Synesthesia and the Nature of Perception Essay example -- Biology Essa

Synesthesia and the Nature of Perception Although scientists do not fully understand the workings of the brain and perception, the basic concept seems fairly simple on an intuitive level. The brain interprets one set of stimuli in a specific way. Certain people with synesthesia, however, can experience a single stimulus in different ways. Are they naturally predisposed to hear red? Do these people have extra neural connections allowing them to taste green? Some scientists claim that all humans begin their lives as synaesthetes until they learn to differentiate their senses. It brings into question the nature of perception, and how the brain perceives reality. Synaesthetes experience "cross-modal" associations involuntarily, so that the feeling of one sense stimulates the sensations of another (1). Five features for clinical synesthesia exist (1): People with the rare condition of synesthesia experience it passively, but it requires a certain stimulus to elicit a response. The individual projects the sensations into his peri-personal space. The sensations do not change over time, and are generic, unelaborated sensory perceptions. In addition, the experiences are very memorable; one subject said that "he was merely a passive observer as the reminiscence unfolded itself" (1). Experiments with a single synesthetic subject show perfect consistency for colour descriptions of words, compared to a 17% consistency rate of a control subject with similar intelligence and memory levels (3). Not only did the subject seem genuine, based on her high level of consistency, but she gave far more detailed and vivid descriptions of the associated colours than the control subject. In a larger group of nine subjects, the consistency rate fo... ...until the brain learns to separate sensations. The source of the connections, the limbic brain, still serves as an emotional guide to the rational objective world, giving reality different perspective for each individual. Internet Sources 1)http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v2/psyche-2-10-cytowic.html, in Psyche 2)http://www.psychiatry.cam.ac.uk/isa/whatis.html, Overview on the ISA homepage 3)http://www.psychiatry.cam.ac.uk/isa/expinv.html, Experiments on the ISA website 4) http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ddiamond/synth.html,paper on Synesthesia 5)http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v2/psyche-2-27-baron_cohen.html, in Psyche 6)http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9511/synesthesia/, article on CNN 7)http://www.ad-i.com/viral/what/synes2.html, paper by Kamel 8)http://www.healthlink.usa/synesthesia.html,health information about synesthesia from Healthlink

Psychology of Stress

The road of pain caused by a Stress-related illness 73132:Psychology of Stress Open Polytechnic Wellington Elizabeth Ross Words:2,149 â€Å"The road of pain caused by a stress-related illness†, is the name of this final assignment. A detailed case study and treatment plan for Sera-jean who has a stress-related illness. I will endeavour to propose a treatment plan to help Sera-jean manage hypertension and type 1diabetes. There will be brief outlines of the techniques I have chosen, how it works and what benefits it will be to Sera-jean overall.There will also be two relaxation ideas for Sera-jean to utilise if she so wishes. Sera-jean is aged thirty-four and is married with 3 children. She has quite a bubbly personality, easy going, diligent, hard- working, open, honest, sympathetic listener, knowledge able and a very sincere and caring person. Sera-jean and her husband had just bought a lifestyle property, so Sera-jean applied and was offered the position of lead operator in t he new plant of Individual Quick Frozen cheese department.A great opportunity to be a part of a new concept in a global organisation, Sera-jean gladly signed up and became an important part of a good team, with the aspirations to want to learn and get a good start to a new concept with great opportunities. After two years IQF had lost 30, 000 metric tonne of Pizza Hut and Dominoes orders, the plant was just unable to keep up with the orders. Machinery breakdowns, rejected product, foreign matter in product, packaging faults and with all of these malfunctions from the plant and loosing orders everyone began to wonder what would happen.Sera-jean was already becoming quite worried about what was going to happen with her department. There was no word from the company, the union or management which from all points of view was very upsetting for everyone. She was getting headaches and at times was having dizzy spells. She took two days off to have some tests done and when she returned she told us that she had hypertension and type 1diabetes. Poor Sera-jean she couldn’t understand why she suddenly had these illnesses as she had always been quite fit and healthy.Change as a stressor, when change happens your life feels out of control and it brings with it discomfort. Sudden and prolonged change frightens us you can have trouble adapting your thinking and cause confusion. When changes are imposed without any input into the process, the other aspect of change that can affect your stress level is the significance of the change on the rest of your life. Extensive research suggests that two related psychological factors can mediate an, organisms responses to the stress of change: controllability and predictability (Krantz, 1986).Perceived control is defined as the felt ability to escape avoids and/or modifies threatening stimuli (Averille, 1973). Increased predictability can help minimize the stress of making changes. The fear of the unknown is a potent stressor tha t needs reduction. Another stressor for Sera-jean that may have contributed to the hypertension is sympathomimetic agents which are the chemical substances that mimic the sympathetic stress response. Many foods contain these substances and when they are consumed it can trigger a stress response in the body, so depending on how much was consumed.Xanthincs are powerful amphetamine-like stimulants that increase metabolism which creates a highly awake and active state. They also trigger release of the stress hormones that among other actions are capable of increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen demands on the heart. Extreme, prolonged stress-hormone secretion can even initiate myocardial necrosis – that is, destruction of the heart tissue. (pp. 179 – 181). Constructive coping tactics for Sera-jean to use help manage stress.Appraisal-focused strategies; detecting and disputing negative self-talk, rational thinking, using positive reinterpretation, finding humour in the situation, turning to religion. Problem – focused strategies; active problem solving, seeking social support, enhancing time management, improving self-control, becoming more assertive. Emotion – focused strategies; releasing pent-up emotions, distracting one, managing hostile feelings and forgiving others, exercising, mediating, using systematic relaxation procedures. (pp. 114 – 131).To relax is the very foundation of any program to overcome anxiety, phobias, or panic attacks. Many other skills such as desensitization, visualization, and changing negative self-talk, build on the capacity to achieve deep relaxation. The type of relaxation that really makes a difference in dealing with anxiety is the regular, daily practice of some form of deep relaxation. Deep relaxation refers to a distinct physiological state that is the exact opposite of the way your body reacts under stress or during a panic attack.This state was originally described by Herbert Benson (pp. 81 – 103. 1975) as the relaxation response. This involves a series of physiological changes, including decreases in heart and respiration rate, blood pressure, skeletal muscle tension, metabolic rate and oxygen consumption, analytical thinking, and an increase in skin resistance and in alpha wave activity in the brain. Regular practice of deep relaxation for twenty to thirty minutes on a daily basis can produce, over time, a generalization of relaxation to the rest of your life.So after several weeks of practicing deep relaxation once per day, Teri-jean will tend to feel more relaxed all the time. There are many benefits of deep relaxation that have been documented such as the following; reduction of generalized anxiety. Many people have found that regular practice also reduces the frequency and severity of panic attacks; to prevent stress from growing in strength. Stress that is unabated may tend to build up overtime. Entering into a state of physiological quiescence o nce a day gives your body the opportunity to recover from the effects of stress.Even sleep can fail to break the cumulative stress cycle unless you give yourself permission to deeply relax while awake; increased energy level and productivity; improved concentration and memory; regular practice of deep relaxation tends to increase your ability to focus and keeps your mind from racing; reduction of insomnia and fatigue; learning to relax leads to sleep that is deeper and sounder; prevention or reduction of psychosomatic disorders, such as hypertension, migraines, headaches, asthma and ulcers; increased self-confidence and reduced self-blame.You can perform better as well as feel better when you are relaxed; increased availability of feelings. Muscle tension is one of the chief impediments to an awareness of your feelings. To achieve a state of deep relaxation, using some of the common methods such as; abdominal breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, passive muscle relaxation, visua lizing a peaceful scene, guided imagery, meditation, biofeedback, sensory deprivation, yoga and calming music. (pp. 86 – 90) Guidelines for practising progressive muscle relaxation (or any orm of deep relaxation) so the following information will definitely help Sera-jean make use of progressive muscle relaxation that is undertaken to practice regularly, including self-hypnosis, guided visualization and meditation. Aerobic or cardiovascular exercises, stretching and toning exercises would encourage your mind and body to be more active on a daily basis. Planning a set programme of relaxation methods, breathing exercises, meditation and counselling these are all shown in this assignment as a great way to help with any and all illnesses that you are experiencing.Stress is a normal part of life, but too much stress can lead to emotional and psychological and even physical problems – including heart disease, high blood pressure, chest pains or irregular heartbeats. Reducing stress can help lower high blood pressure. If stress itself is a risk factor for heart disease, chronic stress exposes your body to unhealthy, persistently elevated levels of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Stress changes the way blood clots, which increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.Being exposed to long periods of stress is where your body can give warning signs if there is something wrong. These physical cognitive emotional and behavioural signs of stress should not be ignored. Slowing down, if you continue to be stressed and if your body doesn’t rest you will definitely develop health problems. Physical signs; dizziness, general aches and pains, grinding teeth, headaches, indigestion, muscle tensions, racing heart, sweaty palms, tiredness, upset tummy. All mental signs; suffering from constant worry, forgetfulness and the inability to concentrate, lack of creativity, loss of sense of humour.Emotional signs; anger, anxiety, crying depression, feeli ng powerless, frequent mood swings, irritability, loneliness, nervousness, sadness. The behavioural signs; there is bossiness, along with compulsive eating you display explosive actions, and at times you show a critical attitude towards life.. How to cope with stress, eat and drink sensibly, assert your-self and exercise regularly, relax every day, take responsibility and set realistic goals and maintain positive thoughts.It takes commitment, learn and practice relaxation, deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, mental imagery relaxation, relax to music, biofeedback. It is time to reiterate that stress arousal involves both the mind and body interacting to form a response to an event, the event that might be external to the body or could be a memory or a thought. We will now focus on stress-management techniques that involve the mind and they are autogenic training and visual imagery and this involves the use of mental images to supplement and extend the relaxation response.T he two technics are as follows; challenging limited thinking and cognitive restructuring. There are eight limited thinking patterns; Filtering, you focus on the negative details while ignoring all the positive aspects of a situation; Polarized thinking, things are black or white, good or bad, there’s no middle ground, no room for mistakes; Overgeneralization, you reach a general conclusion based on a single incident or a piece of evidence; Mindreading, without their saying you know what people are feeling and why they act the way they do; Catastrophising, you expect to visualise horrible events.Magnifying; you assume that everything people do or say is some kind of reaction to you. Should; you have a list of ironclad rules about how you and other people should act. (p. 38) Autogenic (self-produced) training and visual imagery this is where you need to take time to practise the techniques of the exercises recommended and along with the exercises that involve you imagining a sp ecial place, like the beach or a mountain meadow. If you are to become proficient at using the techniques, then, to use it in combination with relaxation and breathing exercises would be the most beneficial to you.So when you have followed these 3 steps of muscle relaxation, controlled breathing and special place imagery have a very effective means of managing stress, or helping others manage stress. However, keep in mind that it is essential to set realistic goals; the primary goal of relaxation and imagery training is to learn the technique; the secondary goal is to influence stress-related body states, such as high blood pressure, pain, tension and nausea. It is important that people do not assess themselves as failures if they do not achieve results quickly.Change may be subtle and takes time to master. It might take the form of a better level of relaxation, or a person achieving emotional, intellectual or spiritual balance before noticing any definite physical change. In conclu sion Sera-jean had all the tools to help her understand the illnesses she had and how to best cope with them. She had got a little bounce in her step and was looking quite relaxed at times, which helped her manage her life her way. It has indeed been very informative for Sera-jean, her family and her work colleagues as she has shared her experiences, what she has ained from the treatment plan and counselling sessions as she feels that if she can help one person to be able get through what she has than it has all been worthwhile. References Girdano, D. A. , Dusek, D. E. , and Everly, G. S. , Jr. (2009). Stress in the workplace. In Controlling stress and tension. (8th ed. , pp. 245-267)). San Francisco, CA: Person/Benjamin Cummings. Furnham, A. (2006). Stress at work. In The psychology of behaviour at work (2nd ed. pp. 354-391). Hove, England: Psychology Press. Weiten, W. Dunn, D. S. , & Hammer, E. Y. (2012) Psychology applied to modern lifeAdjustment in the 21st century. (10th ed. , pp. 114-131)Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Lachman, V. D. (1983). How to minimize stress while making changes. In Stress management: A manual for nurses. (p. 172 – 199). New York, NY: Grune & Stratton. Girdano. D. A. Dusek, D. E. , & Everly, G. S. , Jr. (2009). Stress and the human environment interaction. In Controlling stress and tension (8th ed. , pp. 179 – 199). San Francisco.CA: Benjamin Cummings. Bourne, E. J. , (2010) Relaxation In The anxiety and phobia workbook (5th ed. , pp. 81 – 104) Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications. Davis, M, Eshelman, E. R. , & McKay, M (2008) Exercise. In The relaxation and stress. Reduction workbook. (6th ed. , pp. 331-334) Oakland, CA: New Harbinger. Publications. Davis, M. , Eshelman, E. R. , & McKay, M (2008) Coping skills training for fears. In The relaxation and stress reduction workbook (6th ed. , pp. 187-192) Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications

At what age should teenagers be allowed to drive? Essay

The leadership I received from my Cadet Corps Commanding Officer’s was outstanding and influenced me tremendously over my career. They inspired me and provided a sound base upon which I was able to develop my own leadership abilities and the confidence to believe in them. Hopefully, their being a role model for me has led me to be a role model for others. Lastly, cadets and the summer camps led me to believe that I wanted to join the Canadian Forces because I enjoyed the military way of life! The cadet programme had a huge impact on my development. It instilled discipline, a sense that teamwork was important to succeed, the need to strive for excellence, public speaking experience, and an understanding that fitness was important and should be a way of life not just a passing trend. Lessons from cadets have aided me throughout my life. Having worked as part of a team in cadets, I found the adjustment to working as part of a team within the Canadian military was easy whereas others found the adjustment difficult. Public speaking is another area in which cadets aided my development. Being able to speak to a group effectively is extremely important as one moves through life and assumes various responsibilities. Cadets gave me the confidence and the basic principles of public speaking. Probably the most important lesson learned, however, was the need to look after one’s subordinates as a first priority. Do this, and your chances of succeeding in your endeavours will be greatly enhanced. I am in Cornell’s College of Engineering and considering a major in Electrical Engineering. I enjoy every aspect of electrical engineering. Even when I was young, I used to take things apart to see how they worked. Now that I’ve actually started learning how these things work and getting hands on experience with electronics, I think that electrical engineering is the perfect choice for me. My interests are varied. I am extremely interested in electronics, but that interest does not stop at just electronics; it extends to computers. I have always been very strong in the area of computers. From software to hardware I have a natural inclination to understanding and operating computers. But I have always been more interested in the hardware side of computers, so I am more interested in digital electronics. As far as my career goals, there are two areas in which I would love to work. First, I would love to work for NASA on their space probes. I feel that I would find that type of research and problem solving oriented work interesting. You have to come up with creative solutions to very hard problems presented by the environment of space. On the other hand, I would like to work as a project manager in a high-tech company where I would have to lead my team through challenging projects. This high-tech company work is very similar to the work at NASA.

ECON2065A Example

ECON2065A Example ECON2065A – Coursework Example United Nations Millennium Development Goals Grade In the year 2000, United Nations set up eight millennium goals that they hoped to achieve by the year 2015. They aimed to eradicate poverty and hunger by reducing the number of people who earn less than $1 a day by half between 1990 and 2015, halving the starving population, achieving universal primary education for all children, promote gender and empower all women through reducing gender discrimination, reduce child mortality by two thirds of children below five years (Sachs, 2005). They aimed at improving maternal health by three quarters and mortality ratio, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases by half by 2015 with the seventh aimed at ensuring environmental sustainability, integrating programs and countries policies and economizing on resources through providing safe drinking water and sanitation, in addition to developing a global partnership for development through being involved in nondiscriminatory trade and financ e. It also aimed at addressing the needs of the less developed countries through allowing free access to all countries, tariffs, debt relief programs among others. UN Department of Public Information (2014) postulates that efforts have been made to achieve the set goals. By 2014 July, regional, global, local, and national efforts have improved millions of people’s lives. These efforts have reduced poverty, improved the lives of slum dwellers, and provided clean and safe drinking water to people. The level of education has improved since gender discrimination has been eradicated in most primary schools. There is also progress in health, reduction of tariffs, and barriers. Women are also participating politically, which indicates gender equality. Child mortality of children below five years has reduced by half. The mortality ratio between 1990 and 2013 has reduced by 45%. There have also been provisions of anti-retrial viral therapy for people infected with HIV. This has saved the lives of 6.6 million people. Deaths from malaria and tuberculosis have also reduced due to malaria intervention techniques, such as providing mosquito nets to the populace.ReferencesSachs, J.D. (2005). Investing in development: A practical plan to achieve the millennium development goals. Millennium Project, 1-356.UN Department of Public Information. (2014). The Millennium Development Goals Report.

The best references to give on a job application

The best references to give on a job application Your job references aren’t just warm bodies who can verify that you’re â€Å"the best employee ever, and a totally great fit for [insert job here].† If done thoughtfully, your references can help you create a specific â€Å"hire me because I have these skills† narrative, or support the one you’ve set up in your cover letter, resume, and interview. The groundwork for these references should be done ahead of time, before you even think about applying for a job. That way, they’re ready to go when you need them- and won’t be taken by surprise when someone calls them for a reference. So who should be included on your list of professional references?Your current bossThis is complicated if you’re looking for jobs on the down-low, but if it’s an open concept that you’re leaving your current job and looking for a new one, your current manager is the best bet. He or she knows you as you are right now and can speak to recent accomplishments. Before you offer up your current boss, though, it’s important to know roughly what they’ll say. If there are any concerns or uneasiness about that, then leave them off the list.Your current colleaguesThis can be a great alternative if you don’t want your current boss to know you’re actively seeking another job. A trusted colleague (one who can keep a secret) who works closely with you can be an excellent reference to have, since they know you in a day-to-day professional capacity. Ask him or her to talk about specific projects and what you’re like as a team member.Your former supervisorAn old boss can be useful because they can give the hiring manager a sense of what you’re like as an employee, but the risk here is that their professional information about you may be a little out of date. And as with referring your current boss, it’s important to know roughly what they’re going to say. If you think they might w ant to talk about some of your less-than-stellar moments, then think twice about including them.Your teachers or advisorsThis isn’t all that helpful if you’ve been in the workforce for a while, but if you’re a recent grad or just starting out, professors or advisors can tell the company about your skills and personality.Once you’ve decided who your go-to references are for this job application, be sure to give them a heads-up that they may be contacted. Also give them information about the job itself and what you’re hoping they’ll emphasize in their chat with the new company. There’s only so much you can stage-manage what this person will say, but giving them a template of sorts helps them prepare and find the most useful information to share about you. It takes some of the onus off of them to figure out what they’re supposed to talk about.It’s also important to make sure your references are targeted to the job you want. If you’re applying for a marketing job, your old boss at your summer restaurant job might not be the most useful person to help you get this new gig. The more thought and preparation you put into your reference list, the better and more focused information they’ll be able to provide.

The Impact of Using Multimedia in an Online Learning Setting for Essay

The Impact of Using Multimedia in an Online Learning Setting for College Students - Essay Example The fast improvement of modern technology has resulted in a profound change in how people live their lives now, thus, making it a part of their lives as it delivers the latest and the advanced information. In the educational field, technology’s fast progression makes efficiency and effectiveness more demanding as the identification of what works best is the number one priority; educators need to identify which particular technology will improve and develop the learner’s acquired knowledge. It is necessary to determine the impact of technology on learning for at this point in time, learning does not just happen in the four walls of classroom; it has moved to another phase, online. Technology plays a significant role in the educational world as it creates opportunities for both the learners and the educators, and those opportunities have become the educational field’s target in order to attain quality learning. For instance, technology acts as the medium to access multimedia content that is rich, to offer online learning, to avail the devices that can be outsourced from the use of Internet, to experience the social networking that gives avenue to knowledge, and to use websites for a more developmental education. Sankey, Birch, and Gardiner (2011) stated that educational technology and its modernization have come to give meaningful opportunities for teachers, especially for online teachers, to create an improved, stimulating, and more wide-ranging curriculum. Now, technology is inevitably a part of the learning process to achieve the learning goals. It is now expected to be the source of information that can be an important factor in the learning process. However, the use of technology also presents a challenging scenario. For example, making decisions on the kind of technological tools that will be used is not just a

Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Business Plan - Essay Example By combining these two measures you will be able to significantly increase your annual profits. Essentially the goal for any business is to increase yearly sales. How do you accomplish this with a product that is already competitively priced? You do this by creating an online presence. Nearly everything is digital these days, why shouldn’t your company be? A business webpage allows users to easily access all the information they are looking for about your products and services. You can also easily add a cart allowing customers to shop directly from your site. This is where you can compete with your prices by offering discounts for bulk purchases and have specific sections geared for businesses and schools. Another valuable hint about creating an automated system is you can reach a larger community. Rather than only focusing on your specific city, you will be able to reach millions around the globe. You could potential double your yearly sales by simply having a virtual store. In today’s ever growing technology, no business will survive without a functioning website. Paperclips are virtually the most inexpensive and multi fictional item on the market today. Here’s where we are proposing you expand your target market by offering specialty items. What we mean by this is rather than sticking to the same old plastic and metals.