Topical Blog Week #4 (Due Wednesday)

Blake Wedeking

While reading Chapter 3 for this week’s reading assignment, I came upon a name that I have heard many times in high school and one of the most interesting men that I think should be studied more in great detail. The famous Phineas Gage is a man of wonder in which he bent the very fathoms of reality and makes the researcher wonder in great amazement how this man still preceded with his life even after his untimely accident. This chapter discusses about one’s nervous system and early research on it so Gage would be a prime example to discuss. I think that it is amazing that a man could live after being struck by a tamping iron and having the rod dismantle part of his brain and live to tell about it to be quite fascinating. The most remarkable part about this incident is that he lived 12 years later and was still able to function on his own. How can a man defy what one may say as impossible to live through? This is what sparks my interest in this man and how this incident has inspired much research by scientists and psychologists alike.
What can we learn from Phineas Gage one may ask? Gage was a foreman construction worker for Rutland & Burlington Railroad in Cavendish, Vermont where he worked and prepped the roads for a new railroad that was supposed to be put in. While setting up the roadbed he prepared to blast the rock and started to do so. He put blasting powder, a fuse, and sand into this hole and prepared to compact this into the hole with the tamping iron. While doing so, he set a spark and the blast exploded and sent the tamping iron through the left side of his head and into the frontal lobe escaping out the top of his head. The rod was found 80 feet away covered with brains. Surprisingly enough after minutes of being struck with this rod he was able to talk, walk, and sit upright. Others prepared for his death by setting up coffins in which they would bury him. Gage did make progress but experienced convulsions in his head that made him have fits but gradually get better with time. After being struck with the rod, his personality seemed a bit off to his friends and relatives. This sparked much interest in personality research and made Gage a prime example to study. This man is remarkable as he has just survived an incident that should have killed him on the spot in my opinion. How did this incident affect him throughout his life and his relationships with others? What have we learned by looking at Gage’s case?
After looking more into the Gage case we can now conclude that this rod affected Gage’s decision making ability and also his social cognition. Since we don’t know what Gage’s personality was like before the accident, it is hard to conclude any specifics on whether it severely altered his personality. Some accounts say that Gage went from being very social, and an outright family man that was loved throughout the community to an unstable, embarrassment to the community. These accounts could be exaggeration and no one knows for sure as we didn't have the technology then as we do now. Scientists argue that this case has been severely abused as people will quote this man in order to back up their specific theory in which some may argue that this case is full of myths. However, that being the case we can still conclude that he was indeed affected by this incident and psychologists now have a better understanding on the brain’s function.

What amazes me the most is that he was still able to function and hold a job after this incident occurred. How was he able to do this? Phineas worked in a livery stable in Hanover, New Hampshire, and later as a long-distance coach driver on the Valparaiso-Santiago route in Chile. Later on in life he worked for a small farm in Santa Clara. Gage is sometimes considered a scientific myth as we do not know everything there is no to know about this case. Some writers argue that he has only enhanced the myth we have about how rash his personality changed. There are skeptics out there that criticize the findings but as a mere college student it is fun to examine the story as a whole.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage

I chose this website because it provide me with great background information into the Gage case and also video links that I could use to see what actually happened to him on the day the accident occurred.

http://www.nejm.org/action/showMediaPlayer?doi=10.1056%2FNEJMicm031024&aid=NEJMicm031024_attach_1&area=

This website was very useful I helping me understand how the rod entered Gage’s head and where it exited. I thought this video was great to view as it helps in aiding the understanding of this accident even if someone didn't know much about the Gage case.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2010/nov/05/phineas-gage-head-personality

This website tells about some accounts of his personality change after the accident occurred. This site also poses possible arguments against this personality change and why we don’t know for sure. This website was useful in understanding both sides to the argument and how we can learn from it.

I found Paul Broca and his study with his unusual patient to be interesting. Broca was a French neurologist and came across a patient with severe gangrene. He did a lot of work dealing with the frontal lobes of the brain and determining how damages to those lobes can cause certain reactions within the body such as speech impairment. The patient no longer had the ability to speak coherently but in Broca’s opinion, he was still a smart, healthy individual despite his inability to speak. When the patient would be asked a question, he would try to respond, but instead ended up saying “Tan, tan.” This is how the patient got his name Tan. When he would speak, he would also use nonverbal communication to help people to better understand such as hand gestures. Before long, Tan lost control of the right side of his body and his condition continued to progress. Broca believed that Tan had a cerebral lesion for the first ten years of his illness, but that it had begun to spread. After his first examination with Broca, Tan passed away six days later. Broca then did an autopsy, removing Tan’s brain. Tan suffered from motor aphasia. Motor aphasia is the inability to speak thoughts verbally even though there is nothing wrong vocally and intelligence remains the same. Broca then began to specialize in the localization of functions within the brain and did so by observing other patients with brain damages. I found this study to be interesting because it shows how fragile our brain is. Any slight damage to the lobes in our brain can cause such serious consequences. Broca later met another patient who was diagnosed with dementia. After that patient passed away, Broca did a brain autopsy and discovered there was a lesion on the brain much similar to the one of Tan’s. He later came to realized that speech functions are localized in the brain. The localized speech segment had other parts to it as well such as pronunciation, comprehension, and formation. If one part were to be injured, it did not mean that it would affect other parts; however, if the responsible part is injured, other parts will be affected. For example, if the area that is localized for speech function has a lesion, it is likely that lesion will cause the speech parts to be affected in a negative way.
All of this information amazes me because I am intrigued by the body and the different functions of the body. The brain is central in dealing with everything from movement to talking. Broca’s studies are what really interested me because he looked at an individual with a disability and began to figure out what and why it was happening to them. It would be neat if we could use information such as his and apply it to studies today to possible come up with medicines or surgical procedures to help with brain damage and lesions on the brain.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/2013/02/08/the-man-who-couldnt-speakand-how-he-revolutionized-psychology/
I chose this site because it gave a detailed description of Broca’s study of brain function. It also talked about his study dealing with his unusual patient. It gave me adequate insight about his studies and the type of brain damage his patient was suffering from.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Broca
This sight gave information about Broca and his past. It even talked about some of the work he accomplished over the years.
http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/1982.html
This sight talked about the localization of brain functions and Broca’s observation pertaining to localization of the brain.

J.P.

Courtney Wiese
Chapter 3 Topical Blog
Phrenology
Phrenology was a popular form of science in the 18th and 19th century in Europe and eventually in the United States. This science was developed under the name “cranioscopy” by an Austrian physician, Franz Joseph Gall. Gall studied in Vienna, and he was one of the first to study the “localization of mental functions in the brain” Gall was studying at school and noticed that the students who memorized facts very easily also had protruding eyes and large foreheads. He then deduced that maybe that external features could relate to internal features. Galls philosophy was that first the brain is an organ of the mind. Secondly, “the brain was not a homogenous unity, but a compilation of mental organs with specific functions.” Third, “organs were topographically localized.” Fourth, the “relative size of any one of the organs cold be taken as a measure of the organ’s power over the person’s behavior.” Finally, the “external craniological features could be used to diagnose the internal state of the mental faculties.” The brain had “muscles” that could be strengthened or weakened like any muscle of the body. Phrenologists would study the shape of a person’s skull by running their fingers, or palms, along the head to feel for indents or bumps. These bumps or indentation would represent certain character traits, depending on where it was located on the head. The purpose of phrenology was to identify individuals who were either deemed to be very good or very bad for society. Those whose bumps who proved to be worthwhile members of society where encouraged and nurtured. Those who were deemed evil, where told to be segregated from the rest of society.
Phrenology was widely accepted in Europe at first. However, in 1802 the Catholic Church and the government in Vienna ordered Gall to stop lecturing on phrenology. So, Gall fled to Paris to continue his lecturing. It was popular in Europe especially, because it was seen as a way to justify treating colonist poorly. Once the popularity decreased in Europe, its popularity soared in the United States in the 19th century. One reason it was so popular in America was that it related to the ideas of the Jacksonian Era, which included a focus on individuality, common sense, and perfection. Phrenology was also logical and easy to understand and learn, which was great for Americans. It was also said that phrenology was used to support the abolition of slavery, as African American heads had traits that said they were very talented, which is the opposite of what pro-slavery voices said. Some people did not like phrenology because of the lack of scientific method. They didn’t believe that Gall could prove it scientifically, and they also believed it was a money making scheme.
Another interesting note is that the idea of phrenology can be seen in the recent movie, Django: Unchained. In it, the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio held up a skull of a African American and talked about how slaves wouldn’t kill their masters because of the bump they had in their head that linked to submissiveness. This was a direct link to the theory of phrenology that was popular in American during this time period. In this case phrenology was a justification for slavery.
http://www.phrenology.org/intro.html - This had basic background information I used on phrenology
http://www3.niu.edu/acad/psych/Millis/History/2004/phrenology.htm - I used this for more background information on Gall.
http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/83.php - This site gave me the most information, including the popularity of phrenology in the United States.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/feb/05/django-unchained-racist-science-phrenology - This site discussed how phrenology was used in racism, specifically in Django: Unchained.

I chose to research more into phrenology because of its uniqueness in trying to decipher one's mental capacities and behavior. Though undoubtedly flawed in many ways, I still thought it was an interesting to try to figure out more about the brain. Surprising enough, Aristotle actually wrote about this idea, but Franz Joseph Gall was the one who truly founded this pseudoscience.

Gall was one of the first people to consider the brain the source of all mental activities. He said that moral and intellectual faculties are innate and that their use depends on organization. Furthermore, he considered the brain to be the organ of all "propensities, sentiments, and faculties." Alongside this, the brain consisted of many organs, each with their own faculties that differ from each other, and the form of that section of the cranium represents the development of those organs. This later took the form of what is called craniology, which divided the brain into 27 different parts with a specific function. The phrenologist would measure a person's skull with a caliper and feel his or her skull for bumps and depressions: bumps being well developed areas, and depressions underdeveloped.

Unfortunately, there was no true scientific backing for phrenology. There were no objective experiments done to support the evidence, and scientists such as Pierre Flourens pointed to this lack of scientific support, as well as the discoveries that the brain development was not determined by bumps and depressions. Furthermore, there was much evidence that although certain parts of the brain help to perform different functions, Gall's strict localization into 27 parts was not accurate.

Phrenology was abused in the 20th century by Nazis to promote their racist ideals. Sadly, as with the eugenics they used, they traced these origins back to the research in the US on phrenology. Still, interest in phrenology did bring about scientific progress in understanding the human brain by encouraging other scientists to form their own hypotheses and experiments. Sometimes it takes a few off-the-wall theories to bring about more accurate, evidence-based theories. Thus, although wrong in his hypotheses, Gall marks an important step in understanding the function of the brain.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-phrenology.htm

This site provided some background information, as well as uses of phrenology.

http://www.phrenology.org/intro20.html

I used this as a source of historical information regarding phrenology, with references to Aristotle.

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/f/phrenology.htm

Criticisms of phrenology and evidence contrary to its hypotheses are included in this site, citing Flourens.

1. The part of the chapter that I would like to do more research on is the section on Lashley and the learning of the function of the Cortex. This fits the chapter because the cortex is a function where different parts control learning. I would like to know more about this because I found it to be interesting when I was reading the chapter, but the main thing I got out of it is if your cortex is damaged than you have a difficult time dealing with more challenging tasks. I want to know more about this relationship to a severely damaged cortex and what kind of tasks are difficult to humans that have severely damaged their cortex. Also, the chapter mentioned that the different cortexes damaged will bring different effects, so I would like to know a few of the different effects.
2.a. The first article I read talked about substance abuse and how it effects the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) (which plays a role in the central nervous system). What I took from this article that people that have damaged the OFC have problems being motivated, or for example if they accomplish something (even if they are rewarded for the act) they do not get the same rush and great feeling they did before they damaged the OFC. This is why they seem like they are dependent on the drug and they are not motivated to do much of anything else because of not receiving the same rush. I think that this makes things clear on how people that are addicted to certain substances lack motivation and are not wanting to do anything with life and everything else. It is also interesting to know that this is a part of the cortex and is a lot different compared to the maze situation that was experimented by Lashley. It was an example of how at the end of the section the statement said different parts of the cortex being damaged with have different effects, which this is shown to be proven true from the example above.
b. The second article that I read had to do with the prefrontal cortex being damaged. This was a good article because it added to the observations that Lashley had with the maze experiment and how the memory function of the rats were damaged. Although in the article that I read, it also stated that frontal lobes of memory also play a role in the memory function, but it did not go into much detail explaining how much of the memory was allocated to the prefrontal cortex and the frontal lobe of memory. It stated that there was some cases where there was not a huge loss in intellectual functions, but the behavior of the subjects changed drastically that did not allow the subjects to continue life like they did before the damage. I understand a little bit more about prefrontal cortex and the effects of it being damaged, at first I thought that it would affect everyday functions but in the article it stated that in cases it had no effect on intellectual functions just memory in some cases and behavior in most. I think that the behavior function being changed is what happened in the maze experiment also, obviously the memory function was effected when it came to maze II and III, but in some cases the rats would climb the walls because they knew the reward to get to the end they just could not find the way there. I think that depending on the damage and how much the subject is affected by it would depend on how the subject would live it’s life afterwards, for example the subjects that went through maze I were said to have no problems. It almost seems that depending on daily tasks and what the people with damage need to do every day, they almost could get by with damage if every day activities were like getting through maze I.
c. The third article that I read was about an experiment of a 14 month old boy that had right prefrontal cortex damage. I chose this because in the chapter there was the Broca experiment on Tan who had left frontal lobe damage, which effected the ability to articulate, vocal apparatus and general intelligence. So, when I came across that this boy had damage in the right inferior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, in a way I remembered the story in the book and I wanted to compare the two. His motor skills, ability to communicate and daily living skills were normal, which states a difference already because of the motor skills and the ability to communicate would be altered if it were the left side. The places that were damaged though were ability to control emotion (or regulate it), and the regulation of engagement of attention. So, what I got out of the article and the book is that the left and right side of the brain react differently when damaged and Broca realized this in his experiment with Tan. He did not assume it was full prefrontal damage, but noticed a difference in full damage and one side being damaged. I find this to be interesting because one would think that no matter where the cortex is damaged it would have the same effects, but really it is different due to different areas of the cortex are responsible for different functions. It would also tie into the rats and the mazes because of how the rats acted towards the maze it was not a damage to emotion and attention engagement, but more of the motor skills and memory which would be the left side and not the right.
3. http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/3/334.long
I chose this website because it gave me insight in how different parts of the cortex can affect the mind function in different ways, in this way with OFC it was the motivational factors that were effected instead of memory.
http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/122/5/994.full
I chose this article because it was talking about the prefrontal cortex being damaged and I could link this article to Lashley and his maze I, II and III experiment. It made me understand the effects of the damage more by providing more insight on the problems that people face when theirs is damaged.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17710831
I chose this article because it was an experiment that a doctor did trying to see what the damage of the boy’s situation did to his daily living functions. I liked it because I was able to relate it to the left side being damaged and showed how the two differ in extreme ways.

1a) State what your topic is.
My topic is Phineas Gage.

1b) Discuss how the topic relates to the chapter.
This topic relates to the chapter because Phineas Gage suffered severe damage to his cortex, which caused his behavior to change.

1c) Discuss why you are interested in it.
I am interested in Phineas Gage because I think it is amazing how he suffered so much damage to his cortex and lived to tell the story. I am also interested in the behavioral/personality changes that happened to Gage following the accident.

2) Next, we would like you to take the information you read or viewed related to your topic, integrate/synthesize it, and then write about the topic in a knowledgeable manner.

Phineas Gage is one of the earliest cases of brain injury. The case of Phineas Gage gave us the ability to have a better understanding of the many issues with the brain. Phineas Gage Was the foreman of a crew of railroad workers. Gage and his workers were drilling holes to fill with dynamite. They wanted the explosion to be directed into the boulders which was done using a tamping iron.
On September 13th, 1848, Gage was using a tamping iron while preparing for an explosion. A spark from the tamping iron ended up igniting the powder causing the iron rod to be shot straight through Gage’s skull at a high speed. The tamping iron that went into his skull was three feet and seven inches long. After the rod hit his head, it landed about 30 yards behind him. Gage was knocked over but he may not have been knocked unconsciousness.
Before Phineas Gage got hit with the tamping iron, he was considered a kind and thoughtful man. Others referred to him as efficient and capable. Overall, he was a nice guy and a good worker. Following his accident, his behavior/personality had changed dramatically. His old employer said he was fitful, irreverent, profane and impatient. His friends said that “Gage” was “no longer Gage.” His Physician, Dr. Harlow, said that “his equilibrium, or balance, so to speak, between his intellectual faculties and animal faculties and animal propensities seems to have been destroyed.” This event was more than just something crazy that happened and is fun to talk about. It was crazy, but because it happened, we could understand the brain just a little bit more. However, nobody know the full answer as to why Gage was no longer Gage and most likely, no one will ever know what exactly is taking place before and after frontal lobe damage.

http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/12/04/the-incredible-case-of-phineas-gage/

I chose this website because it had some good background information on Phineas Gage. It was nice to read about what Gage did and what he was doing at the time of the accident and how the accident happened.

http://www.uakron.edu/gage/story.dot

I chose this website because it gave good detail on the incident. It gave good information about what the rod was like that entered his head. After knowing that information, it is crazy to know that he survived the incident.

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro98/202s98-paper1/Johnson.html

I chose this website because it gave good information on Phineas Gage’s personality. It told me what he was like before the accident as well as what he was like after the accident.

1a) State what your topic is.
Phineas Gage

1b) Discuss how the topic relates to the chapter.
This chapter discusses the function of the nervous system and the localization of the brain function. Phineas Gage relates to this chapter because his case shows evidence for localization. Phineas Gage case illustrates the effects of severe frontal lobe damage on personality.

1c) Discuss why you are interested in it.
I found it very interesting that Phineas Gage’s survived his traumatic accident and later results in making him known as one of the most famous patients in neuroscience. How could someone survive after a rod was driven through their skull?

Phineas Gage is known as one of the most famous patients in neuroscience. His story served as one of the first sources of evidence that the frontal lobe was involved with personality.

On September 13, 1848 Phineas Gage was working as the foreman of a crew preparing a railroad near Vermont. Gage and his crew were digging rocks to make way for the railroad. He was using an iron rod to pack some explosive powder into a hole. The iron rode produced spark that burnt the powder, which caused it to explode. This caused the iron rod to shoot straight up, which was then driven through Gage’s skull. The iron went in point first under his left cheek bone and out through the top of his head. The iron rad was 3 feet 7 inches long and weighted about 13 pounds. Surprisingly Gage was able to walk to a nearby cart and was then taken to go see the doctor. Other men stayed and found the iron rod 10 meters away from the accident.

Dr. Edward Williams was the first physician to examine Gage’s wound. He was shocked and had a difficult time believing Gage’s statement on what had happened. Dr. Williams even stated that “Mr. G got up and vomited; the effort of vomiting pressed out about half a teacup of the brain, which fell upon the floor”. Soon after, a different doctor known as Dr. John Harlow took over the case. Dr. Harlow descried the outcome of the accident as “literally one gore of blood”.

Gage survived from this traumatic accident and was conscious and walking within minutes. However, Gage developed an infection and spent September 23- October 3rd in a “semi-comatose state”. Finally in October 7th he recovered and was able to take his first steps out of bed. A couple days later his intellectual functioning began to improve as well. Gage was still able to remember what happened during his accident. Dr. Harlow treated him with such success that he returned home to New Hampshire within 10 weeks after his accident. Dr. Harlow also saw Gage again the following year and stated he was in good physical heath and look as if he was fully recovered. However Gage had lost vision in his eyes and had scars from the accident.

Before the traumatic accident Gage was pleasant and hardworking. He was known as a smart business man with a well-balanced mind. However after the traumatic accident Gage’s personality changed? Those who knew Gage saw his as a completely different man, especially his family. After the accident Gage, Dr. Harlow describes him as; “impatient and obstinate, yet unpredictable and indecisive, unable to settle on any of the plans he planned for future action”. Gage was unable to hold down a series of jobs. His friends also argued how he was not the same person. He started to behave inappropriately in social situations.

On May 20, 1860 Phineas Gage died after suffering a series of seizures. Seven years later Gage’s skull and iron rad were taken to Dr. Harlow. His skull is now kept at the Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard Medical School.

Phineas Gage is known as one of the most famous patients in neuroscience. His story served as one of the first sources of evidence that the frontal lobe was involved with personality. Today, scientists have a better understanding of the role of the frontal cortex and how it plays in important functions such as reasoning and social cognition.

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/phineas-gage.htm
I choose this website because it had a lot of information about Phineas Gage’s accident and aftermath

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/phineas-gage.htm
I choose this website because it did a good job at describing Gage’s personality differences (before and after the accident).

http://www.uakron.edu/gage/index.dot
I choose this website because it had the most information about Phineas Gage. This website discussed the damage to the brain and how Gage gained fame.

1. a) State what your topic is. b) Discuss how the topic relates to the chapter. c) Discuss why you are interested in it.

The topic that I chose to discuss is Pierre Flourens and his disproval of phrenology. This topic relates to Chapter 3 because the whole chapter talks about phrenology and all of the physiologists that believed in phrenology and practiced phrenology. I am interested in Pierre Flourens and his disapproval of phrenology because I think it is interesting that he was the first to question the findings of Galls. As well as perform a well sought out scientifical method of measures to support localization.

2) Next, we would like you to take the information you read or viewed related to your topic, integrate/synthesize it, and then write about the topic in a knowledgeable manner.

As stated in the textbook, Pierre Flourens was Phrenology’s worst enemy. This was because Flourens argued Galls phrenology theory about localization of the brain and how skull shape does not determine personality. Flourens pointed out the error in Galls theory by stating that skull shape does not determine personality. Therefore, localization in the brain determines personality not skull shape. To support Flourens arguments regarding Galls theory of phrenology he began to perform ablations on animals.

Flourens decided to take an experimental approach for this argument against Gall. He believed that if he ablated or removed pieces of the brain he could prove his localization theory. Therefore, he began to perform this operation on dogs and pigeons. The purpose of performing an ablation on these animals was to observe the behaviors of the animals after the operation. After removing the cerebellum of the animal’s brains Flourens found that all their motor control had disappeared. Supporting his idea that localization in the brain determines behavior of different species.

“It has been shown by my late experiments, that we may cut away, either in front, or behind, or above, or on one side, a very considerable slice of the hemisphere of the brain, without destroying the intelligence. Hence it appears, that quite a restricted portion of the hemispheres may suffice for the purposes of intellection in an animal…” (Flourens pg. 33-35)

The above paragraph comes from a book Pierre Flourens wrote, Phrenology Examined, discussing Galls theories and prospective compared to Flourens. It clearly states that ablation does not affect intelligence but therefore localization in the brain can affect behavior.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2117745/
I chose this site because I gathered important information. This information also was very similar to what I read in the textbook.

http://neuroportraits.eu/portrait/marie-jean-pierre-flourens
I chose this site because the information I read seemed to fit well into what I wanted to discuss. This site gave me great detail more so then the first site did.

http://archive.org/details/0271323.nlm.nih.gov
I chose this site because it lead me to Flourens book about Gall and phrenology. It helped me better understand Flourens views regarding phrenology and Gall because he was the author of the book.

1a) State what your topic is. Phineas Gage and how his injury helped the Clinical Method

1b) Discuss how the topic relates to the chapter.
Phineas Gage was discussed in chapter three and has been discussed in all of the psychology classes that I have ever been in throughout high school and college. This man was also brought up in the section titled “The Clinical Method”, which talked about the new way to study the brain and how it can involve studying the behavioral and mental consequences of different events such as a brain injury like Gage had or it can involve looking at their brain after someone had died to find out their mental condition.

1c) Discuss why you are interested in it.
I am interested in Phineas Gages’ case because in his case the metal rod was shot through the upper jaw bone and through the center of his scull tearing out a piece of it along with messing up a part of his life. After the incident Mr. Gage lost his personality and no one really knew who he was anymore. This made me think, if I got into a major accident and survived of course, would my life change that much if almost the exact same thing happened to me. Maybe, if the rod would have struck him in a completely different area he would have either died or had his personality still. The answer to that question I will never know until I do more research.

2) Anyone who has ever taken a psychology class has heard about Phineas Gage and his incident that helped the idea of the clinical method. The clinical method is a way to study the brain and that is what psychologists did after Gages’ incident. The metal rod went straight through his upper jaw and out the middle of his scull; causing him to live but to have a changed life.

We also learned a lot from this man and his incident. His life changed so drastically that his personality changed and he turned into an embarrassment to the community in which he lived. Doctor Harlow, who had been with Gage after his accident, said they found the rod several feet behind him where the accident had been with blood and brains smeared on it. With so much of the brain lost we can understand why some of his attributes were lost and his personality was altered quite a bit with this accident.

He had lost a part of his frontal lobe and became a rude man who never drank before the incident but now had a few drinks and became rude and angry. His friends said he was no longer the same Gage as he was before his incident.

His case was a great example to study how the mind and body works to recover after an incident as great at his. When he had lost some of his brain he had to adapt without that and begin a new life with a new personality. How could someone do this? To someone who does not know much about his case they would probably say he lost the part of his brain that contributed to personality, which he kind of did. He healed and a part of him was lost and gone forever. His friends and family had to put up with his profane self and adapt to the new him.

If by severing a portion of the brain left some people paralyzed or even dead how could he have survived? He was just a lucky case and the rod did not go to another part of his brain, otherwise he would have been paralyzed or even worse, dead.

3)
http://www.uakron.edu/gage/story.dot

I used this website to get a deeper and further understanding of the man Phineas Gage. This website goes into major detail about his life and his injury, so much that I could not put everything into this topical blog post.

http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/12/04/the-incredible-case-of-phineas-gage/

Now this website pretty much restated what the first website did but did not have as much detail about his life as the first one. It still gave me a better idea about the whole medical and psychological side of the accident and I then put that into my post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6kRP41ygrI

This video just reiterated the same thing the other websites and books have said. Phineas was a changed man after this incident and this video gave me just a good look of what his scull had looked like after the tragic incident. Every website is repetitive and I cannot really get any other information about him besides the facts I have already found.

The topic that I found interesting and decided to do more research on from chapter 4 was, like a couple other people, Phineas Gage. I have heard the story of Phineas Gage before and have always been interested in it. I think that it is a very unique story and the way that everything played out in the accident and Phineas Gage’s life are interesting because they have not happened to anyone else. I think this story is appealing to a lot of people because it just seems so extraordinary and unbelievable that people want to learn more about how and why it turned out the way it did.
This story was in chapter three because it talks about the damage that was done to Phineas Gage’s brain. Chapter three deals with the brain and the physiological aspect of psychology as does the story of Phineas Gage. The tamping iron that flew out from the explosion into Gage’s head went through the left frontal cortex of his brain. During that time period, the phrenologists believed that this portion of the brain consisted of the benevolence and veneration areas. Gage experienced personality changes -becoming more agitated and irritable, among other things- because of this injury, and the phrenologists believed that these changes were brought on by the damage to these two areas.
Gage’s case has been named the “American crowbar case” because of obvious reasons. Gage was born in 1823 and in his adult years worked as a railway construction worker. He was a blasting foreman when the accident happened. The accident took place on September 13, 1848 which I found interesting because the anniversary of that date was only a couple days ago. Gage was 25 years old and was initially treated by Dr. Edward H. Williams until being treated and followed up on by Dr. John Martyn Harlow. Gage was semi-comatose for a couple weeks after the accident and was taken care of by Dr. Harlow. Harlow was able to observe Gage and noted his personality changes throughout this observational period. One thing that I found shocking was that both Dr. Harlow and Dr. Williams had mentioned being able to see and feel the pulsations of Gage’s brain because of the accident.
After the accident Gage returned to work as a stagecoach driver in Chile. While there he started getting sick and returned to the US. He moved to San Francisco where he received the care of his sister and mother. Despite this care, on May 21st, 1860, Gage passed away due to an episode of epilepsy at the young age of 37.
http://www.nejm.org/action/showMediaPlayer?doi=10.1056%2FNEJMicm031024&aid=NEJMicm031024_attach_1&area=&
This website brought me to a clip of how Gage’s brain would have looked before and after the accident. I thought it was shocking to see what happened to Gage’s skull and brain when the tamping iron hit him. I cannot imagine what kind of pain that would have felt like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage
This website gave me a lot of my information and was very detailed in the information given. I used a lot of information from this website in my blog post.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Phineas-Gage-Neurosciences-Most-Famous-Patient.html
This last website gave me a lot of information similar to the one above and helped me to make sure my facts were correct. I also found this website interesting because of the story of how the picture of Phineas Gage was founded.

1a) My topic that I wanted to take a closer look at this week from chapter 3 is on the brain and the different areas of it that control motor functions as well as mental processes. I want to take a closer look at the theory that was referred to in the book as the doctrine of the skull and see what research has shown in more recent years.

1b) The topic I chose to write about relates to the chapter in the sense that I am looking at the functions of the brain and what areas they control. In our text for this week we studied the early research of Franz Josef Gall. While it was interesting to look over this early research, there was a lot that has changed in how we understand the functioning of the brain. By taking a look at modern research, my hope is to reinforce the truth that he found in his studies while presenting new, updated information on how the brain truly functions and what sections of the brain control what specific areas.

1c) I am really interested in brain function because of some of the classes I have taken why in college. Once I was able to take some of these classes, I felt my curiosity told this subject come alive. Also, to have it in this chapter was such a positive reinforcement of the things I have already learn concerning the subject. It made perfect sense to write about this topic given my fascination with it over the past few years.

2) According to the research done by Gall he had the idea that there was a different area of the brain to control all of the broadly defined emotions and thoughts we have. While this is true to an extent, we have learned in more recent years that there are only several major areas of the brain. These areas generally have certain major functions that they control. For instance, the cingulate has been associated with change in emotional patterns. Through brain imaging, we have been able to determine this area because when someone’s emotional state changes from let’s say sad to happy, there is a noticeable difference in cingulate (also called the limbic lobe).

Another area of the brain that controls major functions of the human is the hippocampus. It is located in the temporal lobe. While Gall came to the conclusion that there were different areas all over within the human skull that controlled memories, we know from present research that the hippocampus is the general region that controls this part of our mind. Some of the research that points to this area controlling this function is that damage to this area usually results in some form of memory loss. While the extent to which damage to this area causes memory loss is still unclear, it is obvious that the hippocampus has a fair amount of control over this function. The hippocampus has several areas that control specific types of memory. Damage to specific areas have proven to result in similar types of memory loss across gender and age.

The last part of the brain that I was interested in that seem to relate to the study of Gall was the hypothalamus. Many of the faculties that he labeled on his diagram of the human skull relate to different behaviors we experience. Many of them can be attributed to the function of the hypothalamus. This area of the brain is responsible for the release of hormones into the brain as well as other parts of the body. It is these hormones that are responsible for many of the responses to different situations in life that we have. While Gall was on the right tract for determining what area of the brain was responsible for these actions, he was definitely off in his explanation for the many responses and characteristics we express. Modern studies have shown that instead of many areas of the brain controlling these behaviors, there is one area (the hypothalamus) and it releases many different hormones that regulate these behaviors.

http://www.psycheducation.org/emotion/brain%20pix.htm

This website contributed to the subject of the cingulate and the brain functions that it may have significant control over. It really helped me know where it was located in the brain because of the slides that it had on the website. It also worked through each photo and explained where current emotions where being sensed by the brain.

https://www.boundless.com/psychology/memory/biology-of-memory/memory-and-the-hippocampus--2/

This website helped me in understanding the exact functions of the hippocampus. While I knew that the hippocampus controls memory, I didn’t have a very good understanding to what extent it controlled memory. I also learned that there are several different areas of this part of the brain that are responsible for different types of memory.

http://www.psycheducation.org/emotion/hypothalamus.htm

I used the information from this website to talk about the control factors that the hypothalamus contributes to brain function. It was really helpful to me in understanding how it regulates hormones and in turn how these hormones influence our responses and behaviors.

Terms: Doctrine of the skull, positive reinforcement, emotional patterns, cingulate, limbic lobe, hippocampus, temporal lobe, hypothalamus, hormones, faculties.

I decided to discuss Paul Broca and his patient, named Louis Victor Leborgne, who was called Tan. I was interested in this topic because I had heard of Broca, Broca's Area, and Broca's Aphasia, but I did not know much about the actual case study and was curious about it. The chapter discussed different theories of how psychologists viewed the brain, and this was a breakthrough discovery in a specific area of the brain.
Paul Broca was a doctor and a surgeon who was interested in cancer, aneurysms, and the anatomy of the brain. In 1861, Broca, who was interested in language and how the brain processed it, heard of a patient in the Bicetre Hospital who was unable to say any words other than the syllable “tan,” earning the patient the nickname Tan. When this patient died a few days later, Broca performed an autopsy on Tan and found lesions in the frontal lobe of the cerebral hemisphere, specifically on the left. Broca continued to perform autopsies on patients with similar afflictions after their deaths and found similar results—a lesion on the left side of the frontal lobe of the cerebral hemisphere. This led Broca to conclude that a specific area of the brain was responsible for speech impairment.
Broca's patient, Tan, was actually a man named Louis Victor Leborgne. At age 30, he lost his ability to speak, and only could utter the syllable “tan.” Although he was unable to speak in a way that made sense, he seemed to be completely aware and have normal cognitive function. He could tell time and used his left hand to gesture and make numbers. He could remember dates and do math problems. This is the reason that Broca was so interested in him—how could he have lost part of his brain function (the ability to speak) but still be able to remember dates and do math problems?
There is some controversy over Broca and his patient, Tan. Apparently around the same time, a physician named Gustave Dax submitted a paper with the same conclusion that Broca had come to—a language spot existed and was located in the left part of the frontal lobe. This conclusion had come from his father, a doctor named Marc Dax. We tend to credit Broca with the discovery however, and most classes do not mention Dax. I think this is a case of what our textbook talked about in this chapter—how some scientists are also promoters and therefore they are accredited with work that is also being done by others.
Www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-food/201303/today-was-the-worst-day-paul-broca-s-life
I chose this website because it gave lots of information about Paul Broca as well as the controversy with Dr. Dax. It is from a psychology website as well.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Broca
Wikipedia is a good starting point for information so I chose that to begin my search. What I learned in this website echoed what I already knew from the textbook, and gave information about Broca's personal life as well as his case study with patient “Tan.”
blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/2013/02/08/the-man-who-couldnt-speakand-how-he-revolutionized/psychology/
I chose this blog because it spoke about patient “Tan” (Leborgne) in depth. This article spoke about his personal life, his stay in the hospital, his surgeries, and his symptoms as well as his interactions with Broca.

B.H.

1a) State what your topic is. I was curious to see what happens to our body and how it reacts when we die, or are killed.

1b) Discuss how the topic relates to the chapter. This topic relates to the chapter due to the functioning of the nervous system. Just like the device named after Joesph Guillotin.

1c) Discuss why you are interested in it. I am interested in what all happens when we die. Our body does curious things so do we experience a painful or peaceful death.

2) It is difficult to specify about how people will react to death because each of us is distinctive, but the thought of death mortifies us. What often inspires this nervousness is thinking about the process of death. Also the fear of a long or aching death, rather than the state of being dead itself.
At the moment of death, every muscle in the body relaxes (primary flaccidity). Eyelids lose their stiffness, the pupils widen, the jaw opens, and the body's joints and limbs are springy. Skin will sag, which can cause prominent joints and bones in the body, such as the jaw or hips, to become pronounced. Then the heart is drained of blood causing a Caucasian person to go pale as the veins in the body are drained of blood. Body temperature then enables forensic scientists to approximate the time of death if necessary, assuming the body hasn't completely cooled and depending upon other external factors, such as indoors vs. outside, humidity, and many others. Because the heart no longer pumps blood, gravity begins to pull it to the areas of the body closest to the ground. If the body resides untouched long enough the parts of the body nearest to the ground can develop a purple and red discoloration from the storing plasma. In the third hour after death, changes within the body's cells cause all of the muscles to begin solidifying. Then the muscles will begin to loosen due to continued chemical changes within the cells andl tissue decay. This process occurs gradually, over a period of one to three days, and will be influenced by external conditions such as temperature.

3). http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12759-introduction-death.html?full=true
This website provided me with an introduction to death and described what it was like to die.

http://www.fountia.com/body-after-death
This website described to me what rigor mortis meant and it’s the stiffening and loosening of the bodys limbs during death.

http://www.deathreference.com/Py-Se/Rigor-Mortis-and-Other-Postmortem-Changes.html
This website provided me with extra info in regards to rigor mortis and some other examples of chemical changes the body goes through during death.

My main topic of discussion will be Phrenology in America: the finest "White American" Archetype. The book has a section laid out for Franz Josef Gall's Phrenology and briefly mentions that it was the best 19th century example of a pseudosciences. However, even with great opposition in the scientific department, the American public took it like fish bait. Why?

I. What is Phrenology?

Phrenology, also earlier named Cranioscopy by Gall himself (ebooks), is the examination of the human skull to understand certain mental characteristics of the skull's owner. In "The Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System..." Gall detailed Phrenology out with these points:

"That moral and intellectual faculties are innate.
That their exercise or manifestation depends on organisation.
That the brain is the organ of all the propensities, sentiments and faculties.
That the brain is composed of many particular organs as there are propensities, sentiments and faculties which differ essentially from each other.
That the form of the head or cranium represents the form of the brain, and thus reflects the relative development of the brain organs" (phrenology.org).

These organs include 27 faculties:

"1. The instinct of reproduction (located in the cerebellum).
2. The love of one's offspring.
3. Affection; friendship.
4. The instinct of self-defense; courage; the tendency to get into fights.
5. The carnivorous instinct; the tendency to murder.
6. Guile; acuteness; cleverness.
7. The feeling of property; the instinct of stocking up on food (in animals); covetousness; the tendency to steal.
8. Pride; arrogance; haughtiness; love of authority; loftiness.
9. Vanity; ambition; love of glory (a quality "beneficent for the individual and for society").
10. Circumspection; forethought.
11. The memory of things; the memory of facts; educability; perfectibility.
12. The sense of places; of space proportions.
13. The memory of people; the sense of people.
14. The memory of words.
15. The sense of language; of speech.
16. The sense of colors.
17. The sense of sounds; the gift of music.
18. The sense of connectedness between numbers.
19. The sense of mechanics, of construction; the talent for architecture.
20. Comparative sagacity.
21. The sense of metaphysics.
22. The sense of satire; the sense of witticism.
23. The poetical talent.
24. Kindness; benevolence; gentleness; compassion; sensitivity; moral sense.
25. The faculty to imitate; the mimic.
26. The organ of religion.
27. The firmness of purpose; constancy; perseverance; obstinacy" (...frog.blogspot....).

As you can see, there is a lot of information that can be derived from feeling the bumbs on your head when considering this as a science...but, is it a science?

II. A Science for the People, by the People:

Granted, we know from the book that this discipline fit the American archetype; consequently, making it a public sensation. However, we also know that an overwhelming amount of scientists in the intellectual community opposed this. So, the big question is why did American's embrace such a claim to this rickety boat? For one (out of many I won't expand on in this), we can put our history caps on and realize that historically, America was going through a time of racial superiority. Whites had to keep their game going, or else they would lose it to the unfit Negro (excuse my offenses if any, just using my historical wording. P.S. Not a raciest :P)and other lower races. This being stated, what evidence do I have to prove a racial bias helped bait this Phrenology movement? I have another roman numeral for that!

III.

Many whites during this time frame had what we may call a superiority complex. The American Heritage Medical Dictionary describes a Superiority Complex as "a psychological defense mechanism in which a person's feelings of superiority counter or conceal his or her feelings of inferiority"(medical). This is something that most Anglo-Saxon races had when it came to defining themselves as superior. They were superior to other races and they had to keep it that way (conceal the inferiority feelings).

Prior to the American Civil War and Reconstruction, and prior to the Nadir period(term coined by historian Rayford Logan), after Reconstruction, whites found a mask to keep their superiority alive through "Scientific Racism." It was a time period in American Science that "proved" that other races where inferior to whites. This, in turn, supported the use of slavery (2 Tamu). At the same time, a slowly growing (and eventually very dominate in the first five decades of the 20th century) race to stay "dominate" above all races took place. This is where the bait lies.

Whites wanted to be top dog, and that meant keeping them strong and smart. With Phrenology, Americans fell head over heels for this stuff. They wanted to be the brightest, and no small gray matter was going to make them dull. When contextual factors in a child's environment encouraged or discouraged a growth in the child's or adult's mind, they wanted it fixed...or else they would be overtaken by the "weak races". Along with biased anthropologists, and other skull related studies on the black slaves head, Phrenology was a "no brainier" to the times in which the whites thought they were far superior.

http://ebooks.library.ualberta.ca/local/manualofphrenolo00philuoft
- I used this for the clarification of Cranioscopy.

http://gastropodtreefrog.blogspot.com/2007/05/anatomy-and-physiology-of-nervous.html
- The 27 faculties of the Phrenology mind model.

http://pat.tamu.edu/journal/vol-1/thompson.pdf
-I used this to talk about "Scientific Racism."

http://www.phrenology.org/intro.html
-The website used to quote the main points of Gall's Phrenology.

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/superiority+complex
-complex definition.

Jared Leppert

1a) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
1b) This chapter brought up ablation and I think TMS is the modern ablation
1c) Anything that helps unlock the mysteries of the brain, I am interested in. Because TMS is not an invasive brain procedure we can use it on humans, unlike ablations.

2) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation sends electromagnetic waves into a willing participants brain. It can either excite or suppress areas of the brain to see exactly what they do. The TMS acts as an ablation in that when it shuts down an area of the brain it is like we temporarily removed of course this is without the permanent damage and risk of infection. How it differs, of course, is that it can also excite parts of the brain. This may release insight into what the human’s brain potential is. But what could be the most interesting part of the TMS is how the video demonstrates it. It suppresses parts of the left hemisphere, but then parts of the right hemisphere begin to overcompensate. The professor with the goofy hat even suggests that the right hemisphere is released. He thinks the left hemisphere suppresses the right hemisphere. This is simply the beginning of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.
One question people have about the TMS is its reliability. It has been used in combination with brain imaging techniques. EEGs and fMRIs matched up nearly perfectly with the TMS. When the TMS was first invented it was used for mostly motor cortex studies, I guess early TMS scientists wanted to twitch peoples fingers. What the video exemplifies is how the TMS is used to shut down a part of the participant’s left-brain to unlock savant-like abilities. Of course the evidence is a little unconvincing. The boy does draw a better horse but it is not Seurat. He was also closer to the dot count and was more confident, but is this practice effect? These improvements are real, but may not be refutable evidence.
An ablation is a removal of part of the brain in order to understand what that piece did. This type of reverse engineering of the brain works very well in understanding the brain, but the brain is not entirely localized. When phrenologists thought that the brain had ridge boundaries and each area contained the entirety of an aspect of thinking. What we have now learned that the brain is semi-localized but is also a mass organ with things like memory and language spread through out. And because cortical functions are spread out the brain has neurons going traveling and intersecting all across it. That means that if we remove a part of the brain we think is responsible for speech production, we could really be severing a striate connecting language comprehension and mouth movement that runs through that area. Therefore we would be incorrect with out deduction. The TMS and EEG can help pin point certain areas so we know exactly what they do without damaging the brain or making incorrect inferences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_magnetic_stimulation#Effects_on_the_brain
A great overview of the TMS and how it is used. It even mentions how it is used to treat certain neurological issues. It also explains how the TMS is reliable and what it is primarily used for in scholarly work.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s002219900224#page-1
This is a journal review of the TMS. Do not click out of the pop up because that is the article. If you do just reload the page. This goes into incredible detail into how the TMS works, how it is used, and what it is used for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2l1lPFMJvg
I hate the professor, mainly because of his stupid hat. It does show how one version of the TMS works and how the person has changed after being zapped with the TMS.

1) My topic is Phineas Gage
2) It relates to the chapter because it talks about the Broca and the Speech center.
3) I am interested because we have only learned the basics of the story in all of my classes so I wanted to try and get more information. Phineas Gage became famous in neuroscience because they were able to relate brain trauma with personality change. When the tamping iron went in his head it damaged most of his frontal lobe. With that being injured he lost the ability to make rational decisions and had problems with emotional processing. His case played a role in localization of brain function because this proved that certain parts of the brain did certain functions. When his accident happened scientists didn’t know that the frontal lobe had anything to do with personality. But with further research in all of these years they have discovered that the frontal lobe plays a role with personality. When looking at the damage of Gage’s brain they decided that the frontal lobe had sufficient damage which resulted in a loss of social inhibitions. Gage’s friends and family said that he wasn’t Phineas Gage anymore after the accident because he was a completely different person personality wise. But, even though his personality changed he still had the ability to reason. He also knew exactly how and what happened during the accident. He believed that he was going to get right back to work but he ended up not being able to go back to that job. He made a quick recovery and was out of the house after a couple months.

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/phineas-gage.htm
I chose this website because it was from psychology today and I believe that’s a reliable source. This site helped me to get further information about the Phineas Gage story.
http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/12/04/the-incredible-case-of-phineas-gage/
I chose this site because it was very detailed. I used this to get more detailed information about the case so that I could learn more about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrULrWRlGBA
This video explains the Phineas Gage story. The guy that does this video is a little weird but made this case more fun to learn about! It was kind of interesting because at the end it showed exactly how the tamping iron went through his head.

1a) State what your topic is.
Jean-Martin Charcot (Hysteria)

1b) Discuss how the topic relates to the chapter.
Chapter 3 explained the localization of brain functions. Phrenology was developed by Gall and this was the first serious theory of localization of brain function. Phrenologists believed that different parts of the brain served different faculties, that the portion of brain allocated to a faculty was proportional to the strength of the faculty and that faculties and their strengths could be determined by measuring the skull. This eventually lost credibility but Americans believed individuality and self-improvement to be beneficial from the idea. Jean-Martin Charcot is known as the founder of modern neurology and was interested in the relationship between psychology and physiology.

1c) Discuss why you are interested in it.
Charcot's interest in the relationship between psychology and physiology lead him to study hysteria, a term then used to describe extreme emotional behavior in women. This interested me because I thought it was strange for these scientists to only believe that women went through "hysteria". But then I saw that the studies went on during the 1860s.

2) Take the information you read or viewed related to your topic, integrate/synthesize it.
Hysteria was an emotional behavior in women, thought to be cause by problems with the uterus. The symptoms included with hysteria were excessive laughing and crying, wild bodily fainting, paralysis, convulsions and temporary blindness and deafness. Charcot observed thousands of cases of hysteria and defined "The Laws of Hysteria" believing that he understood the disease completely. Charcot claimed that hysteria was lifelong and was triggered by shock. His conclusion suggested that hysteria was universal. Sigmund Freud was one of his students and hysteria is one of the first diseases described in his theory of psychoanalysis.

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/hysteria.aspx
This website talks about the hysteria theory that Chracot concluded was universal and caused by shock.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhchar.html
This website discussed some of Charcot's life like where he went to school, some of his students like Freud and Binet, and his interest with hysteria.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/106349/Jean-Martin-Charcot
This website explained some of Charcot's other studies such as muscular atrophy and his research with cerebral localization.

1a) Phineas Gage

1b) He is one of if not the most famous patient in neuroscience, this chapter was all about the growth of neuropsychology.

1c) I just cannot fathom how someone has a rod go through their brain and still live. I had to learn more about him.

2) Phineas gage was a railroad construction foreman who was well liked and respected by all of his peers and the community. Though this is great for him, it will not last and it is not because of him committing a crime or anything like that, it is because of what he did to himself out of sheer bad luck. What happened to who is called the most famous patient in neuroscience was that he was using a tamping to pack in some gun powder for an explosion to clear some rock for the railway he was helping to build. While doing that things went very, very wrong; he turned his head and with one more tap on the gunpowder there was an explosion and turned the iron into a missile. The iron went in his head right under his left eye and straight up and out the top of his head. The damage was done and destroyed his left frontal lobe of his brain. At this point one would say that he has to be dead, but no, he never lost consciousness and within a few minutes he was walking around and talking again. He went to the hospital and got his frontal lobes removed; this was when he went from being a very well-liked and ambitious foreman, to what some might call a sociopath. Though some of the facts have been disputed about what gage was like post incident, there is nothing that can argue what his mishap brought to the field of science, and an understanding to the human brain.

The surgery was a success, and after Gage could recount all of his coworkers and was able to speak well and was completely coherent. He thought he was going to go back to work soon, but he did have a setback when he got an infection and had to be in a comatose state for about a month. Dr. John Martyn Harlow took over Gage after the surgery he said that there was no setback on his memory or motor functions, because he could remember exactly what happened to him in the incident and how much time has passed since then. He did have trouble though with telling how big something was or amounts of money. After all of this he had a changed personality reportedly, he was now more profane and didn’t care as much, which was a complete 180 degree turn from what he used to be. So this was the start to find out what happens when our frontal lobe is tampered with.

With the case of what happened to Phineas Gage it brought a lot of understanding to neuropsychology and to discoveries of what the frontal lobe does. After everything that happened we finally got an understanding of what the brain does and what the different parts do. What we found out was the frontal lobe is for the higher executive functions of humans, Dr. David Ferrier said the frontal lobe damage causes changes in personality that you cannot see by the motor skills or the sensory skills. Phineas Gage died 12 years later in San Francisco from seizures and complications from the incident. This is one of the most cited cases in neuroscience and was the start to a better understanding what the human brain does.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/05/phineas_gage_neuroscience_case_true_story_of_famous_frontal_lobe_patient.html

This website was a great introduction to what I was looking for; it had a great detailed background of what happened and what the doctors did for his surgery.

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/phineas-gage.htm

This website had a great story about his life and about what happened after the incident and surgery.

http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=100272

This website had a good overview of the case and also what we came to find out about the brain and the frontal lobes effects.

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/05/phineas_gage/140505_SCI_PhineasGage_HEROflip.jpg.CROP.fresca-xlarge.jpg

Here is an image of Phineas Gage after the surgery, just for a topical piece for the post.

1a) State what your topic is.
My topic is phrenology.

1b) Discuss how the topic relates to the chapter.
It relates to the chapter because it was an early pseudoscience that was trying to find out what parts of the brain did what, and thought that the size of the brain mattered in intelligence.

1c) Discuss why you are interested in it.
I am interested in this topic because it makes me wonder about the things we think we know about the brain and whether our knowledge is truly legitimate.

Phrenology was a philosophical insight on a new science called neurosciences. One of the main reasons that it became pseudo-science is because they didn’t have very many experiments that they could fully understand how the brain is working. Another reason is because instead of just the region or area of the brain it relied more on the mass and the mass was the significant reason why ones cognitive or personality was what it was. Franz Joseph Gall was the founding founder of phrenology. He suggested that moral and intellectual faculties were innate. He believed that there was 27 faculties that were in a specific part in the brain. It ranged anyway from metaphysics to mathematical abilities and mechanical abilities to self-defense, courage and fighting, affection and friendship. Phrenology is correct in believing that different areas in the brain affect our cognitive abilities but the faculties were to in detailed and were mapped out in a way that does not match modern neurology and now days we think the limbic system deals mostly with emotions and each lobes deals with visual or auditory or initiation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/f/phrenology.htm
http://www.victorianweb.org/science/phrenology/intro.html

1a) State what your topic is.
Phrenology

1b) Discuss how the topic relates to the chapter.
Phrenology stands in time as a primitive attempt to explain psychological traits and phenomenons based on measurements and structures of the human skull, but had served as a step in the right direction for today’s neuroanatomy.

1c) Discuss why you are interested in it.
When I started college applications, I had planned on entering the Neuroscience field. However, because I chose UNI, the major was not offered and I am now majoring in Psychology and taking the courses relevant to that area. Phrenology has been influential in the uprising popularity of neuroscience.

2)
Phrenology is the (now pseudo) science of creating interpretations about human personality traits based off of measurements of certain areas of the human skull. The reasoning is based off of the concept of the “brain being an organ of the mind,” coined by Franz Joseph Gall. Later, Gall’s partner Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, had broken away from the collaboration and had ended up leading the popularization of phrenology throughout Europe and North America. The pseudoscience had increasing popularity as it was less complex than general sciences such as chemistry, physics, or biology, and was easily accessible through cheap, mass-produced pamphlets, opening the knowledge up to the working and middle class.

By the 1840s, phrenology had lost its credentials as a scientific theory due to the increasing evidence against it and its lack of support from its departments such as not having the technology to properly and ethically locate the organs responsible for personality traits. The uprising popularity had consequently ruined phrenology, since the scientific theory was accessed by middle and working class, it had been simplified and mixed up with other theories such as physiognomy. The theory had been abandoned after being charged with atheism and materialism.

Bernard Hollander had assisted the revival of phrenology through his two contributions of The Mental Function of the Brain and Scientific Phrenology, both updated versions of Gall’s previous ideas. In order to fend off “pseudoscience” arguments, Hollander had conducted statistical research to create a quantitate approach in measuring the skull, acquiring averages and correlations with certain traits.
The applications of phrenology had varied, however mainly consisted as a method of generalization and marginalization, from a means of justifying an Aryan race, natural inequalities used as a guideline for placements in society, women foreheads being the deciding factor between a life long caretaker or have a ticket to study the arts and sciences. Other applications included methods of reform and rehabilitation for criminals due to the accuracy of phrenology being able to deduce criminal tendencies, and then being the factor that decides the type of punishment.

With the coming of the 20th century, psycho-analysis as a scientific theory had been in development and growing in popularity. Psychoanalysis’ general concepts had opposed phrenology, as it is based on examining an individual’s psychology through the examiner’s mind, ignoring most physical features.

3)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
Used as a reference for historical context and timeline, offers an overview of the scientific theory and applications.

http://www.phrenology.org/intro20.html
Used as a reference for specific examples, events, and historically significant names.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MO5429RjvM
Used as an introduction video to see certain applications and interests for phrenology.

1a) Helmholtz and the law of conservation of energy along with his psychological experiments based on neural impulse speed.
1b) Helmholtz was a man of many talents. He was a physiologist to start, and worked alongside Johannes Muller who is known as one of Germany’s leading physiologists. Helmholtz contributed to the vitalism and materialism debate. Also, he was advanced in his work in physics and mathematics. He is known famously for the law of conservation of energy he founded, and the ophthalmoscope, which was used to examine the retina.
1c) I found Helmholtz interesting because of his range of expertise. He was a man of many contributions to the science and psychology we study today. Ranging from the forces, which act upon one another, to reaction time based on neural impulses, and moving to vision and audio theories, Helmholtz studied and experimented it all.
2) Herman von Helmholtz is said to be young physiologist who was a follower of Johannes Muller. He met Muller when he decided to take a government scholarship to attend college in Berlin, when he also committed to eight years of service in the army’s medical corps. During his time studying with Muller he came to believe a different way of thinking. While Muller was in favor of vitalism, Helmholtz believed in materialism. He began research on the specific topics and came to a conclusion of what is still today known as the law of conservation of energy. This was important to Helmholtz. It allowed him to find a weapon to fight against vitalism. He argued that body heat and muscle force could be explained by chemical energy accumulated during the oxidation process that accompanied digestion. He supported this by showing that muscle contractions generated measurable amounts of heat. In his lecture in Berlin, Helmholtz speaks of the conservation of energy based on physics and its principles. He believed that the assumption that by any combination of natural bodies to create force continuously out of nothing was impossible. He spoke of specific items which have spatial relations can be acted upon by the forces mutually exerted among them so that they can be moved until other positions are reached. In this regard the velocities acquired a specific quantity of mechanical work. If we want this to occur again and have the items move the exact same speed and distance, then we need to bring the items back to their original positions. However, while doing this a certain quantity of work could be lost, and most likely will be lost. Therefore, the quantity gained and lost needs to be the same no matter the distance, velocity, or actual movement the item takes. Helmholtz does notate that the principle applies to velocities in general, and is only valid where the forces in action can be resolved into the material points of central forces, the intensity of the forces depending only upon the distances between the points. Throughout his lecture he speaks of exactly how the law works. Helmholtz speaks of heat coming into play. With friction as a way of heat production, the movements need to be changed and accounted for in a different way. However, the fact that Helmholtz took this into consideration allows us to appreciate his true dedication to the work.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=28&ved=0CDgQFjAHOBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Feducacionquimica.info%2Finclude%2Fdownloadfile.php%3Fpdf%3Dpdf1062.pdf&ei=kCwaVPbxOMuGyASKkoBg&usg=AFQjCNFZj1oohigd6MH7RPDP6Ipmyx23Vg&bvm=bv.75097201,d.aWw
I chose this website because it spoke about Helmholtz and the formation of the law of conservation of energy.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de%2Fpdfgen%2Fessays%2Fart10.pdf&ei=LCcaVNzvNIumyATo64L4Ag&usg=AFQjCNH63f1kqAReRA6p9b0Dz7DzrJjWXQ&bvm=bv.75097201,d.aWw
I chose this website because it focused more on a specific experiment Helmholtz was passionate about.

http://www.nndb.com/people/445/000072229/
I chose this website because it spoke a lot about Herman von Helmholtz life as a whole.

1a) State what your topic is.

Phrenology

1b) Discuss how the topic relates to the chapter.

This topic relates to the chapter because, the chapter expresses several pages regarding phrenology. It gives an overview of phrenology and Franz Josef Gall, the creator. This chapter also examines how popular the science was when it first came about, and then suddenly crashed due to criticism and faults in the construct.

1c) Discuss why you are interested in it.

I am interested in this topic because I have never heard of it before. Everyone hears about astrology and star signs, which I have never believed in. I just read the inserts at the end of magazines just to try and correlate the astrology with my life. Even though phrenology did not start out as a pseudoscience, it ended up in that category due to many researchers disproving the science. I also thought that Franz Josef Gall was quite intelligent by even coming up with the idea of matching bumps in a skull with physical attributes of a person and their personality.

Phrenology is the study of the structure of the skull to determine a person’s characteristics and personality. This method was developed by Franz Joseph Gall in the late 1700s. Gall first got started on this topic because he noticed the cortex was bigger on humans, than it was on animals, which he believed made humans intellectually superior. Gall was convinced that physical features of the cortex could be seen in the shape of the skull. He claimed that there were 26 organs on the surface of the brain, and they could be detected by inspecting the skull. He also believed that the more the organs were used, the bigger they were. He also believed that the organs that were not used shrunk. Gall began examining the skulls of young pickpockets and found that they all had a consistency. He correlated the bump behind the ear with the tendency to steal, lie, or deceive. Gall was also interested in measuring the skulls of prisoners, hospital patients, and people in asylums. He especially liked examining those with odd shaped heads. After all of this research, Gall mapped out each section of the brain, using the information he collected and assigned specific areas—or organs—with different attributes. For example, Gall had a religious organ, mathematical organ, wit organ, etc.

With this new science approaching, many researchers went on a mission to bring Gall and his discovery down. One thing researchers criticized Gall for was ignoring evidence that did not support his theory. Pierre Flourens also found that the underlying contours of the skull did not correspond with the underlying shape of the brain. The Catholic Church claimed that a specific section of the brain pertaining to religiosity was atheistic. In 1802, Gall’s book on phrenology was added to the Index of Prohibited Books.

In 1828, Gall died and prenology became viewed as an equivalent to astrology or palmistry. It was defined as a pseudoscience. In Gall’s case, phrenology helped neurology and cortical localization became more of a focus. During Gall’s time, his research on human skulls was defined to the skulls of the dead, today we now use MRIs and PET scans to help localize the functions of the brain.

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/f/phrenology.htm
This source examined an overview of phrenology. It also showed an insight into Gall’s life, and how he discovered phrenology.
http://www.skepdic.com/phren.html
This website described phrenology from a skeptical point of view. It brought out the flaws, and described why phrenology was not completely accurate.
http://www.phrenology.org/intro.html
This last source gave explained more of the historical viewpoint of phrenology

1a) Sir Isaac Newton
1b) In the beginning of chapter 3, the book discusses the Enlightenment and how science “shed light on the darkness of ignorance”. Isaac Newton was mentioned as a heroic figure of that time.
1c) In humanities, I learned about the Enlightenment, but I never researched anything for myself because it wasn’t a part of the class. Now, I want to take the opportunity to look at what role Newton played in the Age of Enlightenment in the field of optics.

Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643 in Woolsthorpe. His father was a farmer that passed away soon before Newton was born. Newton was taken into the custody of his grandparents. When he was 18, he attended Cambridge University where he became interested in math, optics, physics, and astronomy. In 1665, the plague struck causing the university to close. Newton spent the next two years independently studying math and optics. He also spent a lot of time figuring out how gravity works and developing a theory that would later be known as calculus.
In 1667, Isaac Newton went back to Cambridge. Upon his return, Newton became a Fellow of Trinity College. In 1672, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society for his creation of the reflecting telescope.
Going back a little, in 1664, Isaac Newton studied the works Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke created about optics. Newton established that white light it made up of the different colors of the rainbow. He studied how light refracts when shown through a prism and how the colors will vary depending on the angle the prism is positioned. Newton’s Theory of Color states that color is the result of the light hitting the object; the object does not create the color. In 1704, he published “The Opticks” which explained the behaviors of light and color, This was not taken well. People didn’t believe what Newton was trying to explain. They believed that colors came from different forms of white light and not the other way around. Eventually the
In 1689, he was elected as a Member of the Cambridge Parliament. Newton became the Warden of the Royal Mint in 1696. Three years later, he became Master of the Mint, a position he held until his death in 1727.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/newton_isaac.shtml
I chose this site because it was short and sweet. It gave me a little bit of overview and helped me figure out what to use from the other sites.

https://www.newton.ac.uk/about/isaac-newton/life
I liked this source because it was easy to read and provided the necessary information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton
I chose to use Wikipedia because I wanted to read over a section solely about optics. The way the site is set up allowed me to do so.

1a.My topic is Jean Pierre Flourens and his ablation studies.
1b. Flourens and ablation was a topic in the chapter that followed the section on phrenology. Abalation relates to the procedures that helped expand the knowledge on the brains physiological functioning. Experimental ablation was ushered in by flourens who pioneered the surgical method for removing and destroying parts of the brain in order to study brain functioning which this chapter discusses.
1c. I am interested in this because it involves surgical procedures that helped pioneer the understanding of the brain. I have always been interested in the brain and I think it is awesome to uncover some of the early experiments that have helped carve the path to modern neurobiology.
Jean Pierre Flourens was an expert physiologist who ushered in a technique known as experimental ablation. Experimental ablation consists of destroying and sometimes removing parts of the brain in order to study the subject’s postoperative behavior. Flourens did his experiments on living rabbits and pigeons, later on he did experiments on lizards as well. By studying their postoperative behavior Flourens was able to infer the function of the brain region being ablated. Interestingly, Flourens was asked to conduct ablation studies by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte to delve deeper into the study of brain functioning as he did not think Gall and his flagship phrenology followed the scientific method carefully enough. Flourens himself was an avid dissenter of phrenology and its concepts on locationilism, or that specific parts the brain did what the phrenologists claimed. Phrenology often spouted that different parts of the brain controlled certain bodily functions or certain human characteristics. Phrenology’s findings mostly came from specific case studies and lacked a rich empirical method behind its theories. Through his ablation studies Flourens deducted several things. For the first time Flourens convincingly showed that the main divisions in the brain were responsible for largely different functions. For instance he showed that when he removed the cerebral hemispheres all perception and judgements were abolished, when he removed the cerebellum fine motor coordination were negatively affected, and when he ablated the medulla vital functions such as respiration and circulation were negatively affected. Furthermore, he demonstrated that the more of the region ablated the more severe the affect. He also tried to find brain regions that affected memory and cognition but was unable to due to his subjects (pigeons, lizards, rabbits) lack of brain complexity. He drew principle conclusions from his studies. A big one was that despite specific brain regions having different function the brain still acts as a singular unit. Another thing he found was that even if a particular brain region was harmed or damaged that brain could compensate in other regions producing the effects of the damaged area. Thus he argued the holistic nature of the nervous system vs. the independent localized functioning of the brain that phrenologists argued.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Pierre_Flourens
This website helped me understand the context of Flourens’ time period and why he started studying what he did.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablative_brain_surgery
This website helped me to understand exactly what ablation was and how it attributed to Flourens’ findings.
http://neuroportraits.eu/portrait/marie-jean-pierre-flourens
This website was key in discussing Flourens’ conclusions that he drew from his ablation experiments.

1.
a. Phrenology
b. This chapter introduces and briefs us on the concept of phrenology as well as the key figures in the discovery of it.
c. I am interesting in this topic, because it stood as an important door to many things scientist know about the brain today, as well as to the introduction of modern neuroscience.
2. Phrenology is a branch of pseudoscience that linked bumps on a person’s head to certain aspects of the human personality and character. A German Physician by the name of Franz Joseph Gall discovered phrenology in 1796. Phrenology was also often referred to as “the only true science of the mind.” After finding lumps on numerous pickpocketers heads, he then suggested that bumps, indentations, and shape of the skull could be linked to one’s personality, character, and abilities. The process by which phrenologists obtained results, was by feeling the head with finger tips and palms, measuring the head with a tape measure, or examining the head for any abnormalities. Gall believed that the brain was made up of 27 organs, each of which determined different personality traits. He also believed that enlarged organs (or different areas of the brain) meant that that person used that organ more which meant that personality trait was enhanced. These “27 organs” ranged from reproductive instincts and religion to tendency to steal and mathematical abilities. The reason this was so widely accepted and unquestioned at the time was because people believed that the skull took the shape of the brain, therefore if an individual had an “enlarged organ” a lump would appear on their skull. Unfortunately, Gall’s methods lacked scientific confirmations and he chose to ignore any evidence presented against his ideas. Aside from this, phrenology was only popular again in the 18 to early 1900’s, which gained him much criticism from scientists and many other groups. Today phrenology is labeled as a pseudoscience, similar to astrology and numerology. Without phrenology, we would be at loss of many important contributions in the field of neurology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
This website gave me a very detailed outline of the beginning of phrenology to what it is today.

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/f/phrenology.htm
This went more into depth about the end of phrenology and why it happened.

http://www.historyofphrenology.org.uk/overview.htm
This website went more into depth of what contributions phrenology made to common day knowledge.

The topic that I chose from this week’s reading was the leading German physiologist of his day, Johannes Muller. This topic relates to chapter three because Muller is given credit for his doctrine of the specific energies of nerves discussed on page sixty-three. I chose to research Muller because I wanted to learn more about his most famous contribution to the study of vison and the nervous system, and also learn more about some of his other contributions as well.

Johannes Muller was born in 1801 in Koblenz to a poor shoemaker. He, because of his drive and ambition, graduated college as a doctor when he was only 21 years old. He began teaching at the University of Bonn and became a full professor when he was only 29 years old. Muller was appointed to the chair of physiology in 1833 at the University of Berlin, and continued to work there until his passing in 1858.

Johannes Muller is most known for his work with vision and the nervous system. Specifically, he is credited for the doctrine of the specific energies of nerves. The doctrine of the specific energies of nerves is that different sensory nerves portray different qualities, and that, indirectly, we observe our environment through our nervous systems. Basically, the way we look at the world around us is based on the sensory nerve that is stimulated and how
the nervous system acts based on that stimulation.

This doctrine was originally proposed by Sir Charles Bell, but is credited to Muller because he was the researcher that named it and presented it in his book The Handbook of Human Physiology. The handbook is eight books long and contains over sixteen-hundred pages. The doctrine of the specific energies of nerves takes up about 2% of the entire handbook.

At many points in Muller’s life, he suffered from severe depression, and, has been speculated that his jumps between depression and his explosive contributions was because of his manic-depression. This has been speculated to be the cause of his death at the young age of 56, and some scholars even believe that he took his own life.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/396863/Johannes-Peter-Muller

I chose this link, first of all, because I knew that I could trust the information given. Secondly, I chose this link because it goes into great detail about his depression
which I couldn’t really find much about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEdTRw8B7PI

I chose this video because it talks a lot about Muller’s doctrine, and really gave me a firm grasp of his early years as a researcher. I learned a lot about Johannes beginning and the University of Bonn and eventually his work at the University of Berlin.

http://books.google.com/books?id=6mu3DLkyGfUC&pg=PA333&lpg=PA333&dq=%22specific+energies+of+nerves%22+muller&source=bl&ots=yQ87dXqpMw&sig=zctLOkdAQYf6fyZtmXJcUdA1LYg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LmUaVJHHCcqtyATeooDQDg&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22specific%20energies%20of%20nerves%22%20muller&f=false

Page 333

I chose this book because it talks about Muller’s contribution, his handbook, and goes into detail as to why he is given credit for the doctrine.

1) a) This week I chose to research Phineas Gage, one of neurosciences most famous patient. b) Phineas Gage was mentioned in this chapter of our book while discussing the clinical method. The clinical method is the study of the brain in people after they’ve experienced some sort of brain injury, and gives us an insight we are unable to recreate synthetically because of moral reasons. c) This topic interests me because I have friends who have suffered serious brain injuries and have changed since the accident.

2)One of neurosciences most famous brain patient is known as Phineas Gage. Working on a railroad in 1848, Gage suffered brain injury traumatic enough to hold that title. While working with explosives, a 43 inch long tamping iron went into his face under his eye, and out through the top of his head, taking much of his frontal lobe with it. Surprisingly, Gage made it to the hospital where he walked in alongside the doctor. He was treated by Dr. John Harlow, who was able to help him through recovery. Physically, besides being blind in his left eye, Gage was fully recovered; In other ways not so much. Harlow observed that Gages demeanor and behavior changed quite drastically after the accident. He was no longer himself. The damage to the frontal lobe alongside with his changed behavior was the first time scientists could attribute head trauma to changes in behavior and personalities. This accident was the first known clinical research on brain trauma and behavior and personality changes. This led to larger studies of brain and behaviors. Gage later died after a series of seizures.

Citations:
http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/phineas-gage.htm
This link was chosen because of its large amount of information. Out of all the websites I looked through this had to be one of the best.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-12649555
I chose this link because it had a large amount of information along with an audio clip.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/phineas-gage-neurosciences-most-famous-patient-11390067/?no-ist
This link was chosen because it was the Smithsonian website. Earlier I had done some research on the AHAP in Akron and learned that it had a connection with the Smithsonian. Turns out Gage’s skull is on display in another’s school museum; Harvard.

1a) Phineas Gage
1b) There was a paragraph about his personal story located in this chapter. His story contributes to the overall theme of this chapter of biological psych discoveries.
1c) This is an unbelievable story. I wanted to learn more about every aspect of this story: how he survived this, what exactly was different about him after the accident, etc.

2) Phineas Gage is one of the most famous names in neuroscience. But what is surprising is that there are so many different accounts of this story, including how the incident happened, his life, etc.

Phineas was an expert foreman. The day of the accident, he was doing a routine job that he had done many times.This job consisted of, "sprinkling gunpowder into blasting holes, and then tamping the powder down, gently, with an iron rod. This completed, an assistant poured in sand or clay, which got tamped down hard to confine the bang to a tiny space" (Slate). The iron rod he used was about 13¼ pounds, 3 feet 7 inches long, and had a diameter of 1¼ inches. The end of this rod tapered to a point, which was the part closest to Phineas' head during the accident. There are several different versions of how the accident took place. Some believe he turned his head for a moment to talk to his assistant. As he talked, he continued to do his work, and a spark ignited caused the gun powder to ignite. Some also say he may have forgotten to pack down the sand, and at some point a spark ignited and could've also caused this to happen. Either way, the accident occurred. The tapered point of the rod entered below his left cheekbone, behind his left eye, plowed through his brain's frontal lobe, exited through the top of his skull, and landed 25 yards away. Phineas fell backward from the force of the blow.Some say that the rod made a whistling noise as it flew. Many say that the rod was red and greasy after the incident. This makes sense because it was covered in fatty brain tissue. Even so, Phineas claimed he never lost consciousness. He only twitched a bit, but was soon up walking and talking. Once he arrived to the hospital, Phineas turned his head and said, "Here’s business enough for you."

Besides obvious deformities to his head, he was visibly fine after the accident. However, his friends and co-workers all noticed drastic changes in Phineas' personality. Some described him as "capricious, and no sooner made a plan than dropped it for another scheme" and a "dirty, scary, sociopathic drifter." He had no sense of how to manage money, and lost all inhibition and restrain of personal desires. Phineas was once a respectable, polite business man, but was now irreverant and profane. It is said that he was fired as a foreman, and eventually displayed himself and his tapered rod across the country, including a stint in B.T. Barnum's museum in New York. He died from an epileptic seizure in 1860. He was buried along with his rod.

This story goes down psychological history as one of the biggest discoveries about the human brain. Malcolm Macmillan, professor of psychology at Melbourne University, stated, "When Phineas' accident occurred, there was no accepted doctrine of the brain having functions." Another expert named Professor Aggleton also stated about Phineas' medical breakthrough that, "It alerted people to the fact that a part of the brain - the frontal lobes - that we associate with sort of planning and intellectual strategies also had this important role in emotion,"

The images we see of Phineas today were not immediately gathered. In 2008, two collectors of vintage photos named Jack and Beverly Wilgus came across his picture and initially thought it was just some man with a harpoon injury from a whale encounter. Once they posted an image on flickr, several experts commented saying that the injury did not look like it was caused by a harpoon. Weeks later, another expert sent them an email saying it could be Phineas Gage. If that was the case, this would be the very first known image of him.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/05/phineas_gage_neuroscience_case_true_story_of_famous_frontal_lobe_patient.html
(His overall story. The incident, his rehab, etc.)

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-12649555
(he was buried along with his rod. quotes from Professor Aggleton and Malcolm Macmillan)

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/phineas-gage-neurosciences-most-famous-patient-11390067/?no-ist=&page=1
(discovery of Phineas' picture)

1a) Phrenology

1b) This chapter introduces us to the concept of Phrenology as well as its discovery

1c) I am interested in this field of study because I truly believe that perhaps there may be something to this study, however it was cut short because everyone was upset at the differences that truly could’ve been found. I think it is interesting to think about should it ever come again and progress from where it was left off.

2a) Phrenology, developed by Joseph Gall in 1796, is a pseudoscience is focused on the measurements of the human skull, localizing certain areas of the brain of giving them a purpose. The beginning of the founding of this practice started with Gall studying lumps he had discovered on numerous pickpocketers’ heads, he then suggested that bumps, indentations, and shape of the skull could be linked to one’s personality, character, and abilities. The process by which phrenologists obtained results, was by feeling the head with finger tips and palms, measuring the head with a tape measure, or examining the head for any abnormalities. Gall believed that the brain was made up of 27 organs, each of which determined different personality traits. He also believed that enlarged organs (or different areas of the brain) meant that that person used that organ more which meant that personality trait was enhanced. These “27 organs” ranged from reproductive instincts and religion to tendency to steal and mathematical abilities. One thing backing this, is the concept that the skull lines the outside of the brain, thus if there were any abnormalities of the brain, say an enlarged part, it would push against the skull and cause a problem. Unfortunately, due to people’s general distaste of the subject and that Gall had little actual scientific backing, the practice was discreditied and fell from common practice.
However, there are, while very view, some Phrenologists today, however they mostly work with anthropology and evolutionary finds. One of the many offshoots of phrenology was craniology, which advocated the use of precise quantitative measurements of cranial features in order to classify people according to race, criminal temperament, intelligence, etc. While of course it is racist to some degree, it is still interesting to find.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
This website gave me a very detailed outline of the beginning of phrenology to what it is today.
http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/f/phrenology.htm
This went more into depth about the end of phrenology and why it happened.
http://www.historyofphrenology.org.uk/overview.htm
This website went more into depth of what contributions phrenology made to common day knowledge.

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the chapter we have covered this week, and why you are interested in it.
I decided to conduct more research of Joseph Guillotin and the Guillotine machine. Chapter three briefly touched base about Joseph Guillotin, the Guillotine machine was and how it originated. It relates to psychology because we were able to study the effects of decapitation on the human body and brain in relation to consciousness and reflexes. I found this extremely interesting because this is definitely not an experiment we could morally conduct today.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
I would like to discuss who Joseph Guillotin was, the misunderstandings about the invention named after him, and what it did to help further our understanding in psychology.

3) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.
Joseph Ignace Guillotin was born in 1738. He was a French Physician with an idea that would change capital punishment as we knew it. He believe criminals who were punished to death deserved to die a swift and painless death. (Unlike burning alive, drowning, etc.) One very common misconception or myth is that Joseph Guillotin in fact invented the guillotine. A guillotine is a machine with a heavy, sharp blade used for beheading. A similar machine was already used in other parts of the world but when it came to the French, it was renamed The Guillotine (after Joseph Guillotin). At this time in history, it was considered the most humane way to put someone to death. This machine was used over 200 years and was used on Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI. Adolf Hitler also condemned many to death by using this machine against them.
Another misconception is that Joseph Guillotin was proud to be recognized for such a powerful machine. Truth is, he and his family absolutely resented their relationship to it. At one point, they begged for the name of the machine to be changed. The officials denied their request so the Guillotin family ended up changing their last names. One final, but very interesting misconception about the guillotine was that it was only used in past centuries. This is false. The last time a guillotine was used for capital punishment was in the 1977. That was only 38 years ago!
After all this blood and death, what does this have to do with psychology? Well, a man named Theodor Bischoff would examine and conduct tests on the heads and bodies of the decapitated criminals. He found after he conducted his tests that the heads in fact did not respond as he would have imagined if they were still conscious. He concluded that conscious ended at the moment of decapitation and it occurred in the brain. Although the body (which obviously separated from the head) did experience twitching and involuntary actions, this was not related to consciousness. This relates to psychology because it gave us a better understanding about death, consciousness, and reflexes.

4) Finally, at the end of your post, please include working URLs for the three websites. For each URL you have listed indicate why you chose the site and the extent to which it contributed to your post.
URL 1: http://todayinsci.com/G/Guillotin_Joseph/GuillotinJoseph-Bio(1844).htm I chose this article because it was very informative and gave me an inside look at how articles were written back in 1844. It did not give me a whole lot of information about Guillotin besides his birth year and location.
URL 2: http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-guillotine I chose this website because it was an interesting read and number six on the list briefly talks about the studies conducted on the heads after decapitation. It also includes a short detailed video.
URL 3: http://www.theguillotine.info/how/index.php I chose this link because it contains a great visual of what a guillotine is and what each working part does.

Terminology: Joseph Guillotin, the Guillotine machine, consciousness, reflexes, Theodor Bischoff, decapitation, involuntary actions, psychology.

1) The topic I am interested in is the Bell-Magendie law. The Bell-Magendie law was a part in the chapter about nerves. This interests me because of the reason Magendie found the information to make this law.

2) Three aspects of the Bell-Magendie law I am going to talk about are why Magendie got into researching nerves and the body, what the Bell-Magendie law is, and his contributions to science and psychology.

3) Magendie was born in 1783 and died in 1855. Magendie was the son of a surgeon and he had the same interests. As he got older he became a pupil of one of his father’s co-workers where he would conduct anatomical dissections and this sparked Magendie’s interest in anatomy. He would later go on to get his medical degree in Paris and then started teaching, writing articles, and studying nerves.

The Bell-Magendie law is composed of the ideas of two different researchers Sir Charles Bell and Francois Magendie. They determined that the spinal cord is comprised of two different parts, the anterior and posterior, and that nerve impulses go in one direction. The law says that the posterior part of the spinal cord has more sensory nerves to feel and the anterior has motor nerves. Magendie determined this by cutting the different spinal roots at different times on animals.

Magendie’s had many contributions to science and psychology, but his most important discovery was about the nervous system with sensory and motor nerves. His discovery and research is still used in science today and is taught in schools. He also did some research on vomiting and swallowing, protein supply to the body, the digestive system, and what the liver has to do with the detoxification process. His ideas about all of these things are still used today. He was the baseline of these findings and have helped other researchers develop more ideas on these topics.

4) http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2104.html - I chose this URL because it has a lot of Magendie’s life growing up dealing with science, his contributions to modern science and psychology, and information about the Bell-Magendie law.

http://psychologydictionary.org/bell-magendie-law/ - I chose this URL because it has specific information about what the Bell-Magendie law is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Magendie - I chose this URL because it talks about the Bell-Magendie law and his contributions.

Terms: Bell-Magendie law, sensory nerves, motor nerves, anterior, posterior

1) My topic is the guillotine and its involvement in discovering that the brain was the control center for consciousness. This was a topic that was covered in the text, but I am really interested in the earliest stages of this discovery and wanted to learn about it in greater detail. I like to learn about how things get their beginnings so I enjoyed this portion in the chapter and wanted to do further research about how the researchers came up with the theory and how they tested the theory.
2) Three aspects of this topic that I would like to talk about for this assignment is the history of the guillotine, how the theory of the human brain being the center of consciousness and voluntary movement first began, and the research that came about because of this theory.
3) The guillotine has been around since the 1790s and was invented as a more humane way to carry out capital punishment. Dr. Joseph Guillotin suggested the invention of the machine. He was actually very opposed to capital punishment. Since he disagreed with the matter, he proposed the guillotine to the French government and had them adopt it for a gentler method of execution. Guillotin did not actually invent the guillotine but just designed the device. He was actually a medical doctor and a lawmaker. The machine was much more humane due to its “lightning-quick” motion in beheading the person rather than the other method of a sword or axe beheading (which were often botched and very gruesome). The device was first used in April 1792, and much to Dr. Guillotin’s dismay, became known as the guillotine. Guillotin tried to distance himself from the device as much as possible, especially during its extreme popularity in the 1790s. His family even petitioned the French government to official change the devices name in the early 19th century but were unsuccessful.

Speculation about the heads of the victims remaining conscious after their beheading occurred from the very beginning of the guillotines use. One website stated that the debate gained more momentum in 1793 when an assistant executioner slapped the beheaded face of one of the victims and people claimed that they saw its cheeks flush due to anger. There are many other clams of spectators claiming that the victims eyes would look around after the execution or their faces would twitch. A French doctor named Dr. Gabriel Beaurieux saw an execution of a man and recorded that immediately afterward the victims “eyelids and lips worked in irregularly rhythmic contraction for about five or six second. He also stated that he called the man’s name and his eyelids “slowly lifted up, without any spasmodic contraction and his pupils focused themselves.”

After these occurrence and many reports like that from spectators, doctors began focusing more of their time and efforts into this topic. The doctors would ask the victims to try to blink or leave one of their eyes open after their execution in order to prove that they could still move. They would yell the victim’s name or hold candle flames and ammonia against the heads to see if they would react. Dr. Dassy de Ligniers, a doctor in the 1880s, even had blood pumped back into a victim to see if it would come back to life and speak. Many drastic experiments like that were carried out until they concluded that the brain is the center of consciousness and the movements seen after the execution were involuntary. Modern physicians stated that the reactions of the beheaded people were just reflexive twitching of muscles and not conscious or deliberate movements. When the brain is cut off from the heart and from oxygen, it immediately begins to die. Research has found that consciousness is most likely lost within 2 to 3 second. Death occurs immediately due to the separation of the brain and spinal cord and the research inspired by the guillotine laid the ground work for such discoveries.
4) URLs:
http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-guillotine
This website gave me a better insight about the development of the guillotine and the earlier stages of the research conducted on those who were executed. It expanded on these areas of the topic in more detail than it was covered in the text.
http://boisdejustice.com/History/History.html
I gained a lot of information about the research that began because of the executions due to the guillotine from this website. It was very gruesome and the experimenters had to think very creatively and innovatively to come up with the different theories to test during this time period. It also gave me more information on the devices history and construction.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/10-brain-myths6.htm
My final source gave me most of my information on event that caused to the development of the theory of the brain being the center of voluntary movement and consciousness. It provided many events of spectators witnessing the beheaded victims moving or reacting after their execution. It’s also gave me more information on how scientist researched these theories.
5) Terminology Used: Dr. Joseph Guillotin, guillotine, center of consciousness, voluntary movement,

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the chapter we have covered this week, and why you are interested in it.
My topic for this week is Thomas Willis. Thomas Willis fits into the chapter because of his work on the reflex action. He was physician that did extensive studies on anatomy and he did a lot of studies on the brain structures. He had one of his good friends, Christopher Wren, draw the different structures of the brain and Thomas Willis labeled them. I am interested in Thomas Willis because of his contributions to modern day anatomy. He was one of the first people to coin the phrase reflex. He also added important terms to anatomy such as; lobe, hemisphere, corpus striatum, and neurology.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
Three aspects of Thomas Willis that I will talk about are his life and how he came to study the brain, his research, and his legacy.
3) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.
Thomas Willis was born on January 27, 1621 on his parent’s farm. He was the oldest of his three siblings. He attended the School of William Sylvester until he was accepted into Oxford University. He studied at Oxford for nine years and graduated with a bachelor of arts, a masters of arts and a bachelor of medicine. Both Thomas Willis and his father had to serve in the civil war. Thomas’ father would not survive the war. King Charles I took note of Thomas Willis’ efforts in the war and rewarded him with his medical degree early. Most times it took fourteen years to get your medical degree. Thomas Willis had a hard time finding clients because of his early degree and had to spend most of his time practicing in the markets. He had a wide range of acquaintances that he kept in touch with to discuss their cases. His acquaintances were Christopher Wren, Richard Lower, Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, and John Locke.
Thomas Willis was one of the first to research the anatomy of the brain, nervous systems and muscles. He coined terms still used today such as neurology, hemisphere, and lobe. His most famous discovery was a system of nerves found at the base of the brain. The nerves form a circle and he described it in great detail. He also had a very detailed sketch of what it looked like. Today this area is known as the circle of Willis. His work Cerebri anatome was one of his most famous. In it he came up with new ideas of the brain. He contrasted human and animal brains. His friend Christopher Wren drew detailed diagrams of the different parts of the brain. This work went against what people had thought before and it got more people thinking about what else they could contribute. It was revolutionary with the thought and ideas but also with the drawings of the different parts of the brains. Willis also had other great discoveries during his career. He came up with a new theory on the cause of epilepsy. He also helped to contribute to the start of psychiatry. He was the first to number the nerves of the brain and they still use his numbering system today. He also coined the term mellitus and did some research on diabetes. He was the first to notice in his area that patients with diabetes had sweet urine.
Thomas Willis died on December 11, 1675. Throughout his life he published six books and was a major contributor to many sciences. He is thought to have contributed to neurology, endocrinology, cardiology and gastroenterology. He became known as one of England’s most well know physicians. Thomas Willis’ work can still be seen in how we do things today. His work on the brain and the anatomy of the brain was his biggest contribution to science. Before him people had tried to make the anatomy of the brain but they weren’t able to do it as successfully as Willis. One thing that really set Willis apart was the fact that he had detailed pictures. Without his friend Christopher Wren things might have been different for Thomas Willis.
4) Finally, at the end of your post, please include working URLs for the three websites. For each URL you have listed indicate why you chose the site and the extent to which it contributed to your post.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Willis
http://medicalbiography.wikia.com/wiki/Thomas_Willis
http://www.famousscientists.org/thomas-willis/
I used all three of these sites to help me with information into Thomas Willis life and his works and legacy. All of these sites gave me a good idea of who he was and what he did to contribute to science.

1)My topic is going to be about crazy brain injury stories. It fits with the chapter because of the famous of Phineas Gage. It also relates to the story of “Tan” and his disintegrating brain capabilities. I find it to be really interesting because it is miraculous to have a 3 foot metal rod launched into your head and still survive independently.

2) Three aspects of the topic are the cases that are not quite as famous as Phineas’s if there are any, what we would know had it happened today and how that relates to other aspects of the chapter.

3) I wasn’t capable of finding any relating stories close to Gage’s. I realize that his case was special and it’s not every day that someone gets impaled in the head with a rod and still capable of living, however, there was one person I found, Eduardo Leite, that survived a similar fate as Gage’s but there wasn’t enough information on the case. He did survive the accident but there wasn’t much else to tell. The pole left considerable damage, “[The tamping iron] entered the cranium, passing through the anterior left lobe of the cerebrum, and made its exit in the medial line, at the junction of the coronal and sagittal sutures, lacerating the longitudinal sinus, fracturing the parietal and frontal bones extensively, breaking up considerable portions of the brain, and protruding the globe of the left eye from its socket, by nearly half its diameter.” According to another article I read, however, a researcher had a better understanding of which parts of the brain the rod had protruded through. He even mentions that not only did Phineas experience a personality change, the damage also affected his emotion functions which could explain why many thought his personality changed. The researcher was also able to compare Phineas’ symptoms to Alzheimer’s disease. This relates to the chapter because it shows how much his case has really helped science. This work that was done to map the Phineas’ brain, it can later help other people who get brain injuries.

4) This site was useful because it showed that an injury similar to Phineas’ does exist. It also shows how important cases like his are. Science was able to progress due to his injury and the science community was able to learn from it.
http://www.iedp.com/Blog/Brains_Loss_is_Sciences_Gain

This URL helped identify the parts of his brain that were damaged when the rod went through his head.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2010/nov/05/phineas-gage-head-personality

This article was really interesting. It explained the extensive work that researchers have undergone to understand what exactly happened to Phineas and other things that may having caused the personality change that everyone has learned about.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/embargoed-for-release-until-wednesday-233846

The topic that I am writing about is Pierre Flourens and the Method of Ablation. This is one of the topics that is in chapter 3, and it was a very influential part of history that helped us learn more about what is going on in our brains. That is also the reason why I am interested in it. At the time people believed in Phrenology, and Flourens was able to step up and prove phrenology wrong. I also found ablation to be interesting, and liked how that showed evidence in Flourens claims, rather than to just make a guess like phrenology does.
The three aspects I will be talking about is this essay are who Flourens was, and why phrenology was quickly taken over by his work. After that, I will explain what his Method of Ablation was. And lastly, I will talk about the ethical way to study humans in regards to ablation.
Pierre Flourens was a French physician, famous for various significant discoveries relating to the nervous system, cerebral localization and brain functions. Around the time that he was growing up, a popular form of studying the brain was called phrenology. Phrenology is measuring ones skull to make inferences on what kind of person they are or use to be. Phrenologists believed that the brain was the organ of the mind, and that certain parts of the brain have localized functions or modules. Phrenologists would use instruments to fell the patients head, and wherever there was protrusions, or indents meant that that person had an enlarged or smaller brain in that area. This would tell the phrenologist what strengths and weaknesses that patient had, and what areas those strengths and weaknesses were in. This was quickly discovered to be a pseudoscience, and one of the people that helped prove this was Flourens. One can't just look at the bumps on some person's skull and tell what their strengths and weaknesses are. Some of the things phrenologists studied were correct, like specific parts of the brain do control specific functions, but the way that they claimed it did was very incorrect. The way he did this was by introducing his method of ablation.
Flourens did not create ablation, but he used it so much and refined it to such a level that his name is the one associated with it. Ablation is to completely or partially remove or damage a part of the brain surgically. If something happened, such as blindness, or poor motor function, than the part of the brain that was damaged had something to do with what was effected. Obviously Flourens wasn't doing this work on humans, because that would be very unethical. He did all his work on animals. He would do it on animals such as rabbits and pigeons. An example of one of his studies was when he removed the cerebellum out of rabbits and pigeons. The results were that the animals would lose their sense of equilibrium and coordination. This clearly shows that the cerebellum is the part of the brain that controls motor control. This was a lot more accurate depiction of showing which part of the brain does what, rather than looking at the bumps on the skull.
The method of ablation clearly can't be done on humans though. That would be very unethical, and would ruin a person's life just to find out what we already know through studying animals. However, accidents do happen. In many unfortunate cases an accident occurs where a part of the humans brain gets damaged. When a specific part of the brain is damaged psychologist can begin to observe the new habits of that person. If a person becomes angry, and has no perception of right from wrong, they can tell that the part of the brain that is damaged is the part that is the person's "filter." So, psychologists can use these accidents as a form of ablation to help us learn more about our human brains.
So, in conclusion ablation, and the clinical method are a better way to view the functions of the brain, rather than phrenology. Flourens is an important part of psychology's history, and his findings helped lead us to where we are today.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2117745/
I used this article, because it gave me more information on Pierre Flourens, and his experiments with ablation. It gave me a background on Flourens, and some of the research he did.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
I used this website, because it helped me to understand the actual procedure of phrenology. I didn't know what exactly phrenologists did, and what the results told them, and this site explained that.
A history of Modern Psychology
I tried doing an internet search on the clinical method, but the book gave me the best information about it. I used the books definition to explain how research can be done on humans in relation to ablation.

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

When reading chapter 3 I found reading about Helmholtz was very interesting. Vision is very interesting to me, and learning about the trichromatic theory really caught my attention. This caught my attention because it is something that has been brought up in other classes that I have taken but never been fully discussed in a lot of detail. This fits into chapter three because it talks about Helmholtz and vision and audition and this topic is a theory for vision. I also wanted to do this topic because its not everyday we get to learn more about things as interesting as vision and the brain and how amazing the human body is. This topic is relevant because having more knowledge about the human body is always something we should take pride in learning about.

The three aspects that I would like to discuss are what the actual theory is, the process of color vision, and how Helmholtz influenced vision.

The trichromatic theory of color vision is a theory that states there are three cones in the retina. Each of the cones has its own wavelength that it is responsive to. One cone for each of the three color spectrums, red, green, and blue. Each cone acts as a receptor for one specific color. This theory was best supported with color mixing experiments. When two or more colors are shown overlapping they make secondary colors. For example red and green are projected onto a screen the area that is overlapping will be yellow. When red, green, and blue are projected together the overlapping area between them makes white.

The process of this theory uses many parts of the eye. The main parts that it uses are the lens, retina, rods and cones. The lens project the image onto the retina where it then sent to the receptors, the rods and cones, rods deal with black, white and gray vision, and cones deal with color vision. The cones are broken down into three different types. Like I mentioned before each cone being responsible for one color. All the colors are being perceived through the cones mixing colors when the cones are stimulated.

This theory was named after two scientists, Thomas Young and Hermann von Helmholtz, who proposed the idea of three-color vision. Helmholtz was well known from many different types of research in psychology and physiology. He was and still is today known for revolutionizing ophthalmology. His biggest contribution to the field was the medical instrument ophthalmoscope. This tool was used for research and examining into the eye. For years he published papers on different theories of color and vision, such as, Newton’s theory of color, color vision, and many different experiments that he performed. He was not just known his theory of trichromatic vision but for motion perception, depth perception, and empirical theories.

http://blog.yovisto.com/hermann-von-helmholtz-and-his-theory-of-vision/
I chose this article because I thought it had very good information and it talked about a topic I was interested in learning more about which was the contributions that Helmholtz made to learning about vision. I also enjoyed this article because a lot of the terms and phrases that were used that an average person reading the article might not know we underlined. With the underlining if you scrolled over them they had a bubble that popped up and explained it a little more.

http://pirate.shu.edu/~hovancjo/exp/trichromatic_theory.htm
This article did a great job explaining the evidences that has proven this theory and thought it did a good job explaining the theory in more ways than just saying the definition of it.

http://study.com/academy/lesson/young-helmholtz-theory-of-color-perception-lesson-quiz.html
This article also had great information and did a great job explaining it, but I thought it was interesting to learn more about the eye and how the eye works and that is why I enjoyed this article. The process of the eye and how the colors get to the cones.

1) The topic I chose was the case of Phineas Gage. This topic fits into the chapter we covered this week because it is was the first, and probably most important, case we have that proves that some aspects of our behavior are associated with certain areas of the brain. I am interested in this topic because instead of just being another tragic accident that history has forgotten about, Phineas Gage has gone down in history as a great contributor to the fields of neuroscience and psychology.

2) For this assignment, there are three things I would like to talk about regarding Phineas Gage’s case. I would like to emphasize the importance of this case and it’s impact on the fields of neuroscience and psychology. I would also like to discuss whether this is still a valid and reliable case to refer to today.

3) Phineas Gage was a railroad foreman during the mid-1800s. He worked with rock and dynamite to clear the way for the building of a better railroad system. One day at work while he was filling a hole in the rock with dynamite, a spark ignited by the metal rod he used to compact the dynamite into the hole, set off the explosion prematurely. This caused the tamping rod to be propelled through his skull. It entered his left eye socket and exited through the top right side of his skull. By some miracle, Gage was only knocked unconscious for a few minutes before walking on his own power to receive medical treatment. Other than a hole in his skull that became infected, he did not have any other serious medical complications with his accident.

However, there was something else very different about Gage which makes this case even more remarkable. He survived 12 years after the accident, until he began to experience convulsions of various severities which ultimately killed him. Before his death, Gage was in otherwise good condition, despite his circumstances. The only major difference was his personality and attitude after the accident. Reports cannot be confirmed but there have been many witnesses that said that Gage was a different man after his accident. Prior to his accident, Gage was known as a nice, well respected man by his men that he worked with. After the accident however, he became agitated very easily, was aggressive, and no longer acted in an appropriate way in public. His practioner that took care of him, Dr. John Harlow, stated that “the balance between his intellectual faculties and animal propensities seems to have been destroyed”.

So why is this case important and so widely referred to in psychology textbooks today? This case of Phineas Gage is still used today because it was one of the first brain damage cases ever documented, and it led the way for determining specific functions of different parts of the brain. While it took many years to discover just what his personality changes meant, researchers were able to determine that the frontal lobe of the brain is responsible for controlling decision-making, social cognition, and personality.

Many psychologist and scientists argue that because poor record keeping practices during this time, many of the claims about this case have not be substantiated. That many of the “facts” we know about Gage’s personality are just myth, because we have no evidence that shows what he was like before or after the accident. However, there is still some evidence to indicate that this case is still has significant importance in the field of psychology, as well as many other fields. This topic has shown me that popular events in history should be admired and learned about, but individuals should also question what is really known to be true.

4) Sources used:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2010/nov/05/phineas-gage-head-personality
I chose this source because it had similar information as another source I chose. So I used this one as a way to validate the information I was reading about Gage’s case.

https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-21/edition-9/phineas-gage-unravelling-myth
I chose this source because it seemed very reliable with a lot of good information. This was the main source I consulted and used to refer to while doing this assignment.

http://www.pbs.org/saf/1302/video/watchonline.htm
“How Phineas Lost It”. I chose this video as an aid to better understand what I already knew about this topic. I tend to find it helpful if someone explains a topic to me so that I can confirm what I’ve read so that I’m understanding the topic correctly. I used this source to get more background information on the case.

Terminology: Phineas Gage, John Harlow, Frontal Lobe.

1)I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the chapter we have covered this week, and why you are interested in it.

-The topic that I have selected is over the clinical method. This ties in with chapter three in the section of localization of the brain. I find it interesting due to the method of studying the behavioral and mental consequences of brain injuries, events like strokes, war wounds, or illnesses. It also identifies people with some behavioral or mental disorders and examines their brains for structural abnormalities during autopsies. I think studying the brain during the autopsies after these conditions is quite fascinating.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?

-One aspect of my topic is what exactly is the clinical method. The second aspect is about Broca’s area. The third aspect is about Broca’s two patients involving the speech center.

3)
-The clinical method that was generally credited with developing this method was Paul Broca. It is an alternative way to study the human brain function, compared to Flourens’ the method of ablation, and Gall and Spurzheim’s phrenology. It is the method of studying the behavioral and mental consequences of brain injuries, events like strokes, war wounds, or illnesses. It also identifies people with some behavioral or mental disorders and examines their brains for structural abnormalities during autopsies. Another way to explain it is from one of the sites I used and it states, “This method is primarily used to collect detailed information on the behavior problems of maladjusted and deviant cases. The main objective of this method is to study individual to detect and diagnose his/her specific problems and to suggest therapeutic measures to rehabilitate him/her in his/her environment. The clinical method is used by clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and teachers in child guidance clinics, metal hygiene centers and in ordinary school situations. This method is used in studying the patients who are suffering from mental and behavioral disturbances and whose conduct is snit social. Generally, we use this method when we want to understand the causes and sources of people's fears anxieties, worries, frustrations, and obsessions, their emotional, social, mental, educational and vocational maladjustments. This method is primarily used for diagnosing and treating a problem case. The clinical method is directed towards the study of individual behavior, whereas experimental and differential methods are generally used to investigate general behavioral facts. The concept of a clinical method is included in the concept of clinical psychology which is the art and technology of dealing with the adjustment problems of the individual for purposes of his optimum social adjustment and welfare.” One of the cases that involves the clinical method was Leborgne. He was an unusual patient that was known as “Tan” since that was the only word he used to answer questions that he could hear. He was in the hospital for 21 years in Paris. He was hospitalized since he had a severe case of gangrene which interested Broca. Broca was hesitant to examine him since he was near death, and thought it would be cruel. Broca saw Leborgne's lack of speech as a test case for the question of language localization in the frontal lobes, since Leborgne had no productive language. Leborgne died several days later and during the autopsy, a lesion was found on the surface of the left frontal lobe as Broca had suspected. Another patient later, Lelong, also had a speech impairment and could only speak about five words. He too, had a lesion in the same area as Leborgne. This area that these two patients had the lesions in became known as Broca’s area. This area is also known as convolution of Broca. It is the region of the brain that contains motor neurons involved in the control of speech. This area, is located in the frontal part of the left hemisphere of the brain. It serves a vital role in the generation of articulate speech. This disorder both patients suffered from is the motor aphasia, which is the inability to articulate ideas verbally, but still can hear and think normally. Another type of speech disorder is the sensory aphasia. People with this disorder can produce speech, but they had a hard time understanding the speech of others.

4)
-http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/130/5/1432- This site helped with explaining the biography of Paul Broca and his known area of the brain and motor and sensory aphasia. It describes his patient Legorgne and uses images of what his brain looked like. I used him as one of my aspect examples.

- http://www.answers.com/Q/Clinical_method_of_psychology- This site helped give a more detailed explanation of what the clinical method is and what aspects of psychology and people it influences than the textbook.

- http://www.britannica.com/science/Broca-area- This site helped explain more about Broca’s area and includes helpful images to show exactly where it is located at in the brain.

Clinical Method, Flourens, Method of Ablation, Gall, Spurzheim, Phrenology, Paul Broca, Leborgne, Lelong, Motor Aphasia, and Sensory Aphasia

This week I decided to look further into the use of animals in psychological research. I noticed when reading the assigned chapter that many of the researchers including Francois Magendie, Sir Charles Bell, Hermann von Helmholtz, and Pierre Flourens used animals in their research. It got me thinking about how animal use in research has changed over the years. After exploring this topic further, I would like to discuss the procedures in which animals have been used in the field of psychology throughout history, the legislation which has developed regarding animals in research, and the pros and cons of such practice.

The use of animals in psychology has been a common practice since before the 1800s. Early practices included a procedure known as a vivisection which involved the use of live animals in research. This often meant invasive procedure on living animals which were then observed as was the case in Pierre Flourens’ research on the effects of the ablation of specific parts of the brain of birds and dogs. Necropsy, which is still used today, was also begun pre-1800 and simply involved the study of a dead animal through dissection. During the 1800s, animals began to be used to test the effects of vaccinations and various surgery techniques (i.e. anesthesia) on the brain and bodily systems of an animal. This differed from vivisection in that although the animals were still alive, they were not being cut open but rather given a substance and then observed. The first half of the 20th century saw an increase in scientists using animals not only for invasive procedures or tests for various drugs but also to discover how the brain responds to different stimuli. Thus, we see the well-known experiment involving Pavlov’s dogs and the development of respondent condition as well as the use of the puzzle box to demonstrate the Law of Effect. Many of these conclusions were then generalized to the human population and used to understand humans respond to certain stimuli. The second half of the century was similar to the first in that animals were used in psychological research to further understand the function of the brain such as the theory of learned helplessness and the attachment theory using the famous Harlow’s monkeys. Today, animals are still very much a part of psychological research. They are still used to test drugs and other substances effects on the body as well as to learn more about behavior.

As scientists began to use animals in psychological research, it became apparent that regulations were needed to protect the welfare of these creatures. It was not until the late 1800s that advocates for animal rights began to appear in the United States. During this time, several societies were created to help protect the rights of all animals including those used in laboratory experiments. Examples included the American Antivivisection Society and the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. These societies established general ethical guidelines to be followed and raised awareness of the issues surrounding the use of animals in research. Although numerous societies were created in the United States during this time to protect the rights of animals used in research, it was not until 1966 that the national Laboratory Animal Welfare Act was passed. Several amendments have since been passed adding more protection for animals including standards for the facilities in which laboratory animals are kept and transportation of animals for research purposes. However, this law currently only protects dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, and other warm-blooded animals. Given that these animals only constitute 5-10% of the animals used in research, the other 90-95% of animals (rats, mice, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and farm animals) are not protected under any such law. The Animal Care Act also requires institutions to create an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) which regulates all research to be done on animals. Despite these regulations, it is up to the USDA to enforce them which is understaffed making the proper inspection of licensed facilities (those doing research on protected animals) nearly impossible. Thus, action may not be taken until very extreme conditions are revealed in the media or through other outlets. Additionally, the penalties for violating the AWA are often considered so small as to be insignificant to violators. For example, for a company bringing in millions of dollars a year, a maximum fine of $10,000 for violating the AWA often does not have much of an impact.

Now that we have discussed the historical presence of animals in psychological research and the laws regulating that type of research, it is important to consider the advantages and disadvantages of conducting research with animals. One of the biggest benefits to using animals in psychological research is that they are similar to humans in many ways. They have a similar genome thus making it easier to generalize the effects of a specific experiment to the human population. Animals have a nervous system very similar to that of humans making them great candidates for psychological research. Research on the effects of drugs, the ways in which an animal responds to incentives, or depression is likely to be the same in many ways to the same conditions in humans. Research on animals has resulted in numerous insights into human behavior as well as treatments for such diseases as asthma, diabetes, and cancer and oftentimes the animal itself will experience the benefits of this successful treatment. Finally, animals are useful in that research can be done in a more timely manner, the history of the animal can be controlled to prevent outside factors from affecting research, and risks are projected on an animal rather than a human subject. Despite these advantages, there are also a couple large cons to research on animals. Obviously, not every experiment is successful its first time around and often animals may be put through intense pain and even die from such psychological research. This is not to mention that many animal are kept in captivity which can result in psychological side effects not often documented. Secondly, animals are not exactly like humans, so although many results can indeed be generalized to the human population making it impossible to guarantee the same effects on a human. Overall, the debate on animal testing often becomes a matter of ethics and personal opinion. With many benefits but also severe costs at time, this issue which has been a part of history since the 1800s is not likely to disappear anytime soon.

http://animalethics.umwblogs.org/
This website gave me valuable information about the type of psychological research animals have been involved in throughout history. It also supplemented the information I gained about legislation through the years.

http://www.neavs.org/research/laws
My primary source of information regarding the laws passed regarding protection of animals in research was gained through this site.

http://nlcatp.org/6-major-pros-and-cons-of-animal-research/
Some of the pros and cons of using animals in research were gained through this link.

https://www.apa.org/research/responsible/research-animals.pdf
This brochure from the APA gave me more insight into the various regulations placed on animal research as well as the advantages and disadvantages to the use of animals in psychological research.

1) My topic is synapses and neuron function. This fits into the material covered this week because chapter 3 discusses Sir Charles Sherrington and his concept of the synapse. Why I am interested in this topic is because I have always been intrigued in how brain cells work and how the differ from our other cells in our body.
2) Three aspects of this topic that I want to cover is what exactly is a synapse, a brief explanation of how a neuron operates, and how our brain cells differ from our other body cells.
3) To start the conversation about synapses, I will begin with what exactly a synapse is. A synapse is the gap between one neuron’s dendrites and another neuron’s axon. This gap is the space in which chemicals called neurotransmitters pass across and send messages to the receiving cell. This process of transferring neurotransmitters is called neurotransmission. The purpose of this process is to send messages through the brain which turn into a behavioral response from an individual. This process starts when the dendrites of a neuron receive the chemical message from another cell. The neurotransmitters then travel down through the cell body and down through the cells axon. As this is happening the cell is gaining potential energy that leads up to a climax point. Once this point is achieved, the axon will fire the neurotransmitters into another synapse and those neurotransmitters will be received by other cells dendrites. This process happens thousands of times in less than a second. Now when thinking back to your first biology class and learning about cells, this probably was not the type of cells you were discussing. That is because although there are some similarities between neurons and other body cells, there are many differences. One similarity is that both types of cells have a cell body and a nucleus. A difference between these cells is that neurons cannot multiply like regular body cells. This means that an individual has a set amount of neurons and that they cannot be replaced like cells in your arm which can repair a cut by using mitosis. Another difference in the cells is that neurons send messages between each other and other body cells cannot do that. A third difference in these cells is that regular body cells do not contain chemicals in them such as neurotransmitters. The fact that neurons are so much different from other cells makes them, at least to me, very interesting and worth learning more about.
4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWrnz-CiM7A
I chose this video because it gave me not only a visual aid, but an audio aid in understanding the function of neurons and the synapse. This site was very helpful, if not the most helpful of the three sites.

http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/LilburnES/PromoteGA/biochemistry/Neurons_s_and_d.html
This site gave me a quick and brief summary of the main difference between a neuron and a regular body cell. This helped me understand some of the difference between the cells that I was unaware about prior to reading.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21535/
This site helped break down the neuron anatomy and functioning. This allowed me to further explain and understand the function of the cell and how each part of it operates in regard to neurotransmission.

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the chapter we have covered this week, and why you are interested in it.
Hermann von Helmholtz. I find people to be interesting. I like learning how their younger years affected them later in life and to see their accomplishments as a whole.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
Early life, neural impulses, and vision.
3) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.
Hermann, because of financial reasons, was not able to attend a university for medical school like he had originally planned. He signed onto the army knowing that he was committed for 8 years. By doing this he gets the chance to complete med school alongside a well-known physician. He served as a surgeon in the military because of this. Hemholtz took other people’s findings to his advantage to start looking into the neural impulses. He looked at the actual speed of impulses. For his test subjects he used frogs. He used coils to send a surge of electricity to the frogs. He stated this according to my second website “I have found that there is a measurable period of time which during the effect of a stimulus consisting of a momentary electrical current applied to the iliac plexus of a frog is transmitted to the calf muscles at the entrance of the crural nerve”. Because he proved his theory to be right, he went on to investigate the rate of transmission by measuring many impulses from different locations. With his medical history, he looked at vision. He created ophthalmoscope which is still used today. He looked into color blindness, depth perception, and motion perception just to name a few. Because of his work and discoveries, it led him to disprove Newton’s theory of color; then again proving himself wrong years later. He ended most of his research due to how sick his wife got.
4) Finally, at the end of your post, please include working URLs for the three websites. For each URL you have listed indicate why you chose the site and the extent to which it contributed to your post.
http://www.famousscientists.org/hermann-von-helmholtz/
This website gave me a general history of Hemholtz life and there was a section of his early life to help me understand what got him to his accomplishments.
http://www.freecontentweb.com/content/hermann-von-helmholtz-neural-impulses-perception-and-audition
This website gave me ample information about the neural impulse section. It covered a lot of what the book didn’t cover and helped to show how he came into contact with neural impulses.
http://blog.yovisto.com/hermann-von-helmholtz-and-his-theory-of-vision/
This website talked about everything. It didn’t give tons of details of Hemholtz life for accomplishments, but it highlighted the main points. It made it much easier to find what I should talk about for this discussion and allowed me to look at the other provided websites to get more of the details.
*By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from section 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. For example, they will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!
At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration/synthesis method. And besides this is the way good researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for, so now is a good time to learn this skill.
Next make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Terminology:
Early life, neural impulses, and vision, ophthalmoscope

My topic this week was to look more into the case of Phineas Gage. This fits in with this weeks reading because he is the most famous case in neuroscience and psychology. I find this intriguing because I have always been interested in how the brain functions and how it corresponds with a persons personality.

I would like to talk about the what happened to Phineas, the damage that was caused and how severe it was, and what discoveries were made after this incident.

Phineas Gage was 25 years old and working as a foreman on the railroad. He was using a tamping iron to pack explosive powder. While we was doing this the powder exploded, causing the tamping to launch like a missile. It shot into his left cheek, ripped through his brain, and exited out through the top of his head. Miraculously Phineas only lost consciousness for a short time. He was able to walk himself to a doctor to be looked at. Although he seemed to survive the injury, his personality did. Months after the accident many of his friends and coworkers stated that he was no longer the same Phineas Gage they had always known.

This change in behavior was due damage to the frontal lobes. It was found that Broca's area, the motor strip, and the regions for intellectual, motor, and language function where all left intact after the incident. The specif part of the frontal lobe that was damaged was the ventromedial region. This area was responsible for temperament and social behaviors. Phineas had always be a likable guy, with a good work ethic, and manners. After the accident he began using vulgar language, he was no longer dependable for work, and people found it hard to want to be around him. It would seem that the long term effects of his injury were more detrimental than the actual injury itself. After several studies it was found that the tamping iron destroyed 11 percent of the white matter in his frontal lobes and 4 percent of his cerebral cortex.

Phineas' accident was the most famous case in neuroscience at the time. This is because it was the first case to suggest that they was a connection between brain trauma and change in personality. It also severed as the first case to show that the frontal lobe was responsible for personality.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/phineas-gage-neurosciences-most-famous-patient-11390067/?all -->This site gave me insight on why Phineas' case was so influential in psychology

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro98/202s98-paper1/Johnson.html --> I used this site to get information about brain function and how it related to Gage's situation

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/phineas-gage.htm --> I used this site to understand how severe the damage was and what recent discoveries have been made.

Terms: Phineas Gage, frontal lobe, cerebral cortex,ventromedial cortex, Broca's area,

1) I have chosen mapping the brain as my topic for further research. This fits in the chapter because it is discussed in many sections through out the chapter, with Phineas Gage, phrenology, with Thomas Willis' description of brain and nervous system structures, and Francois Magendie's anatomical dissections. I chose this topic because I find the trial and error process of mapping the brain to be very interesting.

2) The three aspects of mapping the brain that I will be talking about are the clinical method, experiments using electrical stimulation, and localization.

3) Electric stimulation was used on animals before it was tested on humans. Hitzig and Fritsch were the first of many. They used dogs in their experiments and found the place in the cortex that controlled the head, neck, and limbs. Pierre Flourens used pigeons and rabbits and found a finer mapping of cortical motor function when he noticed moments from the rear reacted after stimulating the upper parts of the frontal cortex, but the front limbs and neck reacted after stimulating the ventral parts of the cortex. David Ferrier did experiments on monkeys and dogs and found 29 different functions throughout the cortex. Electrical stimulation was first used on humans by Robert Bartholow when he stimulated the brain of a patient who suffered from a skull bone erosion. He unknowingly stimulated the motor cortex which got a response of moments in the inferior limbs of the patient. Through out time the machines used for electrical stimulation evolved.

Localization is the concept that specific areas of the brain control specific body functions and sensations. The idea of localization comes directly from phrenology. Paul Broca was the first to gain credibility for his discover that damage to part of the brain caused speech impairment. This area became known as Broca's area. The cerebral cortex is decided into three major areas, primary sensory areas, sensory association areas, and higher order association areas. Each sense has its own area in the brain which is localized in the primary sensory cortex but before it reaches that, the information must first go through the cerebral cortex.

The clinical method is when abnormal behaviors are observed and used to make conclusions about normal behaviors. The clinical method is actually used to disprove phrenology. The Paul Brocas finding of the broca's area helped to prove this because damage to specific areas did in fact produce deficiencies in functions.

4) http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n18/history/stimulation_i.htm
electric stimulation, different animal experiments and machines used in electrical stimulation throughout time

http://www.brainybehavior.com/blog/2008/02/phrenology-and-the-clinical-method/
this gave me a clear idea of what the clinical method is and how its used with phrenology

http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/384/Localization-Brain-Function.html
localization of the brain

(Topic) My topic is Hermann Von Helmholtz. (how does it fit?) This fits with chapter 3 because Helmholtz was a major contributor to physiology.

(3 aspects) Conservation of force, Neural Transmission, and Philosophies.
(A1 Conservation of Energy) Just around the spring of 1842 Helmholtz finished up his studies with Johannes Mueller. Johannes Mueller was a great physiologist with many accredited contributions to his field. However Mueller was a known believer in Vitalism, the idea that there is a 'life force' withing living organisms that can never be depleted. During the years of 1842 and 1847, where Helmholtz addressed his concept, Helmholtz would develop his conservation of energy theory that went against this vitalism claim and supported a more materialistic claim. In 1845 Helmholtz conducted an experiment with a frog in which he used electric current to impulse the frogs legs and then measured the heat of the frog which resulted in an increase in heat. He would then accredit this increase of heat as a result of the mechanical muscle impulse. The energy used to create such an impulse would be then accredited to nutrients or other food the frog had eaten. Thus supporting his materialism view.
(A2 Neural Transmission)in the 1840's many physiologist believed that neurotransmitters worked as current much like wires. This would mean that transmission would happen very quickly. But a study was conducted and the findngs of neuro fibers suggested that it might be chemical electrical which would result in a slower transmission. Just after Helmholtz finished working his time as a surgeon for the army, about 1848, he became a professor at the university of Konigsberg where he then would conduct studies that would end the arguments. He found through the process of electrical conduction and human responsiveness to cognitive impulses that there was indeed an electrical chemical process.
(A3 Perception and Sensation) Helmholtz was very curios about perception and sensation. In perception we give meanings to what we see be those meanings can only be built through experiences. In perception he conducted contributions like the Opthalmoscope, which gave doctors the first look at a living retina. he also developed the trichromatic theory in which we have color matching as well as combination of color to see color vision. Spacial perception was a combination of using what we see and applying our sensation to it. In an experiment involving a prismatic lens Helmholtz was able to test the ability to touch object solely using vision and attempt to grab an object. after the individual went through a process of trial and error in finding the object in both scenarios Helmholtz was able to develop his idea of unconscious interference.

'a history of modern psychology' P.57 - 62
This is the book we use in class. In these pages we see the Helmholtz contributions to the field of physics. as well as we see his brief history and his recognition.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hermann-helmholtz/#ConEne184
In this web source you can find the breif history of not only Helmholtz but the colleagues. this web source also integrates a timeline of the life of Helmholtz. Following along the lineage you can find the lineage of when other great contributors in his time period made the connections they did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uizKkKcC-tg
Finally here you will find a youtube video clip with the sumarization of the life of Helmholtz through the anaylsis of what I believe is a professor in the field of History and Systems of Psychology.
Termonology: Vitalism, Materialism, Johannes Mueller. Conservation of Energy, Ophthalmoscope, Trichromatic Theory, Sensation, Perception, Prismatic scope, unconscious interference,

1. I have chosen to look further into Broca's research on the speech center of the brain. I find it very interesting that a person was able to theorize what an area of the brain does simply by deducing from symptoms of a stroke patient. This fits in with the chapter because it shows the restraints psychologist were under while researching their areas of interest and how much they were able to finger out under these restraints. Mapping of the brain and its functions is still a large mystery today, and the history of this field will always be a large part of psychology.
2. The three aspects of this topic that I want to talk about for this assignment are; the symptoms of motor aphasia, what can be done to treat motor aphasia today, and more thorough understanding of Tan's injuries.
3. Motor aphasia can manifest in many different ways depending on the severity of the injury to the speech center of the brain. Broca's aphasia in more severe cases mirror the symptom's of his infamous patient "Tan" where patients can only utter simple phrases or words, or nothing at all. While on the other side of the spectrum is Anomic aphasia where the patient has problems finding the right word to explain things so they will use filler words such as um, uh, thing, or will have to describe the word they are trying to find instead of being able say the intended word.

Treatments for motor aphasia are mainly limited to speech therapy. The website is even clear to explain that there are many variables to the success of the therapy such as age, severity of damage, and determination to succeed in therapy. Some speech skills can be maintained and sometimes even regained, but the main focus of the therapy is to improve and hone what abilities a patient has left, and where they can find support in their community.

The video is helpful in the understanding of Tan's case. Hearing something out loud helps to solidify the idea into your brain, especially for myself. After seeing Tan's actual brain and the scan of the damage area it cements the case better into my head, and gives me a visual to recall upon when discussing the topic.

4.http://www.asha.org/Practice-Portal/Clinical-Topics/Aphasia/Common-Classifications-of-Aphasia/ This website gave me so much more information on motor aphasia that I had anticipated. It is so interesting to know the varying severity of the ailment and how each one is classified.

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/pages/aphasia.aspx#treated This website gives a very truthful look into the treatment of aphasia. It does not give false pretenses, and describes the work and support it will take to maintain or improve a patient's speech ability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u17_cGmp5L4 This video gave an excellent short discription of the case Broca worked on as well as a wonderful visual aid to help you understand where the area of damage was in "Tan" and to what extent.

My topic is the unconscious inference and Hermann von Helmholtz, who I read about in our chapter this week. This is a subject that I found especially intriguing, so I decided to write about it.

Hermann von Helmholtz participated in two of the most significant developments in physics and in the philosophy of science in the 19th century: the proof that Euclidean geometry does not describe the only possible visualizable and physical space, and the shift from physics based on actions between particles at a distance to the field theory. Helmholtz's earliest study of physiology was with Johannes Müller, who was an experimenter and naturalist. In his sign theory of perception as expressed in his early career, Helmholtz argues that the mind makes a series of mental adjustments, “unconscious inferences,” to construct a coherent picture of its experiences. Helmholtz argues that spatial position, often used as a criterion to individuate objects, is an interpretation of our sensations, and not their immediate result.

The unconscious inference describes the involuntary, pre-rational and reflex-like mechanism which is part of the formation of visual impressions. This theory implies that human vision is incomplete and that details are inferred by the unconscious mind to create a complete picture. Some of the assumptions that the brain makes from the eye's perception are motion and depth perception. Many of us have had the experience of, due to atmospheric conditions and/or distance, of believing that we see trees or buildings shimmering or moving, or of buildings or mountains seeing closer than they really are. Helmholtz maintained that perception draws on the same cognitive mechanisms as do ordinary reasoning and scientific inference, and some theorists make similar comparisons. Overall, there have been many theories of unconscious inference for over 1,000 years. The theories have varied, and there is more research to be done before it can be said for certain which is most accurate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscious_inference

http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Unconscious%20Inference
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~hatfield/uncinf.pdf

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the chapter we have covered this week, and why you are interested in it.
My topic is the Enlightenment Period or the “Age of Reason.” The information presented in Chapter 3, “The Scientific Conflict” is relevant to the Enlightenment Periods as key players discussed in this chapter influenced the zeitgeist of the Scientific Revolution, as well as the Enlightenment Period. This topic interests me because I believe that the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Reason were incredibly influential in the creation of our modern technological and scientific advancements.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
The three aspects of the Enlightenment Period that I would like to discuss are (1) precursors to the Enlightenment Period, (2) the influence of the Scientific Revolution, and (3) major shifts in thinking.
3) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.
The Enlightenment Period was influenced by the works of Renee Descartes, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, and others, including Galileo, and Isaac Newton. These individuals and others provided to be influential to the growth of science and precursors to the Age of Reason. Immanuel Kant phrased the term, “The Age of Enlightenment”, which represented a change in the world were modern thinking began; science replaced supernatural causality. “For Kant, Enlightenment was mankind’s final coming of age, the emancipation of the human consciousness from an immature state of ignorance and error.” During this time a new stress was put on analysis and reason in place of blind faith in traditional authority.
During the Enlightenment Period scholars began to adopt empiricism. It was proposed that theories should be based upon experiences and observations of humans. There was a rebellion against restrictions of the church. Interests in science boomed around the time of the Scientific Revolution and there after; science was being used more and more to question the universe. The scientific method arose out of the Scientific Revolution. Research was being funded and observations were made with inventions such as the telescope, the microscope, and the barometer. These inventions gave scholars the tools to make more accurate observations. The growth of research made it possible for scholars to make refinements to the scientific method, and allowed the scientific method to grow into what we know it to be today. Books became easier and cheaper to access throughout the Enlightenment, and improvements in transportation made it easier to exchange and debate ideas. With such growth scientific investigation flourished; ideas were exchanged, peer reviews were given, and criticism was evaluated.
4) Finally, at the end of your post, please include working URLs for the three websites. For each URL you have listed indicate why you chose the site and the extent to which it contributed to your post.
Website URL: http://www.history.com/topics/enlightenment
Video URL: http://www.history.com/topics/enlightenment/videos/mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us-scientific-revolution
I used this website because it provided me with information on the change in thinking, as well as influential individuals before and during the Enlightenment Period. I also explored two videos that were linked to the website; using the content from only one of them (the URL is provided above). The video offered me information on the Scientific Revolution, specifically, the influence of Alchemy on the creation of the scientific method.
Website URL: https://explorable.com/science-and-enlightenment?gid=1599
I used this website because it provided me with a quote, as well as information on the uncertainty as to the beginning of Enlightenment.
Website URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment
I used this website to build upon and fill in information I found on the other websites.

1. I chose to research more about Hermann Von Helmholtz, as he seemed to be involved in many aspects of science, and helped to lead scientists into a psychological way of thinking.
2. I decided to read into three theories that Helmholtz came up with that are still considered relevant and accurate today.
3. Thus far in the book, we haven't seen many long-lasting theories proposed by the scientists, but rather, a change in the thinking of that time period which brought them closer and closer to the truth behind some of their questions. Hermann Von Helmholtz has come up with three theories which scientists are able to replicate with accuracy and thus have held up for more than one hundred and fifty years. I'd like to explain what I have gathered about the theories from the research I have done. First, we have the resonance theory of hearing, which is commonly referred to as the place theory. The resonance theory states that different spots on the ear system works as a resonator and that sound comes through the cochlea at which different pitches set off different nerves which connect to the brainstem and the auditory nerve. It is commonly called Place theory in reference to the sound frequencies correlating with different “places” on the cochlea. Today we know that these frequencies can range from twenty hertz to twenty thousand hertz; which is another theory all its own, the Frequency theory. Physiologically we have also learned that these frequencies will move hair cells which send signals back to the auditory nerve. We have also come to learn that the frequencies start out at twenty thousand hertz and decreases as it continues down the cochlea, which is coiled up but more easily represented as if to be in a straight line; they call this dissent tonoptic mapping. It wasn't until the twentieth century that nerve fiber rates were understood that Helmholtz's theory was tested. It appeared
that nerve fibers were incapable of firing in correlation with the frequency theory, which also tested the Place theory in questioning how frequency discrimination could occur between two similar tones. Next we will be talking about the Trichromatic theory of color vision. This theory was conducted by Helmholtz by quite simply using light sources that were colored and mixing them together. What Helmholtz achieved with his experiments was that he was able to determine that all of the colors we see could be replicated from mixing three color sources: red, green and blue. This has some implications, such that humans typically have three color recepting cones which aid each other in creating the stimulus that travels the optic nerve and gives us our perception of light. We have recently found this theory to be accurate in that generally blue wavelengths make up our short wavelengths, green makes up our medium and red makes up our long light wavelengths. Helmholtz's theory has had many applications in today's society from determining how part of our brain uses outside cues to wake us up in the morning (or unfortunately at night from blue wavelengths) to what the sky appears blue. This is the second time however, that Helmholtz would need another theory to cover what his theory could not. The opponent-process theory was needed to explain complimentary colors and the images that could appear after viewing a particular primary color. I found it interesting that we have basically be learning this theory since middle school with the color wheel and that I have been predisposed to Helmholtz long before I'd learn about him in my readings. Finally, to try and simplify Helmholtz's theory of accommodation, we must have some background knowledge on the biology of the eye. Helmholtz produced theories quite commonly based off of science and research. This theory was no different; Helmholtz, through many dissections, came to understand how the lens of the eye was able to focus on near and far images. The ciliary body was the muscle surrounding the lens just behind the pupil the Helmholtz found would contract or relax to cause movements in the lens. The ciliary muscle is connected to suspensory ligaments, zonules, which pull the lens flat when the muslce is at resting tension. When the muscle constricts, it becomes smaller, giving less tension on the zonules which allows for the lens to bulge out in a more round shape. The curvature created allows the eye to focus on objects that are close in the line of vision. I learned an amazing amount of physiology from Helmholtz's theories, but they all trace back to the brain, where Helmholtz was fond of taking interpretation into our perception of information; which truly made him an early vehicle for the development of psychology.

http://clas.mq.edu.au/speech/perception/psychoacoustics/hearing_theory.html
I chose this website because I like to use educational facilities or universities because they put their reputation on the line with the material they allow on their website. This particular site gave me a lot of information on Helmholtz's Resonance theory.

http://psych.ucalgary.ca/PACE/VA-Lab/colourperceptionweb/theories.htm
This website is a link to information from the department of psychology from the university of Calgary, again I like that universities put their reputation on the line to deliver accurate information. They have given me most of my information on the Trichromatic Theory.

http://www.aao.org/bcscsnippetdetail.aspx?id=f5f61688-98cd-4e30-84c0-b9acf775950c
The American Academy of Ophthalmology is a trusted source of information in their field. I used it to get an abundance of information for the Theory of Accommodation.

The topic that I was really interested in was vitalism, on Monday I mostly focused on Herman Von Helmhotz. I would like to know more about both of these topics. The week before I really researched materialism, quite the opposite of vitalism. Each one of these concepts build off of each other. As a new concept is introduced, an opposing one surfaces. The main three aspects I would like to research, is how vitalism came into play, how long was this view being accepted and in what other fields did it contribute to. The first person, besides Aristotle and Desecrates was Hans Driesch to talk about vitalism. “Vitalism defines that living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things”. Hans Driesch was a philosopher and a biologist, he was the first one to clone an animal, the sea urchin. He explained vitalism using the life of an organism in terms of the presence of an entelechy. Which translates to a substantial entity controlling organic processes. Vitalism did help with the idea of fermentation. Loius Pasteur showed that fermentation only occurs when living cells are present and, that fermentation only occurs in the absence of oxygen. He then went on to describe fermentation as ‘life without air’. Vitalism had also really help Xavier Bichat, he was a French anatomist. His contribution to experimental physiology was that he analyzed living systems into various parts. He identified 21 different kinds of tissue, he went onto explaining that the behavior of these organisms are related to the properties of these different tissues. Next he defined the different types of tissues in terms of their: vital properties, sensibility and contractility. He found that the ‘sensibility’ and ‘contractility’ of each tissue type, organize the limit of decomposing living matter into its parts. That these vital properties prevented from identifying life with any physical or chemical phenomenon. The reason being that the behavior of living tissues is very irregular and contrary to forces that are not organic. He determined that as living matter maintains itself in the face of ‘normal’ physical and chemical processes. That it would eventually destroy it. He thought that his finding could not be explained . He concluded that there are additional fundamental forces in nature that are needed. Vitalism is also a contrast to the mechanistic view. The mechanistic view was first discussed with Descartes. He thought that the human body as well as animals, are ‘automata’. These mechanical devices differing from artificial devices only in their degree of complexity. This mechanistic view is very different than vitalism. Overall, vitalism help contribute to philosophy, biology and physiology.
The first website that I found gave me most of my information on how vitalism contributed to other fields and how it came to be. It showed be what contributions it made with physiology and biology, how this concept pushed people to challenge it or enforce it/, https://mechanism.ucsd.edu/teaching/philbio/vitalism.htm
This website gave me quite a bit of information on Hans Driesc, it mostly talked about his other contributions and how vitalism played a role in his life. http://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/scientists/driesch/
This last website, gave me more of a view on how vitalism, helped other individuals explore how the human and animal body works. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalism

Terminology: Herman Von Helmhotz, Vtalism, materialism, Aristotle, Desecrates, Xaiver Bichat,biology, phiosophy, physiology

Topical Blog 4 REDO
The topic that I was really interested in was vitalism, on Monday I mostly focused on Herman Von Helmhotz. I would like to know more about both of these topics. The week before I really researched materialism, quite the opposite of vitalism. Each one of these concepts, build off of each other. As a new concept is introduced, an opposing one surfaces. As we move through the book, its interesting seeing how these new concepts over time keeps evolving. It makes me think of the first chapter when we learned the difference between presentism and historicism. Every now and again I find myself going back and forth between these two ideas. That in todays world the concept of vitalism would be void. Yet if looking at the times this concept emerged, it is relevantly new and really fits in with the new discoveries. The main three aspects I would like to research, is how vitalism came into play, how long was this view being accepted and in what other fields did it contribute to. The first person, besides Aristotle and Desecrates was Hans Driesch to talk about vitalism. “Vitalism defines that living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things”. Hans Driesch was a German philosopher and a biologist, he was the first one to clone an animal, the sea urchin. He was born on October, 28 1867, the only son to Josefine Raudenkolb and Paul Driesch. He studied zoology, chemistry, and physics. He did his doctoral work at Jena under Ernst Heinrich Haeckel, whose main interest at the time was in phylogeny. In 1887, he did his doctoral dissertation dealing with factors controlling the growth of colonial hydroids. He has also had some contributions to embryology. He conducted an experiment was the first to demonstrate of embryonic induction. According to Britannica, this is described as “The interaction between two embryonic parts resulting in differentiation that would not have occurred otherwise”. Hans Driesch believed that the concept of vitalism, is that life cannot be explained as physical or chemical phenomena.
The concept of Vitalism did help with the idea of fermentation. Loius Pasteur showed that fermentation only occurs when living cells are present and, that fermentation only occurs in the absence of oxygen. He then went on to describe fermentation as ‘life without air’. Vitalism had also really help Xavier Bichat, he was a French anatomist. His contribution to experimental physiology was that he analyzed living systems into various parts. He identified 21 different kinds of tissue, he went onto explaining that the behavior of these organisms are related to the properties of these different tissues. Next he defined the different types of tissues in terms of their: vital properties, sensibility and contractility. He found that the ‘sensibility’ and ‘contractility’ of each tissue type, organize the limit of decomposing living matter into its parts. That these vital properties prevented from identifying life with any physical or chemical phenomenon. The reason being that the behavior of living tissues is very irregular and contrary to forces that are not organic. He determined that as living matter maintains itself in the face of ‘normal’ physical and chemical processes. That it would eventually destroy it. He thought that his finding could not be explained. He concluded that there are additional fundamental forces in nature that are needed. Vitalism is also a contrast to the mechanistic view. The mechanistic view was first discussed with Descartes. He thought that the human body as well as animals, are ‘automata’. These mechanical devices differing from artificial devices only in their degree of complexity. This mechanistic view is very different than vitalism. Overall, vitalism help contribute to philosophy, biology and physiology. It is amazing how theories come and go and how they inspire so many different people. That, some people who disagreed with vitalism set out to prove it wrong, and others set out to prove its worth. That in terms, of science vitalism is wrong.
The first website that I found gave me most of my information on how vitalism contributed to other fields and how it came to be. It showed be what contributions it made with physiology and biology, how this concept pushed people to challenge it or enforce it/, https://mechanism.ucsd.edu/teaching/philbio/vitalism.htm
This website gave me quite a bit of information on Hans Driesch, it mostly talked about his other contributions and how vitalism played a role in his life. The second website gave more information on what Hans Driesch, contributed with his biology degree. http://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/scientists/driesch/
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Hans-Adolf-Eduard-Driesch
This last website, gave me more of a view on how vitalism, helped other individuals explore how the human and animal body works. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalism

Terminology: Herman Von Helmhotz, Vitalism, materialism, Aristotle, Desecrates, Xaiver Bichat, Hans Driesch, embryology, philosophy, Louis Pastuer.

1) The topic I chose for this week is Phineas Gage. Phineas Gage was one of the focuses this week in our reading, and I found his story to be incredible. The injuries he sustained should have killed him. I found this interesting, in addition to the major personality transformations that he went through. I wanted to learn more about him, since I had heard about him briefly in a different class as well.
2) This week I wanted to talk about who Phineas is and why he is important. I want to discuss who Phineas was before the accident. Then I will discuss Phineas’s accident and who he became after the accident. Finally I will discuss other cases like Phineas’s and how they were alike.
3) Little is known about Phineas Gage before his accident, leading us to believe that he was a normal guy who was mild-mannered and kind. On the day of the accident, Phineas went to work like every other day. He was the foreman of a group cutting a railroad. He was using a tamping iron to pack powder into a drill hole to break apart rock. The powder exploded prematurely, sending the tamping iron through his left cheek and out through the top of his skull. Phineas did not fall unconscious or seem too upset by his fresh injury. He remained conscious and in a few minutes was writing in his work book.
Phineas was sent home and Dr. Harlow was called to see him. Dr. Harlow was able to put much of Phineas’s skull back and was able to sew up his head. Dr. Harlow attempted to feel Phineas’s head to see if any skull fragments had been lodged within his brain. Feeling that there were none Dr. Harlow watched Phineas for a while. Phineas’s wound continued to bleed for a few days before it became infected and he fell into a semi-comatose state. Dr. Harlow treated the infection and Phineas’s condition improved. It seemed that Phineas had made a full recovery from an accident that should have killed him. He had fully recovered physically. However, mentally he had been changed forever. Phineas had become unlike who he was before. He could not follow through with plans anymore and he would speak insults and profanity often. He was said to have animalistic tendencies. The company he had been working for couldn’t tolerate the new person he had become, and were forced to fire him. Without this job, Phineas became unemployed. He wandered around New England, finally finding jobs cleaning out stables. Eventually he found employment near family in San Francisco where he developed seizures, which eventually killed him.
Since Phineas’s accident there have been many researchers who have tried to discover exactly which parts of the brain were affected in the accident. We believe that Phineas’s frontal cortex was injured during his accident, including his prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex. We have discovered that the prefrontal cortex controls our inhibitions, while our orbitofrontal cortex affects our emotions. Still, other less famous cases that are similar to Phineas’s prove to us that we don’t fully understand the brain. There is a case of a soldier who sustained frontal lobe injuries from the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Initially, this soldier was fully paralyzed on the left side and had lost some of his memory. Fortunately for the soldier, he eventually made a full recovery. In 1822, another young soldier had shrapnel exploded through his forehead. 33 pieces of bone and metal were removed from his frontal lobe. He was bandaged up and had no memory loss. It was reported that none of his symptoms were related to his head injury and he was completely rational throughout his time in the hospital. After a few months his wound had closed and he had fully recovered. It was never reported that he had undergone any mental or personality changes. There were two other cases that dealt with soldiers, however neither had any severe injuries. Instead these soldiers had much smaller injuries and didn’t take as long to recover. It seems that Phineas was a strange case when it came to his drastic personality change. However, it is possible that these soldiers did not have people around them who could tell the difference between them before and after the accident. Being soldiers, they also would have had more factors to changing personalities, making it hard to point to a specific cause. It is also possible that Phineas’ doctors exaggerated his personality change.
4) http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/phineas-gage-neurosciences-most-famous-patient-11390067/?no-ist.I chose this website because it shared an interesting story about the people who found a picture of Phineas Gage. I used this website to find what happened during the accident and what Phineas was like after the accident.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1114479/. I chose this website because it gave a detailed account on how Phineas acted after the accident. I used this website to understand what happened after the accident and what parts of Phineas’s brain were damaged during the accident.
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/08/28/the-curious-case-of-phineas-gage-and-others-like-him/. I chose this website because it gave more cases of injuries to the frontal lobe. I used this website to find more cases that were similar to Phineas’s.
http://bigpictureeducation.com/brain-case-study-phineas-gage I used this website to refresh my mind on Phineas and his accident and it helped me expand on the topic.
5) Phineas Gage, personality, prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, emotions, frontal lobe.