The Immature Brain Circuitry

The human brain contains specific neurochemical systems that create feelings in us. Over many studies, scientists

Love is an interesting mock trial of chemicals in the brain. Love’s mock trial of dopamine, phenylethylamine and oxytocin are all chemicals that are produced heavily in the first stages of when someone falls in love giving a person a sort of uplifted and euphoric feeling. The interesting piece to it is the chemical reactions start to lessen after time and the ‘high” is gone. This is one reason why scientists claim breakups, divorces, and other forms of separation is so very common. Now what if an imbalance in the chemical reaction countered or changed the brain in a way that the love never could faded? A possible imbalance between neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine cause a disorder known

For a long time, teenagers have been known for being foolish and not thinking through their actions. People once thought it was simply because of their personalities, but new research has proved that it’s actually because their brains aren’t fully developed. There are advantages and disadvantages to the teenage brain. A few disadvantages to the teenage brain is that the prefrontal cortex isn’t fully developed yet and they are wired to be independent. Some advantages to the teenage brain is: the brain is easy to reshape or mold into learning new things and they are more open to new, different things. Romeo and Juliet are partially responsible for their actions. Without the help of Friar Lawrence and the Nurse, they wouldn’t have been able to

Some say, to love is to be willing to die. Others say, to love is to be willing to do whatever a loved one asks. Barbara Fredrickson says love is neither of these. In her book, Fredrickson attempts to redefine love through the biological microscope. The author compiles a variety of studies and research data to prove her claim that love is the product of neural coupling, oxytocin in the brain, and the work of the vagus nerve. Fredrickson presents a well-rounded claim, but there are some deficiencies that hinder the strength of her argument. Fredrickson’s use of vague language throughout this excerpt causes the reader to call into question the validity of said studies. In addition, Fredrickson’s use of first person point of view is a clever

When we think of addiction, we think of drugs, alcohol, pills and things like that. However there is another form of addiction called love. Love addiction can be one of the hardest behaviors to break, because people that are experiencing it will not recognize it as a destructive, compulsive behavior that can affect your brain. In the text of “Watching New love as it sears the Brain” by Benedict Carey states, “As a relationship deepens, the brain scans suggest, the neural activity associated with romantic love alters slightly, and in some cases primes areas deep in the primitive brain that are involved in long -term attachment.” In the romance novel of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet both betrayed their families to become closer. As that

In the Article, “In the Brain, Romantic Love Is Basically an Addiction”, by Helen Fisher, both her and neuroscientists have proven that love is an addiction. Helen Fisher’s claim is love is an addiction. This is true because neuroscientists have proven brain activity in rejected lovers and that love can be as addicting as a drug. “Bianca Acevedo has found activity in the nucleus accumbens, the core brain factory associated with all addictions-in rejected lovers.” (paragraph 13) Bianca has found activity in the brain of rejected lovers.

When I saw the images of the normal and extremely neglected brain of those 3-year olds I could believe it. I knew that the love and care of a mother was important, but I had no idea it could have such a profound effect on the development of a babies brain. It really is amazing how something so small can have such a big effect on a child.

“In 2002 James Blair of the NIMH showed that they are not good at detecting emotions, especially fear, in another person’s voice. They also have trouble identifying fearful facial expressions” (Kiehl and Buckholtz 25). The paralimbic system is contain several interconnected brain regions that allow one’s brain can record feelings and sensations of others to help he or she recognize that emotional values. The regions are anterior cingulate, orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, posterior cingulate, insula, and temporal pole. These regions help to control one’s behavior. For example, In the Anterior cingulate regions, it provides empathy, affect, decision making, and cognitive control. People who their brain are damaged in the orbitofrontal cortex wouldn’t have the ability to

Neurobiologists would like to treat the brain as a machine, tinkering with its parts and seeing how they interact as a mechanic might with a car engine. This kind of treatment works in many ways: when neurobiologists act like car mechanics they often succeed in explaining how our mental spark plugs interact with our mental pistons, and thus can perform useful tune-ups on the brain, along with other practical achievements. But to fully understand the brain, we must admit that in certain respects it is a very unique sort of machine, and one which raises problems unsolvable by car mechanic strategies. Perhaps the most subtle and difficult of these problems is the question of free will.

Every day in our lives and everything we do involves some degree of decision making or choice selection either mental or physical. We start making choices and decisions from the moment we wake up everyday to the second we sleep. Some decisions we make are blatantly obvious to ourselves because of our need to reflect on the choices before choosing. However, most decisions we make throughout the day are made without much thought. We are even, quite often, unaware that we are making decisions due to habituation and preference. Before going further, we must define the terms free will, determinism and fate or destiny. Free will is the ability to choose. Furthermore, it is the power of making free choices that are

I enjoyed Sarah-Jayne Blakemore video “The mysterious workings of the adolescent brain.” What was interesting to me was how the girl’s grey matter volume in the peak of the prefrontal cortex of the brain happens earlier than the boys. The brain is an amazing organ. I found it to be funny, yet interesting when Michael missed a goal how he and the fans all put their hands on their head to express their disbelief or that oh my goodness moment if you will. And when you take a look at the other team fans everyone hands is up; expressing happiness that the goal was missed. As the video continues Ms. Blakemore goes on to talk about the limbic system. The limbic system is fascinating. As it depicts how one is feeling. The limbic system also plays a

Synaptic connections are signals that allow neurons (nerve cells) to connect and pass from one to the other, within the cerebral cortex of the brain. It allows the baby to develop color vision, pincer grasp, or a strong attachments with parents.

Does brain equal behavior? Some people have argued that they have difficulty saying it does because they find it hard to believe that our individual, tangible brain controls emotions that many consider to be intangible, such as being in love. This paper will discuss the role that the brain actually plays in love- why we are attracted to certain people, why we feel the way we do when we are around them, and whether or not this is enough to say that in the case of love, brain does equal behavior.

Chapter 2 is centered on the early attempts to identify the brain’s components of emotions. Key researchers that are discussed are a Cornell neuroanatomist, James Papez, and aforementioned physician and neuroscientist Paul MacLean, who worked at Yale and the National Institutes of Mental Health. Together, this pair of researchers conducted seminal medial temporal lobe lesion experiments. The resulting idea was that the emotional brain is composed of a set of interconnected structures in the core of the brain. MacLean dubbed these structures as the “limbic system”. The function of the limbic system and it relationship to emotion was widely debated by many researchers.

Brain development in the first two years is the most important and critical. Maria Montessori referred to this time as of the "absorbent mind" Early brain development is the frame work for the road ahead. When and how the brain develops in the first two years will play a critical role into adulthood. At birth, the brain is the only incomplete organ. The brain will continue to grow through childhood and adolescents.