Biological area

Question 1

What are the two studies in the biological area

Answer 1

Blakemore and Cooper

Maguire

Question 2

What is brain plasticity

Answer 2

The brain can change and modify due to environment and experiences (e.g. volume increase/decrease)

Question 3

What is the key theme in the Blakemore and Cooper study

Answer 3

Brain plasticity and development / Impact of early visual experience

Question 4

What is the aim of the Blakemore and Cooper study

Answer 4

To investigate the development of the primary visual cortex (in cats) and to find out if some of its properties such as orientation selectivity are innate or learned

Question 5

Research method in the Blakemore and Cooper study

Answer 5

Laboratory experiment

Question 6

IV of the Blakemore and Cooper study

Answer 6

-Whether the kittens were reared in a horizontal or vertical environment

Question 7

DV of the Blakemore and Cooper study

Answer 7

-Visuomotor behaviour once they were placed in an illuminated environment i.e. whether the horizontally raised kittens could detect vertically aligned objects and/or if the vertically raised kittens could detect horizontally aligned objects

Question 8

Sample Blakemore and Cooper study

Answer 8

New born kittens

Question 9

Briefly describe the procedure of the Blakemore and Cooper study

Answer 9

• The kittens were put into special apparatus in a tall cylinder with either vertical or horizontal lines for 5 hours per day
• This routine stopped when the kittens were 5 months
• Visual reactions were then observed in a well-lit furnished room

Question 10

Main Results from Blakemore and Cooper study

Answer 10

• Their papillary reflexes were normal but they showed no visual placing when brought up to a table top and no startle response when an object was thrust towards them
• They guided themselves mainly by touch
• They were frightened when they reached the edge of a surface they were standing on

Question 11

Conclusion from the Blakemore and Cooper study

Answer 11

• Visual experiences in the early life of kittens can modify their brains and have profound perceptual consequences
• A kittens’ visual cortex may adjust itself during maturation to the nature of its visual experience

Question 12

Reliability - Blakemore and Cooper

Answer 12

-Standardised and same procedure for each kitten making it more reliable because, it would be easily replicated and could gain the same or similar results

Question 13

What is the aim of the Maguire study

Answer 13

-To show that the hippocampus in the human brain is the structure associated with spacial memory and navigation

Question 14

Research method in the Maguire study

Answer 14

Quasi/Natural experiment

Question 15

IV in the Maguire study

Answer 15

-Whether the participant was a London taxi driver or a person who did not drive taxis

Question 16

DV in the Maguire study

Answer 16

-The volume of the hippocampi including their anterior, body and posterior regions; measured by analysing MRI scans of participants’ brain using the two techniques of VBM and pixel counting

Question 17

Sample in the Maguire study

Answer 17

• 16 right-handed, male, London taxi drivers that had been driving taxis for more than 11.5 years
• 50 brain scans of healthy right-handed men who were not taxi drivers

Question 18

Briefly describe the Procedure in the Maguire study

Answer 18

-The scans of the control group were selected from the structural MRI scan data base at the same unit where the taxi drivers were scanned

Question 19

Main results from the Maguire study

Answer 19

• Taxi drivers had significantly increased grey matter volume in the right and left posterior hippocampi compared to controls
• Taxi drivers had a significantly greater posterior hippocampi volume than controls

Question 20

Conclusions from the Maguire study

Answer 20

• There are regionally specific structural differences between hippocampi of licenced London taxi drivers compared to those who do not drive London taxis
• The professional dependence on navigational skills in licensed London taxi drivers is associated with a relative redistribution of grey matter in the hippocampus

Question 21

Reliability - Maguire

Answer 21

-Standardised population and procedure of MRI scan, can easily be replicated because they were just scanning the brains of the taxi drivers compared to the non-taxi drivers. However, a specialist, competent individual will need to carry out the pixel counting.

Question 22

Internal Validity - Blakemore and Cooper

Answer 22

-As this was a laboratory experiment, the kittens’ environments were highly controlled by immediately putting the new born kittens into a dark room

Question 23

External validity - Blakemore and Cooper

Answer 23

• The population was very small and therefore can not be representative, also can not be generalised to human because they are a different species with very different biological processes
• In the real world, this situation would not happen

Question 24

Internal validity - Maguire

Answer 24

• The same competent specialist individual was used during the pixel counting stage
• All the taxi drivers were right handed and had been driving for more than 1.5 years

Question 25

External validity - Maguire

Answer 25

-Only 16 male right handed London taxi drivers participated, making it less valid because the small population suggests that a less varied range of results will exist