The Secret Life of the Brain Essay

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The Secret life of the Brain
The PBS special "The Secret Life of the Brain" took us through all different aspects of the brain and its formation through life. These five movies taught us that the brain is plastic and is always changing, cutting unused neurons and filling with different ideas and thoughts that you learn from your environment. The five videos go through the five stages of life; baby, child, teenager, adult and finally the aging brain.
The Baby's Brain: Wider than the Sky When you are born your brain is in taking all the different sounds and figures around you. Your brain was developing before you even arrived in the world that you are now aware of. After conception your brain starts to grow at a rapid rate; neural tubes …show more content…
The killing of the receptors causes you to lose joy in every aspect of your life. There was a boy in the movie that had become an alcoholic, with alcohol many think that it is a stimulant which in fact is not the case. In reading the book I found out that it is actually a depressant; the alcohol lessens inhibitions causing the self-control and judgment centers of the brain to be shut down. I thought that this was interesting due to the fact that I have been one of the people to think that it is a stimulant just because of the light-heartedness that people get at parties. Although some may become addicted to drugs other teens have mental disorders such as schizophrenia. Although this disorder can not be pointed at just one part of the brain it is seen that there is a change in how the brain functions. Someone who has schizophrenia may become emotionless, causing many to go into depression sometimes even taking their own lives. From the video I also learned that schizophrenia is an over productions of the dopamine levels in your brain. I found this disease to be heart wrenching due to the fact that my neighbor, due to drugs, had hallucinations and it was a to point that it was scary to be with her. She was talking about other people standing with us, talking to her, but she is off of that medication, to my relief.
The Adult Brain: To Think While Feeling After the pressures of teenage life pass the pressures of adulthood set in; taking care of a
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