Biological approach Flashcards
Question 1: Discuss one or more hormones and their effect on human behavior (Mc gaugh and Cahill
-Functions of hormones in human behavior.)
-Whats the aim?
The role of emotion in the creation of memories
Whats the method?? (STORY…)
-Participants were divided into two groups and exposed to different stories while viewing 12 slides
-In the first condition, they heard a story about a hospital visit during a disaster drill, while in the second condition, a more emotional story about a boy recovering from a severe car accident
-Afterwards, the participants rated the emotional intensity of the stories on a scale of 1-10. -Two weeks later, their memory for specific details was tested using a recognition task with multiple-choice questions about the slides with three options for them to choose from. For example, what was the job of the father of the boy in the story? A. A janitor B. A lab technician C. A surgeon.
-In a follow-up study, the same procedure was repeated, but participants were injected with either the beta-blocker propranolol or a placebo. Propranolol is a heart disease medication that inhibits amygdala activation. This follow-up aimed to investigate the drug’s impact on memory processing during emotional experiences.
THE RESULT??????
-the initial experiment
-in the follow up study
-In the initial experiment, participants exposed to a more emotionally arousing story demonstrated better recall of specific details and slides compared to those who heard a mundane story
-In the follow-up study where participants received a beta-blocker (propranolol), the memory performance of this group was similar to that of the group exposed to the less emotional story, and because of that the amygdala plays a significant role in forming memories associated with emotional arousal.
Wedekind, (MHC)
Whats the aim of the research?
to test the role of MHC on mate selection
whats the Method??
49 female and 44 male students from the University of Bern, Switzerland.
-Each participant was “typed” for their MHC
-It was noted if the women were taking oral contraceptives.
-The students probably did not know each other as they were from different courses
-The men were asked to wear a T-shirt for two nights to keep the T-shirt in an open plastic bag during the day and follow specific hygiene instructions
-They were asked not to use any deodorants or perfumes, to refrain from smoking tobacco or drinking alcohol, to avoid all spicy foods, and to not engage in any sexual activity.
-Two days later, the women were asked to rank the smell of 7 t-shirts, each in a cardboard box with a “smelling hole.” The women were tested whenever possible in the second week after the beginning of menstruation, as women appear to be most odor-sensitive at this time. -The women were also asked to prepare themselves for the experiment by using a nose spray for the 14 days before the experiment to support the regeneration of the nasal mucous membrane if necessary
-Each woman was also given a copy of Süskind’s novel Perfume to sensitize their smell perception.
-Three of the seven boxes contained T-shirts from men with MHC similar to the woman’s own
-Three contained T-shirts from MHC dissimilar men
-One contained an unworn T-shirt as a control.
-Alone in a room, every woman scored the odors of the T-shirts for intensity (range 0-10) and for pleasantness and sexiness (range 0 -10, 5 = neutral).
so the result?
- more pleasent when?
-contraceptive influence? if yes what
-MHC influence?
-Women scored male body odors as more pleasant when they differed from their own MHC than when they were more similar.
-This difference in odor assessment was reversed when the women rating the odors were taking oral contraceptives.
-MHC may influence human mate choice.
Genetics and behaviour (KENDLER)
whats the aim of his researc?
to determine the role that genetics plays in major depressive disorder
The method?
-The sample was made up of 15,493 complete twin pairs listed in the national Swedish Twin Registry. Only twins whose zygosity could be verified were used in the study.
-Researchers used a team of trained interviewers to carry out telephone interviews. -Interviews were carried out between March 1998 and January 2003.
-The interviewers assessed lifetime major depression by using modified DSM-IV criteria. -8056 twins met the criteria for a diagnosis of major depression at some point in their life - and 322 twins voluntarily discussed a history of antidepressant treatment.
-the interviewers also asked questions about the twins’ “shared environment” - that is, when they were living in the same household - and their “individual-specific environment” - that is, adult personal life events that may make members of the twin pair more susceptible to depression.
so the result?
-Concordance rates for major depression were significantly higher in women than men.
-The correlations were significantly higher in monozygotic than in dizygotic twins.
-No correlation between the number of years that the twins had lived together and lifetime major depression.
-No significant differences were seen in the roles of genetic and environmental factors in major depression in the three cohorts spanning birth years 1900-1958. Even when they split the entire cohort into pre and post-World War II, there was no significant difference.
-It suggests that the heritability of major depression is higher in women than in men and that some genetic risk factors for major depression are sex-specific.
