March 2012 Archives

I have a younger cousin, only a year old, whom really does entertain me quite a lot. It was very appealing to me while watching the video during lecture where the little boy with the screen in front of him and the car went by. I always play the game with him, which we now know as object permanence, by just simply ducking down below a table, and popping right back up, and he is just beside himself with laughter. No matter how many times or how long I would wait to pop back up from hiding behind the table, he still would just not be able to understand that I would keep popping back up. We also talked about children learning very quickly in lectures, such as the baby kicking its foot to move the toys above her head. Then the next time that she returns, she knows exactly what she has to do to get the toys to start moving, she doesn't have to start from ground zero. So what interests me referring to my little cousin and object permanence and cognitive development, it just surprises me that they can't learn about things like this when to us it really seems so simple, but at such a young age, well, before they hit age 7, they just don't understand it!

Homework can be a tricky thing. We've all had problems that we get stuck on and cannot figure out. Some people handle this situation in different ways. A common thing that people do when stuck on homework is just give up. This can be for a variety of reasons. They give up because they are just too frustrated to keep trying the same problem, they are lazy, or they do not feel like they are smart enough to figure it out. This last one I want to focus on. In the textbook it went into detail about this feeling of inferiority. When people have the preconceived notion that they will fail, they often will. This is because it is kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy. People who believe they will fail do not try as hard to find the answer because they think that it is futile anyways. I know for me that there have been times when I have wanted to give up on a problem but I keep looking for the answer and I seek advice and/or help and I always find the answer. The thing to remember is put best by Steve Jobs in this interview.

The point that he makes starting at about the 45 second mark is important to remember. Yes there are a lot of people who know more than you do, but that doesn't mean you are inferior to them; you just have to learn what they know.

And if all else fails....call 911.

We have all stayed up late flipping through channels and the only thing that is on are commercials to sell you this and that to lose weight. But do these pills, plans, or gadgets really work? While I have been a victim and fallen to the promise of "Do this for 30 days and it will change your life," I have had some success with products or plans. However, with lots of research, that tiny footnote at the bottom of the screen stating "Results Not Typical" is in fact true! It is much easier to get someone to spend $100 dollars on the hope of losing weight than it is to have them change their life in a way that leads to weight loss. The fact is, people will set their minds to something for a few days and then return to old habits which got them to being overweight in the first place. In order for these services to work, it is up to the person using them to determine the outcome. Just because you spend $49.99 on workout videos, doesn't mean you will magically fit into your jeans by Friday. Americans spend $40 billion dollars a year on weight loss products and services. Society factors play a role in why this industry is so huge. People have certain ideas about how they should look and the industry provides them with an infomercial that gives them hope that they themselves can look like a model. I know people that have had luck with such programs, but at what risk? I believe that the industry will continue to grow, but also support the increase in teens or young adults struggling with weight loss disorders and low self-esteem.

The internet is great. I'm sure many people can agree to this fact. It can be used for homework, research, blogging, shopping, and most commonly, social networking. Having that in mind, people are aware of online predators that use the web to deceive other people into a false transaction or some other worse scenario.

The artwork in this ad is fantastic: the colors are appealing and the pictures are detailed. The juxtaposition of the two pictures attempts to call out the harsh contrast of the pictures, and the emotional connotation of these pictures is highly increased. When looking at this ad, I first notice its appeal and the truth behind what the advertisers are implying- the internet is a dangerous place. The advertisers place their claim at the bottom right-hand corner. This is effective because it doesn't take away from the art, but is likely to be read after people examine the picture and wonder what it's all about.

It might be hard to tell, but this advertisement is promoting an internet protection plan that helps avoid scams and such. They use several fallacies including emotional appeal, juxtaposition, scare tactic, and slippery slope. Being aware of this, I am curious to know exactly what this company offers. This makes me wonder how I would promote a malware and internet protection product. It seems that a play on emotion is fairly effective.

The most interesting part of BBC's The Secret You in my opinion was the self awareness/ mirror experiment. In this experiment, a red mark is placed somewhere on a baby's face. The baby is then placed in front of a mirror. IF he is self aware, he will move to touch his own face and investigate the mark. I learned that only humans older than about twenty months and chimps pass this test.
I once did an experiment with the cat in which I held him in front of a mirror to see what his reaction would be. The result? Nothing. He did not react as if seeing another cat nor did he act as if he recognized himself. I'm not sure that he recognized that the image in front of him was even different than the rest of the wall. Young babies in front of mirrors react similarly: the 16 month old baby did not seem to even realize that the image in front of him (his reflection) represented another living creature. This brings me to the title of my blog post: What do cats and babies have in common? A lack of self awareness, that's what. This begets a whole other list of questions. Without being self aware, what do cats and babies think about all day? Do they think? How do they think without language? It is questions such as these that I wish our class explored more in depth.

There are many ways in which a child can be raised in an atypical household. In this context, 'atypical' would be anything that isn't the nuclear family which is the familiar unit consisting of two parents and their children. This includes anything from being raised by a single mother, a single father and even parents of the same sex. It wasn't surprising to me that being raised in a household with parents of the same sex did not impact a child's development. Especially since each person in most same-sex couples still contributes to different aspects of parenting just as they would if they were both of the opposite sex. I was surprised to read that the children of widows showed no higher rates of developmental problems than children from two-parent households, even though children of mothers who have been divorced, or separated, do. Whether this is causal or correlational cannot be determined. One reason that I believe this may be the case, though, is because some couples that divorce or separate have familiar troubles long before the separation. This, in turn, may affect the child's behavior by viewing the parents'. My biggest question in this matter is whether or not the influence of having a "nontraditional" family plays a correlational role or causative role in the child's development. Are parents that have had or do have emotional or behavioral problems more like to divorce, therefore passing those genes on to their kids? Or does the divorce, itself, cause the child to display those problems?

It has been observed that Eastern cultures demonstrate a more holistic cognitive style, whereas Western cultures exhibit a more analytic cognitive style. What stroke me the most was the further examination of brain's development based on analytic-holistic thinking. Results clearly indicated the more developed left-brain associated with Eastern culture holistic thinking, while the left brain's analytical way of thinking indicated among those subjects with Western cultures analytical thinking. Therefore, as the world is flattening with more and more cross-culture communication and business, the best approach to thrive in the global community is to think with a whole brain.
As a prospective dental student, I recently noticed emerging evidence of today's scholarly articles indicating the strong links between oral health and the systemic complications. It seems that the holistic thinking and interdisciplinary studies will be more prominent in dental profession, which is very likely to further explain the classic idea "act locally, think globally" in today's dental practice. This area of study is also my interested area.
I believe further explorations regarding practical, comprehensive educating methods are needed to prepare today's students for the future global community. More than that, I would like to further take a look at how a more comprehensive thinking pattern can make a difference to improve people's ideas of diversity in their lives and professions.

With finals around the corner, working out problems for classes is becoming something that students are dealing with on a daily basis to stay ahead. While this may be the case getting stuck on that "one" problem is a common occurrence that I am sure we have all experienced. I recently had one of these moments where I was working on a physics problem and no matter what I tried or read in the book I just could not figure out the problem. So instead of giving up and quitting, I took a "step back", relaxed, had a drink of water and attacked the problem once again. This time I focused my energy not on the problem but the bigger picture and by taking that "step back" I was able to focus on what really was important in the problem and complete the problem with ease. Looking back at this experience it seems to me that when I take a "step back", relax for a minute, or drink some water I am able to (almost all the time) solve the problem. By doing one of these activities I am able interrupt my focus on the unnecessary information that my brain is processing and re-focus on the other parts of the problem that I had been missing. While this approach may not work for everyone, I suggest taking that "step back" and making the final push on the problems that you don't understand. In the end it may just help you to solve that problem and save your grade.

Playing professional sports is what many youngsters aspire to be when they grow up. Zack Greinke was fortunate enough to be one of the kids that made his dreams a reality. Currently pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers, Greinke brought a powerful arm to a team desperately in need of pitchers, and helped Milwaukee by going 16-6 and hurling 201 strikeouts. By looking at multiple intelligences, it's safe to conclude Greinke has impressive bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. On the other hand Greinke is very awkward with personal interaction, and has a hard time speaking with others. Greinke excels in bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, however lacks interpersonal and linguistic intelligence. After reading 9 chapters of our textbook, I found it interesting that instead of intelligence meaning one intellectual ability, the authors have split it up into multiple categories (8 categories for Howard Gardner, 3 for Robert Sternberg). Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and thinking logically, I would argue that the idea of multiple intelligences is extremely valid and relevant in comparison to intelligence being one category.

Recently I was working on a set of homework problems and couldn't figure out the last problem. I just didn't understand how to put the data into the equation I had. So after working on the problem for quite a long time I called a friend and asked her how she did the problem. She pointed out that I was using the wrong equation. Looking back over the problem it seemed so obvious. As we've talking about before I had hindsight bias when I was thinking that however, it should have been easier than I made it. I was so stuck in my mental set of using a specific equation that I never even considered using a different equation. Oddly enough I can't think of how I could have avoided this. It almost seems like my professor wanted us to get stuck and be challenged! Is there something I could have done differently? Simply doing the problems backwards doesn't seem like it would always solve the problem of forming mental sets. My best guess would be to work with a group of people. It is far less likely that you would fall prey to the obstacles of problem solving if you work with other people. However, in group settings sometimes if one person makes a mistake it's easy to be blinded by it because of a group mentality. I feel like there are pros and cons to the solution of working in a group to avoid making errors in problem solving.

In chapter 10, human development, human attachment is the emotional connection we share with those to whom we feel closest. These people protect us and give us food. This brings about a lot of questions in my mind. I'm wondering if attachment is possible, in children, to any adult-looking figure to whom they have never met? I understand this is from a movie, but in Big Daddy, the child that the "father" receives has only been told that this is father, knowing nothing else about him or never being around him. Throughout the whole movie, the child grows on him and would rather have "Sonny" as a father than the father Sonny fraudulently impersonated. I know that the bond between parents and their children lasts forever, but can there possibly be too much attachment? Does this develop children being "spoiled"? Where the child can't really do much on their own without their parents constant support and willingness to keep them close. I also wonder that when we students become adults and start our own families, we no longer rely on parents as much or at all, does attachment no longer exist?

It's perfectly safe to say that in today's egotistic culture, a heavy amount of the population takes great pride in their physical appearance. A combination of healthy exercise and a nutritional diet provides a stable basis for weight-loss and attaining the appealing look desired among many. However, there are individuals who resort to detrimental measures to lose excess body weight by putting themselves in grave danger. Eating disorders, with the main focus of this entry being on Bulimia Nervosa, are an extremely unsafe and unhealthy way to lose weight.

Bulimia Nervosa, known more commonly as simply Bulimia, is used by people who try to lose a lot of weight over a short period of time. It is an eating disorder associated with a pattern of bingeing - eating large amounts of food high in calories in brief periods, followed by purging - self- induced vomiting or frantic exercise to drastically reduce weight. A person bingeing can sometimes eat as much as 10,000 calories in a two-hour period!

So what effect does bulimia have emotionally on an individual? Those with bulimia report high levels of dissatisfaction with their body image, even when they're of normal weight. They tend to have low levels of self-esteem and vie for peer approval. Although bulimia has been experimentally shown to be influenced by genetic factors, it is undoubtedly influenced greatly by today's cultural expectations on the "ideal body" image. And who can blame anybody for wanting that perfect body when it's all anyone ever sees? Movies, television, advertisements; "beautiful" people are shown only with the ideal body. What many do not understand, however, is that an alteration of eating habits will not result in a healthy new image of your body. The damage can be devastating. So please, keep to a healthy diet and exercise regime, and keep that food down!

There are so many different ideas about how to raise children. Should you be stirict? Or how about lenient? Should you discuss everything with your kids and be an open book or should you keep things a secret and never let them know why you are making the decisions you are making? To me the style of parenting you use is like picking out a dog. I know, you are thinking this metaphor could never work but bear with me. There are many types of parenting styles in the world just like there are countless types of dogs. But which one is right? Not every dog is right for every person. Some people like big dogs and some like small. Some people want a low energy dog and some want a very active and playful one. So you have to do your research and find the dog that suits your personality just like you need to find a parenting style that fits your child. Some children tend to mature very quickly and would not thrive well in a tight leash and very closed off parenting style. They would quickly feel boxed in and lacking a great deal of independence and most likely respond poorly to his/her parents' wishes. On the contrary, there are those children that without a strict set of guidelines, they will fall into a lot of trouble. They need a tough parent to keep their head on straight; a parent that will not only keep them in line, but also will communicate to them as to why things are done the way they are. So when you start having kids, don't simply look at success/failure stories with your friends or in magazines. Get to know your kid first and tailor you parenting style to your own child. They will thank you for it later in life.

Something that caught my eye while reading about Kohlberg's three stages in moral reasoning was the second level: conventional morality. This level is mostly a focus on what society will think of you when making choices. Something is considered correct if society approves and exactly the opposite when something is considered wrong. To think in that way is too fixed. Society, realistically, is much more flexible then just right or wrong. Using the textbook's Heinz example, we can all probably agree that stealing is wrong. But the actual reasons for stealing are also important and should be considered more important than the act itself. The only reason Heinz would force himself to steal the drugs for his wife is because it was for the greater good. He even offered half the money to the doctor and promised to pay the rest later. But of course, the doctor refused thus forcing Heinz into the decision to steal. Then of course he would probably be charged for something in the court of law for stealing, but when that time comes, society will not vote to choose to punish a desperate man who only out of the act of love, stole to save his wife. But if the drug was something deadly and Heinz was about to pull a stunt of poisoning the water system and kill off thousands of people just so people will fear and respect him out of his mad and sadistic mind, then yes, this would then be considered morally wrong and insane. Society can be flexible and by just merely calling out if something is right or wrong is inefficient.

We're all pretty familiar with Alzheimer's disease or at least have heard about older people who have been diagnosed, but how much do we really know about it? I mean yes, it's is disorder that affects one's memory but what about the symptoms? Treatment? Cure? Allow me to enlighten your minds:

Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia that worsens over time affecting memory, thinking and behavior. It is the SIXTH leading cause of death in America with over four million Americans living with it in our world today! Two types of this Alzheimer's exist: Early onset AD and late onset. Early onset AD is not very common but usually shows symptoms BEFORE the age of sixty. Late onset is much more common and generally occurs AFTER the age of sixty.

Patients with this disease typically suffer from difficulties with language, memory, perception, personality and judgment. Early symptoms of AD can involve losing interest in once-enjoyed activities, getting lost on familiar roads, difficulty with finding the name for a familiar object, misplacing objects and change in personality. As this disorder worsens, the patient begins to lose his ability to take care of himself. His sleeping patterns change and he begins to find it difficult to perform basic tasks such as driving, cooking meals and dressing properly. He may also begin to forget events that occurred in his past life and start withdrawing from social interaction. In the most severe cases of AD, patients can no longer comprehend language, carry out simple actions like eating and bathing, or even recognize their own family members!

However, Alzheimer's disease can be treated and prevented. Medications can be taken to help slow the rate at which symptoms develop, and regular exercise, healthy eating, sufficient sleep, stress management and an active social lifestyle can significantly decrease one's risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in the future.

Source: Alzheimer's disease. (2011). A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001767/

Web design is a huge factor in our daily lives. Probably a larger factor than most of us realize. Everyone in this minute-by-minute world is online, using the internet, and experience the structure of websites. It's important to be aware of the psychological concepts behind a good design versus a poor one.

An example of web page improvement to Google and Facebook:

First, web designers take into account the psychological effects of color. They recall how blue tends to be calming, red ignites passion or drive, grey feels neutral and balanced, etc. They apply these colors to their website appropriately. The use of these colors will determine the length of a users time, how they feel when the open a page, and even how much they spend, if they website is selling something. Imagine opening Facebook and having a black screen with yellow text. Although, this would still be legible and an effective way of reading, it would not be efficient or comfortable. Users would not engage with Facebook nearly as often, because of how uncomfortable it made them.

Secondly, being aware of the web-sites target audience is an important aspect to be aware of. Obviously, reaching an audience of 9-12 years old is different than reaching an audience of 18-23 years old. Knowing more about the interests and mental abilities of the targeted audience will improve the experience of that user on the website. An example would be Nickelodean's www.nick.com versus Abc's www.abc.go.com.

Thirdly, perceptual sets would be used in a good web design. Understanding the way a person will perceive the website, what parts he will chunk together, the way he reads the pages (which is in a 'Z' formation), and the expectations a viewer already has of a website. The concept of perceptual set will create an efficient layout for a viewer. It is the most critical aspect of designing; it allows the important things to be noticed and the less important to be available, but not overwhelming.

Ultimately, if web designers ignored the psychological ideas and principles of perception, us users would be stuck with uncomfortable, mis-formulated layouts, that would hinder our ability to use the internet efficiently and happily.

--I found this article and chapter 4 of the textbook helpful in writing this blog entry. --

I am not aware how many people at my age (22) have been affected by drug addiction. The lecture that was given a few weeks ago by Professor Peterson really gave me some good insight as to how so many of my friends while I was growing up became addicted to drugs. As of right now, 7 people I regularly interacted with while growing up have lost their lives to drugs; while a good number of them are still to this day addicts or (on a better note) recovering addicts.
I never understood addiction from the scientific or psychological standpoint. Now that I do, I still have lingering questions of whether or not the emotional effects of the environment surrounding these people I care about could be a cause for the use of drugs in the first place. The question of whether the somewhat premature economy and environment in the state of Utah has something to do with the high rate of drug addiction that exists there is a question that is highly popular among many residents.
Drug addiction is something I feel strongly about simply because I believe it is important for us as the next generation to be aware of in times of economic turmoil. With all the stimulation that is formulated from technology and other changing environmental factors, our generation does feel and our children to come will feel a lot of pressure to be successful and turn our economy around. It is up to us to be educated, aware, move forward, and flourish in the rapidly changing world.
I have attached a URL to a video clip that was made about the astonishingly high drug addiction statistics in Utah. The man that started the process of making this movie and the organization that would follow the release of this movie was from my hometown and attended the same high school as me. He suffered from drug addiction and nearly died from overdose. His family was told he would be a vegetable if he survived. He has made full recovery and has dedicated his life to helping those with addiction problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUi-KUnsALc

As we all know as students here at the U, there are often many barriers to solving problems. From a difficult problem on a physics test to whether or not you should break up with your girlfriend/boyfriend you are constantly making decisions and solving problems. In these cases there are a handful of barriers that present themselves including salience of surface similarities, mental sets, and functional fixedness (p. 310). There are also a few other obstacles that may occur in problem solving including individual insecurity, past history, and jumping to conclusions. Attached is an image in which the objective is to connect all nine dots by only drawing four lines and without picking up the pencil. This is a classic example of how these barriers can come into play. Once you have solved the problem it may be easier to identify what the barriers are. For me, jumping to conclusions was a big obstacle in solving the problem. I figured that the lines I drew and to connect dot-to-dot as opposed to extending past the dots. This assumption made solving the problem much harder at first. Another barrier could be one's insecurity in solving problems involving logic and geometric arrangements. This could discourage them to even attempt the problem or cause them to give up quickly. There are many other obstacles that can occur with a problem such as this and everyone may experience different ones. It would be interesting to see how people's multiple intelligences (found in chapter 9) correlate with what barriers they have for solving problems.

What are the ingredients of having well-behaved, intelligent, socially expectable children? Most researchers along with most people would agree that having 2 parents that are still together, and who uses authoritative parenting styles would be the best way for a child to end up "normal." I agree that this probably helps the situation, however I don't think it's that clean-cut. Having a successful child has to do with a lot of other factors that can be incorporated into these ideas. What if the parents are still together but constantly fight? What if one parent is authoritative and the other is permissive? There are so many different environments that a child could possibly be raised in that I think it is nearly impossible to define how to raise a successful child.
My parents got divorced when I was young and I was raised by My Dad, so as an outsider one might see this as a more unique case and if they read our psychology book they might infer that I had behavior problems, and was more aggressive growing up, but this couldn't be farther from the truth. I have never been in a fight and rarely have gotten in trouble at school or with other adults. This is why I think it is kind of silly to say that a child will be "better" or "worse" by solely looking at the number of parents in their life. I think it has to do with how the parent or parents treat their child and the examples they set for their children.

While reviewing the basis of Lawrence Kohlberg's idea of reasoning processes, I found it pretty interesting how he scored his subjects. There was no "right" or "wrong" answer to his questions, instead he looked at how a person came to his or her final decision. This stuck out to me because there could have been any number of responses to a single question, pieced together from someone's ethical background, previous lived experiences, knowledge of societal acceptances, and personality. While thinking about these influences, I thought of a few questions that the book doesn't really answer. What types of cultures were involved in his experiment? We, as PSY 1001 students, know all about decision making and problem solving strategies by now, and could easily make the argument that how one person comes to his answer varies by what type of culture he or she hails from, through no fault of his own simply by how his culture raised him. Does that place him on a morally lower level than another person with the same answer, just a different method of how he achieved it? The other question was inferred from on page 396 about sex biased. Gilligan claims that women were destined to score lower because of their "caring" orientation rather than the male "justice" orientation. It just got me thinking about all of the possible answers people could come up with if they had an extreme personality, or if the question Kohlberg presented hit especially close to home with one individual, making them either more or less moral according to Kohlberg.

It is common knowledge that the bond between a mother (or primary caregiver) and child is important- but just how important is it?

Well, I was surprised when I stumbled upon an article describing attachment theory as the "first interactive love," and how this first love plays a major role in maintaining relationships in adulthood, maintaining emotional balance, and even the ability to simply enjoy being ourselves! Even the ability to 'bounce back' from any disappointment or misfortune is strongly influenced through attachment theory.

One might think, "okay, easy enough to make a baby feel loved, I mean... I'm all they've got, right?" Wrong! This article lists an abundance of ways for insecure attachment to take place. Some of the more obvious reasons include physical/sexual abuse, physical/emotional neglect, and separation from the primary caregiver. Other causes which may not be quite as obvious include traumatic experiences such as serious illness or accidents, maternal depression, and the clincher... young or inexperienced mothers (Teen Mom? 16 and Pregnant?)!

These findings give some extra credit to 'nurture' in the whole nature vs. nurture debate. Children of teen moms have a greater chance of becoming teen parents themselves in the future. Could it be because their childhood attachment was insecure? Possibly... but of course their are plenty of other factors.

A successful bond between mother and child is crucial in the future success of intimate adult relationships, and (although I'm sure this information is redundant and hopefully, obvious) don't think love and money are enough to raise a family... full mental development is a necessity!

As a student of business, I found it particularly interesting to write about the study of cross-cultural decision making tactics. It is said that in Western cultures, decisions are made much more rapidly and on impulse than in Eastern cultures. While Eastern cultures are generally more reserved to begin with, their every day culture is reflected in their corporate culture as well. What strikes me most about these findings is that people are people, but their ways of going about problems are drastically different and do tend to vary by regions. A manager in the US would be willing to seal a deal and fix a problem immediately and deal with the kinks and issues as they come. A manager in China however, would be much more hesitant to make any final decisions until all of the kinks were sorted out ensuring a smooth transition and solution to the initial problem.

Various approches to problem solving include algorithms - step by step procedures, or breaking up larger problems into smaller sub problems. The speeds at which these are implemented and executed at, however, can cause issues and glitches in cross-cultural operations as everyone is most comfortable moving at their own pace rather than at someone else's. Regardless, I know that to solve problems in whatever career I end up in, I will be able to use such tactics to solve the problem and move on. Algorithms especially seem to be right up my alley, but one burning question still eats at me at the end of the day. What happens if a business deal falls through because of miscommunicated solutions or discomfort among problem solving techniques because one group moved too fast or the other too slow. What happens then and how can cross-cultural business deals continue?

Many people, including many of ourselves, have experienced sleepwalking or have known someone who has sleptwalk. Although it is not like shown in the movies where a person in a zombie-like trance is walking around, it can still be very dangerous. People have been known to drive cars, turn on electronics, and well as make love to people when they are sleepwalking. But in the course of history, someone possibly committed murder while sleepwalking. The real question is, can this be justified and used as a valid arguement for legal defense. It almost seems too hard to falsify, and absolutely unethical enough to test. It seems like having a trial with defense like this could really complicate things where the court-room could end up at a standoff and obstacle. I wonder if this will ever pop up again in court, and if it does, i am very interested to see how it turns out.

When someone is asked a question, one usually responds back either verbally with spoken words or physically with a gesture such as a head nod. In as sense, if someone says "hi" back to a greeting or gives us a thumbs up to signify that things are okay, those things act as indicators, letting others know that they understood what is being conveyed.

These reactions, either verbally or physically, gives us a way to see or measure that the person being questioned is conscious, or having an awareness of the surrounding environment and their own existence, sensations, and thoughts.
However, this measurement is usually the only one we seem to think about when trying to figure out if a person is consciously aware. If a person did not respond either way, we would assume that the person did not possess consciousness.This week of class, I learned that a person does not need to say anything or even move any part of their body in order to be consciously aware.

Dr. Adrian Owen works with people who seem to be in a vegetable state who appear to have no conscious relationship with the world around, because they cannot talk or move to indicate that they are aware. Terri Schiavo came to my mind as I watched BBC Horizon: The Secret You. Terri was a woman who was categorized as a vegetable after her eating disorder which caused her heart to fail which led to severe brain damage. She was on and off life support for many years until it was "determined" that the only thing alive was her body. Prior efforts of her family members to persuade the government that Terri was still indeed there were of the blinks of her eyes that her family members say indicated that she was responding to questions. Unfortunately, these indicators were occasional and were found inconclusive. Terri Schiavo was taken off her respirator permanently.

So how do you actually know when someone is actually there, though even their outer body parts appear unresponsive. How can you tell that the person is there, alive? Modern science has shown indications of conscious awareness through mental imagery, the idea of doing something will activate certain parts of the brain. For example, a person who is in a vegetative state would be asked to imagine playing tennis. A certain part of the brain will light up (shown on the mental imagery), specifically the area that is in charge of preparing motor skills like moving the arms. Just as it would with the mental imagery of a healthy functioning person, it would show in the mental imagery of the person in the vegetative state if the person was still consciously aware. Terry Schiavo case could have ended differently if this technique was available in her time.

Alzheimer's is a very unforgiving disease that takes away a person's memory and mental function until the world that they live in no longer makes sense. A combination of genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors that build up and take effect over time are to blame for the tragic loss of brain cells and connections.

While there is no permanent treatment of Alzheimer's disease, there are ways to temporarily improve symptoms, maximize function, and maintain independence. It is also a good decision to seek social services and support networks. There is also no proven way to prevent Alzheimer's, but it is a good idea to stay active and do the same things as one would to prevent heart disease, as the two are believed to have many of the same factors.

As someone with Alzheimer's, things become more and more difficult to do. Even simple and mundane tasks become next to impossible after a while. The world becomes more and more nonsensical as it becomes harder to form complete thoughts and sentences and to understand those around them. It is also extremely heartbreaking for the loved ones of those experiencing Alzheimer's to watch them suffer from the incurable and irreversible disease.

Alzheimer's is a very unforgiving disease that takes away a person's memory and mental function until the world that they live in no longer makes sense. A combination of genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors that build up and take effect over time are to blame for the tragic loss of brain cells and connections.

While there is no permanent treatment of Alzheimer's disease, there are ways to temporarily improve symptoms, maximize function, and maintain independence. It is also a good decision to seek social services and support networks. There is also no proven way to prevent Alzheimer's, but it is a good idea to stay active and do the same things as one would to prevent heart disease, as the two are believed to have many of the same factors.

As someone with Alzheimer's, things become more and more difficult to do. Even simple and mundane tasks become next to impossible after a while. The world becomes more and more nonsensical as it becomes harder to form complete thoughts and sentences and to understand those around them. It is also extremely heartbreaking for the loved ones of those experiencing Alzheimer's to watch them suffer from the incurable and irreversible disease.

There are countless movies about memory loss and amnesia. From Jason Bourne to The Notebook viewers have been fascinated with the loss of memory. One movie in particular takes amnesia to the next level. In the 1987 film Overboard , a filthy rich housewife falls off her yacht and is found washed ashore only to have forgotten everything she knows about herself. Numerous media stations marvel at this interesting find and her pictures are posted everywhere posing the same question, "Who is this woman?" Her husband sees the news reports and decides not to go after her, instead he wants to live his life as a free man. What does happen is that a lowly carpenter, to whom the rich housewife owes money to, claims her as his wife so she may pay off her debt to him. He takes her home and begins reconstructing her memory, making her believe that she has 4 kids, lives in a dingy home and has questionable moral character. This is where psychology plays a role. The housewife knows something is not right but everyone is telling her the same thing. This is similar to Elizabeth F. Loftus' ideas on suggestibility and the malleability of memory. If the people around you whom you trust (or in the movies case, the only people you know) are all telling you the same thing you are eventually going to believe it. While I do believe this movie goes a little 'overboard' (pun intended) by romanticizing amnesia (at the end of the movie the carpenter and the housewife fall madly in love), in the real world amnesia is a much scarier and stressful thing. Our fascination with memory loss has led to numerous films and books about the subject, but has our fascination led us astray from reality? Have we forgotten the pain memory loss and caused from such things as Alzheimers and short term memory loss? Do you think our society is more obsessed with the romanticized version or the real world version?

When I was younger, we lived on a farm out in the country in rural Southeastern Minnesota. Neither my mom or dad worked on the farm but it was family owned and that is where I grew up. There was a plot of woods a half mile down the road from my house that my cousin and I always said we were going to run away to someday. This chunk of woods was huge and plentiful and would be the perfect spot for us to run away to because it is within walking distance and nobody would ever know we were there given the size and majestic qualities of this plot of woods. One day, my parents and I got into an argument about something I can't even remember so I decided to pack my things and make a run for the woods. To make a long story short, I got a huge lecture by my parents after this whole thing happened because they were worried about me and it was irresponsible of me. A couple years ago, though I brought this memory up to both my parents and they proceeded to tell me that the whole thing never happened. I never ran away from home and it must have been a dream. On top of that, I have since gone back to where that huge, majestic woodlot once was, and it was hardly a wood lot. You can almost see through the entire thing because it's only 50 feet wide, maybe. When I asked my dad what happened to it, he told me that's the way it always has been. Weird, I guess things are not how I imagined it when I was younger.

Alzheimer's is a disorder that has an impacts over five million families, including my own. My grandma was just recently diagnosed. She is in the early stages but some signs that I have noticed from her is forgetting names, asking the same questions multiple times, and having the same conversations over and over. "Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible degeneration of the brain that causes disruptions in memory, cognition, personality, and other functions that eventually leads to death from complete brain failure." There are a lot of risk factors that contribute to Alzheimer's. Age and genetics are the biggest. Most people diagnosed with Alzheimer's are over the age of 65. Most cases are because of age and some are caused by hereditary factors. This fact is hard for me to accept because that means that I have a heightened chance of getting Alzheimer's when I am older. According to the Alzheimer's Disease Research website the main ways to prevent Alzheimer's is diet, exercise, building brain reserves and social engagement, and high levels of estrogen. There is still no cure for Alzheimer's but there are many treatments patients can do and medications they can take. Therapy is one treatment offered for people with Alzheimer's. A few symptoms people with Alzheimer's will display include; confusion, disturbances in short-term memory, unexplained mood swings and more. For those who are diagnosed, they may experience depression, poor performance on cognitive tests, irritability, and memory loss.

Everyone knows of movies or books similar to Ground Hog Day where one person has to relive the same day over and over again. Some of us may have even fantasized about this occurrence happening to ourselves, but then soon after dismissing it, because it could never happen in real life. How could it? Well I'm here to tell you that it is possible though highly, highly improbable. Our readings from this week were about memory and one sickness that stems from memory loss is amnesia. Amnesia comes in two forms, retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia. Retrograde amnesia is the form used by Hollywood the most; it's when a person loses some or all of their memories of the past. Anterograde amnesia is when we lose the capacity to form new memories, and this is the form of amnesia that could produce our ability to relive a day over and over again. Now for this to happen it would take a world plague of some sort that attacks all or most of people's hippocampuses so that they suffer from anterograde amnesia. Though for some reason, the virus doesn't work on you. Now everyone, everyday is thinking it's the same day that the plague occurred, let's pretend it was ground hog day, except for you, your able to form new memories still and so know that it is not still ground hog day. This could very well be the cause of being able to live the same day over and over again. Truthfully, have you ever even considered this being able to happen in the real world? Well now you know it could happen, though the chances of it ever happening are astronomical.

The thought of a secret animal language has always enticed me. When I was very young, my parents had me convinced that at exactly midnight on Christmas morning, all animals could talk for one hour. I tried so hard to stay awake, to maybe catch the whispers of my beloved cat, but never quite managed it. Since then, the thought has never escaped my interest. I have been training horses and endurance racing my entire life and I even worked at a vet's office for about 5 years. Experience has taught me that if we are going to limit language to the definition of civilized, human speech, then no. Animals do not "talk". However, they do communicate and, with some patience, observance and training, they will communicate with you too. I've often found that animals tend to express emotions more than anything. If you know what to look for, it becomes incredibly easy to discern what a horse is feeling. Anger/fear is often the the most expressive and obvious emotion in animals and this is because it is a necessity from a survival standpoint. I grouped anger and fear together purposefully because oftentimes intense fear is what causes anger in animals. Everyone has heard of the basic instincts of "fight or flight" which are even more highly tuned in other animals then us humans. When an animal feels threatened or cornered or as if it's choice of flight is taken away, anger will emerge. Horses express this by pinning their ears to their head, elongating their neck and snapping their teeth at the source of their anger. They will also resort to kicking in extreme anger or rearing up on their hind legs in extreme fear. This is just a minuscule sample of what you can learn simply by observing animal behavior. Whether you classify it as language or not completely depends on your definition.

Birds singing, dogs barking, and humans talking are all forms of communication in the own right. Everyone recognizes human communication as having a distinct language in both spoken and written forms, but there arises a controversy when determining if animal communication can also be classified as their own language.

An interesting case is made for animal language when studying the vervet monkeys. These monkeys have alarm calls to alert the other monkeys when a predator is approaching. At first it was believed that the variety of the vocal call arose from the severity of fear the monkey exhibited. However, after further observation occurred, the realization was made that there were three distinctive calls that elicited three distinct actions by the other monkeys. The monkey would give one call when it saw a snake which prompted the other monkeys to stand on their hind legs to scan the ground. The next call sent the monkeys into the safety of the upper branches of trees when a leopard was spotted. Finally, if an eagle was seen by a monkey it would cling to the base of the tree out of sight. Each hiding spot was specific to the predator spotted. A common dialect and understanding is clearly present among these monkeys, so maybe the term "language" would be appropriate. I don't think grammar rules and symbols to express specific words are necessary for a language to exist.