Psychology 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Corticosterone, Hopscotch, Frontal Lobe
Document Summary
A more playful brain makes for a more adaptive brain. Some schools have banned certain toes of play; hopscotch, aggressive play, etc. Effects of isolation during the peak play period. If these animals are reared in isolation in that juvenile period, then when they reach adulthood, they are socially incompetent. Slow rise and slow reduction in the blood level of corticosterone. It shuts down unnecessary systems, like the immune system. In these cases of isolated rats, once they experience stress, their systems are in stress for longer, and their immune system ifs online for longer. They don"t make the connection that their behaviour causes problems. Rats are mammals, and their biggest parts of the brain is the cerebral cortex; this constitutes 70% or more of the volume of the brain, and is what make a smart mammal. This is when the scientists remove the cortex to see if they can still play. Most play is done in the juvenile stage.
