Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz is a leading research psychiatrist at the University of California Los Angeles who is intrigued by the similarities in rhesus monkeys and individuals suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. By weaving together some of the most historic research studies in neuroscience through the frame of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Schwartz argues in The Mind & The Brain that adult brain is a plastic thing. Using groundbreaking research in the study of neuroplasticity, Schwartz works to inform individuals with brain disorders and injuries that it is possible to rewire the physical makeup of the brain.
Case Studies E.T. Rolls, an Oxford University behavioral physiologist, conducted a key experiment on rhesus monkeys. He and
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If acting without the cue of the light, the monkeys received nothing. Using electrodes implanted in their brains, Rolls and his team were able to monitor the activated sections of the brain. The orbital frontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for the directing and fine-tuning of complex behavior and planning, became stimulated when acting on the blue light signal. The orbital frontal cortex analyzes situations and determines the proper response. In a heathy brain, the orbital frontal cortex sorts stimuli, interpreting between normal and abnormal events. The system coordinates and regulates a proper response, calming the individual. After this finding, Rolls exchanged signals so that a green light would produce juice and a blue light would produce salt water, which the rhesus monkeys dislike. When the monkey participants, who had been conditioned for juice at …show more content…
For decades, the man lived constantly with dry, cracked hands, unable to stop his habits in spite of the pain. The compulsions to remove worrisome germs controlled his schedule so much so that his wife was threatening to divorce him when he came to the UCLA research study in 1987. He spent one year with Schwartz and his team, working with no avail. After a year with the program, his exhaustion and pain finally cause him to fight against the compulsions. He determined that he would rather die than live with the triggers. At that point, he stopped washing his hand more than necessary. Both James and the rhesus monkeys, eventually adapted their planning systems and, as a result, saw physical changes in the brain make up and response to triggers. The monkeys learned to expect black current juice at the sight of a green light. James was able to stabilize his fear and recognize when he did not need to wash his
Literary devices are used by Sandra Cisneros throughout the vignette “The Monkey Garden”, to highlight the mood of the piece. For instance, Cisneros uses personification to encompass feelings of mysticality when she says things disappeared in the Garden, “as if the garden itself ate them.”(95) Personification was used by Cisneros to plant Esperanza’s humanlike description of the garden, while creating a sense of mystery and enchantment in the reader. Similarly, Cisneros describes how the tree Esperanza was near “wouldn’t mind if she lay down” (97). In this section, the tree is personified as a friend Esperanza can lay with. The fictional and humanlike style that the situation is described in further accentuates the mystical mood Cisneros is
Scientists are on the brink of doing the unthinkable-replenishing the brains of people who have suffered strokes or head injuries to make them whole again. If that is not astonishing enough, they think they may be able to reverse paralysis. The door is at last open to lifting the terrifying sentence these disorders still decree-loss of physical function, cognitive skills, memory, and personality.
Throughout situations and research conducted by not only Robert Sapolsky or Jane Goodman, but from many other credited sources, we can blatantly see the, if not identical, similarities between the two species of humans and baboons. The most apparent likewise characteristics of this can be read and documented in Professor Sapolsky’s book, A Primate’s Memoirs. Sapolsky, who spent hundreds if not thousands, of hours studying these Savanna Baboons, sheds a vast insight into ideas of social dominance, mating strategies, instinctual prowess, community settings, hygiene, and reform of an entire generation; many of which can be unknowingly seen directly in the common occurrence of a humans daily life.
Even if optogenetics remains as purely a research tool and does not give rise to beneficial effects directly in our species, it has still offered humans an unparalleled look into the function and dysfunction of the nervous system. Optogenetics has been adopted in laboratories around the world and enabled scientists to increase or decrease the activity of exclusive brain expanses on command. Great insight has been obtained through the use of this research tool and a great deal more
As a Psychiatrist, they are to proficiently understand the function of the human mind to be able to penetrate into their patient’s thoughts and feelings. These medical doctors are required to spend approximately twelve years gaining a better insight into the complex structure of the brain. They are trained to understand how specific sections of the brain work together to achieve varieties of functions and how a mutation can cause a severe malfunction (Zorumski and Rubin). As a result of the years spent training, Psychiatrists are to differentiate and categorize physical and psychosomatic stress caused by chemical changes in the special parts of the brain. Psychiatrists are also trained to use neurotic technologies such as deep brain stimulation. Additionally, the medical doctors are equi...
There are automatic brain circuits which affect activities such as gambling (2). However, this challenges prior notions which say that people make conscious choices about their everyday decision making. If people can get themselves to work unconsciously, how does the brain really know what it must pay conscious attention to? Also, how did evolution create a brain that makes such distinctions? Experiments performed on animals and humans show that the brain has evolved to shape itself according to what it encounters in the external environment....
The widely popular research on mirror neurons and various applications of the research findings began with an important, but unexpected finding in the brains of macaque monkeys. The original studies did not intend to look at mirror neurons and in fact the existence of mirror neurons was found by accident. Neuroscientist Giacomo Rizzolatti and his colleagues found a group of cells that fired whenever a monkey prepared to act on a stimulus as well as when it watched another monkey act on the stimulus (Winerman, 2005). For example, the monkeys showed a similar pattern of activation when they were performing a simple motor action like grasping a peanut and when they watched another monkey perform the same action (Winerman, 2005). In other words, monkey see, monkey fire -- monkey do, monkey fire. This grouping of cells was called "mirror neurons." The ...
Randal initially sought a psychological assessment for the presenting problem of depression. He began by stating that he had been having a difficult time with simple tasks and was easily overwhelmed. After further questioning, Randal began to elaborate on some of the thoughts that occupied his time and led to difficulty concentrating. He was constantly absorbed in anxiety about himself, or his family, coming into contact with a microbial disease. This thought pattern led to him compulsively washing his hands, obsessively cleaning surfaces and doorknobs, and throwing out perfectly fine clothing due to fear of contamination. He went on to further state that he often avoided places due to anxiety about their cleanliness. Also, Randal explained that often just when thinking about dirt and germs, he would take a shower, as a result of feeling contaminated. When prompted, Randal intimated that this behavior has occurred for several years, but recently has begun to interrupt his day-to-day functioning.
Our earliest ancestors are primates. They are our closest relatives which is why we can see our behavior’s and practices in them. If we observe them we can get a better understanding of them and us, human beings. But unfortunately we all don’t get the chance to see a Primate right in our backdoor. So the best thing I could do for my observation was to visit them at the zoo.
Historically, cognitive psychology was unified by an approach based on an resemblance between the mind and a computer, (Eysenck and Keane, 2010). Cognitive neuroscientists argue convincingly that we need to study the brain while people engage in cognitive tasks. Clearly, the internal processes involved in human cognition occur in the brain, and several sophisticated ways of studying the brain in action, including various imaging techniques, now exist, (Sternberg and Wagner, 1999, page 34).Neuroscience studies how the activity of the brain is correlated with cognitive operations, (Eysenck and Keane, 2010). On the other hand, cognitive neuropsychologists believe that we can draw general conclusions about the way in which the intact mind and brain work from mainly studying the behaviour of neurological patients rather than their physiology, (McCarthy and Warrington, 1990).
The brain has four major lobes. The frontal lobe, the parietal lobe, the occipital lobe, and temporal lobe are responsible for all of the activities of the body, from seeing, hearing, tasting, to touching, moving, and even memory. After many years of debating, scientist presents what they called the localization issue, Garret explains how Fritsch and Hitzig studied dog with conforming observations, but the cases of Phineas Gage’s accident in 1848 and Paul Broca’s autopsy of a man brain in 1861 really grabbed the attention of an enthusiastic scientific community (Garret 2015 p.6)
...aid in diminishing these symptoms. By focusing specifically on his fear of germs throughout the treatment, Mandel will learn different ways to stop these thoughts from causing his daily routines to come to a halt.
There are at least 145 living species of the suborder Anthropoidea . Over 90% of them are monkeys. The remaining species are apes and humans. The anthropoids (members of the suborder Anthropoidea) have been the most successful primates in populating the earth. They are generally larger, more intelligent, and have more highly developed eyes than the prosimians.
Jhon B Watson, a behaviorist, conducted an experiment inspired by the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov to determinate the classical condition in humans. Little Albert experiment was conducted in a 9 month old baby whom a rat is showed to see his r...
Wilson, R. A. (1990). Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You & Your World. Tempe: New Falcon.