Cerebrum

Down syndrome, also called Trisomy 21, is a congenital disorder resulting in abnormal development of the brain, causing mental retardation in varying degrees (Carlson, N. R., 530). Down syndrome is the most frequent human birth defect. Mother’s age, in most cases the mothers ova functions differently causing her to produce two (rather than one) twenty-first chromosomes. When fertilization occurs, the father’s twenty-first chromosome makes three rather than two. Down syndrome causes developmental…

Marijuana is a very controversial topic in today’s society. Everybody from local potheads, to priests, are talking about marijuana. Researchers have studied the psychological effects of marijuana on an adolescents’ (14-17) and adult’s brain, such as their impulsivity, attention, memory and decision making. Hypothesis Ultimately because marijuana is such a controversial topic, researchers have decided to study marijuana and its lasting effects, mostly on adolescents, because “one out of ten teens…

Augmentative and Alternative Communication, or AAC, is a major method of treatment for aphasia. This treatment allows the individual with aphasia to be a conversation partner and engage in communication that may have been limited before treatment. It is crucial with aphasia to begin fostering communication through AAC very early on in the treatment process. These AAC devices can include low-technology device or high-technology devices (Fried-Oken, Beukelman, & Hux, 2011). One type of AAC…

In Oliver Sacks’ work, An Anthropologist on Mars, Sacks delves into the increasingly difficult task of defining creativity, ultimately illustrating that successful adaptation of the brain toward creativity depends on not only physical brain plasticity, but also the internal and external motivations of the victim, asserting that a creative mind holds the key for successful processing and acceptance of loss. Brain plasticity, as defined by the Society of Neuroscience, “refers to the extraordinary…

Magnetic Resonance Imagining (MRI) measure the frequency of magnetic-resonance signal. These signals can be measured at the same time, and their location is sorted based on resonant frequency. deCharms (2008) alikeness the MRI process to hearing several notes on a piano concurrently and then separating out the individual keys that produced each note based on the pitch of the note. MRI measures simultaneous signals emitted from an individual (just like the piano) and the origins of each signal…

When the body becomes exposed to chronic exposure to alcohol the body will adapt to changes thus causing different responses to it. A person that drinks alcohol all the time will build up a tolerance to alcohol and will not get the effect as a person that drinks once and while or rarely drinks. The brain will start to develop a pathological craving for alcohol, longer the chronic drinker uses alcohol the stronger the desires become to fulfill them. If the body does not get the desired fix of…

What’s My Age Again: The song What’s my Age Again discusses the growing responsibilities of adolescents and young adults. This song in particular takes place in artist’s Emerging Adulthood, a newer period of time utilized to adjust to adulthood. He feels obligated to new responsibilities because of his social clock, the pressure to perform a task when it is socially acceptable in this case the task of growing up; as a result he uses defense mechanisms including repression, the pushing of…

1. There are 3 types of neurons. Motor, sensory, and Interneurons. The main parts of the neuron are dendrites, the soma, the axon, the axon terminal, the synapse, and the myelin sheath. The dendrites are branch like bushy extensions that receive the information and conduct impulses towards the cell body. The soma, or cell body, makes sense of the information and works It out. It also triggers the action potential and all or nothing response. The axon is a neuron’s extension that sends messages…

The cerebellum, on the other hand, is involved in controlling movements through coordination, precision, and accurate timing of movement. Unlike the basal ganglia, it does not directly initiate or suppress movement but works by influencing movements by modifying activity patterns of the upper motor neurons. The cerebellum receives its input from the spinal cord in form of mossy fibers that project from the pons and spinocerebellar pathways. Mossy fibers contribute the information necessary for…

Out of all the approaches to psychology, the biological approach uses the most scientific explanation for human behavior. According to Aidan Sammons, “The things people think and feel, say and do are caused, one way or another, by electrochemical events occurring within and between the neurons, that make up their nervous system, particularly those in the brain.” (p. 1) This is the basis of the biological approach. Psychologists favoring this approach believe that all human behavior is linked,…