The Teenage Brain

Watching the movie “The Teenage Brain”,I learned many things that I did not know. The video shows there is plenty of proof that shows that teenager over exercise their brains. Many tests show that the teenage brain at the late age of 17 or 18 still does not react the same way that an adult brain does. I would have thought that by the age of 18 your brain should react the same way that an adult brain reacts. It was interesting to find out that the brain still has a long way to go when one is still a teenager.

            Teenagers and adult brains react completely differently with different parts of their brain to the same stimuli. In an experiment done at Brown University there were a series of pictures shown to adults and teenagers and apparently the sample of teenagers saw fear, pain, disgust, sadness, and many other bad emotions while adults saw emotions that were not so radical and drastic.

            The correct amount of sleep time for a normal human being is about nine hours and twenty-five minutes per night, many teenagers are getting on average seven or less hours of sleep per night. Students are coming to school with less hours of sleep, therefore they are more tired and don’t use their brain to their maximum capacity. In my opinion these brains should be better treated and this video shows us different reasons why we should take care of out brain and different ways to do so.






http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://malaysia-tomorrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/sleep-deprived.jpg&imgrefurl=http://malaysia-tomorrow.com/sleep-deprivation/&usg=___Lqiqj7mpiZ5ZFRWkKFMXZ9QELA=&h=282&w=425&sz=30&hl=en&start=0&sig2=3zmI8pcNdDqeUm6tY2IGzw&zoom=1&tbnid=YWXtW7iBD9o6ZM:&tbnh=139&tbnw=214&ei=FJOiTPagG4jAsAPD8JH6Bg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dteenage%2Bbrains%2Bdeprived%2Bof%2Bsleep%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1436%26bih%3D723%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=607&vpy=86&dur=2174&hovh=183&hovw=276&tx=207&ty=106&oei=FJOiTPagG4jAsAPD8JH6Bg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0

Phineas Gage

Phineas Gage is one of the most famous persons to have survived severe damage to the brain.  He is the patient from who scientists learned about the relation between personality and the function of the front parts of the brain. He was the foreman of a crew cutting a railroad bed in Vermont.  He was using a tamping iron to push explosive powder into a hole, the powder exploted and it shot the 43 inch long and 1.25 inches in diameter tamping iron into Gage’s head. When it exploded it shot upward and penetrated his left cheek, it ripped into his brain and went out through his skull. He was blinded in one eye but he did not loose consciousness immediately. He was still conscious when he got to the doctor. After 10 weeks under the care of Dr Harlow, he returned home.

         It is said that before the accident Gage had been the most efficient foreman and was described as having a “well-balanced mind”. He then became ill-tempered, vulgar and was very disconsiderate. He was also stubborn, and never carried out plans that he made like he used to before. His friends said he came back as a different man. His case was the first to imply that there was a connection between brain trauma and personality changes.

         His case influenced discussion about the brain, especially about brain localization. Brain localization is the idea that every part of the brain is independently responsible for a different task or purpose. Brain lateralization is the idead that the brain is divided into 2 sections, right and left hemispheres and each one executes a different function. This idea helps us understand our behavior, personality, creativity.

http://www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/psychology/gagepage/Pgstory.php

 http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Phineas-Gage-Neurosciences-Most-Famous-Patient.html#ixzz10CE4l0Wz

http://www.theorderoftime.com/politics/cemetery/stout/h/brain-la.htm
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://joeltalks.com/web_images/phineas_gage_mcmillan.jpg&imgrefurl=http://joeltalks.com/index.php%3Fp%3D1_9&usg=__J93C_zP4cmJd7q8xLm1-t3lGcpw=&h=480&w=325&sz=60&hl=en&start=0&sig2=Aqq5QFHmpBBMjyHdbTUIVw&zoom=1&tbnid=MEdsnKq9GFrvPM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=92&ei=oy-ZTOrfCIW8lQeKh4zuDw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dphineas%2Bgage%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1436%26bih%3D723%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=121&vpy=77&dur=1897&hovh=273&hovw=185&tx=128&ty=166&oei=oy-ZTOrfCIW8lQeKh4zuDw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=37&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://brainmapping.unige.ch/res/Research/localizationexplained.png&imgrefurl=http://brainmapping.unige.ch/Sourcelocalization.htm&usg=__O0xfeBYvYHi6lVf_xEdj_1oH8Oc=&h=400&w=377&sz=139&hl=en&start=0&sig2=9hic7BayUUgsf8RlBp567w&zoom=1&tbnid=aK6wDvcSzN_ibM:&tbnh=145&tbnw=143&ei=EzCZTLLwDYGclgfdj6HuDw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbrain%2Blocalization%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1436%26bih%3D723%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1072&vpy=363&dur=1953&hovh=231&hovw=218&tx=128&ty=81&oei=EzCZTLLwDYGclgfdj6HuDw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:20,s:0
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://mathevents.tripod.com/brain.gif&imgrefurl=http://mathevents.tripod.com/mathsoft.html&usg=__Hf5hhkErV_o00IZLnG-cW_NE3bY=&h=283&w=400&sz=44&hl=en&start=0&sig2=80-XjweuStbHjqgOJ__dSA&zoom=1&tbnid=prcezSLSK7WwHM:&tbnh=134&tbnw=172&ei=UjCZTNXpNMGqlAeH6NDuDw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbrain%2Blateralization%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1436%26bih%3D723%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C11&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1038&vpy=371&dur=437&hovh=186&hovw=262&tx=164&ty=130&oei=UjCZTNXpNMGqlAeH6NDuDw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:22,s:0&biw=1436&bih=723

Where does intelligence come from, nature or nurture?

            There has long been a debate among scientist about what makes up a human being. Is it nature or nurture? Is it your genetic inheritance or is it stimulus from the surrounding environment? Although there is strong evidence on both sides, most scientist believe that we are a combination of both nature and nurture. Many of our abilities and things that we exhibit are a result of both nature and nurture. Examples of this are intelligence, athletic ability, personality, and  creativity.

            There is great debate on whether intelligence is inherited or created. I believe that it is a combination of both but that nurture weighs much more heavily on its creation. It is hard to believe that two idiots will inherit a high degree of intelligence to a child and that two geniuses will produce an idiot. But in genetics anything can happen. What I firmly believe is that the brain is a muscle and like all our muscles, if we exercise it and make it work, it grows. Therefore I believe that stimulating the brain regardless of inherited intelligence will bring about a higher level of intelligence.

            There is a lot of evidence that supports both sides of the debate when it comes to intelligence. On the nature side there have been many studies measuring IQ in twins and adoptees. These have shown that there is a strong hereditary factor in intelligence. Some studies that have used MRI’s and other tests have shown that  hereditability can account for up to 48% of variations in IQ. Parents and their biological children and also parents and their adoptive children have been tested for verbal ability and results have shown that there is a strong evidence that intelligence is inherited. However, these results can also be questioned. For example, did the mother of these twins smoke when she was pregnant? This would show that an external factor influenced the development of that same brain which is supposed to be inherited. So even in studies that show that a person’s intelligence is hereditary one can see that environmental factors also contributed.

            There is an entire separate set of scientists that believe that a person is born with a clean slate. They believe that the brain is a blank board and the environment writes on this board and creates the intelligence. Educational intervention, IQ studies and Nutritional studies have shown that in general IQ is increasing, they believe that this is the result of exposing the mind to more visual things than before, For example ads, poster, computers. Many environmental factors have been shown to affect intelligence, this shows that intelligence is largely defined by nurture rather than nature. Some of these factors are nutrition, number of siblings, number of years in school, social group one grows in, parent’s economic status, parent’s education and profession, parent’s rigidity, amount of reading, amount of TV watched, emotional adaptation, alcoholism, mental diseases. Identical twins that have been raised apart have shown completely different levels of IQ which leads us to believe that the environment and not genetics created their intelligence.

            In conclusion, it is difficult to determine where factors of our intelligence truly come from. Most tests can be interpreted in many ways. Tests themselves are a product of our environment and tend to indicate that our environment does weigh heavily on who we become. Most scientists agree that both hereditary and the environment affect intelligence, they both interact in different ways. A very rich or very poor environment interferes with the realization of someone’s intelligence regardless of what they inherited. It is almost impossible for scientist to say what exact gene causes intelligence and what factor in the environment causes it as well. It is difficult to actually measure intelligence as well; so most scientist agree that both genetics (nature) and the environment (nurture) contribute to a person’s intelligence.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071016131452.htm
http://wilderdom.com/personality/L4-1IntelligenceNatureVsNurture.html
http://www.urbantitan.com:8080/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Nature-vs-Nurture2.jpg

Nature versus Nurture

Nature and Nurture are two very different words that determine a person’s personality in very different ways. What does Nature versus Nurture mean? It is an old debate about what exactly determines a person’s psyche. Scientist debate about what exactly makes us who we are. Is it genetics or is it stimulus from the environment. All scientists agree that physical characteristics come from nature but many disagree what determines who we are psychologically. Some believe it is nature while others insist it is nurture.


The term nature versus nurture was first used by an English scientist named Francis Galton. He was influenced mainly by Charles Darwin’s book The Origin of Species.

The overall belief is that we are a product of both nature and nurture. There have been many studies of twins both raised together or raised apart that support both arguments. Today scientist do not debate so much which one, either nature or nurture decides who we are. Instead they debate what is determined by what. Which part comes from genes and which part from the environment.

I personally believe that a human’s psyche is made up of a combination of both nature and nurture. If who we are was based only on our environment or nurture, then siblings from the same home would be almost identical personality wise. I see huge differences between my brothers and sisters. If it were only up to genes it would be senseless for our parents to correct our behavior and try to mold us into what we are because it would mean we are already meant to be who we will be. There are indeed many traits that we inherit from our parents and these are described as nature. However, the environment also influences the way we act and the person we become. There is a large part of us that is learned behavior. For example, we inherit a certain degree of intelligence but what we actually make of it is determined by how much we stimulate it which is determined by the environment.

http://genealogy.about.com/cs/geneticgenealogy/a/nature_nurture.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_versus_nurture

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/16572/the_childhood_development_nature_vs.html