way to torture people around the world. I personally now believe that the senses are very important to a human as it is the way he/she relates to hi/her environment and for one to lose them will affect them greatly especially if the individual had it before, the experiment proved my thinking as the individuals had a hard time during the experiment and the results they received after the experiment were lower than the ones they had at the beginning. In conclusion depriving someone of their senses is a very serious and awful thing to do as it affects the individual greatly and tortures him/her as they loose way to relate with their environment which finally affects the brain greatly.

Image Bibliography:

"Loss of US Civil Liberties: Detainments Outside US." History Commons. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2011. <http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=civilliberties&civilliberties_

Synesthesia assesment

1. Synesthesia:  Synesthesia is a condition in were senses get “ cross-wired” or when an individual uses a different sense than the common one for something for example instead of seeing a color the smell a color.

"What is Synesthesia?." "Brain & Mind" Magazine - WWW Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <http://www.cerebromente.org.br/>

2. Grapheme-color Synesthesia: It is a type of Synesthesia in were an individual perception of words or letters, etc is associated with colors.

"define: Grapheme-color Synesthesia - Búsqueda de Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <http://www.google.hn/search?hl=es-419&biw=1268&bih=731&rlz=1R2SKPB_enHN381&noj=1&defl=en&q=define:Grapheme-color+synesthesia&sa=X&ei=IJttTc2sFImztwe3sInqBQ>

3. Ordinal-linguistic personification: Is a type of Synesthesia in when an individual associates numbers, words, etc with a personality

"Ordinal Linguistic Personification « parfait prince ♔." parfait prince ♔. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <http://theparfaitprincey.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/ordinal-linguistic-personification/>.

4. Number-form Synesthesia: Is a type od Synesthesia in were an individual experiences Numbers and associates them with unrelated things such as words, etc.

"ScienceDirect - Consciousness and Cognition : When 9 is not on the right: Implications from number-form synesthesia." ScienceDirect - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WD0-4VVN4SW-1&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_ori

5. Sound-color Synesthesia: Sound-color Synesthesia an individual experiences sound through color meaning that he/she associates a specific sound with a color.

 

LOL., far the most interesting topic ive read about aside from seduction.. "SOUND–>COLOUR SYNESTHESIA « BEBE." BEBE. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. http://undacovabear.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/sound-colour-synesthesia/.

6.lexical-gustatory synesthesia: Is a type of Synesthesi in were an individual tastes somethign that he/sheh is supposed to understand versus some other kind of senses, for example he or she tastes a word.

"A Life in Pages: Lexical-Gustatory synaesthesia." A Life in Pages. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <http://alifeinpages.blogspot.com/2006/12/lexical-gustatory-synaesthesia.html>.

Images bibliography:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4821370830_5b797940f2.jpg

http://www.mediateletipos.net/wp-content/images/2007/02/articles-synesthesia-brain.jpg

http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v6/n6/images/nrn1684-i1.gif

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/download/id/32480/name/Synesthesia_test

http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~kris/images/synthsyn_full_sz.gif

http://drgateau.com/images/food/eggsoup4.jpg

Mental abilities genius, savant, and autism

Assessment 1

Mental Abilities: Genius, Savant and Autism

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

Savant Syndrome is the condition in were a person has some serious mental or physical disability or has an undeveloped part of the brain in which the other side has predominance which results in the remarkable and sometimes spectacular talents. 

Hiles, Dave. "Savant Syndrome." Psy. 2001/2002. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/drhiles/Savant Syndrome.htm>.

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

A genius is defined as a person with an exceptional intellect and talent. Genius and savant are to very close related terms, one of the main differences between the two is that Genius is defined as exceptional intellect and talent and savant is more on the creative side meaning that it is the result of an undeveloped part of the brain, when Genius works more on the reasoning savants are more on the creative side and have a disability which genius do not have.

Farlex, Inc. "Genius - Definition of Genius by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia." Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary. 2011. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/genius>.

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

As stroke is when one of the arteries leading to the brain break or get blocked this occurs when the brain doesn’t receive enough oxygen that causes cells to die this can result in various disabilities such as inability to talk, paralysis, inability to understand, and other conditions brought by brain damage.

Http://www.euronet.nl/~jonkr/, Ron Jonk-. "Stroke / Brain Attack." University of Maryland Medical Center | Home. 25 Jan. 2008. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.umm.edu/non_trauma/stroke.htm>.

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

A Functional MRi is a type of medical test that can diagnose and treat medical conditions, it consists of using a magnetic field, radio frequency pulses and a computer produced detailed pictures of different parts of the brain. This helps us understand and see for ourselves the brain in a better perspective and being able to see the tiny metabolic changes that take place in an active part of the brain.

Radiological, Society. "Functional MRI (fMRI) - Brain." RadiologyInfo - The Radiology Information Resource for Patients. 10 Feb. 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <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?

Corpus Callosum is a big bundle of nerves fibers found in mammalian brains, it connects the right brain and the left brain together and its maintain communication between both. The role of the Corpus Callosum in brain activity consists  on connecting both hemispheres and it allows both to communicate and plan their activities.

"What is the Corpus Callosum?." wiseGEEK: clear answers for common questions. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <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 defined as the a syndrome in were a human experiments constant seizures that are cause by sudden burst of electrical activity in an individuals brain that causes temporal disruptions between messages being send to the brain. Epilepsy can make your brain stop transmitting message fro a while and so your body suffers an automatic seizure as it is confused like your brain.

daughter, the way when my, and the. "What is epilepsy? | Epilepsy Action." Epilepsy Action. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/what-is-epilepsy>.

7. What is autism?

Autism is a condition that affects the functioning of the brain it is characterized as a dysfunction of someone’s communicating skills, social skills and reasoning. It affects the way a child looks at the world.

What is Autism? What you should know." Autism/PDD Information and Support to help your child. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.autism-pdd.net/what-is-autism.html>.

8. What is Asperger's Syndrome?

Asperger’s syndrome is a condition in which a child develops a normal intellect but as he/she gets older his/her they may develop problems with their communication skills.

"What is Asperger's Syndrome? ." WebMD - Better information. Better health.. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/mental-health-aspergers-syndrome>.

Images sources:

• " Society for Neuroscience - Autism In Children ." Society for Neuroscience. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.sfn.org/index.aspx?pagename=brainBriefings_autismInChildren
• "Eleven Amazing Savants Show the Power of the Human Brain | DegreeScout." Search Online MBA, Business Degrees, Nursing Degrees | DegreeScout. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.degreescout.com/online-education-news/eleven-amazing-savants-show-the-power-of-the-human-brain>.

• "Italian Prodigy: 3-Year-Old Reads, Gives Medical Advice | THE B.S. REPORT." THE B.S. REPORT. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://thebsreport.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/italian-prodigy-3-year-old-reads-gives-medical-advice/>.

Genius video 3

The Third Genius video was about a certain type of people called savants that have a very good particular talent but have other parts of their brain and lives un developed such as social skills, the main character was a man who could make any type of calculations like a calculator which was very shocking and surprising. I really liked this video as it showed people with amazing qualities and various unsolved mysteries that have been investigated for a long time, I personally really liked it and think that savants are very interesting people and that maybe some people may be born with a talent except they develop It late or how the video showed half your brain is turned off the other part will work better and so you develop like a savant. In conclusion the third genius video was very interesting and educational and had many important points that really called my attention.

Bibliography image: http://www.brghtnghts.com/blog/?p=75

Genius video 2

The second genius video told the story of a woman whose dad had taught her from very little to play chess in a very interesting way and had grown in that world and was able to play very well at an extremely young age, her talent also included a huge memory and she could play pretty much like a computer could. This video was very shocking and interesting as I got to see how her talent developed and that someone can be formed into a genius, I personally believe that young kids such as this woman can be shaped into a genius if their surrounded by the right environment and that maybe they do have some gene that may help one become a genius but that doesn’t change with genre or race, meaning that it is mainly based on the environment one is surrounded by.

 Image Bibliography:http://www.brghtnghts.com/blog/?p=75