Social Clock

We talked a lot about the social clock today and I never realized how true it really is. Even when we are young, children are expected to play sports, have friends, do well in school. If not, everyone asks why? I know that me personally I really dislike it when people ask me these types of questions. Then again, i'm guilty of asking these questions. Everyday, people ask me what I'm doing with my life, where I'm going to college, what I'm going to major in. And I definetely know that I am sick of it.

All around us, there are these types of things that people are expected to do. Right now, the juniors are getting asked about prom. The seniors about college. Once we get to college, the question over and over again is what are you majoring in. After college, there is career questions, marriage and kid questions. Everything is supposed to come in a specific order and even though people say it doesn't matter when these things happen, it really does. When I am asked about college, I tell them I don't know, because that is the truth. But they raise their nose and somewhat don't accept my answer. So recently I've started to make it up. They don't know that I am partly lying, they accept any answer.

Old Brain, New Tricks

The tongue is the one of the most sensitive areas in the body. When the tongue feels something, it is sent to the sensory cortex on either the left or right hemisphere depending on which side of the tongue the feeling is coming from. However to get to the brain, it travels from the tongue to the spinal cord via the sensory neurons. The sensory neurons travel from the spinal cord tothe thalamus. From there, the sensory neurons would relay to the messages to the interneurons, which are sent to the frontal lobes where the sensory cortex is located. After this, the message would be sent to the occipatal lobe where the eyesight is located. Once the occipatal lobe receives the message, the individual using this apparatus is able to see.

Amphetamine

Amphetamine is known to produce increased wakefulness and focus during a time of decreased fatigue and appetite. Amphetamines are used to treat ADHD, symptoms of traumatic brain injury, and daytime drowsiness. However, there are other potent drugs that are associated with amphetamine such as met methamphetamine, levoamphetamine, and dextroamphetimine. Amphetamine affects the neurotransmitters that have to do with the reward experience. This neurotransmitter mostly being dopamine; however in the regions of the brain that form new memories, such as the hippocampus, the drug does not affect dopamine.

Most of the time, amphetamines would be considered an agonist because it increases the levels of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine throughout specific parts of the brain. However, a recent study has suggested that amphetamines are both agonists and antagonists. This is because when the amphetamine is released into the body, it acts on a protein that is a part of the DAT (the dopamine transporter). By acting on this protein, it not only causes the dopamine levels to increase, but it is also inhibits the reuptake of dopamine.

Amphetamines have been found to contain specific proteins that he brain already creates naturally, causing the number of these proteins to raise. The presence of amphetamines most directly affects Phenylalanine and β-Phenethylamine, which are formed in the peripheral nervous system as well as in the brain itself. These molecules are thought to modulate levels of excitement and alertness.

When used correctly, amphetamine can be a very useful drug. However, it is being used in many ways that was not intended. Many gangs use it to create an artificial high for a short period of time. Tolerance is developed rapidly in amphetamine abuse, thereby the amount of the drug that is needed to satisfy the addiction needs to be increased at regular intervals. This is how the addiction that many users have today is created. If an addiction is created, the user needs to take a different drug that also increases the amount of dopamine levels so that it feels as if the amphetamine is still being used. However, with the use of a different drug to create the same effects, the user won't feel it necessary anymore to Tolerance is developed rapidly in amphetamine abuse, thereby the amount of the drug that is needed to satisfy the addiction needs to be increased at regular intervals. But when amphetimen is used correctly, it does many wonderful things. The main thing that it does is that it increases alertness when the patient is either drowsy, depressed, ill, etc.

Dead or Not?

We first tried to make this video last Thursday. It was funning while we were filming but it was very frustrating when we were trying to upload the video on the internet. We tried everything possible, we went to both of our houses to try both computers, we tried multiple chords, and we tried all of the TVs but for some reason it didn't work. So when the due date was pushed back we decided to re-film our interview using the video camera on a computer. This worked much better and it was much for efficient. Overall, I liked doing this project and it was an interesting way to learn about a psychologist.