First of all, I want to apologize for not updating this blog for the past few weeks. It is not because I don't want to update it, but I got busy with tests, assignments and some stuff. Speaking about apologizing, when I click on http://www.physorg.com/ yesterday, I saw a very good article. The title of that article is "Saying Sorry Really Does Cost Nothing".
According to this article, a study carried out by the Nottingham School of Economics' Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, stated that the apology really can influence the other party's behaviour. In their study, when the manufacturer delay the delivery, the response would be either "We are very sorry and want to apologize about this" or "As a goodwill gesture, we can offer you €5 if you would consider withdrawing your evaluation". And surprisingly, 45% of the customers withdrew their evaluation in light of apology, while only 23% agreed in return for compensation.
This statistic show us that if we are wrong and have make a mistake, don't forget to apologize and say that you're sorry. Besides, it is only a word to say, and you could loss nothing if you say the word. For my personal opinion, I think that sorry is needed in certain situation but remember, some thing do not accept sorry as an answer. For example, in a matter of life and death, your mistake may cause someone's life and I don't think that people will just shut up after you say sorry to them. But really, if you make mistake, don't hesitate to say that you're sorry cause sorry may change the outcome of a situation. Thank you for reading this short post.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Rich People Don't Need Friends?
Below is an article that may help us reflect ourselves.
In 'The symbolic power of money: reminders of money alter social distress and physical pain' published in the journal Psychological Science, Xinyue Zhou, Kathleen Vohs and Roy Baumeister explored how money could reduce a person's feeling of pain and also negate their need for social popularity.
Harriet de Wit, Faculty Member for f1000 Medicine, said: "This research extends our understanding of relationships between social pain and physical pain, and remarkably, shows how acquired symbolic value of money, perhaps because of associations with power or control, can influence responses to both emotional and physical pain."
She also noted: "These findings have great importance for a social system such as ours that is characterized by wide disparities in financial wellbeing."
Zhou, Vohs and Baumeister determined that interpersonal rejection and physical pain caused desire for money to increase. They said: "Money can possibly substitute for social acceptance in conferring the ability to obtain benefits from the social system. Moreover, past work has suggested that responses to physical pain and social distress share common underlying mechanisms."
"Handling money (compared with handling paper) reduced distress over social exclusion and diminished the physical pain of immersion in hot water. Being reminded of having spent money, however, intensified both social distress and physical pain," the authors said
Rich People Don't Need Friends. (2009, September 16). Retrieved September 17, 2009, from Psychology and Psychiatry: http://www.physorg.com/news172309971.html
In 'The symbolic power of money: reminders of money alter social distress and physical pain' published in the journal Psychological Science, Xinyue Zhou, Kathleen Vohs and Roy Baumeister explored how money could reduce a person's feeling of pain and also negate their need for social popularity.
Harriet de Wit, Faculty Member for f1000 Medicine, said: "This research extends our understanding of relationships between social pain and physical pain, and remarkably, shows how acquired symbolic value of money, perhaps because of associations with power or control, can influence responses to both emotional and physical pain."
She also noted: "These findings have great importance for a social system such as ours that is characterized by wide disparities in financial wellbeing."
Zhou, Vohs and Baumeister determined that interpersonal rejection and physical pain caused desire for money to increase. They said: "Money can possibly substitute for social acceptance in conferring the ability to obtain benefits from the social system. Moreover, past work has suggested that responses to physical pain and social distress share common underlying mechanisms."
"Handling money (compared with handling paper) reduced distress over social exclusion and diminished the physical pain of immersion in hot water. Being reminded of having spent money, however, intensified both social distress and physical pain," the authors said
Rich People Don't Need Friends. (2009, September 16). Retrieved September 17, 2009, from Psychology and Psychiatry: http://www.physorg.com/news172309971.html
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Mystery of Your Brain, Body And Soul
A mystery of the Soul and Spirit is a mystery throughout the history of humanity. Various points of view have been developed to understand the soul and spirit. But it never satisfied the researchers. Soul and spirit is always leaving something beyond our understanding. Now, we try to discuss the secret from the standpoint of a more holistic, hopefully complete the discourse so far. And, then make our perception of the spirit and the soul better. Though, of course, need further refinement. In this discussion, we try to discuss the soul and spirit in three comprehensive perspectives, which are information in the Qur'an, science, and philosophy. I would like to invite readers to further examine the information and analysis that comes from science about the existence of the Soul. For that, we will be much talk about the brain that is suspected role in the functioning of the Soul and Spirit.
1. STRUCTURE & FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAIN
There are suspicions that still need to be examined more deeply, that the soul was behind the structure of the human brain. Why is there such suspicion? Because of various clinical data observed by the psychiatrist or nerve, showing a very close connection between the quality of a soul with her brain quality. If the brain a person is medically impaired, or damaged, then we obtained the fact that people are also experiencing problems with their soul. For example, I have a friend who is experiencing some interference with the brain cells. Because of a motorcycle accident, he suffered damage to sense of smell. Since then, he never could smell anything through his nose. Rice soup scent for him is the same as Rawon rice or Timlo rice. He had complained to me, how unpleasant such interference was. At first glance, you may be wondering what to do with the soul. Actually the function of smell (the understanding of sense of smell) is part of the function of the Soul. Same goes to the eyes, ears and other senses. Because these five senses are a tool to communicate with the world outside one's body. If it is damaged, the quality of the soul is also disturbed. Examples are more obvious in the second case experienced by my family. One of my family members was affected by a stroke during a celebration of an event. Because he ate satay and other foods high in cholesterol, the stroke attacked him the very next morning. What happened after that? He suffered damage to the brain associated with the language. So since then, he could not remember the words that he has known since childhood. Whether the words are from Indonesians, Japanese, or English, he still could not remember the words perfectly.He knew, and familiar with an object, but could never mentioned its name. He was always wrong in giving name of any object. He also can’t even mention my name. And I know for sure, he still knew me. He also forgot the name of his wife and son, but he still knows them. If he tried to speak, the words that he said were not understandable at all. He was suffering psychologically, because of what he meant is not transmitted through language. I think, now you begin to feel what I mean. Damage to brain structures will give problems on the quality of one's soul. He's not crazy, just having some impaired in his soul quality. To overcome his problem, he was treated by several physicians; among them are medical doctor and neurologists. In the more severe cases, Schizophrenia aka crazy, the doctors had also found neurological damage in brain cells of the patient. There are parts of the brain responsible for emotion, shame, sadistic, uncontrolled behavior, and others that suffered serious damage. This can be seen with the release of certain chemicals inside the body. Treatment, it can be done physically by giving certain drugs that control the substances that initiated the 'madness'. Thus, we can see here that the disruption Soul is closely related to damage a person's brain structure. In the past, mental illnesses are treated only by psychiatrist but nowadays, it is treated by neurologist and psychiatrist. The neurologist deals with physical symptoms, whereas psychiatrist is more towards mental function, aka soul which is an abstract thingy. In medical science, mental illnesses is divided into two categories known as Structural (physical) and functional (psychological). To get a more concrete picture of brain structures in relation to mental function, let us examine the most important organ in the human head. The human brain is a soft tissue that weighed about 0.5 kilograms. It contains about 100 billion cells which are arranged in a highly sophisticated. These billions of cells that have complex functions act as the control center of human activity. Ranging from simply receiving the signals from various sensors in our bodies, until the process of comprehension, analysis, decision making, and then perform motor movements. Yes, in the brain is the center of human activity. All of our senses are controlled by the brain. If, brain cells associated with the senses is damaged, then the function of our senses will be impaired or it will not function normally. Vision function for example. Although our eyes are healthy, but if the cells of our vision centers located in the back of the brain skin damage, we also won’t be able to see, although our eyes are still open. Lens and retina are also still good. Nerves connecting the eye to the brain are also perfect. All of it becomes meaningless, when the visual cells in our brain are damaged. The entire vision process will be gone. The same goes to hearing process. Although the organ involve in hearing process, ear, eardrum, up to the 'cable' connecting to the central nerve of hearing is good, but if the cells in the hearing center (left side of the brain skin) is damaged, then it becomes useless. The sound is still captured by the ear, and then converted into electrical signals to the brain. But the brain cannot understand the voice, because the cells were damaged. The same goes to other function, if the center of the function which is in brain is damaged, the process couldn’t be carried out entirely. In addition to controlling the senses, and as a center of understanding, the brain also controls all movement of the body. Movement of hands, feet, head, and all the muscles or joints are controlled by the brain. The people who suffered a stroke, and then damaged in the movement control center, he will experience a seizure. Some also paralyzed either half or total paralysis, depending on the level of severity of the stroke. The series of limbic function is located at the front of the cortex. Going further, the brain is also a language center. Vocabulary, comprehension up to verbal process all is located in the brain. This language center occupies a vast territory in the human brain. Among areas that it controls include the tongue and hands. Both are related to language, ie speaking and writing. This shows that the human brain is designed by God to interact with the language. Such brain structure is not owned by another creature, besides humans. Language is very distinctive for human. Human civilization is shown by the language. People can write and convey the history of civilization with the language. Humans spawned great works also with the language. Humans can formulate science and technology with language. Language shows why human is the perfect creature on Earth. Furthermore, the brain also controls the functions to get a noble life. One of them is related to emotion. Pleasure, happiness, sadness, suffering, hate and love, all controlled by the emotional memory center in the brain called the amygdala. While memory center that is rational in the brain called the hippocampus. If brain is mapped according its region, then the human brain can be divided into three major sections. Region I, is the skin of the brain (cerebral cortex), the outermost portion of the brain. This area became the basis of the activities related to one's rational faculties. Starting from the ability to receive sensory stimuli, understand, analyze, and then respond to the motor. The greatness of human civilization in terms of science and technology, as it developed rapidly in recent centuries was the result of rational thinking brain from the skin. Humans can make a variety of electronic equipment, computers, robots, weapons of mass destruction, the spacecraft, and so forth, are only part of the brain power of shows by cerebral cortex. Region II, is the limbic system and other parts in the middle of the brain that is still very mysterious. This region is responsible for higher functions that are closely related to one's emotions. Be honest, fair, forgiving, love, hate, sadness, joy, and suffering is set by the mechanism in this region, the center of the brain. These include the amygdala in emotional memory center. There are several components of the brain involved in regulating these systems of 'higher functions'. Among these are Cingulata gyrus, thalamus, hippocampus, Nudeus Basal, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala. Three of them were located in the region I, the cortex is involved in rational activity. As for the rest, was in the bottom of the cortex, or parts that are associated with emotion. So the limbic system mechanism, involves two brain functions, rational functions in the cortex and emotional function in the deeper parts of the brain. That is, the emergence of compassion, justice, forgiveness, grudge, guilt, sadness and joy that not only purely emotional, but also involves the rational thoughts of us. The limbic system is also involves in the subconscious mind. In this system, universal memory of the good, bad, justice, honesty, and all properties that are considered good or bad by any humans are stored. Without learning all men can knew about the sense of sadness, happiness, love, suffering, and so forth. 'Memory' of all the universal feeling has been stored in this limbic system.Why do people laugh when they hear or see something funny? Or, why we become sad when we hear or see something sad? All this, was because of the universal memory stored in this limbic system. We do not need to learn about these universal senses. Human beings have collectively associated with higher functions as a human being in their middle part of the brain. No matter what language he was speaking or what nation someone was, he would be able to know if someone was crying because of sadness or happiness. He was laughing with pleasure or simply to cover his disappointment. It is the universal language of mankind. So in this limbic system that God has inspired a sense of sadness and joy, of courage and fear, a sense of satisfaction and disappointment, a sense of peaceful and restless, feeling proud and humble, happy and miserable, and various values of good and evil. These values system is the references or benchmarks for human to decide which one is good or bad. And then, a reference if something is happy or miserable. Next, based on the 'sense memory' in the limbic system, the orders came through the endocrine system (glandular hormones, enzymes, etc.) that affect all body organs like the heart beat faster or slower, cold sweat or not, trembling hands, and so on. We will discuss this more clearly in subsequent sections. While the region III, is associated with the basic functions of life. This region includes the brain stem and cerebellum. This is the center of heart rate regulation, respiration, blood pressure, including setting the balance and smooth motion which is to be carried out. In addition to the three global regions, I think we need to know some parts of the brain that has an important role in controlling a person's life.
Thalamus. This is part of the brain located at the front, controls the entry process information from outside the brain to the cortex. It also set the process of movement of the body organs through the coordination of the cerebral cortex and small brain. This section is where the crossing of sensory nerves that entering the brain occurred. Hypothalamus, located under the thalamus. It controls the stability of body temperature, hunger and thirst, sexual activities, and other agency activities, including the process of growth and menstruation in women which are controlled by hormones. Hippocampus. This is part of the brain that stored rational memories, especially the short term memories. Hippocampus shaped like the letter C, and is located in the middle of the brain. It was actually part of the cerebral cortex that extends inside the brain. Therefore, its function is closely related to rational processes at the cortex. However, the hippocampus also plays a role in the limbic system which is the center towards human noble function. This section provides a rational consideration to the functions of the human. Not just emotional like the one played by the amygdala. Neurotransmitters. These are chemicals in the brain that function to carry messages between nerve cells. These substances are produced in the nerve cells in the brain, when the messages from the brain must be transmitted to other parts. Almost all brain activity is using neurotransmitters to convey a message. In discussing the structure and function of this brain, we get a picture that the function of human life is controlled by the soft tissue inside the head. The brain is like the central government that controls all of the authority area. Ranging from dealing with information coming through the five senses, understand, analyze, make decisions, to respond through the movement of our limbs, all governed through the mechanism of the brain. In fact, feeling happy, sad, happy, loving, and the feelings of humanity, all is well and rises in the human brain. We then wondered whether the soul that we have are in the brain. Or the brain itself is called the soul? Why ask this? Because, as we have discussed before, that the damage to brain cells can cause a person to have troubled souls and even madness. Until here we have good reason to put such suspicions. To answer this question, let us further explore the brain function. Perhaps, by understanding the mechanisms of our work we will get a better picture of the brain function. And then get the answer to the question above: is it true soul in the brain? Or maybe it was behind the brain? Or, even the brain itself is called the Soul?
2. WORKING MECHANISM OF THE BRAIN
Human brain with all the nervous system does not form simultaneously. It grew up and gradually formed since from inside the mother's abdomen until we grow up. Brain and nervous system experienced continuous improvement. That is, the ability and maturity of the brain continues to progress with time and the growth of the human. Human begin with only 1 cell, which is called Stem Cell. From 1 cell which contains the characteristics of its parents, it progress towards the formation of a complicated human which is truly remarkable. One cell divides into 2 cells, then 4 cells, 8 cells and so on until the billions of human body cells. And the amazing thing is, from one cell and then develops into cells of different shapes and functions. There are cells that divide and develop into the formation of the head. There are cells that form the body and limbs. There are cells that form bones with various shape and functions. There are cells that develop to form muscle, blood, heart, lungs, kidneys, eyes, brain, and so forth. Very strange indeed! Where the orders to develop into different cells did came from? Do you see the difference between red blood cells and bone cells, or the skin cells and brain cells? Of course, immediately we can tell the difference. Yes, that various kinds of cells are very different in form and function. Why can it happen so, that one cell can develop into cells of different and then 'magically' form a network, then the organs of different shapes and functions? Who’s the one responsible for all that? Is not human being is not completely form yet, and still is the 'embryo' that does not have any awareness or willingness? Surely it cannot govern the cells to divide and form the organs themselves. It turned out that in the Stem Cell there is a very sophisticated program that gives orders to the cells to divide and form a network and the internal organs of human body. We will discuss this in the next section. On this occasion I just wanted to inform you that the nervous system and the human brain are estimated to form before the 18th day of fetal development in the mother's abdomen. From then until the day of birth, the nervous system and the human brain develop at an extraordinary speed. Every minute of it, nerve cells in the fetal brain were increased about 25,000 cells. And so it went on until the eve of its birth. A baby's brain cells had reached approximately 100 billion nerve cells! In addition to neural cells, the brain also contains supporting cells, which amounted to twice of that, approximately 200 billion cells called glia. Nerve cells function to receive a variety of messages, process them, and response to the messages. While glia cells function is to support the smooth functioning and security of the processes that occur in nerve cells. So in about 9 months the development process of brain nervous system and the supporting cells involving approximately 300 billion cells has occurred. And, amazingly, the nerve cells form a circuit which is very complicated and complex but later on it becomes the control center of human life. This is millions of times more complex and sophisticated than this century's greatest computer. The circuits then form an interconnected network that base on its function and cannot be separated. Damage to one cell alone will cause major problems in the brain function, because the nerve cells of the brain cannot be replaced again not as the other systems.However, brain development is not stopped at the time the baby is born. Because the birth is merely the time where the nervous system start functioning. And then continue its progress towards perfection until adulthood. It was the fastest growth in the fetal growth period until early childhood. After that, though it still growing, but with slow speed, along with age. After the formation of the fetus in the womb, childhood is the most critical period in the formation of the nervous system of the human brain. Children who are born with defective eyesight, for example, obviously their nerve cells associated with the vision do not develop. The cells in the retina of the eye are growing rapidly after the baby is born into the world. If the baby after birth, closed her eyes and cannot be seen until some time, then the cells in the retina of his eye would not form, and the nerve cells associated with this will became smaller, and eventually do not work. The front part of the brain responsible for the intelligence of children is growing rapidly at the age of 6 - 12 months. If the nerve cells in this region are well developed, then the child will have a high intelligence, emotional maturity, mastering the language well, and has good skills. Language area in the brain of children also experienced stabilization at around 8th months. The nervous system is formed with a very characteristic, along with the development of a brain region called the prefrontal cortex. This area is closely connected with the concept of self-awareness and a person. At the age of 8, children experience stabilization or balance of right brain functions and left. The two hemispheres of the brain have a different mechanism in the thinking. The right brain tends to think intuitively and artistically. While the left brain to think logically, rationally and analytically. Learning mathematics, for example, need more use of the left brain. Learning sciences and grammar also use the left brain. While learning the art of music, dance art, fantasy and the like are using the right brain mechanisms. If the two hemispheres function in a balanced way, then the child will have the potential to mature intelligence, intellectually and emotionally. This consolidation is happening at the age of 8. In the fetus, infant, until the children, nerve cells will be formed and placed at the right position in both hemispheres. Either the relationship between nerve cells or its circuits, it’s all in their right position. If there is an error occurs during the placement and the brain neural circuit formation, there will be severe damage in the brain's nervous system and makes the brain does not function properly, because their circuit does not form. But, if the formation of the circuit walks right, then the nerve cells will only need to focus on its growth later on. Nervous system reliability is determined by the size of nerve cells. The big cell, long tail, and large circuits, result in better function. On the other hand, if the cell is small, short tail and narrow circuits, the function will not be good. Example of this case is the vision cells in the newborn babies as I demonstrated above. Part of the brain called the amygdala, which is responsible for emotional memory, is well developed at the age of 3. So the children who are not emotionally well formed at that age usually will have the emotional maturity problems in adulthood. In the meantime, the rational mind in the children only develop after they’ve reach 3 years old. That is why learning should be from emotional to rational. In accordance with the part of the brain that have been developed. After that, nerve cells are still growing until it reaches adulthood. Each of our new skills, both in terms of language, mathematics, and physical skills, the nerve cells of our brain that controls related to skills will develop, grow thicker, and form new circuits. So, our brains become larger and larger, and many times over the surface. The more folds in the brain of a person, then it show that he's more intelligent. The brain controls all activities of human life in three ways, namely signals via electrical signals of nerve fibers, chemicals called neurotransmitters, and hormones which are released into the blood. On these three things human function rests. Damage in one of the three things will cause chaos or even paralysis on human activity. Electrical signal is the fastest way owned by the brain and neural circuits. Each gave orders to the organs or other parts; the brain is always sending messages via this electrical signals. Like pulses in a phone. Or, like a television remote control, but through 'cable' nerves. The speed of the messages from the brain to the organs is very high, 120 meters per second. So if you have height of 160 cm, the speed of messages from the brain to the tip of your foot takes only about 1 / 75 seconds. Therefore, your feet can move instantly, right after your brain wish. This allows you to kick the ball without failure in a football game. Imagine if your response is not that fast, then a football player will be going back and forth just to kick a ball that he misses. Or, maybe a keeper will always fail to catch the ball which led to the goal. The response speed is determined by the quality of 'cable' and the circuit system, which connects the brain as a control center in organs throughout the body. That is how nervous system works. If the circuit system is bad, or the nerve structure is defective, then the speed of command will also be affected. Or even experience some congestion. Similarly, if the cable is low in quality, the response speed will also decrease. One of the peculiarities of the nervous system is the quality of the cord. Usually, in order to increase the speed of electrical signals, the cable is chosen from a good metal, say copper, or platinum with a high-power of electrical transmission. But in this nervous system, 'cable' is chosen from the insulating material, which consists of fat, protein and water. Those are the material for nerve fibers of humans. However, it process of transmitting the electrical signal is very efficient. Even much better than metal conductors that we know. If the metals are used as a cable conductor, the losses will surely occur. At a certain distance the signal quality will drop. And booster is needed to increase the signal strength. But what happens to nerve fibers is so amazing. The cells along the nerve fibers act as a booster, causing the electrical signal to experience almost no losses. Thus, the message will reach the destination perfectly and no message is loss because the electrical signal is constant throughout the journey. Maybe people need to investigate this neural system further, to create a sophisticated and advanced telecommunications system. Do not use metal materials and booster, but imitate the cells and boosters in the nervous system. A latest development in communications technology is to use fiber optics that is far better than the conductor material. But I think, it still loses to the nervous system in the human body. Electrical signal transmission system in the nervous system is better, when the nerve fibers, widening, has long tail, and its myelin (nerve wrapping materials) is thicker. A bit strange indeed, a thick myelin nerves only speed up the electrical signals. The signals can vibrate even more quickly. And contrary, in the place where myelin nerves are low, the electric signals also is low. Therefore, to determine whether a person’s nervous system is good or not, we can simply observing the thickness of the nerve cells and myelin, as well as the number of nerves forming the circuit. The thicker nerve cells and myelin, as well as many cells added, and the vast circuit, the nervous system will be amazingly great. Nerve cells were like plastic that can be stretched if it is used, the nerve cells will enlarge, thickened and elongated. But if it was never used, the nerve cells we will be smaller, thinner, and then disappeared. So we just choose, whether we always use it to move, and the more intelligent and competent we will be, or we never use it, and then the cells would disappear, and we become a bunch of fools!In addition to passing electrical signals, the brain also give orders using neurotransmitters. This is the chemical messenger. This neurotransmitter is produced at the end of every nerve cell (dendrite) as the brain's electrical signals pass through. Neurotransmitter is then released into the cells next to it, accepted by another substance, called receptor (receiver). If the neurotransmitter fit with the receptors, then the message flow process will continue until the target organ. Many types of neurotransmitters have been identified by many researchers. However, the neurotransmitters are roughly grouped into 3 major groups, namely: (1). groups of amino acids such as GABA and glutamate, (2) Biogenic groups Amin, like dopamine, ad renalin, and noradrenaline, (3) groups such as nitric oxide peptides. Each neurotransmitter plays a different role in the brain in order to convey the message to the organs. For example, when you're anxious or angry, then you will be in a cold sweat, your heart beat faster, and sometimes body felt weak. This is the effect of the release of adrenaline on the orders of the brain. Adrenaline also called epinephrine. Or if you're happy, then the happy feeling is triggered by the release of a neurotransmitter called enkefalin. If, you are able to move deftly, then your brain is decreasing the neurotransmitter GABA. The numbers will be down. Conversely, if the number of GABA is increasing, then the person becomes lazy. For people who lost their mood, less power concentration, their neurotransmitters called serotonin are decreasing. Someone could experience the madness which is caused by norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine where these neurotransmitters are working on cognitive systems, the coordinate system of muscle movement, and the vigilance of someone. Thus, we see how important the role of neurotransmitters in a person's life. It is one of the main actors in the system of human life, along with electrical signals in nerve fibers and hormones. Yes, the hormone is the third actor in the delivery of messages from the brain to the body. If the electrical signals and neurotransmitters work along the nerve, the hormone is released through the blood. This substance is released by a hipofise gland, located in front of the brain and by the Hypothalamus order. When people are angry or worried, hormones played a role in it. When you worry too much, then the limbic system in your brain will quickly ordered Hypothalamus to release hormone CRF (Corticotrophin Releasing Factor). CRF is then slid toward the bottom hipofise in Hypothalamus, and fishing out another hormone, ACTH (Adrenocorticotrophin Hormone). ACTH was then entered into the bloodstream, and then to the kidneys child glands. There ACTH Cortisol hormone which triggered the sympathetic nervous adrenaline. During this moment, your heart will beat faster, cold sweat is coming out, shivering and sometimes you’ll feel like you’re going to pee. Cortisol also will affect other organs; one of them is Hippocampus which acts as your rational memory. If that happen, then you will experience anxiety or nervous, and you will lose your memory for an instant. Even if it is something you remember will be clearly can be whipped out by cortisol at this time. Other than that, hunger and thirst also is also controlled by this hipofise gland. The same goes to digestion system, also controlled by the hormones system. This hormone system is also known to be related with how you control yourself. For example, if someone feels too much anxiety, he or she may experience stomach ache all of sudden. Hormone system also regulates the sexual mechanism such as the production of sperms in male and also the menstrual cycle in female. Now we know very well about the process occurs in the brain and how the brain control the human body. The brain controls all the human function by using 3 means, electrical signal, neurotransmitter and hormones. Now the questions is do you feel that the soul is closely related with the brain function? Or is it vice versa? Or you are not sure which one? To get a deeper understanding about this, let us together search and discuss about this in many views. Because by searching and discussing, our understanding about this will increase. By then, I end this discussion here. Thank you for reading this very long post.
1. STRUCTURE & FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAIN
There are suspicions that still need to be examined more deeply, that the soul was behind the structure of the human brain. Why is there such suspicion? Because of various clinical data observed by the psychiatrist or nerve, showing a very close connection between the quality of a soul with her brain quality. If the brain a person is medically impaired, or damaged, then we obtained the fact that people are also experiencing problems with their soul. For example, I have a friend who is experiencing some interference with the brain cells. Because of a motorcycle accident, he suffered damage to sense of smell. Since then, he never could smell anything through his nose. Rice soup scent for him is the same as Rawon rice or Timlo rice. He had complained to me, how unpleasant such interference was. At first glance, you may be wondering what to do with the soul. Actually the function of smell (the understanding of sense of smell) is part of the function of the Soul. Same goes to the eyes, ears and other senses. Because these five senses are a tool to communicate with the world outside one's body. If it is damaged, the quality of the soul is also disturbed. Examples are more obvious in the second case experienced by my family. One of my family members was affected by a stroke during a celebration of an event. Because he ate satay and other foods high in cholesterol, the stroke attacked him the very next morning. What happened after that? He suffered damage to the brain associated with the language. So since then, he could not remember the words that he has known since childhood. Whether the words are from Indonesians, Japanese, or English, he still could not remember the words perfectly.He knew, and familiar with an object, but could never mentioned its name. He was always wrong in giving name of any object. He also can’t even mention my name. And I know for sure, he still knew me. He also forgot the name of his wife and son, but he still knows them. If he tried to speak, the words that he said were not understandable at all. He was suffering psychologically, because of what he meant is not transmitted through language. I think, now you begin to feel what I mean. Damage to brain structures will give problems on the quality of one's soul. He's not crazy, just having some impaired in his soul quality. To overcome his problem, he was treated by several physicians; among them are medical doctor and neurologists. In the more severe cases, Schizophrenia aka crazy, the doctors had also found neurological damage in brain cells of the patient. There are parts of the brain responsible for emotion, shame, sadistic, uncontrolled behavior, and others that suffered serious damage. This can be seen with the release of certain chemicals inside the body. Treatment, it can be done physically by giving certain drugs that control the substances that initiated the 'madness'. Thus, we can see here that the disruption Soul is closely related to damage a person's brain structure. In the past, mental illnesses are treated only by psychiatrist but nowadays, it is treated by neurologist and psychiatrist. The neurologist deals with physical symptoms, whereas psychiatrist is more towards mental function, aka soul which is an abstract thingy. In medical science, mental illnesses is divided into two categories known as Structural (physical) and functional (psychological). To get a more concrete picture of brain structures in relation to mental function, let us examine the most important organ in the human head. The human brain is a soft tissue that weighed about 0.5 kilograms. It contains about 100 billion cells which are arranged in a highly sophisticated. These billions of cells that have complex functions act as the control center of human activity. Ranging from simply receiving the signals from various sensors in our bodies, until the process of comprehension, analysis, decision making, and then perform motor movements. Yes, in the brain is the center of human activity. All of our senses are controlled by the brain. If, brain cells associated with the senses is damaged, then the function of our senses will be impaired or it will not function normally. Vision function for example. Although our eyes are healthy, but if the cells of our vision centers located in the back of the brain skin damage, we also won’t be able to see, although our eyes are still open. Lens and retina are also still good. Nerves connecting the eye to the brain are also perfect. All of it becomes meaningless, when the visual cells in our brain are damaged. The entire vision process will be gone. The same goes to hearing process. Although the organ involve in hearing process, ear, eardrum, up to the 'cable' connecting to the central nerve of hearing is good, but if the cells in the hearing center (left side of the brain skin) is damaged, then it becomes useless. The sound is still captured by the ear, and then converted into electrical signals to the brain. But the brain cannot understand the voice, because the cells were damaged. The same goes to other function, if the center of the function which is in brain is damaged, the process couldn’t be carried out entirely. In addition to controlling the senses, and as a center of understanding, the brain also controls all movement of the body. Movement of hands, feet, head, and all the muscles or joints are controlled by the brain. The people who suffered a stroke, and then damaged in the movement control center, he will experience a seizure. Some also paralyzed either half or total paralysis, depending on the level of severity of the stroke. The series of limbic function is located at the front of the cortex. Going further, the brain is also a language center. Vocabulary, comprehension up to verbal process all is located in the brain. This language center occupies a vast territory in the human brain. Among areas that it controls include the tongue and hands. Both are related to language, ie speaking and writing. This shows that the human brain is designed by God to interact with the language. Such brain structure is not owned by another creature, besides humans. Language is very distinctive for human. Human civilization is shown by the language. People can write and convey the history of civilization with the language. Humans spawned great works also with the language. Humans can formulate science and technology with language. Language shows why human is the perfect creature on Earth. Furthermore, the brain also controls the functions to get a noble life. One of them is related to emotion. Pleasure, happiness, sadness, suffering, hate and love, all controlled by the emotional memory center in the brain called the amygdala. While memory center that is rational in the brain called the hippocampus. If brain is mapped according its region, then the human brain can be divided into three major sections. Region I, is the skin of the brain (cerebral cortex), the outermost portion of the brain. This area became the basis of the activities related to one's rational faculties. Starting from the ability to receive sensory stimuli, understand, analyze, and then respond to the motor. The greatness of human civilization in terms of science and technology, as it developed rapidly in recent centuries was the result of rational thinking brain from the skin. Humans can make a variety of electronic equipment, computers, robots, weapons of mass destruction, the spacecraft, and so forth, are only part of the brain power of shows by cerebral cortex. Region II, is the limbic system and other parts in the middle of the brain that is still very mysterious. This region is responsible for higher functions that are closely related to one's emotions. Be honest, fair, forgiving, love, hate, sadness, joy, and suffering is set by the mechanism in this region, the center of the brain. These include the amygdala in emotional memory center. There are several components of the brain involved in regulating these systems of 'higher functions'. Among these are Cingulata gyrus, thalamus, hippocampus, Nudeus Basal, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala. Three of them were located in the region I, the cortex is involved in rational activity. As for the rest, was in the bottom of the cortex, or parts that are associated with emotion. So the limbic system mechanism, involves two brain functions, rational functions in the cortex and emotional function in the deeper parts of the brain. That is, the emergence of compassion, justice, forgiveness, grudge, guilt, sadness and joy that not only purely emotional, but also involves the rational thoughts of us. The limbic system is also involves in the subconscious mind. In this system, universal memory of the good, bad, justice, honesty, and all properties that are considered good or bad by any humans are stored. Without learning all men can knew about the sense of sadness, happiness, love, suffering, and so forth. 'Memory' of all the universal feeling has been stored in this limbic system.Why do people laugh when they hear or see something funny? Or, why we become sad when we hear or see something sad? All this, was because of the universal memory stored in this limbic system. We do not need to learn about these universal senses. Human beings have collectively associated with higher functions as a human being in their middle part of the brain. No matter what language he was speaking or what nation someone was, he would be able to know if someone was crying because of sadness or happiness. He was laughing with pleasure or simply to cover his disappointment. It is the universal language of mankind. So in this limbic system that God has inspired a sense of sadness and joy, of courage and fear, a sense of satisfaction and disappointment, a sense of peaceful and restless, feeling proud and humble, happy and miserable, and various values of good and evil. These values system is the references or benchmarks for human to decide which one is good or bad. And then, a reference if something is happy or miserable. Next, based on the 'sense memory' in the limbic system, the orders came through the endocrine system (glandular hormones, enzymes, etc.) that affect all body organs like the heart beat faster or slower, cold sweat or not, trembling hands, and so on. We will discuss this more clearly in subsequent sections. While the region III, is associated with the basic functions of life. This region includes the brain stem and cerebellum. This is the center of heart rate regulation, respiration, blood pressure, including setting the balance and smooth motion which is to be carried out. In addition to the three global regions, I think we need to know some parts of the brain that has an important role in controlling a person's life.
Thalamus. This is part of the brain located at the front, controls the entry process information from outside the brain to the cortex. It also set the process of movement of the body organs through the coordination of the cerebral cortex and small brain. This section is where the crossing of sensory nerves that entering the brain occurred. Hypothalamus, located under the thalamus. It controls the stability of body temperature, hunger and thirst, sexual activities, and other agency activities, including the process of growth and menstruation in women which are controlled by hormones. Hippocampus. This is part of the brain that stored rational memories, especially the short term memories. Hippocampus shaped like the letter C, and is located in the middle of the brain. It was actually part of the cerebral cortex that extends inside the brain. Therefore, its function is closely related to rational processes at the cortex. However, the hippocampus also plays a role in the limbic system which is the center towards human noble function. This section provides a rational consideration to the functions of the human. Not just emotional like the one played by the amygdala. Neurotransmitters. These are chemicals in the brain that function to carry messages between nerve cells. These substances are produced in the nerve cells in the brain, when the messages from the brain must be transmitted to other parts. Almost all brain activity is using neurotransmitters to convey a message. In discussing the structure and function of this brain, we get a picture that the function of human life is controlled by the soft tissue inside the head. The brain is like the central government that controls all of the authority area. Ranging from dealing with information coming through the five senses, understand, analyze, make decisions, to respond through the movement of our limbs, all governed through the mechanism of the brain. In fact, feeling happy, sad, happy, loving, and the feelings of humanity, all is well and rises in the human brain. We then wondered whether the soul that we have are in the brain. Or the brain itself is called the soul? Why ask this? Because, as we have discussed before, that the damage to brain cells can cause a person to have troubled souls and even madness. Until here we have good reason to put such suspicions. To answer this question, let us further explore the brain function. Perhaps, by understanding the mechanisms of our work we will get a better picture of the brain function. And then get the answer to the question above: is it true soul in the brain? Or maybe it was behind the brain? Or, even the brain itself is called the Soul?
2. WORKING MECHANISM OF THE BRAIN
Human brain with all the nervous system does not form simultaneously. It grew up and gradually formed since from inside the mother's abdomen until we grow up. Brain and nervous system experienced continuous improvement. That is, the ability and maturity of the brain continues to progress with time and the growth of the human. Human begin with only 1 cell, which is called Stem Cell. From 1 cell which contains the characteristics of its parents, it progress towards the formation of a complicated human which is truly remarkable. One cell divides into 2 cells, then 4 cells, 8 cells and so on until the billions of human body cells. And the amazing thing is, from one cell and then develops into cells of different shapes and functions. There are cells that divide and develop into the formation of the head. There are cells that form the body and limbs. There are cells that form bones with various shape and functions. There are cells that develop to form muscle, blood, heart, lungs, kidneys, eyes, brain, and so forth. Very strange indeed! Where the orders to develop into different cells did came from? Do you see the difference between red blood cells and bone cells, or the skin cells and brain cells? Of course, immediately we can tell the difference. Yes, that various kinds of cells are very different in form and function. Why can it happen so, that one cell can develop into cells of different and then 'magically' form a network, then the organs of different shapes and functions? Who’s the one responsible for all that? Is not human being is not completely form yet, and still is the 'embryo' that does not have any awareness or willingness? Surely it cannot govern the cells to divide and form the organs themselves. It turned out that in the Stem Cell there is a very sophisticated program that gives orders to the cells to divide and form a network and the internal organs of human body. We will discuss this in the next section. On this occasion I just wanted to inform you that the nervous system and the human brain are estimated to form before the 18th day of fetal development in the mother's abdomen. From then until the day of birth, the nervous system and the human brain develop at an extraordinary speed. Every minute of it, nerve cells in the fetal brain were increased about 25,000 cells. And so it went on until the eve of its birth. A baby's brain cells had reached approximately 100 billion nerve cells! In addition to neural cells, the brain also contains supporting cells, which amounted to twice of that, approximately 200 billion cells called glia. Nerve cells function to receive a variety of messages, process them, and response to the messages. While glia cells function is to support the smooth functioning and security of the processes that occur in nerve cells. So in about 9 months the development process of brain nervous system and the supporting cells involving approximately 300 billion cells has occurred. And, amazingly, the nerve cells form a circuit which is very complicated and complex but later on it becomes the control center of human life. This is millions of times more complex and sophisticated than this century's greatest computer. The circuits then form an interconnected network that base on its function and cannot be separated. Damage to one cell alone will cause major problems in the brain function, because the nerve cells of the brain cannot be replaced again not as the other systems.However, brain development is not stopped at the time the baby is born. Because the birth is merely the time where the nervous system start functioning. And then continue its progress towards perfection until adulthood. It was the fastest growth in the fetal growth period until early childhood. After that, though it still growing, but with slow speed, along with age. After the formation of the fetus in the womb, childhood is the most critical period in the formation of the nervous system of the human brain. Children who are born with defective eyesight, for example, obviously their nerve cells associated with the vision do not develop. The cells in the retina of the eye are growing rapidly after the baby is born into the world. If the baby after birth, closed her eyes and cannot be seen until some time, then the cells in the retina of his eye would not form, and the nerve cells associated with this will became smaller, and eventually do not work. The front part of the brain responsible for the intelligence of children is growing rapidly at the age of 6 - 12 months. If the nerve cells in this region are well developed, then the child will have a high intelligence, emotional maturity, mastering the language well, and has good skills. Language area in the brain of children also experienced stabilization at around 8th months. The nervous system is formed with a very characteristic, along with the development of a brain region called the prefrontal cortex. This area is closely connected with the concept of self-awareness and a person. At the age of 8, children experience stabilization or balance of right brain functions and left. The two hemispheres of the brain have a different mechanism in the thinking. The right brain tends to think intuitively and artistically. While the left brain to think logically, rationally and analytically. Learning mathematics, for example, need more use of the left brain. Learning sciences and grammar also use the left brain. While learning the art of music, dance art, fantasy and the like are using the right brain mechanisms. If the two hemispheres function in a balanced way, then the child will have the potential to mature intelligence, intellectually and emotionally. This consolidation is happening at the age of 8. In the fetus, infant, until the children, nerve cells will be formed and placed at the right position in both hemispheres. Either the relationship between nerve cells or its circuits, it’s all in their right position. If there is an error occurs during the placement and the brain neural circuit formation, there will be severe damage in the brain's nervous system and makes the brain does not function properly, because their circuit does not form. But, if the formation of the circuit walks right, then the nerve cells will only need to focus on its growth later on. Nervous system reliability is determined by the size of nerve cells. The big cell, long tail, and large circuits, result in better function. On the other hand, if the cell is small, short tail and narrow circuits, the function will not be good. Example of this case is the vision cells in the newborn babies as I demonstrated above. Part of the brain called the amygdala, which is responsible for emotional memory, is well developed at the age of 3. So the children who are not emotionally well formed at that age usually will have the emotional maturity problems in adulthood. In the meantime, the rational mind in the children only develop after they’ve reach 3 years old. That is why learning should be from emotional to rational. In accordance with the part of the brain that have been developed. After that, nerve cells are still growing until it reaches adulthood. Each of our new skills, both in terms of language, mathematics, and physical skills, the nerve cells of our brain that controls related to skills will develop, grow thicker, and form new circuits. So, our brains become larger and larger, and many times over the surface. The more folds in the brain of a person, then it show that he's more intelligent. The brain controls all activities of human life in three ways, namely signals via electrical signals of nerve fibers, chemicals called neurotransmitters, and hormones which are released into the blood. On these three things human function rests. Damage in one of the three things will cause chaos or even paralysis on human activity. Electrical signal is the fastest way owned by the brain and neural circuits. Each gave orders to the organs or other parts; the brain is always sending messages via this electrical signals. Like pulses in a phone. Or, like a television remote control, but through 'cable' nerves. The speed of the messages from the brain to the organs is very high, 120 meters per second. So if you have height of 160 cm, the speed of messages from the brain to the tip of your foot takes only about 1 / 75 seconds. Therefore, your feet can move instantly, right after your brain wish. This allows you to kick the ball without failure in a football game. Imagine if your response is not that fast, then a football player will be going back and forth just to kick a ball that he misses. Or, maybe a keeper will always fail to catch the ball which led to the goal. The response speed is determined by the quality of 'cable' and the circuit system, which connects the brain as a control center in organs throughout the body. That is how nervous system works. If the circuit system is bad, or the nerve structure is defective, then the speed of command will also be affected. Or even experience some congestion. Similarly, if the cable is low in quality, the response speed will also decrease. One of the peculiarities of the nervous system is the quality of the cord. Usually, in order to increase the speed of electrical signals, the cable is chosen from a good metal, say copper, or platinum with a high-power of electrical transmission. But in this nervous system, 'cable' is chosen from the insulating material, which consists of fat, protein and water. Those are the material for nerve fibers of humans. However, it process of transmitting the electrical signal is very efficient. Even much better than metal conductors that we know. If the metals are used as a cable conductor, the losses will surely occur. At a certain distance the signal quality will drop. And booster is needed to increase the signal strength. But what happens to nerve fibers is so amazing. The cells along the nerve fibers act as a booster, causing the electrical signal to experience almost no losses. Thus, the message will reach the destination perfectly and no message is loss because the electrical signal is constant throughout the journey. Maybe people need to investigate this neural system further, to create a sophisticated and advanced telecommunications system. Do not use metal materials and booster, but imitate the cells and boosters in the nervous system. A latest development in communications technology is to use fiber optics that is far better than the conductor material. But I think, it still loses to the nervous system in the human body. Electrical signal transmission system in the nervous system is better, when the nerve fibers, widening, has long tail, and its myelin (nerve wrapping materials) is thicker. A bit strange indeed, a thick myelin nerves only speed up the electrical signals. The signals can vibrate even more quickly. And contrary, in the place where myelin nerves are low, the electric signals also is low. Therefore, to determine whether a person’s nervous system is good or not, we can simply observing the thickness of the nerve cells and myelin, as well as the number of nerves forming the circuit. The thicker nerve cells and myelin, as well as many cells added, and the vast circuit, the nervous system will be amazingly great. Nerve cells were like plastic that can be stretched if it is used, the nerve cells will enlarge, thickened and elongated. But if it was never used, the nerve cells we will be smaller, thinner, and then disappeared. So we just choose, whether we always use it to move, and the more intelligent and competent we will be, or we never use it, and then the cells would disappear, and we become a bunch of fools!In addition to passing electrical signals, the brain also give orders using neurotransmitters. This is the chemical messenger. This neurotransmitter is produced at the end of every nerve cell (dendrite) as the brain's electrical signals pass through. Neurotransmitter is then released into the cells next to it, accepted by another substance, called receptor (receiver). If the neurotransmitter fit with the receptors, then the message flow process will continue until the target organ. Many types of neurotransmitters have been identified by many researchers. However, the neurotransmitters are roughly grouped into 3 major groups, namely: (1). groups of amino acids such as GABA and glutamate, (2) Biogenic groups Amin, like dopamine, ad renalin, and noradrenaline, (3) groups such as nitric oxide peptides. Each neurotransmitter plays a different role in the brain in order to convey the message to the organs. For example, when you're anxious or angry, then you will be in a cold sweat, your heart beat faster, and sometimes body felt weak. This is the effect of the release of adrenaline on the orders of the brain. Adrenaline also called epinephrine. Or if you're happy, then the happy feeling is triggered by the release of a neurotransmitter called enkefalin. If, you are able to move deftly, then your brain is decreasing the neurotransmitter GABA. The numbers will be down. Conversely, if the number of GABA is increasing, then the person becomes lazy. For people who lost their mood, less power concentration, their neurotransmitters called serotonin are decreasing. Someone could experience the madness which is caused by norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine where these neurotransmitters are working on cognitive systems, the coordinate system of muscle movement, and the vigilance of someone. Thus, we see how important the role of neurotransmitters in a person's life. It is one of the main actors in the system of human life, along with electrical signals in nerve fibers and hormones. Yes, the hormone is the third actor in the delivery of messages from the brain to the body. If the electrical signals and neurotransmitters work along the nerve, the hormone is released through the blood. This substance is released by a hipofise gland, located in front of the brain and by the Hypothalamus order. When people are angry or worried, hormones played a role in it. When you worry too much, then the limbic system in your brain will quickly ordered Hypothalamus to release hormone CRF (Corticotrophin Releasing Factor). CRF is then slid toward the bottom hipofise in Hypothalamus, and fishing out another hormone, ACTH (Adrenocorticotrophin Hormone). ACTH was then entered into the bloodstream, and then to the kidneys child glands. There ACTH Cortisol hormone which triggered the sympathetic nervous adrenaline. During this moment, your heart will beat faster, cold sweat is coming out, shivering and sometimes you’ll feel like you’re going to pee. Cortisol also will affect other organs; one of them is Hippocampus which acts as your rational memory. If that happen, then you will experience anxiety or nervous, and you will lose your memory for an instant. Even if it is something you remember will be clearly can be whipped out by cortisol at this time. Other than that, hunger and thirst also is also controlled by this hipofise gland. The same goes to digestion system, also controlled by the hormones system. This hormone system is also known to be related with how you control yourself. For example, if someone feels too much anxiety, he or she may experience stomach ache all of sudden. Hormone system also regulates the sexual mechanism such as the production of sperms in male and also the menstrual cycle in female. Now we know very well about the process occurs in the brain and how the brain control the human body. The brain controls all the human function by using 3 means, electrical signal, neurotransmitter and hormones. Now the questions is do you feel that the soul is closely related with the brain function? Or is it vice versa? Or you are not sure which one? To get a deeper understanding about this, let us together search and discuss about this in many views. Because by searching and discussing, our understanding about this will increase. By then, I end this discussion here. Thank you for reading this very long post.
*This post is translated from Indonesian article
**The translator is me myself, so i'm sorry for the grammar errors contain in this post.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Tetris and Brain Efficiency
I just finished reviewing my favourite website, http://www.physorg.com/ and I found this interesting articles about Tetris. Below is the article that I retrieved from that website.
Is Tetris good for the brain?
Researchers from Mind Research Network in Albuquerque used brain imaging and Tetris to investigate whether practice makes the brain efficient because it increases gray matter. For 30 minutes a day over a three-month period, 26 adolescent girls played Tetris, a computer game requiring a combination of cognitive skills. The girls completed both structural and functional MRI scans before and after the three-month practice period, as did girls in the control group who did not play Tetris. A structural MRI was used to assess cortical thickness, and a functional MRI was used to assess efficient activity.
The girls who practiced showed greater brain efficiency, consistent with earlier studies. Compared to controls, the girls that practiced also had a thicker cortex, but not in the same brain areas where efficiency occurred.
The areas of the brain that showed relatively thicker cortex were the Brodmann Area (BA) 6 in the left frontal lobe and BA 22 and BA 38 in the left temporal lobe. Scientists believe BA 6 plays a role in the planning of complex, coordinated movements. BA 22 and BA 38 are believed to be the part of the brain active in multisensory integration—or our brain’s coordination of visual, tactile, auditory, and internal physiological information. Functional MRI (fMRI) showed greater efficiency after practice mostly in the right frontal and parietal lobes including BAs 32, 6, 8, 9, 46 and BA 40. These areas are associated with critical thinking, reasoning, and language and processing.
“One of the most surprising findings of brain research in the last five years was that juggling practice increased gray matter in the motor areas of the brain,” said Dr. Rex Jung, a co-investigator on the Tetris study and a clinical neuropsychologist. “We did our Tetris study to see if mental practice increased cortical thickness, a sign of more gray matter. If it did, it could be an explanation for why previous studies have shown that mental practice increases brain efficiency. More gray matter in an area could mean that the area would not need to work as hard during Tetris play.”
“We were excited to see cortical thickness differences between the girls that practiced Tetris and those that did not,” said Dr. Richard Haier, a co-investigator in the study and lead author of a 1992 study that found practicing Tetris led to greater brain efficiency. “But, it was surprising that these changes were not where we saw more efficiency. How a thicker cortex and increased brain efficiency are related remains a mystery.”
The researchers hope to continue this work with larger, more diverse samples to investigate whether the brain changes we measured revert back when subjects stop playing Tetris. Similarly, they are interested if the skills learned in Tetris, and the associated brain changes, transfer to other cognitive areas such as working memory, processing speed, or spatial reasoning.
More information: MRI assessment of cortical thickness and functional activity changes in adolescent girls following three months of practice on a visual-spatial task; Richard J Haier, Sherif Karama, Leonard Leyba and Rex E Jung; BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:174;
If for instance Tetris is proved to increase the brain efficiency, would that mean playing Tetris can help us to be an intelligent person? And help us with our study? I just hope it would because playing tetris is a lot easier than studying all the things that i can't even remember although I just look at that word a few seconds ago. Anyway, this would be further discuss by the researchers and not us. Thank you for reading this post.
Is Tetris good for the brain?
Researchers from Mind Research Network in Albuquerque used brain imaging and Tetris to investigate whether practice makes the brain efficient because it increases gray matter. For 30 minutes a day over a three-month period, 26 adolescent girls played Tetris, a computer game requiring a combination of cognitive skills. The girls completed both structural and functional MRI scans before and after the three-month practice period, as did girls in the control group who did not play Tetris. A structural MRI was used to assess cortical thickness, and a functional MRI was used to assess efficient activity.
The girls who practiced showed greater brain efficiency, consistent with earlier studies. Compared to controls, the girls that practiced also had a thicker cortex, but not in the same brain areas where efficiency occurred.
The areas of the brain that showed relatively thicker cortex were the Brodmann Area (BA) 6 in the left frontal lobe and BA 22 and BA 38 in the left temporal lobe. Scientists believe BA 6 plays a role in the planning of complex, coordinated movements. BA 22 and BA 38 are believed to be the part of the brain active in multisensory integration—or our brain’s coordination of visual, tactile, auditory, and internal physiological information. Functional MRI (fMRI) showed greater efficiency after practice mostly in the right frontal and parietal lobes including BAs 32, 6, 8, 9, 46 and BA 40. These areas are associated with critical thinking, reasoning, and language and processing.
“One of the most surprising findings of brain research in the last five years was that juggling practice increased gray matter in the motor areas of the brain,” said Dr. Rex Jung, a co-investigator on the Tetris study and a clinical neuropsychologist. “We did our Tetris study to see if mental practice increased cortical thickness, a sign of more gray matter. If it did, it could be an explanation for why previous studies have shown that mental practice increases brain efficiency. More gray matter in an area could mean that the area would not need to work as hard during Tetris play.”
“We were excited to see cortical thickness differences between the girls that practiced Tetris and those that did not,” said Dr. Richard Haier, a co-investigator in the study and lead author of a 1992 study that found practicing Tetris led to greater brain efficiency. “But, it was surprising that these changes were not where we saw more efficiency. How a thicker cortex and increased brain efficiency are related remains a mystery.”
The researchers hope to continue this work with larger, more diverse samples to investigate whether the brain changes we measured revert back when subjects stop playing Tetris. Similarly, they are interested if the skills learned in Tetris, and the associated brain changes, transfer to other cognitive areas such as working memory, processing speed, or spatial reasoning.
More information: MRI assessment of cortical thickness and functional activity changes in adolescent girls following three months of practice on a visual-spatial task; Richard J Haier, Sherif Karama, Leonard Leyba and Rex E Jung; BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:174;
If for instance Tetris is proved to increase the brain efficiency, would that mean playing Tetris can help us to be an intelligent person? And help us with our study? I just hope it would because playing tetris is a lot easier than studying all the things that i can't even remember although I just look at that word a few seconds ago. Anyway, this would be further discuss by the researchers and not us. Thank you for reading this post.
-Sampaikan ilmu walaupun hanya satu ayat-
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)