Narcolepsy

     Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that affects the control of sleep and wakefulness. When someone suffers from this disorder, they tend to experience sudden sleep attacks throughout the day. They also have a great probability of suffering numerous symptoms. Some of these symptoms include cataplexy (loss of muscle tone and control), sleep paralysis (temporary inability to move) and excessive daytime sleepiness. What is less fortunate, is the fact that it cannot be controlled by the people who suffer it and doctors still do not know what causes this disorder. They think that Narcolepsy could be a genetic or biological disorder.
     This week, we saw a series of videos, that reflected the life of a narcolepsic. This man not only suffers narcolepsy, but he also experiences cataplexy, which is one of the various symptoms of narcolepsy. Suprisingly, when he experiences sudden sleep, he can still keep doing what he was doing while awake. He also has the necesity of taking precautions, because these attacks are sudden. In order to avoid severe injuries, he wears a helmet when he goes to the kitchen and uses protection. He tries not to be lazy or not interested, but his narcolepsy won't allow him to accomplish such thing. He usually feels fatigued, tired and experiences about sixty attacks per day.
     To conclude, Narcolepsy is a fatal disorder, which affects a person's quality of life. Usually people feel fatigue and tired. They are also unable to control or avoid attacks, because they are sudden. Finally, this disorder is usually accompanied by various symptoms, which can contribute to the fatality of this disorder.

PICTURE CITATION:

WinPump. Web. 31 Mar 2011. <http://gigasize-files.co.cc/?id=1379&q=narcolepsy>.

Sleep and Dreams...ZZZ

     Sleeping and dreams have been a topic that has caught many people's attention. Now days we have the ability to use technology and formulas that will actually provide more information on these topics. For instance, in Montreal mathematics is being used to record patterns and explain dreams. Scientists have also discovered that dreams help us learn in our sleep. How is this? Quite simply, through dreams we 'rehearse' stressful events, because in our dreams, we actually find a way to get our of a certain stressful situation. This eventually has led many to think that dreams help us survive. Through a dream, we are also able to see things more clearly and we think 'outside the box'. In addition to this, scientists have come to find that our Motivation System is active in our sleep. In other words, we do not use logic in our dreams. This fact contributes to an idea of why we dream. Finally, there are theories that many have come up with, but have not yet been tested.One of these theories, is that nightmares are inherited! To conclude, thanks to the new and advanced technology and formulas, scientists have come to uncover small things about dreams and sleep. As they discover more information, they also begin making their own theories, which could eventually be proven true or false, helping us find more about dreams and sleep. 

Facts on Dreams and Sleeping:

>one fifth of women's dreams involve sex, usually with celebrities.
>one sixth of men dream with their partners.
>three fourths of our dreams are bad!
>People with depression go directly to REM sleep. This is why they take REM off them as a cure for their depression.

PICTURE CITATION:

"dream-factory." JEFF JONES ILLUSTRATIONS. Web. 20 Mar 2011. <http://www.jeffjonesillustration.com/illustration/3/homepage/dream-factory/>.

Sensory DEPRIVATION and ISOLATION:

Imagine being alone, in a dark room with all of your senses deprived. Awful right? Well, believe it or not, this is a punishment that is used by various people for various reasons. This punishement is known as sensory deprivation (a very controversial topic among some people). Some of the people who use these are: military armies, Navy, and in general all of those people who want to punish a delinquent, terrorist, traitor, etc. The people who use this method, usually use it as an aid of interogation. 
Now... what does sensory deprivation and isolation do exactly? Quite simply, sensory deprivation goes deep into the human minds and/or brain by removing stimuli to one´s senses. This consequently causes emotional trauma, because in order for the brain to stay healthy and working adequately, it needs stimulation. It also has to do with coordination. 
To conclude, sensory deprivation and isolation is a method that removes stimuli to one´s sense and goes deep into the mind affecting them emotionally. This is used as an aid of interogation to those people who want to punish delincuents, terrorists and traitors. 

PICTURE CITATION:

"Number 4 – Sensory Deprivation Research Subject."Worst Jobs.com. Web. 6 Mar 2011. <http://www.worst-jobs.com/number-4-sensory-deprivation-research-subject-2.html>.

Mental Abilities: Genius, Savant and Autism

Savant Syndrome: This is a phenomena that is developed in those individuals who show mental and physical disability but still have great talents. After a variety of studies, the doctors have come to notice that savants usually obtain these extraordinary abilities, after they´ve suffered injuries to the left side of the brain (with right brain compensation). 


What is a Genius? What is the difference between an genius and a savant?
     Genius: (based on dictionary.reference.com) "an exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially asshown in creative and original work in science, art, music,etc". 
     The difference between a genius and a savant, is the fact that a genius has an intellectual ability, is creative and has high IQ, while savants have relatively low IQ and are skillfull in certain specific areas. 


What is a Stroke? How can it affect your mental functioning?
     Stroke: (based on dictionary.reference.com) "...a blockage or hemorrhage of a blood vessel leading to thebrain, causing inadequate oxygen supply...". 
     A stroke affect mental functioning by affecting the motor skills of the victim and also providing left and right brain damages. When a person is affected in the left area, they usually tend to develop difficulties when it comes to reading and speech. They also become cautious, slow to act and it shortens one´s attention. 


What is a functional MRI? How does it help us understand brain activity?
     Functional MRI: This is a medical test that physicians use to diagnose condition and consequently see the possible treatments to a condition one might suffer.
     The MRI help understand brain activity, because affter physicians run a series of tests and experiments you could say, they see which part of the brain is used through each experiment, giving them an idea on how the brain function normally. 


What is Epilepsy? How does it affect one´s brain abilities?
     Epilepsy: (based on dictionary.reference.com) "a disorder of the nervous system, characterized either by mild,episodic loss of attention or sleepiness (petit mal)  or by severeconvulsions with loss of consciousness (grand mal)". 
     Epilepsy kills brain cells as seizures start to appear, but scientist have found that individual seizures do not cause brain damage. (this is stated due to lack of scientific evidence). 


What is Autism?
     Autism: (based on dictionary.reference.com) "...developmental disorder of children,characterized by impaired communication, excessive rigidity,and emotional detachment". 


What is Asperger´s Syndrome? 
     Asperger´s Syndrome: This is a form of autism that provides anxiety and confusion due to the fact that this syndrome makes it difficult for one to interact with others and read simple signs. 

Synesthesia

SYNESTHESIA:

This word means joined(Syn) perception (aisthesis). This is a condition where the person who carries it has one sense which "is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses."

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Grapheme-color synesthetes: This is a type of Synesthesia where an individual perceives a certain color when it comes to observing any letter, word or number. Neuroimaging studies have shown that people who suffer from this condition have fusiform gyruses that appear to be bigger when it comes to volume and surface area of such brain area on both the left and right side.


Ordinal-linguistic personification: This is a type of Synesthesia where any word, number or letter a person experiences seems to have an animation such as gender and personality. Argue that neurodevelopemental basis share "unified underlying behavior". 

Number-form synesthesia: This is the type of synesthesia where an individual can see the numbers as diagrams in their heads. This allows for many who have this condition, and understand it to solve complex arithematic. Based on Mitternachtsblau, this condition provides great failure to the person who wants to solve these arithmatic problems on paper.
Sound-color Synesthesia: When a person hears a sound/music and in exchange experiences color, then this person suffers from sound-color synesthesia. Thes colors these people experience all depend on the type of music they are listening to.This synesthesia can be broken down into two distinct categories. The Narrow band and the Broad band.

Lexical-gustatory Synesthesia:Magnetic resonance imaging has proved to various neuroscientists that people who suffer from this, can actually taste words. Every time a certain word is given, they have a taste for it, just like number-form synesthesia sufferer experience different diagrams depending on the number that pops up. 

Accidental Genius?

    The third section of these set of videos, talks about accidental geniuses. These are geniuses that are known as savants. Why are they categorized by their amount of genius? Well, all of the people that appear in this video have amazing talents, which are almost impossible for any average person to obtain. For instance, George Wedener is a teen which has an amazing ability when it comes to calculating, Tommy McHugh is a great (compulsive) artist, George Widener is an individual that can tell you the day of the week of any past dates and   Kim Peek is a savant which has the ability of using both eyes to read two different pages at the same time and still memorizes books! 

     You might ask...What do all of these savants have in common? Well, all of these people have savant abilities because they have all suffered brain damages. George Widener has a diminute amount of autism as well as George Widener, Tommy McHugh became a great (compulsive) artist after suffering a stroke and Kim Peek was born with macrocephaly. 

             Finally, savants are also known for being "released from tyranny of the left hemisphere" of the brain. Scientists also believe that testosterone levels affect neurons, because they have come to find that a fetus has the same level of testosterone as an adult male. 

     To conclude, accidental genius are those who are savants. These savants have extraordinary abilities that have been consequence of brain damages these individuals suffer. These savants are also known for having brain structure differences due to these damages. 

PICTURE CITATION:

 "sa1." Degree Scout. Web. 27 Feb 2011. <http://www.degreescout.com/online-education-news/eleven-amazing-savants-show-the-power-of-the-human-brain>. 

Make me a Genius!

In this second section of the video, its producers talk about making genius. For this video, they interviewed and videotaped a famous chess champion known as Susan Polgar. They chose her, because her father, Laslo Polgar wanted to make his children genius. He got this idea from Mozart. Why Mozart? Well it is simple, based on studies, Mozart´s dad gave this gifted musician early musical knowledge and training.This led to Mozart´s great knowledge. Evidently, this was Laslo´s plan for his children. He even wrote a book about this plan of his. This book mentions that genius is made and not born with and that genius is the same as work with forunate circumstances. In order to make his children genius, he decided that they should be homeschooled, because he strongly believed that this benefited them more than school did. Susan´s love for chess and dedication made her greatly talented in this game. This was because she had to have willingness and this would make the rest easy. This was another contributor and probably the work combined with fortunate circumstance that her dad talked about in his book. 
     This video also mentions the differences between a girl´s thinking and a boy´s. Dr. Peter McLeod, carried out an experiment where he set some children to find the statue which is found in the middle of the Blenheim palace maze. This would mark the difference of thinking between genders. Over time, these psychologists have found out that boys have a mental map when it comes to figuring directions, while girls prefer thinking more logically. To prove this, psychologists experimented and found that the cortex is larger on the right side which contributes to a guy´s spacial awareness. On the other hand, the corpus colosum on the left side of the brain, which is in charge of reasoning, is more developed in the girl´s brain. 
     To conclude, based on Laslo Polgar, genius is made and not born with. Genius´variables are work and and fortunate circumstances. Psychologists have also found that boys and girls think differently. This affects how they solve situations. 

PICTURE BIBLIOGRAPHY:

"thinking-girl." Your Basic Geek. Web. 27 Feb 2011. <http://yourbasicgeek.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/how-to-impress-a-geek-guy/>.