Discussion Questions Essay Example for Free

Discussion Questions Essay †¢ In the video this week, Bill Goodykoontz discusses watching movies as a group in a theater versus watching alone, on computers, or in your home. Explain how the availability of movies has evolved over the last century. Which experience do you prefer and why? You can rent and own movies almost anywhere now, from your phone, computer and TV. I remember when going to the theater was the only way to see a movie, now you can get it right off your computer. We enjoy watching movies directly off from our Netflix account on playstation, its beats paying late fees going to blockbusters and they’re unlimited for a nice fee. †¢ In the Week Two Learnscape, you craft an introductory paragraph for Sen. Johnson for a speech he is giving on the impact of the Internet on politics. After scanning the sites you’ve been given, how comfortable are you with the credibility of the information you found on the Internet? What, if anything, makes you uncomfortable about the credibility of these sources? If you think the information is credible, explain why. Im not comfortable with credibility of the information found on the internet since I don’t know what I’m really suppose to be looking for. †¢ In this week’s video, Bill Goodykoontz discusses the value of critics in popular culture. Do you find value in criticism or do you prefer to experience movies, music, etc., without outside feedback? Explain your answers. Personally, experience movies, music, etc without outside feedback is what I prefer. It makes it harder to view someone else art when you read other criticism because than you expect that predicition †¢ In this week’s video, Bill Goodykoontz discusses having to stay true to your own reactions and experiences when evaluating art. Why is this so difficult to do? What do you think influences us most? Do you try to shape others’ opinions when sharing your thoughts about music and movies? It’s so difficult to stay true to your own reactions about art since there’s so many media and critics in the world. There’s other that try to point out the negative in everything which gets you to start thinking about it. Media has a great impact on what we believe in this world, and shape what we think of certain things. I’ll give my own opinion about music and movies, but I let them view it themselves before really giving my thoughts. †¢ Over the last century, do you think music has changed from being about artistic expression to being more about money and business? Is it even possible for a band or artist to make topical or political commentary in a song today while focusing on turning a profit? Yes, music this century hasn’t been artistic and seem more about the money. Music these days seem more alike with the same rhythm, beat, lyrics and etc. Though you can find a few music artist who have their own taste and don’t care about the money and business. I’ve heard that some artist and bands put political commentary in a song, but I hadn’t been able to capture them. †¢ Feedback Question: How are your time management strategies working for you? Which strategies have been most effective? What time management challenges remain? What may be done about those? Time management is still a tiny struggle, but I’m getting the hang of juggling work, school and my family. It’s just getting back in the schedule of doing work and getting the strength to get it finish. †¢ Feedback Question: How are your reading strategies working for you? Is reading the content of this course same or different from reading content in other courses? Is it easier or harder? Any suggestions for how to make reading this sort of content more effective for yourself? Reading strategies for this class has been a little difficult than my other classes. Their more material to absorb, therefore I need to make more time for it which I plan on doing. Also, I plan on taking notes as I go than review that same day, that way the material will be able to sink in a little more.

Compare And Contrast Essay -- essays research papers

One of my favorite things to do is to reminiscence with my father. It is so relaxing just to sit back and talk about old times. Something that it really funny when my father and I discuss things from the past is the major differences between our pasts even though we both grew up in the same town. Now when people say that "times are a changing'" I really know what they mean. In my town there is a beautiful lake. The scenery around the lake is absolutely breath taking. When my father was younger, him and his friends would always swim in the lake. He would tell me amusing stories of the bike rides and walks down to the lake. My favorite part of the stories of the lake have to be what him and his friends did before they actually jumped in the lake. They had to throw rocks in the water to scare away the snakes! I couldn't even imagine swimming in a lake knowing that there were snakes in the water. When I was younger, I was never aloud to go to the lake. The bike ride was extremely to far away for me and my friends to take on. The lake was posted private property by new owners of homes in the area. Plus, as rumor has it, the lake is contaminated from a new large company in the area. Hence, I never spent my summer days swimming around in the lake in my town like my father did. One of my beloveded memories deals with going to the local park. My mom or dad used to bring me there wi...

Conventional Elements of Literature Essay

Literature has elements by which we can analyze the piece (book, poem, play, etc. ) written. These elements are; plot, character, setting, theme, structure, point of view, conflict, diction, foreshadowing and symbolism (Scholes, 1991) Three of them will be explained here further. The plot of the literature is the way the story goes, the line of the story, the way it starts, develops and ends. Basically, the plot tells us what happens in the story. The plot can consist of an exposition (setting and characters), conflict (complications that might arise), climax (moment of crisis or the most important part of a story) and a denouement (the resolution, the unraveling). Analyzing the plot and plot changes tell us the whole story and explain the story. Characters make the story; they are the personalities of the story. Characters can be conventional (e. g. human beings, living on earth), science fictional beings (e. g. aliens) or fantastic extra-ordinary beings (e. g. super hero’s or trolls). All these characters can either be fictional (made up) or real. The characters can also be human, supernatural, mythical, animal or divine. Then there is also the ‘depth’ of the character to be considered; characters can be round (developed and complex), flat (no complexity) or stereotypical. They can also be dynamic (changes) or static (they don’t change). Analysis of literature from the characters is an in depth analysis of the whole piece, the characters are one of the most important elements in all literature. Diction, the use of language, is another important element in literature. The dialogues reflect the characters, convey inner thoughts and give meaning to actions. Analysis of the language and the dialogues can give the reader a great insight in the characters and the meaning of the literary piece. A piece of literature can not be analyzed with the use of just one element. To understand literature, you have to analyze at least the plot and the characters to be able to give any meaning to a piece. But soon, there will be other questions as ‘theme’, ‘points of view’ and ‘symbolism’. All these combined will give you an analysis of literature. The main question any analyst has to ask the piece is ‘why’. This will help the analysis and give insight in all the elements. References Scholes, R. (Ed. ), Klaus, C. H. (Ed. ), Comley, N. R. (Ed. ) & Silverman, M. (Ed. ). (1991). Elements of Literature: Essay, Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Film. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Behavior Impact and Definition of Mirror Neurons

Mirror neurons are neurons that fire both when an individual performs an action and when they observe someone else performing that same action, such as reaching for a lever. These neurons  respond to someone elses action just as if you yourself were doing it. This response is not restricted to sight. Mirror neurons can also fire when an individual knows or hears someone else performing a similar action. â€Å"The Same Action† It’s not always clear what’s meant by â€Å"the same action.† Do mirror neurons code actions corresponding to the movement itself (you move your muscles a certain way to grab food), or, are they responsive to something more abstract, the goal that the individual is trying to achieve with the movement (grabbing food)? It turns out that there are different types of mirror neurons, which differ in what they respond to. Strictly congruent mirror neurons fire only when the mirrored action is identical to the performed action—so both the goal and the movement are the same for both cases. Broadly congruent mirror neurons fire when the goal of the mirrored action is the same as the performed actions, but the two actions themselves are not necessarily identical. For example, you can grab an object with your hand or your mouth. Taken together, strictly congruent and broadly congruent mirror neurons, which together comprised more than 90 percent of the mirror neurons in the study that introduced these classifications,  represent what someone else did, and how they did it. Other, non-congruent mirror neurons don’t seem to exhibit a clear correlation between the performed and observed actions at first glance. Such mirror neurons may, for instance, fire both when you grasp an object and see someone else placing that object somewhere. These neurons could thus be activated at an even more abstract level. The Evolution of Mirror Neurons There are two main hypotheses for how and why mirror neurons evolved. The adaptation hypothesis states that monkeys and humans—and possibly other animals as well—are born with mirror neurons. In this hypothesis, mirror neurons came about through natural selection, enabling individuals to understand the actions of others. The associative learning hypothesis  asserts  that mirror neurons arise from experience. As you learn an action and see others performing a similar one, your brain learns to link the two events together. Mirror Neurons in Monkeys Mirror neurons were first described in 1992, when a team of neuroscientists led by Giacomo Rizzolatti recorded activity from single neurons in the macaque monkey brain and found that the same neurons fired both when a monkey performed certain actions, like grabbing food, and when they observed an experimenter performing  that same action. Rizzolatti’s discovery found mirror neurons in the premotor cortex, a part of the brain which helps plan and execute movements. Subsequent studies have also heavily investigated the inferior parietal cortex, which helps encode visual motion. Still other papers have described mirror neurons in other areas, including the medial frontal cortex, which has been recognized as important for social cognition. Mirror Neurons in Humans Direct Evidence In many studies on monkey brains, including Rizzolatti’s initial study and others involving mirror neurons, brain activity is directly recorded by inserting an electrode into the brain and measuring electrical activity. This technique is not used in many human studies. One mirror neuron study, however, directly probed the brains of epileptic patients during a pre-surgery evaluation. Scientists found potential mirror neurons in the medial frontal lobe and the medial temporal lobe, which helps code memory. Indirect Evidence Most studies involving mirror neurons in humans have presented indirect evidence pointing to mirror neurons in the brain. Multiple groups have imaged the brain and shown that brain areas which exhibited mirror-neuron-like activity in humans are similar to the brain areas containing mirror neurons in macaque monkeys. Interestingly, mirror neurons have also been observed in Broca’s area, which is responsible for producing language, though this has been the cause of much debate. Open Questions Such neuroimaging evidence seems promising. However, since individual neurons are not being directly probed during the experiment, it’s difficult to correlate this brain activity to specific neurons in the human brain—even if the imaged brain areas are very similar to those found in monkeys. According to Christian Keysers, a researcher who studies the human mirror neuron system, a small area on a brain scan can correspond to millions of neurons. Thus, the mirror neurons found in humans cannot be directly compared with those in monkeys to confirm whether the systems are the same. Furthermore, it is not necessarily clear whether the brain activity corresponding to an observed action is a response to other sensory experiences rather than mirroring. Possible Role in Social Cognition Since their discovery, mirror neurons have been considered one of the most important discoveries in neuroscience, intriguing experts and non-experts alike. Why the strong interest? It stems from the role mirror neurons may play in explaining social behavior. When humans interact with each other, they understand what other people do or feel. Thus, some researchers say that mirror neurons—which allow you to experience the actions of others—could shed light on some of the neural mechanisms underlying why we learn and communicate. For example, mirror neurons may provide insights on why we imitate other people, which is critical to understanding how humans learn, or how we understand other people’s actions, which could shed light on empathy. Based on their possible role in social cognition, at least one group has also proposed that a â€Å"broken mirror system† may also cause autism, which is partly characterized by difficulty in social interactions. They argue that reduced activity of mirror neurons prevents autistic individuals from understanding what others are feeling. Other researchers have stated this is an oversimplified view of autism: a review looked at 25 papers focusing on autism and a broken mirror system and concluded there was â€Å"little evidence† for this hypothesis. A number of researchers are much more cautious about whether mirror neurons are crucial to empathy and other social behavior. For example, even if you have never seen an action before, you are still capable of understanding it—for example, if you see Superman flying in a movie even if you can’t fly yourself. Evidence for this comes from individuals who have lost the capacity to perform certain actions, like brushing teeth, yet can still understand them when others perform them. Towards the future Though much research has been conducted on mirror neurons, there are still many lingering questions. For example, are they only restricted to certain areas of the brain? What is their real function? Do they really exist, or can their response be attributed to other neurons? Much more work has to be done to answer these questions. References A calm look at the most hyped concept in neuroscience – mirror neurons, Christian Jarrett, Wired.Acharya, S., and Shukla, S. â€Å"Mirror neurons: Enigma of the metaphysical modular brain.† Journal of Natural Science, Biology, and Medicine, 2012, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 118-124, doi: 10.4103/0976-9668.101878.Gallese, V., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., and Rizzolatti, G. â€Å"Action recognition in the premotor cortex.† Brain, 1996, vol. 119, pp. 593-609, doi: 10.1093/brain/awp167.Hamilton, A. â€Å"Reflecting on the mirror neuron system in autism: A systematic review of current theories.† Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2013, vol. 3, pp. 91-105, doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2012.09.008Heyes, C. â€Å"Where do mirror neurons come from?† Neuroscience and Behavioral Reviews, 2009, vol. 34, pp. 575-583, doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.11.007.Keysers, C., and Fadiga, L. â€Å"The mirror neuron system: New frontiers.† Social Neuroscience, 2008, vol. 3, no. 3-4, pp. 193-198, doi: 10.1080/17470910802408513.Kilner, J., and Lemon, R. â€Å"What we currently know about mirror neurons.† Current Biology, 2013, vol. 23, no. 23, pp. R1057-R1062, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.10.051.Kokal, I., Gazzola, V., and Keysers, C. Acting together in and beyond the mirror neuron system. Neuroimage, 2009, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 2046-2056, doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.06.010.Miklà ³si, à . Do dogs have mirror neurons? Scientific American Mind.Mirror neurons after a quarter century: New light, new cracks, JohnMark Taylor, Science in the News.Reflecting on mirror neurons, Mo Costandi, The Guardian.The mind’s mirror, Lea Winerman, Monitor on Psychology.Uithol, S., van Rooij, I., Bekkering, H., and Haselager, P. â€Å"What do mirror neurons mirror?† Philosophical Psychology, 2011, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 607-623, doi: 10.1080/09515089.2011.562604.What’s so special about mirror neurons?, Ben Thomas, Scientific American Guest Blog.Yoshida, K., Saito, N., Iriki, A., and Isoda, M. â€Å"Representation of others’ action by neurons in monkey medial frontal cortex.† Current Biology, 2011, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 249-253, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.01.004.