Both genetic and environmental factors determine someone’s personality. Genes account for between 30-50% of the determination and unique environmental experiences making up the rest.
Our brain’s ability to strengthen or make new connections to adapt and change allows us to acquire new skills.
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If you are a ballet dancer or gymnast, a watch-maker or surgeon, your brain connections in the motor system will differ depending on your skills for fine movements in different parts of your body.
The pathway from eye to brain begins in the retina, where light is converted into neuronal signals.
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Chris Tailby, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
Light arriving from the right visual field is processed in the brain’s left hemisphere. So damage to the left part of the primary visual cortex will result in blindness in the right visual field.
Human memory is complex and neuroscientists are still trying to uncover the mechanisms that lead to memories being formed.
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Our memories provide us with insight into events, knowledge of the world around us and influence our actions and behaviours – forming important aspects of our personality.
Our mood is a transient frame of mind that influences how we think and view the world.
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Genevieve Rayner, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
Many regions fundamental to mood are buried deep in the most primordial parts of the brain; that is, they are thought to have been among the first brain regions to develop in the human species.
Our language abilities are enabled by a co-ordinated network of brain regions that have evolved to give humans a sophisticated ability to communicate.
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David Abbott, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
When you read this text, certain regions in your brain begin working more than others. Advanced imaging allows scientists to map the brain networks responsible for understanding language.