waldentwo

PTSD doesn’t just impact emotions, it can really affect how your brain works day-to-day. People with PTSD often struggle with memory, focus, and decision-making. This happens because trauma changes how the brain processes information, especially in areas like the amygdala (which controls fear), the hippocampus (which helps with memory), and the prefrontal cortex (which helps with reasoning and emotional control). For example, someone with PTSD might have trouble remembering details from a conversation or find it hard to concentrate in class. They may also overreact to small triggers, like a loud sound or a certain smell, because their brain is stuck in “survival mode.” Their memory might also become selective, remembering the traumatic event very clearly but struggling with day-to-day memory. I read that PTSD can actually shrink the hippocampus, which helps explain why memory issues are so common. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, this cognitive impact can interfere...

          Every job that our brain serves needs sleep. Whether it is for memory formation, understanding the world around us, or learning! All of these jobs require rest, just like the rest of our body. So, how does not getting enough sleep have impacts on these things, more specifically on our brain and learning? Cornell University included some positive impacts of sleep on learning. This includes decreased forgetting, greater athletic performance, and improved insight. The negative impacts of sleep deprivation includes cognitive impairments and susceptibility to memory errors. In the area of learning, this means that if you don’t sleep enough, you will have a very hard time learning, encoding, and remembering new information. For college students, many times at the end of the semester, it is accepted that the most important thing for them to do is study for finals, stay up all night writing papers, and not prioritize your sleep. However, students should k...

  Have you ever caught yourself repeating a trending sound, buying something that everyone is talking about, or even attempting to learn a TikTok dance? This might be due to the idea of observational learning theory. This theory describes how people learn new behaviors just by merely watching others. On an app like TikTok, when a video goes viral, viewers may be motivated to attempt to copy it in hopes of becoming viral too. A psychological term to describe this would be vicarious reinforcement, in which a person learns a behavior by watching another person being rewarded for it. The topic of observational learning explains exactly why trends catch on. It’s very interesting to see how fast a trend can build up and grow to which then leads to the end of it. This can even be seen with music as the start everyone loves, and then eventually, when it becomes overplayed, everyone suddenly hates it. Trends are a never-ending cycle, it feels like, as one dies off and another one is created...

       If you have ever given someone a compliment on their shoes, or on their hairstyle, you may have noticed that you feel really good afterwards. Why is that? The easy way to understand this would be that you take pride in making someone else's day better. But what is the cognitive science behind it? In a post by PhD candidate Suzanne van de Groep, she included that a recent study attempted to answer this question. Through the use of MRI, they found that " receiving compliments led to similar activation in reward areas of the brain, such as the striatum, as receiving monetary gifts" (Groep, 2018). She explains how this describes why people will choose to give back to others rather than receive monetary rewards, because it gives the individual similar cognitive experiences.      Receiving praise has also shown to help us learn better. When you were in grade school and your teacher told you to "keep up the good work" or "I love how you wrote that para...

    There is no doubt that in the past decade there has been a huge increase in how often we are looking at a screen. Whether this is on our computers or our phones, digital addiction is a very real problem experienced by many. The increase use of social media also plays a big role in this addiction. Our brains are wired to continue to do things that we are rewarded for (positive reinforcement). Social media leverages our brain's reward system which keeps us engaged for hours each day.      This is especially concerning when looking at how many teenagers are addicted to their phones. This may have effects on our brains development which we still are not away of. Jefferson health writes "a   recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) revealed that teens who use social media more than three hours per day may be at heightened risk for mental health problems" (Miller, 2022). Teenagers are more at risk because their bra...

  Do you ever see an item of clothing that only looks luxurious when a celebrity is wearing it, or maybe why a certain sneaker brand only looks cool when an athlete endorses it? It’s not just about marketing, it’s all about the idea of higher-order conditioning. This occurs when a potential brand attaches a product to a certain celebrity's face that we are a fan of. Eventually, we end up liking the product or even buying it just because of this. It could be anything like makeup, watches, shoes, or even food products, but we only feel drawn to it due to who it’s associated with. For instance, there are Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty and SKIMS by Kim Kardashian. Many might not even have an interest in any of these products, but the endorser is the one that lures them in. This has become even more heightened due to TikTok and influencers attempting to well … influence you to buy certain things. When we see a famous face or even just the face of someone we love, our brain ends up wanting to d...

  Everyone makes goals in their life, whether they’re weekly goals or New Year’s resolutions that they might actually follow through with if they don’t forget. Whether the goal is “go to the gym” or “be more productive,” a goal is a goal, and whether you stick to it is up to you. That brings us back to the question at hand: how do you actually stick to your goals? Goal success comes down to managing your environment, consequences, and expectations around your behavior. Certain goals, like losing weight, take time, which can be difficult when one lacks patience. It’s important to use immediate reinforcers. For example, after working out, treat yourself to your favorite snack. This ties into the concept of operant conditioning, which involves using positive reinforcement to shape behavior. It’s also important to avoid temptation and take action early through the process of precommitment. For instance, if your goal is to study more, it’s best to eliminate distractions by placing you...

  Smells have a powerful effect on our brain because the part that processes smell is closely connected to areas that control emotions and memories. Unlike other senses, smell signals go straight to the brain’s emotional center (the amygdala) and memory center (the hippocampus) without first going through the usual relay station. This direct link is why a certain smell, like freshly baked cookies or your grandma’s perfume, can instantly bring back strong feelings or memories. This connection also means smells can influence how we feel and behave. For example, the smell of coffee might wake you up and make you feel alert, while the scent of lavender can help calm you down after a stressful day. Studies show pleasant smells can reduce stress and improve focus, while bad smells might make people feel anxious or distracted (Herz, 2016). Smells can also become linked to habits and cravings through classical conditioning. For instance, if someone always drinks alcohol in a bar that smell...

       If you are success-obsessed like me, you probably put a lot of pressure on yourself and struggle to prioritize yourself in the midst of your academic life. Doing well in school comes easy to some, but definitely not all, including me. As someone who strives to do my best, especially when it comes to earning grades, sometimes it is really hard to find the motivation. As a Registered Behavior Technician, I learned the ins and outs of positive reinforcement and its effectiveness, so I felt like I had this secret tool, I might as well use it! When life gets stressful, it is easy to withdraw yourself from things that previously brought you joy due to the wave of overwhelming-ness that you might feel. I found that positively reinforcing myself helps alleviate some of this heaviness when facing daily challenges, especially during the school year. Positive reinforcement has been scientifically proven to be effective in increasing positive behaviors. In this case, th...

       It is widely known that treatment for individuals with disabilities has not always been ethical. And some treatments today may still not be, but as a Registered Behavior Technician, I have seen first hand how Applied Behavior Analysis is very effective for individuals with intellectual disabilities and behavioral disorders. ABA therapy aims to increase the overall quality of life of those with behavioral issues by implementing behavior modification programs that are primarily based on the foundation of operant conditioning, or more specifically, positive reinforcement.      Utilizing positively reinforcing tools like token economies, verbal praise, tangible rewards, access to desired activities, etc. can really help individuals help manage and regulate their maladaptive behaviors and help turn them into adaptive behaviors. There are very clear ethical guidelines laid out by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), which oversees all offi...

  We have all been in elementary school with one kid who just can't seem to stay out of trouble. Maybe they always talk back to teachers, don’t complete their homework, or bully their peers. This kid comes to school already knowing that he is going to end up in the principal's office at least once that day. Maybe he has a tough home life, doesn't get a lot of sleep, isn’t eating nutritious meals, or even maybe facing adverse childhood experiences. Operant conditioning can come to save the day and help put this “bad kid” back on the right path behaviorally. Operant conditioning is a learning technique that includes one of the most important aspects of learning: positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is when you add something to help increase a behavior. When kids act up in school, they are most likely going to receive negative or positive punishment for their behavior. For example, if a student talks back to their teacher, the teacher may send them to the principal...

     Ever texted a crush? A friend who owes you money? A long-lost friend you wish to get in contact with again and never got anything more than silence? You’re just trying to continue the conversation as it slowly dies out then one day without a response becomes a week, into months then they seem to disappear which is when you stop, not because you want to but because your brain is wired to extinct the behavior. The way your brain exhibits this is that your text is the behavior, the reinforcement is the person texts you back and then the change is that the person stops responding. Your brain reacts negatively and realizes this no response affects your dopamine levels. You keep trying hoping for a response, this is called an extinction burst which is a short last desperate attempt in effort before giving up and knowing this person isn’t responding anymore. After enough time passes, your brain fully gives up and the behavior of you texting is extinguished.    ...

    Have you ever thought “I wonder what my dog thinks about my neighbor’s dog?” or at a petting zoo wondering how the goats know when to eat? It is common knowledge that any non-human species derive making use of physical resources, learning from environmental impacts, and even evolutionary changes from humans as it is taught globally in school but what about cognitive processes? Comparative cognition is evidence that non-human species can solve problems, remember solutions and exhibit different intelligences just as humans can. People believed that these processes could only be found in humans but it was never thought to also be as simple for us to use cognitive processes as it would be for non-human species. Non-human species use different aspects of ecology, ethology, cognitive science, developmental psychology, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and so many more fields of studies to work together to form their cognitive processes. A specific non-human species that y...

Parties and social settings often come with lots of triggers that make people want to drink, even if they don’t have a serious drinking problem. A study by Van Dyke and Fillmore (2015) showed that just seeing alcohol-related cues like, pictures or objects connected to drinking can make social drinkers work harder to get alcohol. When exposed to these cues, people responded more strongly to earn drinks compared to neutral cues like food. Plus, those who regularly drank more were even more influenced by these reminders. This is a clear example of classical conditioning: the party environment (a neutral stimulus) becomes linked with alcohol use (the unconditioned stimulus), causing a conditioned response, craving or wanting to drink, whenever the cues are present. Knowing this helps explain why breaking habits around drinking can be so tough and highlights the importance of managing environmental triggers. Source: Van Dyke, N., & Fillmore, M.T. (2015). Operant Responding for Alcohol F...

    Daily, we all make more mistakes than we can even count on our fingers. Something as simple as saying the wrong answer in class, touching the hot stove after being told not to, misplacing your wallet, and tons more! This can make us all feel embarrassed in the moment, but your brain is built to learn from these mistakes. Using operant conditioning, mistakes provide negative feedback, allowing for adjustments to initial faults. In the operant process, the initial fault is not rewarded but can be slightly punished by having some points deducted from the answer, being burned after touching the stove, or losing an item you misplaced. The outcome from making a mistake and there being no reward shown can help prevent this mistake from happening again. Along with this, mistakes provide corrective feedback, which means the person making the mistake uses constructive feedback they receive to allow the right answer/reasoning to be drilled into their brains.      ...

 Elisabeth Jacoby You all probably know the severity of nicotine addictions in the younger population- what if before the addictive chemical hits the brain the addiction is already prevalent.  Classical conditioning works in interesting ways; there is an unconditioned stimulus(US) producing an unconditioned response(UR) all while the neutral stimuli(NS) is paired with an unhealthy addiction.  The nicotine(US) causes the body to feel relaxed(UR).  The flavor and color of the bubblegum vape(NS), "looking cool" is paired with the nicotine.   Nicotine addictions in teens are shaped by the associations built due to classical conditioning, alongside the addictive chemical.  A conditioned stimulus leads to a conditioned response.  In this sense the flavor and color of the vape or maybe the people who they vape with(CS) provide a stronger craving/urge to indulge when they face these stimuli.   In an article I read it states, "When an addicted te...

I can think of numerous times in the past where I've smelled a certain type of perfume or cologne and immediately thought of a specific person or relationship from my life. I'm sure many of you can say the same. This is one of many great, real-life examples of classical conditioning!  Classical conditioning is a type of unconscious or automatic learning that involves placing a neutral stimulus before a naturally occurring reflex. ( https://www.verywellmind.com/classical-conditioning-2794859 ). My high school boyfriend always wore the same cologne, which naturally led to me associating that scent with my experiences and emotions during that relationship. After we broke up, classical conditioning took place without me even realizing. Here's how it happened: Unconditioned Stimulus:  my boyfriend and the time we spent together (this naturally caused feelings of love, comfort, excitement, etc.) Unconditioned Response (UR):  the emotional reactions (love, joy, butterflies, etc....

Have you ever felt like no matter what you do, nothing changes, so you just stop trying altogether? If so, you have experienced learned helplessness. Learned helplessness occurs when a person who has experienced repeated challenges comes to believe that they have no control over their situation, which then leads to them accepting their fate and giving up trying to make changes. ( https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-learned-helplessness-2795326 ). The concept of learned helplessness is highly associated with animals, but it can also apply to human behavior. Personally, I have experienced it many times throughout my life. Starting about four years ago, I began to have excruciating pain in my shins whenever I would run. At first, I thought it was shin splints and would just let myself rest for weeks at a time. But whenever I tried to get back to running, the pain would return almost immediately. Over the course of the past four years, I went to six different doctors trying to get a diagn...

Since graduating high school, my time playing organized sports has come to an end and my focus has shifted to competing in triathlons. Over the past two years, I've watched my mom train for (and absolutely kill) two Ironman races, which has been a powerful example of social learning in my own life.  Albert Bandura developed social learning theory, which suggests that people learn by observing others ( https://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html ).  If you're unfamiliar, an Ironman is a race consisting of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run. It takes several months to get ready for and requires a lot of discipline. By observing my mom's training sessions, recovery routines, and how she was able to balance training, work, and her personal life, I was able to gain a lot of insight into what it takes to prepare for such a big race. I paid close attention to her habits, from things like nutrition and sleep to how she was able to push through the mental blocks t...