Inside the Teenage Brain

The video we have been watching in psychology is called Inside the Teenage Brain. It basically study teenagers and why they act the way they do, with their attitudes, depression, and mood swings. It was interesting to watch because we are teenagers and most of the time we ourselves don't understand why we act the way we do. By far the most interesting thing I learned from the video is why teenagers have mood swings. This specifically captured my attention because I can relate to it. Unlike the kids in the video, I normally do not have attitude problems or trouble in school, and I get along well with my parents. But, like many other people, I have mood swings. I learned that I am not the only person who can go from being sad to happy in a matter of minutes, and not the only one who is scared about it. But I learned from the video that this normal in adolescence because of the changing and developing hormones in our body and that it is nothing to be worried about. I also learned that the reason teenagers may be so lonely and depressed at times is because we are simply growing up and trying to figure out our place in the world, which is always a hard thing to do. However, hopefully, we will grow out of it and learn to become better people.

How Our Brains Work

1. The brain is split into two main parts, the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere, which refer to the two sides of the brain and what specific functions each side performs.

2. The main difference between the two sides of the brain is that each side controls different ways of thinking and processing. The left brain controls more rational and logical ways of thinking, while the right brain deals mostly with intuitive or creative thoughts. Whatever you think or do is controlled by one side of the brain.

3. The corpus collasum is a bundle of neural fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain and helps them communicate with each other.

4. Paul Broca was a French physician who is most famous for discovering the area of the brain that controls speech production now called Broca's area, which he found from studying patients with speech disorders.

5. Robert Sperry was the first person to discover the left and right hemispheres of the brain, ina series of experiments called the split brain experiments, which eventually revealed that the two sides of the brain control different tasks.

6. A German neurologist named Carl Wernicke notices a connection between the dominant cerebral hemisphere(which is the left for most people) and the mimcking of words and syllables. Furthur study showed that this area, now called Wernicke's area was involved in the understanding of spoken and written language.
7. The lobe most responsible for vision is the occipital lobe.
8. The temporal lobe is most responsible for hearing and language.
9. The lobe most responsible for performing math calculations if the left parietal lobe.
10. The frontal lobe is most responsible for judgment, reasoning, and impulse control.

Phineas Gage

Though Phineas Gage has been a famous case study for neuroscientists since his horrible accident in 1848, not much is known about who he was before that. At 25, he was the foreman of a railroad crew who were cutting a railroad bed in Cavendish, Vermont. As the story goes, he was using a tamping iron to pack explosive powder into a hole, and suddenly the powder detonated and the tamping iron shot up into his face. It ripped through his left cheek, penetrated his brain and came out through his skull, landing on the ground next to him. He had been blinded in his left eye, but miraculously he quickly regained consciousness and was able to walk and talk. Although he physically recovered very quickly, mentally he was never the same. He constantly made bad decisions and unleashed a vicious temper on anyone who even slightly contradicted him or what he wanted. He seemed unable to stick to plans that he or others set for himself and had trouble following social rules. He also didn't seem to care about what he said or how it would hurt people. Scientists later discovered that these changes were caused by damage to the frontal lobe of his brain. The reason he is so famous is because what happened to him is one of the first documented cases of severe brain injury. His case led scientists to confirm that psychopathology can result from brain damage, which may leave other brain functions, such as speech and movement, perfectly intact. It also inspired them to explore the frontal cortex of the brain, where they discovered where and why different behaviors are done by different people. It also led to the theory of brain localization, which has to do with the parts of the brain that have to do with specific functions and not all parts of the brain do the same thing. For example, the left frontal lobe is responsible for speech impediment and certain areas of the cerebral cortex make movement in different parts of the body. Brain lateralization, on the hand, has to do with the functions carried out only on the left or right hemispheres of the brain. For example, the right hemisphere controls movement on the left side of the brain, while the left hemisphere controls movement on the right side. Thanks to the fascinating case of Phineas Gage, scientists were able to come up with these two theories.

Hotly Debated Topics in the Nature/Nurture Debate

One of the most ongoing debated topics since the early 1800's is the topic of nature vs. nurture, or more recently referred to as Nature/Nurture. Nature/Nature poses the question where do you get your personality traits from? Did you inherit them from your parents or did you learn them due to the environment you were raised in? The trait I researched was intelligence, and how intelligent people become intelligent. Before I started my research I was convinced that intelligence came from nature and that smart people had just inherited it from their parents. But then I learned that with intelligence, like any other of the Nature/Nurture topics, it has to do with both, and not just one or the other.
The reason I was convinced that people inherited intelligence was because I thought about how intelligent people can come from any kind of environment, and be anyone on the planet. To follow this idea up with evidence, I read about a test that was done that separated a pair of twins at birth, and put them both up for adoption. Although both children were raised in different environments, it was proved that they had inherited the I.Q. of their birth mother, instead of their adopted one. After reading this I thought, if children can inherit their parent's eye color and nose, why can't they inherit their intelligence as well? For me, this was substantial evidence that intelligence mostly came from nature.
However, then I started researching the nurture side of the debate. At first I was very opposed to intelligence coming from nurture because I interpreted it as scientists saying that, for example, rich people were naturally smarter than poor people just because of their environment. But after researching a study that proved that a child gains 3.5 I.Q. points every school year if they go to a good school, this unfortunately proved that children that are better off have a higher I.Q. then children who are not so fortunate and are therefore smarter. After further research I discovered that although intelligence may vary according to different sitautions, for the most part a child who is taught the best material and pushed to succeed will come out into the world successful, which is substantial evidence for the nurture side of the debate. So, my research concludes that intelligence does indeed have to do with both nature and nurture.
However, you might be wondering if my opinion throughout the process has changed, and am I now in favor of nurture instead of nature. The answer is probably yes and no. I am definitely more in favor of the nurture side of the debate then before and I do agree that it plays a big role in raising a child's I.Q. and helping them be more successful in the world. But, stubbornly, I still belive that a child can inherit intelligence from any one member of his family and use that natural intelligence to rise up among the social classes and be just as successful as the child who was pressured to succeed. However rare it might be, it is often enough for me to conclude that there is an almost even tie between nature and nurture referring to which cause intelligence.
http://wilderdom.com/personality
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article
http://www.angryharry.com