Introduction to Retinopathy Condition Retinopathy is a medical condition characterized by damage to the retina, the light-sensitive layer of tissue located at the back of the eye. Essential for vision, the retina converts light into neural signals that are then interpreted by the brain. When the retina is compromised, it can lead to a range…
CHANGES IN PERFORMANCE Nevertheless, some decline in brain function is inevitable as we age. The first system to show its age is memory. Brains begin requiring more time to learn and store information in late middle age. At the same time, the prefrontal cortex experiences a drop in its ability to hold information in so…
A MATURE VISION SHE WAS BORN on a New York farm before the Civil War, when high technology meant steam railroad engines and telegraph lines. By the time of her death, America had sent rockets into space. In between those events, Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses learned to adapt, not only with the changing times…
EMOTIONAL CONTROL Further research indicated a difference between adults and children in their ability to lessen emotional responses. Mario Beauregard of the University of Montreal demonstrated the importance of age in emotional control with a two-part experiment. In the first part, he performed fMRIs on women between ages twenty and thirty, and on girls between…
MATURITY – FINDING BALANCE AS THE BRAIN AGES AFTER ADOLESCENCE, the brain transitions into adulthood. A fully functioning prefrontal cortex is the highest expression of the human brain. The balance of reason and emotion marks the emergence of the adult brain. Only in functional adulthood does society expect a person to have the ability to…
JOHN NASH’S LONG JOURNEY ECONOMIST and mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr., started hearing things when he was young. He became convinced that aliens were communicating through the New York Times, and he rambled through Europe in a vague quest of becoming a refugee. At Princeton University he scribbled late into the night on blackboards, earning…
SCHIZOPHRENIA – RESEARCH & TREATMENT [ WAVES OF CHANGES ] RESEARCH & TREATMENT Research for treatment and a future cure focuses on imbalances of dopamine and other neurotransmitters in the brain’s neural networks. In particular, the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate is believed to play a significant role in schizophrenic episodes. Imbalances damage brain cells, and the…
ADHD – CAUSES & TREATMENTS [ WAVES OF CHANGES ] Research points to a lack of efficient dopamine use in the brain of those with ADHD. Medications such as Ritalin, Cylert, and Dexedrine increase the amount of dopamine and other neurotransmitters, either through introducing more of them into the synapses or inhibiting their reuptake so…
SIGNS OF ADHD [ WAVES OF CHANGES – AN ADOLESCENT BRAIN ] Children with ADHD typically squirm and cannot sit still, have trouble playing quietly, have difficulty managing their time, talk all the time, fail to focus on the details of their school lessons, and are easily distracted. The disorder usually appears before age seven,…
ATTENTION DEFICITS [ WAVES OF CHANGES – AN ADOLESCENT BRAIN ] Much scientific research has historically focused on the brain of infants as they begin to develop their mental abilities, and on diseases that begin to sap the brain power of elderly. Only recently has the adolescent and teenage brain gotten its proper due. Neuroscientists…