Animal Models and the Brain
Weiskrantz studied the function of what part of the brain?
The amygdala
What is one of the most common hormones that are used to research behaviours in animals?
Testosterone
What is a knockout mouse?
A mouse that has had a specific gene "turned off" ( which means it doesn't send signals from the cell)
Animal studies might not be able to be applied to humans. This is an issue of ....... (what)
Generalizability
True or False
You will definitely have an exam question about animal studies in your IB exam.
False: One, two or all three of the Paper 1 Section B questions will be based on the extensions.
Weiskrantz's study suggested that the amygdala has a function in what behavior?
Emotion or Fear (either is acceptable)
What were the two conditions in Saolsky's study?
Cortisol pellet in the hippocampus, or Cholesterol pellet in the hippocampus
What were the two conditions in Moseinko et al.'s study?
TPH-2 knockout mice were compared with normal control mice in the resident intruder test
What are two ethical considerations relevant to using animals in experimentation?
1. Justificatioin
2. Animal Welfare
How many essay questions will be based on the extensions in Paper 1?
One two or all Three
Sapolsky's study shows that cortisol may affect the . . .
Hippocampus
What were three findings from Albert et al.'s study?
Casteration reduction aggression in alpha males
Replacing testosterone restored aggression
Casterated alphas lost their alpha position
How did Van Oortmerssen and Baker figure out which rats to selectively breed?
They measured their attack latency using the resident - intruder test.
What is it called when animals are humanely killed to put an end to their suffering?
Euthanizing
The ability to maintain and manipulate information in our conscious attention is called. . . . .
Working memory
What were three ways the enriched cage differed from the depraved cage in Rosenzweig and Bennett's study?
Maze training, other rats in the age, Toys to play with
Sapolsky's study could provide insight into what possible finding in human studies?
Name one of those human studies
a) People who have experienced chronic stress (e.g. people with PTSD or those growing up in poverty) have smaller hippocampi
b) Luby et al. is one study
c) Gremmer et al is another
d) Gilbertson is not an example because this shows smaller hippocampus is genetic, not environmental.
What was the heritability of aggression found in Van Oortmerssen and Bakker's study?
0.3% (30%), which means that 30% of the differences in aggression between the rats is attributed to genetics.
What are the two major strengths of using animal models to understand human behavior?
1. Variables can be manipulated in a way that would be ethically or practically impossible to do on humans. (such as brain leisioning)
2. Researchers can conduct tightly controlled experiments to draw cause-effect relationships
What is one of the most popular animals used in animal studies?
Bonus - why is this animal used so often?
Mice
Easy to breed generations allowing for research to extend across a longer period of time.
What were three specific findings from Rosenzweig and Bennett's experiments regarding synapses, receptors and % of brain weight growth?
Synapses increased 20%
More acetylcholine receptors
Brain increased in weight 7-10%
What were the four conditions in Albert et al.s study?
1. Casteration
2.Casteration followed by implanting of tubes with testosterone.
3. Casteration followed by implanting of empty tubes
4. A "sham" casteration followed by implanting of empty tubes.
What were the three results in Mosienko et al.'s study?
100% of the TPH-2 knockout mide attacked within five minutes of the test beginning compared to 22% of the control group.
The TPH-2 knockout mice attacked six times faster than the control group. The total number of attacks and the total time spent attacking as also seven times more than the control group of mice.
What were two reasons why findings in animal studies on aggression might not generalize to humans?
Culture: We have more sophisticated cultures that teach us values, that in turn influence our thinking and decision making in situations involving aggression.
Cognition: We have more sophisticated thought processes that allow us to inhibit our biological impulses.
Both of the above mean that a simple change in biology isn't guaranteed to change our behavior as they can be moderators of the relationship between biology and behavior.
Would you allow your pet to suffer for a year to cure cancer?
Defend your answer
Defend your answer