THE TEENAGE BRAIN

During the past days we have been seeing a video about the teenage brain. It was very interesting and learned new things that I never imagined of. When you become a teenager your brain is not fully developed and it changes a lot through this time period, especially your frontal lobe. Some common behavior of teenagers are: believing that no one understands them, forgetting things they do not want to do, getting less sleep than needed, etc. Getting little sleep in your teen age years is very important for your whole body and specially your brain. During these years you need at least 9 hours of sleep a day. I believe this is really important because you act completely different when lacking sleep. Also, another thing that adolescents do is taking bad decisions or irresponsible decisions. Many teens in the United States suffer car accidents because of their bad decision making. The teens use another part of the brain to percept emotions in others. This is why they sometimes ask their parents that why are they angry when they are speaking totally normal. Adolescence is a time of high risk in which we can take decisions that can affect our entire life. This is why we should try to make the best decisions possible to get out of adolescence unharmed. In my opinion it is impressive how scientist could find all this differences between a teenager and an adults brain.

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THE BRAIN

1. What does the word "hemisphere" refer to when talking about the brain?

The brain is separated right through the middle in two different hemispheres, right and left. Each of these hemispheres are specialized for some behaviors.

2. What are the major differences between the left and right sides of the brain?

The left brain is more school like and the left side is more creative and emotional.

3. What is the corpus collasum?

A thick band of 200-250 million nerve fibers that helps the hemispheres communicate with each other.

4. Explain the study performed by Paul Broca in which he discovered "Broca's Area."

Paul Broca studied the brain of a speech impaired person after his death.

5. Explain the study conducted by Roger Sperry in regard to "split brain."

Sperry made experiments to people who had surgery to cut the corpus callosum. These experiments proved that it isolated information from reaching one hemisphere. The right brain dominates when there is no speech and the left when there is speech.

6. Explain the study conducted by Karl Wernicke which led to the discovery of Wernicke's Area."
Karl Wernicke studied people with aphasia that couldn’t comprehend language. He then saw that they had cerebral injuries in the Wernicke’s Area and because of this they had the language comprehension problem.

7. Which lobe is most responsible for vision?

The occipital lobe is the one in charge for visual perception.

8. Which lobe is most responsible for hearing and language?

The temporal lobe is responsible for hearing and language.

9. Which lobe is most responsible for performing math calculations?

The parietal lobe is responsible for performing math calculations.

10. Which lobe is most responsible for judgment, reasoning and impulse control?

The frontal lobe is responsible for judgment, reasoning and impulse control.



http://www.rhsmpsychology.com/Calendar/October.html



PHINEAS GAGE

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

1. Who was Phineas Gage?

Phineas Gage was born in 1823 I n Vermont and became a railroad construction worker. He is remember through history and psychology because he survived a bizarre accident that changed his life afterwards.

2. Describe the event which caused his injury.

While he was working on a railroad a tamping iron went under his left cheekbone and through the top of his head, landing about 30 yards behind him. Phineas was knocked over but did not lost his consciousness even though the front part of the left side of his brain was completely destroyed. Dr. Harlow treated him and he had a rapid recovery.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/case_study_20080521.shtml

3. What happened to him as a result of his injuries?

A couple of years after his injury he came back to work, but he had a strange change of personality. Before the accident he was a very good and nice person, efficient and had a well-balanced mind. After the accident he became irregular, rude, and grossly disrespectful, and showed little difference for its fellows.

 
4. What did we learn about the brain based on this case study?

We learned that the brain controls some attributes of people like personality. After part of his brain was destroyed Phineas became a mean and rude person that said what he thought without bothering if this comments would hurt the other person’s feelings.

5. Explain the idea of brain localization?

The idea of brain localization means that different parts of the brain carry out different kinds of functions and that not all parts of the brain do the same thing.

6. Explain the concept of brain lateralization?

Brain lateralization is that the left and right side of the brain can control many different aspects of behavior in different categories.

http://ninespv.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/left_right_brain_xp1.jpg

Sources: http://www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/psychology/gagepage/Pgstory.php

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/case_study_20080521.shtml

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

http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~bbrown/psyc1501/brain/loclat.htm

ATHLETIC ABILITY

To begin with, nature versus nature is a very controversial debate that has developed through the years. This is a term used in psychology related to whether heredity (nurture) or the environment (nature) most impact human psychological behavior. In my opinion, athletic ability uses a little bit of both, nurture and nature. You may be born with athletic characteristics and since a baby like playing soccer and other sports, which is my case. You can get your athletic ability by the environment in which you live in; if you live in a house where the rest of your family likes and does sports it is very probable that you are also going to like them. Also, I believe that with practice and perseverance you can become good at any sport you want.

 Some scientist believes that genetics shape us in many ways including our athletic ability. Genetics have a say on strength, muscle size, lung capacity, flexibility, and endurance. Some people are born with a more of these components and they will have a superior possibility of becoming better athletes. Your genes may also determine how your body responds to training, diet and other factors. Genetically gifted athletes will have a much greater response to training and will have more efficiency than others. Some new researches show that single-nucleotide polymorphisms might explain why some people can reach higher levels of performance and become better athletes. This is the first evidence that might indicate that genes can affect athletic ability. Future research on genetics affecting athletic ability can help people to know who haves and does not have the possibility of becoming a good athlete.

 Although there is some evidence that athletic ability can be affected by genetics; the environment also affects the athletic ability of a person. Nutrition and training can have a very important part in the career of an athlete. Many scientists think that “sport performance and sport expertise is entirely the result of hours spent in focused, effortful training rather than natural, inheritable traits.” Performance might be nothing more than a specific skill or psychological adaptation acquired through training. Athletic ability may also depend on when your training started in a specific sport. Another thing that might affect your athletic ability is how your parents and family feel toward sports, if they support them is very possible that you become god at them. Many examples of athletes that when born had many health complications make us believe that it is not the genetics of someone that make an athlete.


In conclusion, after doing my research I believe that nature and nurture both affect the athletic ability equally. You need both nature and nurture to become an excellent athlete and have a great career. Your genes, nutrition, training and many other aspects will make you a successful athlete. This as many other things in psychology has many theories and none of them can be proved so each and everyone opinions are in some way right and wrong. In my opinion nature affects in a 60% and nurture in a 40% because nature gives you your DNA which defines your muscle tissue, performance and efficiency. I really enjoyed researching about this topic because I would like to become a professional athlete and would like to know where do pro-players get their talent.

Sources: http://expertfootball.com/training/naturevsnurture.php


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-gene-for-athleticism-hl

http://www.sportsci.org/jour/0101/wghgene.htm

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/genetics.ht