Conor

Wow it seems amazing how little time it can take for the brain to undergo plasticity on a significant level. For those interested in the potential of neuroplasticity, below is a YouTube link. In the video Dr. Norman Doidge talks about some interesting case studies from his new book 'the brain that changes itself'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3TQopnNXBU

Hey my names Conor and I'm fairly new to the forum. I'm a year 12 high school student. I take psychology as one of my subjects and when I leave high school I plan to study psychology at university. Last week in psychology we learnt about neuroplasticity, although apart from a quick introduction, a definition and some further information we didn't really cover much more on the topic. As year 12 psychology is very general and covers a lot of information but not in great detail, I was wondering if anyone has any interesting cases of neuroplasticity from people either close to them or people they have read about or seen in a video. I find it to be a very interesting topic and would also like to know if anyone knows if it is being used in mainstream hospitals, if not then why not? Lastly I would like to ask has anyone read the book 'the brain that changes itself'? If so was it a good read? Why? Why not? I'll enjoy your replys

I've experienced the two parts of waking up thing you were talking about many times. Sometimes it's a bit of a variation but the concept is usually the same. The main reason I had such an experience was because of a lack of sleep in which my mind would make up a whole bunch of reasons why I didn't need to get out of bed. So I would say that this is probably occurring because of a lack of sleep. If this is not the case then I would see a sleep specialist. I agree with what others have said, that you are experiencing hypnogogia but this reply is the reason behind why I think you are having this problem. If you reply could you please post your average sleeping hours in the week and on the weekend and the days this happens most frequently. Thanks

I can't speculate on the rest of the world because I frankly don't know, however most high-schools and universities in Australia consider psychology as a science. Whether it's a natural science is up for debate. Also most of the psychology courses Iv'e looked at, at a graduate level also require the involvement of a decent amount of biology and some introduction to chemistry so to say that psychologists, even at a graduate level, have no scientific knowledge would just be plain wrong. If this is a serious response then I pity you. It's like saying because penguins can't fly they aren't real birds. What proof do you have that you don't need to be very smart to get into psychology at uni? Can you define smart and how does not being 'very smart' and doing a particular subject therefore make it unscientific?

I would say a genius is someone who excels beyond a high level in a given academic area or areas.