Mental disorders have been puzzling doctors since 1100 B.C. Schizophrenia has been discovered for over 100 years and doctors are still questioning the reason behind it. By definition schizophrenia is a brain disorder that often makes it difficult to distinguish what is real and unreal, to think clearly, manage emotions, relate to others, and function normally. Someone with schizophrenia may wonder why they have it, the doctors believe it is a mixture of genetics, brain chemistry, and environment. Dopamine and Glutamate are two natural occurring brain chemicals that for someone without schizophrenia work properly and cause no problems. Dopamine and Glutamate are responsible for memory and learning. For someone with schizophrenia their are problems with these neurotransmitters connecting in the right places. During a study of a schizophrenic brain compared to a normal brain there were only a few differences, but these few differences causes major problems. Looking at a schizophrenic brain, the ventricles- little spaces in the brain were much larger. The medial temporal lobes which deal with memory are smaller and the connections between cells. After death, a brain was studied and it showed structural differences from birth. It causes a lot of negatives and is really hard on the person and their family. Dealing with schizophrenia causes many hardships for the person. A person can either be born with it or can develop over time. Symptoms of this disorder include delusions, hallucinations, disordered speech, abnormal motor behavior or lack of personal care. This disorder can cause people to believe someone is trying to hurt them, they have made up friends, and see things that aren't there. In 2014, Oprah met with 11 year old Jani Schofield to see what life was like for her and her family as someone with schizophrenia. I remember watching this as a 12 year old not understanding what was really happening. I continued to watch because her life was just so interesting to learn about and was nothing like I have ever seen before. She was very violent and had many imaginary friends. Her mother felt unsafe living with her because Jani mentioned many times her voices were telling her to kill her brother. This mental disorder can be very dangerous and cause a hard impact on ones life. Overall, people who are not effected by mental disorders like schizophrenia are lucky. I know that If I had it life would be normal to me but as someone without it I couldn't imagine how I would be living like that.
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Have you ever experienced something in your life where you swear you have seen it before? Deja Vu is experienced by 60-80% of people some point in their life. So what exactly is it? Deja Vu is the feeling that one has lived through the present situation before. Some people view it as a paranormal thing, but most mainstream people believe it is a "precognition". It is more complicated that you may think so continue reading to see what it is and why you experience it. Deja Vu is one of the most complex things the brain does know to date. When you experience it, you feel like you have met these people or have completely been to a spot or experienced the exact same thing. You often feel confused because you know you have never seen or experienced this in your life, but for some reason it feels so familiar. An odd visual context triggers it along with spoken words. It is a physical feeling and not something you can pin point on a brain scan. People between the ages of 15 to 25 experience it the most than any other age group. Why? While it is not known, people who travel, remember dreams, have high education and hold strong liberal beliefs are most likely to have it. People in this age range are most likely students or recently graduated. Studies show that fatigue or stress can also trigger Deja Vu and it is most common experienced on weekends. Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and Deja Vu have the same sensations and is a neurological symptom. Patients before undergoing surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy offer mechanisms that relate to Deja Vu. This causes two circuits in the hippocampus to remember the present or experience Deja Vu. So why do we experience it for things that are truly so un familiar and why don't we experience it for everything we remember? There are so many theories as to why we experience it. Our brains are constantly working filtering our memories and we don't realize what is new until it stops working. Sensory inputs are mixed together as one event, and if one of those are out of synch, it can cause a feeling of familiarity due to new information sending those triggers. Is Deja Vu something to worry about? Not really. However, some cases can signal a problem. For it to be a problem patients must experience it a few times a month rather than a few times a year. If it is accompanied by abnormal dream like memories or scenes, or if you loose consciousness and have a feeling of fear. I know when I experience it, it feels so real. It feels real for everyone but I always try to put my finger on the exact reason or way I am seeing this again. I know I have never seen this before and I never end up coming with a reason. I think that it is one of the most interesting topics and one of the coolest/ oddest things our brain does. The what, where and why of Deja Vu remain unknown and any one theory could be the right one. Human behavior and interaction is studied upon so many different scientists across the world. One of the most talked about topics is are instincts learned or inherited. I know that when something is thrown at me I duck, as most likely you do to, but why do I do that? An instinct is an innate, typically fixed pattern of behavior in animals and humans to certain stimuli. Memory formation help us understand how instincts work due to it being the opposite of flexed learned behavior. A learning memory continuum with synaptic flexibility help us acquire skills and behavior. The continuum is adaptive which means that humans can acquire skills and behaviors over time. This brings up the point of evolution. Evolution of instincts are driven by natural selection which explains phylogenetic evolution. Phylogenetic evolution is the evolution of a genetically related group of organisms as distinguished from the development of the individual organism. DNA is the mechanism that mediates phylogenetic evolution, behaviors and instincts. You can also look at the less scientific explanation and see how other types of scientists view this topic. If you take to sociology approach, its big idea that causes scientists to have different views. There are a couple main arguments which are instincts inherited or learned. Many people often can't fully decide on which they agree on. I think that you are born with instincts but that they can change based on how you are raised and who you associate yourself with. It is puzzling because how does a spider know right when it is born know how to spin a web right away? Genetic memory is complex abilities and actual sophisticated knowledge inherited along with other more typical and commonly accepted physical and behavioral characteristics. Humans tend to think that being born with a brain is the blank hard drive, where as what we become and believe is an accumulation of experiences or things we learn. There is no exact explanation as to why we do what we do. It doesn't matter what side you are on regarding the inherited vs learned as long as you can see from both perspectives. I think that however you act in a certain situation is unique to you and that you were born with the foundation, but was able to learn upon experiences. Yawning has been a scientists study that has caused many questions. What really is a yawn? I'm sure you have heard some explanation before, but there is more too it than what you think.
If you have ever noticed before, during the winter months or in cold environments we tend to yawn more. A yawn is essentially creating a downward blood flow in the neck, face and head. The cool air taken in cools down the fluid causing the brain to cool down. In warm climates, we tend to not yawn as much because the air taken in wont do us any good. Andrew C. Gallup, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University conducted a test in Tuscon, Arizona one in 70 degree weather and one in 98 degrees. To prove this theory they asked 80 people to look at a picture of someone yawning in each degree. In 70 degrees, 24% of people yawned compared to the 45% that yawned in 98 degrees. Have you ever caught yourself yawning after you watched someone else yawn? What does this mean? Yawning after someone is still questioned by the scientific community, although we don't know exactly why its contagious, it is said that it is a form of communication. When we yawn, a lot of the time we are tired and bored, which sends that clue to others. People often take yawns as a personal attack because it shows they are bored and tired. Let's say you are in a business meeting and the room is really hot and you yawn. Your boss or co-workers may look and you and think "she/he doesn't want to be here, they are bored." Although this may be a case, a yawn doesn't just mean they are bored and tired. Yawning needs to be more accepted in public places and have less of a negative meaning. University of Geneva physician Adrian G. Guggisberg, MD believes that a yawn should have no social connotation as a negative impact. It is something that is uncontrollable, and should not be a sign or disrespect or disinterest. Next time you find yourself yawning, think about your social surroundings. Are you tired? Is the room hot? Or were you looking at someone yawning? Have you ever had a crazy dream where you want to tell people about it but just can't remember what it was? According to sleep.org we forget about 95-99 percent of our dreams.
During sleep, you go through 5 very different stages. Stages 1 and 2 are considered the "light" stages. Your body is beginning to fall asleep, but you can still be alert and woken up; this is where you would want to wake up after a power nap. Stage 3 and 4 is where you begin to develop a deep sleep. During these stages, your body is limp and muscles are repairing and your body is preparing for the next day. Stage 5 is where it starts to get more interesting. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is when your brain starts to become active and causes rapid eye movements, higher heart rate, and movements. This stage is critical for memory production and information processing. The Hippocampus is a part of the brain that controls memory. It is one of that last to go to sleep, which means it could be the last to wake. " So, you could have this window where you wake up with a dream in your short term memory, but since the hippocampus is not full awake yet, your brain is not able to keep that memory." stated Thomas Andrillon, a neuroscientist at Monash Univesity in Melbourne, Australia. The hippocampus is a giver. During some sleep cycles, it likes to give information to the cortex rather than keeping some for itself. This would be the reason we don't remember, because new information is not being received to the hippocampus. |
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