Week 5 Discussion Forum #1
Tuesday, May 24, 2022, 2:19 PM
Number of replies: 1
In these Forums, please answer the following questions, and respond to at least one other colleague’s post (total of 4 posts). Your answer should be between 220-400 words.
Listen to this NPR interview with Dr. Suzanne Corkin (who it turns out was my own PhD advisor!) about her work with the patient H.M., whose brain surgery to treat his epilepsy left him with profound anterograde amnesia (i.e., he was not able to encode new memories after his surgery). How do you think losing the ability to form new long-terms memories might have altered H.M.’s sense of self or identity? How do you think that would differ in a patient with retrograde amnesia (i.e., not being able to retrieve past memories)?
https://www.npr.org/2007/02/24/7584970/h-m-s-brain-and-the-history-of-memory
RESPOND TO THIS PERSON
Vanessa Bustillos – Friday, July 22, 2022, 12:13 PM
First and foremost, just the thought of any kind of brain surgery sounds completely terrifying. The amount of precision it takes and one little mistake can ruin someone’s brain activity forever. Anyway, I think losing the ability to form new long-term memories has an immense impact on your sense of self and identity. The building of new memories allows for you and the world around you to evolve. Without this kind of memory, there is no growth. Even though you can learn new things each day, you will not remember them to keep incorporating or practicing them. I also believe that this can be of danger to a person. Imagine not being able to remember that you are not supposed to touch fire or how to drive or the signs to look out for if someone looks like a potential threat. Not being able to form new long term memories keeps you stuck at a certain point in time, it is almost as if you plateaued the evolving of life.
Something with retrograde amnesia would be similar in some ways and different in others. At least with long term memory loss, you have built a foundation to lean on. With not being able to retrieve past memories, you have no foundation. You will just have to carry on from that point on and start from the very beginning to establish a foundation. In my opinion, I think this is slightly better than not being able to recall long term memories. This would be especially better for people who have had pasts they wish they did not have to remember.
Week 5 Discussion Forum #2
Tuesday, May 24, 2022, 2:19 PM
Number of replies: 1
In this Forum, please answer the following question, and respond to at least one other colleague’s post (total of 2 posts). Your answer should be between 120-200 words.
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports is considered unethical and is illegal for most competitions. Should we consider it unethical for people to use amphetamines or memory-enhancing drugs to get a performance boost when taking tests or doing some other form of academic competition? What about using brain training apps to improve cognitive abilities?
RESPOND TO THIS PERSON/ Vanessa Bustillos – Friday, July 22, 2022, 3:26 PM
I personally feel many ways about this subject. I understand that performance-enhancing drugs is illegal and unethical when it comes to sports, but how is that any different from when models take things to lose weight for their performances or when someone takes anxiety medication to help them cope? I think we are so used to working hard towards something in order to feel like we’ve earned the right to attain said thing. However, the world is evolving at such a fast rate and our society is changing with it, that it seems as though working as hard is not necessarily required anymore. In some cases, there are people who work hard towards something, but are still unable to attain said thing. For example, a football player. There are some that spend countless hours in the gym and on the field but still are unable to get playing time or stronger. Some people need that extra help (performance-enhancing drug).
On the other hand, I can see why it is considered unethical or wrong. I believe this is more the “traditional” way of thinking about it. In order to be somewhat ethical, I think there should be some type of screening done to determine whether a person needs extra assistance when it comes to educational purposes. The brain training applications can be part of that screening.
