Research Methods
A testable prediction of the relationship between two or more variables (events or characteristics)
What is a research hypothesis?
Involves cutting the band of nerve tissue connecting the two hemispheres.
What is split-brain surgery?
The ability of the brain to change in response to experience?
What is plasticity?
The emotional bond which forms between an infant and another person.
What is attachment?
Is a way of describing and explaining how biological, psychological and social factors combine and interact to influence a person’s mental health.
What is the biopsychosocial approach?
A subsection or smaller group of research participants selected from a larger group of research interest.
What is a sample?
A white, fatty substance that coats and helps insulate the axon.
What is myelin?
The formation of new synapses between the brain’s neurons.
What is synaptogenesis?
The understanding that objects still exist even if they cannot be seen, heard or touched.
What is object permanence?
Part of the mental health continuum. Often occurs as a result of a life stressor, and is usually less severe and of a shorter duration than a mental disorder.
What is a mental health problem?
The group of participants who are exposed to the independent variable (i.e. the ‘treatment’).
What is an experimental group?
The idea that one hemisphere has specialised functions or exerts greater control over a particular function.
What is hemispheric specialisation?
A progressive neurological disorder which is characterised by both motor and non-motor symptoms.
What is Parkinson's Disease?
The orderly and sequential developmental changes which occur in the nervous system and other bodily structures controlled by our genes.
The negative attitudes and beliefs held in the wider community that lead people to fear, reject, avoid and discriminate against people with a mental disorder.
What is social stigma?
When performance, as measured by the DV, is influenced by the specific order in which the experimental tasks are presented rather than the IV.
What is order effects?
Produces colour images showing brain structure, activity and function.
What is positron emission tomography (PET)?
A neurological disorder whereby individuals are unable to notice anything either on their left or right side.
What is spatial neglect?
A period of time during development when an individual is more responsive to certain types of environmental experiences or learning.
What is a sensitive period?
A personality disorder that is characterised by the excessive psychological need to be cared for by other people, individual's are very reliant on others and unwilling to take responsibility for themselves.
What is Dependent Personality Disorder
The obligation of the researcher not to use or disclose private information for any purpose other than that for which it was given to them.
What is confidentiality?
Disabling, destroying or removing selected brain tissue for assessment purposes?
What is ablation?
The growth and development of white, fatty myelin around many axons which contributes to the increase in brain size.
What is myelination?
A personal conflict an individual faces in adjusting to society. It involves a struggle between two opposing tendencies, one of which comes from our internal personal needs and the other from the demands of society.
What is a psychosocial crisis?
The mistaken belief that the outcomes of random, unpredictable events can be influenced or controlled by one’s thoughts or actions.
What is illusion of control?