In order to better understand the neurological complexity of the human brain, it is reasonable to first compare it to a similar organ, and according to Professor David Anderson, that is a fruit fly 's brain. As a neurological researcher at the Caltech David Anderson Lab, Professor Anderson claims that the human brain is much more complex than thought, but with the help of fruit fly experimentation, understanding the human brain is made simple. As guest speaker at the TED Conference, Anderson informs his audience of a common misconception with the human brain, a misconception he intends to disprove by using evidence from his fruit fly experimentations. David Anderson explains how fruit fly research is the missing link that will help …show more content…
Opening up his lecture, Professor Anderson immediately harnessed the crowds ' curiosity through his questions requiring crowd participation. He first asked the crowd to raise their hand if they had any family history of mental illnesses. Most of the attending listeners responded to his inquiry with their hands raised high, signaling Anderson to ask his next question. Secondly, Anderson asked if anyone could agree that fruit fly research would help further the understanding of mental illnesses and if so, they should keep their hand raised. Naturally, in response to his second question, the audiences ' hands went back down. The humorous contrast in the crowds ' response resulted in laughter within the audience, which allowed Anderson to smoothly transition to his next point. He continued to use rhetorical questioning throughout his speech as seen when he asked, "Can an organism like this teach us anything about emotion-like states? Do these organisms even have emotion-like states or are they just little digital robots?" (00:04:55). Comparing living fruit flies to inanimate robots is silly and not realistic; this obvious answer made clear to his listeners that there is a high chance that fruit fly research could benefit the understanding of the human mind. In continuation, Anderson used comparison and contrast to help explain his research and support his claim. Anderson first compared
In Allan Jones’s presentation, A Map of the Brain, he explains his current project and why is essential to the modern day. Jones first starts off by giving the audience some background information about the brain. He states that the brain is a complex organ that receives around twenty percent of the blood from our hearts as well as twenty percent of the oxygen from our lungs. Jones explains that the brain is essential to the body because it controls everything we do. Even though the brain is very complex, it does not mean that it is not organized and structured. In the past century, scientists have created a blue stain that stains neuron bodies. This showed scientists that neurons were unevenly distributed throughout the brain depending on
Have you ever been lost in a location foreign to you? Typically, a person who is lost will use a map to gather their bearings before heading off in the correct direction. A similar approach can be used to discuss recent brain mapping technology, the primary research of Dr. Allen Jones. Dr. Allen Jones is a brain research whose ultimate goal is to unveil a complete map of the human brain, using recent brain imaging and histological techniques. In his TED talk entitled, A Map of the Brain, Dr. Allen Jones discusses a brief overview of the anatomical structures of the brain, as well as, the methods and conclusions of his brain research.
Carol S. Dweck's article “Brainology – Transforming Student's Motivation to Learn” offers insights about student's mentality at school and why some students are better off than others. The article claims directly that students generally have two mindsets when it comes to learning; one is “fixed mindset,” a negative trait, and the other is “growth mindset,” a positive trait. Both of these traits contradict each other in terms of meaning. These two mindsets impact students on whether or not they will be successful on their academic road. In “Brainology – Transforming Student's Motivation to Learn,” Dweck explains how these two traits influence the outcome of having one of these two mindsets through
“The Human Brain”, by myPerspectives, is an informative article that claims that the brain is a complex organ that is truly impressive. The brain is a key part of the central nervous system, that controls the entire body’s activities, to simple things such as breathing. These actions are fired through neurons, that quickly travel through the spinal cord. Surprisingly, the brain transmits these messages at an unimaginable rate, at 150 miles per hour, through 85 billion cells, called neurons. These neurons can form up to 10,000 synapses, or connections to each other. By itself, the brain can create billions of synapses, which change the structure of the brain every time new information is learned. However, there is still much that scientists
I started my education in Erie, Pennslyviana.I attend McDowell High. I would say that we were one of the richer schools were I live. I am going to talk about my first assignment Brainology. I thought it was very interesting and it thought me a lot about how some people have different mindsets.
In the article titled, “Secrets of the Brain” published in the February 2014 issue of National Geographic, we learn that there have been many advances in understanding the inner workings of our brains. One of the leading scentists, Van Weeden, is working hard to understand the connections that occur within our heads.
The subject of Steven Pinker’s book on how the mind works is the human brain. Steven Pinker studies the work of the human mind that have previously been not intensively studied by scientists in this manner. He has explained some of these functions in terms, which can prove to be life-changing for humans. Pinker does so by drawing on the evolutionary psychology of John Tooby and Leda Cosmides who are the pioneers of the discipline and worked to explore it. In this regard, he studies the mind concerning the neo Darwinist / adaptationist and the computational theory of mind. In his book on the working of the mind, Pinker talks about human emotions, visions, the meaning of life and even feminism.
When it comes to the topic of having a growth mindset, most of us will readily agree that students who are praised are motivated to learn. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of how they are praised. Whereas some are convinced that praising students for their intelligence will motivate them to learn, others maintain that encouraging them for their efforts has a better impact on their motivation.
In the excerpt “Right Brain Rising”, Daniel Pink tells his experience in depth detail of an intriguing brain scan beneficial both to his curious mind, and the world of science. He then goes on to inform readers of the two distinct halves resting in our skulls; following up with the past inferiority associated with the human right brain, thought to be due to years of evolution. After acknowledging the disproved theory, Pink delves into information pertaining to psychology’s six
For years, my father, a high school basketball and track and field coach has been telling my sister and I that athletes are superior students to non-athlete students. After reading this chapter in Ratey’s book, I believe that he may have been right. When Ratey compares the human brain to a muscle, the concept that exercise results in enhanced brain functioning makes sense. The quote from the text, “by pushing our bodies we push our brains” helped me realize that the two are not separate. Our brain, or our cognition is not a separate entity from our physicality.
Psychologists constantly offer new testable hypothesis to expand our knowledge on human behavior. This paper will include an analysis of a podcast and a research article. From this analysis, a hypothesis on birth order will be offered toward the end of this paper.
Reading minds is something that everyone at some time in their life wants to do. Now, with improved technology, we can. Scientists have started to study the mind of a fruit fly and what they have found is amazing. Scientists have stumbled upon a possible solution to figuring out the brain of a fly, and possibly the mind of a human. Using fluorescent molecules, researchers are “tagging” neurons in the brain of a fruit fly. After “tagging” the neurons in the brain, the flies are exposed to certain situations, like excessive heat. The scientists observe the behavior of the brain’s neurons as the fly is presented with the situation. The scientists are especially interested in a certain point of nervous contact. This point is called a synapses.
There is always a process or stages in which things works or grow. They starts from the beginning and gradually work itself through the correct transformation or process.
However, the most memorable thing I was able to see that day was the human brain. Looking at it, it didn’t look much different than models we had used in class. The student in charge of that section went over the fundamental parts of the brain, things I had studied for class. Though it was interesting, the moment that made it really real for me was the moment I was able to hold it. Holding it is my hand, the basic anatomy of the brain went away. I stood in an awed silence as I tried to imagine the things it had seen, had heard, the life it had lived. This was the motor to human existence. Though brains may look similar on the outside, on the inside they were so unique, so different, each like a snowflake, only ever occurring once. It was in that moment that I knew I wanted to learn all I could about this fascinating object that is the mind, unlock doors that had previously been closed, and leave the world a better place than I found it.
You live and you learn, from the moment that we breathe our first breath, we are assimilating and are acquiring information. Life changing and profound learning experiences happen before we can even speak, as children our learning process is grandiose. Harvard University published a series of summaries on Child development. One of these articles mentions that “The basic architecture of the brain is constructed through an ongoing process that begins before birth and continues into adulthood.” ("InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development," n.d.).