Bio A P F C

Question 1

Newcomer

Answer 1

Aim- to investigate the effect of cortisol on memory
Procedure- high/low/control- different levels of cortisol then given verbal declarative memory test
Findings- more cortisol –> worse performance
Conc- cortisol negatively affects memory

Question 2

Rosenzweig, Bennet, and Diamond

Answer 2

Aim- to investigate brain plasticity
Procedure- enriched/impoverished/control- different levels of stimulation and social, then weigh cerebral cortex
Findings- more ACH receptors and heavier context in enriched
Conc- stimulation increases brain size, learning, memory hence brain plasticity seen in rats

Question 3

Fessler

Answer 3

Aim- to investigate disgust in first trimester
Procedure- web based survey of 700 women, how disgusting they found several hypothetical situations (controlled for nausea)
Findings- more disgust in first trimester especially concerning food
Conc- disgust evolved to reduce risk of disease- immune system weak in pregnancy so disgust higher

Question 4

Milner and Corkin

Answer 4

Aim- to investigate the hippocampus and LoF
Procedure- extensive study and MRI of HM after have his hippocampus removed due to seizures
Findings- removal led to anterograde amnesia and inability to form episodic or semantic memories
Conc- hippocampus needed for encoding- transferring STM into LTM

Question 5

Caspi

Answer 5

Aim- investigating the role of 5HTT in depression
Procedure- compared depressive symptoms of short and long alleled participants
Findings- more common in short allele but only due to environmental factors too, and not everyone with short develops depression and visa versa
Conc- plays a role (vulnerability) but not significant

Question 6

Kasumatsu and Hirai

Answer 6

Aim- investigate sensory deprivation on brain and serotonin role
Procedure- 8 monks on pilgrimage with sensory deprivation, blood test then hallucinated then another blood test
Findings- higher serotonin in the blood after hallucination
Conc- sensory deprivation leads to serotonin which leads to hallucination due to affecting frontal cortex

Question 7

Martinez and Kesner

Answer 7

Aim- investigate the role of ACH in behaviour
Procedure- inject rats with ACH reuptake inhibitor or ACH receptor blocker, then run maze to find food
Findings- more ACH meant less mistakes and faster to find food
Conc- ACH affects learning and memory

Question 8

Baumgartner

Answer 8

Aim- investigate role of oxytocin
Procedure- given oxytocin or placebo, played trust game (invest, win, share, sum tripled, money either kept or shared) half the time the trust was betrayed, half it was respected
Findings- oxytocin didn’t change rate of investment- unfazed by betray, placebo reduced investment- affected by betrayal
Conc- oxytocin plays role in trust

Question 9

Gallese

Answer 9

Aim- to investigate motor neurones in monkeys
Procedure- electrodes on monkeys’ heads picking up signals from motor neurones when they reached for food
Findings- electrical signal also went off when researcher reached for food
Conc- mirror neurones- couldn’t tell difference between seeing and doing

Question 10

Iacaboni

Answer 10

Aim- investigate mirror neurones
Procedure- in fMRI participants look at faces, imitate faces, then shown again
Findings- same area of brain activated when imitating and looking second time- neurones and limbic system
Conc- mirror neurones fire when observing something we can do

Question 11

Maguire

Answer 11

Aim- to investigate brain plasticity
Procedure- taxi drivers and control age matched pairs both given MRI (right handed etc)
Findings- taxi drivers had high grey matter in the posterior hippocampus, control had more in anterior
Conc- spacial memory in posterior, redistribution shows brain plasticity as structure can change based on environmental factors such as learning

Question 12

Davidson

Answer 12

Aim- investigate effect of mediation on gamma production
Procedure- monks and students meditating on “love and compassion” while being measured by EEG
Results- monks had high gamma production, students’ either stayed same, or dropped back straight after- more gamma better emotional processing and quicker thinking
Conc- mediation affects emotional processing and thinking/perception

Question 13

Luders

Answer 13

Aim- to investigate the effect of meditation on brain structure
Procedure- MRI scan of 22 meditators and 22 control
Findings- larger volumes in the right hippocampus, right frontal lobe and right thalamus (memory and problem solving areas)
Conc- brain plasticity, cognition can change shape of brain, large effect on brain structure

Question 14

Bouchard

Answer 14

Aim- investigate genetic/environmental ratio for behaviours
Procedure- MZT/A take lots of tests and questionnaires to establish concordance rate for lots of behaviours including intelligence
Findings- 69% MZA, 88% MZT
Conc- mainly genetic but role played by environment too- combination

Question 15

Scarr and Weinberg

Answer 15

Aim- investigate genetic/environmental ratio for behaviours
Procedure- intelligence tests given to transracially adopted children and natural children of that family
Findings- initially adopted children ad intelligence equal to that of natural- higher than birth family, over time it dropped to that of birth family
Conc- high role of environment- could have dropped due to joining peer groups of birth family

Question 16

Curtis

Answer 16

Aim- investigate evolutionary causes of disgust
Procedure- web survey of pairs of images- one potentially disease causing, and one potentially fine, judged how disgusting each of the images were on likert scale
Findings- more likely to cause disease were seen as more disgusting
Conc- adverse to things that can cause disease to protect self, evolutionary survival of the fittest