Category: Neurobiology
20 Psychology Myths
In society, many myths concerning various branches of psychology are commonplace. I would like to refute some of them and pass on knowledge in line with scientific research. You will also find out where some myths come from and why they are so popular.
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Savant syndrome – unusual abilities due to disability?
The twins John and Michael were able to say what happened and what was the weather every day of their lives, since they were four years old. They were able to repeat even a 300-digit number and specify what was or will be the day of the week on any day of the 40 000 […]
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Therapeutic hallucinogens
Already in the 50’s it was noted that psychedelic drugs, also called hallucinogens may have a therapeutic effect. Some studies of these years have shown that these substances can be helpful in treating addiction and alleviate the psychological suffering of terminally ill patients. In the 60’s, researchers in the US found that LSD and DPT given […]
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Why it is worth to sleep
For those who believe that it is a waste of life to sleep, because “they will sleep after death” – a new article. About why it is better though to have enough sleep during life. Lack of sleep negatively affects mood, motivation, social and emotional skills, communication skills, creativity, memory, decision-making ability, immune system, cardiovascular system and even […]
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Near Death Experiences
Probably everyone has heard from more or less reliable sources about people who have survived clinical death and their stories about watching their body from the top, the light in the tunnel, and other mysterious experiences. Some argue that these experiences are proof of life after death, others treat such stories as fairy tales, and yet […]
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What causes migraine?
The cause of migraine may be malfunctioning of the brain stem nuclei, which are responsible for inhibition of trigeminal nerve, which in turn causes migraine. The brain stem can also cause so-called cortical spreading depression (CSD) associated with aura, which in some patients precedes the attack.
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Neurobiology of empathy
Psychology distinguishes between two types of empathy. From the perspective of emotions empathy is the ability to empathize emotional states of other people, but from the cognitive perspective – the ability to understand the beliefs, feelings and intentions of others. Empathy is a complex process, which involves at least two paths: “bottom-up” and “top-down”. The […]
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The stress response
The two main biological systems involved in stress response, ie. the sympathetic system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), I described in the article Biology of stress. Now a little bit more about corticoliberin, as well as the locus coeruleus in the brainstem, dopaminergic and serotonergic system and the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Corticoliberin (Corticotropin-releasing hormone […]
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What you will not learn about the nervous system at school
The article presents facts about the functioning of the nervous system, according to the latest research, but not necessarily consistent with the information from textbooks. Only neurons generate the action potential – False According to the textbook knowledge, neurons’ function is to transmit information in the form of electrical stimuli (action potential), and function of […]
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Skydiving prevents depression?
French scientists based on skydivers research published in 1999, found that sensation seeking can be an adaptive response to anhedonia, ie. an inability to experience pleasure. The creator of the theory of sensation seeking stated that the physiological basis of sensation seeking is the optimal level of arousal – in patients that achieve high scores in this scale […]
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