Through The Wormhole: Video Analysis

Individual’s assumptions greatly influence how one interpret and recall a particular happenings. Our memory system is a web of associations, & priming is the implicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences response

Psychology is an unavoidable aspect of life; we can observe it every day - from mental illness to the acquisition of language - everything we do, think, and feel is determined by our minds. What particularly interests me is the biological explanations behind human behaviour, and why certain neurological factors, such as biochemical abnormalities, can influence how an individual behaves. Through unravelling the complexities behind human behaviour, emotions, and thought, psychology attempts to solve many current problems we face today, such as the projected increase in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, through conducting life changing research. The opportunity to be involved in a field that so positively impacts people’s

I read the article, “Secrets of the Brain”, found in the February 2014 issue of National Geographic written by Carl Zimmer. I chose this subject because I have been fascinated with the brain and how it works. The research of the brain has been ongoing for many centuries now. The history in this article is interesting. It explained how scientists used to understand the brain and its inner workings. For example, “in the ancient world physicians believed that the brain was made of phlegm. Aristotle looked on it as a refrigerator, cooling of the fiery heart. From his time through the Renaissance, anatomists declared with great authority that our perceptions, emotions, reasoning, and actions were all the result of “animal spirits”—mysterious, unknowable vapors that swirled through cavities in our head and traveled through our bodies.” (Zimmer, p. 38)

Also, his aim which is to give a complete theory of human nature is way over-ambitious. Yet, this can be argued that cognitive psychology has identified unconscious processes, like our memory (Tulving, 1972), processing information (Bargh &Chartrand, 1999), and social psychology has shown the significance of implicit processing (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995). These findings have confirmed unconscious processes in human behaviour.

myriad of theories regarding the human mind and its inner workings, which have since fallen

Throughout the course of history, the phenomenon of psychology has drawn countless psychologists and scientists to further comprehend the depths and fascinations of the human mind and body. Using experimentation as a source of obtaining and recording desired information regarding the new realizations of the mind, cognitive scientists continue to fathom at the intricate revelations the mind has to offer. Although the complexities of the mind have brought scientists to puzzling conclusions, scientists have used a series of experimental steps to conclude how and why the processes of the brain can change the actions and personalities of an individual.

David Eagleman, a renowned neuroscientist, compiled massive amounts of complex psychological data into his easy to read book Incognito. The book is divided into different chapters each with a distinct topic about the brain, ranging from how biology influences behavior to how deceitful our senses can be. Each chapter contains many entertaining stories that explain a different side of each topic, some lighthearted and amusing while others dark and tragic. For example, his rendition of Mel Gibson’s drunken, anti-Semitic fumbling with a Jewish policeman helps explain the innate bias within us all, while his retelling of a brutal massacre show the effects of changes in the physical brain on behavior. His use of contemporary ideas and stories appeal to the young adult demographic and help foster complex ideas needed to succeed in the future. He explains that professionally ranked athletes are good at what they do through practice. They ingrain the intricate movements needed to win into their muscles, working autonomously, reacting to the ever changing field unconsciously. He conveys the golden truth that to become proficient, much time must be put into it.

According to Daniel Wegner, “It is simply common sense that the brain conducts business on it’s

Our brains create our mental state, we can think ourselves into a state of mind. For example, your body may be exhausted during exercise but if your brain keeps repeating that you can continue then you can force your body to carry on.

OCD is “a phrase that gets to the existential core of worry, a clenched, demonic doubting that overrides evidence, empiricism, plain common sense” (Slater234). The meme theory states that a meme consists of “everything that is passed from person to person” (Blackmore 37). In “Strange Creatures” by Susan Blackmore and “Who Holds the Clicker?” by Lauren Slater both authors discuss the control humans have over their minds. In “Who Holds the Clicker” Lauren Slater discusses DBS (deep brain simulation), which is a type of psychosurgery in which electrical impulses are sent to certain portions of the brain to control and change the emotions one feels. She discusses both the positive and negatives of deep brain simulation through a specific patient named Mario and also presents the control DBS can have over one’s mind. Similarly, Blackmore in “Strange Creatures” discusses the meme theory, which consists of any idea that is passed down from person to person. Both authors provide information that allows people to draw conclusions relating to why people do not have control over their minds. Even though some people believe that humans do have control over their minds, Blackmore and Slater both successfully portray that in actuality humans do not have any control over their minds because human thoughts and ideas are unoriginal products of external forces, many human thoughts occur at deeper level of consciousness, and

One of the experiments performed on patient H.M. is the star tracing test. Brenda Milner, a neuropsychologist, had H.M. trace a star between two parallel lines, where he could only see his drawing hand in a mirror. With every practice his performance improved (Figure 1), though he always denied having ever done the task before. This experiment led Dr. Milner to believe that there is a distinction between procedural memory and declarative memory, suggesting that the two are stored in dissimilar places.

Through his novel Minsdsight, Daniel J. Seigel, M.D., sheds light on the wonderfully rich sea within the minds of human beings. This sea is adorned with memories and dreams, thoughts and feelings, hopes and wishes, as well as sorrows, fears, and qualms. The turbulence caused by these sorrows, fears, and qualms have the power to create feelings of overwhelming sensations. In order to surmount this turbulence, Siegel has coined the term “mindsight” which is a “kind of focused attention that allows us to see the internal workings of our own minds” (ix). Siegel promotes mindsight by weaving the concepts of neuroplasticity and integration in Part I and Part II of his novel.

This weeks reading discussed the brain and many complicated factors that go along with it. The brain has been an important area of study for decades and there are many different perspectives when it comes to how it works. Brain imaging, like what is discussed in the reading provided by Dr. Gordon Rose entitled "Postcards From the Brain" has shown us more information about how the brain works, but it has also led to many perspectives related to how consciousness works, and hard versus easy problems in the brain. It debates whether hard problems even exist. Furthermore, the reading provided, also describes language in a baby's brain, how mimicry works, and disorders throughout human development. These sections all involve slightly different perspectives when it comes to how our mind works.

Throughout the ages, outstanding physicists, to the movies, to some of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, have pondered the idea of time-travel. The thought of actually being able to travel to another time or universe has long since enthralled, enveloped, and overwhelmed some of the greatest minds in the history of physics. No one person can actually prove any of their theories, but a few actually make sense. Meaning that they do not violate the laws of physics. One of the main theories suggested, are wormholes. Wormholes are considered to connect two regions of flat space-time, two universes, or two parts of the same universe. There is a lot of theoretical evidence that wormholes exist, with an equal amount of

This essay will be focused on two different approaches to cognitive psychology: Cognitive Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience. Cognitive Neuropsychology is concerned with the patterns of cognitive performance and emphasis on the cognitive effects of brain-damaged patients who suffered lesions, injuries or diseases, providing vest information on normal human cognition. (Eysenck and Keane 2015, p.5) Whereas cognitive neuroscience involves in-depth study of our brain and behaviours. As the brain contains numerous neurones and is so complicated, the cognitive neuroscience emphasis on the biological side of the brain and focuses on the lobes that are divided from the cerebral cortex.