The purpose of this chapter was to break down the organization of the brain starting from the neuron all the way up to complex bodily systems. There are so many intricate details within this chapter and I am happy to have a background in biology so that all of the information was not brand new. I am very familiar with the cell diagram, the story of Phineas Gage, and the four parts of the Cerebral cortex. What I found most fascinating in this chapter was Gazzaniga and Sperry's study on split-brain patients and their confirmation that the brain used contralateral control. It's interesting to me how some things like language and visual-spatial processing are designated to specific sides while things like ethical judgement require both hemispheres. It makes sense though, simple tasks do not require as much as tackling an ethical dilemma.
One thing I absolutely did not know prior to the reading was the story of the first vaccination or how the word vaccination initially came about. Dr. Edward Jenner was one observant fellow to say the least and I am surprised the boy's mother allowed Dr. Jenner to inject her son with the cowpox virus. Our immune system's and the intensive memory for pathogens is truly incredible.
I also found the study on split-brain patients quite intriguing! It's become pretty clear to me that patients with brain damage are the ones that end up providing researchers with amazing discoveries about the brain. Gazzaniga and Sperry were able to discover so much about brain lateralization from seizure split-brain patients.
ReplyDeleteI also did not know about the discovery of vaccinations prior to reading. You're right, Dr. Jenner must have been a really observant guy! I'm sure others thought Dr. Jenner was crazy for injecting someone with a virus at the time. This discovery taught us so much about the immune system.
ReplyDelete