biopsyc ao3 Flashcards
1
Q
ao3 for fight/flight
A
- beta (gender) bias as it doesn’t explain responses in females, women are more likely to ‘tend’ or ‘befriend’ than to fight/flight
- limited as it is too simplistic as there are other explanations, such as ‘freeze’ where the brain thinks about the most appropriate and least threatening way to get out of a situation and consider the best course of action
2
Q
ao3 for localisation of function
A
- case study to support from Broca, onto ‘Tan’ = post mortems showed he had damage to a center in his brain (brocas) and could only say the word tan and never regained the ability to speak, but could still understand language
- case study to contradict from EB = lost his whole left hemisphere but still managed to regain some lang abilities which would not be possible if the brain was completely localised
- low population validity as both of these are case studies, research has found that Broca’s area may be in the dominant cerebral hemisphere, not the left.
3
Q
ao3 for hemispheric lateralisation
A
- case study into EB contradicts = lost his whole left hemisphere but still managed to regain some lang abilities which would not be possible if the brain was completely lateralised
- low population validity as it is only a case study
- RTS by Sperry = used split brain patients with severed corpus collosum and found that when ppts were shown an object in their right visual field they could name the object, but in their left visual field they couldn’t name it and only identify it by pointing. the hemispheres are responsible for different functions
- individual differences in Sperrys research as ppts had variation in how severed their corpus collosum was, confounding variable which may have affected findings as there may still be some communication between the two hemispheres
4
Q
ao3 for split brain research
A
- individual differences as the degree to which ppts corpus collosum was severed varied, this meant that there could have been some communication between the two hemispheres, which acts as a confounding variable
- uses scientific methods that’re objective and empirical such as a lab experiment which means it can be re-created in the same conditions to check for reliability, which increases the internal validity of the findings and raises psyc’s scientific status
- case study into EB contradicts = lost his whole left hemisphere but still managed to regain some lang abilities which would not be possible if the brain was completely lateralised
5
Q
ao3 for plasticity and functional recovery
A
- case study on patient EB to support = had his left hemisphere removed and managed to regain some lang ability. this suggests that his brain experienced the recruitment of homologous areas and demonstrates that the brain can adapt to produce lang even when the left hemisphere has been removed
- low population validity as it was only a case study
- RTS from Maguire et al who studied the brains of london taxi drivers and found that those who had been drivers for longer had a greater volume of grey matter in the area responsible for navigation/spatial skills (posterior hippocampus) in comparison to those who had only been drivers for a short period of time, this suggests the brain adapted and changed its structure
6
Q
ao3 for infradian rhythms
A
- RTS exogenous zeitgebers from Russell = 4/5 sexually inactive women’s menstrual cycles linked with the donor cycle after 5 months. the donor wore cotton pads under her armpits (pheromones’) and these where diluted and placed on the top lip of the ppts.
- Russells research was a field experiment which meant it took part in ppts natural environment so there was no control of variables. other exogenous zeitgebers could have impacted the cycles such as stress/diet. difficult to establish cause and effect.
- can be explained by revolutionary psychologists. would have been evolutionary advantageous for women’s cycles to link as that meant they could all get pregnant and breastfeed at the same time. this shows that exogenous zeitgebers can enhance survival skills as evolution would predict
7
Q
ao3 for circadian rhythms
A
- RTS by DeCoursey et al = destroyed the SCN connections in the brains of 30 chipmunks and returned them to their natural habitat, then found that most of them had been killed by predators as they were awake and vulnerable to attack when they should’ve been asleep. supports the influence of endogenous pacemakers e.g. SCN on the sleep/wake cycle
- DeCoursey’s research has animal bias, humans may have a more complex interraction with endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers as there are a greater number of these that can impact human rhythms
- RTS from Siffre = lived in a cave isolated from all exogenous zeitgebers e.g. light/clocks for 6 months, within a few days he developed a 25-hour sleep-wake cycle. this suggests that circadian rhythms are controlled by endogenous pacemakers as all
exogenous zeitgebers were removed - Siffre’s research lacks ecological validity as he lived in a cave so his findings may not reflect how exogenous zeitgebers and endogenous pacemakers interract in real life settings. end and exo work together to maintain the rhythms
8
Q
ao3 for ultradian rhythms
A
- has practical applications as the growth hormone released in stage 4 sleep has been linked to sleep deficit in old age as older people experience less stage 4 sleep. medication and relaxation techniques have been developed to increase the amount of stage 4 sleep in old people. this battles issues associated with old age, such as reduced awareness
2 based on scientific methods that’re objective and empirical such as EEGs that measure brain activity in a lab setting. these scientifically measure brain activity throughout the 5 stages of sleep and how long they occur, and remove any EVs such as light/noise - lack ecological validity as the research is conducted in an artificial setting so sleep experienced by ppts may not reflect their genuine sleep, which is governed by endogenous pacemakers
9
Q
ao3 for post-mortems
A
- hard to establish cause and effect as there may have been EVs in a person’s life that impacted their brain structure which cannot be controlled such as if someone has had drug treatment for their disorder, limiting the internal validity
- highly detailed as the brain can be dissected to look at on a deeper level, passed brain scans
10
Q
ao3 for EEGs
A
- low spatial resolution as they can only provide information on general activity in the brain and cannot pinpoint the source of neural activity, unlike ERPs. this means researchers cannot identify specific brain activity in a task
- high temporal resolution as the researcher can take a real time recording of the brain, unlike fMRI. this means the researcher can gain an accurate measure of general brain activity during a task which provides greater insight into the processes of the brain.
11
Q
ao3 for ERP
A
- high temporal resolution as the researcher identify brain activity every millisecond so researchers can see brain activity in real time.
- had to obtain meaningful data as they can be affected by many external factors and it can take many trails to obtain this meaningful data as its hard to control these external factors
12
Q
ao3 for fMRIs
A
- high spatial resolution as the researcher can pinpoint by the millimeter which brain region is activated during a task and this provides a clear image for how the brain is localised
- low temporal resolution as the researcher cannot identify brain activity constantly, as there is a time lag between the photos taken and the brain activity
- much safer than other techniques to identify the difference in brain areas. this is because no radiation is used, unlike PET scans
