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Sasha's picture

refection

Grrrr... I just lost my entire post. This is what I wrote to the best of what I can remember:

Looking back on our discussions it's clear that consciousness and subjectivity thread through every topic. From topics such as love to memory, how we consciously and subjectively interpret the world is of great interest to us. Figuring out how individuals perceive the world is perhaps the holy-grail of neurological discovery. We long for an answer to questions such as- can a person tell another person if they (the other person) are in love or not or when Stephen Wiltshire draws a detailed skyline of Manhattan, does he see the same thing i see? Is the blue I see the same as the blue you see? Is the way I interpret language and grammar the same as you interpret it, is that how and why we are able to communicate or is there perhaps a communication gap that we choose to ignore- is it possible that we aren't actually fully expressing our thoughts and our feelings to others? These are questions that perhaps may never be answered, nevertheless we should still keep searching and exploring the brain for answers, even if the answers will inevitably be subjective, that's how the brain works.

Further investigation:

memory and learning- i am interested in how memory effects learning and in particular if "photographic" memory is actually conducive to a meaningful understanding and interpretation of what is being memorized and recalled. I would be really interested to see if after Stephen Wiltshire draws one of his detailed panoramas of a major city if he could then find his way around the city without the use of a map etc. Does memorization lead to understanding? How does eidetic memory effect imagination?

depression and anxiety- The CDC's website states that 1 in 5 americans suffers from mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. While that statistic is not surprising, still for 20% of our population to suffer from this disorder seems very high. I would be interested in comparing the presence of depression in america to the presence of depression and anxiety in other populations. Clearly there are issues on how depression is diagnosed in different countries, but perhaps comparing MRI's of individuals who have been diagnosed with depression or anxiety world wide could contribute to a greater pool of knowledge of how depression is manifested in the brain and could lead to a better understanding of how to not only treat depression and anxiety but also perhaps help determine environmental and social changes that need to be made in order to reduce the presence of depression and anxiety.

neuroplasticity- The brains ability to rewire itself is amazing. Further research into how the brain is capable of changing and compensating for a loss in normal functioning would be beneficial in many ways. Not only would further investigation into neuroplasticity help shed light on how the brain works, we could then perhaps use the brains ability to re-mold itself to treat disorders or disabilities that people are born with or develop by manipulating the brain to change in very specific ways. I guess that sounds a bit creepy, but you never know... it could improve lives?

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