Blackmore Colin and Cooper Flashcards
What are some similarities between human brains and cat brains?
Cerebral cortises with similar lobes
surface folding
grey/white matter
What was the aim of the study?
Investigate the development of the primary visual cortex and see if some properties are inate or learned
Describe the procedure
From birth, the kittens were housed in a dark room. At the age of 2 weeks, they were placed in either a vertical or horizontal orientated environment.
How was their visual orientation altered?
Kittens were placed in a cylinder that was decorated with either horizontal or vertical stripes
Kittens spent about 5 hours a day in this apparatus
What were the dependant variables of the study?
Visual motor behaviour
Visual moving reactions
Startle reflex
Following a moving object
Response to shaking stick
Amount of neurons with orientation preference
What were the results of the study? (regardless of orientation)
No startle response
Guided by touch and became frightened when they reached the edge of a surface
Deficiencies started to disapear within 10 hours
What were some permenant problems?
Cats followed objects with clumsy and jerky head movements
Tried to touch things well beyond their reach
Often bumped into table legs whilst exploring
What were the results in regards to orientation?
Cats were virtually blind to orientation perpendicular to the one they were raised in
When presented with a shaking rod, kittens would ignore the ‘‘wrong’’ orientation
What were the neurophysiological results from the anethetised cats?
Horizontally raised had no neurons in vertical orientation
Vertically raised had no neurons in the horizontal orientation
What were the conclusions of the study?
Visual experiance modified their brains specifically their visual neurons. May adjust itself during maturation based on visual experiance
Brain development is based on the functional demands made upon it
Environment can determine behaviour at both behavioural and physiological level
How does the study adapt to the theme of brain plasticity?
Brain plasticity- brains ability to adapt and change both structurally and functionally
The kittens brains developed differently to normal cats
What are some strengths and weaknesses of the study?
Study cannot be directly applied to humans as only cats were used
Cat brains do differ somewhat from human brains
Only one kitten from each condition was anethetised - minimum needed
