Canli et al. (2000) Flashcards
Give three reasons as to why there may be a link between the amygdala and emotional experiences as shown by studies.
- some people are more responsive to emotional experiences than others
- during scanning people were in an enhanced state of emotion
- the amygdala responds in a dynamic way.
full form of fmri
functional magnetic resonance imagery
explain how fmri works
it is a non-invasive brain scanning, which uses radio waves with a strong magnetic field to make a detailed image of blood flow in the brain.
is an fmri a structural scan or functional scan?
functional
what is an fmri classed as?
a functional scan
full form of BOLD
blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal
what exactly does an fmri do?
It traces the journey of oxygenated blood, as high activity areas receive more oxygenated blood. It maps all of the activity and produces a map of squares called voxels which represent thousands of neurons. pictures are colour coded to show intensity
what do voxels represent in an fmri scan?
thousands of neurons
what was the aim of Canli et al?
to investigate whether an area of the brain called the amygdala is sensitive to different levels of intensity based on subjective emotional experiences. And whether the degree of emotional intensity affects memory recall
who were the participants in Canli et al?
ten right-handed healthy female volunteers
why were females chosen for Canli et al?
females are more likely to report intense emotional experiences.
how many scenes were participants shown in the initial fMRI scan?
96 scenes
what does valence mean?
emotional value
what was the range of scene ratings in Canli et al?
highly negative ( rating 1.17) to neutral ( 5.44) and tranquil (1.97) to highly arousing (7.63)
how long were scenes shown to participants in Canli et al?
2.88 seconds
how long was the interval between scenes in Canli et al?
12.96 seconds
what was the range of ratings participants could give the scenes?
from 0= not emotionally intense at all to 3 = extremely emotionally intense
when were participants given an unexpected recognition test?
three weeks after the scan
how many new scenes were added in the recognition test?
48 new foils
what were the participants told to do in the recognition test?
they had to say wether they had seen each picture before. if they said yes, they were asked if they remembered the scene with certainty (coded as remembered) or less certain ( coded as familiar)
what was recorded in the recognition test?
which scenes participants remembered with certainty (coded as remembered) or less certain (coded as familiar) forgotten scenes were also recorded
how were participants’ head movements minimised during the fMRI?
via a bite-bar
how many slices were there for each person in the structural image?
eight slices per person
how near to the amygdala was the anterior slice taken?
7mm anterior to the amygdala
how many frames were taken during the functional image?
11 frames per trial per person
which functional image frames were assigned as baseline?
1, 2, 10 and 11
which functional image frames were assigned as an activation image?
5, 6, 7 and 8
What was the percentage rating of emotional intensity = 0?
29% of scenes
What was the percentage rating of emotional intensity = 1?
22% of scenes
What was the percentage rating of emotional intensity = 2?
24% of scenes
What was the percentage rating of emotional intensity = 3?
25% of scenes
according to results, how was memory recall affected by emotional intensity rating?
memory recall was significantly better for images with rating of 3
Explain the distribution results of images rated 0-2 of emotional intensity
scenes rated 0-2 had similar distribution of percentage forgotten, familiar or remembered
Explain the distribution results of images rated 3 of emotional intensity
scenes rated 3 were remembered and were familiar with a higher frequency than those with ratings 0-2
According to results, how sensitive, if any, is the amygdala to emotion?
the amygdala is sensitive to individually experienced emotional intensity of visual scenes.
How is activity in the left amygdala related to memory?
the activity in the left amygdala during encoding can predict subsequent memory
how does amygdala activity relate to memory and emotion?
the degree to which the amygdala activation at encoding can predict subsequent memory is a function of emotional intensity
summarise the findings of Canli et al
the findings suggest that the amygdala reflects moment-to-moment emotional experiences
what was the research method?
experimental
what techniques were used?
correlational mapping; fMRI
what was the sampling technique?
volunteer
what was the experimental design?
repeated measures
what was the independent variable?
intensity rating of stimuli
what were the dependent variables?
pixel count, and percentage forgotten, familiar, or remembered
is this study reliable?
yes, it had a standardised procedure making it easy to replicate
were researchers confident that it was the pictures causing amygdala activity?
yes, there were many controls
did this study have mundane realism?
no, the task of looking at pictures for 2.88 seconds then rating for emotional intensity is unrealistic
did this study have good generalisability?
no, findings may only apply to females. female and males process emotional information differently
how applicable are the findings to real life?
findings may be useful for advertising agencies
nature or nurture?
some psychologists argue that it is nature as findings show that
