Scientific method
This experimental design provides precise and detailed results. It provides more control over participant differences then a between subjects design but less then within subjects + more control over order effects then a within subjects but less then a between subjects
Mixed subjects
The 2 biological causes for Alzheimers are
Amyloid plagues - Proteins that form in between the synapse of neurons and interrupt their communication
Neurofibrillary tangles - Form inside the neurons and kill them
In this stress response your heart rate and blood pressure drop and your muscles become still
Freeze response
This stage of sleep experiences theta like medium frequency high and low amp brainwaves, rare eye movement, low muscle movement, sleep spindles and k complex
NREM 2
This biological factor increases susceptability and contributes to occurrence of a phobia by processing and storing emotional memories after a frightening event and making a stress response more likely when exposed to a similiar stimulus in the future
Amygdala
Srin's experiment involves locking her friends in a room and forcing them to listen to The Thick of it on repeat. Name 2 ethical guidelines this does not uphold and how
Bonus question 1: Finish the lyric - I'm in the thick of it, ------------
Voluntary participation - Did not willingly participate in experiment
Withdrawal rights - Was not able to leave if desired
Informed consent - Did not sign form and did not give explicit consent
This division and subdivision of the nervous system connects the brain to the bodies muscles organs and glands (2 marks)
Peripheral nervous system, somatic nervous system
Sagari is scared of dogs and stays home to avoid them instead of seeking treatment because she's worried people will call her fear stupid. What kind of coping strategy is this an example of?
Bonus question 1: What would be a coping strategy with more context specific effectiveness?
Bonus question 2: What social perpetuating factor is this?
Avoidance strategy
Bonus question - Seeking treatment or smth
Bonus question 2 - Stigma, disapproval typically associated with a phobia leads her to avoid seeking treatment and engage in avoidance behaviour
Adults are more likely to experience advanced sleep phase disorder because?
They have earlier release of melatonin and their sleep cycles are naturally shifted backwards
This psychological risk factor maintains occurrence of phobia and inhibits recovery where avoidance acts as a negative reinforcer
Shan conducts an experiment where he hands out flyers around nossal high school. Identify the type of sampling used, a limitation and how you would overcome it (3 marks)
Convenience sampling - participants are chosen based on who is readily available
Is likely to be biased and therefore unlikely to be representative of the population
Use random sampling which ensures every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen for the sample
Misha needs to remember a list of items for her stardew valley playthrough. How would she use method of loci to achieve this (4 marks)
Method of Loci is a mnenomic that involves a well learned series of locations, where items are converted into mental images and then associated with a specific location in order to act as a retrieval cue for that item.
First to encode, Misha would learn a series of locations in naturally occurring sequential order, corresponding with the number of items (and be able to mentally move through)
Then she should associate a visual image of each item with a location by picturing it in the room
Then mentally revisit each location, using the image as a retrieval cue for the item associated with it
Lazarus - Considers individual experiences of stress that change over time, but processes often occur at the same time and hard to test because of subjectivity
GAS model - Recognises important connection between intensity of stress and physiological arousal as well as sustained stress and certain diseases, but overemphasises the biological response and has limited generalisability to humans
How can you improve your sleep hygiene by adapting to zeitgebers? Explain at least 2
Zeitgebers are external time cues that regulate circadian rhythms. Aligning your schedules to them can improve sleep quality and improve likelihood of sleep
- Blue light, SCN stuff, melatonin
- Alcohol lowers sleep quality in second half of night
- Caffeine avoided after 3pm bc it lowers melatonin levels and impacts CNS functioning
- Room temp should be kept at 18 degrees and bed microclimate at 31-35
- Eat (large meals) during day and not night bc the digestive system follows a circadian rhythm and doesn't wanna be busy digesting food during the night
- Avoid stimulating activities that will be arousing like exercise before bed
Distinguish between a mental health problem and mental disorder
A mental health problem causes difficulties that affect daily functioning, low mood, appetite, poor sleep motivation and energy but is relatively insignificant in severity and duration to a mental disorder.
Which is thoughts, feelings and behaviours that significantly impact level of functioning and are longer term
Identify 2 key differences between correlational studies and controlled experiments
Bonus question: Compare case studies and observational studies
Correlational studies investigates correlational relationship between 2 variables, and are conducted in natural settings without manipulation of variables
Controlled experiment - Cause and effect relationship, manipulates variables in a highly controlled setting
Bonus question - Both observed in naturalistic setting but case studies are about a very small group of people while observational studies are usually larger in scale
When Srin plays project sekai she must recognise the note and then tap the corresponding note on the screen (sort of like playing piano) What processes (pathways) occured in order for this happen?
Bonus question: What brain parts would be involved in storing these memories as she builds her muscle memory?
Sensory receptors sense stimuli --> sensory neuron sends signal (afferent pathway) --> spinal cord --> brain initiates voluntary response --> motor neuron sends signal (efferent pathway) --> muscles in hands coordinate voluntary movement
Bonus question -
Cerebellum - Stores procedural memories as they are being learnt, working to encode
Neocortex - Stores well learnt procedural memories
If someone were to encounter a stressor, compare the processes that would occur following the transactional model of stress and coping vs the GAS model
Transactional - Would begin with a primary appraisal of the significance of the stressor that determines whether they feel stress followed by a secondary appraisal of their internal and external coping resources that determines stress felt
Gas model - 3 stages, symptoms, level of resistance
How would an adolescents sleep differ from an adults?
- Recommended 9-10h vs 8h
- More stage 2 during NREM vs gradual loss of deep sleep
Compare a biological, psychological and social protective factor
Biological - Adequate diet and hydration increases resilience by providing energy to face daily life and overcome stressors
Adequate sleep means better affective cognitive and behavioural functioning
Psychological - Cognitive behavioural strategies promote mental wellbeing
Mindfulness meditation lessens rumination provides greater focus and calmness
Social - Positive relationships and support should be authentic and provide energy to increase resilience, protect from reoccurrence of MD and combat stressors
How would you ensure an experiment adheres to all the ethical concepts? (5 marks)
Beneficence - Maximise benefits and minimise harm
Integrity – Honesty
Justice – Fair consideration of competing claims and everyone has fair access to benefits
Non-maleficence – No harm
Respect – Consider peoples individual culture, experiences and opinions
Discuss how the Atkinson Shiffrin multi store model of memory and other concepts explain the formation and retrieval of someone's memories on their first day at school.
- Description of model, with the 3 stores, their capacity, duration (INCLUDING INCOMING INFO, SENSORY MEMORY, STM, ATTENTION, ENCODING, LTM, RETRIEVAL, ELABORATIVE REHEARSAL AND MAINTENANCE REHEARSAL
- Apply to scenario with examples
- Decay, displacement
- Implicit or explicit, semantic, procedural, classically conditioned, episodic
- Brain regions involved
- State dependent cues, context
- Neural plasticity (LTP AND LTD)
- Role of neurotransmitters
Explain the gut brain axis (5 marks)
Bidirectional communication pathway between the enteric nervous system in the gas tract and the CNS having effects on each other
Gut microbiota = complex community of organisms in gut microbiome
Gut microbiome = Population of microbiota in defined environment (varied diet contributes to healthy microbiota)
When stressed lots of cortisol is released causing deficiency of some microbiota
Microbiota is involved in production of neurotransmitters like GABA and can lead to low mood, worse mental health. Conversely healthy gut increases resistance and decreases susceptability to stress related disorders
Alisha didn't study for psych at all because she was too busy watching fruits basket until morning, staying up for 24 hours. What are the cognitive, affective and behavioural effects of sleep deprivation on her performance in the SAC? Compare her sleep deprivation to the effects of drinking alcohol (5 marks)
- Microsleeps, motor coordination, overall fatigue
- Lapses of attention, trouble sustaining attention, problem solving and descision making, reaction time, impaired memory, judgement
- Amplified emotional responses and mood changes
The quantity of sleep was insufficient. For adolescents it should be 8-10 hours, leading to sleep deprivation
BAC 0.10% equivalent to 24h sustained wakefulness in terms of impact on functioning
Compare and contrast (the effectiveness) a biological, psychological and social intervention you could use to treat someone's phobia (6 marks)
Biological - Benzo as a GABA agonist increases its inhibitory effects by acting on GABA receptors in the brain and making the postsynaptic neurons more resistant to excitation. Only treats symptoms and not underlying cause of phobia
CBT - Identifying, challenging and changing maladaptive thoughts, feelings and behaviours to more helpful, positive and evidence based ones. Cognitive therapy addresses the problems in cognition while behaviour addresses maladaptive behaviours that worsen psychological problems. Takes a long time but very affective in treating.
Psychoeducation - Informing friends and family of the nature of the disorder its progression and symptoms. Helps them better support the phobia sufferer, discourage avoidance behaviour and challenge cognitive biases with evidence. Can support CBT but cannot replace it.