Brain Disorders

After all of the brain disorder presentations I decided to look more into other brain disorders and I came across some pretty weird ones. A lot of the symptoms I had already heard about at some time or another but I didn't know they were actual brain disorders. Here are some examples:
Anarchic Hand Syndrome- also called "alien hand syndrome", someone with this disease has  no control over one of their hands and that hand appears to have a mind of its own. The hand can unbutton buttons, remove clothing and manipulate close to anything. This is most common in people who have had the two hemispheres of the brain surgically separated (usually to cure symptoms of epilepsy), after brain surgery, after a stroke, or infections. There is no cure.
Foreign Accent Syndrome: Foreign Accent Syndrome is a rare condition following a head injury, trauma or stroke. This syndrome causes someone to speak their native language as if they had a foreign accent. Research has shown on that patients suffering from this condition, the brain’s speech center was affected and damaged.
There were a lot more crazy ones but these are two I thought were pretty unusual.

http://www.blogissues.com/2007/12/04/26-strange-unbelievably-bizarre-and-weird-mental-disorders/

Insight

Last week when we were doing our problem solving unit I came across an article that I found pretty interesting. It begins with a story about a fire fighter who is placed with an impossible situation. He and his team were fighting a forest fire and just when it seemed like he was going to be trapped in the flames, he had an insight. He was able to lie on the ground, the fire went over him and he was left unharmed. The article goes on to discuss how the brain's process for insight and quick problem solving skills is very complex. The brain first searches for answers in the logic centers of the brain (left hemisphere). If the problem is difficult the brain accesses the centers for insight (right hemisphere). To get insights though, you generally have to be relaxed. This explains why most insights come when the mind is at ease. Finally, the article talks about how there is a lot of criticism for corporate team building because they take people away from work. But when you think about it this makes sense because if the brain is able to relax, the employees will have a better chance to solve their most difficult problems with insights. I thought this article did a good job putting the things we talked about in class into real life situations.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Teambuilding-Insights-and-Problem-Solving---How-the-Brain-Cracks-the-Puzzles&id=2009339