Frontal lobe

engaged the brain is. For example, it is easier to check your phone while you’re eating rather than when you’re behind the wheel. Driving requires integration of various brain stimuli such as auditory, visual, need for motor skills and use of the frontal lobe for judgment and decision making, (livestrong website). In other words, driving in itself requires a lot from the brain processes and adding another thinking task (such as reading, typing, and keeping focus off of the road due to…

Jay does not feel very independent living with his mother. He has stated his interest in getting a job, however, his mother does not allow him to get a job because it will affect his eligibility for his disability benefits. It appears that he does not feel to have any personal control in making his own choices. This can be a reason in which his relationship with his mother is considered to be just “okay”. In a person’s life course, the past shapes the future. Transitions in one’s life can…

As previously learned in class, the definition of evolution is the change in variant frequencies in a population over time. The four forces that evolution acts on are mutations, gene flow, genetic drift, and natural selection. From an evolutionary psychology perspective, the physical structure of the brain has changed over time, thus allowing humans to develop complex behavioral patterns. When comparing brains with primates, humans have a larger and heavier brain. When compared to a…

As spirituality becomes an increasingly popular tool in the service of mental health, the efficacy of spirituality on positive mental health must be examined. The question arises, not just whether or not spirituality is effective, but also “why or why not?” As a skeptic of spiritual practice, I have been curious about the effectiveness as well as the perceived effectiveness, and how those compare. Understanding this issue will be important in discovering which aspects of spirituality can be…

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…

that are appropriate for their level of functioning. One study found that over-estimating overall functioning was correlated with atrophy of the bilateral right frontal and subcortical regions, including dorsal parts of the superior and middle frontal gyri, lateral and medial orbitofrontal gyri, orbital parts of the inferior and superior frontal gyri, right anterior insula, putamen, thalamus, and caudate, and pons and midbrain. They also found that underestimating functioning was correlated with…

Before the Supreme Court decision in 2005 to the ban the death penalty of juvenile offenders, 22 criminals were executed while under the age of eighteen. So, when given the topic of crime and punishment I was unsure of what I wanted to do with it, but after research on things similar to the first sentence I knew I wanted to do something with adolescence. After more in-depth research I decided on focusing on altering the severity of punishment. Consequently, the United States court system should…

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) in the midbrain contains DA; which contributes to reward evaluation. The neural linked to reward consists of the basal ganglia, the amygdala, and the hippocampus, as well as to cortical regions like the medial frontal lobe (Textbook). Costa, Tran, Turchi and Averbeck (2014) concluded that monkeys prefer a novel choice option to a familiar one when their DA transporter was blocked. The researchers also showed that DAT blockade led monkeys to assess and choose…

to his brain. Yet amazingly enough, he survived another 12 years, before he finally died May 21, 1860. Phineas Gage How many times have you wished you could take back something you said or did that profoundly affected your life? Because of the frontal lobe in your brain, you have the ability to choose your words and actions that associate with your emotions, but there was a man who could not. Phineas Gage was born July 9, 1823. He became a crew member of a railroad construction team in…

The damage brought to Gage’s frontal cortex had caused an inhibition in his social skills, resulting in inappropriate or altered behavior. Stated by his wife and other close friends, “He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity…manifesting but little deference…