Brain, Body, and Mind, Essay Example

Evidence from research and literature that some aspects of personality are related to activity in the brain

Psychologists have it that the several varieties in human personalities fall into five personality traits. First among the traits is neuroticism, which involves how moody an individual is. Second among these traits are extraversion, which affects how enthusiastic an individual is. The third trait is openness, which involves how open-minded an individual is. The fourth trait is agreeableness, which involves altruism in an individual. The fifth trait is conscientiousness, which requires self-control in an individual (Jones, 2021). The UK, Italy, plus the US involving 500 individuals, analyzed the brain. Their focus was on the cortical anatomy of the brain. Here, the assessment involved looking at the exterior brain layer. Three measures were applied. First, the researchers used the thickness measure while they used the area as the second measure. The third was cortex folding. The researchers then analyzed how the criteria transmit to the personality traits presented above. From the study above, the researchers established that increased thickness plus reduced area, combined with the folding of the prefrontal-temporal cortices in the brain frontage, may influence developing neuropsychiatric disorders: reduced thickness plus increased area combined with prefrontal cortices folding influenced openness. Psychologists link openness to curiosity, novelty, and creativity.

Challenges

Linking brain structure to personality traits is vital in understanding brain activity and an individual’s personality. The challenge in this process comes from the fact that it is essential to establish brain structure plus activities in fit individuals to guide discovering the uniqueness in individuals with personality disorders.

Biology & Cognitive Psychology

How psychologists have tried to understand working memory through experimental research

Working memory has fascinated psychologists for a long time. One experimental research they have conducted the facet is the multi-component working memory model. Here, the psychologists suggest that working memory involves short-term memory, which only provides short-term information storage. They instead suggest that working memory involves a multi-component system. The system influences information storage necessary in great and multifaceted cognitive utility. For efficiency, the system uses three components. First is the phonological loop, which is the spoken or verbal working memory (Davies, 2021). The second is the visual-spatial sketchpad that uses the visual-spatial working memory. The third is the central executive that entails the control system props to attention. There is, however, an additional component called an episodic buffer. The element is a provisional storage system responsible for modulating and integrating diverse sensory information.

The second experimental research approach taken by psychologists is the embedded-processes model. This approach focuses on the function that long-term memory has. It also addresses how attention facilitates the functioning of the working memory. The research explains the importance of considering stimuli. It emphasizes the importance of assessing the functional memory competence to identify work memory. Psychologists suggest that one can conceptualize working memory as an interim storage section containing a capability frontier that depends heavily on attention (Jones, 2021). The frontier also depends heavily on other innermost executive processes, which draw on stocked up information and act together with the long-term memory. Here, interim, lasting, plus working memory relates through a hierarchy. The lasting memory has a transitional subset of stimulated long-term memory, which is the interim storage component. Working memory is, however, in the compartment of stimulated lasting memory, receiving current attention.

The third experimental research is the alternative models. Progressive research has influenced psychologists in developing alternative models. One unconventional representation is the time-based resource-sharing mock-up. The model suggests that the working memory’s competence plus the cognitive load is a fruit of the attention an individual awards to the present task. From the experiment, mental resources assigned to a task, plus the allocation’s time interval, influenced success levels in an individual’s performance in the task. The experiment further revealed that, compared to short-term memory, working memory entails higher-order processing. Despite both working and interim memories lasting for a short while, working memory engrosses cognitive decision-making controls. The occurrence is, however, not the case with short-term memory.

How psychologists have tried to understand working memory through neuropsychological case studies

Because of the cognitive conceptualization developed by the experiments above, psychologists carry out case studies embarking upon their working memory fascination. Some means used by psychologists include decoding the existence of the working memory at neuronal levels. Another approach is to propose additional theoretical models relating to neuronal activities and the patterns of brain activation. For instance, psychologists examined oral working memories separately from the visual-spatial working memories (Davies, 2021). Here, the psychologists documented the difference in the two memory structures using studies relating to patients living with overt interim storage impairment in diverse oral plus visual tasks. The findings of the case study above influenced the development of associations plus dissociations props to diverse working memory structures. An example includes associations plus dissociations on phonological loops or the visual-spatial sketchpad.

Through these case studies, psychologists have established that oral and acoustic information activates the Broca plus Wernicke areas. The psychologists also add that visual-spatial information occurs within the hemisphere located to the right of the brain. Many case studies support the frontoparietal network as the neural network for working memory. The frontoparietal network entails PAR (the parietal cortex), DLPFC (the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), and ACC (the anterior cingulate cortex). Through the case studies, the psychologists identify DLPFC as contributory to tasks requiring decision-making control. Examples of such tasks include integrating information to decide. Other examples of tasks relying heavily on DLPFC are information updating plus maintaining and manipulating stored information and relating it to taxing heaps. The capacity limit provides an appropriate example of a taxing heap.

Several case studies by psychologists show that ACC takes the role of controlling attention. It evaluates every need for modification or alteration of the information received by basing it on each task’s demands. Psychologists have concluded through the findings from different case studies that PAR is the workspace props to sensory and perceptual processing. The findings from these case studies have influenced psychologists in concluding that working memory entails practical incorporation of the entire brain. Psychologists suppose that giving a representation of the working memory’s multi-component attribute provides insight into the well-designed working memory segregation.

How psychologists have tried to understand attention through experimental research

Attention is another element that fascinates psychologists. Because of this fascination, psychologists have carried out several experimental pieces of research. Their findings have guided in defining diverse attention types. The definitions borrow from the task’s nature. For instance, remaining alert was a requirement in World War II (Jones, 2021). The soldiers had to watch radar screens to spot enemy planes. Following World War II events, psychologists sort to establish the role of attention in such conditions and how it works. In events that are rare to an individual, one can consent to concentration lagging. This describes the case of present-day TSA agents. The agents engage in watching images props to carry-on items of individuals. Here, they search for knives and other weapons such as guns. Psychologists through experimental research have described this attention type as vigilance. They also sometimes call it sustained attention.

Another form of attention that psychologists define through findings of experimental research is divided attention. Here, the emphasis is on how best an individual can deal with several information sources at once. Following advancements in experimental research, psychologists realized an individual can focus on a section of their environment but still move their attention to additional locations within that environment. For this attention type, psychologists named it spatial attention. The events presented above narrate a situation where the forms of attention incorporate selection. One can allude to this as selective attention considering that an individual is attending to some information and intentionally blocking out other information. Considering the selective element, psychologists have been focusing their experimental research on uncovering four things. First is whether people can attend to different information sources jointly? The second is how people select the things they should allocate their attention to. The third goes on with the information that people attempt to ignore. Fourth is whether people can gain skills in dividing attention between several tasks?

Psychologists describe selective attention as the competence to decide on specific stimuli within the environment to process and disregard distracting information. A better approach to describing this occurrence is through situations requiring attention, such as a party. At parties, people are in crowds. There are many colors, sounds, or smells. An individual will select a single conversation to follow despite the many conversations going on. Here, the individual does not require watching the speaker. It could be a scenario where one is listening to gossip, pretending to listen to another conversation. However, the flip side to the scenario is that when one engages in a dialogue with someone, they quickly become unable to listen to additional discussions simultaneously. The individual will no longer notice the tightness of their shoes or the smell of the flowers. If someone, however, calls their name, they will immediately notice and attend to it. The events above describe a situation that has made attention a subject of fascination for psychologists and inspired experimental research.

How psychologists have tried to understand attention through neuropsychological case studies

Attention involves processing stimuli. Here, stimuli could be internal or external. For internal stimuli, one can stimulate their stored sensory plus perceptual or conceptual representations. An individual can see, feel, perceive sound, smell, or taste stimuli presented to them. Using neuropsychological case studies, psychologists attempt to unravel how the brain implements triage processes. Concerning attention, psychologists task the brain of humans with four essential decisions. The first decision involves deciding when to kick off attention towards a specific stimulus. The second decision is when it should continue attending to the stimulus. The third decision is when it should stop attending to the stimulus. The fourth decision is when it should not attend to a stimulus.

For the decisions above, the human brain requires mediating the functions. Psychologists have, however, identified through neuropsychological case studies that some diseases may cause brain dysfunction props to the decisions above. The events lead to inattention or unawareness and eventually neglect. Examples of such diseases include stroke, traumatic injury to the brain, and other general illnesses. Normal aging also counts to affecting brain functioning. To understand attention and its role from this angle, psychologists use case studies. They start by looking at the models that currently exist on cognitive psychology and behavior. Psychologists first establish how the models emerged to facilitate incorporating them into case studies. Among the models is Treisman’s Attenuation model (Jones, 2021). The findings of the case studies props to the model reveal surprising results. For instance, one can attend to meaningful information without paying attention. Here, the psychologists’ evidence shows that people monitor to some measure unattended information by basing on their meaning.

Another attractive model is the late selection model. Psychologists also allude to the model as the response selection model. The theory presents that the brain processes unattended information basing on its meaning. It, however, adds that the information one requires responding to the present task receives conscious awareness. The case studies by the psychologist following this model conclude the model is popularizing subliminal perception. This is where the brain processes the meaning of a message without the individual attending to the message.

References

Davies, D. P. (2021). Cognitive Neuropsychology. Live Session.

Davies, D. P. (2021). Memory models. Live Session.

Davies, D. P. (2021). Memory processes. Live Session.

Jones, D. A. (2021). Affective Neuroscience. Middlesex University London.

Jones, D. A. (2021). Attention. Middlesex University London.

Jones, D. A. (2021). Cognition and Individual differences-Week 21. Middlesex University London.

Jones, D. A. (2021). Object recognition & Agnosia. Middlesex University London.