Rats demonstrate empathy

Rats demonstrate empathy
www.livescience.com/17378-rats-show-empathy,html
A study published in the December 8, 2010, issue of Science by
neuroscientist Peggy Mason from the University of Chicago found
rats exhibit empathy. The research team housed pairs of rats for two
weeks to let them create a friendly bond. Then they were placed in a
closed test arena daily with one rat free to roam and the other
enclosed in a clear tube that could only be opened from the outside.
The free rat was able to suppress its natural response or emotional
contagion to the caged rat's fear and began exploring the arena.
After an average of seven days, the free rat learned to free its friend
from the tube without any rewards involved. The free rat even released
the captive rat if it led into a separate arena. To the researchers surprise,
when the free rat was presented with a rat-holding container and a container
holding chocolate, the rat opened both containers and shared its
favorite snack. Empathy has been associated with humans and other
primates, but now research shows that rats are also capable of helping
other rats. Mason is not sure if the rats are acting to relieve their own
distress or the distress of their cage-mates, but would like to study
it further and determine if the rats would behave the same if they
were not cage-mates first.

Forgetting

Resource: http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/tp/explanations-for-forgetting.htm

There are a few ways that we as people will forget certain things. The best question is to ask why do we forget? Well there are four explanations. The first one is retrieval failure. Retrieval failure may stem from one of the forgetting theories called decay theory. This basically explains that if one does not spend practice or need the use of the information, it soon will decay and disappear from memory. The second way to forget is interference. This basically means that another memory or piece of information is bothering with your learning or recall. There are specifically two types, proactive interference and retroactive interference. Proactive means it is difficult to remember a new memory because something that you learned before is bother you. Retroactive means the opposite in which a new memory is blocking the way for an old memory to be remembered. The third time is a basic one. Sometimes it is a failure to store information that stops someone from remembering. The final type of forgetting is motivated forgetting. This speaks of suppression which is a conscious form and repressed is a unconscious form. It could be it is a traumatic event that makes this person motivated to forget the memory that haunts them.

Memories can be helpful or damaging. This little article gave me the basic information necessary to complete my curiosity, but if I were more interested I would need more information. Knowing the ways to forget can help us change reverse the effects and may be make sure we remember.

Personality Types

Resource: http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html

There have been ways to organize and build personality types. One of these ways is utilized by the Meyers Briggs Personality Test. It is called the Cognitive Style Inventory. They are a combination of four letter which create one type of personality, there are sixteen types of personality. One of the letter is Extraverted (E) vs Introverted (I). Extraverted is getting stimulus or energy from outside activities such as socializing, and Introverted is the opposite where getting energy is from one's ideas or thoughts. The second pair of choices is Sensing (S) vs Intuitive (N). Sensing is knowing what is there, and Intuitive is trying to understand why is it there. Basically sensing is taking it in and intuitive is an understanding trait. The third pair of letters is Thinking (T) vs Feeling (F). Thinking is when the part of us wants to deduce and use reason rather than feeling where our opinions and impacts from others may be used to make the decision. The last pair of letters is the Judging (J) vs Perceiving (P). Judging is a person who will more likely stay with a plan and stick to a hard schedule while the perceiving will be able to improvise or change or make something a long the way.

I found this website very interesting. Not only am I a fanatic about personality, but it interests me to see that personality can be organized. This knowledge may help someone get to the correct career for them. This can utilized to find a way to look for one's ups and downs, and then he or she can take advantage of a job where it will be easier for them. It can also be helpful for pointing who can be compatible, even just as friends and tell us why it seems like there the worst enemies of all time. Overall it can very interesting to know your personality.

Death & Dying

Death is something that will hit every person at some point in their life. Although some of us will die in ways out of our control, and most of us will not expect the moment of someones death. Still, death and dying can be seen in a healthy way. Understanding that people are different in how they think about death and dying, and respecting those differences, can create a peaceful death and a healthy manner of dying.

When someone dies it is most likely for family or friends to fulfull the dying person's wishes. If the person is dying from an illness, ideally, they will have already made decisions about how to live and die. If the requests they have asked for is made and does not seem practical to the caregiver, options should be raised with the dying individual to try to come up with anther request and still provide good care. If the dying individual has not been able to participate in making final plans, you should strive to do what this person would want.

If the individual is in a hospice, they might just want a natural death. In this situation, they will try to be there for them as much a possible for their final days and moments of life. Comforting family and friends around them and making each last moment the best will make the best kind of ending for them and will move toward a more natural kind of death.

B Vitamins and the Brain

Vitamin B is an excellent vitamin for improving brain function, growth, and even decrease the rate of brain damage. Certain varieties of B vitamins have shown to decrease the rate of brain damage in people with memory issues by roughly half, which is obviously a great ability. The only issue here is that B vitamins usually only affects mild memory disorders, although it does show some potential in Alzheimer's treatment, or at least can delay the precursor to Alzheimer's, since mild memory loss is a frequent sign of the disease. B vitamins are great ways to stay healthy mentally, along with many other vitamins.

Dogs Read Our Intent

Summary: Dogs pick up not only on the words we say but also on our intent to communicate with them, according to a report published online in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on January 5.

Critic: This explain why we think of our dogs as real people

Impact. You now know that your dog knows what you are thinking.

Reference: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240016.php

Tattoos

In today's society a lot of people tend to misjudge tattoos. A lot of people who see someone with a lot of tattoos will automatically think negative thoughts. Those who have tattoos are just like anyone else minus the fact that they wish to stand out and show who they are, simply because they have a strong sense of who they are. Those with tattoos are not afraid to show them, as they put them on their body to let others know who they are and what they are about.

Psychologists who study people with tattoos will normally try to get into their frame of mind, which is hard to do. Most people associate tattoos with criminals. Even though criminals may have tattoos, there are just as many if not more people out there who are some of the friendliest people in the world who have them as well.

Although those who don't have tattoos will try and figure out why someone would want them, it can still be considered a psychological point of view. Those people who do have tattoos have had a reason for getting them, or they wouldn't have got them in the first place. No matter where you look these days it's a common thing to see someone with at least one tattoo. Tattoos have built their own reputation over the years, gaining in popularity. Over the years more and more people have decided to get them.