#Neuroplasticity and Hearing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

olivebeeandstuff · 26 days

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On the humans are weird subject:

I recently read this book called Livewired, by David Eagleman - pleeeease if you like anything neuroscience related, read his books, they're great- where he suggested that we dream because of neuroplasticity and the rotation of the earth.

Basically neuroplasticity means that the brain will adapt to the data it receives. You lose a hand, the brain will turn the area that was uses to process that hand's info into an area to process the rest of the arm. You lose your vision, the vision processing areas will be taken over by tact and hearing.

But this kind of adaptation can happen really quick, he mentions one study where they blindfolded people and it took only one hour to notice changes in brain activity.

So back to the rotation of the Earth, because of it we have long periods of darkness, which means not using our eyes and focusing on other senses for long periods of time daily - at least before we learned how to control fire, which was fairly recent in evolution terms.

Because of this he proposes that dreams are to practice our vision, to make sure that during those periods of darkness, the brain is still processing visual information, the theory is corroborated by the fact that there are very few areas of the brain involved in dreaming, it's mostly the visual cortex. That would also explain why we usually don't remember dreams, there's no need to.

Now imagine a world with a different rotation speed, one that's very fast, or one that doesn't have rotation at all. Imagine if these places had intelligent life. They would very likely not dream. Or maybe somewhere in the universe, intelligent life evolved with completely different brains, and they don't need to dream.

The aliens would be very confused with it. Like how do we even explain it?

Alien: So what you are saying is that you are experiencing daily vivid hallucinations where you can't tell what's true or not. Should I be worried? Should I call the doctor?

Human: No, it's not like that! It's normal, every human dreams every night, or at least they should. I think not having dreams is actually a sign that something is wrong...

Alien: Every one of you does that?! How is that not dangerous?

Human: Well you see, our bodies are usually kinda deactivated when it happens, so it all in our head. And we mostly don't even remember it anyways

Alien: Usually?

Human: Yeah, sometimes people talk in their sleep and things like that. Then there's people like Steve, he's what we call a sleep walker, his body is completely functional when he dreams, so he just walks around unconscious thinking that he's in his dream

Alien: STEVEN WALKS AROUND COMPLETELY UNCONSCIOUS WHILE HAVING VIVID HALLUCINATIONS AND YOU DON'T THINK THAT'S A PROBLEM?!

#humans are weird #humans are space orcs #neuroscience #dreaming #alien #humans

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talonabraxas · 1 month

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Urna, Buddha's Third Eye Talon Abraxas

Third Eye Chakra Affirmations The third eye is the energy center of intuition and divine wisdom. I will show you how can quickly start energizing this chakra using my favorite 35 third eye chakra affirmations.

Third eye chakra affirmations encourage you to become more connected with your Third Eye or Ajna Chakra.

Affirmations empower and restore your chakra and as a result, you acquire greater self-awareness and razor-sharp intuition.

The Third Eye Chakra seats the eyes of your soul. You will be able to discern the world with greater perspectives when you activate your third eye using affirmations. You will be able to see, hear, and feel the energy around you. You may even be able to perceive psychically and with very strong intuition.

Awakening your Third Eye enables you to comprehend complex concepts and situations you may not have understood in the past.

You will see other angles of your circumstances with sharper vision. You will also be able to communicate thoughts and feelings easily.

Your Third Eye Chakra The word chakra originates from the Sanskrit word for circle or a spinning wheel.

At times, chakras are referred to as the wheels of life. Chakras are aligned in ascending order from the spine’s base to the top of your head.

Chakras have perpetually been referred to as a classical element, an aspect of consciousness and related to bodily functions.

The Third Eye Chakra emanates from between the eyebrows on your forehead.

Essentially, chakras are multiple subtle body focal points used in various ancient practices of meditation.

Denominated collectively as esoteric, inner traditions of Hinduism, also known as Tantra.

The area between the eyebrows is where we direct our attention when doing third eye affirmations.

Early traditions of Hinduism reveal the concept of chakras. Between religions of India, beliefs vary.

Buddhism texts mention five chakras consistently while sources of Hinduism offer six to seven chakras.

Regardless of belief, early Sanskrit text revels meditation visualizations combine mantras and flowers as the physical body’s physical entities.

35 Third Eye Chakra Affirmations

I listen to my deepest intuition

I am in touch with internal guidance

My intuition always works to serve my highest purpose.

I and my intuition are made with perfection

I am blessed with an inner voice.

I always know exactly what to do, all the time.

I am full of wisdom and knowledge.

I always look within when making decisions

My intuition always tells me what to do.

My intuition is never wrong.

I am complete with inner knowing.

We are all growing and learning. I am growing and learning

I was born to fulfill my God-given purpose.

I love discovering new things every day.

I see life everywhere I look.

I am here for a reason.

I accept that I have weaknesses. I accept that I have strengths.

I completely accept myself.

I accept everything my third eye tells me.

I accept the things I cannot change.

I can only control my reactions to things.

I can always see clearly

I am sensitive to the world around me.

I am shielded from harm by my intuition

I can see clearly.

I attract everything I have in my reality.

I am enough as I am

I always know the right thing to do

I live to serve my highest purpose

I was born to serve a greater purpose

I am born with everything I need to survive.

Everything I need to know, I already know

My inner-knowing never fails

I always know exactly what to do in every situation.

I trust my inner guidance

Why Are Affirmations So Powerful? The reason is that words are, like everything else, a type of energy with their own frequency.

There is tremendous power in spoken words.

Words can heal or they can wound. They are powerful and can be used as a powerful weapon. They have the power to recreate your world and alter your life.

The reason that positive affirmations work is because of neuroplasticity, which is a proven scientific principle. Neuroplasticity is the ability to rewire your brain with the power of words. There is a major role that affirmations play in actualizing our subconscious and manifesting desires.

Words can be used to balance your chakras and can have a significant impact on the outcome of your health. One example of the power of affirmations is when we have a positive attitude and feel good about ourselves.

The Energy of Words This raises the body’s vibration into something positive and attracts renewed health, stronger chakra, and as a result clarity of vision, perfect health, a relaxed mind, and total well-being. Holistic tradition suggests that positive affirmations raise your chakra’s frequency and make your energetic body stronger.

When you believe and act as if something you are saying is true, and that you have acquired the outcome you long for, then the more you actualize the affirmation.

Thus when you tell yourself “I am tranquil,” This will affect your energetic chakra body and you will, inevitably, become tranquil. Scientifically, affirmations have been proven to work. The fact that they have been around for centuries means that generations of human beings have reaped the benefits of using affirmations.

The best method of proving that affirmations work is to see for yourself first hand. After a few days, you will notice real results in your life and might finally understand what has made millions of people true believers in the power of affirmations.

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monstersinthecosmos · 5 months

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but now the cosmos crawls with monsters

KACY. 30s. She/They.

This blog contains adult content, please do not follow if you are a minor.

hi friends! I'm Kacy, I write fanfiction! I like ducks and heavy metal! I mostly use this space to talk about The Vampire Chronicles, but I also like Sheith, and horror films, and kink theory! I am an asexual porn writer and I'm obsessed with Marius!

LINKS

AO3 - I am monstersinthecosmos on AO3, I write porn about VC, Sheith, and sometimes YOI!

Bsky - kacycarr on bsky - you will find mostly Sheithing here!

Ko-Fi - feel free to buy me a coffee if you like my fics! I have some fics available for purchase in digital download and paperback! I will also invite you to check out projects I created & co-mod called @vamptember (vampire prompts during the month of September!) and @priapus-at-the-gate (the VC Kink Meme!) VC STUFF!

I mostly use this space to talk about VC since the fandom is either dead or toxic as fuck on other platforms. I've been into VC since like THE YEAR 2000 LOL. I had fics that got taken down in the FFnet purge! Ancient! Marius is my favorite character and I'm more partial to Marius subplots/timelines. I'm also really into the Devil's Minion and Trinity Gate! I'm super into whatever the fuck was going on with Marius & Daniel! I could talk about Armand all fucking day! Pandora is my hero! Please expect posts about these things! I didn't love the AMC adaptation so I don't talk about it very often, because I try to focus on stuff I enjoy. ♡ TAGS

#stuff i wrote - IT'S FOR STUFF I WROTE. contains fics and discussion of fics. if they're very short they might only be on Tumblr and not on AO3.

#deep ass thoughts about vampires - my meta tag, sorry I came up with the name while I was stoned back in 2016 and I'm too lazy to change it :)

#trauma hole theory - if you want even DEEPER ass thoughts about vampires, this is where I park thoughts related to "do vampires have neuroplasticity?" and "would therapy even work on them?" #asexual vc - I don't really shut the fuck up about vampires being asexual so if you wanna hear about it CLICK HERE

#simple italian perv - MISC SMUTTY THOUGHTS to keep the rent low lol if you're new here I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me

#the skateboard of shakespeare - I visited Tulane last year and documented a ton of info from the Anne Rice collection! I use this tag when I share! #vampire chronicles- for book stuff!

#vampire pajama party on amc - this is my tag for the AMC show; I'm not a big fan of it so please feel free to mute if you don't want to see salt posts. (I have a second, even saltier tag called #the rolin jonestown massacre if you want to mute that one as well!)

#devils minion girlies - STILL WORKING HARD TO POPULATE THIS TAG but if you like thinking about Armand & Daniel as lesbians please see this tag. #unethical marius - I've been really obsessed lately with thinking about an AU where Marius is an unethical therapist LOLLL please feel free to peruse or mute as needed. #vampire music - I have like a ND relationship to music and I love sharing it even if no one else cares and taste is subjective but if you ever want vampirey music recs they will be here :D #fandom lolitics - I try not to share too much discourse & drama but it's here if you want to mute it! #vcficfriday - when I have time & remember to I like to share fics I've read on Fridays!!!! Please feel free to use this tag in your own blog as well, to build up fic writers!

I THINK THAT COVERS IT, FELLAS, please be kind to each other and don't be shy to send me asks if you have any questions!

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lazyyogi · 1 year

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What to Do When You Fall Out of Practice

Recently I fell out of my meditation practice. It's not the first time nor will it be the last. The beginning of 2023 and pretty much all of December was a shitshow. However, by now I have rebooted my practice so many times that I just run the same old drill to get back on track. This time around it occurred to me that some people might benefit from hearing more about the process.

There are many reasons for why our practice may destabilize. Sickness or health challenges, work or school demands, unexpected schedule changes, and traumatic events are just a few such causes.

So what do you do when your practice crumbles?

The most reliable way to ensure you never meditate again is to scold yourself, judge yourself, and be hard on yourself. The moment your meditation sittings are framed as a burden, you will lose the spirit of practice.

Life happens. It's fine. Making any kind of deal about your meditation practice just gets in the way. I treat my practice the same as brushing my teeth. I will elaborate on that in a moment. When we fall out practice, what matters is how we choose to move forward.

Therefore here are the important points to keep in mind when rebooting your practice:

Rebooting is just like starting your practice in the first place. It is easier in that you already know you can do it. It may be harder in that you might feel less enthusiastic about it.

If you aren't feeling enthusiasm about restarting your meditation practice, that's okay. Instead you can regard it like brushing your teeth. This is what I do. It keeps expectations to a minimum so you can leave space for the session to be what it is. When it's time to brush our teeth, we don't have a great deal of expectations on the matter. Also, we do not ask ourselves if we feel like or want to brush our teeth. We just do it.

Evaluate your daily routine and find a reliable time period in which you can sit for practice. Coupling meditation with a daily activity helps consistency. I meditate after I work out; either before or after I shower.

The single most important advice for starting, continuing, or rebooting a meditation practice is doing it daily. Overall it is much more effective and supportive to do a short daily meditation than a longer meditation just a few days per week.

Once you get back to meditating daily, give yourself two or three weeks of consistent practice before adding another five minutes. If that stabilizes, great. If you notice yourself skipping sessions then go back to five minutes less.

The rest is fine-tuning and balancing, which you will be able to discern for yourself. The more you come to regard meditation as a choiceless daily activity like brushing your teeth, the easier it will be to initiate, sustain, and reboot.

I used to meditate an hour a day and I can easily sit for 30 or 60 minutes right now, today. But would I keep that up daily? Unlikely right now. So I am doing something I know I can and will do every day: 15 minutes.

No matter how busy my job and lifestyle has gotten at various times, it is rare that I don't even have 15 minutes to spare. It is a reliable duration.

There is no need to make things more complicated or more difficult than they already are. Work with what you have and move forward from where you are now. Be determined and strategic.

Meditation is something you can do your entire life. It will enhance neuroplasticity and unlock your potential, it will free you from the limiting aspects of your ego, illuminate you with the same light that illuminates every experience of happiness you have ever had, and it will reveal a peace that exceeds your understanding. Oh, and realization and embodiment of enlightenment. 😁

#meditation #spirituality #yoga #mindfulness #consciousness #awareness #ego #psychology #wellness #practice #zen

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theminecraftbee · 2 years

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Iskall adjusts the back of his Iskallium eye with an almost violent screw of the final bolt. Ugh. He's going to have to re-attach it again. He has no idea why it keeps failing on him - the whole reason it's powered with Iskallium is for its reliability, but ever since he got back to Hermitcraft it keeps on getting shorted out!

He inspects it for several minutes before passing it to Stress. "Here, does this look right?"

"What would I know?" Stress says, taking it anyway.

"I mean, I think it's a Vault Hunters thing, maybe? It's been fine over there! And I've been so tired since I got back. I think it might be my body adjusting to not having extra levels of enchants and skills, you know? Just... tired and sore everywhere. It makes it hard to think, man. Of course my eye broke between servers too. If I didn't have my obligation to the King, I'd probably just be waiting this out, geez."

Stress is oddly quiet.

"Iskall, this looks fine," she says.

"Oh, well, that's good! I did top off the Iskallium while I was over at my singleplayer, and you know the vault gem is a little different from standard Iskallium so I was worried -"

"You're fatigued?" Stress asks, weirdly serious.

Iskall blinks. "I mean, yeah. I've been basically ever since I got that meeting invite from the king. I think it'll go away eventually. Like I said, I don't have passive levels in strength at all times here, of course I'm tired. You know how it is, right?"

"No, Iskall, I don't?" Stress says. "Iskall - Iskall should I be worried? This never happened last season! I mean, I think I'm thinking fine. How would I know if I wasn't thinking?"

"You're never thinking," Iskall says automatically.

"Rude!" Stress says, laughing.

"But you really don't feel... tired? Like it's hard to..." Iskall makes a motion with his hands that doesn't actually mean much of anything, but expresses about how he feels. A clawing, grabbing motion, like he's trying to grab at the thoughts that feel like soup in his brain.

"Should we really be reattaching your eye if your brain is hurting?" Stress asks.

"Ehhh, I think my brain hurts worse when I don't have it these days," Iskall says. "Something about neuroplasticity? It's fine."

"I mean, you're the expert. Hold still," Stress says. "This still work the same as last time, love?"

"Yeah, just - you know where it attaches. I might scream a little, it's fine," Iskall says.

"Nearly give me a heart attack, you do, every time. On three," she says.

"You never actually do it on three," Iskall complains.

"You're right, I don't," Stress says, and before Iskall has a moment to brace, she shoves the eye back in its slots. Iskall does, in fact, shriek at the spike of pain as the iskallium eye connects back with his brain. He rubs his temples. Ow. Every time. One of these days, he'll figure out -

His head is suddenly clear.

Something is terribly wrong.

Desperately, he tries to search for the source as he looks around, head pounding. He doesn't feel tired anymore. He doesn't feel fatigued. He feels terrified. Something is wrong. Something's been wrong since he met with Ren. Something's been wrong with Ren, too, Iskall could tell. There's - something's rotten in the King's Council. Velara's Grace, what's wrong with him? Why hadn't he noticed? Or, well, he'd noticed something, why hadn't it been urgent? He has to -

"Iskall?" Stress asks, alarmed, and Iskall realizes his thoughts must be showing on his face.

"Stress," Iskall says, trying to speak as clearly as possible. "Stress, there's something wrong. There's something wrong with me. I think something is -"

He yells as something sharp and painful goes through his head, barely avoiding biting his tongue as his jaw clenches down. He grabs at his eye and breathes sharply through his nose. He hears Stress yell something urgently, but it's so hard to think.

The wave of nausea and pain lets up. Iskall looks up at Stress's panicked face and realizes something.

"Godsdammit, it shorted out again!"

"Iskall?" Stress says, shaken.

"...it's no worse than last time I messed up my eye," Iskall reassures her. "I definitely broke it on Vault Hunters though. Dangit, how do I fix that here? Iskallium isn't easy to come by, you know!"

"Iskall, what were you just talking about?" Stress says.

"Uh..." Iskall tries to think. He'd... he'd gotten himself awfully upset, but it's just some fatigue and an eye that doesn't work. He's been in worse pain, and he's had worse days. He doesn't know what he'd been so worked up about. It's hard to think. "No idea. I think I'm just getting paranoid because this thing keeps breaking."

Stress stares at him a moment. "Right. Better get it working again then," she says, and somehow, she sounds far more serious about it than Iskall. "Tell me when you find the short; I just remembered that I promised Pearl and Gem a girl's night. You know how it is."

"Oh yeah, wouldn't want to keep you, especially since this clearly isn't actually ready to be put back in my face. Go have fun!"

"Fun's a word for it," Stress says, and if Iskall could think better, he might recognize what the emotion she says it with is. He can't though, so he doesn't.

Stupid eye. Stupid headache.

#hermitcraft #iskall85 #stressmonster101 #a bee fic #anyway if you don't get it. iskall is not ACTUALLY tired and with a broken eye because vault hunters #there is something more sinister going on in the king's court here #and he's mostly only ABLE to notice it because vh and the eye

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e-the-village-cryptid · 3 months

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played beethoven's 3rd symphony so much I can just stop at any point in my day and hum a perfectly in-tune E-flat?? I think I might be developing (re-developing?) perfect pitch? the sudden hearing loss and tinnitus a couple years ago really fucked up my sense of pitch to the point where I couldn't even hear relative pitches properly anymore (like off by an entire whole step, octaves sounded like 7ths in certain ranges, it was freaky, so upsetting I didn't even wanna play at all for a while) so this is very exciting. just gotta keep training the new ears I suppose. neuroplasticity save me :')

#spending a good amount of time with my flute or just my voice in front of a tuner these days #these ears are gonna work in just this one way I swear to god #there are still certain ranges that are messed up but they're off by like. a quarter-tone now instead of an entire whole step #so. progress??#an e original

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osakanone · 2 months

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How to Domesticate Your Pilot

tw: emotional abuse, abusive relationship, slavery, drug use, nonconsensual

Chapter 3: Do not abuse your wolves

Part 1: Action patterning: Initial Phases

On patterning, and its consequences.

Music: Five Sharps - Meditation for a Lost Pup

A lot of outsiders assume this one is going to be perverted in some way, like pet-play and stuff like that and really its more like being a parent until they mentally mature and come out of the adjustment period. In the beginning, a pilot's mind is regressed to a more platonic, more child-like state where their neuroplasticity is incredible compared to how it is normally, their capacity for learning is incredible: Its not unlike lysergic acid derived innocence, or things like that. Violence will genuinely traumatize them while they're in this state, so you must protect them. Even violent media will make them uncomfortable, you know? Be gentle. And be patient. Please. This is a fleeting time, and although it'll seem like it lasts forever, its over so quickly. You'll miss it, wondering where it all went. I still miss those days sometimes. You have to be a carer of sorts, as they re-learn to walk, and how to move and even speak. The result is someone who loves with the poise of a ballet trainer, the conserved motion of a boxer. Nearly inhuman levels of precision and grace. But until then, they're dependant on you. Its very short, but this is the period where they bond with you -- like a child might a mother, or as a dog might an owner -- and that bond is what makes this whole thing work. It is complete and utter selfless devotion on a level no human of sound mind is capable of comprehending: It simply isn't biologically possible for us to imagine what they're feeling, what they're going through. We just can't. The closest I've heard is its like falling in love for the first time, when love is new and beautiful and strange and pure, and you don't understand it or try to navigate it or circumvent or control it because you don't even realize it consciously. Only, its like that every day. For them, it never goes away. For the rest of their lives. -- RN, handler of Juno

Account: Sensory Sensitivity

Soundscape: The Hearts of Wolves

I cannot see, yet my ears are so young, Like when the world was new This strange clarity: I hear all; Thunder bakes the sky distantly A leaking window, through which cold wind whistles along, along Candles, whispering Slow tinkling bells along, along And the ship's engine room, four decks below along, along All separate All together: I hear all. -- Juno, pilot of RN, transcribed record taken during the adjustment period of action patterning

Addendum 2:

Q: "Is it ethical?"

Many self-elect, thinking it would fix them, that they want to be fixed… But they really don't understand what they're getting into. The worst is that after its done, even if they wouldn't have wanted it before, they would have no idea of that possibility now. It would be completely alien to them. We have absolutely no way of ever knowing if any of these are truly consensual, or have ever been consensual. -- LR

#Mechposting #How To Domesticate Your Pilot

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tunastime · 6 months

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eyllo tuna ^-^ I would love to hear more about the ranchers in the SEN au ^-^

Hiiiiiiiii >:3

gosh, I don't even know where to start, mostly because I don't know where I've begun! Ranchers in SEN are so INTERESTING to me, because before they meet, neither of them realize the other is an android—they only ever correspond in messages once to arrange tango's travel and arrival.

I don't remember if I've said, but they function like star trek androids, rather than DBH or something similar—so they're meant to have independent goals if they want to! tango's built with that in mind, actually! he doesn't have a goal—he's a study in neuroplasticity. jimmy has a predetermined role which he ignores in favor of being a botanist (he was one of the lead engineers for the station—something that becomes relevant later), but he was built to be a study of emotion. so he has a full emotional core without any regulation, just to see how he would handle it (and the answer is badly).

as for their story... I've got some of it written! I think they're both very excited to find someone who gets them in a way nobody else does. tango's just come back from the brink of death and has to get used to feeling his body again and jimmy's just come out of his first publication looking for direction and here comes Prometheus telling E-1 that they need help with a hydroponics system! and etho suggests tango—who had no prior projects—and the rest is history! the two get along surprisingly well, tango learns, actually learns rather than getting a data transfer, and jimmy thrives now that someone can support him mentally. tango learns how to emote and feel a little more and eventually decides he wants an emotional core, and jimmy learns how to regulate himself and gets better at understanding his own emotions.

tango eventually has to leave early but he promises, he swears he'll be back. or jimmy can come visit him. he'll keep in touch. anything for him.

(and eventually jimmy does come around for a good long while :3)

I think their story is a lot about finding your people, and finding weird lovely people in strange places and realizing how much you love them. it's about loving your friends and your work and being earnest and honest and kind, and it's about change. and maybe androids get to hold hands or something <3

in terms of backstory: tango was an android on xisuma's ship, the moonrise, before it crashed into two other ships and during the rescue and repair, tango was ripped from his tether and into space, where he was found 5 months later and repaired by doc. he was an engineer on the moonrise, but then became a multi-published academic upon his death and return, so all his time goes into subspace engineering and how it interacts with power grids.

jimmy is an android built for E-1 as an engineer, where his go-to repair guy was scott. as much as scott wanted to help, because he would be risking his job, scott wouldn't allow jimmy to self-install regulation components. jimmy turned instead to doing his own (ESA approved) repairs and lurking in the botany wing, where he eventually revitalized the entire hydroponics system to full capacity.

I hope that was enough information for you!!

#HIHIHIHIHI IM CRAZY ABOUT RANCHERS!!#this was a lot im so sorry #i just came back from lunch break #wheww #text #asks #SEN au

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potsiefaerie · 2 months

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Today's Morning Lecture as we walked to school was on neuroplasticity. 😂

This kid is gonna know so much random shit. He already uses a couple of my favorite "SAT words" correctly just because he hears them from me all the time. His pronunciation is still a little wonky though, because he's 6 😅

#personal #parenting

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sophieinwonderland · 3 months

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Hearing alters is different from functional communication between alters. Functional communication = ability to create effective and lasting change. While it may not necessarily need to be established through therapy, it would require a lot of work and self awareness to accomplish on your own. You’re talking up to decades of established neural pathways that essentially need to be “overwritten” at a point when the brain is finished developing, thus less plastic. It’s not uncommon for those with dissociative disorders to be unaware they even dissociate. They can be so accustomed to the experience they assume it’s how everyone else lives. I’m referring specifically to dissociation caused by trauma. Though research of ketamine and other psychoactive drugs have some promising results on neuroplasticity.

I'm not saying you're wrong... but I kind of need sources for that. Preferably with numbers.

I can find statistics on voice hearing in general, but I don't know of any for what you describe as functional communication what would show how common or uncommon it is prior to recovery.

I also don't understand what this has to do with it...

It’s not uncommon for those with dissociative disorders to be unaware they even dissociate. They can be so accustomed to the experience they assume it’s how everyone else lives.

Communication between headmates is one of the things I've heard people commonly feel is normal. They hear voices, talk back to the voices, and just consider at normative experience. This can range between seeing alters as imaginary friends to "everyone has parts of themselves," to a variety of other explanations. (See: Plegg-Culture-Is for more examples.)

#syscourse

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gordothekiddo · 9 months

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Readerly exploration #1

21 August 23

"Assessment and Intervention in the Balanced Literacy Classroom: Noticing and Responding to Students' Needs." Fisher et. al.

Takeaway: This reading discussed the variety and importance of assessment in a literacy classroom.

Nugget: I was surprised at the amount of assessment styles and content to be assessed! It gave me a few ideas of things to do in my future classroom.

Through this reading, I gained a lot of information on types of assessments. One I plan on using in my future classroom after reading was the Maze Assessment. I liked how the teacher example in the article used it not only on a student-by-student basis, but also for the whole class. This approach capitalized on the idea and maximized the possible uses. I am sure, in my future teaching career, I will appreciate saving some time where I can, yet still getting effective results!

While reading, I thought a lot of my grandmother. She used to be an educator, and also has an interest in psychology. A lot of learning involves neuroplasticity, or the growing of the brain, as well as other things in the psychology field. I decided to call her, and we had a conversation over 20 minutes over the phone, where we discussed the results on page 208 (Fisher et. al., 2019). The conversation about response to intervention, or RTI, turned into an amazingly educational conversation about the current state of American education. She expressed her concerns for educational interventions, as well as socioemotional interventions. While the conversation strayed off the original topic, I appreciated her time to listen to me explaining the RTIs, and how important they are. She was shocked to hear that retention, or holding a student back, had an effect size of -0.32 (Fisher et. al., 2019)! The picture attached shows some of my book notes, as well as some notes from our conversation. My favorite quote from our conversation was, "you don't want to teach, you want to make a difference."

Citation: Fisher, D.; Frey, N., & Akhavan, N. (2019). This is balanced literacy, Grades K-6 (Vol. K-6). Corwin Press.

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babyspacebatclone · 1 year

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Update:

I spoke with the other Mobile Room staff, and she says the first staff was greatly misunderstanding the situation.

First staff was (I am not exaggerating), “The therapists want Margret to work on sitting, skipping sitting will affect her balance in the long term. We can skip crawling to walking, but not sitting.”

I mentioned, “Mom saw me and Margret working on walking yesterday and did’t say anything…”

“I don’t think Mom understands everything they’re telling her.”

Which I normally wouldn’t believe, except for the number of things Margret’s parents have to balance with her multiple health issues already.

The other staff made more sense, though.

“No. Their goal right now is sitting and crawling, so when they’re scheduled they’re focused on that. They have said nothing about preventing Margret from working on standing and walking.”

So, false alarm. I’m keeping the original post below the cut, so we can keep the Reply thread. 😊

Ok, an update on Margret (a high-needs infant at the daycare where I work).

We have two baby rooms, the Young Infant and the Mobile Baby rooms, pretty much what they sound like. I’m primarily in the Young Infant room, but I work with Margret a lot because of how late she stays in the day.

Her being in the Mobile room is pretty new, but despite her struggles it’s actually the best match for her now that the Young Infant room has a lot of under 4 month olds (which are a big time demand).

I’ve only briefly been in the room when Margret’s therapists visit, so I get information from the teachers in the room.

I didn’t know the reason the therapists are focusing on Margret sitting is, apparently…

They’re worried about her not developing a sense if balance if she doesn’t learn to use one arm to catch herself.

I’ve never heard this before, and can’t find any research articles about it.

Not in the “I don’t think this is real” sense, but in the “what keywords do I use to get past pop-sci parenting blogs?”

Margret was born premature and had seizures. Right now, we assume she had brain damage, the question is just “how much” and “what can neuroplasticity compensate for”?

She is functionally deaf and blind, which makes motivating her hard.

She loves to stand, so I was trying to get her to work on pulling herself up on her own to increase her motivation to move.

Hearing that, though?

Can anyone help me research this, so I can help encouraging the most effective interventions for Margret??

#infant brain damage #tw child disability #balance #brain damage #child development

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tater-th0t13 · 1 year

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I think that when people get an idea in their heads that to them is a fundamental truth, an inflexible truth, its like the neuroplasticity is being baked out of them.

Brains are often compared to many objects like computers and sponges, but I think the closest we can get to a metaphor for how the brain works is clay. Malleable and learns through action and reaction, can be stretched and strengthened, as well as hardened and sharpened, and of course broken.

Some people get thoughts in their heads that are in our minds, hardened cold hard facts. Like a piece of pottery, it has weathered the harshest of heats and criticism and comes out the other end still intact and true. Like going through your whole life looking in the mirror, comparing yourself to models, and hearing others confirm your ugliness. Subjective opinions that are so constant and high-pressure that we begin to shape ourselves and our ideas around them thinking that accepting them will wether us against more and more heat.

But just because a piece has been fired and hardened by time, does not mean that it cannot continue to be shaped. A brain that is so set in its ways can still be changed. However, this usually means breakage.

Many people may not know that even after a clay figure has been through a kiln, that piece can be broken apart, soaked for a time, and return to its original plasticity.

The same can go for what we believe to be fundamental truth. For some it comes in the form of a comment that is like a crack in the porcelain; it does not align with the hardened truth, but the new knowledge itself cannot be denied outright. Somebody, somewhere thinks you’re pretty.

But when a truth in your mind is being tested, cracked, or even shattered, one must ask themselves if the thought is even salvagable? Some people glue their truths back together as if nothing had happened, ignoring the cracks and pretending their faith was not just shaken. Others can see that the truth is not as sound as they once believed, but its familiar and to throw it away is to rebuild entirely, and stick to the pieces they have left despite the inconsistencies. Some people make beautiful new truths, taking pieces of the past they still believe, while incorporating new ideas that challenge the old, not ignoring either. Others find themselves entirely over again when their truths are shattered, and find joy again in making a new truth.

I guess the feeling that I’m trying to express is, continue to shape your mind. When you have a hard opinion about some topic, or others around you seem to have an opinion *for* you, push back and continue to roll those concepts around in your hands, share them with others and water them with fresh ideas. A thought becomes hardened when not stretched, explored, or nuanced.

Some parts of you are inevitably going to harden due to comfort; you will decide certain ideas are right the way they are, there is no evidence to prove you otherwise, and you simply will not be challenged on certain subjects. But if they are challenged? Will you be malleable to the thoughts of others and their opinions? Or will their truths cause a crack in yours?

#dont mind me im philosophizing #i also just like clay and psychology #but seriously #i hate when me myself am resistant to listening to others #but especially more when others are resistant to listening to me and my truths #especially when whatever the topic is is subjective and has many facets #like we can play with clay together and maybe we’ll all be better for it

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planetarybound · 1 year

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Psychedelics Open Your Brain. You Might Not Like What Falls In.

Reshaping your mind isn’t always a great idea.By Richard A. Friedman

February 1, 2023, 11:26 AM ET

If you’ve ever been to London, you know that navigating its wobbly grid, riddled with curves and dead-end streets, requires impressive spatial memory. Driving around London is so demanding, in fact, that in 2006 researchers found that it was linked with changes in the brains of the city’s cab drivers: Compared with Londoners who drove fixed routes, cabbies had a larger volume of gray matter in the hippocampus, a brain region crucial to forming spatial memory. The longer the cab driver’s tenure, the greater the effect.

The study is a particularly evocative demonstration of neuroplasticity: the human brain’s innate ability to change in response to environmental input (in this case, the spatially demanding task of driving a cab all over London). That hard-won neuroplasticity required years of mental and physical practice. Wouldn’t it be nice to get the same effects without so much work?

To hear some people tell it, you can: Psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, and Ecstasy, along with anesthetics such as ketamine, can enhance a user’s neuroplasticity within hours of administration. In fact, some users take psychedelics for the express purpose of making their brain a little more malleable. Just drop some acid, the thinking goes, and your brain will rewire itself—you’ll be smarter, fitter, more creative, and self-aware. You might even get a transcendent experience. Popular media abound with anecdotes suggesting that microdosing LSD or psilocybin can expand divergent thinking, a more free and associative type of thinking that some psychologists link with creativity.

Read: Here’s what happens when a few dozen people take small doses of psychedelics

Research suggests that psychedelic-induced neuroplasticity can indeed enhance specific types of learning, particularly in terms of overcoming fear and anxiety associated with past trauma. But claims about the transformative, brain-enhancing effects of psychedelics are, for the most part, overstated. We don’t really know yet how much microdosing, or a full-blown trip, will change the average person’s mental circuitry. And there’s reason to suspect that, for some people, such changes may be actively harmful.

There is nothing new about the notion that the human and animal brain are pliant in response to everyday experience and injury. The philosopher and psychologist William James is said to have first used the term plasticity back in 1890 to describe changes in neural pathways that are linked to the formation of habits. Now we understand that these changes take place not only between neurons but also within them: Individual cells are capable of sprouting new connections and reorganizing in response to all kinds of experiences. Essentially, this is a neural response to learning, which psychedelics can rev up.

We also understand how potent psychedelic drugs can be in inducing changes to the brain. Injecting psilocybin into a mouse can stimulate neurons in the frontal cortex to grow by about 10 percent and sprout new spines, projections that foster connections to other neurons. It also alleviated their stress-related behaviors—effects that persisted for more than a month, indicating enduring structural change linked with learning. Presumably, a similar effect takes place in humans. (Comparable studies on humans would be impossible to conduct, because investigating changes in a single neuron would require, well, sacrificing the subject.)

The thing is, all those changes aren’t necessarily all good. Neuroplasticity just means that your brain—and your mind—is put into a state where it is more easily influenced. The effect is a bit like putting a glass vase back into the kiln, which makes it pliable and easy to reshape. Of course you can make the vase more functional and beautiful, but you might also turn it into a mess. Above all else, psychedelics make us exquisitely impressionable, thanks to their speed of action and magnitude of effect, though their ultimate effect is still heavily dependent on context and influence.

Read: A new chapter in the science of psychedelic microdosing

We have all experienced heightened neuroplasticity during the so-called sensitive periods of brain development, which typically unfold between the ages of 1 and 4 when the brain is uniquely responsive to environmental input. This helps explain why kids effortlessly learn all kinds of things, like how to ski or speak a new language. But even in childhood, you don’t acquire your knowledge and skills by magic; you have to do something in a stimulating enough environment to leverage this neuroplastic state. If you have the misfortune of being neglected or abused during your brain’s sensitive periods, the effects are likely to be adverse and enduring—probably more so than if the same events happened later in life.

Being in a neuroplastic state enhances our ability to learn, but it might also burn in negative or traumatic experiences—or memories—if you happen to have them while taking a psychedelic. Last year, a patient of mine, a woman in her early 50s, decided to try psilocybin with a friend. The experience was quite pleasurable until she started to recall memories of her emotionally abusive father, who had an alcohol addiction. In the weeks following her psilocybin exposure, she had vivid and painful recollections of her childhood, which precipitated an acute depression.

Her experience might have been very different—perhaps even positive—if she’d had a guide or therapist with her while she was tripping to help her reappraise these memories and make them less toxic. But without a mediating positive influence, she was left to the mercy of her imagination. This must have been just the sort of situation legislators in Oregon had in mind last month when they legalized recreational psilocybin use, but only in conjunction with a licensed guide. It’s the right idea.

Read: What it’s like to trip on the most potent magic mushroom

In truth, researchers and clinicians haven’t a clue whether people who microdose frequently with psychedelics—and are thus walking around in a state of enhanced neuroplasticity—are more vulnerable to the encoding of traumatic events. In order to find out, you would have to compare a group of people who microdose against a group of people who don’t over a period of time and see, for example, if they differ in rates of PTSD. Crucially, you’d have to randomly assign people to either microdose or abstain—not simply let them pick whether they want to try tripping. In the absence of such a study, we are all currently involved in a large, uncontrolled social experiment. The results will inevitably be messy and inconclusive.

Even if opening your brain to change were all to the good, the promise of neuroplasticity without limit—that you can rejuvenate and remodel the brain at any age—far exceeds scientific evidence. Despite claims to the contrary, each of us has an upper limit to how malleable we can make our brain. The sensitive periods, when we hit our maximum plasticity, is a finite window of opportunity that slams shut as the brain matures. We progressively lose neuroplasticity as we age. Of course we can continue to learn—it just takes more effort than when we were young. Part of this change is structural: At 75, your hippocampus contains neurons that are a lot less connected to one another than they were at 25. That’s one of the major reasons older people find that their memory is not as sharp as it used to be. You may enhance those connections slightly with a dose of psilocybin, but you simply can’t make your brain behave as if it’s five decades younger.

Read: What it’s like to get worse at something

This reality has never stopped a highly profitable industry from catering to people’s anxieties and hopes—especially seniors’. You don’t have to search long online before you find all kinds of supplements claiming to keep your brain young and sharp. Brain-training programs go even further, purporting to rewire your brain and boost your cognition (sound familiar?), when in reality the benefits are very modest, and limited to whatever cognitive task you’ve practiced. Memorizing a string of numbers will make you better at memorizing numbers; it won’t transfer to another skill and make you better at, say, chess.

We lose neuroplasticity as we age for good reason. To retain our experience, we don’t want our brain to rewire itself too much. Yes, we lose cognitive fluidity along the way, but we gain knowledge too. That’s not a bad trade-off. After all, it’s probably more valuable to an adult to be able to use all of their accumulated knowledge than to be able to solve a novel mathematical problem or learn a new skill. More important, our very identity is encoded in our neural architecture—something we wouldn’t want to tinker with lightly.

At their best, psychedelics and other neuroplasticity-enhancing drugs can do some wonderful things, such as speed up the treatment of depression, quell anxiety in terminally ill patients, and alleviate the worst symptoms of PTSD. That’s enough reason to research their uses and let patients know psychedelics are an option for psychiatric treatment when the evidence supports it. But limitless drug-induced self-enhancement is simply an illusion.

#psychedelics research #psychedelic therapy #psychedelic trip #microdosing #neuroplasticity

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