Brain Monitoring and Imaging Techniques
Experimental Research Design
Biological Psych
Scientific Research Methods
Experiment vs. Correlation
100
This type of monitoring device attaches electrodes to the skull to register electrical activity
What is an EEG?
100
This type of variable is manipulated by the experimenter. It is thought to change the outcome of a second variable.
What is the INDEPENDENT VARIABLE?
100
This part of the brain was injured when Phinneas Gage had a tamping iron blow through it. It is the part of the brain we now believe to be associated with impulse control and personality.
What is the PREFRONTAL CORTEX?
100
This is the group that is included in studies to provide a measure of "standard functioning"
What is the CONTROL GROUP?
100
A study wherein researchers randomly assigned 10 participants to a control and 10 participants to an experimental group. Participants in the control group played a racing video game. Participants in the experimental group played a military shooting game. After the game ended, all participants were provoked by a staff member. Participants who were randomly assigned to the experimental group acted more aggressively when provoked than the control participants. The researchers concluded that aggressive video games produced aggression.
What is an EXPERIMENT? To get the full points- what are the independent variable and the dependent variable?
200
This imaging technique provides an x-ray picture of the brain and is good for identifying structural problems
What is a CT SCAN?
200
This type of variable is thought to be changed by, or DEPENDENT ON, the first variable.
What is the DEPENDENT VARIABLE?
200
This part of the brain is responsible for processing all visual information. If this part of the brain is damaged, we will not be ale to see properly, even though are eyes are working correctly.
What is the OCCIPITAL LOBE?
200
This effect occurs when participants believe they are receiving an active medication but really are receiving an inert (e.g., inactive) substance
What is the PLACEBO EFFECT?
200
A study wherein researchers asked students to complete a questionnaire stating how much sleep they have on an average night. Participants were also asked to rate how happy they were each day. The researchers concluded that participants who slept more were happier.
What is a CORRELATION?
300
This imaging technique utilizes a giant magnet to create a detailed picture of the structure of the brain. It is very good at identifying structural damage, however does not provide any information about function.
What is an MRI?
300
A dependent variable must have this characteristic
What is MEASURABLE?
300
The left side of your brain controls the right side of your body, and the right side of your brain controls the left side of your body. THIS term describes this phenomenon
What is LATERALIZATION?
300
The study design in which participants are unaware of their group assignment (e.g., control vs. experimental group)
What is a BLIND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
300
A study wherein researchers measured the amount of pollutants that babies were exposed to prenatally by taking samples of umbilical cord blood. At age 10 the researchers rated each child's IQ and reported that children who had been exposed to higher levels of pollutants prenatally did not have lower IQ than children exposed to low levels of pollutants.
What is a CORRELATION?
400
This type of imaging technique utilizes a radioactive tracer that is injected into a participant. The radioactive tracer collides with molecules in the brain and releases the radioactive compound, which can be detected by the large machine. This technique allows researchers to measure how the brain is working (e.g., the function)
What is a Positron Emission Tomography Scan - or a PET SCAN?
400
Sometimes in psychology we study phenomenon that are subjective or vary across different people. For example, if I want to study "happiness" in children, I might consider happiness to be "# of laughs". However another researcher who is trying to replicate my work might consider happiness to be "time not spent crying". To help researchers understand exactly what is being measured, I would need to specify THIS- which definition that explains exactly what I was measuring when I said I measured happiness.
What is an OPERATIONAL DEFINITION?
400
This kind of seizure begins in a very specific and easily identifiable location. It is often preceded by auras.
What is a FOCAL SEIZURE?
400
The research design used to prevent both participants and researchers from knowing the group to which a participant has been assigned (e.g., control vs. experimental)
What is a DOUBLE-BLIND DESIGN?
400
A study wherein researchers exposed pregnant rats to high or low levels of pollutants. Once the baby rats reached adolescence, they completed a series of memory tests. The researchers concluded that the rats who had been exposed to high levels of pollutants prenatally performed identical to rats who had been exposed to low levels of pollutants. They concluded that level of prenatal pollutant exposure was not related to memory.
What is an EXPERIMENT?
500
This technique combines both structure and function. Participants complete a task while in a large magnet. Researchers are then able to generate a picture of the person's brain before and during the task, and see what brain areas changed. Thus, they can see both the structure and function of the brain.
What is a FUNCTIONAL MRI - or fMRI?
500
To prevent sampling bias from occurring, researchers will do THIS to ensure equal distribution of people between a control and an experimental group
What is RANDOMLY ASSIGN?
500
A patient who has had a lobotomy and has had his/her corpus collosum severed have very unique characteristics. For example, if you showed this patient a picture of a house on the left side of his/her visual field- he/she would be able to _ _ _ _ what he/she saw but would not be able to _ _ _ it.
What is DRAW and SAY
500
A report that describes the experience of 5 patients who abruptly stopped smoking after receiving damage to their insula is THIS kind of descriptive study design...
What is a CASE STUDY?
500
The Vietnam draft was shown to have a large impact on education. Draftees were drawn by a birthday lottery. People whose birthdays were located at the end of the lottery were less concerned about being called to active duty then people whose birthdays were located at the beginning of the lottery. To avoid being called to active duty, more people at the beginning of the lottery enrolled in school then did people at the end of the lottery. As a result, the position of someone's birthday on the lottery schedule predicted their intelligence level. This real study is THIS type of study.
What is a CORRELATION study?
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