in 2009 , we presented at a wonderful Psychology Conference in Athens, Greece. A place everyone should visit.
What I am reading today:
“”When we compared the genomes of apes and humans, we found that the humans had evolved complex structural changes at 16p11.2 associated with deletions and duplications that often result in autism. The findings suggest that these changes emerged relatively recently and are unique to humans,” explained study author Xander Nuttle, BS, BSE, a graduate student in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine.”
“”Previous research shows that the color red in a mating context makes people more attractive, and in the fighting context makes people seem more threatening and angry,” explained Benjamin Y. Hayden, a coauthor of the study and professor in brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester.
Hayden, whose research often involves primates, and Andrew J. Elliot, a professor of psychology at Rochester who has published several articles on humans and the red effect and coauthor of the study, sought to uncover what causes humans’ response to the color. Is triggered simply by repeated cultural exposures, or if there is a biological basis that may help explain why the color tends to amplify human emotions?”
“A study led by University of Toronto psychology researchers has found that people who play action video games such as Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed seem to learn a new sensorimotor skill more quickly than non-gamers do.
A new sensorimotor skill, such as learning to ride a bike or typing, often requires a new pattern of coordination between vision and motor movement. With such skills, an individual generally moves from novice performance, characterized by a low degree of coordination, to expert performance, marked by a high degree of coordination. As a result of successful sensorimotor learning, one comes to perform these tasks efficiently and perhaps even without consciously thinking about them.
“We wanted to understand if chronic video game playing has an effect on sensorimotor control, that is, the coordinated function of vision and hand movement,” said graduate student Davood Gozli, who led the study with supervisor Jay Pratt.”
“”In our study we are dealing with the question of why we believe that we see the world uniformly detailed,” says Dr. Arvid Herwig from the Neuro-Cognitive Psychology research group of the Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science. The group is also affiliated to the Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) of Bielefeld University and is led by Professor Dr. Werner X. Schneider.”
“Bacteria are likely not the whole story; irregular sleeping and eating can contribute to disease through other routes, such as excess stress hormone and insulin production. Even so, “this is a compelling study,” says microbiologist Rob Knight of the University of Colorado, Boulder. Knight says some of the strongest evidence for a bacterial role in circadian-linked diseases lies in the final phase of the study, when the research team analyzed fecal samples from two people on a normal schedule and two more who had recently flown from the United States to Israel. Analyzing the samples before, during, and after the bouts of jet lag, they found fluctuations in bacteria similar to what they saw in the mice. The jet-lagged participants showed an increase in a type of bacteria known to be more prevalent in people with obesity and diabetes; levels of these microbes dropped back to normal once the travelers adjusted to the new time zone.”
34 Comments
ksomasek · October 19, 2014 at 8:10 pm
I read the article “Action video games bolster sensorimotor skills” and found it particularly interesting that playing action games enhanced gamers’ ability to learn sensorimotor tasks. I found it even more interesting that this type of developed skill can be useful in the work field, like in the field of laparoscopic surgery as the article had mentioned. I never thought there was a good side to playing video games or a possible benefit. While reading this article, it also occurred to me that further research could be conducted to see exactly what aspects of playing action games enhances these abilities. The results of this research can then be translated into creating similar activities and practices, which could then be implemented in the education system to enhance similar abilities in schools among students.
cmc4 · October 19, 2014 at 8:20 pm
I read the article titled “How The Brain Leads Us to Believe We Have Sharp Vision” and I was so interested by the research that has been done. The process that our brains go through to perceive the things that we see in our every day lives is amazing. And yet we don’t have to consciously think about it for it to occur. What interested me the most about the article was that when we see objects in our peripheral vision that turn out blurry, our brains are busy trying to find visual memories of those objects in order for us to perceive them clearly without having to move our eyes to focus on them directly. At the end or the article, the authors mention that our perception of objects depends a lot on the stored visual experiences in our memory of those objects, and that “these experiences serve to predict the effect of future actions.” They believe that when we see things that are blurry, it is merely a prediction of what we will eventually see clearly based on our visual memory of those objects. This was a very informative article about our visual perception and I’m excited to see new discoveries in this type of research.
ksomasek · October 19, 2014 at 8:33 pm
I read the article “‘Red Effect’ sparks interest in female monkeys”. This article was particularly appealing to me because the concept of associating thoughts and feelings with colors had always been labeled as a creation of society and the way humans have been conditioned. However, now it is interesting to hear that there may be a biological reasoning to the rise of these associations. It is also interesting to find out that he “red effect” is not only prevalent in humans, but also in monkeys which insinuates the “red effect” may in fact be a product of evolution. I think it would be interesting to see if any other colors evoke such responses, such as the color blue associated with empathy or green with jealousy. I will definitely be updating myself on further research on this topic.
mikaelastreeter · October 20, 2014 at 3:37 pm
The article “Red Effect Sparks Interest in Female Monkeys” was very interesting. The article suggests that there may be a particular response to the color red. This response could be triggered by either a cultural exposure or a biological basis. It seems as if the color red seems to amplify emotions. Particularly, in a mating environment, the color red makes people more attractive, and in a fighting context, makes people more angry and threatening. The researchers wanted to address the biological influence that red has by assessing reactions of individuals exposed to red color that did not have a predisposed association between red and romance. In monkeys, it seems as if they do have particular emotions associated with the color red. It is very interesting to me that a color can be indicative of certain behaviors. I am interested to see if follow-up studied continue to look at the association between colors and behavior
michelle.georgette · October 21, 2014 at 9:26 am
I read the article “Building Skills with Video Games”. I found it to be an unusual study but very interesting. What we do not realize is that the brain must form sensorimotor skills with repeated game use, which can then develop into motor patterns. This conclusion being the result of an experiment where patterns emerged from the group of gamers after a series computer tasks. The article describes that after performing the task over and over again, the skill is learned and the gamer can perform the tasks without even thinking about them. This depicts the wide range of functions our brains can perform. However, since video games promote addictive tendencies, it can be somewhat concerning to realize how one can play video game without consciously controlling their motor skills. It becomes a natural, subconscious movement that may only promote an addictive attitude toward video games. Overall I believe the article to be fascinating in terms of displaying the connection between our brain, motor skills, and a video game.
dbbermancalpoly · October 21, 2014 at 4:16 pm
I also thought the article “Red Effect Sparks Interest in Female Monkeys” was very intriguing. I also think the association of colors with societal norms or emotions is an interesting phenomenon and it’s interesting to think about whether it’s conditioned or if it’s a biological thing. Red is associated with love, lust and sex but I thought it was interesting that it was the female monkeys who were attracted to the male monkeys who were surrounded by red rather than the other way around because usually I think of the woman being the one wearing red when trying to be seductive.
dbbermancalpoly · October 21, 2014 at 4:25 pm
I read the article “Are your bacteria jet-lagged” and I thought it was very interesting since I am constantly surprised by how awful I often feel after flying, even though I’ve traveled a fair bit. I always attributed it to the bad plane food but maybe this bacteria issue has something to do with it. The study found that people who were jet lagged had higher levels of the bacteria found in mice who were sleep deprived, the kind of bacteria that is also known to be prevalent in people with obesity and diabetes. It would be interesting to look at a sample of obese people who don’t have diabetes and a sample of diabetics with healthy weight and compare their bacterias. It would also be interesting to take a sample of flight attendants or pilots compared with people who only fly occasionally in comparison to people who never fly and compare their bacterial levels.
josephdaddabbo · October 21, 2014 at 5:53 pm
The article “Building skills with video games” is quite interesting. Its counter-intuitive because a lot of the times parents and teachers condemn video games as they are anti-social and dont encourage outdoor activities. I can definantly agree with it as I have been a gamer for a long time. I found that the more i played games, the easier it was to catch on to a completely unrelated game. This is again, probably because i have been developing my sensorimotor skill. I will say, however, that the article doesn’t really compare video games to other activities. I would assume that sports and driving and stuff like that also would improve motor skills, and in a better way because it is real life. It would be interesting to compare gamers with athletes.
allisonstoner2 · October 21, 2014 at 9:37 pm
I read the article “‘Red Effect’ Sparks Interest in Female Monkeys,” and found it extremely interesting. I’ve heard of yellow and red making people feel hungry, a primary reason fast food and restaurants so often use those colors. However, it never occurred to me that could be something that reaches a biological level, versus social construction and associations with specific colors. I also find it interesting that red seems to be an easy color to study, because there aren’t many interpretations of “red.” However, when two people hear the word “blue” or “green,” there are many different shades they could each imagine. I’m curious if that would affect the studies of other colors.
savannahsperry · October 22, 2014 at 10:41 am
I read the article “‘Red effect’ sparks interest in female monkeys.” I think it is interesting to consider the cultural verses biological ways in which we interpret our world. The color red has long been associated with lust and anger, but do we associate the color with these emotions because that’s what we are taught or because our biology is nudging us in the direction of doing so? The female monkey study implies that it is in fact our biology that is the key player. Red is also a common color for poisonous amphibians, warning others that eating them will be hazardous. It is the color of stop lights and stop signs, grabbing the most attention of any color and sending a message to our brains to take an action (i.e. stomping your foot on a car break.) It was interesting that the male monkeys paid less attention to color, which is sort of in keeping with human males and their general lack of attention to detail. Now I would be interested in looking deeper and seeing what is going on at the neural level when we see and associate colors with emotions.
savannahsperry · October 22, 2014 at 10:49 am
I read the article “Gene duplications associated with autism evolved recently in human history.” First off, I was unaware that people had access to the genomes of Neanderthals. It is always astounding to fathom that a small glitch in DNA has such a weighted affect on our behavior, causing psychological disorders like autism and schizophrenia. It is not surprising that only humans had structural changes to 16p11.2 that resulted in mutations related to autism, as that sort of behavior is rarely observed in other species. I would be very curious to learn the function of BOLA2 and learn what sort of advantages it offers in human evolution.
rqlam · October 22, 2014 at 4:39 pm
I read the article “Gene duplications associated with autism recently evolved in human history”. The amount of diseases and disorders that plagues the human race has always been a fascinating topic for me. It makes sense that we would have more defects and problems since we’re arguably the most advanced and complicated organisms on the planet Earth but its still interesting to note just how many problems there are that are unique to humans. What interests me the most though are the mental disorders that most people have no control over yet there is still a stigma over people who suffer from them, hopefully studies like these continue to help educate people on these problems.
savannamurphy · October 22, 2014 at 7:18 pm
I read the article “genes and autism” and what I found most perplexing right off the bat was that both autism and schitzophrenia are associated with the deletion and duplication at 16p11.2. These two diseases seem very different from eachother and it truly shows how much influence such a little change in your genes can have, and how different types of influences can result from the same change. Perhaps more research into the connection between this gene and both these and other disorders will shed more light on them both and provide insight onto why they occur. I also wonder if we have developed this change in our genes so recently as compared to our ancestors because of environmental influences like new or different stressors. Or even due to dietary changes, we have a dynamic diet that includes a whole menu of things we are supposed to eat for out health but we also consume unhealthy products that could longterm potentially change our anatomy.
svanhoose · October 23, 2014 at 1:16 pm
I read “Action video games bolster sensorimotor skills” and found it to be refreshingly positive. I spent most of junior high and high school playing PC games and loved them. So I never liked it when people would complain about how violent video games were (not to say that they aren’t violent..) Considering my experience as a gamer, I can definitely see how one might have better sensorimotor skills. I remember reading somewhere that a study was conducted that showed that people who play video games would make good helicopter pilots. (They performed better in a pilot simulation than those who did not play video games.)
svanhoose · October 23, 2014 at 1:29 pm
I found “How the brain leads us to believe we have sharp vision” super interesting. It especially makes me wonder about the relationship between our created perceptions of “sharp vision” and the experience of a witness or victim selecting a perpetrator out of line-up. They say witness testimony is the most unreliable mode of verification. Our memories are largely reconstructive, so sometimes what we think we remember isn’t really what we saw or heard or experienced. I remember watching a video in my General Psychology discussion section about a woman who selected a man out of a line-up as the man who raped her. He went to prison for over a decade and when the actual perpetrator was found via DNA she was asked to identify again who the perpetrator was in a line-up, including the man she accused originally and the actual perpetrator, and she STILL chose and insisted it was the man she chose originally. She had become so entwined psychologically with the image of the man she’d chosen initially that her identification was completely false. I think this shines a pretty bright light on the problems with witness identification and testimony.
jorgiewu · October 23, 2014 at 2:23 pm
I read the article “Jet-Lagged Bacteria.” This article first caught my attention because I often worry about my father whose job has required him to travel internationally for the past 20 years. I’ve always been aware that we get sick more easily when we travel, but I always assumed it was because of bad food or lack of good sleep. The idea of bacteria themselves being jet-lagged makes me feel uncomfortable- almost as if bacteria have a mind of their own. I am surprised that this is coming from bacteria within us, and I am also curious to know how much of this is influenced by bacteria in the environment and being surrounded by so many people on one airplane.
jorgiewu · October 23, 2014 at 2:33 pm
I found the article “Sharp Vision??” interesting because Professor Williams just lectured about it in our Memory and Cognition class this past week. Learning this concept puts me in awe of how the human mind can put together this “grand illusion” so quickly and accurately. In addition, extreme near-sightedness runs in my family. I personally have a strong prescription of -8.5, so I wonder what my brain is processing when I do not have glasses or contacts on. Because everything is blurry, are my eye movements just as quick as when I do have glasses/contacts on? Do I have fewer saccades because the “grand illusion” that my brain is trying to create has fewer details? I would be interested in learning more about how this concept relates to people without 20/20 vision.
ahoatua · October 25, 2014 at 1:52 pm
I read the article “genes and autism.” I chose to read this article because one of my family’s close friends has a child with autism, which I use as motivation to educate myself about whenever possible because of the close tie. I also babysit this child from time to time and it interests me to take what I know and see if it can at all apply to him. I was very surprised to know that schizophrenia is associated with the same region prone to autism. I think of the later being much less intense (for lack of a better term) but of course it varies from person to person. Also, the fact that autism is something that involved only recently and only in humans intrigued me as well. Humans have quite an advanced brain when compared to animals, which leads me to question why only our brains are capable of mutations that lead to things like autism.
aflor · October 25, 2014 at 5:42 pm
The article that I read was “Are you bacteria jet-lagged?” by Elizabeth Norton. I found this article to be interesting because its findings are essential to be known. I do not travel that often but several people do this on a daily basis and it is something that they should be aware of. Travelers are one’s whose circadian rhythms are disrupted due to long flights and adapting to new time changes. It was found that people whose circadian rhythms are disrupted are more likely to be vulnerable to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. The research does have support towards this theory, but they would need to observe a larger sample of travelers to really determining that these bacteria’s do increase our risk for diabetes and/ or obesity. I would love to find more research in regards to how the bacteria knows there has been a change in one’s sleep schedule. The article mentions that it could be through a signal or the times that one usually eats.
srvaldez · October 26, 2014 at 2:47 pm
I read the article “Action video games bolster sensorimotor skills, study finds” which was about testing gamers ability to learn new sensorimotor skills over a non-gamer. As someone who enjoys playing video games every once and a while, I was curious about this article because it seems like video games normally get a bad reputation as wasting individual’s time and not encouraging any intellectual growth. This study did show gamers had some advantages over non-gamers in learning how to play a new game, but I am curious to see where these new sensorimotor skills are applied to use outside video games. Because in the second half of their experiment, gamers and non-gamers preformed around the same level, it would be interesting to see what happened if this experiment was done on a statistically significant group of people. The results would be incredibly interesting and it might help answer some questions around the stigma that video games do not encourage intellectual growth and are a waste of time. If gamers really can develop some sensorimotor skills faster than non-gamers, would these people also be better at learning patterns more quickly? Are they naturally more inclined to be kinetic or visual learners? Or are they just better at learning in general? I hope more research is done on the comparison of learning ability differences between gamers and non-gamers.
sarahdelossantos · October 26, 2014 at 4:16 pm
I read the article “Action video games bolster sensorimotor skills, study finds”. I’m usually skeptical of any articles or studies that claim “video games are good for you!” but the argument presented was compelling to me. My personal experience seems to support the study’s findings. I never played video games as a child/teen, and my lack of other sensorimotor skills may be related. I couldn’t ride a bike until high school (and I’m still no good at it), still don’t know how to drive (not even a learner’s permit), and am hopeless as console video games. On that last point, however, it’s interesting that while I struggle with console video games which use handheld controllers, I enjoy keyboard-controlled PC games–perhaps this is related to my 80wpm typing skills, which may indicate that there are different kinds of sensorimotor skills, perhaps even linked to different areas of the brain? My question, however, is whether I a) lack sensorimotor skills because I never played video games, or b) never played video games because I lack sensorimotor skills. Perhaps I just never learned how to bike, play video games, drive, etc because I’m predisposed not to, the way some people show an aptitude for math over language. The study shows that learning is a key role, not just a predisposition, but it would be interesting to see this applied to a lifetime/long-term study.
josephdaddabbo · October 26, 2014 at 10:50 pm
I read the article about jet-lagged bacteria. I think that it is pretty interesting how bacteria, a completely different lifeform, has been influenced by geological factors such as when the sun is out. I wonder how this compares with people in Alaska who have extremely irregular days. I would like to guess that they get sick more frequently, however, it could also just be as a result for it being cold all the time.
cmc4 · October 27, 2014 at 12:34 am
I found the article “‘Red Effect’ Sparks Interest in Female Monkeys” to be very intriguing. The researchers talk about the emotional connections that humans make with certain colors, specifically red. We perceive red as a color that is both romantic and threatening, depending on the context. Studies were done on monkeys to see if there was a correlation between human and primate responses to the color red. Between male and female monkeys, there weren’t very many responses. It was shocking to read, out of all the different trials the researchers did, that female monkeys were only interested in the pictures of male monkeys with the red framing, and males were’t interested in females. In this context, the color red may just be an association to a sense of attraction rather than something biological. I am interested to see if future studies show any kind of biological connection to the color red, as well as other colors that we associate with certain emotions.
cmc4 · October 27, 2014 at 1:13 am
In the article called “Action Video Games Bolster Sensorimotor Skills, Study Finds”, scientists report studies done to show that people who play action video games seem to learn sensorimotor skills faster than people who don’t play video games. Researchers had gamers and non-gamers complete the same sensorimotor skill-building test to see if the gamers would be able to learn it quicker than non-gamers. This ultimately became partly true because having previous gaming experiences gave gamers an advantage. However, at the early stages of the test, gamers didn’t perform very much higher than the non-gamers. This was the most interesting part to me. Gamers do have a slight advantage, but the fact that they were being tested on something completely new to them was the most difficult part, regardless of their prior gaming experiences. I also found it interesting that the skills learned by playing video games are comparable to the skills needed for laparoscopic surgery.
savannamurphy · October 27, 2014 at 8:17 pm
I read the article “sharp vision” and was incredibly intrigued at the idea that what we see is actually based more on our memories in a sense, since it is stored material than what we are actually seeing. I wonder what kind of implications this has for people who use glasses to see a more clear vision since they already see things in a blurred sense. I wonder if that means they have to compensate even more for their surroundings, and if their predictions may sometimes not be correct since their fovea is already at a disadvantage for seeing the world around them.
mikaelastreeter · October 28, 2014 at 8:38 am
I read the article, How the Brain Leads us to Believe we have Sharp Vision, from Blielefeld University. The article suggests that due to the fovea of the eye, we should only be able to see a small area of our surroundings in sharp detail. The rest of our sight should be blurred. Their research proposes that people are able to fill in missing images from pervious experiences and exposure to them. They think that previous eye movement is the source to filling in details about present images. Their experiments upheld the idea that human perception depends on stored visual experiences in our memories. This article was interesting to me and I am not sure I completely agree with it. I have learned about the eye and how it focuses images and to me the mechanism of sight relies on the ability of the lens to bend images. In this way, the eye can take into account a larger field of view, and as the rays pass into the eye the lens bends the rays to focus an image on the retina. This mechanism seems to make more sense and is more intuitive to me. However, it is very intriguing to me that there may be more to sight and focus in relation to our memories and I would be interested to read more information and see more research pertaining ot this idea.
mbrensel · October 30, 2014 at 7:47 am
I read the article “Building skills with video Games” and I am in complete agreement with the author. When I was younger, I was an avid video game player. My parents did not mind me playing video games, as long as I had finished all my homework and chores. It was a way of winding down after a long day of school where I could just let my instincts take over and get ” in the zone.” After playing a game like Call of Duty frequently, tasks such as moving, changing guns, and aiming become second nature and I had always been curious why some people were ” blessed” with a talented videogamer. I awlays felt playing videogames increased my reaction time in other aspects of life as well, so it is very cool to me to see that studies actually prove this concept of increased sensory motor skill
zk · November 2, 2014 at 7:52 pm
I read the article about “jet-lagged” bacteria and was very surprised at their findings. When it comes to disruption of circadian cycles, such as what is experienced when jet-lagged, I always thought the negative side effects were a consequence of simply a of lack of sleep negatively affecting our immune system. In the specific case of being jet-lagged, I assumed in addition to the lack of sleep, such negative side effects were enhanced by the potential of culture shock, including eating new foods, different chemicals in the air, and other similar things that could result in certain abnormal bodily changes. In contrast to my assumptions, I was quite surprised (and intrigued) that in reality the disruption of food consumption could be the major factor causing the negative health effects. As I think about it more, I definitely can see how this could be so, mainly in term of how our eating patterns affect our metabolism. Metabolism greatly affects many aspects of our body, such as energy consumption/production, heart rate, blood pressure, chemical balances, etc., therefore our eating patterns (which affect metabolism) must also have the power to affect our body in similar ways.
aflor · November 12, 2014 at 1:33 pm
The article that I found very interesting was “’Red effect’ sparks interest in female monkeys.” I think it is interesting how the color red came to condition us and attire it with feelings of love and passion or even feelings of jealousy. Since this study was done on rhesus monkeys, it was discovered that female monkeys also responded in a similar way to the color red compared to the way how humans respond. I found the experiment to be interesting and it amazes me to think that the selection of the color red could be due to a biological condition. I always used to think that it was based on social pressures to consider the color red a symbol for love and jealousy. Since monkeys are closest to us evolutionary wise, I wonder if they would react similarly to other colors such as blue, white and connect that color with a particular emotion.
susannayu · November 12, 2014 at 9:45 pm
My favorite article here was “building skills with video games.” It was interesting that in the beginning of the experiment, both groups (the gamers and the non-gamers) seemed to have no advantage–it was only after a couple of tries did the gamers express their higher learning ability in the sensorimotor skill department. I found this finding to be interesting because I play video games as well, and I think it’s completely reasonable that gamers would have an extra sensorimotor ability. The amount of hand-eye coordination that is required while playing almost any type of game is needed in order to succeed in the game. Your eyes are almost always on the screen and never down on your controller–you need to perform combos and commands through your own sensorimotor and dexterity skills. Even more difficult is when a combo in a fighting game can only be performed if the timing is exactly correct, when the buttons are all hit in a sequence of tight timing: something called hitting them all in the right “frames.” Due to this meticulous attention and execution to detail, I have no doubt that gamers have a higher sense of learning in this department. The muscle memory that comes with training is akin to any other type of procedural memory learned elsewhere, beyond the realm of video games.
hannahjoslin · November 23, 2014 at 3:30 pm
After reading “the color red and female monkeys,” I am even more curious about the seemingly insignificant connections our brain can make. Why is it that a certain color should affect the way we feel? How has this been a part of our evolution? It is really interesting to me to think that a color we see signals something in our brain to feel a certain way, threatened, attracted, etc. And, how does this seem to relate to us now? Obviously a woman who sees a man in red is not going to feel more threatened than seeing a man in blue in today’s world, but why is it that men are supposedly most attracted to women when they are wearing red? It is interesting to think about the way an evolutionary result can have a different meaning when applied to our present situation.
ChelsPsychPerkins · November 30, 2014 at 2:50 pm
BRAIN WORMS!! This article is petrifying and repulsive! “Spirometra erinaceieuropaei‘s genome is 1.26Gb long, making it ten times larger than other tapeworm genomes and one-third the size of the human genome. Some of this seems to come from an increase in the number of genes that may help the parasite to break up proteins and invade its host!” I’m going to have nightmares about these worms invading my brain! Happy to know there is hope in detecting and treating this parasite! Although there has only been 300 reported cases since 1953, I wonder if there are more out there that we just don’t know about. I can’t imagine what it would feel like for your entire body’s tissue to be inflamed.I can say one thing, I will be making sure that I NEVER consume crustaceans, infected or not! I am amazed at what science can do with so little resources and/or information, from the little bit of DNA they were able to salvage, we are now able to identify and characterize the parasite tapeworm.
katherinecloninger · November 30, 2014 at 8:27 pm
The article titled “Gene duplications associated with autism evolved recently in human history” suggests, with the help of progressing medical technology, that genetics may have a heavier influence on disease than we once thought. In another class, I just completed a report on autism, and in it I discussed the various causal factors of autism. While there are many reasons children have autism, there now seems to be a particular emphasis on genetic factors. This can be from chromosomal defects, as well as prenatal care. Autism is a tough disease to study because there are so many components, and there are so many forms. There is no one cause and there is no one cure. However, scientists are getting closer to fully understanding this disease and many others.
katherinecloninger · November 30, 2014 at 9:24 pm
The article titled “Action video games bolster sensorimotor skills, study finds” suggests that people who play video games generally have an easier time developing new sensorimotor skills than people who do not play video games. Gamers have developed unmistakable hand-eye coordination skills which makes it easier to develop other skills more quickly. However, it has been proven that children who play such violent video games tend to be more aggressive. With this information, it seems that we must “take the good with the bad” in this situation. Although playing video games has been proven to improve certain sensorimotor skills, it certainly has its drawbacks as well.