Teenage Brain Video

This video spoke of the teenage brain and how it reacts to events such as no sleep, sleep deprivation is something I can relate to. I usuallz go to bed around 10:30-11 after all my homework and studying. This means I only achieve 7 and a half hours of sleep every week day, when I am supposed to be getting 9 hours and a half. I am loosing 2 hours of sleep everyday that I should be getting becuase I have to wake up at 6:30 to be at school at 7:30. To change this I believe school should begin at a later time, 8:30 would be the best. Another thing I can relate to is a boy in the video said that his mother would yell at him for "choosing not to do it" because if he would have wanted to do it he would have done it at that instant. This same thing occurs with me, I forget to do things my parents ask me to do becuase I am not interested in doing them or I am occupied at the moment and trz to remember to do it at another instant, and they say it is becuase I dont do it right away and that I choose to forget.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQwHHrprtJ2qUC7bmzFp-CgkP6nwFnb5ulNPXpuvHWUAK3zht0XtGfMY6bOupwabtQ1nrws2PsNT9HIFKeTiKjCh6SukpAoQIqB3Fg5CFdjqG7uTHMaLKq9XuWlz7QGaAIPhWAHi96Oo/s1600/teen-brain.jpg

The Human Brain

The word hemisphere, when talking about the brain refers to the two sides of the brain, the right and the left.
The main differences with the right and the left side of the brain are many. The right processes information by seeing the big pictures first, not the details. It sees the big picture and then can process the details. However, the left side is the opposite to this. The left side processes information like a puzzle, it finds different pieces and links them up for the big picture.

It is a wide flat bundle of neural fibers beneath the cortex, this links the left and right hemispheres and aids in communication between the two.
Paul Broca studied the brains of aphsic patients, his first being a man nicknamed tan, who could not speak any other words but “tan”. He soon realized that “tan” had a lesion caused by syphilis in the left cerebral hemisphere. Paul concluded that this area important for speech production.
In the 1960’s there was no cure for people suffering a special kind of epilepsy than by cutting of the connection between the two hemispheres. The brain was split into two, each side could still learn but one had no idea what the other side had experienced.  

Karl Wernick discovered the “Wernicks Area” (the second area responsible for speech, the first is Broca’s), he did this by researching those people who had brain injuries that caused aphasia, just like Paul Broca.

The Optical lobe is responsible for vision, it is on the rear part of the brain.  

The temperal lobes are most responsible for hearing and language, there is one on each side just above the ears.
The frontal lobe is responsible for problem solving which would involve mathematics.

The Parietal lobe is responsible for all of this.

Sources:

http://web-us.com/brain/lrbrain.html

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Broca#Broca.27s_legacy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernicke's_area

http://library.thinkquest.org/J002391/functions.html

Phineas Gage

Phineas Gage was a construction worker on a rail road who is one of the earliest recorded victims who have suffered severe brain trauma. On 13th September, 1848, Gage and his crew were working on a rail road in Vermont for Rutland and Burlington. Gage was preparing for the explosion by compacting a bore with explosive powder and somehow the tamping iron lit a spark and caused an explosion that forced the tamping iron through his left cheek bone and came out through his skull andlaunched him 30 feet backwards. As a result of his injuries he suffered massive brain trauma but somehow minutes after the accident he was walking. Some people say he changed, not physically but he was not a good person to be around. It is believed that he lost social inhibitions, which often lead him to inappropriate behavior. What we learned about the brain is that no one knew that the brain could survive such a severe injury, now we do. We also learned where the brain has its “commanding points”, what each part of the brain controls. This is called brain localization. One part might control social skills the other mind control thoughts the other part might control decision making etc. The brain is separated into two hemispheres, the left and the right and this is called brain lateralization. There are theories that certain function are being lateralized and different parts contain different thoughts or actions.

         Sources:

 http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/12/04/the-incredible-case-of-phineas-gage/

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Phineas-Gage-Neurosciences-Most-Famous-Patient.html

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

Criminal Behavior: Nature or Nuture?

Nature vs. Nurture is a debate that has gone on for years and years. Many people argue that you are born with your certain characteristics for example, aggressiveness, social skills, athletic abilities or shyness etc. Other people agree that these are all causes of the environment you are put into when you grow up. That is my belief, when it comes to the topic of Criminal Behavior. If a child is born to be the smartest and kindest human being in the country, but he grows up in the ghetto where people are shot every day and he is witness to rape and mugging, it is highly unlikely he will fulfill to be the person he was born to be. Or if he was abused physically and sexually when he was growing up, he will probably not become a smart and kind person.

According to Dr. Lonnie Athens, professor at Seton Hall University, in the field of criminology, violent individuals have encountered certain events in their lives which have lead them to become that way. He lists them as, individuals who have been violently violated, threatened, tortured, or have watched other people in those circumstances; they learn to commit these acts and have been encouraged to proceed with them. He also believes they do this as a way to manipulate and gain respect by showing and performing violent acts. According to Dr. Lonnie Athens, research has shown that that juvenile criminal behavior has been linked much more closely to social factors rather than biological. This all includes the community the person is placed in, the family structure (If there is a father, if they get along well, are there continuo’s fights on and on). Fred Goodwin from George Washington University stated that one of the vital factors in juvenile delinquents is not just poverty and race, but the most vital is not having an active father in the house. Many people have researched this problem, have gone to juvenile detention centers and have asked many of them various questions to see what they all have in common. The majority of the ones who committed severe acts against the public, did not have an acting father in their home. But, many people also state that criminal acts are genetic as well. There is a certain case in Italy, where a man named Abdelmalek Bayout confessed to murder, and was sentenced nine years and two months in prison, the court then removed one year from his sentence because a psychiatric report had posted that he is prone to violent behavior if provoked. He was studied and result show that abnormalities in 5 genes were linked to violent behavior. If I were to take a guess, I would state that 95% of criminal behavior is linked to environmental causes, and 5% is linked to genetic.

In conclusion, criminal behavior can be caused by many things. The majority of these falling into the environmental category like those without an active father in the house, or those experiencing and or witnessing violent acts or have been treated violently. Then there is a small portion of criminal behavior that falls into genetic category like in Bayouts case. But the overall belief is that Criminal behavior is linked to environmental causes. But, what do you think would happen if both are found in a single individual?

http://www.newfu.info/images/counter%20piracy/handcuffs.jpg

http://www.brighthub.com/science/genetics/articles/55218.aspx

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/foundations_psychology/90977

http://www.corpus-delicti.com/motive_brain.jpg