Edward Thorndike
1. Explain Thorndike's puzzle-box experiment.
- Thorndike had a cat put in a trap box he himself constructed. In order to open it, the cat put inside the box was required to open a hatch and also to move a wire with its nose, and after they could reach. Thorndike discovered that the more times he put the cat inside the box, the faster the cats got out of the box. With this he theorized his law of effect.
2. Explain Thorndike's "Law of Effect".
-After doing the puzzle-box experiment, Thorndike theorized that when someone or something recieves a satisfying result after doing something, then he would do that thing again in order to recieve the result again.
3. Explain Thorndike's "Law of Exercise".
- The law states that when someone or something does something, and continues to do so, he/she/it will become better at doing it because of repetition.
miércoles, 1 de diciembre de 2010
Ivan Pavlov - John B. Watson
Ivan Pavlov:
1. What was Pavlov actually studying when he developed his theory of classical conditioning?
-He was trying to discover what was the function of saliva in digestion in organisms.
2. Explain (in detail) how Pavlov's experiment was conducted.
-Pavlov first operated the dogs he had by making the salivary glands salivate into a tube outside the body. He brought a plate of food without a stimulus, then the dog salivated when he saw food. After a few times doing that the dog started salivating even before the plate was presented, it salivated by hearing Pavlov bring the plate. The, Pavlov tried to make him stop hearing that by making noises with different objects. The dog then salivated when thee noises were related to food as well. Like this he discovered calssical conditioning.
3. Identify the conditioned stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned response from Pavlov's experiment.
-Conditioned Stimulus: It is a neutral stimulus that got to be conditioned.
-Unconditioned Stimulus: It is a stimulus without any stimulus or meaning.
-Conditional Response: It is a response that is obtained by a conditional stimulus, or unconditioned.
4. Explain what extinction means in relation to classical conditioning.
-It means that the once learned stimulus becomes forgotten due to lack of practice of it or the loss of importance of the stimulus.
5. Explain what stimulus generalization means in relation to classical conditioning.
- Stimulus generalization means that when someone has adapted to a stimulus, then it will apply its knowledge of a stimulus in similar ones as well.
6. Explain what stimulus discrimination means in relation to classical conditioning.
- It means that when someone has learned a stimulus, and is presented with another one that has similar meaning, then the person or animal can select the best or most meaningful.
7. Explain at least two limitations of this experiment.
-One is that Pavlov Used only dogs in his experiment, and the second one is that the dog's themselves had been operated in the salivary glands.
8. Explain what Pavlov theorized about how we learn.
-He theorized that we learned in the most basic way by linking things to meanings and by that it made it easier to us to know the meaning of something.
1. What was Pavlov actually studying when he developed his theory of classical conditioning?
-He was trying to discover what was the function of saliva in digestion in organisms.
2. Explain (in detail) how Pavlov's experiment was conducted.
-Pavlov first operated the dogs he had by making the salivary glands salivate into a tube outside the body. He brought a plate of food without a stimulus, then the dog salivated when he saw food. After a few times doing that the dog started salivating even before the plate was presented, it salivated by hearing Pavlov bring the plate. The, Pavlov tried to make him stop hearing that by making noises with different objects. The dog then salivated when thee noises were related to food as well. Like this he discovered calssical conditioning.
3. Identify the conditioned stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned response from Pavlov's experiment.
-Conditioned Stimulus: It is a neutral stimulus that got to be conditioned.
-Unconditioned Stimulus: It is a stimulus without any stimulus or meaning.
-Conditional Response: It is a response that is obtained by a conditional stimulus, or unconditioned.
4. Explain what extinction means in relation to classical conditioning.
-It means that the once learned stimulus becomes forgotten due to lack of practice of it or the loss of importance of the stimulus.
5. Explain what stimulus generalization means in relation to classical conditioning.
- Stimulus generalization means that when someone has adapted to a stimulus, then it will apply its knowledge of a stimulus in similar ones as well.
6. Explain what stimulus discrimination means in relation to classical conditioning.
- It means that when someone has learned a stimulus, and is presented with another one that has similar meaning, then the person or animal can select the best or most meaningful.
7. Explain at least two limitations of this experiment.
-One is that Pavlov Used only dogs in his experiment, and the second one is that the dog's themselves had been operated in the salivary glands.
8. Explain what Pavlov theorized about how we learn.
-He theorized that we learned in the most basic way by linking things to meanings and by that it made it easier to us to know the meaning of something.
martes, 2 de noviembre de 2010
Various Articles-Information of Sleep
Article 1- Science Daily:
Starting High School One Hour Later May Reduce Teen Traffic Accidents:
Starting High School One Hour Later May Reduce Teen Traffic Accidents:
This study was made in a county in Kansas in which the start times of School were shifted from earlier to later in order to see if this affected the time of hours of sleep of the students, and the amount of car crashes of teens. The study revealed that students that the percentage of students that recieved at least eight hours of sleep per weeknight, increased from 35.7 percent to 50 percent. As well the amount of students that got nine hours of sleep increased from 6.3 percent to 10.8 percent. The amount of car crashes of teen drivers recorded decreased about 16 percent compared to the last two years. All this is due to the amount of catch-up sleep that people owed, had decrased from 1.9 hours to 1.1 hours and that meaning that the amount of sleep they got affected directly on their preformance in the different tasks.
The second experiment was completley the opposite. The school starting hours where forwarded to one hour. The most radical factor in this study was the percentage of teen car crashes. From the low average of car crashes it grew astonishingly.
As a result, the scientists concluded that both social and biological factors make teens have shifts on the hours of sleep they have. Meaning that the lack or abundance of sleep caused the ups and downs of the car crash rates and amount of sleep.
For me, this kind of experiments show how people actually like to waste time instead of sleeping which means that these people are responsable about this car crashes. It is not as much as revealing to see this statistics because it can be expected to have more car crash rates with more sleepy citizens.
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Article 2- Science Daily:
Being A Night Owl In High School Is Linked With Lower College GPA
Directed by the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, the experiment preformed on normal high schools reported important facts. They wanted to prove if sleep could have influence in academic aspects on a person. The experiment tested different people´s GPA scores. These people were the evening-type students, the morning-type and the intermmediate-type. The scientists gathered data of their GPA´s from when they were on high school and then from when they went to college.
The results were worse than the scientists have thought. The evening-type got a lower GPA (2.84) at the firts year than their peers, the intermmediate and morning-type (3.18). This means that the evening-type got a drop of .98, which is quite shocking. All this is due, according to the scientists, to the loss of sleep hygiene in the transition between Highschool to college. Sleep Hygiene being the quality and the quantity of sleep that you get.
This study, for me, shows how much people can loose because of lack of sleep. These students can be highly affected on the amount of sleep they get. This is, yet, another reason of why sleeping is not important, but crucial to our organism.
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Article 3- Science Daily:
Performing Under Sleep Deprivation: Its In Your Genes
Sleep deprivation is not good at all, especially during weekdays clotted up with work, but how come some people can work comfortably with lack of sleep? Well early researches have discovered that your genes carry the sensitivity of lack of sleep in your body. The gene PERIOD3 can hav a short or long variant, this can make you have tendencies of an "owl" or a "lark". The people possesing the short variant have more capacity of learning with a bad night of sleep. The other with the long variant demonstrate worse learning capability compared to the ones with the short variant.
To counter the inequality of the variants, the genes have another role. The same people tested before were tested again, but this time on sleep efficiency. The people with the longer variance seem to have more Long-Wave sleep, or Rapid Eye Movement sleep (REM), which is the most important to develop properly. In change, the others with the short variance presented a little amount of REM sleep.
I interpret this data as a way to see how sleep can get to the bases of organisms, down to the Deoxyribonucleic acid of someone and practically to control people.
The second experiment was completley the opposite. The school starting hours where forwarded to one hour. The most radical factor in this study was the percentage of teen car crashes. From the low average of car crashes it grew astonishingly.
As a result, the scientists concluded that both social and biological factors make teens have shifts on the hours of sleep they have. Meaning that the lack or abundance of sleep caused the ups and downs of the car crash rates and amount of sleep.
For me, this kind of experiments show how people actually like to waste time instead of sleeping which means that these people are responsable about this car crashes. It is not as much as revealing to see this statistics because it can be expected to have more car crash rates with more sleepy citizens.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article 2- Science Daily:
Being A Night Owl In High School Is Linked With Lower College GPA
Directed by the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, the experiment preformed on normal high schools reported important facts. They wanted to prove if sleep could have influence in academic aspects on a person. The experiment tested different people´s GPA scores. These people were the evening-type students, the morning-type and the intermmediate-type. The scientists gathered data of their GPA´s from when they were on high school and then from when they went to college.
The results were worse than the scientists have thought. The evening-type got a lower GPA (2.84) at the firts year than their peers, the intermmediate and morning-type (3.18). This means that the evening-type got a drop of .98, which is quite shocking. All this is due, according to the scientists, to the loss of sleep hygiene in the transition between Highschool to college. Sleep Hygiene being the quality and the quantity of sleep that you get.
This study, for me, shows how much people can loose because of lack of sleep. These students can be highly affected on the amount of sleep they get. This is, yet, another reason of why sleeping is not important, but crucial to our organism.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article 3- Science Daily:
Performing Under Sleep Deprivation: Its In Your Genes
Sleep deprivation is not good at all, especially during weekdays clotted up with work, but how come some people can work comfortably with lack of sleep? Well early researches have discovered that your genes carry the sensitivity of lack of sleep in your body. The gene PERIOD3 can hav a short or long variant, this can make you have tendencies of an "owl" or a "lark". The people possesing the short variant have more capacity of learning with a bad night of sleep. The other with the long variant demonstrate worse learning capability compared to the ones with the short variant.
To counter the inequality of the variants, the genes have another role. The same people tested before were tested again, but this time on sleep efficiency. The people with the longer variance seem to have more Long-Wave sleep, or Rapid Eye Movement sleep (REM), which is the most important to develop properly. In change, the others with the short variance presented a little amount of REM sleep.
I interpret this data as a way to see how sleep can get to the bases of organisms, down to the Deoxyribonucleic acid of someone and practically to control people.
miércoles, 29 de septiembre de 2010
The Brain Going Through Puberty?
The human brain may be the most complicated object in planet Earth due to how it works involving its different parts and working in syncronization, but before this super machine becomes what it is expected to be, it undergoes certian changes during the "teenage" stage of an individual.
One of the most notable things in the teenage brain is the necessity of sleep in the body. A normal adult will need about 8 hours minimum of sleep per night, but in "adolescent" needs around 9.5 hours of sleep. Why so much difference? Well as well as infants need almost half a day of sleep in order to develop, as well does a teenager that uses the nine and a half hours to develop its body and especially the brain, and when the brain changes so does the attitude of an adolescent. The problem is that teenagers, by one or another reason, always feel distracted by somethng that keeps them from sleeping properly. That is why the people have put the "lazy" stereotype on adolescents.
Another Change in the brain is the constant mood changes they pass through. These occur because the brain of the teenagers can get more esaily stimulated and also because of their developement in the frontal lobe of the brain. In this area is where mood comes from, so when it is eign developed it tends to change and this causes the mood changes. During this period, and because of the same reason before stated, the person starts to develop his/her personality in a better manner.
One of the most notable things in the teenage brain is the necessity of sleep in the body. A normal adult will need about 8 hours minimum of sleep per night, but in "adolescent" needs around 9.5 hours of sleep. Why so much difference? Well as well as infants need almost half a day of sleep in order to develop, as well does a teenager that uses the nine and a half hours to develop its body and especially the brain, and when the brain changes so does the attitude of an adolescent. The problem is that teenagers, by one or another reason, always feel distracted by somethng that keeps them from sleeping properly. That is why the people have put the "lazy" stereotype on adolescents.
Another Change in the brain is the constant mood changes they pass through. These occur because the brain of the teenagers can get more esaily stimulated and also because of their developement in the frontal lobe of the brain. In this area is where mood comes from, so when it is eign developed it tends to change and this causes the mood changes. During this period, and because of the same reason before stated, the person starts to develop his/her personality in a better manner.
This image Shows how the brain develops Gray Matter through the years.
Notice that in the estimated points of 13 to 18 the brain is developing gray matter and from estimated point 19 to point 28 gray matter decrases rapidly.
That is because of puberty. So yes the brain goes through puberty as well.
miércoles, 22 de septiembre de 2010
How our Brain Works.
The brain works in different ways and even though it is one whole organ it has different parts that make it seem like it has more.
1. What does the word "hemisphere" refer to when talking about the brain?
-This means the the brain is divided into 2 equal pieces (like the hemispheres on earth) and also can be used to say that the brain is actually two parts connected.
2. What are the major differences between the left and right sides of the brain?
-They control the opposide side they are on, personality is developed depending on how much do you have from each side.
3. What is the corpus callasum?
- The corpus collasum (from latin "corpus"=body and "callasum"= thought) is a flat bundle of neural fiber that unites the right hemisphere to the left hemisphere of the brain.
4. Explain the study performed by Paul Broca in which he discovered "Broca's Area."
- Paul Broca had two patients in which he discovered their problems. One was Lebronge a man that had damage on the left part of the frontal lobe and could only say one "word and it was "tan" which meant that his speech ability was reduced. The other was Lelong which had similar problems but could say five words: "yes", "no", "three", "always", and a mispronunciation of his name, "lelo". He was also damaged in the same part of the brain as Lebronge so this part was called Broca´s area and it is the part that controls speech and the processing of words,
5. Explain the study conducted by Roger Sperry in regard to "split brain."
- Roger and other scientists had studied many patients like one they named J.W. he had a seizure when he was 16 and throuhout the yeas he started to get epillectic attacks and they dicovered that it was caused by a damaged corpus callosum. This damage caun cause disorder in your brain and that is what causes epilepsy.
6. Explain the study conducted by Karl Wernicke which led to the discovery of Wernicke's Area."
-Wernicke thought that bot only Broca´s area was responsible for language preoblems so he deided he would study a bit of it so after alot of reasearch he found that he was right the area that is a little bit to the right of Broca´s area is also responsible for speech, this beaing true because the two are from the frontal lobe.
7. Which lobe is most responsible for vision?
- It is the optical lobe which analyzes what your eyes see.
8. Which lobe is most responsible for hearing and language?
- It is the temporal lobe, and it decodifies the language for you.
9. Which lobe is most responsible for performing math calculations?
- The Parietal lobe.
10. Which lobe is most responsible for judgment, reasoning and impulse control?
- The Frontal lobe, which also controlls the mood and personality.
We can see that the brain works in independent ways and that because of that we are what we are now. Without that it would be different.
Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca%27s_area#Broca.27s_patients
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Wernicke
1. What does the word "hemisphere" refer to when talking about the brain?
-This means the the brain is divided into 2 equal pieces (like the hemispheres on earth) and also can be used to say that the brain is actually two parts connected.
2. What are the major differences between the left and right sides of the brain?
-They control the opposide side they are on, personality is developed depending on how much do you have from each side.
3. What is the corpus callasum?
- The corpus collasum (from latin "corpus"=body and "callasum"= thought) is a flat bundle of neural fiber that unites the right hemisphere to the left hemisphere of the brain.
4. Explain the study performed by Paul Broca in which he discovered "Broca's Area."
- Paul Broca had two patients in which he discovered their problems. One was Lebronge a man that had damage on the left part of the frontal lobe and could only say one "word and it was "tan" which meant that his speech ability was reduced. The other was Lelong which had similar problems but could say five words: "yes", "no", "three", "always", and a mispronunciation of his name, "lelo". He was also damaged in the same part of the brain as Lebronge so this part was called Broca´s area and it is the part that controls speech and the processing of words,
5. Explain the study conducted by Roger Sperry in regard to "split brain."
- Roger and other scientists had studied many patients like one they named J.W. he had a seizure when he was 16 and throuhout the yeas he started to get epillectic attacks and they dicovered that it was caused by a damaged corpus callosum. This damage caun cause disorder in your brain and that is what causes epilepsy.
6. Explain the study conducted by Karl Wernicke which led to the discovery of Wernicke's Area."
-Wernicke thought that bot only Broca´s area was responsible for language preoblems so he deided he would study a bit of it so after alot of reasearch he found that he was right the area that is a little bit to the right of Broca´s area is also responsible for speech, this beaing true because the two are from the frontal lobe.
7. Which lobe is most responsible for vision?
- It is the optical lobe which analyzes what your eyes see.
8. Which lobe is most responsible for hearing and language?
- It is the temporal lobe, and it decodifies the language for you.
9. Which lobe is most responsible for performing math calculations?
- The Parietal lobe.
10. Which lobe is most responsible for judgment, reasoning and impulse control?
- The Frontal lobe, which also controlls the mood and personality.
We can see that the brain works in independent ways and that because of that we are what we are now. Without that it would be different.
Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca%27s_area#Broca.27s_patients
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Wernicke
lunes, 20 de septiembre de 2010
Phineas Gage
Phineas Gage was a man with kind and sweet personality but after a terrible accident he totally changed physically and mentally. What could have caused that? Th following questions and answers are going to clear it all.
1. Who was Phineas Gage?
-Phineas gage was a man that worked on a railroad construction and that got hurt drastically.
2. Describe the event which caused his injury.
-On September 13, 1848, he was making an explosive hole by putting blasting powder and a detonator on a hole, then covering it with sand and finally compacting it with a iron rod, but that day he did not cover it with sand so a spark detonated the powder and the iron rod went into his cheekbone and got out by the top of his head, passing by his frontal lobe and damaging a great part of it.
3. What happened to him as a result of his injuries?
4. What did we learn about the brain based on this case study?
-We learned that the brain´s frontal lobe plays an important role in ones personality. Phineas Gage used to be a normal triumphant man but the damaged frontal lobe made him become an ugly person, but anyway it is not required to have an iron rod pass through your skull in order to become a bad person, you just have to have a big frontal lobe damage and you will become so.
5. Explain the idea of brain localization?
- Brain localization is the division of the brain in two parts; front and back. The two work on different places of the body, the back works on the senses and the front works on feelings and thinking, this separation is important because it secures the most important parts and mantains a stable environment in the body.
6. Explain the concept of brain lateralization?
1. Who was Phineas Gage?
-Phineas gage was a man that worked on a railroad construction and that got hurt drastically.
2. Describe the event which caused his injury.
-On September 13, 1848, he was making an explosive hole by putting blasting powder and a detonator on a hole, then covering it with sand and finally compacting it with a iron rod, but that day he did not cover it with sand so a spark detonated the powder and the iron rod went into his cheekbone and got out by the top of his head, passing by his frontal lobe and damaging a great part of it.
3. What happened to him as a result of his injuries?
-Amazingly and even though he got seriously damaged he survived and eventually could go back to life. There was one problem though, his attitude and personality changed. He became a social renegate and people hated him much and there was nothing here could be done.
Phineas Gage and the Iron Rod
4. What did we learn about the brain based on this case study?
-We learned that the brain´s frontal lobe plays an important role in ones personality. Phineas Gage used to be a normal triumphant man but the damaged frontal lobe made him become an ugly person, but anyway it is not required to have an iron rod pass through your skull in order to become a bad person, you just have to have a big frontal lobe damage and you will become so.
5. Explain the idea of brain localization?
- Brain localization is the division of the brain in two parts; front and back. The two work on different places of the body, the back works on the senses and the front works on feelings and thinking, this separation is important because it secures the most important parts and mantains a stable environment in the body.
6. Explain the concept of brain lateralization?
- This system is similar to localization but instead it is on th left and the right sides of the brain and each one controls the opposite side of each other (left lateral=right side and vice versa) and they control the unconciousness of the person.
The Lobes of the Brain
From this we can say that the damage in the localization part in Phineas Gage´s brain is what caused the cahnges in his attitude and personality.
Journal- Darwin and the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin was born in February,12 1809 was an Enlgish naturalist that postulated all the living species and its evolutionary line, called the natural selection. He came across this idea because he went in a voyage across the world and he saw the different species that he saw were adapted perfectly to its environment, so he thought that nature must select the stronger and kill the weak in order to mantain balance. This theory states that an animal will adapt to its surroundings or if not it will die, and the one that survives will evolve to make changes in its body to help himself to survive.
Darwin's theory of evolution in Men
Darwin had problems with publishing his ideas because of many things. First her wife was a devote christian and she disapproved it, second the church did not like this ideas so he was in trouble with them and was considered an anti/christian and in those times religion was put first and then science so his theory was not really famous.. He also was suffering in the family because one of her children, a girl, passed away and he was seeing her in his mind, so he got kind of crazy.
This was darwing as a young man
Darwin felt somehow anguished of the publication of this book, but because he was afraid of disaprvall and most of all, he thought that if it was published people would start to not belive in god so he would be in lot of trouble. Anaways, decades after it was published he is recognized nowadays a true scientist.
miércoles, 8 de septiembre de 2010
Nature+Nurture=Intelligence?
Nature and nurture are the both aspects on which humans or animals are raised and formed, and according of how much they recieve from each one their personalities will be formed. Various factors are affected by this, in this case I am going to talk about the intelligence being part of it. Intelligence is the capacity of anyone to have characteristics such as the capacities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, learning from past experiences, planning, and problem solving. The question is, are they nature or nurture?
Actually some abilites come in our unconciosness since we are born such as our instincts, understanding, learning, and problem solving. Others come from nurture like communication, learning from past experiences, and planning. So intelligence comes by both, but which one has the most influence on the intelligence of the person.
The genes write how much IQ or intelligence you have but you as a human can develop you capacity of abstract thinking in different ways. Every day we learn something new so that means that intelligence is in an equal balance with nature and nurture.
Actually some abilites come in our unconciosness since we are born such as our instincts, understanding, learning, and problem solving. Others come from nurture like communication, learning from past experiences, and planning. So intelligence comes by both, but which one has the most influence on the intelligence of the person.
The genes write how much IQ or intelligence you have but you as a human can develop you capacity of abstract thinking in different ways. Every day we learn something new so that means that intelligence is in an equal balance with nature and nurture.
lunes, 16 de agosto de 2010
What is Psychology?
What is Psycology?
Psycology is the study of the mind of thinking organisms and their behaviors. This is an important science because we can get to learn many things of humans. We can lean the why of some actions of people and we can get to treat them in order to prevent the same things occuring. Also with this we can try to cure people with mental diseases or problems. Another good aspect is with animals because animals can get to have strong bonds with people, so psychology can treat the pets or animals of people to get along better and treat problems like anger and nervousness.
Psycology is the study of the mind of thinking organisms and their behaviors. This is an important science because we can get to learn many things of humans. We can lean the why of some actions of people and we can get to treat them in order to prevent the same things occuring. Also with this we can try to cure people with mental diseases or problems. Another good aspect is with animals because animals can get to have strong bonds with people, so psychology can treat the pets or animals of people to get along better and treat problems like anger and nervousness.
People often feel that a psychologist can be the answer to their problems like depression or any mental breaksown people can have, so as you can see this field can be the answer to the people with traumas.
This guy is Wilhem Wundt with his colleagues in the first psychologycal lab of its type.
This picture explains the scale of nessecities of people.
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