Studies
What was the aim of McGaugh and Cahill?
To study the importance of the hormone adrenaline and the amygdala on emotional memory.
Name at least 2 neuroimaging techniques to study the brain and behaviour.
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), PET (positron emission tomography), fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)
What is localization?
The idea that suggests certain parts of the brain are linked to certain functions and therefore result in certain behavior.
The hormone, Adrenaline, is involved in what type of bodily response?
The Fight or Flight Response.
Caspi et al (2003) examined the role of this gene and its link to depression.
5 HTT
What techniques did Maguire utilize in the analysis of MRI scans?
Voxel based morphology & morphometry, pixel counting.
What were the ethical implications of the design of Rosenweig, Bennett and Diamond (1972)?
The rats in the “impoverished” condition were deprived of many important things like social interaction which put them through undue distress. The rats were also killed in order to study their brain structure.
What is the term for “the process or brain's method of removing unused/under-stimulated synapses to make neural connections more efficient.”
Synaptic pruning / Neural Pruning
This is the body’s primary stress hormone.
Cortisol.
This prophecy is linked to ethical concerns regarding genetic testing.
Self-fulfilling prophecy: When a person unknowingly causes a prediction to come true, due to the simple fact that he or she expects it to come true.
How did Rogers & Kesner (2003) investigate the role of acetylcholine in the formation of spatial memory?
30 rats were used, there were two conditions (scopolamine, and saline), he measured the amount of mistakes each condition made while navigating through the maze, he also observed how both conditions performed in terms of memory retrieval.
True or False: The biological approach to studying behaviour is considered interactionist.
False: Attributing a single biological factor to a complex behaviour is considered reductionist.
If someone had a damaged amygdala, what would they not be able to do?
Form emotional memories.
Baumgartner et al (2008) investigated the role of this hormone in trust relationships.
Oxytocin.
What was the purpose of the human genome project?
The purpose of the human genome project was to map out the human genome, allowing psychologists to pinpoint specific genes that influence behaviour.
What were the results of Draganski et al (2004) and what did they conclude about neuroplasticity?
The juggling condition had a larger amount of grey matter in both hemispheres of the mid temporal area. In comparison to scans 3 months later, the grey matter decreased due to not practicing juggling. The control condition had no changes between scans. Therefore, this study concludes that neural pruning can occur.
What type of studies are used to study genetic links to behaviour? Name at least 3 ways.
Kinship (Family/pedigree) studies, Twin studies, Adoption studies, Association Studies, or Genome-wide association studies.
What did both Rosenzweig, Bennett, and Diamond (1972) and Maguire et al (2000) conclude about the brain?
Neuroplasticity: the ability of the brain's structure to change with environmental stimuli. In the Diamond study, rats who were placed in an ‘Enriched condition’ had thicker cortexes compared to rats from the ‘Impoverished condition.” In Maguire, taxi drivers had larger posterior hippocampi and smaller anterior hippocampi compared to control subjects because of their knowledge of the city.
What is the name of the gland that produces the hormones cortisol and adrenaline?
Adrenal Glands.
Name two limitations associated with the use of pedigree (family) studies?
1: Records of diagnoses in older generations may not be accurate and could be poorly documented. 2: Nowadays, people prefer to have kids later in life which makes it harder for psychologists to study different generations.
In the study Caspi et al (2003), why did the examiners choose to specifically study the 5HTT gene in relation to depression?
Researchers believed that the 5-HTT gene was connected to serotonin pathways important for controlling mood, emotions, aggression, sleep, and anxiety. Caspi hypothesized those who inherited two short versions of the 5-HTT gene were more likely to develop major depression after a stressful life event.
The case study HM used method triangulation to study his hippocampus and memory. Name the four techniques used by Scoville and Milner (1957).
Psychometric testing, Direct observation, Interviews with HM and his family members, Cognitive testing.
Name the three types of neurotransmitters:
Excitatory neurotransmitters (eg. acetylcholine), Inhibitory neurotransmitters (eg. GABA), Metabotropic neurotransmitters (eg. dopamine, serotonin).
What is the name of the system in the body that is responsible for the secretion and creation of hormones?
The Endocrine System
What is the diathesis-stress model?
The Diathesis-Stress Model is a psychological explanation of abnormal behaviour based on gene expression. It states that some of us have a "genetic vulnerability" to a disorder.