Friday, January 10, 2014

Sugar and the Brain

SUGAR!!!!!

A colleague was looking for examples and descriptions for the economic idea of diminishing marginal utility.   He ran across this video on sugar and the brain.  It deals with taste buds, brain parts, dopamine and all sorts of brain and physiology ideas.  It's only 5 minutes and has some fun graphics to keep the kids interested. Not all the various terms we use are in here, but may are referenced. Check it out.


posted by Chuck Schallhorn

2 comments:

  1. I check the TED sites every weekend for new stuff I can use in my classes and had just downloaded this as a possibility for Topic 8/Motivation, specifically eating. (We've already covered the topics for which you've provided tags.) Although insulin is the only hormone mentioned by name, the video does state that there are chemicals in your guts that tell you when you've had enough sugar.

    It's still a 'maybe," but the animation and narrative are good.

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  2. I saw this, and I also felt like it was a "maybe." I wasn't sure exactly why, but I didn't feel like all of it was factually accurate. I looked up the author Nicole Avena and it turns out that the "dig deeper" section of the TED ED site for this video mostly points to her book and her Psychology Today column. I was looking for a more critical take from someone more knowledgable than I about this, but couldn't find one.

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