["John Torakis"]
March 9, 2025
Abstract
This essay explores the concept of executive functions, diving in the historical review of early case studies that point towards the direction of brain anatomy, their main theoretical foundations, and analyzing the current model that includes inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, working memory as core executive functions and planning among the higher order ones. Studies on changes of executive functions during aging are presented, with chronological order, commenting also on the theoretical models used on each of them, as well as their results.
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["John Torakis"]
January 10, 2025
Abstract
This is a brief essay on violence risk assessment tools, the need for such tools, their categorizations as well as their usage. With the link between psychosis and violence as a starting point, it draws information from work on schizophrenia, and reviews research predicting violence on schizophrenia patients, a subject that remains inconclusive. Additionally, the aspect of neuroscience is visited in predicting behaviour, highlighting its problems and explaining the reasons it currently lacks accuracy.
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["John Torakis"]
April 15, 2024
Abstract
This essay explores the topic of participation of university students to scientific studies, with a focus on Psychology students. The topic is introduced through historical examples, that participation proved to be ethically questionable and later was examined in two ways. The student-centered perspective on ethics of participation, such as the possibility of coercion and the effect of reward to the participants, are all inspected in this essay. Also, a more result-driven approach is taken, attempting to find out whether the phenomenon of student participants does impact the study results themselves.
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["John Torakis"]
March 20, 2024
Abstract
This essay aims to provide a simple, but comprehensive understanding of brain-imaging techniques currently used in neuroscience. It aims to do so by providing sufficient scientific background, technical details and finally, example studies and further discussion for their usages. Specifically, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Electroencephalography (EEG) techniques will be explained through visiting the maths and physics that make them possible, the equipment that make them accessible to neuroscience and the results that show their effectiveness.
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["John Torakis"]
January 5, 2024
Abstract
This essay summarizes the concept of "conformity" in Social Psychology, highlighting research on the subject and well-known experiments that helped with understanding and defining the term. Furtherly, scientific work will be presented regarding modern aspects of research on conforming behaviour and its imprint on the human brain. Specifically, recent brain-imaging studies will be discussed that focus on neural activity of subjects conducting conformity (or dissension) as a social behaviour, providing base for theories, such as "
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