The Human Brain, By Rita Levi Montalcini

David Dobbs in the Article “Beautiful Brains” proves the theme that it takes teenage brains longer to mature due to the recent change in impulsivity and adolescent behaviors.

The autobiography, Over My Head, by Claudia Osborn, gave a glimpse into the life of a former Doctor. The book started by giving insight into Claudia’s life including her challenging career, whom she spent her days with and how she used her free time. Based on the title of the book I was expecting her to suffer from a traumatic brain injury, but I had not anticipated her reaction to it. Although I was aware of some disorientation after the incident, and even some memory loss, I was unaware of her disorientation to the life she once knew. Initially, when Claudia did not realize she had any memory deficits, I was convinced it was due to denial. She was a doctor, I would have thought she would understand her injury and recognize that her injury was as severe as it truly was. Later on in the book, I realized that she was not completely in denial, but truly thought there was nothing truly wrong with her. This could possibly be due to her perspective that nothing bad would happen to her. Every one sees something bad happen whether it is a car accident, cancer, or a traumatic brain injury and they think, “ It won’t happen to me.” In Claudia’s case, it is an extremely frightening and frustrating situation.

Gould proves to his readers the amount of bias that is involved with some scientific discoveries such as Broca’s. Broca was a Physician, who lived from 1824 to 1880. He is most famously known for his realization of the importance in the frontal lobe of our brains, this part of our brain is now known as the Broca. Gould who was an evolutionary biologist, amongst other things, wrote a paper disproving Scientists previous study of women’s inferiority due to their smaller skulls.

She craved minimal stimulation as her brain on overloaded with sensory processing. In the beginning, she would have to sleep for six hours to allow herself twenty minutes of energy. As time passed, her energy level increased significantly. Furthermore, she needed a calm atmosphere that her mother was more than happy to provide for her. Taylor’s mother monitored the visitation time, the sound of the television, and picked up the ever-ringing phone. When she could not remember what something was, her mother facilitated creating the new memory. For example, Jill could not recall what “a tuna” actually was, so her mother made it for lunch to help her know. The mother was such a help, as she was integral in generating new sensory input such as color and puzzles. Since it was her brain’s left hemisphere that received the damage, reading and math were two exceptionally difficult feats. Taylor’s mother helped her along with learning these abstract concepts. After the surgery to remove the remnants of the arteriovenous malformation, she prepared herself to perform a presentation at a college. She watched the videotape of one of her past presentations repeatedly to help regain public speaking skills. Although she did not understand some of what she was saying, she taught herself the words and the pronunciations of the most difficult ones. She presented the information with success. Months after the stroke, she allowed herself to return to working at the Brain Bank. She began with online tasks, which turned into driving to the hospital a few days a week. Then she attended her 20 year high school reunion, which helped her relearn lost memories. After that, she made the decision to step down from being on the NAMI Board of Directors. She, with the help of her guitar, presented her short speech to over 2,000 members. One year after her stroke, she moved to her hometown. It was there that she was

Cognitive psychology is the study of the mind and how people think. It includes the examination of attention span, memory, and reasoning, along with other complex mental processes of the brain. Thomas DeBaggio focuses on the effect Alzheimer's has on his cognition, and how it is altering his ability to function in daily life. He describes memory as being “a mental stabilizer and without it the mind becomes chaotic and unstructured” (33). It is clear through the author’s inclusion of this perspective that the disease has a significant on not only his memories, but his perspective of life as well.

The mind is a fascinating concept. It has many mysteries that man has not been able to figure out. Lewis Thomas suggests that we should not try to figure out these mysteries. In “The Attic of the Brain,” Thomas compares an attic to the mind. He suggests that the mind stores things like an attic.

Part one of Oliver Sack’ book, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat”, is about losses. The impairment or incapacity of neurological function of those who have loss or lack some of the functions of their brain. Neurological impairments that categorize with loss of functions are loss of vision, speech, language, memory, dexterity, and identity. Some of the diseases or dysfunctions that classify these impairments are Aphonia, Aphemia, Aphasia, Alexia, Apraxia, Agnosia, amnesia, and Ataxia (Sacks 3). It was Paul Broca in 1861 who began the study of the relationship between the brain and mind when a patient case had damaged to the left hemisphere of the brain resulting in aphasia, loss of speech. It was due to this to which it paved the way

I've always wanted to attend college. For me it was always a question of where to go? And how I’d afford it? Rather than will I go? My dad, however, encouraged me to think about why I wanted to go to college. What was driving me? Was it because college was what everyone expected me to do? Or was it bigger than that? He told me that going to college just because all of my peers were going, wasn’t really a good reason. For a long time, I didn’t have a good answer to that question, other than I just love to learn. That was before I discovered neuroscience.

Learning to create music or a speech spontaneously is not an easy task. Any professional musician will say that improvisation is not as easy as just making it up as one goes along. In fact, the musicians that make improvisation look simple are the ones who have put in countless hours of time and study to make it look effortless. The Improvisational Brain by Amanda Martinez tells about a neuroscientist that studied the science behind how the brain works in order to improvise. In order to be able to be a good improviser, one must learn to shut down the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and let the creativity and skill take over. What about those that have limited ability? Should they learn to improvise as well? One would argue that it is not important to learn to improvise, whether it be music or otherwise. However, improvising can give a person a sense of freedom from the ordinary. “This notion of trying to tell your own story, without the constraints of caring how well it’s going as you’re saying it, was really pretty intriguing” (Martinez p. 7). Although many struggle being able to shut down the part of your brain that allows one to improvise, it is important to teach children and adults alike how to improvise because it teaches creativity, divergent thinking, and encourages better communication skills.

Whenever I think of my mother, I form a vivid image of what she’s like. She’s a woman of great size and blond hair with a degree in psychology, and possesses distinctive qualities that are not found in ordinary women. Whenever I think of her, various childhood memories flood my mind, the most prominent being when I

My interest in Neuroscience began with the exposure to learning brain structures and its functions, which increased the understanding the brain structures and its relation to behaviors of people. Ever since then, I had enjoyed learning about the brain, its function, and how it relates to behavior, emotion, and cognition. During my exposure to learning and cognition classes, I enjoyed learning about neurological disorders and impairments that affects the brain. I enjoy learning about the various neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders and its treatments. I am interested in the pediatric and geriatric neurological disorders and their impacts to cognitive functions and the skills needed to effectively treat and diagnose patients with acquired and developmental neurological disorders or impairments. Thus, I have become more interested in the field of Neuroscience during my undergraduate psychology degree.

I don’t know if it was the seizures that killed my dog or the headaches that stole a month of my life, but the inner workings of the brain have fascinated me ever since.

In an attempt to help solve the greatest mystery biologist have, which is how the brain works, Carl Zimmer volunteered to be a neurtoscientific guinea pig for Van Wedeen and his colleagues at the Marinos Center for Biomedical Imaging located on the Boston Harbor. Wedeen’s focus was on the brain’s wiring and was able to show Zimmer some of the circuitry important to language, also including other kinds of thoughts when Zimmer inquired about his brain imaging. I have to admit it made me wonder about my own wiring, along with my intellectually handicapped daughter’s and in awe of this technology.

The documentary was titled Mysteries of the Human Brain and was intended for teenagers or older. This documentary uses an advance vocabulary which younger people may not understand. The purpose of this documentary was to inform everybody about the brain. Before the documentary, I knew the brain was very complex, it controlled the body and kept us alive. I expected to learn how the brain functioned, how we perceive picture and how our brains can hold an endless amount of information. Someone once told me that when you're awake, your brain produces enough electricity to power a small lightbulb. How is this

What if I had chosen to keep speeding instead of slowing down when the police car came into view? This is a question I would not dare test myself, but it is an undeniable fact that as humans, we tend to ask ourselves that question every day. It may not pertain to a significant matter, in which case the answer becomes irrelevant. Sometimes, the “what if” question demands significant consideration, because of the possible ramifications it may have on your life. In Brain on Fire, by Susannah Cahalan, Susannah writes about the month and time thereafter in which she was diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. Susannah was fortunate have been diagnosed with that illness and I say that with a grain of salt. What if Susannah had not been accurately diagnosed? Had Susannah being diagnosed with schizophrenia, she might not even be alive today. Stepping away from that idea, though, let us assume she did live. If Susannah had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, her life would have never returned to normal. Understanding the importance of correctly diagnosing and treating diseases not yet well documented, having the necessary knowledge of NMDA receptors, and overcoming the stigma on mental illness are all keys to providing care and for patients to recover.