Biopsychology Evaluation Flashcards
Evaluation of Fight or Flight (differences in gender)
- doesnt explain the stress response in females
- Taylor et al (2002) adopt a ‘tend and befriend’ response rather than flight or fight as they are more likely to protect their offspring and form alliances with other women
Evaluation of Fight or Flight (has a negative detrimental effect on health)
- although a useful survival mechanism for real life threatening situations
- but in modern day life rarely requires this biological response
- this is important as the activation of the fight or flight
Evaluation of Fight or Flight (human behaviour is not limited)
- Human behaviour is not limited to just two responses
- Gray (1988) , first response to danger is to avoid confrontation and freeze , humans are hyper-vigilant , during the freeze response they assess the situation to describe the best course of action
- the fight or flight response doesnt fully explain the all the cognitive and biological factors involved
Evaluation of Fight or Flight (von Dawans et al acute stress)
found that acute stress can lead to greater cooperative and friendly behaviour , this could explain the human connection in times of crisis
showing the fight or flight response can be seen as a positive
this a behaviour that has allowed our species to thrive
Evaluation of Localisation of function (Lashley only basic functions are specialised )
Lashley proposed the equipotentiality theory which suggests that only basic motor and sensory functions are localised and higher mental functions are not
Evaluation of localised functions (Wernicke & Broca areas )
evidence for wernicke and broca areas and how they effected language and how language information is localised in areas , this is shown through broca and wernicke aphasia which impairs langauge perception
Evaluation of localisation of function (different areas must interact with each other )
- There is a more importance to investigate how the brain areas communicate with each other rather than the specific function of each areas as these areas must interact with each other to function
Evaluation of localisation of function (individual difference)
fails to take into account individual differences
Herasty (1997) found women have larger Broca and wernicke areas than men
Evaluation of Lateralisation and split brain ( supporting evidence multitasking)
- Rogers et al (2004) found domestic chicken can perform 2 tasks simultaneously (finding food and looking out for predators )
demonstrates how it can enhance efficiency and provides strong evidence for lateralisation
Evaluation of lateralisation ( language not restricted to left hemisphere)
- Jurk et al (2002) discovered patient J.W suffered damage to the left hemisphere but developed the capacity to speak in the right hemisphere
Evaluation of lateralisation (criticism of methodological)
- there is a small sample , only 11 patients
- All suffered from severe epiliesy
- All right handed
- cannot be generalised
Evaluation of lateralisation (standardised controlled procedure)
- participants made to look at a fixed point , the image is flashed for 0.1 seconds
- this means there’s no time for eyes to move over the image and spread the info across both sides of visual field
- allowed sperry and gazzangia to ensure 1 hemisphere received the information
Evaluation of ways of studying the brain (fMRI,doesnt directly measure neural activity )
- fMRI measures changes in blood flow in the brain
- means its not a true quantitative measure
Evaluation of ways of studying the brain (temporal resolution)
- both fMRI and EEG have good temporal resolution
- fMRI , temporal resolution = 1-4 secs
- EEG , temporal resolution = every millisecond
Evaluation of ways of studying the brain (spatial resolution)
- fMRI has a better spatial resolution than EEG
- fMRI has a spatial resolution of 1-2 mins while EGG can only detect activity in superfical /general areas of the brain
