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A-level psychology > Blakemore and Cooper (1970) > Flashcards

Blakemore and Cooper (1970) Flashcards

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1
Q

describe the background to this study

A
  • interested in investigating brain plasticity
  • inspired by the work of Hirsch and Spinelli
  • work on neurons in the visual cortex of the brain
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2
Q

define brain plasticity

A

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

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3
Q

define visual cortex

A

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

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4
Q

define startle response

A

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

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5
Q

define visual placing

A

when a cat puts its feet out to meet the edge of a surface before reaching the surface

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6
Q

what was the overall aim of this study

A
  • investigate how being raised in a visually restrictive environment could effect the visual brain development of cats
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7
Q

describe the two sub-aims of this study

A
  • compare behavioural consequences of raising kittens seeing only horizontal or vertical stripes
  • investigate the neurophysiological effect on neurons in the kittens visual cortex (brain plasticity)
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8
Q

describe the sample used in the study

A
  • 2 kittens from birth
  • until 1 year of age
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9
Q

describe the environment for the first 2 weeks of the kittens lives

A
  • from birth to 2 weeks onwards kittens raised in a completely dark room
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10
Q

describe the environment for the kittens from 2 weeks-5 months of their lives

A
  • put in either a horizontal or a vertical cylinder for 5 hours a day
  • wore a black colour so they were unable to see their bodies (only see the vertical or horizontal stripes)
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11
Q

what happened when the kittens were 5 months old

A
  • were taken into a well lit room with furniture to test their behaviour
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12
Q

what is the IV of the study

A

the orientation of stripes within the cylinder (horizontal/vertical)

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13
Q

what experimental design was used in this study and why

A

independent measures
- kittens exposed to different striped cylinders (either vertical or horizontal)

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14
Q

name 6 controls used in the study

A
  • identical visual environments (besides being vertical or horizontal)
  • cylinders the same size
  • same time spent in the cylinders
  • both wore a collar of the same size and colour
  • both could move about freely in the cylinder
  • both kept in the dark when not in the cylinder
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15
Q

what 5 behavioural findings (observations) did the researchers observe in the kittens

A
  • navigated around the room by touch
  • generally clumsy
  • had normal pupillary reflexes
  • had no startle response
  • had no visual placing
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16
Q

after how long did some of the deficits of the kittens start to change

A

10 hours

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17
Q

after 10 hours what deficits did the kittens recover from

A
  • visual placing turned to normal
  • startle response turned to normal
18
Q

after 10 hours what deficits of the kittens remained

A
  • still clumsy in following moving objects
  • still bumped into objects/furniture
19
Q

describe the behaviour of the kitten raised in the horizontal condition

A
  • ‘virtually blind’ to the vertical orientation
  • only responded to a rod shaken in the horizontal orientation that they had seen in the cylinder
20
Q

what are neurophysiological findings

A

information from the visual cortex

21
Q

describe the neurophysiological findings of the study

A
  • visual neurons within the visual cortex had aligned themselves to match the environment the kittens were brought up in (there were little to no neurons aligned in the opposite direction)
  • horizontal condition kitten had neurons arranged horizontally, as there was no need for neurons in the other direction (same principle for vertical condition kitten)
22
Q

what type of data was collected for the behavioural findings

A

qualitative data (description of kittens deficit in well lit room)

23
Q

what type of data was collected for the neurophysiological findings

A

quantitative data (on alignment of visual neurons from visual cortex scan)

24
Q

what were the conclusions of this study (2)

A
  • neurons can change their preferred orientation
  • according to simulations received they match the ability of the brain to respond to the features in its visual input
25
Q

what three ethical considerations allows for the Blakemore and Cooper study to be defended

A

follows ethical guidelines for

26
Q

what three ethical considerations allows for the Blakemore and Cooper study to be defended

A

follows ethical guidelines for animals
- replacement
- reduction
- refinement

27
Q

how does Blakemore and Cooper follow replacement

A

there is no alternative replacement to animals within this research

28
Q

how does Blakemore and Cooper follow reduction

A

there is only two kittens used in this study, reducing the impact of this study by observing the minimum number of cats

29
Q

how does Blakemore and Cooper follow refinement

A

the severity of the procedures are minimised as the cats spent only 5 hours a day in the cylinder

30
Q

in what ways can Blakemore and Cooper be criticised in relation to ethics

A
  • not many practical applications of the research, may not be worth harming kittens for
  • it cannot be applied to human children
31
Q

is this study ethnocentric and why

A

it is from comparative psychology and studied cats so ethnocentrism is not relevant here

32
Q

in what way does the study have internal reliability

A
  • it is conducted under controlled conditions + detailed descriptions of the procedure are given
  • the study can be repeated and tested for test-retest reliability
33
Q

in what way does the study have low external reliability

A
  • only two samples are studied
  • not large enough to establish consistent effects
34
Q

in what way does the study have high internal validity

A
  • high level of control
  • can be certain findings are caused by restricted visual environment the kittens were raised in
    (high design validity)
35
Q

in what way could the study have low population validity

A
  • only studied kittens
  • uncertain if this can be generalised to human brains
36
Q

how does this study have concurrent validity

A
  • is measured using both behavioural and neurophysiological methods
  • both methods showed evidence which supported the conclusion
37
Q

how does this study have low ecological validity

A

it is unlikely kittens or people will grow up purely dark rooms and then put in a horizontal or vertical cylinder

38
Q

what three debates does this study relate to

A
  • nature-nurture
  • psychology as a science
  • ethical considerations
39
Q

how does this study relate to the nature/nurture debate

A
  • nature (neurons with preffered orientations)
  • nurture (restricted environment, had a strong effect on orientation and vision in brain development)
  • study mainly focusses on nurture
40
Q

how does this study relate to psychology as a science

A
  • fulfils scientific criteria of theory, control, evidence, and replication
    -the work is falsifiable by replicating the study with fresh samples of kittens
41
Q

how does this study relate to ethical considerations

A
  • is conducted accordingly to guidelines for animal research
  • however we’re left to question the ethics of animal experiments in general

A-level psychology (26 decks)

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