Blakemore & Cooper Flashcards
What was the background for Blake Moore and Cooper study?
They were interesting investigating brain plasticity
They 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 so that they could only see vertical stripes in one eye and horizontal stripes in the other
When the cats were released into an everyday environment. The research is found that they had visual impairment.
What is brain plasticity?
Your brain adapt and changes according to what you do in your life
What is the visual cortex?
The part of the brain that receives and processes sensory nerve impulses from the eyes
What is the startle response?
The backing off reaction of a cat when an object is moved quickly towards their face
What is visual placing?
When a cat puts its feet out to meet the edge of a surface
What were the overall aims of the study?
To investigate how being raised in a visually restrictive environment would affect the visual brain development of cats
to compare the behavioural consequences of raising kittens seeing only horizontal or vertical stripes
to investigate the neuro physiological effect on neurons and kittens visual cortex
What was the sample?
Two kittens from birth until approximately one year of age
What was the procedure?
The newborn kittens were kept in a completely dark room for the first two weeks of their life
Kittens were put into a striped cylinder for five hours a day. They wore a black collar so they were only able to see vertical or horizontal stripes.
The kitten was taken into a while lit room with furniture to be tested for their behaviour
What was the independent variable?
The orientation of the stripes within the cylinder either vertical or horizontal
What was the experimental design?
As each kitten was exposed for a different striped cylinder, the experimental design was independent measures
What was the initial reactions?
They navigated around the room by touch
They were generally clumsy
They had normal pupillary reflexes
They had no starter response
They had no visual placing
What behaviours recovered after 10 hours and what behaviours remained?
Recovered - visual placing return to normal and their starter response return to normal
Remained - they were still clumsy and following objects and they still bumped into objects and furniture
How did the cats differ?
They were described as virtually blind to the opposite orientation to their operating
The experiment is shook rods in front of them face and saw if they responded, they found that the car only responded if the road was shaking in the same orientation as they had seen in the cylinder
What were the neuro physiological findings?
The visual neurons within the visual cortex had aligned themselves to match the environment the kitten was brought up in
What is behavioural data?
Qualitative descriptions of the deficits shamed by the cats in the well living room
What is neuro physiological data?
Quantitative data based on the alignment of the visual neuron from the visual cortex scan
What were the conclusions drawn?
The difference between the kitten suggest that neurons can change their preferred orientation according to the stimulation they receive, matching the ability of the brain to respond to the features and its visual input
What ethics were defended?
There was no alternative replacement animals within this research
They reduce the impact to the minimum amount of cards which was two
They refined the procedure by only having the cats in the cylinder for five hours a day
How can ethics be criticised?
There is not many practical applications of the research and therefore perhaps was not worth harming the kittens for
Was the study ethnocentric?
Ethnocentrism isn’t particularly relevant. The study looked at biological factors in the environment that the kittens were in so not culturally biased.
How was the study internally reliable?
Procedure was highly standardised and replicable due to the higher level of controls for example they spent five hours a day in the cylinders
How was the study externally reliable?
Only two kittens we used in the study, but this may not matter due to investigating biological concepts
How was the study internally valid?
It seemed to be a good test of brain plasticity as the only difference in the procedure of the kittens was the direction of stripes
What was the population validity of the study like?
There was a possible problem with generalising beyond the species of kitten
How was concurrent validity present?
Can’t show the same deficits in two separate tests to check their perception of the other orientation
How was the study ecologically valid?
It was not a realistic scenario as the environment was so visually restricted and it doesn’t happen in real life
How does the study linked to the nature versus nurture debate?
It comes under the nurture category as brains contained in response to the visual environment
How does the study linked to psychology as a science debate
It is replicable objective and falsifiable as it is very controlled uses quantitive measures and could be replicated to see if it is false
How is the study related to the individual situational debate?
Behaviour depends on the situation of the cylinder orientation
How does the study relate to the usefulness debate?
It’s not really useful at all
