Contiguity versus Contingency - written for school

Contiguity and contingency may both be effective tools for the formation of associations. Contiguity is literally, “the state of bordering or being in direct contact with something.” In the world of psychology, contiguity is used to explain the order or the closeness of stimulus and response in occurrence, leading to the formation of association – or, simply, timing. Contingency, on the other hand, is “a future event or circumstance that is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.” In psychology, contingency is simplified as the reliability of the association. Both are useful tools in the formation of associations, but the question is whether or not one of these tools is more useful than the other, or if they are both necessary to utilize when forming associations in the mind.

            Contiguity of associations is very straightforward. If a behavior is rewarded, it is more likely to be repeated. If the behavior is rewarded quickly after the behavior occurs, it is even more likely to be repeated. It has been observed that continuously delaying delivery of reinforcement tends to result in a decrease in the target behavior. Delayed learning can occur, however, if little activity interferes between the target response and the reinforcer. Edward Thorndike believed that temporal contiguity is a critical feature of the response-reinforcer relationship. Pavlov agreed, to a certain extent, but believed that the CS-US contiguity alone may not be enough. Superstition is a part of contiguity in learning. Skinner first observed this behavior in pigeons that were displaying interim behavior in-between regular temporal intervals in which Skinner gave the pigeons food. Each of the pigeons developed a different behavior in an attempt to get the reward, because each pigeon was most likely doing something different when they were rewarded previously.

            Contingency is most easily seen in correlations between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. Contingency is important in anticipation of an event, as it helps to form the “if-then” relationship in the association. In contingency learning, the signal serves only to change the predictability of the context. By making it less predictable, the signal reduces the extent to which the context competes with the operant response in behavior. Contingency is observed in learned helplessness. When the animal gives up any hope of being able to save itself from the persistent shocks, it simply gives up. The contingency is observed in the animal believing that the shocks are coming, no matter what.

            Contiguity and contingency are both suitable tools for learning. Contingency, as seen in the example of learned helplessness, is sufficient for learning. Contiguity, however, appears to be necessary for learning. It is possible for delayed learning to occur, but it is not nearly as productive for learning as a speedy association formed with a timely reward. Temporal contiguity is the most efficient way to reinforce behavior.

            

Mirror Neurons - Written for school

If you have ever found yourself returning a smile and not quite understanding why, mirror neurons were most likely at work. Mirror neurons, as Daniel Goleman writes in his article, “Neural WiFi,” “reflect back an action we observe in someone else, making us mimic that action or have the impulse to do so.” Mirror neurons seem to represent a large part of the way two human brains can connect, or link, without any physical connection. When looking upon a smiling face, we instantly want to smile. According to Goleman, the synchronicity found in the connection made between two human brains is most functional when driven by low road processing – or quick, unconscious, thinking. Humans do not need to stop and think about the fear they feel as they are observing someone else’s behavior or expression in a scary situation. Goleman accurately describes mirror neurons as, “do-as-she-does” neurons. The name “Mirror” neuron no doubt came from the idea of mirroring, or copying, someone or something.

Daniel Goleman also states in his article that mirror neurons play a key role in both social skills and the way children learn. Empathy, therefore, relies heavily upon the use of mirror neurons. “Mirror neurons,” Goleman states, “make emotions contagious, letting the feelings we witness flow through us, helping us get in synch and follow what’s going on.” This is empathy. The same is true, also, for quick reactions to things people may not even actually do. Goleman believes that even the slightest hint of intention in a person can activate our mirror neurons, and thus, we begin to subconsciously plan our own actions in reaction to their possible future actions; we are reacting to that which hasn’t even happened yet. This emotional contagion is one of the key factors in a mob situation. Whenever emotions are running high, and there is a catalyst for violence, or hysteria, it would only take one person acting out violently to set off a chain reaction within the entire group. It is the wireless, or WiFi, connection that we share as humans, and the ease with which we can absorb and feel each other’s actions and reactions that enables us to act as a violent mob. My mother has said before, “When I’m at a baseball game, I leave myself at home and bring the warrior within out for the day,” of course referring to the fierce unison that one cannot help but feel in a crowd of thousands of other cheering fans with only victory in mind.

Personally, whenever I am in a situation in which I have absolutely no idea how to react – a group interview, the first day of class with a teacher I am not familiar with yet, or watching the local mentally unstable person declare war on the clouds in front of the supermarket, for example – I look to others around me for reaction advice subconsciously. If I should be alarmed, it is likely that others are alarmed and showing obvious signs of it. Working at Starbucks as a supervisor, I am often the one that my Baristas will turn to when they are not sure how to react to a situation, like an unsatisfied customer. The Baristas feel that they can look to me for reaction cues not only because I am their superior, but most likely because I have encountered a similar situation before, and will know the proper way to act. This, in its essence, is learning. It would seem that what Goleman has said about mirror neurons and their ability to help us interact with each other does in fact play a role in the way we learn.

Working at Starbucks, I have also encountered times when I was pressured to sell something. Normally it’s coffee, or brewing equipment, or even a new drink we’re featuring. I have learned, thanks to my job in retail, that in order to make a successful sale, you must read the customer’s reactions and act accordingly. If the customer is showing signs of annoyance, I understand that the best course of action is to relent. It is also possible, however, to prime the customer for the sale. If I know the customer prefers a certain type of coffee, I can mention that coffee when describing the product I am currently trying to sell them, guiding their way to a decision with confidence and a warm smile. Similarly, it is common knowledge that Baristas are constantly upbeat, happy, and very excited to make that latte for each and every customer. This is because we are priming the customer to expect this same happiness and excitement for the hand crafted beverage we are making for them.

As Daniel Goleman has explained, mirror neurons play a key role in our own understanding of emotions, particularly in relation to the emotions we see in others. These emotions, in turn, play a key role in our behavior and interaction with other humans. This behavior, in turn, is what defines humans as social creatures – the ability, and need, to not only communicate through learned behavior, but also to connect, and relate, through mirrored and learned emotions. The opportunities made available with an understanding of the way mirror neurons work opens up entirely new worlds of social experience and behavioral therapy that could never be achieved otherwise. 

The Importance of How a Couple Fights - written for school

      In the study that would lead to a famous method of couple’s therapy, John Gottman used a coding system that tracked verbal exchanges, as well as physical indicators of emotion – “flickering facial features, sighs, clammy hands, rolling eyes, and galloping heartbeats.” Gottman went as far as to follow some of the couples he worked with for more than twenty years, analyzing seven variables closely - mainly during verbal exchanges. Rather than focusing on preventing fights between couples entirely, Gottman discovered that it is, instead, more important how a couple fights, rather than if or when. There are two types of couples, Gottman found – Masters of Marriage, and Masters of Disaster. Gottman found that the Masters of Marriage had it right; Neither husband nor wife regularly became upset enough to elevate their pulse above 95 beats per minute, issues were raised gently (yes, mainly by the wives) as close as possible to the time they occurred, tensions were broken with jokes, reassurances, distractions, and when complaints did arise, the husbands made an effort to change their behavior. Also, at least five positive remarks were made (on average) for every one negative remake made during an exchange. The Masters of Disaster, however, did not have it down so well. Wives tended to raise issues harshly, when they did at all, and husbands tended to ignore the issues entirely or put their wives down for raising them. On average, 94% of the time these issues were never resolved. Wives globalized phrases – saying things like, “You never,” or “What’s wrong with you?” The husbands, for their part, tended to stonewall, or shut down entirely. With his research, Gottman discovered that there were what he calls the “Four Horsemen” of marriage present within most exchanges between the Masters of Disaster.” The Four Horsemen are: Criticism, Stonewalling, Defensiveness, and Contempt. However, even when the Four Horsemen were present in an exchange, if the couple could repair and reconnect properly after the fight, there was hope.

            Gottman and his wife reason that there are certain techniques that can be learned, even for couples who find themselves employing the Four Horseman from time to time. One of these is Positive Sentiment Override, which is produced by a system of mutual stroking – an emotional tipping point that allows spouses to think, even in tense moments like an argument. Negative Sentiment Override¸ however, is the lack of positive feedback or even simply an imbalance, leading to a destructive mental shift over time. In other words, to assume the worst in one’s partner. With the lack of or imbalance of positive feedback or understanding, the Fundamental Attribution Error can arise – a default setting of blame, in which all the problems in the relationship are the other partner’s fault. This leads to more and more fighting, which can only lead to appearances from the Four Horsemen, which can signal the demise of a relationship. Successful couples have built a “large cognitive map” of each other’s world. Even a subtle bid for attention is given attention and positive feedback, regardless of the partner’s ability to see through the bid for attention itself, or the small size of the grab for attention. In unsuccessful couples, however, the lack in frequency and quantity of positive feedback leads to the development of the fundamental attribution error.

            During a very strange and depressing time in my life, I fell in love with a roommate. We live apart now, but we still work together. Naru, as we will call him for the Japanese short hand for Narcissist, suffers from Bi-Polar disorder, severely. One minute he will be jumping around a room without a care in the world, and the next he could fall into a pit of depression and despair deep enough for anyone to get lost within. Throw a few delusions of grandeur in there, and you have the makings for a typical day in our small apartment. Naru’s mood fluctuated constantly; from happy to sad, content to angry, and even from confidence to fear. Naturally, we fought quite often, but strangely enough it was always Naru that approached me after a fight and forced me to talk to him about what was happening. Each time I was caught off guard, and each time I managed to stonewall, hold him in contempt, criticize his weaknesses and blatant abuse of my generosity, and constantly found myself rolling my eyes. Without fail, every time, he took the verbal beatings, kept a calm demeanor, and forced me to talk to him. Eventually I told him he needed to move out, of course, in the middle of a fight. He obliged without question. Even after he moved out, we have managed to maintain a stable friendship. My feelings have not changed, which makes the relationship very difficult for me, but we still share a very close interpersonal relationship. My relationship, or whatever one could call it, with Naru is a testament to the idea that a couple truly can survive even the darkest days, as long as at least one of the partners is willing to be the sane, level-headed, supplier of positivity. 

Stress - Written for School

Stress is a normal experience of the human body, beneficial to our survival. It is a reaction to a perceived situation where a person feels threatened or anxious. Stress will at some point affect anyone and everyone. Things we deal with and experience every day can cause us huge amounts of stress without even seeming as if we are subconsciously interpreting them as a threat. In jobs and schools where employees or students dedicate huge amounts of time to focusing and worrying about responsibilities, there is little time left for themselves, and these people will tend to spend more time in an anxious, stressed, state of mind than they will resting.

There are two basic ways that stress can affect us. The first is a seemingly simple physical reaction to stress, the “fight or flight” reaction, a tool for survival that we used in the past as hunter-gatherers, and even today in the face of immediate danger. As this reaction occurs, normally to a stressor – like a cheetah attack or a final exam – stress hormones and chemicals are released, reading the body for a fight, or a quick flight. In small, infrequent doses, these chemicals can save lives. When the body is consistently exposed to stressors, however, the effects can be harmful. The second type of stress is a quieter type – happening mainly in the mind. The signs of cognitive stress can be as simple as worrying, and as complicated as introversion or an anxiety disorder, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. While the prolonged effects of stress can be dangerous to our health, there are promising methods for managing both physical and cognitive stress.

            The Center for Disease Control defines stress as “a condition that is often characterized by symptoms of physical or emotional tension” (CDC.gov). Stress can help develop skills needed to adapt to new and potentially threatening situations. However, when symptoms of stress are larger than life or sustained over long periods of time, humans feel overwhelmed and reduce their ability to cope (CDC.gov). Physical, or Somatic, stress can be described as a disturbance of the Autonomic Nervous System, specifically the Sympathetic Nervous System. The autonomic nervous system is comprised mainly of the heart, digestive system, and lungs. It is the autonomic nervous system that allows the heart to continue to beat and the lungs to continue to expand and contract as we breathe without conscious effort. As Laura A. Freberg states in her textbook, Discovering Biological Psychology, “The sympathetic nervous system has been elegantly designed to cope with emergencies.” This system is responsible for reacting to situations which would traditionally put a person in danger – like a cheetah attack. Activation of the sympathetic nervous system in times of perceived danger or arousal in response to external stimuli happens in mere seconds as a domino-like chain of events readies the body for fighting or fleeing. Pupils dilate, salivation decreases, heartbeat accelerates and blood pressure rises, airways relax in order to receive more oxygen, activity in the stomach and bladder is inhibited, and even blood vessels constrict (Freberg 425 – 428).

            The axons involved in the stress reaction are located in the thoracic and lumbar portions of the spinal cord, and they react with what is called the “sympathetic chain.” The sympathetic chain is “a string of cell bodies outside the spinal cord that receive input from sympathetic neurons in the central nervous system and that communicate with target organs” (Freberg 50-51). At the cellular level, the amygdala receives sensory information about the threat, which sends signals to the hypothalamus through the pathway stria terminalis, which forms additional connections with neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. It is through this process that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is activated. Corticotrophin-releasing-hormone (CRH) and vasopressin are released by the paraventricular neucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus. This causes the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) which diffuses into the blood stream, eventually reaching the adrenal glands where it stimulates the release of cortisol. Cortisol then moves to the brain, causing an increased release of neurotransmitters (Freberg 425 – 428). One of the reasons why cortisol can be harmful to mental functioning is the time cortisol remains in the bloodstream, approximately three hours after the threat is addressed, before breaking down.

            When there is no longer a threatening stimulus to react to, the body returns to the “rest and digest” state – the Parasympathetic Nervous System. In small doses, this reaction to stressors can help achieve goals and save lives. When prolonged, however, stress can interfere with judgment, lead to depression, and adversely affect concentration, objectivity, and memory retention, among other common cognitive functions. The stress response is a priority-based system, and cognitive functioning above a bare minimum necessary for survival is not always deemed necessary. Prolonged stress can also contribute to health problems such as high blood pressure – due to the increased heart rate experienced with a stressor – heart disease, obesity, and even diabetes. Both short and long term stress affect the body substantially, even to the point of a drastic increase in visible aging.

            Interestingly, even the mental effects of stress originate chemically in the brain. The limbic system is primarily responsible for dealing with perceived stressors, among other functions it is responsible for – like the regulation of emotions and memory. The limbic system is comprised of several very different structures in the brain that are fairly spread out. Several of these systems in the brain are impacted or shut down in response to a stressful event. For example, in an article written for TIME Magazine, Michael Lemonick interviews Frank Vocci, the director of pharmacotherapies at the National Institute of Drug Abuse. “The part of the prefrontal cortex that is involved in deliberate cognition is shut down by stress,” Vocci states. When a threat is perceived, it is the limbic system, specifically the hypothalamus that sends the signal to the autonomic nervous system to begin the sympathetic reaction. “Chronic over-secretion of stress hormones adversely affects brain function, especially memory… During a perceived threat the adrenal glands immediately release adrenalin. If the threat is severe or still persists after a couple of minutes, the adrenals then release Cortisol. Once in the brain, cortisol remains much longer than adrenalin, where it continues to affect brain cells” (Lemonick). It makes sense that in terms of extreme stress, not only physical processes such as digestion, but mental processes such as memory formation and retention, would be deemed less important than other survival-centered processes.

            While mere stress will be felt by anyone at some point in their lifetime, the threshold or level of stress that an individual can cope with varies from person to person. A study published in The Journal of Neuroscience found a connection between Brain-Derived-Neurotrophic-Factor (BDNF), a protein with implications seen in processes within the brain from drug addiction to epilepsy, and chronic stress in rats. This study found a connection between chronic stress and abnormalities in the hippocampus and dentate gyrus. The dentate gyrus, part of the general area that is the hippocampus, is used mainly for the creation of new memories, which is known to be affected by the body’s natural stress reaction. “Chronic stress produces structural changes and neuronal damage especially in the hippocampus… Corticosterone negative feedback may have contributed in part to the stress-induced decrease in BDNF and mRNA levels, but stress still decreased BDNF in the dentate gyrus in adrenalectomized rats suggesting that additional components of the stress response must also contribute to the observed changes in BDNF” (Smith). BDNF is a necessary protein that plays an important role in the regeneration and plasticity of neurons. In cases of chronic stress, it is BDNF that is negatively affected, leading to the death of neurons in the brain. In a study measuring the impact of chronic stress on levels of BDNF, researchers found a connection between BDNF and symptoms of depression and anxiety in rats. The rats were subject, essentially, to chronic stress, with the behavioral outcome measured three weeks after the fact. Not only did this study find a connection between BDNF and depression, but that chronic stress adversely affected the threshold at which a rat began to be negatively impacted by the chronic stress. “…hippocampal BDNF expression plays a critical role in resilience to chronic stress and that reduction of hippocampal BDNF expression in young, but not adult, rats induces prolonged elevations in corticosterone secretion” (Taliaz).

            Chronic stress is very different from a short term, fleeting, stressor such as a wild animal attack. Stress still serves a very necessary evolutionary purpose – survival. Chronic stress can come from work, school, and even family obligations. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can manifest after a traumatic event. PTSD is seen frequently in war veterans, and can be difficult to treat. Many biological factors seem to go into the occurrence of PTSD. Thyroid levels can be elevated, along with circulating levels of norepinephrine and a higher heart rate and blood pressure level even weeks after the traumatic event (Yehuda 108-114). PTSD is essentially a case of severe chronic stress. As the person suffering from PTSD constantly relives the traumatic event, their stress response is renewed over and over again, leading the body to constantly run under the influence of the sympathetic nervous system. Similarly to other forms of chronic stress, a connection between PTSD and reduced hippocampal volume and function has been found. “A twin study suggested that differences in hippocampal volume represent familial vulnerability to developing PTSD. A polymorphism in the coding region (V66M) that reduces trafficking and release of [BDFN] has been associated with hippocampal deficits and reduced hippocampal volume” (Amstadter). In addition to the decreased volume and function of the hippocampus in PTSD patients, the sensitivity of their HPA axis tends to be increased. A more sensitive HPA axis and lower than normal cortisol level at the time of the traumatic event could prolong the effects of norepinephrine on the brain, potentially causing the severe reaction to the event that occurs in patients with PTSD. Chronic stress, including PTSD, has shown to have severe effects on the human brain and body, but there are still options for the control of stress. Because the stress response is a biological reaction, it is possible to deal with stressors on a similar level.

            Exercise, for example, can do wonders for the physical effects of stress felt every day. Various studies have been done regarding exercise as a stress management tool. The De Anza Student health newsletter, for example, cites a study published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, “…exercise stimulates the release of a chemical in the body called brain-derived-neurotrophic-factor (BDNF). BDNF is beneficial to brain function in several ways, it supports neuron growth and survival, the capacity to learn, and memory function” (Tamm). Yes, one of the many ways in which exercise has proven to combat the effects of chronic stress is to increase the levels of the protein that is responsible for the upkeep of neurons in the brain, as well as the formations of new ones. This is particularly important in the Hippocampus, specifically the dentate gyrus, for the formation and retention of new memories. Arthur F. Kramer published a paper detailing the wide spectrum of positive influences exercise has shown to have on the brain. “…reported increases in MRI measures of cerebral blood volume (CBV) in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus for a group of 11 middle-aged individuals who participated in a three month aerobic exercise program…Increases in CBV in a parallel study of exercising mice were found to be related to enhanced neurogenesis” (Kramer). Kramer then continues on to speak about the effects of exercise on enhanced learning observed in rodents performing the Morris water maze. “Enhanced learning on water maze tasks has been associated with an increased production of neurotrophic molecules, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and a series of molecular and cellular cascades” (Kramer).  Kramer goes on to highlight the ways in which voluntary exercise increases “both mRNA and protein levels of BDNF in the hippocampus, cerebellum and frontal cortex…Therefore, exercise increases BDNF levels, which seem to be inextricably related to the behavioral improvements observed with an exercise treatment” (Kramer). The increase in levels of BDNF as a result of exercise leads to the growth of new capillaries in the hippocampus, cerebellum and motor cortex of rodents, and may even reduce the amount of cortical damage caused by a manually administered stroke. (Kramer). Even when rodents were specifically tested for levels of BDNF after being subject to stressors or even type II diabetes, voluntary wheel running increased levels of BDNF after as few as six hours. “The characteristic lower levels of hippocampal BDNF protein and dendritic spine density in type II diabetic mice (db/db) were significantly enhanced with free access to cage wheels” (Murray). Another important structure within the hippocampus that appears to be critical in the stress response is the subiculum, which appears to have a range of functions and properties beyond memory formation.

The subiculum appears to play a role in spatial navigation, as well as a control to the response of stress, specifically an inhibition of the HPA axis. Knowledge of the subiculum is fairly vague, but an increase in volume in the subiculum has been observed after sedentary patients engaged in six weeks of aerobic exercise, five days a week, 30 minutes a day (Thomas). “The subiculum has been shown to have decreased volume in major depression and provides a major inhibitory input to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, down-regulating stress. Structural change in the subiculum may therefore be one of the mechanisms by which aerobic exercise helps alleviate depression and stress” (Thomas). This research has shown that while it is still within the hippocampus that the benefits of exercise are found, it is not only in the dentate gyrus that involves memory retention, but also within the subiculum, which appears to control the body’s reaction to stress, through the inhibition of the HPA axis. 

            Although it appears that damage caused by chronic stress seems to primarily occur in the limbic system, damage can also be felt in the frontal cortex, the region of the brain responsible for logic and reasoning. BDNF’s effect is primarily focused in the dentate gyrus, but it can also be seen in the frontal cortex. In an article written for the International Journal of Peptides, Patrick S. Murray speaks of the various roles of BDNF, as well as the effect that exercise may have on the protein. “Exercise leads to substantial changes in BDNF and NMDA receptor activity in the hippocampus, and these changes in large part underlie the effects of exercise on learning and synaptic plasticity” (Murray). Murray also found that the increased levels of BDNF remained in the blood of rodents for some time after the cessation of exercise. Also noted in Kramer’s study, a routine as simple as walking for about an hour, three days a week, for six months increased gray matter volume in the prefrontal cortex as well as the temporal cortex, along with an increase in the volume of anterior white matter.

            While exercise has shown improvements in the somatic, or physical, responses to stress, it has been found that meditation can also affect the ways the brain responds to stress. Studies have shown that meditation may improve the emotional regulation of practitioners, with neuroimaging like PET scans and functional magnetic resonance imaging providing evidence. Meditation, when practiced regularly for at least eight weeks, appears to decrease the activation of the amygdala (Schwartz). The amygdala is, once again, part of the limbic system, which seems to play an integral role in the interpretation of stressors. The amygdala specifically plays a role in processing emotions and fear-learning – which can be very important for evaluating stressors and necessary responses. Meditation can, essentially, teach the brain which cues to respond to with stress signals, and which can be ignored. Two types of meditation were employed in a study conducted at several different facilities in Boston – Mindful Attention Meditation and Compassion Meditation – with a control group participating in an eight week health education course. “In the mindful attention group, the after-training brain scans showed a decrease in activation in the right amygdala in response to all images, supporting the hypothesis that meditation can improve emotional stability and response to stress” (Schwartz). The mindfulness meditation technique showed greater promise in terms of stress response than the Compassion Meditation technique. The study conducted in Boston found that even three weeks after completing the training, participants in the study continued to show decreased activity in the right amygdala – suggesting that the benefits of meditation for stress management are felt on a long term basis, beyond the time taken to meditate. Meditation has also shown to increase the release of dopamine in the brain, acting on the reward pathway similarly to the endorphins that are released during voluntary exercise (Young). In addition to the release of dopamine, neuroimaging has shown an increased cortical thickness in patients that have meditated regularly for at least eight weeks, as well as a decrease in age-related cortical thinning (Young). Several studies have shown these effects to be long lasting, even when the participant is not in a meditative state.

            Stress serves an evolutionary purpose – survival. For some, stress is like a monster lurking in the corner of a room, waiting to strike. Many presidents – like Abraham Lincoln – have shown the drastic effects that chronic stress can have on the appearance of natural aging. For others, stress is a tool they can utilize to complete assignments on time or even run marathons. Others seek the rush of endorphins that accompanies activities like roller coaster riding or sky diving. Stress is, at the same time, something that no one can avoid. One of the scariest aspects of stress can be a feeling of helplessness that is known to accompany it, particularly in cases of depression or anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder. This paper has shown, however, that while we cannot simply stop the effects of chronic stress on the body, there are certainly many ways to curb, or even reverse, the negative side effects that we feel as a result of the chemical and biological reactions to stress. 

Works Cited

"Tips for Coping with Stress." CDC.gov. Center for Disease Control, 20 2012. Web. 26 Nov 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pub/coping_with_stress_tips.html>.

Schwartz, Gary E. "Psychosomatic Medicine ."Psychosomatic Medicine . 40.4 (1978): 321-327. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.

Freberg, Laura A. Discovering Biological Psychology. 2nd ed. San Luis Obispo: Wadsworth, 2010. 425 - 428. Print.

Lemonick, Michael. "How We Get Addicted." TIME magazine. 05 2007: n.. Print.

Tamm, Stephen. "Exercise Your Way to Success." Student Health 101. 2012: n. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. <http://readish101.com/m/1012/03/deanza.html>.

Kramer, Arthur F. "TRENDS in Cognitive Science."TRENDS in Cognitive Science. 11.8 (2007): .. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. www.sciencedirect.com

Taliaz, Dekel. "The Journal of Neuroscience." Journal of Neuroscience. 32.48 (2011): n. Print.

Smith, Mark. "Journal of Neuroscience." Journal of Neuroscience. 15.3 (1995): 1768-1777. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.jneurosci.org/content/15/3/1768.full.pdf>.

Murray, Patrick. "International Journal of Peptides."International Journal of Peptides. 2011. (2011): 1-12. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijpep/2011/654085/>.

Thomas, Adam. "Rapid changes in brain structure in response to exercise in sedentary adults." Oxford: 2012. <http://ww4.aievolution.com/hbm1201/index.cfm?do=abs.viewAbs&abs=5313>.

Baime, Michael. "This Is Your Brain On Mindfulness."Shambhala Sun. 2007: 44 - 84. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.

Young, Simon. "Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience."Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. 36.2 (2011): 75-77. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3044190/>.

Schwartz, Eric. "Meditation Appears to Produce Enduring Changes in Emotional Processing in the Brain."Science Daily [Boston] 12 11 2012, Early Edition n. pag. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121112150339.htm>.

Yehuda, Rachel. "New England Journal Of Medicine." New England Journal Of Medicine. 346.2 (2002): 108-114. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. <http://www.impact.arq.org/doc/kennisbank/1000010585-1.pdf>.

Music and the Brain

            The perception of music depends on many factors. The perception of amplitude comes from the height of the sound wave, and is perceived as loudness, and the wavelength is the distance between peaks in the sound wave, and is perceived as pitch. The path in the brain that this signal follows goes from the auditory pathways in the ear - through the Pinna, past the ear drum and ossicles, and finally into the cochlea to be translated into a signal the brain can process –and then travels to the thalamus and auditory cortex. When the brain is sensing music, harmony and rhythm are perceived in the cerebellum and motor cortex. Melodies are processed in the speech center, connecting Broka’s area and Wernicke’s areas in the parietal lobes. In the case of tone-deafness, these areas are not stimulated. Harmonies, in the case of the sound seeming more appealing, light up the right orbitofrontal cortex, associated with reward and emotion. There is also a part of the brain – the medial subcallosal Cingulate – that is associated with depression that music may affect. In the case of dissonance, or unpleasant harmonies, the right parahippocampal gyrus shows activity, along with the left parahippocampal gyrus, associated with pain or discomfort. The perception of music is shown to affect Heschl’s Gyrus and the Interior frontal gyrus – which is associated with action inhibition and simple “go” or “no-go” tasks. Even with the variations in music across cultures, it appears music can affect us in similar ways, regardless of the style. There is promising work being done using music therapy to help disorders such as depression or bipolar disorder.