Biopsychology

Question 1

Elabd et al. (2014)

Answer 1

Oxytocin (produced by the posterior pituitary gland) is needed for healthy maintenance and repair, declining with age.

Question 2

Maner and Miller (2014)

Answer 2

Progesterone (released from the ovaries) increases sensitivity to social cues.

Question 3

Taylor et al. (2000)

Answer 3

Females show a ‘tend and befriend’ response to stress.

Question 4

Gray (1988)

Answer 4

Animals (including humans) initially freeze when presented with danger.

Question 5

Von Dawans et al. (2012)

Answer 5

Acute stress leads to greater cooperation and friendly behaviour in both genders.

Question 6

Lee and Harley (2012)

Answer 6

Only men have the SRY gene and it promotes aggression and fight-or-flight behaviour.

Question 7

Broca (1865)

Answer 7

Broca’s area: involved heavily in production of speech.

Question 8

Fedorenko et al. (2012)

Answer 8

Found two regions in Broca’s area: one involved with language production and the other involved with complex cognitive tasks.

Question 9

Lashley (1930)

Answer 9

Equipotentiality Theory: Basic brain functions are localised but higher functions are not.

Question 10

Dejerine (1892)

Answer 10

Damaged connection between visual cortex and Wernicke’s area results in loss of the ability to read. Indicating that complex behaviours are processed in different areas before a response is made.

Question 11

Bavelier (1997)

Answer 11

Found large variation in patterns of activation in areas of the brains of different individuals.

Question 12

Harasty et al. (1997)

Answer 12

Women have larger Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas.

Question 13

Dronkers et al. (2007)

Answer 13

Re-examined Broca’s patient’s brains; found that lesions were present in more than just the Broca’s areas and this could have contributed to the speech loss.

Question 14

Sperry and Gazzaniga (1967)

Answer 14

Studied split-brain patients: language is located in the left hemisphere whilst the right hemisphere is responsible for spatial processing and facial recognition.

Question 15

Rogers et al. (2004)

Answer 15

Brain lateralisation in chickens results in improved dual-task performance.

Question 16

Tonnessen et al. (1993)

Answer 16

Relationship between left-handedness and immune disorders.

Question 17

Morfit and Weekes (2001)

Answer 17

Left-handed people had higher rates of immune disorders in their immediate families.

Question 18

Szaflarski et al. (2006)

Answer 18

Lateralisation increases until the age of 25 but after that, it decreases with age.

Question 19

Gazzaniga (1998)

Answer 19

Early split-brain findings have been disconfirmed.

Question 20

Turk et al. (2002) [case study of JW]

Answer 20

JW developed the capacity to speak out of the right hemisphere and can speak about information presented to either side of his brain.

Question 21

Andrewes (2001)

Answer 21

Many split-brain studies use only two or three participants and therefore the results are not generalisable.

Question 22

Boyke et al. (2008)

Answer 22

Found brain plasticity in 60 year olds taught juggling, an increase in grey matter in the visual cortex. This growth would reverse if they stopped practicing.

Question 23

Kühn et al. (2014)

Answer 23

Video games increased grey matter in the cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum relating to strategy, navigation and motor performance.

Question 24

Davidson et al. (2004)

Answer 24

Monks meditating have greater activation of gamma waves than a meditating control. This was also true even before they started meditating.

Question 25

Wall (1977)

Answer 25

Identified dormant synapses which are ‘unmasked’ and reactivated when they are needed if the brain becomes damaged.

Question 26

Kempermann (1998)

Answer 26

Complex environments improve the number of neurons in the brains of rats.

Question 27

Maguire et al. (2000)

Answer 27

The posterior hippocampal volume was larger than normal for London taxi drivers and increased the longer they drove taxis.

Question 28

Tajiri et al. (2013)

Answer 28

Stems cells could repair damage in the brains of rats.

Question 29

Elbert et al. (2001)

Answer 29

Capacity for neural reorganisation is much greater in children than in adults.

Question 30

Schneider et al. (2014)

Answer 30

Patients with college level education were 7 times more likely to be disability-free one year after a moderate/severe brain injury than those uneducated.

Question 31

Annese et al. (2014)

Answer 31

Conducted the post-mortem examination of HM.

Question 32

Cotter et al. (2001)

Answer 32

Post-mortem evidence has found reduced number of glial cells in the frontal cortex of patients with depression.

Question 33

Harrison (2000)

Answer 33

Post-mortem examinations have been of central importance in our understanding of schizophrenia.

Question 34

Siffre (1962) [case study]

Answer 34

When in a cave, what he thought was a 18-day-long stay was actually 61 days.

Question 35

Siffre (1999) [case study]

Answer 35

In his old age, Siffre could stretch his circadian rhythms to 48hrs whereas it was only 24hrs when he was younger.

Question 36

Hughes (1977)

Answer 36

Constant darkness in the Antarctic disrupted cortisol levels.

Question 37

Czeisler et al. (1999)

Answer 37

Circadian cycles can vary from 13 to 65 hours between different people.
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Dim lighting alone can alter people’s circadian rhythms to between 22-28.

Question 38

Duffy et al. (2001)

Answer 38

There are ‘morning people’ who wake and sleep early and ‘evening people’ who wake and sleep late.

Question 39

Evans and Marain (1996)

Answer 39

Drugs to prevent heart attacks are administered at 10pm but are only released between 6am-12pm, when people are most at risk.

Question 40

Buhr et al. (2010)

Answer 40

Temperature may control body clock rather than light. This is because light input affects body temperature.

Question 41

Kleitman (1969)

Answer 41

There is a 90 minute cycle during sleep called the Best Rest Activity Cycle (BRAC). This cycle may continue when we are awake.

Question 42

Halberg et al. (2002)

Answer 42

There are seven-day rhythms of blood pressure and heart rate, which may account for humans having more sex at weekends.

Question 43

Refinetti (2006)

Answer 43

Women’s menstrual cycles can be between 23-28 days, varying between women.

Question 44

Magnusson (2000)

Answer 44

There is a seasonal variation in mood, especially for women.

Question 45

Trudeau (1997)

Answer 45

Human deaths are seasonal, with most deaths occurring in January.

Question 46

Tucker et al. (2007)

Answer 46

Individual differences in sleep patterns may be biological/genetic.

Question 47

Ericsson et al. (2006)

Answer 47

Elite violinists, athletes, writers, chess players etc. only practice for 90 minute sessions, supporting the existence of BRACs even when we are awake.

Question 48

Russell et al. (1980)

Answer 48

Odour is enough to synchronise menstrual cycles.

Question 49

Penton-Voak et al. (1999)

Answer 49

Human mate choice varies over the menstrual cycle: masculine faces when women are most fertile and feminine faces for when they are least fertile.

Question 50

Arliss et al. (2005)

Answer 50

Contrary to beliefs in midwifery, the number of babies born does not spike during a full moon.

Question 51

Vance (1995)

Answer 51

Contrary to beliefs in the mental health sector, behaviour has not been found to be altered by a full moon.

Question 52

Foster and Roenneberg (2008)

Answer 52

Evidence for lunar phases affecting behaviour is rare and only correlational.

Question 53

Aschoff et al. (1971)

Answer 53

Social zeitgebers can replace normal zeitgebers.

Question 54

Klein and Wegmann (1974)

Answer 54

Circadian rhythms of air travellers adjusted more quickly if they spent more time outside at their destination.

Question 55

Morgan (1995)

Answer 55

The suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of GM hamsters with abnormal circadian rhythms were transplanted into normal hamsters. These then developed the abnormal rhythms, showing that the SCN is important.

Question 56

Folkard (1996)

Answer 56

In isolation, core temperature rhythm was still 24hrs but sleep-wake cycle became 30hrs.

Question 57

Skene and Arendt (2007)

Answer 57

Blind people still have some light perception and so still have normal circadian rhythms.

Question 58

Burgess et al. (2003)

Answer 58

Exposure to bright light before an east-west flight decreased the time needed to adjust to local time.

Question 59

Vetter et al. (2011)

Answer 59

Light is the dominant zeitgeber.