New Brain-Neuron Fabric Gift Wrap Wallpaper!

2014, Anxiety, Art, artist, arts & crafts, astrocytes, axon, axon hillock, Biology, Bipolar, body parts, Brain, Cartoon, cerebellum, clothing, craft, creative, dendrites, Depression, design, design your own fabric, doctor, drawings, fabric, fabric design, Fashion, frontal lobe, gift wrap, golgi apparatus, Health, Holidays, Illustrated, illustrator, Kristin Bell, Mania, Manic, Manic-Depressive, Mental Health, Mental Illness, myelin, neuron, neuron impulse, neuroscience, neurotransmitters, oligodendrocyte, Paranoid Schizophrenia, pillow, Pillows, Prefrontal Cortex, Psych Meds, Psychiatrist, Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychosis, wrapping paper

Hey Everybody! I recently made this new brain/neuron fabric and gift wrap! I made a giant brain pillow for my psychiatrist too, and he seemed to like it which was awesome! :) Here are some pics! Also, the fabric, gift wrap, and wall paper are available on spoonflower here: http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/3713721

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Chinese Patients with Schizophrenia, Their Siblings, and Facial Emotion Processing

Academic, Chinese, facial emotion processing, Kristin Bell, left middle frontal gyrus, neuroscience, Prefrontal Cortex, Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychosis, Schizophrenia

A study performed by Hui-jie Li et. al. based in Beijing, China and published in Schizophrenia Research vol. 134 (2012) tested 12 patients with schizophrenia for facial emotion processing. In the study, 12 of the non-ill siblings of the patients were also tested along with a control group of 12 people who were matched for demographic variables like IQ, age, gender, and education levels.

The researchers were especially interested in evaluating whether or not the patients with schizophrenia had deficits in facial emotional processing like other studies from Western populations have indicated. In essence, this was a replication study paired with a cultural component to test if facial emotional processing deficits are universal or not.

The data obtained from 8-minute fMRI scanning sessions where participants were shown 20 happy faces, 20 fearful faces and 20 neutral faces (at different times with different time intervals) were analyzed and it was found that the patients with schizophrenia showed abnormal activation of the “social brain neural circuit.” In addition, the sibling participants showed slight abnormalities that fell between what the patients with schizophrenia displayed and what the control group displayed. This result led researchers to hypothesize that there might be a deficit even in the non-ill siblings that the patients’ brains are trying to compensate for.

During the study the control group showed greater activation in various brain regions that processed the happy faces, but the patients with schizophrenia showed greater activation than the controls in the left middle frontal gyrus when processing the fearful faces. The sibling participants also showed greater activation than the controls (but less than their siblings with schizophrenia) when processing fearful faces, but had similar activation responses to controls with the happy faces.

The results of the study are similar to previous studies done to test for facial emotional processing in people with schizophrenia indicating that there are universal deficits in facial emotional processing that patients with schizophrenia must compensate for.

Medial View Human Brain: 5th Drawing for Neuro Class

Academic, Art, Brain, cerebellum, Colorful, drawings, Education, frontal lobe, gyrus, Illustrated, Kristin Bell, Medial view of human brain, medulla oblongata, neuroscience, occipital lobe, parietal lobe, Prefrontal Cortex, Psychology, temporal lobe

I’m not quite sure if I got all of the parts in the right spots for this one. It is pretty hard to draw from multiple images and get everything in one pic. This is supposed to be the medial view of the human brain. :) Click the pic to enlarge.

For my interactive Medial Brain, click here!

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Lateral Human Brain: 4th Neuro Drawing

Art, Brain, Broca's Area, cerebellum, fissure, frontal lobe, gyrus, human, Kristin Bell, lateral view of brain, medulla oblongata, neuroscience, occipital lobe, parietal lobe, pons, Prefrontal Cortex, Psychiatry, Psychology, temporal lobe, Wernicke's Area

This is the 4th pic for my neuro class. It is a drawing of the lateral human brain with only some of the parts. These are the parts we had to label.  :) You can click the picture for a larger view. NOTE: The orbitofrontal cortex was mis-labeled in this picture. It should be on the anterior part of the frontal lobe! So, I deleted the old pic and now this new one has whiteout on it. Oh well! Live and learn! :)

For my interactive Lateral Brain, click here!

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