We had a wonderful time at this year's Western Psychological Association Convention in San Francisco! I met a lot of nice professors, students and high school instructors!
Here is what I am reading today:
“The study found that people who chose to put in more effort — even in the face of long odds — showed greater dopamine response in the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, areas of the brain important in reward and motivation. In contrast, those who were least likely to expend effort showed increased dopamine response in the insula, a brain region involved in perception, social behavior, and self-awareness.”
“Awesome reaction from the monkey on the left when he watches his buddy get rewarded with grapes and he is stuck with cucumbers.”
“To investigate the effects of age and loneliness on cardiovascular health, the researchers measured cardiovascular reactivity and recovery in 91 young adults (18-30 years old) and 91 older adults (65-80 years old) who presented a speech and did mental arithmetic in a lab setting. Individual differences in perceived isolation (loneliness) were assessed before the tasks, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements were taken before, during and after the tasks.”
“Guam has brown tree snake problems. Alien, secretive, and extremely hungry, the reptiles snuck onto Guam as unintentional cargo on docking ships decades ago, possibly as early as the 1940s. And now snakes bite sleeping babies, cripple electrical grids by slithering into conductors, and wreak ecological havoc.”
9 Comments
corrieesmon · May 2, 2012 at 3:33 pm
So I read the Dopamine research article. I found it very interesting considering in all my Psychology we learn how dopamine is what motivates us but yet this research suggest that maybe our motivation is from traits not dopamine. Personally if I was going to get more money by applying myself harder then being laid back I would choose more money. That is the life of a college student though.
montalban · May 3, 2012 at 1:13 pm
“Would you work for a grape or a cucumber slice?”
Oh my goodness this video was hilarious! It is interesting to see the monkey’s reaction because there is no apparent way, besides the visual difference, between the two monkeys’ rewards. They both carry out the same task, and they are then rewarded with either a cucumber slice or a grape. The reaction of the monkey who received the cucumber makes me wonder what the monkey was thinking. Why did the monkey seem to believe that grapes were the better reward, and then freak out when he was not provided with one after handing over the rock? This experiment sparked my curiosity. I would further want to see if how the monkey’s reacted when given different rewards that looked almost the same; for example, both received a reward that looked like a grape but only one would really be a grape. Also, I wonder if the color of the reward had any effect on the monkeys. Are the monkeys smart enough to distinguish between different colored grapes as rewards? Will we ever know?
montalban · May 3, 2012 at 1:22 pm
“Effects of loneliness mimic aging process”
I agree with the study in stating that persistent loneliness over time may lead to greater health problems because it just makes sense. For instance, an individual that spends more time with friends is likely to be happier and more active. In addition they individual may laugh more, which we all know is good for us, or go outdoors/do various activities like hiking with their friends. However, I’m not 100% convinced that this study helps supports this idea. Reason being, they used individuals 18-30 years in one group and 65-80 years in the other and that is a huge generational difference. The way in which the study was conducted doesn’t rule out that the differences in the groups are not due to how those individuals were raised. Younger generations are raised much differently than their grandparents and I believe that that may also play a role in this experiment. Maybe the youngsters in this generation are more prepared from the start because the way they were raised and therefore respond much differently to these tests than elders. All in all, I do agree with the study because it makes sense but I’m not quite convinced that the way they carried out their experiment if it is enough support to like a correlation between
christucker · May 4, 2012 at 4:22 pm
“Dopamine may determine how hard you work”
I don’t know how valid this study really is. I would like to see more replications of similar studies, since this is the first of its kind to say that dopamine decreases motivation.
In my opinion, I don’t think the offering money for the button pressing is an accurate display of how hard someone will work to get what they want. To be honest, when put in a study I believe many people’s mindsets change. I would like to know if they actually got the money or not. For instance if it was me, I would presume that regardless of what they said, I wasn’t actually going to get the money. It’s also important to factor in how badly the participant needed/wanted the money based on their current financial situation.
christucker · May 4, 2012 at 4:33 pm
“It’s raining mice”
I couldn’t help but to laugh throughout this entire article, especially the point where he says the mice “sort of rainbowed” in trajectory when thrown from the helicopter. I believe the general idea of the plan is brilliant. However, it is not always as simple as it seems on paper. The ecologists running the experiment continue to run into problems such as the mice landing in trees, not lasting long enough for the snakes to find them, etc.
This has opened my mind to the importance of ecology in maintaining the world as we know it. As humans expand their territory, the ecological systems become very impacted and can result in many beloved species becoming extinct. It is our job to do what we can to cure the problems we have brought.
Laura Freberg · May 4, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Chris, I loved the title, too, but was relieved to find out the mice were already dead. Still, raining dead mice is just a bit creepy. I think the idea of choosing a somewhat natural solution for this ecological problem makes a lot of sense, though.
alimgarrison · May 6, 2012 at 9:27 pm
After reading “effects of loneliness and aging” I realized that this makes sense for different reasons. The first reason why loneliness would cause the same effects as aging and how it hinders recovery is because I am a firm believer in the idea that if you believe it, it will happen. I am very optimistic and if you’re lonely, it’s hard to take your mind off that. Another reason it makes sense is because you do not have people taking care of you and making you feel better.
fnmagno · May 7, 2012 at 10:04 pm
I read the article “effects of loneliness and aging” and this reminded me of another article I read previously about the relationship between depression and overall health. I feel that this relates to the article as well. I can see why loneliness can lead to health problems because if you aren’t happy and are feeling down, this can lead to problems with your overall health as you are preoccupied with trying to find someone or something to fill the void.
camillephillips3 · May 10, 2012 at 9:49 am
“It’s Raining Mice!”
Despite how unsanitary and disturbing it would be to find lots of poisonous, dead mice and snakes on the ground, I thought this idea was rather funny. I couldn’t help but picture the mice falling out of the sky! This idea seems rather outrageous, but it seems to have been effective so far. It also seems as if this is a very drastic measure to take in order to curb the snake population. I feel that there should be an alternative option that does not involve dead rodents. While this does appear to be a rather extreme measure, it is our responsibility for keeping our environment healthy. It is nice to see that people care so much about preserving the world around them, and go to extreme measures to assure this.
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