Going along with our most recent assignment, here is a list of 50 famous people with psychological disorders
http://www.wcvb.com/health/14414700

40% of U.S. Adults with Serious Mental Illness went untreated in 2011.

Despite some progress in recent years, stigma against mental healthcare remains depressingly high in the United States. According to the  2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health 40% American Adults with serious mental illness went untreated in 2011. This is caused not only by stigmas and pressure placed on the patients that push them away from seeking treatment, but due to the unfortunate fact that it's incredibly difficult to get federal monetary aid under medicare and medicaid for mental healthcare services, meaning that many sufferers who seek help are tragically unable to afford the medical care they need.

When Power Goes To Your Head, It May Shut Out Your Heart

In a though provoking article at npr.org/ writer Chris Benderev explains a fascinating study by Sukhvinder Obhi of Laurier University in Ontario of empathy. Or more accurately, the effect that power has on a person's empathy. We've all probably heard Sir John Dalberg-Acton's famous quote: Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." and this new research may well support his thesis. In the study, participants were asked judged on their empathy towards others while in situations of power, or powerlessness. The study found that the more power an indivudal was feeling at that time, the less empathetic they were likely to be towards others, and that the opposite is true for those feeling powerless.

Link: http://www.npr.org/2013/08/10/210686255/a-sense-of-power-can-do-a-number-on-your-brain

A few last minute blog posts.

Memory
(My final presentation is all about memory)

The Brain
An interesting video about severed callosum!

It's interesting that individuals with severed corpus callosums (the part of our brain that connects the two halves) each side of their bodies act as if they have their own brain. For example, when he is asked to draw two different shapes at the same time he is able to. When someone with an unsevered corpus callosum tries to do this task, it's nearly impossible. Another interesting thing about the man with the severed brain is that when he sees something flashed to the left side of his brain he is able to read and say it, but when flashed to the right side he is unable to see it although he is able to draw it.
Sensation and Perception
I found this riddle that is interesting. It is about the senses and which ones we tend to trust more.

I see the president is a liar

I hear the president is a liar

Something doesn't smell right about the president

This little test shows that we are inclined to believe our vision over our other senses. The fist statement about actually seeing the president we perceive as a truth. "The truth of the president is revealed to me". The second sentence about hearing the president doesn't make it fully true. It's saying "This may or may not be true, it needs further determination". The last one is even less convincing, "I'm suspicious but it's hard to say exactly why. This still needs further determination".