Neuroplasicity

During our Neurobiology session this week, we reviewed an article called "The Science of Why No One Agrees on the Color of This Dress," by Adam Rodgers. He introduces a debate that was burning throughout social media in 2015 about the color of a dress. Some people swore that the dress was white and gold, while others disputed that that the dress was blue and black. After millions of people claimed their opinions, polls were made, and articles were written, Adam Rogers brought in a neuroscientist named Bevil Conway who helped to explain the science behind the fiery debate. He attributed the discrepancy in people's perception of the dress color to a person's visual system attempting to " discount the chromatic bias of the daylight axis,"(Rodgers, 2015). When a person discounts the blue side of the axis, they see the white and gold version of the dress; when they discount the gold side of the axis, they see the blue and black version of the dress. 

Additionally, I reviewed a Ted Radio Hour called, “Isaac Lidsky: How Can Going Blind Give You Vision?” During this talk Mr. Lidsky spoke about how his journey into blindness made him realize how many assumptions he had been making in his everyday life without hesitation. He found that what each of us sees is our own interpretation of the world around us; this is based off of your internal emotions, options, and experiences that are integrated into sensory information when it is processed in the thalamus or olfactory part of the brain. He goes on to explain that although the brain's ability to connect your experience to your sensory information is not controlled by you, the outlooks you have in life, the more recognize our own biases, and the more we open our hearts to positive experiences, the more likely we are to improve our own reality. 

One way of doing this is through daydreaming, as recommended by Dr. Anne Zachry. During her TEDx discussion, she brought up the importance of reflection, visualization, and internal thought. She explains that by consciously daydreaming, we are able to increase our problem-solving skills, empathy, and make better connections. This relates to neural plasticity because you are able construct and strengthen new neural networks when you work through the tasks that you need to do in order to reach your goals. I believe that if you make it a goal to become more open to new ideas, eventually you will increase your ability to be more empathetic and open toward the world around you.

References

Be a Daydream Believer | Anne Zachry | TEDxMemphis. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved May 2,            2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omGbKQIzoWY

Isaac Lidsky: How Can Going Blind Give You Vision? (2017, January 19). NPR.                                            https://www.npr.org/transcripts/510624029

Rogers, A. (2015, February 27). The Science of Why No One Agrees on the Color of This Dress. Wired.        https://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/