Amay Malhotra
Class of 2024SAN RAMON, California
About
My name is Amay and I reside in the Bay Area. I love to write short stories and am working on a lengthier novel, and I love to escape reality through various video games. Other hobbies I enjoy include drawing concept art, creating stop motion videos for my YouTube channel, and editing. Conducting research allows me to expand my knowledge on certain topic. Gaining a mindset that there is always more to learn will allow me to get better and better at analyzing data and observations, and give me more insight into aspects of the medical field which peak my interest.Projects
- "A Shift In Reality: Schizophrenia and Visual Processing" with mentor Hannah (May 22, 2023)
Project Portfolio
A Shift In Reality: Schizophrenia and Visual Processing
Started Dec. 7, 2022
Abstract or project description
This literature review paper seeks to examine neurotransmitters and brain regions linked with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that impacts roughly 1 in 24 million people, or 1 in 300 (.32%) people worldwide, and impairs how people think, behave, and feel. Oftentimes, individuals with schizophrenia struggle to distinguish their own thoughts from reality - an experience known as psychosis. Hallucinations and delusions are the two most common psychotic symptoms associated with the disease. Hallucinations are forms of altered perception without a specific stimulus (for instance, hearing voices that do not exist, or seeing stimuli that aren’t present). The way these forms of perception emerge is through immense amounts of dopamine production circulating through specific areas in the brain (like the frontal lobe and the ventral tegmental area). Delusions, meanwhile, are or false beliefs that lack basis in reality or facts. Understanding how certain pathways and chemicals in the brain are associated with psychosis in schizophrenia, can help shed light on how individuals are impacted by this disease and potential avenues for treatment.