1. Explain in detail what "savant syndrome" means?

      Savant Syndrome: a condition that when people with mental disorders develop some kind of expertise or have abilities in certain areas. Not yet proven, it is said that this syndrome may be either genetic or acquired.

2. What does genius mean?  Explain the difference between genius and savant Genius:  is an extraordinary capacity of intellect, mainly displayed in creative and original work. The difference is that a genius person is someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability while a savant is someone who has difficulties in learning, thought becomes talented in a specific are such mathematics, music, science, etc.

3. What is a stroke and how could it affect your mental functioning?

      A stroke medical emergency which causes permanent damage and can lead to death The affected area of the brain is unable to function, leading to inability to move one or more limbs on one side of the body, inability to understand or formulate speech, or an inability to see one side of the visual field.

4. What is a functional MRI and how does it help us understand brain activity? Functional MRI is a noninvasive medical test that helps physicians diagnose and treat medical conditions. It helps examine the anatomy of the brain, monitor the growth of brain tumors, determine how well the brain is functioning after a stroke or diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and find out where in the brain seizures are originating.

5. What is the corpus callosum and what role does it play in your brain's activity?

      Corpus Callosum: is a wide, flat bundle of neural fibers beneath the cortex in the  brain at the longitudinal fissure. It role in the brain is to connect the left and right cerebral hemispheres and enables better communication.

6. What is epilepsy and how might it affect your brain's abilities?

      Epilepsy: is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These are caused for an excessive electrical activity in the brain. People who have epilepsy have tremendous memory difficulties that may impact their life either at home, work or school.

7. What is autism?

      Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. 

8.  What is Asperger's Syndrome?

        Asperger’s Syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests

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

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

http://www.blurtit.com/q201695.html

http://biology.about.com/library/organs/brain/blcorpus.htm

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=fmribrain

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

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

Make Genius

Most of the people think that those who are genius are born with it when they certainly are not. Intelligence is not something that comes with you… it is something you acquire when you begin to practice since early age. For example, when you exercise since you are 2 to 4 years old until you are a grown up, of course you’ll be a genius on that topic, and that is what it is being proven.  Developing your preferences will make you outstanding in your life in comparison to someone that began in his/her teenage years. Interacting with other helps to make a genius since you can look around and realize mistakes you won’t ever do, though it is important to have a well education and have a strong affection or like to that certain area you want to succeed on. Practice from early age is the solution to genius results!

Genius

Can you imagine how there are many little children all over the world who are born genius and have the ability to do things that aren’t known for people in that age to do!?!? Well there is and I don’t believe it either. I learned in this video that when stimulation is developed at an early age its is proven for that person’s intelligence to be high. I am amazed by Mark’s story!! He is about five or six years old and he really is a gifted musician because he can hear any melody and will be able to play it in the piano. Marks know 40 classical melodies by memory. Another thing that I learned form this video was that if some people practiced music in their daily routine, they would develop a bigger cerebellum and achieve excellent results in some other areas. I found very interesting the story about the 12 year-old-girl, which her father kept her in her room for her entire life, twelve years being destitute from knowledge and everything!! How awful could it be? Not knowing anything… her brain being in the status of weakness couldn’t develop her brain for years and it lead to her death.

Accidental Genius

I never imagine that people who had an accidental mental change where ever capable to be genius. Whenever I hear “mental accident” in my mind I picture some kind of distortion or something similar. These people are called savants, which they start to develop their abnormal brain before they are born (they actually do have a disability). The left-brain is fully damage leading the right brain to function better and more efficiently. This means that by the right brain functioning excellent you will have outstanding talents in certain area… it is AMAZING. What I learned from the video is the existence of these weird humans. One story example in which by now I still can’t believe is 100% true and for my opinion is one of the most shocking is Kim’s, he was mentally retarded but could read 500 or more book pages in simply and hour when I can barely read abour 15-20 pages in an hour. He also had memorized 9,000 books, that isn’t retardation to me!! For some part, it is good these people have some kind of abilities after being different from people in your surroundings, but my question is... would in the inside want to be NORMAL?

Nature vs. Nurture

Many scientists are still searching answers for such controversial questions like: does homosexuality comes from family genes or is it the way we react to our surroundings? But what traits does human inherit by these reactions? They are developing studies from twins to see if homosexuality is natured or nurtured. In this video of Nature vs. Nurture I learned many things. For example, that childhood gender nonconformity is when the child acts like the opposite sex, indicating that he/she may grow up being gay, but not necessarily. Also, that the more older brothers one has, the more probability there is for him being gay, each time being increased by 1/3 and that this only works for boys. What I found interesting about this video are the identical twins having totally different characteristics and tastes. One of them liking white horses, getting his nails done, pink room, dolls, girly stuff everywhere! Meanwhile, the other one having GI JOE collection, guns, dark room, and military stuff. Although, I don’t know why his mom didn’t do anything to change any of this so they could both have boy stuff. In my opinion, these people are born this way and if you don’t change their taste since little, it will be very difficult to change it. Though, I don’t have any problem with them , but my it doesn’t follow my religion. 

Criminal Minds

Criminal minds and normal minds work totally different. Criminal minds have this thought which becomes a illness or a necessity of using violence against other people and in my opinion they do this because when they were little kids they had a bad experience or they grew up in a place where it occurred frequently and now the found it simply normal. But usually they think in this way because their brain is damaged. The brain could say what things do or what things not to do, but since it is some how damaged it has difficulties making the right decision in saying NO to violence. Not only this may cause violence, but also feelings or emotions. When you are kind of mad or sad you are just thinking on what has happened so it makes you do incorrect things. I learned that the majority of the killers have this trauma or illness since their brain has been damaged. Al though it is known that criminal’s mind and normal people’s mind are more likely the same, scientist have proven wrong. They scanned some brains and found some differences in the images. Now, the behavior and their capacity of recognizing what’s wrong or what’s right convinced me even more that brain damage may lead to violence and end being a serious killer. I believe these people develop illness while growing, looking at their surroundings or traumatic experiences.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Have you ever wondered how people with brain injuries feel when they see others being capable of everything? Well, they might feel different and it could damage their lives forever. Brain injuries are caused when force is applied to the skull, causing deformity, and this enables the brain the capacity to function well. If a person recently had a brain injury, he or she might be suffering of correct spoken language and having difficulties thinking and understanding problems. These people may have issues adapting to their new world, but recovery is the most important thing and it is a long process. In my opinion, it is also important to have friends and family members present to help them feel like they were before since they may start thinking about solutions in which actually aren’t solutions but they find them the most efficient way of recovering and it is by committing suicide. I found interesting many things, like the three types of brain injuries there are: contusion, Axonal injury and bleeding in the brain. I strongly believe that although persons with traumatic brain injury have some kind of deformity they could still achieve goals and continue with their life with success!

Mind Reading

It is amazing how technology advances every day! There exist ways to look your brain, but is there something in which actually recognizes what you are thinking?  Yes there is, I learned it in psychology last week. I couldn’t believe it. This machine called MRI is a machine used to look inside your brain scanning all your thoughts while you are thinking and then it even analyze and recognizes in which parts of your brain the information appears!  It is similar like an x-ray, but way more advanced. What I learned about this video is that several parts of the brain work together to produce your thoughts when you think of something. What I found interesting was the way the computer scanned every item the person was thinking about and that it could notice some of the places you have been before in your life time, I can’t imagine how it would be some day it was improved. Maybe it would be proficient in recognize everything your brain is thinking about, but also consider the risks people could have after going through the scanning of MRI.