Final Project

Pscyh Project Video

Fun With Sugru

As we all know, the wonderful Mr. Dreier granted us sugru and is now requiring us to come up with something creative (or not-so creative) to do with sugru. Well, with my not-so creative mind, I came up with--drum role please *cue drum roll* the picture frame saver thing! The picture frame saver thing is simply sugru that is placed in all four corners of a picture frame. Its use is so that if a picture were to fall off the wall (like this one perhaps), the frame would not be damaged and would be saved by the sugru covering its four corners. In complete truth, it took me a couple days to come up with this not-too shabby device.

                                       BEFORE                                                                 AFTER

                                                

Best Part is that you can also play Monopoly on this special picture frame!

Reasons For Memory Loss

Learning about memory and psychology has been interesting so far, however, I've been curious as to what are some other reasons for memory loss besides alzheimers disease. With a little research, I was able to find a site that listed the top 10 reasons for memory loss. This list includes:

 #1 – Depression
Severe depression or grief can sometimes lead to forgetfulness and memory loss. Feelings of sadness, extreme grief at the loss of a loved one and or enduring other emotional trauma can result in feeling ‘out of touch’, or ‘in a fog’ and forgetting small details. Depression especially in older men and women can result in forgetfulness, which can worsen if it remains untreated.
#2 – Medication Side Effects
Some medications are known to cause memory loss. In most cases, stopping the medication will result in a complete recovery of memory function. Since many elderly men and women take a wide range of medications, it is possible that one or more of the medications could trigger memory loss symptoms.
#3 – Vitamin Deficiency
Individuals who do not have enough Vitamin B12 in their diet can suffer from memory loss. Vitamin B12 is important for healthy brain functioning, and can often be overlooked as a source of memory problems in the elderly. Prolonged deficiency can lead to permanent damage, but if it is caught early and treated, the memory loss may be only temporary.
#4 – Thyroid Problems
Though problems with the thyroid are known for changing weight and metabolism, thyroid dysfunction can also lead to memory loss. Hypothyroidism is particularly known for causing memory problems as the body becomes less able to absorb the nutrients provided by foods. Fortunately, thyroid problems are treatable and a simple blood test can provide answers about whether thyroid functioning is the cause of memory loss or not.
#5 – Insomnia
Too little sleep is not healthy for the body in myriad wys, especially when it relates to brain functioning and memory. Insomnia or lack of sleep can cause problems with concentration or focusing on details or tasks, resulting in forgetfulness and confusion.
#6 – Medication Interactions
While we mentioned medication side effects as one cause of memory problems, individuals taking several medications might have forgetfulness symptoms as a result of interactions between the medications. While the medications by themselves might not cause forgetfulness, memory loss from interactions is possible.
#7 – Dehydration
Dehydration is a common problem for older adults, and severe cases of dehydration can cause dementia-like symptoms. Ensuring an elderly individual drinks plenty of water each day can reverse memory loss from dehydration. The ideal amount of water for adult men and women at any age is at least six to eight glasses per day.
#8 – Trauma to the Head
Head trauma from a fall or accident can cause memory loss due to damage to the brain. Unfortunately, this type of memory loss is often not recoverable due to brain cell damage.
#9 – Dementia
Dementia of any kind, such as Alzheimer’s Disease or Dementia With Lewy Bodies, are common causes of memory loss in elderly individuals. While not all older adults suffer from memory-related diseases, the risk of developing dementia increases with age.
#10 – Brain Tumors
Tumors in the brain can sometimes cause symptoms similar to dementia. The tumor kills brain cells as it grows, resulting in memory loss. Depending on the location of the tumor, the amount of memory loss will differ between individuals.

I honestly never realized how many factors can really affect memory loss and when give a list of just 10, I question what other kinds of factors can account for memory loss.

Link: http://assistedlivingtoday.com/2012/05/10-memory-loss-causes/

Perceptual Development

In the past couple weeks of Psychology, we've been talking a lot about our senses and our sense of perception. The details of infant perception I feel we didn't cover too much, so I decided to do a little extra research. I knew that infants were born with very poor vision but I didn't realize how bad it really was. Infants are born with 20/120 to 20/400 vision which basically means that they perceive objects to be 6-20 times larger than they actually are. Also, if they were to look at an eye chart and try to distinguish which letters are which, they would only be able to distinguish the large "E" at the top of the chart. What I didn't know (or possibly pay enough attention to) is that infants are already born with developed senses of smelling and hearing. Infants are known to like familiar songs or tunes that their mothers sing to them prior to birth because the patterns of the tune are familiar to them. The more infants make contact with their mothers, the less they cry and the more relaxed they tend to be. Now whether we covered all this and I didn't pay enough attention, I don't know, however, it was great to have a recap of all of this as well as some possible other new information that I learned from this video!

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amnKsLaFsGA

Perfect Pitch

Perfect Pitch, also known as Absolute Pitch, is a rare ability that only one in ten-thousand people obtain. People with perfect pitch (such as myself) are able to identify a note simply from hearing it or are able to produce a note from memory. People with perfect pitch can also generally tell if a pitch is too sharp or flat. Just like how a person can see a color and immediately know that it is "red" or "green"  etc, the same concept goes with perfect pitch. A person can hear a note and know that it's an "A" or an "Eb" and etc. Many neuroscientists argue that people with perfect pitch have larger than average temporal lobes. After much research, scientists can conclude that most people can identify sounds as easily as colors, however, many people aren't able to place the name of a sound or frequency when it is heard. Many non-musicians have perfect pitch but are unaware of it because they don't think much about it or are unaware of what perfect pitch actually is. Many scientists still argue as to whether perfect pitch is something someone is born with, or whether it is something that a person can develop. Personally, I believe anyone can develop perfect pitch. It would require a lot of training and auditory development, but I do believe it is possible. Take my sister for example. She's just beginning to learn guitar and if I sing her a note that she may play on the guitar, she's able to think about what note it is and is accurately able to tell me that it is a "G". Does this mean she has perfect pitch? Not necessarily, but does this show evidence that she could develop it? Perhaps it does.

Link: http://www.audiology.org/news/editorial/pages/20081117a.aspx

Personality Throughout Life

During chapter 5, we've read a lot about developmental psychology and how it affects our lives. Everyone goes through the stages of life (however in some cases, they are cut short) but what I wanted to learn more about was how a child's personality will affect their adulthood. The article showed that a child who was very verbal and social as a child tended to be the same as an adult. They tended to have a higher self-esteem and were very enjoyable to be around. However, a child who was not verbal tended to remain that way as they grew older. As adults, they tended to be less social and sometimes awkward in highly social events. This article shows the positivie and negative correlations of how a child's behavior can affect their personalities in adulthood.

Link: http://www.psyarticles.com/development/childhood-personality.htm

The Nice Ice Experiment

When I was told that we were to "get addicted" to ice, I was really confused. Although I wasn't able to actually get addicted to the ice, it was fun to see what lengths I would go to to obtain it. There were some situations which were easier than others, such as getting ice at home. Other situations like getting ice at school were difficult, however. Surprisingly at home, no one in my family noticed my ice stealing skills. There was a situation in which a non-ice user offered my ice and I had to decline without being able to come with legitimate reason as to why. I found myself going to lengths that even involved eating icicles or snow because that was the closest thing I could get to in some situations. I found this experiment to be rather silly but also interesting as to what myself and others would do to get ice. While writing my hourly journal of my ice addiction, I found myself writing as though ice were a hard drug and as though I was going through withdrawal symptoms and what not. Because ice is so easy to obtain, I found that this experiment was a little too easy and didn't really portray the full effect of what hiding drugs or an addiction is like. However, I will admit that seeing what some people did and went through to simply get ice without suspicion, was really what made this experiment that more enjoyable.