Do identical twins have similar talents and tastes

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• Do identical twins have similar talents and
  tastes?
• Can intelligence be passed from parents to
  children?
• Do people change after their brain has been
  damaged?
• Why people in stress situations may display
  characteristics previously unknown to them?
  (people in the situation of extreme fear can jump
  very high, or run faster than they thought they
  can)
• Do people with amnesia think differently from
  people with memory function intact?
• Are children with Downs syndrome different from
  the other children?

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Biological foundations of behavior and mental
processes

• Heredity
• Nervous system
• Brain

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Heredity

• Our body consists of lots of cells.
• Life starts with one cell only. Each cell is
  responsible for certain human function.

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Genetics

• In each cell there are chromosomes. They are 23
  pairs, 46 altogether except for sex cells.
• Parts of chromosomes containing information are
  called genes.
• Mechanism of heredity is based on genes.

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• You have two genes for every trait. You get one
  from your mother and one from your father.
• Genes may be dominant and recessive.
• If you have this trait expressed it is dominant.
  If you dont have it you are recessive for that
  trait.
• Dominant genes, the ones that express themselves
  in an individual comprise phenotype.
• All the genes, genetic heritage is a genotype.

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• Genotype provides certain preparedness for traits
  to develop or not develop. Environment can
  enhance or prevent that trait from development.
  Music, sports, schizophrenia etc.
• Conclusion there are traits we inherit which may
  determine certain behavior and our mental
  processes. However, how those traits will express
  themselves will depend on the environmental
  factors as well.

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Exercises

• Can you roll your tongue into a U-shape? Try it.
• If you can, then you possess the dominant gene.
  If you can't roll your tongue, you have two
  recessive genes.

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• Have a partner examine your earlobes.
• If they hang free at the bottom, you are dominant
  (E-). If they are attached, you are recessive
  (ee).

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• Fold your hands together by interlocking your
  fingers.
• Which thumb is on top? If the left thumb is on
  top, you are dominant (I-). If the right thumb is
  on top, you are recessive (ii).

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• Do you have dimples?
• Dimples are a dominant trait (D-). If you don't
  have dimples, you are recessive (dd).

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• Do you have freckles?
• If you have freckles then you have a dominant
  gene (F- ). If you don't have freckles then you
  are recessive (ff).

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• Widow's Peak
• If your hairline is shaped in a downward "V",
  then you are dominant for that gene (W-).

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Nervous system
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Organization of nervous system

• Nervous system
• Central
  Peripheral
• Brain Spinal cord Autonomic
  Somatic
• Forebrain Midbrain Hindbrain
  Sympathetic
  Parasympathetic

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Central nervous system

• The Central Nervous System (CNS) is composed of
  the brain and spinal cord.

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Brain
Three main parts of brain -Cerebrum
(intelligence and reasoning, learning and memory
) -Cerebellum (muscle coordination and maintains
normal muscle tone and posture. The cerebellum
coordinates balance ) -Medulla (heartbeat,
breathing, vasoconstriction (blood pressure), and
reflex centers for vomiting, coughing, sneezing,
swallowing, and hiccuping)
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• The cerebrum, the largest part of
• the human brain, is divided into
• left and right hemispheres. The
• hemispheres are covered by a
• thin layer of gray matter known as
• the cerebral cortex.
• The cortex is
• divided into four lobes
• Occipital (receives and processes visual
  information )
• Temporal (auditory signals, processing language
  and the meaning of words )
• Parietal (touch, taste, pressure, pain, and heat
  and cold)
• Frontal (motor activity, speech, thought
  processes)

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Functional map of the brain
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Did you know?

• A stegosaurus dinosaur weighed approximately
  1,600 kg but had a brain that weighed only
  approximately 70 grams (0.07 kg). Therefore, the
  brain was only 0.004 of its total body weight.
  In contrast, an adult human weighs approximately
  70 kg and has a brain that weighs approximately
  1.4 kg. Therefore, the human brain is about 2 of
  the total body weight. This makes the brain to
  body ratio of the human 500 times greater than
  that of the stegosaurus.

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What is nervous system made of?

• Nerve cells or neurons
• The neuron is the functional unit of the nervous
  system.
• Humans have about 100 billion neurons in their
  brain alone!
• While variable in size and shape, all neurons
  have three parts.

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Neuron

• Dendrites receive information from another cell
  and transmit the message to the cell body. The
  cell body contains the nucleus, mitochondria and
  other organelles typical of eukaryotic cells. The
  axon conducts messages away from the cell

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Peripheral nervous system

• The Peripheral Nervous System contains only
  nerves and connects the brain and spinal cord to
  the rest of the body.
• Somatic Autonomous
• The Somatic Nervous System controls muscular
  system and external sensory receptors.
• Autonomous Nervous System controls internal organs

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• The Autonomic Nervous System controls internal
  organs.
• It is most important in two situations
• In emergencies that cause stress and require us
  to
• "fight" or take "flight" (run away)
• and
• In nonemergencies that allow us to "rest" and
  "digest."
• The Sympathetic Nervous System is involved in the
  fight or flight response.
• The Parasympathetic Nervous System is involved in
  relaxation.

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• Video. Discovering psychology. Disk 1. the
  Behaving brain and the Responsive brain.

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She Brains - He Brains

• Is there difference between female brains and
  male brains?
• Total Brain Size
• The Corpus Callosum
• The Hypothalamus

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Total Brain Size

• Males have a bigger brain than females.
• However, when the size of the brain is compared
  to body weight at this age, there is almost no
  difference between boys and girls. So, a girl
  baby and a boy baby who weigh the same will have
  similar brain sizes.

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Differences in the Corpus Callosum?

• No differences in the size of the corpus callosum
  in men and women.

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Differences in the Hypothalamus

• The hypothalamus is involved in mating behavior
• The only difference between women and men in this
  area is one of shape

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He brain, she brain

• Thus, from a review of the current scientific
  evidence, it appears that differences in many
  cognitive behaviors are related more to
  individual differences between people than to
  whether people are female or male

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DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE ARE TWO DAYS IN YOUR
LIFE THAT YOU CAN DO NOTHING ABOUT? ONE IS
YESTERDAY AND THE OTHER IS TOMORROW
WE CAN ONLY LIVE IN TODAY
TODAY WE CAN
LOVE... DREAM...
WORK...
AND ABOVE ALL... ENJOY!

I WISH YOU A GREAT DAY!