Blakemore and Cooper (1970) Flashcards
describe the background to this study
- interested in investigating brain plasticity
- inspired by the work of Hirsch and Spinelli
- work on neurons in the visual cortex of the brain
define brain plasticity
your brain adapts and changes according to what you do in life
define visual cortex
the part of the brain that receives and processes sensory nerve impulses from the eyes
define startle response
the ‘backing off’ reaction of a cat when an object is moved quickly towards their face
define visual placing
when a cat puts its feet out to meet the edge of a surface before reaching the surface
what was the overall aim of this study
- investigate how being raised in a visually restrictive environment could effect the visual brain development of cats
describe the two sub-aims of this study
- 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)
describe the sample used in the study
- 2 kittens from birth
- until 1 year of age
describe the environment for the first 2 weeks of the kittens lives
- from birth to 2 weeks onwards kittens raised in a completely dark room
describe the environment for the kittens from 2 weeks-5 months of their lives
- 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)
what happened when the kittens were 5 months old
- were taken into a well lit room with furniture to test their behaviour
what is the IV of the study
the orientation of stripes within the cylinder (horizontal/vertical)
what experimental design was used in this study and why
independent measures
- kittens exposed to different striped cylinders (either vertical or horizontal)
name 6 controls used in the study
- 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
what 5 behavioural findings (observations) did the researchers observe in the kittens
- navigated around the room by touch
- generally clumsy
- had normal pupillary reflexes
- had no startle response
- had no visual placing
after how long did some of the deficits of the kittens start to change
10 hours
after 10 hours what deficits did the kittens recover from
- visual placing turned to normal
- startle response turned to normal
after 10 hours what deficits of the kittens remained
- still clumsy in following moving objects
- still bumped into objects/furniture
describe the behaviour of the kitten raised in the horizontal condition
- ‘virtually blind’ to the vertical orientation
- only responded to a rod shaken in the horizontal orientation that they had seen in the cylinder
what are neurophysiological findings
information from the visual cortex
describe the neurophysiological findings of the study
- 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)
what type of data was collected for the behavioural findings
qualitative data (description of kittens deficit in well lit room)
what type of data was collected for the neurophysiological findings
quantitative data (on alignment of visual neurons from visual cortex scan)
what were the conclusions of this study (2)
- 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
what three ethical considerations allows for the Blakemore and Cooper study to be defended
follows ethical guidelines for
what three ethical considerations allows for the Blakemore and Cooper study to be defended
follows ethical guidelines for animals
- replacement
- reduction
- refinement
how does Blakemore and Cooper follow replacement
there is no alternative replacement to animals within this research
how does Blakemore and Cooper follow reduction
there is only two kittens used in this study, reducing the impact of this study by observing the minimum number of cats
how does Blakemore and Cooper follow refinement
the severity of the procedures are minimised as the cats spent only 5 hours a day in the cylinder
in what ways can Blakemore and Cooper be criticised in relation to ethics
- not many practical applications of the research, may not be worth harming kittens for
- it cannot be applied to human children
is this study ethnocentric and why
it is from comparative psychology and studied cats so ethnocentrism is not relevant here
in what way does the study have internal reliability
- it is conducted under controlled conditions + detailed descriptions of the procedure are given
- the study can be repeated and tested for test-retest reliability
in what way does the study have low external reliability
- only two samples are studied
- not large enough to establish consistent effects
in what way does the study have high internal validity
- high level of control
- can be certain findings are caused by restricted visual environment the kittens were raised in
(high design validity)
in what way could the study have low population validity
- only studied kittens
- uncertain if this can be generalised to human brains
how does this study have concurrent validity
- is measured using both behavioural and neurophysiological methods
- both methods showed evidence which supported the conclusion
how does this study have low ecological validity
it is unlikely kittens or people will grow up purely dark rooms and then put in a horizontal or vertical cylinder
what three debates does this study relate to
- nature-nurture
- psychology as a science
- ethical considerations
how does this study relate to the nature/nurture debate
- nature (neurons with preffered orientations)
- nurture (restricted environment, had a strong effect on orientation and vision in brain development)
- study mainly focusses on nurture
how does this study relate to psychology as a science
- fulfils scientific criteria of theory, control, evidence, and replication
-the work is falsifiable by replicating the study with fresh samples of kittens
how does this study relate to ethical considerations
- is conducted accordingly to guidelines for animal research
- however we’re left to question the ethics of animal experiments in general
