Biological approach

Question 1

Antonova et al (2011)
Aim, sample,
procedure, results

Answer 1

Aim: whether scopolamine affects the hippocampal activity in the creation of spatial memories.
Sample: 20 young healthy adult males mean age of28.
Procedure: injected with either scopolamine or a placebo, 70-90 minutes before the task. Put in an fMRI scanner, played virtual game to find pole. Darkness, 30 seconds of active recall
- use spatial memory to get there. Results: injected scopolamine led to less activation in the hippocampus. Conclusion: acetylcholine plays a significant role in encoding spatial memory in humans as well as rats.

Question 2

Evaluation of Antonova et al 2011

Answer 2

Repeated measures design:eliminating the effect of participant variability
Controlled for practice effect by making the study counter-balanced by having some ps do scopolamine first and some did placebo first.
Controlled for research bias by making it blind
Sample size too small

Question 3

Rogers & Kesner 2003

Aim, procedure results

Answer 3

1. To determine role of acetylcholine in the formation of spatial memory.
2. Rats were randomly allocated to either scopolamine or saline condition.
3. Results were that the scopolamine group took longer and made more mistakes - did not have an effect on retrieval of memories that were already created. “it appears that acetylcholine does play an important role in the consolidation of spatial memory

Question 4

Roger & Kesner evaluation

Answer 4

1. Avoided extraneous variables, controlled experiment with placebo effect.
2. Establishes cause and effect, but it is reductionist
3. Could lead/help in treatment of Alzheimer, dementia
4. To what extent can the findings be generalized to humans?