Narcolepsy

This week in class we saw a video about a guy called
Mohamed. Mohamed was no average person; he had a rare case of narcolepsy.
According to http://www.medicinenet.com/narcolepsy/article.htm "Narcolepsy
is a chronic disease of the central nervous system. Excessive daytime
sleepiness (EDS) is the main symptom and is present in 100% of patients with
narcolepsy" The guy called Mohamed lived in an abnormal environment in
London. He would not leave his house because he would fall in a REM sleep anywhere
and at any time. He would suddenly just snap into a sleep for at least 50 times
a day. This is a hard way to live when your in your mid-forties. If I had this
opsered condition I would cry every day and live a miserable life. As Mohamed
did, I would not leave in my house or I would go out in a wheel chair to
prevent getting hurt when I fall asleep. I could also ask for help or look for
special people that could treat this problem. In conclusion in class this week
we saw a video about a guy called Mohamed. Mohamed was no average person; he
had a rare case of narcolepsy. This is no easy life; I wish I would not get it.

Dreaming

This week in class we saw a documentary about dreaming and about how dreaming affects our organization. Some of the information in the video I already knew but the rest was new to me. I learned about the stages of sleep and what their functions were. It was interesting to learn about how Dream could be warnings of fake events that help use prepare for our real life or real life accident that could affect use. Examples of this dreams that prepare us are nightmares. The make our brain look at these events and help use find a solution to the problem presented. Some things I knew were that dreams help use reorganize information, I also knew that were sleep lightly throughout the night but in different nieces. I kind of already knew about REM sleep, which stands for rapid eye movement. In this stage our brain sends out hormones that paralyze our whole body to prevent from moving or to prevent us from acting out our sleep. In conclusion this week in class we saw a documentary about dreaming and about how dreaming affects our organization. It was a very interesting and educational documentary.

Synesthesia

1. Synesthesia: is a neurologically-based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who report such experiences are known as synesthetes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

2. grapheme-color synesthesia: is a form of synesthesia in which an individual's perception of numbers and letters is associated with the experience of colors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapheme–color_synesthesia

3. ordinal-linguistic personification :  is a form of synesthesia in which ordered sequences, such as ordinal numbers, days, months and letters are associated with personalities

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinal_linguistic_personification

4. number-form synesthesia: is a mental map of numbers, which automatically and involuntarily appears whenever someone who experiences number-forms thinks of numbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia#Number_form_synesthesia

5. sound-color synesthesia: is "something like fireworks": voice, music, and assorted environmental sounds such as clattering dishes or dog barks trigger color and simple shapes that arise, move around, and then fade when the sound stimulus ends.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia#Sound_.E2.86.92_color_synesthesia

6. lexical-gustatory synesthesia: s one of the rarer forms of synesthesia, in which spoken or written words evoke vivid sensations of taste, sometimes including temperature and texture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical-gustatory_synesthesia

 Sy

Total Isolation

This week in class we saw a documentary on a group of six people who volunteered to undergo an experiment that included will make them go into a state of total isolation that will affect them I their metal abilities and in there normal day senses. Little did they know that they would be immune to sensory deprivation. This documentary we saw in class got me thinking that how would I react if I were on of those six people that when under that sensory deprivation experiment and experience. I concluded that I would be scared out of my head if  I could not move of see for more that an our, I could not imagine what it would feel like for them in 48 hours! I learned that sensory deprivation affects your senses and the way your whole body acts. I also believe that all of the people that underwent those experiences are very brave and helped the scientist with their knowledge of sensory deprivation. In conclusion, this week in class we saw a documentary on a group of six people who volunteered to undergo an experiment that included will make them go into a state of total isolation that will affect them I their metal abilities and in there normal day senses.

Mental Abilities: Genius, Savant and Autism

1. Explain in detail what "savant syndrome" means.

Savants are people who although they have serious mental or physical disability have quite remarkable talents. Savant syndrome is perhaps one of the most fascinating phenomena in the study of human differences and cognitive psychology.

(http://www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/drhiles/Savant%20Syndrome.htm)
2. What does genius mean?  Explain the difference between genius and savant.

GENIUS (noun)
  The noun GENIUS has 5 senses:

1. Someone who has exceptional intellectual ability and originality
2. Unusual mental ability
3. Someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
4. Exceptional creative ability
5. A natural talent

(http://www.audioenglish.net/dictionary/genius.htm)

When you’re a savant you have some kind of a handicap or some kind of a disability, and when you are a genius you don’t have a disability.
3. What is a stroke and how could it affect your mental functioning?

A Stroke is an acute medical emergency. Stroke (also called "Brain Attack") is a disease of the circulatory system caused by the rupturing or the blockage of an artery. Depending on where the rupture or blocked artery leads, this part of the brain does not get oxygen. This can result in permanent brain damage, disability and sometimes death.
(http://www.womensheart.org/content/stroke/what_is_a_stroke.asp)

4. What is a functional MRI and how does it help us understand brain activity?

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive medical test that helps physicians diagnose and treat medical conditions.

(http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=fmribrain)

5. What is the corpus callosum and what role does it play in your brain's activity?

The corpus callosum (Latin: tough body), also known as the colossal commissure, is a wide, flat bundle of neural fibers beneath the cortex in the eutherian brain at the longitudinal fissure. It connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres and facilitates interhemispheric communication. It is the largest white matter structure in the brain, consisting of 200–250 million contralateral axonal projections.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_callosum

6. What is epilepsy and how might it affect your brain's abilities?

Epilepsy is a brain disorder involving repeated, spontaneous seizures of any type. Seizures ("fits," convulsions) are episodes of disturbed brain function that cause changes in attention or behavior. They are caused by abnormally excited electrical signals in the brain.

http://www.righthealth.com/topic/What_Is_Epilepsy#ixzz1FsM1fAid

7. What is autism?

Autism is a severe developmental disorder that affects the way a child sees and interacts with the rest of the world. It limits their ability to interact with others socially, in fact many autism suffers avoid human contact.

http://www.autism-pdd.net/what-is-autism.html

8. What is Asperger's Syndrome?

Asperger syndrome or Asperger's syndrome or Asperger disorder ( /ˈɑspɚɡɚz/[1]) is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome

Savants

In this video we saw in class I learned a lot of things and was very impressed with some of them. Some of the things that impressed me was the guy that could memorize and knew the dates to all the days that earth hade ever had. He knew the exact day that any day of the world was; therefore he practically said the day that any event happened. This guy felt that the numbers here his friends and those they followed him. He clearly was a savant, but he had bad social skilled. He had trouble socializing. Many savants have great and extordanary abilities like knowing a lot of info, or reading fast, but they lack a lot more.

Chess

In this video we saw in class I learned a lot of things and was very impressed with some of them. It was very interesting to watch how the Russian lady could memorize the chess board and remember all the position of the chips. I was also impressed by the waiter that could memorize the orders of the table without writing a thing. What both the Russian chess playing lady and the Spanish waiter was that hey use the method of chunking, where they divided the information in chunks and them memorized it. This reduced the information for them and made it easier to memorize and remember for their designated areas. I wish I could do that so I could remember al of the answers and information to the tests I have trouble with.