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24-2: What do we dream?

Daydreams involve familiar details while REM dreams are crazy and bizarre and so vivid we might believe them to be true

We spend a lot of time dreaming and some of it isnt pleasant and most is not sexually related

After trauma, nightmares are commonly reported

After playing tetris for 7 hrs, and then going to bed and being repeatedly awakened, subjects saw the falling blocks

Compared w city-dwellers, people in hunter-gatherer societies dream more of animals and musicians dream more of music than nonmusicians

Our two track mind can connect what happens outside of our bodies to our dreams as seen in experiments

While sleeping we can learn to associate things but not new concepts like languages and we dont even remember dreams fully if we don't fully wake up for a while

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24-1: What are the major sleep disorders?

No matter the normal need for sleep, 1/10 adults and 1/4 older adults complain of insomnia, not being able to sleep persistently

Insomnia sufferers usually overestimate how long it takes them to sleep and underestimate the amount of time they slept

Most common fixes like sleeping pills or alcohol do not help as they lower REM sleep and a true cure would only give the natural chemicals seen during sleep w/o side effects

Narcolepsy is another disorder where people have sudden attacks of overwhelming sleepiness and can even fall asleep so they must be extremely careful

It can be caused by genes that do not allow the hypothalamus to correctly produce orexin (hypocretin) and thus can be added to help these patients but for now other drugs must be used

Sleep Apnea- where a person stops breathing in their sleep and w low amount of oxygen are aroused enough to snort some oxygen in to breath again and can be mistaken for snoring

Associated w obesity and high blood pressure but can be solved w a mask to keep airways open in sleep

Night terrors happen mostly to children as they may move around and walk, talk weird experience doubled heart and breath rates and appear terrified though they never wake up or remember it the next morning usually in NREM 3 sleep

Sleep walking and talking are other NREM 3 disorders that are genetic and are usually harmless and get less and less w age

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24-3: What are the functions of dreams?

Several reasons we dream like:

To satisfy our own wishes:

Freud thought that what we dreamed was manifest content (apparent and remembered story line) of what we held in our unconscious or the latent content that could be threatening if expressed for real

Many disprove this as a dream can be interpreted in way too many ways when it could just be the literal meaning

To file away memories:

When studied for how people learned when REM sleep was interrupted, those that weren't did much better than those that were

Also supported by brain waves, scientists have seen how in a rat's brain in sleep, the same parts lit up as when it was actually going through the maze it had learned

Important for students trying to remember for classes as they will be able to remember more over time

To develop and preserve neural pathways

This could be used as a way to make better connections between neurons over time

To make sense of neural static

Others believe that it is due to the different stimulation we have in our body's during sleep and it is how we interpret it as we can see that the limbic system is quite active in this process

To reflect cognitive development

Dreams could show how much we have developed as we can see differences in dreams in different ages and such could mean that it is top down rather than bottom up

We do not know why we dream but we do know REM sleep is necessary as when we don't get enough and then have a chance to get it we have REM rebound where we go into it quicker after not having it to make up

Other mammals do the same which supports the idea that REM sleep has to do w learning new things

Does that mean that dreams are not psychological if they do not do anything with the mind? No biology and psychology are partners not competitors

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23-4: What are sleep's functions?

Sleep Protects

Sleep was needed since it was better for our ancestors to be asleep in a safe place rather than keep hunting at night

Sleep helps us recuperate

When you sleep, your brain fixes itself as neruons fix themselves and also stop using weak or unused connections

Sleep helps restore and rebuild our fading memories of the day's experiences

Sleep strengthens memories in a way that being awake can't and so it is very useful when we need to remember things

Sleep feeds creative thinking

Sleep helps think of new ideas through dreams and new solutions to problems we cannot figure out

Sleep supports growths

During sleep the pituitary gland releases growth hormone which is needed in muscle development and helps in athletic ability and as we get older we release less and spend less time in deep sleep

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23-3: How do biology and environment interact in our sleep patterns?

Everyone needs varying amounts of sleep as only identical twins have similar sleep patterns and are influenced by genes as we are studying

Sleep patterns are also culturally affected as the it can be affected by what we have to do or what we have to interact w like homework or phones

Bright morning light triggers us to wake as it makes proteins that make signals to the brain's suprachiasmtic nucleus (grain sized cell clusters in the hypothalamus) to then stop the making of melotonin to wake us up and increase it to go to bed

Artificial light goes against sleep as it makes the body think there is still sun up so it messes up our sleep and helps create a 25 hour biological clock as we do not get enough sleep

Sleep often eludes you when youre not on the right sleep stage like when youre in Europe or you sleep in on weekends and have to wake up early on monday

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23-2: What is the biological rhythm of our sleeping and dreaming stages?

Sleep takes over and parts of our brain stop communicating w each other, but are still active

We have 90 minute sleep cycles that have 4 different stages and was discovered when dad needed to make sure EEG was ready and did it on his sleeping son and found REM sleep

Studies have shown that these are v important parts of sleep and seen through the use of many devices on different areas

Devices like electrodes on scalp for brain waves, chin for muscle tension, and corners of eyes for eye movements and other areas to see how they are affected in sleep

Alpha waves are seen when awake but relaxed and as you go to sleep slow breathing and non REM stage 1 sleep brain waves show the transition which is then NREM sleep 1

Sleep= periodic natural loss of consciousness not like coma, anesthesia or hibernation

In one experiment, William Dement, saw that when a person's perceptual window slammed shut, they didn't notice falling asleep or what went on

During NREM-1 Sleep, one might experience hallucinations like the feeling of falling and suddenly hitting your bed

These hypnagogic sensations can make their way into your memory quite easily

Then you relax more and go into NREM-2 sleep for 20 minutes w periodic sleep spindles  - bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain-wave activity and you are clearly asleep but can be woken up easy

Then you go into 30 minutes of NREM-3 sleep where slow delta waves are emitted making it hard for you to be woken up which explains why others hear things and night and you do not (also when kids wet beds)

REM Sleep

About an hour after you fall asleep, you get out of NREM sleep and go into REM sleep through NREM 2 as your brain waves are more rapid like NREM 1 waves

This makes REM sleep that has your heart rate rise, have irregular and rapid breathing and quick bursts of movements from your eyes

The movements of the eyes show the beginning of a dream usually emotional, story-like and richly hallucinatory

Except during scary dreams genitals are aroused in REM sleep

Your motor cortex is active but not connected leaving you paralyzed and hard to wake up

Can lead to sleep paralysis if still lingering from REM sleep and REM sleep is called paradoxical sleep since youre brain is moving awake while your body is asleep

The cycle repeats every 90 minutes and as the night goes on NREM 3 sleep gets disappears as REM and NREM-2 get longer and we spend 20-25% of the night in REM

37% of people say they rarely or never have dreams, but they just dont remember them while if they are awaked in REM sleep they will remember it

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23-1:How do our biological rhythms influence our daily functioning?

Our circadian rhythm follows the day cycle and affects body temp fluctuation as time passes going up from waking up to low in afternoon and lower into the night

Age and experience affect this as teens are owls and older people larks and changes over time especially for women w having children and menopause

Morning types do better in school and take more initiative and are less vulnerable to depression

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22-3: Is hypnosis an extension of normal consciousness or an altered state?

Hypnosis as a Social Phenomenon

Might hypnotic phenomena reflect the inner working of normal consciousness and power of social influence? Social influence theory of hypnosis believers think so

Can be an extension of normal social processes based on motivation like if in experiment to do good they respond well or in experiment that shows gullibility they do bad

Shows that An authoritative person in a legitimate context can induce people -hypnotized or not- to perform some unlikely acts

Hypnosis as Divided Consciousness

Hypnotized people have certain parts of their brains used in the hypnosis which can be analyzed through brain mapping as seen in experiments showing how stroop effect (colors made of letter of another color) did not slow down subjects when told to not consider color of the letters

Others not surprised as it shows dissociation -split between different levels of consciousness  - and thus is why the subjects feel cold of ice bath but not emotional pain from it

Also explains selective processing, where when focus is on something else, our attention is blocked until focus is not needed

There is much more to thinking and acting than what we even know of, most of our behavior runs on auto

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22-2: What is hypnosis, and what powers does a hypnotist have over a hypnotized subject?

Frequently Asked Questions About Hypnosis

Not mind control, but based on openness to suggestion in a subject and their ability to focus on certain images or behaviors

Can anyone experience hypnosis?

We are all open to suggestion by some extent and can be seen if we have postral sway which is when we sway when told to when our eyes are closed which usually says if you are or aren't open to it

Highly hypnotizable people typically become deeply absorbed in imaginative activities and refer to it as hypnotic ability

Can hypnosis enhance recall of forgotten events?

We do not store everything that happens to us in our memories, only some important things

Hypnosis can implant ideas into someones head

It should not be used in court as testifiable evidence

Can hypnosis force people to act against their will?

Researchers have found that people have been induced to do dangerous acts when hypnotized and said they would never do that when told they did

But not totally based on truth as unhypnotized subjects did the same thing as they assumed they were safe in a lab setting

Can hypnosis be therapeutic?

Can help through Posthypnotic suggestions that have helped alleviate headaches, asthma, and stress-related skin disorders

In a study, clients whose therapy was assisted by hypnosis had greater improvement compared to those that did not have it

Can help w obesity, but not alcohol, drug, and smoking addictions that haven't responded well

And also seemed to speed up loss of warts, but positive suggestions w/o hypnosis did the same things

Can hypnosis relieve pain?

Hypnosis can relieve pain as seen when the unhypnotized and hypnotized both put arms in ice baths

Can be used by dentists to reduce fear and hypersensitivity as well

Hypnosis inhibits pain related brain activity which leads to its application in the field of surgery as part of anesthesia

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22-1: What is the place of consciousness in psychology's history?

Psychology started w studying consciousness, but then made it secondary to behavior making it seem like a speedometer that showed what happened

Then in the 1960s, the concept reemerged as people began to study brain activity in sleep and how it was altered by hypnosis and drugs

Consciousness is the awareness of ourselves and the environment which is part of our dual processing

Consciousness isnt automatic like unconscious and we have a continuous "stream of consciousness" with each moment flowing into the next

We also go between different states of consciousness like sleeping, waking, and altered states

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A) Cerebral Cortex (Cerebrum)
B) Hypothalamus
C) Pons
D) Medulla
E) Corpus Callosum
F) Thalamus
G) Cerebellum
H) Brain stem
I can understand the importance of what happens when parts of the brain are damaged

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13-2: What is the "dual processing" being revealed by today's cognitive neuroscience?

Consciousness is the ability to act w/ long term interests in mind and also be able to go past short term effects and can also help with social settings and anticipation

Still leaves us with the problem of how this happens in our brains to cause consciousness

Cognitive Neuroscience:

We still do not know how the brain makes consciousness, but cognitive neuroscience (connection of brain activity and mental processes) is the helping get there

Examples are seen in those who are not able to show outward signs of consciousness, but when their brain is scanned and are asked questions, activity is seen just as if in a normal brain which could show how these different things relate

These neuroscientists are also trying to map the conscious functions of the cortex and are now able to guess what you're seeing through your brain

Though there is proof that consciousness needs to be all over the brain has been found, there has been no way of knowing how this works or how the brain can do it

Dual Processing: The Two-Track Mind

Discoveries tell us that one part of the mind specifically becomes active w consciousness, which is no surprise, but how we might have two minds, each in its own environment

Consciousness is one level of what is happening as there is also the unconscious that creates the dual processing we have inside of us and therefore leads us to know more than even we know that we know

This is seen as a blind woman could not consciously "see" what was going on, but she was able to do things told to her by touch and same could happen to anyone if made blind for a little bit, but could get color and orientation of an object without consciously seeing it

We might have one visual system, but it sends info to different parts and in that woman, all that was damaged was consciously seeing, and nothing else

This could happen the opposite way w different damage as some could see and recognize objects, but not reach or grasp them as well

Thus, there are two parts of vision the Vision action track we see and the vision perception track that enables us to think about the world around us

The two conflict like with hollow face illusion where they see a mask as a protruding face when its the inside, but theyre unconscious perceptions knows what it is

Another patient lost sight on the right side, but when shown faces on that side, they could see the emotional expression somehow

Though we like to think consciousness is the main thing, it actually isnt too big as even when focused our brain activity doesnt go over 5 percent higher than normal

Experiments have shown that consciousness is actually behind of what the brain is actually doing as you will consciously know your wrist will move about 0.2 seconds before it happens, but the brain waves are there 0.35 seconds before you do it!!

Our consciousness is like the manager and our unconsciousness is the factory floor we run on autopilot as our consciousness tries to do more

Though we do have both systems, we cannot do everything at once, as we are limited by our conscious

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13-1: What do split brains reveal about the functions of our two brain hemispheres?

Our Divided Brain

Before, many thought that right did not do as much since when damaged it did not inhibit the persons abilities a lot but, not true

Splitting the Brain:

In 1961, two surgeons thought that epileptic seizures were caused by abnormal brain activity bouncing off between both hemispheres so splitting the brains hemispheres at the corpus callosum could be the only answer right?

These surgeons then did this operation to people with extreme epilepsy and made them much better as they had no more seizures and seemed relatively unaffected, but different in ways that helped analyze how the brain works

To understand what happened we must first understand how info moves and how it crosses sides from right to left and vice versa using the corpus callosum and thus can change how people are after they get it cut

Sperry and Gazzaniga then experimented on these individuals to see how each hemisphere operated separately

When shown the world HE ART, the subjects could only say they saw art, but also pointed only towards he showing that though the brain could not fully say what it had seen, it still knew what was there

The same was done in tactile tests after seeing  an object like a spoon and matching it with the same type of object, and from there it was obvious the left was separate from the right in how it saw and told of what it saw

People that have gone through this surgery essentially have to different brains that can do their own things

When this happens, the left tries to rationalize what it does not know is happening on the right when the right takes control which shows how this might happen in our own minds

Right-Left Differences in the Intact Brain

In normal brained people, both hemispheres have different functions as well as the right is involved in perceptual tasks and the left is more inclined to speaking or calculation

This can be demonstrated with sleeping drugs on different sides of the brain as when it is on the right side of the brain, the left arm will go limp, but the person can still speak, while on the other side the right arm will go limp and the person is left speechless

To the brain, language is language so whenever it is damaged, the ability to speak or even sign if deaf is affected

Though the left is good with quick, literal interpretations of language the right can make inferences, moderate speech to make meaning clear, and orchestrate sense of self

Though they seem extremely similar,  they are still different, but work together in harmony to help us be u

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10-2: What is the nature and what are the functions of the endocrine system , and how does it interact with the nervous system?

Though the nervous system is made of electrochemical messengers, the endocrine system is another that uses chemical messengers to convey messages

These chemical messengers are called hormones and are able to transfer information throughout the body and can influence many different things

Both are similar in their use of chemically identical substances, but also different in how the endocrine system takes much longer to give information compared to the nervous system

Slower is better though as these effects last much longer than others and can be seen with the fight or flight response started by the adrenal gland to then release adrenaline to get through emergencies

Most influential gland is the pituitary that is able to release different, powerful hormones, but is controlled by the hypothalamus right next to it

Pituitary secretions influence the release of hormones by other glands and thus is like a master gland

This shows a connection between both the endocrine and nervous systems that is shows that though both affect each other and are both controlled by the brain.

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10-1: What are the functions of the nervous system's main divisions, and what are the three main types of neurons?

The body's central nervous system helps us take in information and use it to make decisions with our bodies in the form of actions

All this works through the central nervous system (CNS) that makes decisions and is made up of the brain and spinal cord

Then there is also the peripheral nervous system (PNS) that gathers information and gives it to the CNS

This movement of information is done though nerves made up of many axons

Done through 3 types of Neurons:

Sensory Neurons: carry messages from the body's tissues and sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord

Motor Neurons: Carry instructions to the body's muscles and galnds

Interneurons: brain's inner communication system and most abundant of all neurons in the body

Peripheral Nervous System:

Somatic Nervous System: Enables voluntary control of our skeletal muscles

Autonomic Nervous System: Controls glands and muscles in internal organs, can be overridden, but usually automatic

Has two parts:

Sympathetic Nervous System: Makes you alert and uses a lot of energy for any sort of stress

Parasympathetic Nervous System: Once this stress is gone it calms you down and saves energy and lowers heart rate

Central Nervous System:

The brain is made of billions of Neurons communicating with each other at any time

They all make different neural networks that occur to make faster connections and make stronger ones too

The spinal cord is a two way highway that has info going up and down it connecting the peripheral nervous system and the brain

Neural paths that make reflexes show specifically how this works as the automatic response to stimuli is made of a single sensory neuron and motor neuron w many interneurons in between

Also explains the pain reflex as the body senses the heat that could damage you so the interneurons trigger motor neurons to jerk your hand away from the fire before you could think about what happened

If the spinal cord was cut, everything under the cut would not be in communication with the brain and therefore not in control of the body

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Being human means to be able to judge differently than animals as we have our different frontal cortex that allows us to remember things which helps us realize what to do ? No right answer tho!!!!

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12-2: To what extent can a damaged brain reorganize itself, and what is neurogenesis

Brain Plasticity: how well it can modify itself after being damaged

Effects of brain damage rely on two facts:

Severed neurons dont regenerate

Some brain functions are specifically in certain areas

But Brain can change itself without us knowing over time w new experiences

Plasticity may also occur after damage as seen with therapy where damaged area of the brain is put to work a lot to then make it work like it used to

This explains how blind and deaf have better senses in other ways as the parts of the brain that can't be used well are used for different purposes than intended

Reassignment happens with disease or amputation as well making whats left more sensitive or other areas having to do more work

The Brain also uses Neuro genesis, the creation of neurons to do the same thing and heal the brain

This could be done with stem cells later on once more research is done

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12-1: What are the functions of the various cerebral cortex regions?

Newer neural networks, the cerebrum, enable perceiving, thinking and speaking and come in pairs of hemispheres

Covered in cerebral cortex that has interconnected neural cells

Structure of the Cortex

Brain is wrinkled to save space and has many axons and neurons holding our mind together

To support all the nerve cells, there are glial cells that provide nutrients, insulate myelin, guide neural connections, and mop up ions and neurotransmitters

More complex brains have more glial cells, like w Einstein who had more than the average

Each hemisphere has 4 loves separated by prominent fissures/folds called and each has important role

Frontal Lobes behind forehead

Pairetal Lobes at the top and rear of head

Occipital lobes at back the of the head

Temporal Lobes just above the ears

Functions of the Cortex

More than a century ago, surgeons found damaged cortical areas in partially paralyzed and speechless and thought it had to do w their problems but wrong as it was not definitive

Motor Functions:

Gustav Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig found that cortex stimulation could lead to movement and saw motor cortex as left brain controlled right side and vice versa

Mapping the Motor Cortex:

Brain has no sensory receptors so mapping cortex was easy and they found that areas needing more precision had more cortical areas dedicated to them

In a demonstration, the will of the subject could not overcome the stimulation by the scientist w electricity

Now scientists have begun to predict movements based measurements of motor cortex and can lead to brain controlled computers

Brain-Computer Interfaces

With study at Brown University, researchers have been able to let monkeys control computers through brain waves w analysis

Clinical trials have been started and are very good as some have been able to control machines through chips on their motor cortex

Sensory Functions

There is also an area close to the motor cortex that receives info and can be manipulated to have the subject feel like they are being touched

The more sensitive the area of the body, the more region of the brain is dedicated to it

Other senses have other forms like in the occipital lobe, where sight is received and then also has areas that specialize in reading, detecting emotions, and remembering faces

Sound is also taken this way by the temporal lobes and if stimulated can make the subject hear things that are not there

Association Areas

There are areas that receive and give off info, but what is the rest? It is Association areas that have to do with higher mental functions, what makes us human

No triggerable response is seen from these areas, but they interpret, act on sensory info, and like it all in stored memories

Found in all four lobes like the prefrontal cortex which enables judgement, planning and processing new memories and would be difficult to not have

This has happened to a man named Phineas Gage who got his prefrontal cortex totally damaged and though seemed normal, his whole personality changed as he was loud and profane while before he was affable and soft spoken

Without this lobe, morals also seem to be disconnected as people do not think like they should

Also do other things like enable mathematical and spatial reasoning, but also with how we perceive movement based on our intentions and results we expected

Other areas allow us to recognize faces and without it intact we might mistake someone we know for someone else

Brain processes dont all just occur in one sole area

This is the same for language as understanding and speaking have to different areas dedicated to them

Same with memory, attention, and religious experiences saying that what we experience is from coordinated brain activity

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To understand how neurotransmitters influence the nervous system 9/21

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To understand how neurotransmitters influence the nervous system 9/21

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11-3: What are the limbic system's structures and functions?

Between old and new is the limbic system which has the amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus

Hippocampus processes conscious memories so w/o it no new memories can be made

The Amygdala:

Connected to fear and aggression

If electrically stimulated in the right place, fear or aggression will come out accordingly

Not the only way to get fear or aggression though

The Hypothalamus

Right under thalamus

Maintain steady internal state with regulation of thirst, body temp, and sexual behavior

The hypothalamus then monitors the state of your body, through blood, to then decide what to do for the rest of your body

A remarkable discovery shows how mistakes drive science, in this case with a mouse and badly placed electrode

With this wrong electrode, the mouse was returning to a place where it was stimulated as it was rewarded by the hypothalamus

This was studied further to see what they would do for the stimulation, and many rats kept going to get the same feeling

Other systems have been found that further the idea that these systems are made so that the organism will try to survive

This could lead to animal control through computers as one could stimulate and control animal actions

Humans also have these centers which can help when calming down violent patients

Seen w experiments done on humans and how they differ in opinions based on how they remember and what they felt

This leads to the idea that addictive disorders could stem from a malfunction in this part of the brain

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11-2: What structures make up the brainstem, and what are the functions of the brain stem, thalamus, and cerebellum?

With the increasing capacities, comes more complex brain systems and structures

This is due to new being made on old over time w evolution

The Brainstem

Oldest region which starts in the medulla (slight swell) and controls simple survival like breathing or heartbeat

Above the medulla is the pons which coordinates movement

If the brain stem is cut the organism will still move, but without purpose as the higher brain is taken out

Brainstem is where the brain connects to the rest of the body and crosses sidse

The Thalamus

Egg-shaped structure that acts as a control center for sensory details and routes info to the higher brain and back down to medulla

Reticular Formation

Between ears is the reticular formation which is a network that extends from spinal cord to the thalamus and it filters info to other areas and relays important info too

The reticular formation enables arousal in the sense of waking up out of sleep, without it, coma forever

The Cerebellum

Cerebellum controls non verbal learning and memory, also judge time, modulate emotions and differentiate sounds and textures

These parts all work without us consciously

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11-1: How do neuroscientists study the brain's connections to behavior and mind?

In the past not much could be studied accurately, but over time we made connections through case study like right wired to left part of brain

Now we have figured out how to study w lesion (destroying) to see how the parts of the brain are needed in the survival of the organism

Now neuroscientists have very many ways of analyzing the brain through electricity, chemicals, or magnets to then see how it works

This can be done w an EEG (electroencephalogram) which sees how your brain waves react to a stimulus the scientists presents to you

CT scans do something similar as they use X-rays to reveal damage and structure

PET scans do something similar as it shows brain activity as it uses glucose that is made to light up when scanned

MRIs are useful as well as they are able to show the structure through manipulating the atoms of brain molecules

fMRI do the same but add activity as it analyzes where the blood goes in the brain to see its function

With such ways to analyze, one can use these methods to know how one thinks and also how they react to certain stimuli

Very good as we are able to explore much more compared to before, like geographers in the time of Magellan

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All or none principle: It is either going down or not like a toilet
Direction of Impulse: The signal always goes down the neuron like a toilet
Refractory Period: Once done, there is a time that the neuron needs to repolarize to be able to be used again
Threshold: Least amount of power needed to start depolarization
Resting potential: Fully polarized and ready to fire like a toilet
Action Potential: The electrical impulse moves through the Neuron or chemical once it goes to another Neuron
Depolarization: When the action potential goes through the neuron.

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I can discuss the nature vs. nurture debate in the biological perspective and the parts of neuron 9/19

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I can discuss the nature vs. nurture debate in the biological perspective and the parts of neuron 9/19

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14-4: How do heredity and environment work together?

Though we are different we have a great similarity in how we can adapt very well

Genes and environment work together as some genes are turned on and off by the environment such as African butterfly w temp changes colors

Questions about nature v nurture can be studied not by each separately, but how the results differ due to nature or nurture

The two interact as a baby might be nicer at first and then become a lot sociable over time compared to one that is not as sociable

Nature and nurture interact as one kid could be punished while another isnt as is caused by how they are treated and how they are predisposed to be

Though identical twins in dif. families feel they were similar, fraternal twins in same families feel they had totally different parents

Epigenetics also a part of this as genes can be turned on and off w methyl groups and thus can lead to differences due to environment

This can explain how two twins can differ w environment and how we can be changed by our experiences

Nature and nurture work together to make us who we are

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14-3: What is heritability, and how does it relate to individuals and groups?

Heritability is extent to which variation among individuals can be attributed to their differing genes

Based on differences among people^

This is qualified by putting kids in the same environment, but theyd vary which would mean that the heritability would be near 100%

Heritability would go up if environments similar and down if environments totally different

Cannot be necessarily applied to groups as differences between individuals are highly heritable, but can also be because of environment

Heritable individual differences do not translate to group especially since it could change if put in different group.

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14-2: What is the promise of molecular genetics research?

Newest frontier looks to see how molecular genetics (specific genes) affect behavior

Usually genes work together as seen w obesity as there is not one, but many that could affect the person and thus many genes could decide things for us

To look at these risks, scientists check the DNA of those in families that have disorders or diseases and analyze it to see what is causing the problem

Through this technology, one can now see what disorders a fetus might have before its born, but this could be unethical as some could discriminate or even abort a baby w disorders

Though this progress is v good, it is also bad as it could lead to many problems ethically

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14-1: What are genes, and how do behavior geneticists explain our individual differences?

Behavior geneticists study the relative power and limits of genetic and environment influences on behavior

DNA made up of 46 chromosomes which are made of genes that dictate how we look and act and can be turned on and off

Researchers know the commonalities between all humans w the genome that has been sequenced

We are not that different from other species either as we have 96% similar DNA to Chimps and 99.4% similar in functionally important genes but still very different

Small differences have an affect too as Bonobos and Chimps are two species that are less than 1% different but act completely different

Differences between people can help scientists understand how people have certain diseases or traits

Many traits obtained through genes, including predispositions that can help explain differences

Twin Adoption Studies

To figure out influences of environment and heredity, we need to control home environment while varying heredity and vice versa

Identical Versus Fraternal Twins

Identical Twins come from the same fertilized egg and share conception and uterus which makes them natural clones

Two things can happen though:

Identical twins have the same but not always same number of copies and therefore one may be more at risk for certain illnesses

Most identical twins share placentas but some do not which could also affect how the twins come out

Fraternal Twins are from two different eggs, but share the same environment though no closer than any brother or sister

Shared genes can lead to shared experiences w diseases or chances of them and leads to many wanting to study twins in general

Through this we can see how social occurrences affect the twins and how they can be more likely to encounter certain events like divorce

Also tested for seeing how being treated differently or similarly could change them, but not much was ever found

Separated Twins

There was once two twins separated at birth that over time were tested and found each other and were still extremely similar, as if the same person had been tested twice

Same was done w 74 others and saw that they had many commonalities in personality, tastes, interests, abilities and even fears

Others tested and saw that identical twins apart usually had some more differences, but still more alike than fraternal and separation shortly after birth did not amplify personality differences

Though critics say anyone w the same eco or cultural background could be similar like this, Bouchard says he is correct still as fraternal twins still are not as close as identical when separated

Though some data cannot be taken 100% still very valuable and shows how genetics are very influential

Biological Versus Adoptive Relatives

Same can be done for adopted kids in comparing biological parents and adoptive parents influences

Findings say that personality is not affected by environment as much as biology

Environment seems unimportant as the personality is not affected at all by it

How are siblings so different? is what many ask based on these findings

Parenting does matter though, as the kids are very similar in manners, values, attitudes, faith and politics

Adoption does help though as the adoptive parents are selected, unlike natural ones which can help the adopted child thrive