Harlow's Monkeys
Two mothers, one wire one terry cloth, the monkey's all went mainly to the cloth mother, only very briefly going to the wire mother to feed, when the environment changed, or something was added to the cage, the monkeys very briefly went to see what it was then immediately went back to the cloth mother as a safe haven.
Peripheral Nervous System
Contains all the neural tissues outside of the brain and spinal cord. Receives stimuli from the senses, and feeds this information to the brain. Can deliver both conscious and unconscious processes for example, breathing, or carrying signals to the muscles.
Synapse
Junctions that connect each neuron. This is as neurons cannot touch each other, so the synapses convert their electrical and chemical signals. This is important for learning, memory, and reflex stages.
Piaget Stage One
Birth to 2 years old: Sensorimotor Stage.
Learning to develop object permeance, which is the idea that even though you cannot directly see the object behind you, you still recognise that it is there.
Children mainly learn about the world through their senses and physical actions, touching grasping and looking.
By coordinating these sensory and motor experiences they begin to construct schemas (organise knowledge)
Three types of learning
Structural: Lowest level of learning, least retained in the LTM, learning based off of the shape of the word.
Phonetic: Better than structural learning but still not the best, learning based off of sounds, so making a list, then reading it out loud, or rhyming words.
Psychomotor: Highest level of learning, and most likely to be retained in the LTM, learning based off of knowledge that is already known, so for example, rewriting the text in your own words, or getting the text and relating it back to previous knowledge.
What were the findings?
That babies do not only love their mothers because they provide them with food, but instead because they have an innate need for tactile comfort and emotional security.
Central Nervous System
Contains only the brain and spinal cord. Is the system that receives and interprets the information delivered by the Peripheral Nervous System in order to coordinate a response. This response can be either physical or mental.
Neurotransmitters
The chemical messengers that work by carrying signals from one neuron to a target cell across the nervous system. When electrical signals reach the end of a nerve cell, it triggers the release of neurotransmitters, causing chemicals to cross a synapse to bind specific receptors to the target cell.
Piaget Stage 2
Children start to use symbols and language, yet they struggle with logical thinking.
They cannot understand conservation, are egocentric, have difficulties seeing things from others perspectives.
Caffeine affect on the body
Caffeine is a CNS stimulant, it works by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain, which is the neurotransmitter that makes people feel drowsy. It can also be classed as an addictive substance because it is fat soluble and has the ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier. Excessive use of caffeine can lead to anxiety, insomnia, and heart palpitations.
What can this show with orphans and foster kids.
This experiment can be linked to foster children through research that has shown abnormal behaviour and a difficulty in foster children with making and sustaining relationships later in life. This is because the monkeys that only had the wire mother showed great psychological damage when forming relationships later in their life.
Sensory Neurons
Convert internal and external stimuli into electrical signals, transmits from the sensory receptors to the CNS, and is located across the PNS connecting the CNS.
Serotonin
Responsible for mood regulation, blood clotting, digestion, sleep and behavioural influence.
Piaget Stage 3
7 to 11 years: Concrete Operational Stage.
Lean towards abstract thinking and the idea that not everything is concrete.
Become more logical in their thinking, and can now understand conservation, make mental pictures and processes.
SHE Strands
Application and Development.
Communication and Collaboration.
Influence.
Three ethical considerations.
As the participants were all monkeys there were several cases of ethical misconduct in Harlow's experiment, for example a lack of ethical considerations, as well as the fact that they could not consent to the experiment. Additionally, was the fact that there was no regulatory oversight, and there was a great deal of psychological harm towards the participants.
Relay Neurons
Integrates and processes signals, transmits electrical impulses to sensory and motor, located entirely within the CNS.
Dopamine
Provides pleasure and reward system, movement and coordination, cognition and hormonal functions, motivation and learning.
Piaget Stage 4
11+, 12 years: Formal Operational Stage.
Develop the ability to think abstractly, solve hypothetical problems, create hypothesis.
Can now reason about ethics, science, math and think systematically.
Stimulants benefiting society
Stimulants can benefit society, because, for example, they can provide energy to busy students, but they can also help in the treatment of some disorders such as ADHD and narcolepsy.
Was the knowledge gained from this experiment worth the ethical misconduct?
Honestly, responses can vary but I believe that it was, you just have to add evidence, for example the fact that it gave researchers and foster/ orphan carers more information about the children that they are dealing with, information that possibly could not have been known without this experiment, yet it is still bad because of the intense psychological damage done to the monkeys, so I do believe it was worth the violations, then but I do not believe that this experiment should be conducted again today.
Motor Neurons
Transmits movement instructions to the muscles and glands from the brain and spinal cord. The biological link that turns thoughts into the actions.
Receptor and Effector
The receptors detect and bind specific stimuli or signals, converting it into nerve impulses. Whereas, the effectors produce the responses that were received from the receptors.
Strengths and Weaknesses of this model.
Strengths: It uses psychological constructs that are still recognised today such as schemas, assimilation and accommodation.
Weaknesses: The model is quite rigid and doesn't take into account for the fact that growth in not linear, and looks differently in every kid, also does not account for cultural differences.
Learning for Cramming vs. For LTM
Learning best for cramming is prioritising high-yield material, using active recall, managing time with breaks, massed practice, flash cards.
Learning best for LTM retention is Distributed Practice, which is set spaced out learning used by the time that it takes you to remember, so you don't have to relearn the topic but instead revise.