Blakemore and Cooper

Question 1

What was the key theme?

Answer 1

brain plasticity

Question 2

define brain plasticity

Answer 2

brain adapts and changes according to what you do in your life

Question 3

who were they inspired by

Answer 3

Hits h and Spinelli

Question 4

Describe Hirsch and Spinellis study

Answer 4

-Interested in neurons in the visual cortex of the brain
-Found they could change the way the neurons in the visual cortex aligned themselves by controlling what kittens could see as they grew up
-Kittens were raised could only see vertical stripes in one eye and horizontal stripes in the other eye.
-Where then released into an everyday environment, the researchers found that they had visual impairments

Question 5

describe visual cortex

Answer 5

the part of the brain that receives and processes sensory nerve impulses from the eyes

Question 6

describe startle responses

Answer 6

The ‘backing off’ reaction of a cat when an object is moved quickly towards their face

Question 7

describe visual placing

Answer 7

When a cat puts its feet out to meet the edge of a surface

Question 8

What was the main aim

Answer 8

To investigate how being raised in a visually restrictive environment would affect the visual brain development of cats

Question 9

What were the 2 smaller aims

Answer 9

-Compare the behavioural consequences of raising kittens seeing only horizontal or vertical stripes.
-Investigate the neurophysiological effect on neurons in kittens’ visual cortex (brain plasticity)

Question 10

sample

Answer 10

2 kittens from birth until approximately 1 year of age.

Question 11

What was the environment for the first 2 weeks of the kittens lives?

Answer 11

complete darkness 24 hours a day

Question 12

What was the environment from two weeks until 5 months?

Answer 12

Put in striped cylinder for 5 hours a day
Wore black collar to hide body
One had vertical and other had horizontal stripes

Question 13

What happened to the kittens at 5 months old?

Answer 13

Taken to well lit room with furniture

Question 14

What was the IV

Answer 14

orientation of the stripes within the cylinder (either horizontal or vertical)

Question 15

What was the experimental design

Answer 15

independent measures

Question 16

What visual deficits did the kittens show at first? (behavioural findings)

Answer 16

-navigated by touch
-clumsy
-normal pupillary reflexes
-no startle response
-no visual placing

Question 17

What deficits did they recover from after 10 hours of the well lit room?

Answer 17

visual placing
startle response

Question 18

What deficits remained after 10 hours in the well lit room?

Answer 18

clumsy in following moving objects
bumped into objcets

Question 19

How did the horizontal and vertically raised cats differ?

Answer 19

We’re virtually blind to the opposite orientation to their upbringing
Shook rod in front of cat

Question 20

What was the procedure for the neurophysiological test

Answer 20

the cats (7.5 months) were anaesthetised and paralysed.
eyes were opened and took electrical readings from individual neurons. activity was recorded.

Question 21

Describe the neurophysiological findings

Answer 21

Visual neurons within the visual cortex had aligned themselves to match the environment the kitten was brought up in. There were little to no neurons aligned to the opposite direction
-had no need for neurons in the other direction and therefore these were moved elsewhere.

Question 22

What type of data was collected for behavioural findings

Answer 22

qualitative descriptions

Question 23

What type of data was collected for neurophysiological findings

Answer 23

quantitative (based on alignment of neurons)

Question 24

conclusions

Answer 24

difference suggests neurons can change their preferred orientation according to the stimulation they receive, matching the ability of the brain to respond to the features in its visual input.

Question 25

How can ethics be defended

Answer 25

Was no alternative replacement to animals within this research
They reduced the impact to the minimum amount of cats (2)
They refined the procedure by only having the cat in the cylinder for 5 hours a day

Question 26

How can the study be criticised in relation to ethics

Answer 26

There is not many practical applications of the research and therefore perhaps was not worth harming the kittens for

Question 27

discuss ethnocentrism

Answer 27

There is not many practical applications of the research and therefore perhaps was not worth harming the kittens for

Question 28

internal reliability

Answer 28

The procedure was highly standardised and replicable due to the high level of controls

Question 29

external reliability

Answer 29

Only 2 kittens were used in this study but perhaps this doesn’t matter as we are investigating biological concepts

Question 30

internal validity

Answer 30

good test of brain plasticity as the only difference in the procedure for the kittens was the direction of the stripes.

Question 31

population validity

Answer 31

possible problem with generalising beyond the species of kittens

Question 32

concurrent validity

Answer 32

cats showed some deficits in 2 separate tests to check perception of other orientation

Question 33

ecological validity

Answer 33

Not a realistic scenario as the environment was so visually restricted. This doesn’t happen in real life.

Question 34

How does the study link to nature/nurture debate

Answer 34

Nurture as brains can change in response to the visual environment

Question 35

how does study link to psychology as a science debate

Answer 35

study is replicable, objective and falsifiable

Question 36

how does the study relate to individual/situational debate

Answer 36

behaviour dependant on situation of cylinder orientation

Question 37

how does study relate to usefulness debate

Answer 37

study isn’t useful