23-03-2013, 07:37 AM
Before I relate my story, I'd like to thank Charles and Jan for their overwhelming words and comments some pages before this one. And also I'd like to thank everyone, just for being yourselves, even with some restraint.
My classroom story is about the power of words.
During the many years I've taught physiology to college, graduate, medical, and nursing students, I played a little game with them when the subject of Conditional Reflexes came up on the topic schedule. It was worked pretty well in each class, and especially well in late morning classes. The topic was announced and then I asked the students for their permission to play a little game with them. Of course they said, "Yes and Okay," anything for which was a chance for fun. I would tell the class to pay attention to their bodies and to note any changes they perceived while I would keep on talking.
I would launch into a list of popular foods young people seemed to like, such as hamburgers, sodas, pancakes, pizzas, cookies, pie, waffles, stesks, cakes, baked chichken, popcorn, cheese crackers, baked potatoes with sour cream, turkey and stuffing, nachos (in Texas)....I took my time and after a minute or so, I stopped and asked it they had noticed any changes in their body. Usually the answers came slowly because they did not know quite how to answer my question. Someone might say they felt hungry, and many would agree. But the answer I was seeking usually came too, that they felt more moisture (saliva) in their mouths. I would then ask why they would salivate because all I had done was recite a list of food names. Well, they soon figured out that they had associated these words with these foods which they liked and had learned all this during their lives. This, of course, introduced Ivan Pavlov's experiements with his dogs who were taught to salivate to the sound of a ringing bell when it was rung as food was shown to the animal. The smell or the sight of food stimulated the production of saliva, and eventually, the animals would salivate to just the sound of the bell. Pavlov called the sight or smell or taste of food a primary signal system to the nervous system. The sound of the bell became a secondary signal system to the dogs, and this is what our languages are, or can be. We learn the meanings of words through direct action, as a child learns to identify colors, and by the use of other words (by sounds and by sight), or by touch in Braille language and by sight with hand gestures for the deaf.
It is not only the parasympathetic part of our nervous system which is activated by words, but every part of the nervous system. The sympathetic portion responds in a rapid "fight or flight" way to help us survive; the heart beats faster and the blood pressure rises. It produces the thrills and excitement while watching a scary movie or video. The motor system of the central nervous system goes to work to move the body from danger. And soothing words can make us feel more relaxed.
Incidentally, the correct translation from the Russian is conditionAL (not conditionED) relexes. The relexes can be inhibited or abolished because -they depend upon building new connections between neurons which may be lost from inhibition or disuse. Spinal reflexes, such as the knee-jerk reaction, are not learned reflexes, but have permanent anatomical connections in their pathways.
The point of all this is that words and phrases can have, and do have, physiological consequences. Stay healthy.
Adele
My classroom story is about the power of words.
During the many years I've taught physiology to college, graduate, medical, and nursing students, I played a little game with them when the subject of Conditional Reflexes came up on the topic schedule. It was worked pretty well in each class, and especially well in late morning classes. The topic was announced and then I asked the students for their permission to play a little game with them. Of course they said, "Yes and Okay," anything for which was a chance for fun. I would tell the class to pay attention to their bodies and to note any changes they perceived while I would keep on talking.
I would launch into a list of popular foods young people seemed to like, such as hamburgers, sodas, pancakes, pizzas, cookies, pie, waffles, stesks, cakes, baked chichken, popcorn, cheese crackers, baked potatoes with sour cream, turkey and stuffing, nachos (in Texas)....I took my time and after a minute or so, I stopped and asked it they had noticed any changes in their body. Usually the answers came slowly because they did not know quite how to answer my question. Someone might say they felt hungry, and many would agree. But the answer I was seeking usually came too, that they felt more moisture (saliva) in their mouths. I would then ask why they would salivate because all I had done was recite a list of food names. Well, they soon figured out that they had associated these words with these foods which they liked and had learned all this during their lives. This, of course, introduced Ivan Pavlov's experiements with his dogs who were taught to salivate to the sound of a ringing bell when it was rung as food was shown to the animal. The smell or the sight of food stimulated the production of saliva, and eventually, the animals would salivate to just the sound of the bell. Pavlov called the sight or smell or taste of food a primary signal system to the nervous system. The sound of the bell became a secondary signal system to the dogs, and this is what our languages are, or can be. We learn the meanings of words through direct action, as a child learns to identify colors, and by the use of other words (by sounds and by sight), or by touch in Braille language and by sight with hand gestures for the deaf.
It is not only the parasympathetic part of our nervous system which is activated by words, but every part of the nervous system. The sympathetic portion responds in a rapid "fight or flight" way to help us survive; the heart beats faster and the blood pressure rises. It produces the thrills and excitement while watching a scary movie or video. The motor system of the central nervous system goes to work to move the body from danger. And soothing words can make us feel more relaxed.
Incidentally, the correct translation from the Russian is conditionAL (not conditionED) relexes. The relexes can be inhibited or abolished because -they depend upon building new connections between neurons which may be lost from inhibition or disuse. Spinal reflexes, such as the knee-jerk reaction, are not learned reflexes, but have permanent anatomical connections in their pathways.
The point of all this is that words and phrases can have, and do have, physiological consequences. Stay healthy.
Adele