Biological Studies Flashcards
Sperry (1968)
Theme
Regions of the brain- Hemispheric disconnection
Casey (2011)
Theme
Regions of the brain- behavioural and neural correlates of delayed gratification
Blakemore and Cooper (1970)
Theme
Brain plasticity-impact of early visual experience
Maguire (2000)
Theme
Brain plasticity- spatial memory and navigation
Sperry (1968)
Patients
Surgery
Aims
- epilepsy tends to have seizure in both hemispheres of the brain
- cutting the corpus callosum between the two hemispheres, contains the seizures to one side, causing less damage
- To study psychological effects of hemispheric disconnection in patients with epilepsy
- Demonstrate how each hemisphere has independent streams of conscious awareness and their own set of memories.
Casey et al (2011)
Original research
Regions of the brain
Aims
- Marshmallow test- ability to delay gratification on 4/6 year olds. 2/3 struggled to delay gratification.
- inferior frontal gyrus in the prefrontal cortex- go and mo-go tasks (inhibition)
- ventral striatum- immediate choice and reward
- If the ability to delay gratification is a consistent personality trait into later life.
- Investigate activity in the brain between high and low delayers associated with self-control and delay.
Blakemore and Cooper (1970)
Background
Visual Cortex
Plasticity
Visual cortex- Hubel and Weisel stimulated individual neurons and found there are column of cells that respond to particular orientations of a line.
Plasticity- Hilsch and Spinelli- visual cortex effected by experience. Animals are born with orientation columns but if not used, the ability to respond disappears. The exposed one eye to horizontal stripes and the other to vertical stripes.
Cells are now monocularly driven instead of binocularly driven.
Maguire (2000)
Brain part
Aims
The hippocampus- located deep inside the temporal lobes on the side of the brain. Central to spatial memory.
Aims:
• Is the brain capable of changing in response to environmental stimulation?
• Identify role of the hippocampus
• Demonstrate structural changed in response to behaviour requiring spatial memory.
Sperry (1968)
Method and Design
- Quasi experiment
- Case study
- no IV only looked at one group (Independent measures)
- DV: performance of visual, tactile and other tests.
Casey (2011)
Design
Method
DV for both experiments
- Longitudinal quasi experiment
- Independent measures
- IV: high vs low delayers from previous results
- DV: 1) reaction time and accuracy on certain no/no-go tasks. 2)activity using fMRI.
Blakemore and Cooper (1970)
Method
Design
IV and DV
- Lab experiment
- Independent measures
- IV: reared in the horizontal or vertical environment
- DV: behavioural and neurophysiological effects
Maguire (2000)
Method
Design
IV and DV
- Quasi experiment
- Matched pairs
- IV: taxi driver or not
- DV: volume of the hippocampus in 6 areas by VBM (volume, shape and size) and pixel (slices) counting by an MRI scanner.
Sperry (1968)
Sample details
- 11 patients with epilepsy who had been referred to the White Memorial Centre in LA.
- Opportunity sample.
Casey (2011)
Sample details
- Opportunity sample
- from a pool of 117 originally from Stanford university nursery.
- 59 agreed
- 40-year-olds
- even split between high and low delayers from previous results
- 27 agreed to take part in ex 2.
Blakemore and Cooper (1970)
Sample details
Ages when measured
- 2 cats -each reared in the different environments.
- New-born at the beginning.
- 5 months when behavioural responses were collected
- 7.5 months at neurophysiological test