I've learned about several things in this chapter. First of all I learned that parts of the brain can be surgically separated and even removed without having any serious neurological effects. I thought it was simply amazing that an individual can function without a whole hemisphere of their brain! I always believed that our brain was so extremely delicate and important (which it still is) that any slight bump or surgical puncture would one hundred percent kill an individual or at least damage them to a point at which they would not want to live.
I also enjoyed learning what each part of the brain controls. Since I've learned this, every time someone (or even myself) does or says something I always find myself thinking of how and what parts of the brain are functioning to make the individual say or do what they do. I also found it extremely interesting that electrodes or touching parts of the brain can make you feel, see, hear, smell, taste, or say something that did not actually take place or happen. I did not realize that this could be done.
Before I read this chapter I had heard about "phantom" feelings of amputated body parts, but I was so dumbfounded at how such a thing could be. Now that I understand the biology of the mind, the concept makes total sense to me. I also found it interesting to learn what happens when people have seizures and how to easily cure them. I am fortunate to learn these things now because I am pursuing a career in veterinary medicine. I feel smart when I realize the problem and (in my mind at my education level) realize a possible treatment route for the animal.
The video of "The Man with Two Brains" was extremely interesting. I liked it a lot because splitting brains as a cure for epilepsy was introduced and discussed in this chapter, but instead of simply reading about the topic, I was actually able to see what it was like through the video. The final experiment was the one that blew my mind away the most because I believe it had the most real life application. Though I do wonder how much a split brain can affect some one's life. Do you always have to read recipe directions with your left eye so that your hands will go on with the process of cooking? I understand the concept, but it is still quite mind boggling at how much it affects every day tasks.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Blog Post #3 - Part 1
Seeing More Than Your Eye Does: Does your brain make up stories? (a "blindspot" experiment)
- In this activity I had to stare at a plus sign with only my right eye open. As I moved closer to the screen a black dot, which was positioned slightly right of the plus sign, would disappear and then reappear as I moved even closer. Other experiments put a black line through the dot. When the dot would dissapear you would still see a full line segment instead of simple a white patch where you are "blind."
- By doing this activity I learned that people have a blind spot! I thought this was very interesting. I greatly enjoyed doing the activity. I cannot think of any real life (every day) applications of our blind spot except for the mere purpose of having this knowledge, but it does give me a better realization of how some things happen (read final 2 lines in paragraph). I also learned that our mind either makes up things it cannot see, or it simply ignores it. This experiment gives me the interpretation that our minds are not always literal. What we see is not always what we actually see (example: halousinations and mirages).
- I was very surprised to learn that we have blind spots. The topic never really occured to me because when we look with both eyes the blind spot is not present. This is because the blindspot in one eye is seen by the other. Even when we close one eye, we are usually concentrating on something directly in front of us, while the blindspot occurs in our prepheral vision.
- In this activity I had to look at a picture that had arrows pointing in two directions. First I had to decide which arrows I wanted to look at. Then once I actually "saw" those arrows compared to the other ones I had to push a button.
- In this activity I learned that even though an individual has their own free will, they can still be "persuaded" to think differently. When an individual looks at a picture as I did in the activity, one side of the brain processes what you actually see and what pops out more to you. It takes your other side of the brain more time to process what part you actually want to look at. Even though I already knew about persuation, I now look at it in another light: visual persuation. This can be used in real life when creating posters or ads to try to persuade and catch an individuals attention.
- I was not overly surprised by the experiment. Though I do find it interesting how our "free will" takes more time to process what we want, than what we actually percieve.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Post #2
Research is extremely important. Why? Without research the human race would not know anything! Research can be anything from a simple observation to an extensive experiment or from a small case study to a nationwide survey. Research contributes to our knowledge, without research our knowledge would be nonexistent. For example, as a young child, when our friend gets their tongue stuck to a frozen pole we observe that the action looks quite painful. Then after our friend becomes unstuck from the pole, they tell us how painful and horrible it felt. From this observation we now know that we never want to stick our tongue to a frozen pole. Research tells us many things other than developing our common sense, such as finding cures for diseases, learning about a new topic, deciding which governmental candidate would be the best representative, and how to be more efficient in our daily lives (hybrid cars, recycling, landfill use, etc.)
I can deeply relate to the article "Absent-Mindedness: A Blessing in Disguise" because I am extremely absent-minded. Several times a day I will be talking to someone or I will try to get someone's attention to talk to them. Then when it is my turn to finally talk, I will space out and forget what the subject was even about. I also sometimes go into a room to get something and then forget why I was even in that room in the first place.
When I read the title of this article I was immediately intrigued. In the article many experiments proved that several people in the human population are absent-minded, but sometimes that isn't such a bad thing. The article posed the exact opposite situation to show how absent-mindedness can be a good thing. A Russian journalist named Solomon Shereshevskii retains every single memory and piece of information that is put in front of him. Shereshevskii reported that this is extremely frustrating because every time he needs to recall something, he has so many memories of that one thing.
The article also points out that by being absent-minded our mind weeds out all of the dull points in our life and useless information we learn. Therefore we only retain what is important and significant to ourselves. How would you like it if you remembered every horrible, scary, dull, and hurtful experience in your life (how depressing!)?
I have learned several new concepts in this chapter. I learned why scientific research and facts are used over our own common sense. I thought the concepts of hindsight bias and overconfident very intriguing because they are the kind of concepts that I always knew existed in the world, but I never actually observed them in the world. Now that I understand these concepts I see it happen so often in my everyday life. Knowing these concepts has also made me more critical of myself and making sure that I am not falling for them.
I have also learned how to better use my critical thinking. I find myself using the attitude of skepticism much more to ask questions about articles and certain research, but on the opposite end I have also left my mind more open. From some of the examples in the book and through a research paper I am working on, I have learned that nothing is impossible!
Lastly I have learned a great deal about different ways to study and research (case study, survey, and naturalistic observation). I found the case study and survey very interesting because there is so much more involved with the than just asking and answering questions. A very large aspect of these two research method is to make sure the selection is random and that there is no similarity of any candidates. Any small deviation in the random selection can greatly alter the accurateness of the study. This has led me to examine experiments in more depth to find how reliable and accurate the results may be. I also learned that how you word things can make a huge impact on how others respond. This is an area I would love to look deeper into because it is harder for me to accurately express myself in written words.
I can deeply relate to the article "Absent-Mindedness: A Blessing in Disguise" because I am extremely absent-minded. Several times a day I will be talking to someone or I will try to get someone's attention to talk to them. Then when it is my turn to finally talk, I will space out and forget what the subject was even about. I also sometimes go into a room to get something and then forget why I was even in that room in the first place.
When I read the title of this article I was immediately intrigued. In the article many experiments proved that several people in the human population are absent-minded, but sometimes that isn't such a bad thing. The article posed the exact opposite situation to show how absent-mindedness can be a good thing. A Russian journalist named Solomon Shereshevskii retains every single memory and piece of information that is put in front of him. Shereshevskii reported that this is extremely frustrating because every time he needs to recall something, he has so many memories of that one thing.
The article also points out that by being absent-minded our mind weeds out all of the dull points in our life and useless information we learn. Therefore we only retain what is important and significant to ourselves. How would you like it if you remembered every horrible, scary, dull, and hurtful experience in your life (how depressing!)?
I have learned several new concepts in this chapter. I learned why scientific research and facts are used over our own common sense. I thought the concepts of hindsight bias and overconfident very intriguing because they are the kind of concepts that I always knew existed in the world, but I never actually observed them in the world. Now that I understand these concepts I see it happen so often in my everyday life. Knowing these concepts has also made me more critical of myself and making sure that I am not falling for them.
I have also learned how to better use my critical thinking. I find myself using the attitude of skepticism much more to ask questions about articles and certain research, but on the opposite end I have also left my mind more open. From some of the examples in the book and through a research paper I am working on, I have learned that nothing is impossible!
Lastly I have learned a great deal about different ways to study and research (case study, survey, and naturalistic observation). I found the case study and survey very interesting because there is so much more involved with the than just asking and answering questions. A very large aspect of these two research method is to make sure the selection is random and that there is no similarity of any candidates. Any small deviation in the random selection can greatly alter the accurateness of the study. This has led me to examine experiments in more depth to find how reliable and accurate the results may be. I also learned that how you word things can make a huge impact on how others respond. This is an area I would love to look deeper into because it is harder for me to accurately express myself in written words.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Hey Everyone!
I'm Alissa Michelle Milonczyk from Stratford (I attend Stratford High School). I have lived my whole life in Stratford. I just turned 18 in the beginning of September.
Many individuals have shaped the way I am today, such as my parents and my family, but there is one thing that I believe has shaped my life today more than anything: The National FFA Organization. Now some people are probably thinking that this is kind of corny or wierd, but it's so true. The FFA taught me how to be a leader and how to achieve my goals and dreams. It encompasses an almost infinite number of opportunities to prepare me for my life and future.
I believe studying psychology is important because the information you learn does not pertain to a certain profession per say, but rather everyday life. I believe that psychology gives people of better understanding of why people are the way they are. By obtaining this knowledge, we can better understand anyone, whether in an intimate relationship, a coworker/partner, or even a new friend you meet at school.
I believe psychology is the study and understanding of living things (primarily humans). Psychology has so many different aspects including emotions, thought processes, behavior, and reactions to stimuli. I also believe that the main purpose of psychology is to explore the mind. In this exploration we are constantly asking and in search for a single question: Why do we act, think, and behave the way we do?
I'm Alissa Michelle Milonczyk from Stratford (I attend Stratford High School). I have lived my whole life in Stratford. I just turned 18 in the beginning of September.
Many individuals have shaped the way I am today, such as my parents and my family, but there is one thing that I believe has shaped my life today more than anything: The National FFA Organization. Now some people are probably thinking that this is kind of corny or wierd, but it's so true. The FFA taught me how to be a leader and how to achieve my goals and dreams. It encompasses an almost infinite number of opportunities to prepare me for my life and future.
I believe studying psychology is important because the information you learn does not pertain to a certain profession per say, but rather everyday life. I believe that psychology gives people of better understanding of why people are the way they are. By obtaining this knowledge, we can better understand anyone, whether in an intimate relationship, a coworker/partner, or even a new friend you meet at school.
I believe psychology is the study and understanding of living things (primarily humans). Psychology has so many different aspects including emotions, thought processes, behavior, and reactions to stimuli. I also believe that the main purpose of psychology is to explore the mind. In this exploration we are constantly asking and in search for a single question: Why do we act, think, and behave the way we do?
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