Mirror Neurons

The  topic  in  my  blog  entry  today  is  to  discuss  a  little  more  information  about  mirror  neurons. I  think  that  like  Skye  Ontiveros  mentions  on   The  Passion  Project,” Scientists  have  discovered  something  in  the  brain  called  mirror  neurons  that  are  triggered  when  we  see  someone  doing  something  that  we  have  done  before.”(7)  We  can  also  relate  this  to  how  there  are  many  ways  of  learning. In  today’s  schools  we  have  a  variety  of  people  that  learn  in  different  ways. It  might  be  due  to  how  the  mirror  neurons  transmit  information  to  the  neurotransmitters  or  the  dopamine  amount  that  is  released  when  learning. Humans  learn  by  practice. It  is  also  easier  to  remember  things  that  we  have  experienced  in  previous  times. When  we  have  a  simple  conversation  with  a  friend  we  can  relate  to  some  of  the  experiences  that  he  or  she  might  be  telling  us  and  instantly  remember  the  feeling  that  we  felt  when  we  were  in  a  similar  situation. Ontiveros  also  mentions  how  feelings  are  contagious. When  we  have  a  problem  we  usually  tell  a  friend. That  friend  usually  tries  to  make  us  feel  better  by  cheering  us  up. On  some  occasions  this  might  work.  The  good  feelings  are  passed  to  us. In  the  same  manner, bad  feelings  are  also  transmitted  to  us. For  example  on  a  Rule  of  Three  paper  that  I  did  on  class, I talk  about  bulling  in  schools. When  a  victim  of  a  bully  sees  the  bully, she  experiences  anxiety  and  a  feeling  similar  to depression. The  bully  senses  the  fear  in  the  victim  and  like  dopamine  is  released  into  the  bad  student’s  blood  system  into  the  mid  brain, the  bully  is  feeling  excitement  about  having  control  over  a  situation. The  person  in  control  might  also  have  this  behavior  to  please  others  or  to  mimic  other’s  behavior. In  an  article  about  a  social  experiment  that  tests  how  people  will  rather  hurt  their  fellows  rather  than  disobey  an  authority,  Stanley  Milgram  mentions  the  following; “For  many  people, obedience  is  a  deeply  ingrained  behavior  tendency, indeed  a  potent  impulse  overriding  training  in  ethics, sympathy, and  moral  conduct.”  This  is  true  for  in  a  bully’s  case. I  personally  think  that  as  humans  we  tend  to  mimic  bad  conduct  to  gain  power  over  a  situation. For those  of  us  that  are  able  to  fight  it  off,  we  develop  sympathy  towards  others  and  we  protect  their  emotional  well  been.  In  a  conference  held  in  San  Francisco, Ca  with  the  title  Being  Human,  neuroscientist  V.S. Ramachandran  mentions  how  mirror  neurons  are  probably  involved  in  empathy  for  pain. He  also  says  that  if  we  really  and  truly  empathize  with  someone  else’s  pain, we  need  to  experience  it  ourselves. That  is  what  the  mirror  neurons  are  doing, allowing  us  to  empathize  with  another person’s  pain. In  the  same  way,  a  teacher  can  sympathize  with  her  or  his  students  by  bonding  and  relating  to  their  personal  thoughts.  The  same  goes  to  the  students.  We  can  achieve  a  disciplinary  way  of  learning  by  letting  our  mirror  neurons  reflect  what  is  taught  by  others  in  a  productive  way.

Introduction

Hello everyone I am having so much fun creating my blog space. I like the idea of choosing colors for my blog title, blog description and even my links.

I want to start by first mentioning some of the things that I am very passionate about. What it really is of importance in my world. I say my world because I highly believe that even though we share only one planet, each individual person is a world because we all have different thoughts and beliefs. In my “world” my family is of great importance. As a matter of fact my entire universe is surrounded by decisions that have to do with my family. My family consists of my kids and husband. In every decision that I make I think of them. They move me to do things that if it wasn’t for them been in my life; I don’t think that I can do. It’s like my driving force that in my subconscious pushes me around in life. I always want to improve. Improving to me means growing as individual and opening opportunities in life. That is why I decided to continue my education. I feel that I have gathered the job skills to provide for my family, but my degree will highly help me grow in a better position in my job, an excellent example for my kids, and a difference in the life of people that surround me.  I hope to improve my writing and comprehension of material read at a college level. I know it is not easy, but with my family’s support, I can achieve my goal.