Biological area - Sperry, Blakemore & Cooper, Casey and Maguire

Question 1

Sperry - what was the aim/background of the study?

Answer 1

.Show the independent streams of conscious awareness in each hemisphere.
.Using split brain patients.

Question 2

Sperry - what was the sample of the study?

Answer 2

11 participants who had been epileptic and got their corpus colosseum cut to stop the seizures.

Question 3

Sperry - what was the Visual task procedure of the study?

Answer 3

.P’s first completed the visual task where they used a tachistoscope, they covered one eye and focused on the focal point.
.Stimuli up for 0.1 seconds/ info presented to left visual field would then travel to the right hemisphere.
.Participants then tested on the stimuli.

Question 4

Sperry - what was the Tactilel task procedure of the study?

Answer 4

.P’s put hands under the tachistoscope where they could not see the objects on the other side.
.Objects placed in p’s hands.
.Objects placed in the right hand of the participant are processed in the left hemisphere and vice versa.

Question 5

Sperry - what where the results of the study?

Answer 5

Visual task -
.P’s would only recognise an object in the same visual field, if it switched field they would not recognise it.
.Left hemisphere - could be described in speech and writing.
.Right hemisphere could point to a photo.
Tactile Task -
.objects in one hand could only be recognised by the same hand.

Question 6

Sperry - what where the different hemispheres of the study?

Answer 6

Left hemisphere = right hand/ visual field
.Speech and writing
Right hemisphere = left hand/ visual field
.Drawing / pictures

Question 7

Sperry - what where the evaluation of the study?

Answer 7

• quasi study not manipulated iv
• low ecological validity
  + ethical

Question 8

Blakemore and Cooper - What was the aim/background of the study?

Answer 8

Test whoever brain plasticity / development occurs due to experiences rather then nature.

Question 9

Blakemore and Cooper - What was the sample of the study?

Answer 9

.2 new born kittens immediately placed in a dark room.

Question 10

Blakemore and Cooper - What was the procedure of the study?

Answer 10

.2 weeks in dark room
.Placed in vertical or horizontal room for 5 hours a day.
.After 5 months they were then placed in a well lit room and measured for the dv.
.Tested whoever the horizontal kitten could detect vertical objects and vice versa.

Question 11

Blakemore and Cooper - What were the results of the study?

Answer 11

.Visual impairment / no startle response
.Showed Behavioural blindness to the opposite of the contours they were aligned with.
.After 10 hours vision and startle response started to come back, however physical blondness of the opposite contour remained.

Question 12

Blakemore and Cooper - evaluation?

Answer 12

+ internal validity - lab experiment
+ Smapling bias cats unrepresentative
- unethical

Question 13

Casey - What was the aim/background of the study?

Answer 13

To assess whether delay of gratification in Children predicts impulse control abilities in adults.

Question 14

Casey - What is the sample of the study?

Answer 14

562, 4-year-olds from Stanford’s Bing Nursery School.

155 of the original 562 were studied in their 20s.

135 of the original 562 were studied in their 30s.

Question 15

Casey - What is the procedure for experiment 1 of the study?

Answer 15

.P’s split into high and low delayers
.P’s completed the cool and hot go / no go task.
.Cool taks = faces where one gender was go, where you push the button and the other was no go.
.Hot version was identical except using happy or not happy expressions as stimulus.

Question 16

Casey - What is the procedure for experiment 2 of the study?

Answer 16

.Used FMRI for a similar test to experiment 1 with differences in timings eg 500ms.

Question 17

Casey - What are high and low delayers?

Answer 17

.Low delayers don’t have to ability to withhold gratification
.high delayers have the ability to withhold gratification

Question 18

Casey - What are the results of the study?

Answer 18

Experiment 1 -
.Similar for cool task
.ow delayers showed worse results in the hot task

Experiment 2 -
. low delayers had diminished recruitment of the inferior frontal gyrus for correct ‘no-go’ relative to ‘go’ trials.
.The ventral striatum demonstrated significant difference in recruitment between high and low delayers

Question 19

Casey - What was the evaluation of the study?

Answer 19

+ internal validity - lab experiment

- ecological validity

Question 20

Maguire - what’s the background /aim of the study?

Answer 20

.Look into brain plasticity if it can be changed by external forces.

Question 21

Maguire - what’s the sample of the study?

Answer 21

16 right handed male tax drivers

50 right handed males

Question 22

Maguire - what’s the Procedure of the study?

Answer 22

MRI scans of both samples and comparison

Question 23

Maguire - what’s the Results of the study?

Answer 23

.Increased grey matter was found in the brains of taxi drivers compared with controls in two brain regions, the right and left hippocampi. The increased volume was found in the posterior (rear) hippocampus.
.Changes with navigation experience – A correlation was found between the amount of time spent as a taxi driver and volume in the right posterior hippocampus.

Question 24

Maguire - what’s the evaluation of the study?

Answer 24

• small sample
• sample only right handed
  + quasi experiment with lab controls