Brain and Behavior Institute, 2003

BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR INSTITUTE 2003

Forum 7- Inhibition and inhibitions ...

Name:  Paul Grobstein
Username:  pgrobste@brynmawr.edu
Subject:  starting week 2
Date:  2003-07-14 08:15:12
Message Id:  5941
Comments:
Hope you thought at least a bit about brain and behavior this weekend? Leave a few notes about what you're thinking about where we've been? where we need to go next? Whatever comes to mind. But if you need a stimulus (do you REALLY?):

Where we ended friday was with the idea that there's lots of inhibition in the nervous system. Does that make you think differently about behavior, yours and other people's? About the classroom?

Name:  Linda M
Username:  Anonymous
Subject:  monday AM
Date:  2003-07-14 09:06:12
Message Id:  5942
Comments:
1. From my summary of observations of middle school students and specifically my 5 year old nephew, I am very thankful the brain has some inhibitions.

2. Will we be doing anything that uses a construct to delineate ways in which people inherently use their brains differently?

Name:  Shellie
Username:  Anonymous
Subject:  Mon--second week
Date:  2003-07-14 09:14:54
Message Id:  5943
Comments:
Inhibitions--I never thought of the mind that way. This is definitely a way to look at all those "unmotivated student". I see so many students in my middle school that don't do anything. Teachers complain--they are lazy, they don't have motivation, they are slow, they don't care-- now I have agood answer for them. The students are inhibited. What are we to do to break that pattern? If I had the answer I would make a lot of teachers happy.

Name:  Regina
Username:  reginatoscani@hotmail.com
Subject:  Monday morning - 2nd wk.
Date:  2003-07-14 09:19:16
Message Id:  5944
Comments:
Thought about B&B and concluded that if I do have 2 minds, they are both tired. Still cannot decide on topic for TWIKI page.
About inhibitation neurons - Are these neurons slower to develop (or mature) than excititory neurons? I seem to remember that they are, and that is why young children need lots of time to run and move around. They have not develop the inhibitation neurons to control their actions.
If a person grows up with many external restrictions so that their inhibitation neurons are stronger (in what ever way) than their excititory neurons, will the person need more stimulus to produce behavior? Where is the "I" function in this example?

Name:  Regina
Username:  reginatoscani@hotmail.com
Subject:  Monday morning - 2nd wk.
Date:  2003-07-14 09:20:13
Message Id:  5945
Comments:
Thought about B&B and concluded that if I do have 2 minds, they are both tired. Still cannot decide on topic for TWIKI page.
About inhibitation neurons - Are these neurons slower to develop (or mature) than excititory neurons? I seem to remember that they are, and that is why young children need lots of time to run and move around. They have not develop the inhibitation neurons to control their actions.
If a person grows up with many external restrictions so that their inhibitation neurons are stronger (in what ever way) than their excititory neurons, will the person need more stimulus to produce behavior? Where is the "I" function in this example?

Name:  Pam
Username:  Anonymous
Subject:
Date:  2003-07-14 09:22:13
Message Id:  5946
Comments:
In response to the discussion on Friday, I wondered what would be the effectiveness of herbal supplements on the nervous system. Many people claim that St. John's Wort has helped in controlling depression.

Name:  Julie
Username:  Anonymous
Subject:  Friday Thoughts
Date:  2003-07-14 09:24:24
Message Id:  5947
Comments:
• When working with middle school kids it's a darn good thing that there is lots of inhibition in the nervous system but I have observed that they could use A LOT more.

• My six year old displays similar behavior as middle school students in terms of impulse control, attention span, moodiness, etc.

• I'd like to see us explore brain and behavior development in the elementary and middle school students.

Name:  Mo
Username:  Anonymous
Subject:  Inhibition
Date:  2003-07-14 09:26:09
Message Id:  5948
Comments:
Many new observations come into mind. First, the fact that unconscious learning in our students is underestimated. We tend to believe that children are aware of what is being learned. It never comes to mind that my students sometimes learn by accident. I always tell my class to be quiet because you might learn something accidently. Another new observation is that neurons are 99% inhibitory. If signals start in neurons and those neurons are mostly inhibitory then I am not responsible for most of the things that I might do! Does that apply to my students? No way.

Name:  Keith
Username:  Anonymous
Subject:  7/14/03
Date:  2003-07-14 09:28:49
Message Id:  5949
Comments:
Sorry about missing last Friday. Sometimes there are other situations that come up that the brain can't control. I am curious about the discussion from Friday.

Over the weekend I was thinking about O.C.D. (being that I know several people diagnosed with the "disorder" as well as the notion that maybe we are all a little compulsive about something). I find it curious that a person with the disorder can verbalize that they know something is not dirty or contaminated, but internally they cannot dissmiss the idea that it is. I find it to be very interesting because I cannot rationalize their line of thinking on the matter.

Name:  Miss Geneva E. Tolliferreo, M.
Username:  Anonymous
Subject:  Alcohol
Date:  2003-07-14 09:29:16
Message Id:  5950
Comments:
Good Morning!
In keeping with the theme from Friday...
Why does alcohol have an effect of 'loosing your inhibitions' after it has been consumed {at least after a reasonable portion}? Again, why do the effectss of alcohol and/or drugs manifest themselves in a negative, rather than normal/positive manner?

Name:  John Dalton
Username:  JD5258875@aol.com
Subject:  Inhibition
Date:  2003-07-14 09:30:52
Message Id:  5951
Comments:
Just as there is tremendous inhibition in the nervous system of the human organism, there is inhibition in the social organism that we loosely define as Culture. The complement to perceiving "Culture as Disability" would seem to be perceiving the "Lack of Culture as Disability." Both perspectives may possess their own truth.

Freud viewed the individual inexorably governed by a struggle with the reality principle. In his tripartitite model of the mind, primitive uninhibited impulses of the id were constrained within the ego by the culturally determined strictures of the superego. Inhibition seems to be a basic underlying principle that contributes to the manifold cultures that man establishes. I suspect that there's a necessity implicit in the operation of inhibition that allows the formation of the ego and what we term consciousness. Without it, there would be madness. The struggle is all, and we, both individually and collectively, resist the impositions of the reality principle. There would seem to be a continuum here, whereby differnet cultures may be viewed by the amount of accommodation with which they encourage resistance. Our culture is particularly open, and I sometimes wonder if it wasn't historically engrained through our rebellion against England.

Name:  Angie
Username:  Anonymous
Subject:  My thoughts
Date:  2003-07-14 09:32:05
Message Id:  5952
Comments:
Now that we are into our second week of this program, I feel that everyone (if not most of the people) feels comfortable in speaking out. To some degree, there is some reserve in sharing thoughts and how others will respond. Listening to others and understanding that it is okay to feel/think that we is a key factor in "expression." The atmosphere is better as each day goes along. To some degree I can't believe that it has only been one week that we have been in each others' company. I am not sure of who knew who before the start of the program.

Throughout the weekend I watched people around me and tried to decipher what "mind" controlled their actions. Watching what someone does first in response to something. Sometimes people say that they didn't mean to do something but they do it anyway. I observed a group of children at a birthday party this weekend. Quite interesting!

Name:
Username:  Anonymous
Subject:  Joyce
Date:  2003-07-14 09:35:08
Message Id:  5954
Comments:
Friday's Brain session was very interesting. I believe that understanding the biological causes will increse our ability to find ways to connect with children in our classes who are depressed or have ADHD. If nothing else, it certainly helps us to recognise the source of aberrant behaviors.

Name:  Lois
Username:  loismackey@yahoo.com
Subject:  Still Seeking Answers Without Having To Take The course
Date:  2003-07-14 09:35:55
Message Id:  5955
Comments:
Friday session was very interesting.I felt as though I was getting a lot more closer in getting some answers that I was seeking as an educator working with younger children.
We discussed depression a little,and Paul said that there were many forms of depression.I would like some more elaboration done on this topic, and of cause the "two minds", as well as the left and right side of the brain.
i am looking forward to once again having a informative week, as well as a interesting.

Name:  Randal Holly
Username:  kr092389@aol.com
Subject:  Behavior
Date:  2003-07-14 09:40:15
Message Id:  5956
Comments:
I have been thinking that perhaps what we perceive as behavior can be represented by the following equation:

Contributory or Noncontributory Actions - Inhibitive Ability = Behavior

I define contributory or noncontributory actions as anything an organism does that either improves or hinders its environmental position. These actions can be observable or not by other organisms.

Name:  Antoinette
Username:  tonisisco@aol.com
Subject:  Friday
Date:  2003-07-14 09:45:25
Message Id:  5957
Comments:
TWiki is still a foreign language to me, but it is getting easier/less overt.

Name:  Linda Slattery
Username:  Anonymous
Subject:  reflections on the brain
Date:  2003-07-14 10:01:29
Message Id:  5958
Comments:
I really got the impression that our brain was a "bundle of nerves", doing amazing things. It seemed to make sense that the majority of neurons were inhibitory, since that would most likely account for the tremendous varibility in behavior among humans, as well as within our individual experience. It gave new meaning to the term "out of Control". On the other side of the coin, inhibititory behavior keeps us from doing more - Positive creative stuff. This is an English majors interpretation of science.

As far as depression, it seems like an inevitable part of human experience. For as long as time, and written experience (poetry) there is evidence of melancholy". And we can see man's efforts to overcome it through drugs.

Name:  Linda Slattery
Username:  Anonymous
Subject:  reflections on the brain
Date:  2003-07-14 10:06:51
Message Id:  5959
Comments:
I really got the impression that our brain was a "bundle of nerves", doing amazing things. It seemed to make sense that the majority of neurons were inhibitory, since that would most likely account for the tremendous varibility in behavior among humans, as well as within our individual experience. It gave new meaning to the term "out of Control". On the other side of the coin, inhibititory behavior keeps us from doing more - Positive creative stuff. This is an English majors interpretation of science.

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