Decision Making: Emotion vs Reason

1. During teenage years, the brain is not yet fully developed. Myelin, a substance composed of lipids and proteins that insulates the nerve fibers, affects how our nerves perceive or surroundings to us. Teenage brains have less myelin in the frontal lobe than full grown adults. This lack of myelin affects how teenagers perceive situations, therefore affecting decision making.
2. The cerebellum is the section of the brain that controls motor skills and control as well as thinking skills. This is the part of the brain that changes most during teenage development; meaning that a person tends to be more mentally "uncoordinated" as a teenager than they will be as an adult. The more developed the cerebellum is, the more developed decision making becomes.
3. Although it has been thought that children must be taught the difference between right and wrong, studies are now showing otherwise. The NY Times conducted an experiment where babies watched different characters be either mean or kind to each other in different scenarios. After watching the scene, the baby would chose between the mean and nice character, almost always choosing the nice one. This shows that in the social lives of young children they are naturally attracted to kinder children, and tht babies are generlly born with their moral compasses pointing north.
4. When making a decision there are multiple ways to decide whether the benefits outweigh the cost. We foresee possible outcomes by comparing our own past decisions as well as decisions we've seen play out with others. These comparisons are important, but it is important to remember that each knew scenario is not exactly the same as the last; this is when our "gut feeling" tends to take over. For example, when I was making the decision to take IB Math HL I was rather conflicted. Although I had seen other upperclassmen struggle with it and I was advised against taking the course, I considered that I was different person than those who regretted their decision. I took the risk and although it hasn't been easy, I'm satisfied with my decision.

provided sources:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124119468
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/view/
http://www.nytimes.com/video/2010/05/04/magazine/1247467772000/can-babies-tell-right-from-wrong.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/magazine/09babies-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

other sources: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-multiple-sclerosis/what-we-know-about-ms/what-is-ms/myelin/index.aspx

The 16th Man

Can sporting events have a significant impact on social policies?

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to unite in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.”

- Nelson Mandela

As one of my CAS activities, I was a part of the production of the drama Hush: An Interview with America. Drama, like sport, is a barrier breaker. A persons race is not a factor in their performing talent. No matter who a person is offstage, everyone is given an equal chance at auditions; people are able to come together by simply sharing a love of theatre. Drama is also groundbreaking in the sense of the content it can contain and the message of the performance.

Emotion, Memory & Reason

1. Memory is highly affected by adrenaline. During dramatic experiences, we have more adrenaline and therefore have a better memory of the experience. Dramatic experience result in dramatic emotions; whether those emotions are negative or positive (embarrassment, shock, excitement, etc.) Therefore, when a person feels a dramatic emotion, that person will have a more vivid memory of the experience that caused that emotion. For example, I have a rather strong memory of when I won an award for visual arts multiple years ago, but I can't remember what it was like when I went to the grocery store last week. Emotional memory is also stronger than factual memory.  This means that our strong emotions can alter our memories to more dramatically fit the emotions we felt at the time. This emotion can over power the facts of what actually happened.
2. "High reason" is decision making using only logical reasoning, without any interference of emotions. The "somatic hypothesis" is that when our minds are unable to come to a conclusion using reason alone, we turn to our emotions to make the decision. Although I try to make decisions using more reason than emotion, emotion tends to take over, particularly with larger life decisions. When I was younger, I would approach decision making in a more reason-based way, but in the past couple of years I have let my emotions take over a bit. This is because when I was younger I had not experienced as wide a range of emotions and had not been as negatively affected my emotions as I am today. I have recently decided on going to art school after I graduate, a choice I have struggled with for quite some time. I realized that the only thing holding me back was the fear of not being talented enough.

http://www.theoryofknowledge.net/ways-of-knowing/emotion/how-closely-are-reason-and-emotion-related.php 

Thoughts and Questions on Language

"Every Teacher Is A Language Teacher" packet-page 205
Linguistic Determinism-The idea that our thoughts are completely restricted and determined by the languages we speak. I think that the learning of languages can improve the overall understanding of concepts, but only to certain point. It is true that there are certain words that only exist in specific languages, but that does not mean that the meaning of the word or the concept does not exist to people who do not speak that language. The term "deja vu" is a French term, meaning that you feel as though you have experienced an exact situation more than once. Just because we do not have an English word for this feeling, it does not mean that English speakers do not experience and understand this language.
TOK Questions:
Does our range of vocabulary limit our range of thoughts?
How does naming an idea affect our understanding of the idea?

Save the Chamorro Language

The Chamorro language is a threatened language with 18,000 speakers in North America. The overall number of speakers in 1990 was 35,000, but in 2010 the total number decreased to 25,000. The Chamorro language belongs to the group of western Austronesian languages, including the languages of Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Palau. It originates from over 5,000 years ago. The culture is rich with unique dances, apparel, and cuisines. One of the core values of the culture is unity, mainly caring for others and working together as a community. The social values are highly respect-based and include social traditions, such as kissing the hands of the elderly. Since the amount of Chamorro speakers has declined rapidly over the past 30 years, efforts have been made to teach the language both through classes and through speaking it at home. As the amount of speakers has decreased the number of classes, DVDs, and websites teaching the Chamorro language has increased. (http://mvguam.com/local/news/28512-saving-the-chamorro-language.html)


 A traditional Chamorro dance--song and dance are major aspects of the Chamorro culture. (Picture source: http://tasithoughts.com/2008/10/13/tao-tao-tano-people-of-the-land-guam-culture-in-dance/)

http://ns.gov.gu/language.html 
http://ns.gov.gu/culture.html

Symbols

Above is the symbol for chaos and confusion.  is the symbol for the sun, but can also represent spirit.  is the symbol for earth, but can represent physical matter. By placing the matter over the mind and spirit, chaos is created. When the symbol is flipped upside-down, it represents perfection. Because the symbols that make up this symbol have multiple meanings, it could be considered ambiguous. Since the symbol for spirit can also represent the sun, and the symbol for matter can represent earth, the symbol for chaos looks as though it relates to the earth's orbit around the sun. A problem of knowledge would be misinterpreting the overall symbol due to limited knowledge of the symbols it is composed of.

Above is the symbol for perfection; it is the reflection of chaos. Meaning that when the mind is placed above physical matter, all is right and balanced.

WOK-global views

 "...Learning additional languages enhances the learning of the 'mother tongue' as well as broadening a student's worldview." 
It is true that learning addition languages strengthens a student's understanding of their first language. When learning a second language the student often learns rules about language that can be applied to their own. By learning how a language is put together a student is able to take what they have learned and apply their knowledge to their own "mother tongue".  This knowledge is also used to broaden overall understanding of culture and language. 

Alex and Ray have multiple qualities that support language learning. Both were introduced to language at a young age and through traveling were able to immerse themselves in language. They are both social people, which makes it easier for them to be to be exposed to languages. Their minds are able to recognize patterns easily, especially in sounds.

When it comes to spoken language, I find that I am more of an auditory learner. I learn best by hearing a word or phrase  repeatedly and mimicking it back. When I took French I found that the only way I could pronounce the words correctly was to disregard the spelling and listen to another person say the word. For example, I knew that "goodbye" in French was pronounced "or-ev-wa" before I even took the class. But when I learned that the word was spelled "au revoir" I began to mispronounce the word slightly because I was focused on how I thought it should sound based on the spelling. When it comes to Latin, however, I am a visual learner and I learn through writing. This is mostly because Latin is a dead language and so the pronunciation of the words is not as important as the spelling. Even so, I find that the pronunciation of Latin words is much easier to sound out than French. 

There are pros and cons to both language uniformity and language diversity. Although language uniformity would allow for the entire human race to communicate through one language, culture and individuality would be lost (not to mention that converting the entire world to one language would most likely be impossible). Although language diversity allows for individual culture, it can make communication difficult and ideas can be lost in translation. During the class debate I spoke in favor of language diversity. I said that varying languages and cultures are what make humans unique. I pointed out that there are some ideas and emotions that can only be expressed in certain languages and therefore get lost in translation. The solution to this, however, is not to eliminate these languages, but to learn them. Although language uniformity and language diversity both have advantages and disadvantages, language diversity is a better option. 

Skepticism, Evasive Agnosticism, & Narrow-mindedness

Skepticism is reluctance to accept conclusion as true. There is skepticism as a permanent attitude, which is unhelpful, and then also skepticism in fitting situations where the information given in insufficient. There is also the moderate and extreme skeptic. The extreme believes that there is no truth and the moderate believes that humans are not capable of understanding it. Agnosticism is when a person believes they do not know enough to come to a conclusion and therefore does not deem a statement true or false. Evasive agnosticism is when a person claims to not have enough knowledge to come to a conclusion when they actually do. Narrow mindedness is when a person refuses to consider certain options because they do not fit with their prejudiced assumptions. For example, if a person were to refuse to listen to a band because they were classified as a country group. This person had previously decided they hated all country music because they heard a few country songs they didn't like and is refusing to listen to this band even if it was a separate sub-genre of country.

Logical Fallacy: Gambler's Fallacy

Gambler's Fallacy
The gambler's fallacy is the idea that since something does not follow what is expected to occur, it must end soon. This fallacy comes from people having a false understanding of probability. When flipping a coin there is a 50% chance of landing on heads, and a 50% chance of landing on tails. Say that a coin was flipped 10 times and landed of heads each time, it seems more likely that in the next 10 flips the coin will land on tails. This, however, is false. When a coin is flipped it is not being affected by any of the flips before it; the chance is still 50/50.
Video with more on coin toss probablity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf4ZmWc_jmA


Appeal to Authority:

Imperfect Perception Tests

The Dot Game
Click on the black dots as they appear as quickly as possilbe for 30 seconds.

Trial	Number of Dots	Percentage Change in Score*
1	27
2	29	7.4%
3	29	7.4%
4	31	18.5%
5	29	7.4%

In the Dot Game I was able to detect the dots faster as I became used to the game. My brain became used to the pattern and I was able to click on the dots automatically without thinking about it. 

Synesthesia is a disorder where two sections of the brain are two close in contact-causing the senses to collide. 
When I listen to music I often visualize images that match the tone of the music, but I am not actually seeing these things in front of me as a person with Synesthesia would. Emotions are often associated with certain songs, depending on the mood of the song. Music can also give people the desire to move, which is related to the sense of feeling and also the sense of proprioception (being aware of the location of your body parts without needing to look at them).  

The Stroop Effect Test
First Time:16.185 (colors of word match)
Second Time: 21.673 (colors of word to dont match)
 5.88 more seconds
The Stroop Effect applies to the difficulty of trying to read a word for a color that is in a different color than the meaning of the word. It is thought that the reason this is difficult it because the brain is able to read the word faster than it is able to identify it's color-causing your brain to be conflicted. It is also easier for the brain to read the word rather than to identify the color.

Sense Perception-Depth

Depth perception is how our brains decide how far or close something is. Th Ames Room is a specially built room to trick our senses of depth. The room has unparalleled walls and a tilted floor; the mind is tricked into thinking the room is normal because our brain assumes that the walls and floor are level. As people walk around this room, they appear to grow and shrink extremely fast. In art depth perception is extremely important. Rendering and using different values to create shadows can really cause and image to pop off of the page. I have learned that objects at a distance often appear to have a lighter and less intense hue. Sidewalk art is famous for making 2-D surfaces appear 3-D.

Vegetative State and January Presentation

Communicating with people in a Vegetative State
There has been a new discovery that allows doctors to communicate with patients in a vegetative state. The doctor will speak to the patient and ask them questions, then they will see what parts of the brain are active to answer the question. This is very important because doctors will be able to determine whether their patient is in pain or not.
Knowledge Questions:
How can we determine if the patient full understands the question?
If we ask the patient if they would like to die, how can we be sure they understand the gravity of the question?
Who has the final say in whether the patient should live or die?

January Presentation
Should a piece be considered art if it has been produced by a non-artist?

What is considered art?
What makes someone an artist?
Is the definition of an artist dependent on the definition of art or vice versa?