walking and shopping in our local Farmer’s Market in San Luis Obispo!
Here is what I am reading today:
“Men in committed relationships choose to keep a greater distance between themselves and an unknown woman they find attractive when given the hormone oxytocin, according to new research in the November 14 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest oxytocin may help promote fidelity within monogamous relationships.”
“Relatively small levels of exposure to alcohol while in the womb can influence a child’s IQ, according to a new study led by researchers from the universities of Bristol and Oxford using data from over 4,000 mothers and their children in the Children of the 90s study (ALSPAC) and published today in PLOS ONE.”
“Prenatal and childhood exposure to flame retardant compounds are linked to poorer attention, fine motor coordination and IQ in school-aged children, a finding by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, that adds to growing health concerns over a chemical prevalent in U.S. households.”
“Psychologists have long debated whether exceptional achievement demands raw talent or hard work. The development of artistic skill in children offers a window into the complex forces that define the first stages of mastery. As the drawings in this slide show reveal, some children discover new techniques and produce more complex compositions than others of the same age.”
“Portions of Albert Einstein’s brain have been found to be unlike those of most people and could be related to his extraordinary cognitive abilities, according to a new study led by Florida State University evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk.”
“Many of the body’s processes follow a natural daily rhythm or so-called circadian clock. There are certain times of the day when a person is most alert, when blood pressure is highest, and when the heart is most efficient. Several rare gene mutations have been found that can adjust this clock in humans, responsible for entire families in which people wake up at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. and cannot stay up much after 8 at night. Now new research has, for the first time, identified a common gene variant that affects virtually the entire population, and which is responsible for up to an hour a day of your tendency to be an early riser or night owl.”
“Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil analyzed the cerebral blood flow (CBF) of Brazilian mediums during the practice of psychography, described as a form of writing whereby a deceased person or spirit is believed to write through the medium’s hand. The new research revealed intriguing findings of decreased brain activity during mediumistic dissociative state which generated complex written content. Their findings will appear in the November 16th edition of the online journal PLOS ONE.”
34 Comments
crfan_21 · November 17, 2012 at 7:24 pm
We’ve all heard a ton of conflicting viewpoints on whether or not it is okay to drink during pregnancy. I’m glad that the article about how even moderate drinking during pregnancy can affect a child’s IQ, makes it clear. I thought it was interesting to read that most of the research that said that moderate drinking during pregnancy was okay, was conducted on women of high educational levels and good socioeconomic status. These confounding variables were a cause for much of the misconception. I have an adopted cousin who has severe FAS, so I am definitely a proponent for not drinking during pregnancy. The scientific studies in this article further the reasoning behind why to not drink during pregnancy.
EricaOhye · November 18, 2012 at 12:41 pm
While reading the article “Hormone affects distance men keep from unknown women they find attractive” I couldn’t help but be reminded of other information I have learned in my other psychology classes. In my personality class I learned a lot about oxytocin and how it can be attributed to the idea that women have a survival instinct to befriend other women. It compared it to our natural fight or flight instinct calling it the “tend or befriend” instinct. Basically the article said how oxytocin increases a woman’s desire to interact with another individuals which explains why women are also more likely to define their lives by their relationships. In contrast, testosterone breaks down the affects of oxytocin then leading men to define their lives more independently from relationships. In comparison to this article I found it interesting that the oxytocin helps form the pair bond between couples as well. However, I wonder how this experiment helped control for the type of men they used as subjects. Is it possible that these men were just more faithful to their partners? I’m sure not all of these men had the same quality of relationship as the others.
EricaOhye · November 18, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Just reading the first few lines of the article “Even moderate drinking in pregnancy can affect a child’s IQ, study shows”, were shocking. I found it interesting and hard to believe that some official guidelines suggested that moderate use of alcohol was safe during pregnancy. It really raises my concern for our generation and future generations of young women. The sex education overall is not sufficient to keep our women safe. In high school I worked at a teen pregnancy clinic and it was disheartening to see how uneducated some young girls were about pregnancy and sex overall. I think it’s good that these studies are being done though in order to help add to the research on the topic. What seemed most peculiar to me about this article was that the study described in it that tested the genetic variation of a sample of pregnant women used women who actually consumed alcohol while pregnant. I wonder how these women were gathered and if they were asked to be part of a group that drank moderately or if they were found after already having drunk alcohol during their pregnancy.
PaigeBroderick · November 18, 2012 at 5:19 pm
In the article “men’s hormones and their attraction to the wrong women”, excess amounts of the hormone oxytocin were studied in heterosexual males. Oxytocin is produced by the hypothalamus and is believed to be involved in forming bonds of trust between parents and children and intimate relationships. Coupled men who recieved a nasal spray of oxytocin tended to stay further away from unknown women they found to be attractive whilst single men demonstrated no significant changes in behavior. Perhaps increased levels of oxytocin reinforced and strengthened the existing relationship bonds in the coupled men. A similar study was conducted on rodents and produced similar results, so oxytocin’s affects on a couple’s tendency to stay together in a monogamous relationship appears to be highly correlated with oxytocin levels. Maybe a deficiency epidemic in oxytocin can account for such high divorce rates in the U.S.
Sarah Dougherty · November 18, 2012 at 6:27 pm
This article describes a comprehensive study that was conducted through universities of Bristol and Oxford. It has been conducted since the 90’s and has just been released in November of this year. This study is a shock as most women I know have been told that moderate drinking cannot affect the brain of a fetus during pregnancy and this study blows that idea out of the water. Advice from doctors over the years have told women confusing messages regarding alcohol consumption and fetal brain development. At first they were told that no consumption was healthy and certainly binge drinking was a terrible risk factor for fetal alcohol syndrome. However, many doctors (including my Aunt’s doctor) tell women that moderate drinking is fine, and maybe even relaxing. No evidence was available that moderate drinking would affect a baby’s IQ. Up until now, observational studies might have described moderate drinking as positive. This long term study, the first of its kind, found that even small alcohol levels (1 to 6 drinks a week) negatively affected IQ, almost 2 points lower, in children by the age of 8 years. This information needs to be shared in all health classes and needs to be made available to all doctors working with pregnancy and women. I have personally seen many pregnant young women have a drink and wondered if it was OK, but it is not. This is one thing that mom’s can do along with a healthy diet, vitamins, and not smoking that can make a difference to their developing child. Every woman should be given this information before she gets pregnant.
taylorkilbride · November 18, 2012 at 8:59 pm
“men’s hormones and their attraction to the wrong women”
I found this article so interesting! Although, if the hormone oxytocin is released during touch from a loved one I was wondering if this study could demonstrate that it has a type of classical conditioning response? When oxytocin is released from someone you like or love, you want to be with that person because you feel a bond or connection. When given oxytocin in a different situation, can your brain still associate the feeling it triggers with the person who made you feel that way in the first place making you want to be monogamous?
taylorkilbride · November 18, 2012 at 9:21 pm
“early birds, night owls and death, oh my!”
I figured that whether you are a night owl or an early bird was partially influenced by environmental factors, but mostly influenced by genetics, considering most siblings I know, myself and my sister included, are often opposites even when raised the same. After reading this new study it is so interesting that this has been isolated to one specific gene and that this gene has to do with circadian rhythms regarding death. I would not have assumed that because of one specific location on DNA that the time all your circadian rhythms end could be determined, but in retrospect it makes sense when dealing with cases of natural death.
Sarah Dougherty · November 18, 2012 at 9:56 pm
This article is an extraordinary account of how a hormone called Oxytocin can help a married man stay true to his wife. This particular study from the University of Bonn was of interest because married men who were given Oxytocin felt uncomfortable when an attractive woman came toward him. In the animal kingdom, Prairie Voles who are monogamous produce this hormone, and now it has been tested on humans regarding monogomy. Married men consistently stated that they were uncomfortable when the attractive woman came near to them, unlike single men upon whom the hormone had no effect. This study suggests that the use of oxytocin promotes monogamous behavior in married men. There are probably some wives that would like to spray this hormone in their husband’s nose before they wake in the morning. While this hormone usually promotes social bonds and trust, in married men, it caused men to want to keep distance between themselves and an attractive woman, whether or not she made eye contact with him. In light of recent problem affairs with men in high government positions, the military might want to add this to their list of sprays and shots. It’s doubtful that men would willingly use this hormone, unless their affairs led to great pain and a psychiatrist could prescribe the hormone. I am not sure where this study will lead, but it is doubtful that it will be found in pharmacies anytime soon. I wonder if it will work on women?
LauraGregorich · November 19, 2012 at 12:25 am
“Men’s Hormones and their attraction to the wrong women”
Like the researchers, I was somewhat surprised by the results. Knowing that oxytocin is known as the “bonding” hormone between two individuals, I would have guessed that males that had the oxytocin would have been more attracted to the female variable in the experiment, and would want to be closer to them. I was actually somewhat surprised (and impressed!) that men in relationships that had the oxytocin kept a further distance from the attractive female, demonstrating their commitment and dedication to their significant other. This would be interesting to see if this hormone supplied to the public could end up helping some couples, such as those that are feeling separated from their significant other, or those in marriages headed for divorce- maybe it could help bring them closer together.
csommo · November 19, 2012 at 9:26 am
The article about moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy is very important for people to know about. I have a family friend who is currently pregnant and she drinks in moderation and thinks that it is perfectly healthy. I think that many mothers, and just people in general, live by the philosophy that “anything’s okay in moderation.” However, this article proves that this is not true. It is important for people to be aware of the damage that alcohol and cause to a fetus, even if the mother is not a heavy drinker. This article provided a lot of insight that I feel should be publicized more.
lportiz · November 19, 2012 at 11:24 am
The article on “Men’s hormones and their attraction to the wrong women” was very interesting because it reminded me of what we learned in class when we were learning about romantic love, sexual desire, and parenting. I learned that oxytocin is a hormone that stimulates social bonding, such as romantic love and parenting behavior, and also releases milk and stimulates uterine contractions. During that lecture we also learned about the monogamous prairie vole and the similar montane vole that is promiscuous, so I’m wondering what effect would it have on the montane vole if they were given the hormone oxytocin? Would they stay promiscuous or maybe be nurturing and interact with their young as as the prairie vole does?
lportiz · November 19, 2012 at 11:43 am
The article on “pregnancy and moderate drinking still has problems” was not a shocker to me, we have known that drinking during pregnancy can have negative effects on the child such as fetal alcohol syndrome, and as this article mentions, differences in a child’s IQ. That to me is not a surprise, although doctors say that moderate drinking is ok during pregnancy, I still don’t understand how mothers choose to drink, even one drink. I have had friends that chose not to drink at all during pregnancy even if a glass of wine was ok, they said that they did not even want to risk possibly harming the fetus. There are those pregnant women that choose to drink moderately because a doctor tells them it’s ok, however drinking “moderately” can easily turn into binge drinking.
jblangle · November 19, 2012 at 5:14 pm
After reading the “Even moderate drinking in pregnancy can affect a child’s IQ, study shows” article it is quite startling to know that these additional studies with regards to “moderate” drinking still causes an affect on the child’s IQ. I do not know if it is still suggested or not but I believe that it was common for doctors to suggest having a drink at night to relax and to decrease the stress. But as more studies are being published and showing the affects negative it seems to be not a good choice with evening having one drink. The <1-6 units of alcohol a week is not a significant amount and it is great to see more studies being done to show that alcohol can still have a negative impact even in small amounts.
CaitlinMorris · November 21, 2012 at 9:14 pm
“Even moderate drinking in pregnancy can affect a child’s IQ”
I found this particular article high relevant to my own life because I too know a woman who is currently pregnant and feels that drinking moderately will not have any long term effects on her child. I have always read mixed reviews from physicians about pregnancy and drinking yet I often wonder why you would want to even risk possible long term damage to a fetus through any degree of alcohol consumption. Overall, the take home message from this article, which I believe should be advertised to new mothers more, is that even limited alcohol consumption is hazardous to an unborn child and abstinence is the best method to ensure optimal conditions for child development and growth.
CaitlinMorris · November 21, 2012 at 9:54 pm
“Brazilian mediums shed light on brain activity during a trance state”
I thought this was a very well planned out study that incorporated several controls in order to enhance the validity of their resultant data. It was important to note that the subjects of study were not under the influence of any form of psychiatric drug as well as the fact that all participants were in good mental health. It was interesting to read how counterintuitive the actual results were compared to that of the expected. Perhaps, this just goes to show how limited we as a species still are in understanding our own human mind.
tpoulin · November 22, 2012 at 10:55 am
In the article about hormones affecting the distance that men keep from women, I learned that researchers found that men in committed relationships who were given oxytocin kept a greater distance when approaching or being approached by an attractive woman. This hormone is known to increase trust in people; however, when heterosexual males were given a dose of oxytocin, the exact opposite happened. The human body and mind are very confusing things. We are not mechanical by any means and that is why experiments such as this blow everyone’s minds. It is very interesting that in experiments, the exact opposite thing can happen from what one would expect.
tpoulin · November 22, 2012 at 11:01 am
In the article, “Portraits in Precocity”, the author writes how children develop at different ages. There has been lots of debate among psychologists regarding whether exceptional achievement demands raw talent or hard work. To me this seems pointless, I have always believed achievement requires hard work. Sometimes raw talent is what makes someone so amazing at what they do, but hard work would outshine that any day. Some children are able to create more abstract things with art and some children even create new techniques. This seems outstanding, but I think it means that some children develop at different rates and nothing more. There is the occasional exception of unusually creative kids and very intelligent kids, but for the most part it just regards age of development.
laurenstanfield23 · November 23, 2012 at 5:47 pm
It is interesting that oxytocin promotes trust among individuals however if in a committed relationship, oxytocin has the opposite effect in that the men in relationships wanted the ‘attractive’ experimenter to remain further away. It is especially important to note that the effect was found in all the men in committed relationships. Perhaps, oxytocin could play a role in men’s ability to form pair bonds in the first place. That is, the men are more receptive to oxytocin, perhaps making them more trustworthy, and more willing to commit in a relationship.
laurenstanfield23 · November 23, 2012 at 5:52 pm
I found the uncommon features of Einstein’s brain article very anti-climatic. They failed to describe in any detail what differences in Einstein’s brain made it “extraordinary”. However, I look forward to further research into the uncovered photographes and histological slides to find specific differences between the geniuses brain and the ‘normal’ person. Perhaps we will be able to find insight into what creates human intelligence and what action we can take to manipulate the human brain for optimal development and achievement.
LauraGregorich · November 23, 2012 at 11:56 pm
Pregnancy and Alcohol in moderation…made me cringe a little bit. I cannot believe that some medical professionals believe it is “okay” for pregnant females to consume any amount of alcohol in this generation, especially with all the known risks of birth defects and past history of FAS-Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. I did like how this article explained what previous studies on this topic have done wrong in the past-such as not limiting other factors such as lifestyle and socio-economic status of the mothers Focusing this study on the effects of the child’s IQ status at at older age was better for this study; after the randomization and limited variables, this could help determine what type of effect alcohol really does have on the fetus. Personally, I don’t understand how some women can still choose to drink alcohol when pregnant. We have seen what type of negative effects alcohol can have on the human brain- this would affect not only the fetus, but the mother as well. I would like to see more research done on this topic- it is still so controversial today to the point where no one really isn’t sure what is truly safer/can affect the childs future. This is something that could really impact future generations.
Arielle Plavnick PSY 340-01 · November 24, 2012 at 12:47 pm
A work friend of mine is 2 months pregnant and does drink moderately. Time and time again I have asked her to stop and explained that no drinking is okay during pregnancy. She recently moved hear from Europe and her response is always the same, “In Europe everyone drinks when their pregnant, and everyone ends up fine. I turned out good and so did all of my friends and our parents drank while they were pregnant with us.” I finally stopped hassling her because I thought maybe she had a point, as long as she wasn’t abusing alcohol she could do what she wanted. After reading the article “Even moderate drinking in pregnancy can affect a child’s IQ” however, and seeing all of the scientific evidence which is indeed the first of its kind that far surpasses observational data; I decided to show this my co-worker. When i shared this wither her she was shocked. she realized that if does have an effect and that moderate alcohol during pregnancy can make a small or significant impact on a child’s brain an intelligence. She decided that she was going to try to not drink anymore during her pregnancy. Even thought it is not a a promise, it is promising.
Arielle Plavnick PSY 340-01 · November 25, 2012 at 8:04 am
The article “men’s hormones and their attraction to the wrong women” was a real shock to read. I never dreamed that there was a something that could actually increase fidelity; especially something that is already produced by our own bodies! Fidelity is obviously a huge issue in the human race; heck the basically the entire “Lifetime” channel is devoted to it!
After reading that Oxytocin is known to increase trust in people, like the researchers, I expected the men to trust the sought after woman more. However the results of the experiment show, much to my dismay, the hormone increases trust between partners in a committed relationship. I do question why the Oxytocin increases trust for the partner than for the beautiful woman. Usually when hormones kick in they tell the body to “REACT NOW!” but it seems that Oxytocin does the opposite by saying “Don’t act on this person, you have someone waiting for you.” Does the hormone trigger memories of the one the male was fond of or produce the same emotions about them making the man unable to feel towards the attractive woman?
Despite my questions, very interesting and productive study that I very much appreciate.
fionachung. · November 25, 2012 at 6:52 pm
“Men’s hormones and their attraction to the wrong women,” didn’t surprise me in the results that were obtained. Since oxytoxin increases trust in people, it would make sense that men with significant others would increase their distance with unknown women because they are in a committed relationship. Trust is one of the main factors in many relationship so the results maintained made sense to me. In the “Early Bird, Night Owl..” article, I was a bit creeped out knowing that people can find out what time of the day that they can die based on certain genes. Personally, I wouldn’t want to know and I don’t fully agree with the article because they don’t take in account people that die in accidents and natural disasters.
viviannethorbecke · November 25, 2012 at 8:08 pm
“pregnancy and moderate drinking still has problems”
This article was shocking from one perspective but from the other, it was common sense. It is pretty crazy that only a little alcohol when pregnant can cause a lowering of IQ points in a child. But at the same time, little amounts of alcohol can affect adults also and if they are an alcoholic who consume a lot, it can also affect their IQ as adults. Therefore it would make sense that fetuses can be affected by it too. Another point that I can think of it that it is hard to tell a pregnant women to only have a moderate mount of alcohol because a moderate amount can mean different things for different people. It is rather difficult to see exactly how much of an affect moderate alcohol drinking can have on a child later on because there can be many other factors impacting the child throughout their life which can change things like there IQ, also. I wondered why they did not report the IQ levels of the children with mothers as heavy drinkers. I would like to see what the difference is in IQ between those and those whose mom drinks moderately during pregnancy. It is pretty much impossible to conduct an actual experiment with a control group for this question because you cannot assign levels of alcohol consumption to mothers who are pregnant because no one would volunteer for that and it is almost unethical. All in all, I think it is better to be safe than sorry and not have any alcohol when pregnant.
viviannethorbecke · November 25, 2012 at 10:14 pm
“early birds, night owls, and death, oh my!”
I expected this article to answer how whether being an early bird or a night owl directly affects when you will die. Just like many experiments, I guess that this one would be every hard to set up because you cannot assign people to sleeping groups and a control group for all of their lives. So I think because of that, it did not answer that question. I think that whether you are a night owl or not is genetic. My grandma, my mom, and I love staying up really late and do it all the time. Whenever I go to bed late, my mom always says “oh you go that from me and your grandma”. I think genetically there is a sense of the genes that determine you to be a night owl or an early bird. As far as the time of death part of the article goes, I think they are treading into deep water here because it raises a lot of ethical questions. Do people even want to know the answers to the time of death questions? The answers might even start a change in lifestyle to prevent it so are we therefore messing with something that we shouldn’t? It raises so many ethical questions even for such a small piece of information as to what time of the day you could die.
jennamcbee890 · November 25, 2012 at 10:50 pm
In response to the “Hormones affects men from unknown women they find attractive,” I thought the results were interesting, and somewhat unpredicted. As we learned in class, oxytocin is a hormone that is related to bonding, and commonly expressed generally by females. It was interesting to learn that the oxytocin made the men shy away from the female reporter, if in a committed relationship. Perhaps the oxytocin hormone is one that is so directly regulated with true love that it affects the actions of the individual even away from their committed partner. I thought this was interesting because from past experience with relationships and from watching and observing other couples, it seems that the women is generally more cautious when it comes to “okay behavior” or anything seen as flirting when not around their mate. But here, it is clear that the oxytocin had an effect on the male. Perhaps more oxytocin levels in men could help them with monogamy down the road if they are having problems committing.
a.schlachter · November 26, 2012 at 8:03 am
“Hormone Affects Distance Men Keep From Unknown Woman They Find Attractive”
I found this article interesting because I have been finding books and articles about oxytocin left and right for the past year or so now. It is always represented as this chemical that is responsible for women being so in love and attached to their partner after sex, and it is seen as this miracle chemical. I am glad that this article put a realistic spin on it by showing that we do not know the full effects of oxytocin on humans and their relationships, we know it deals with trust and social connections and childbirth, but we are not fully certain of the true extent oxytocin has on humans. I was surprised that oxytocin did not have an effect on the single men in the study because I thought, as the researchers did, that it would help them become more trusting and caring towards the unknown woman. I guess oxytocin needs more information on the other person in order to improve trust.
a.schlachter · November 26, 2012 at 8:26 am
“Brazil Mediums Shed Light on Brain Activity During a Trance State”
This was an entertaining article to read because it was about bringing science into a field not known for it’s scientific certainty. I have always been skeptical of mediums, so it is weird for me to find out that their brain activity is actually altered during their practice. It makes me trust them even less knowing that their frontal lobes are less active when they are apparently contacting the spirits because humans need the frontal lobe to make thought out plans and act appropriately. It is also unnerving that even though their frontal lobe is less active than normal during their trances, their writing shows a complexity that would require heightened frontal lobe activity. I want to know how people analyze handwriting and what makes it “complex” in comparison to average handwriting.
melanie.reis · November 26, 2012 at 4:47 pm
“Portraits in Precocity”
This article really got me contemplating Nature vs. Nurture. Seeing the pictures the children had created certainly indicated that the youngsters were born with a talent for drawing (Nature). Many would argue, that with hard work, anyone can draw (Nurture). I believe both. As always, it is a combination of nature and Nurture. Some children are born with an eye for art, or advanced spatial awareness and therefore are more skilled with artistic abilities. It is in there nature to be advanced artists for their age level. However, many children may not be so skilled naturally, yet they work hard, attend classes, practice, and soon enough have acquired numerous abilities as well. I’m sure that both hard work and inherent ability can lead a person to becoming a skilled artist as they grow. However, I wonder if an observer can determine which artist was inherently skilled and which artist worked hard to achieve their status simply by watching two people create. It would be interesting to see if there were any differences between the two.
jennamcbee890 · November 26, 2012 at 7:40 pm
While reading “Gene distinguishes early birds from night owls and helps predict time of death” article, I found it very interesting but also a tad bit scary. We have gone over in class and studied the circadian clock patterns that affect humans and their effect on sleep, waking, etc., but it is interesting to learn that some mutations affect certain traits associated with genetics. I cannot help but think of my father, who for the majority of his life wakes up at 4:40 AM on the dot every morning. My sister and I also thought he was lying when we were younger, but this study seems to prove that this could have to do with his specific genes. I cannot help but wonder that if he was to have a male child, if this would be the same for him, as it is not for my sister and me. With using similar information about learning the times of your expected death I do not believe I or any members of my family would want to know such anticipated information..
AristayaBarr · November 26, 2012 at 11:13 pm
“Gifted Child Artists”
Author Sandra Upson writes about artistic genius in some children. While I do agree that nature may play a part to an extent, I think that the way the kids are brought up and encouraged is key. In regards to nature, I think that children who are less hyperactive will be more likely to adopt an interest towards art because it will require more patience. Also, if the parents praise the children on their art, it will act as positive reinforcement and they will be more likely to want to color again. If they color often, they will continually progress. One aspect I am impressed with is that one child understood occlusion and drew dinosaurs at different ranges.
LeahMonteleone · November 28, 2012 at 10:48 am
When reading the use of pain meds article and how patients are becoming significantly addicted to them, I immediately could relate. I know a frightening amount of people who have gotten hurt or gone through surgery and became addicted to their prescribed drugs. When I got my wisdom teeth out last summer, I was prescribed Vicodin to relieve the pain. I took it one day and absolutely hated the feeling it caused. I felt like a sloth, useless, and lethargic. I chose to stick to constant ice and 600mg of ibuprofen. Unfortunately, some people end up enjoying the feeling of their drugs. Many men from my high school on the football team would tear their ACLs, get surgery, and then get hooked on the Vicodin or Norco they were prescribed. This is an increase we need to watch closely for it could easily spiral out of control and cause detrimental problems.
PaigeBroderick · November 30, 2012 at 2:40 pm
In response to “gifted children artists”, the continued issue psychologists have been debating of whether exceptionally young artists are so because of talent or hard work was discussed. Psychologitsts don’t know what causes variation in children of the same age to have drastic differences in artistic development. When I was reading this article, my first thought was that I have often heard that child prodigies, so to speak, are often autistic. In class, we have been discussing the concordance rate of psychological disorders, which autism is extremely high. People with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder tend to be artistically inclined and have a high concordance rate as well. Even the family members of those with either schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder are artistic. A majority of famous artists and actors tend to have one of these psychological disorders. Michelangelo created his first sculpture at age eight (and it was pretty darn good!) and was believed to have bi-polar disorder. Maybe it is hard work, talent, a combination of both, or a biological pre-disposition of a certain gene that runs in families.
crfan_21 · November 30, 2012 at 11:17 pm
I found the article about the Gene distinguishing between night owls and early birds to be very interesting. I think that it is amazing that they have come so far as to pinpoint a certain specific gene that contributes to a person’s individual sleeping habits. Previous to reading this article, I had thought of variations in people’s sleeping habits as primarily of environmental factors. I do believe that environment does have a big factor on sleeping patterns. While we might be predisposed by our genes to sleep according to one schedule, we have the power to manipulate our genetics in this sense. I think that stress in each individual’s life needs to be accounted for regarding their sleep patterns and their quality of sleep. A person’s job and scheduling can affect sleep.
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