Child: Key Research Flashcards
Who conducted the twin family study of general IQ
Van Leeuwen et al (2008)
What was the research method used in the Van Leeuwen study
Mini case studies
What were the sample details of the Van Leeuwen study
Total of 214 families were invited by letter
112 agreed to participate
23 MZ male, 23 DZ male, 25 MZ female, 21 DZ female, 20 DZ pairs of opposite sex
What was the sampling method and selection in the Van Leeuwen study
- Recruited from Netherlands Twin Registry (NTR)
- Parent signed consent forms for children
- No one with mental illness or disability
What was the procedure for IQ testing in the Van Leeuwen study
-parents were compensated for travel and children received a present
-collected cognitive behavioural and hormonal data, pubertal status and MRI brain data
-cheek swabs for DNA collected at home
-cognitive test was the ‘Ravens standard progressive matrices’ and parents took advanced test
This took 5 hours
What were the conclusions from the Van Leeuwen study
- intelligence is transmitted from parents to offspring
- cultural transmission from parents did not influence child’s IQ
- environmental factors influencing IQ are generally not shared among siblings
Who conducted the research into Neural representation of expected value in the adolescent brain
Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014)
What were the sample details and the sampling method used in the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study
- 19 healthy, right handed ADULT participants (mean age 27.9)
- 22 healthy, right handed ADOLESCENT participants (mean age 15.6)
-Recruited through poster and internet ads (volunteer) and each participant was asked to provide amount of spending money per month
What was the research method used in the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study
Quasi experiment
What was the independent variable in the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study
-Adult or Adolescent (naturally occurring)
What was the Dependent variable in the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study
Brain activity
What was the experimental design used in the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study
Matched pairs (Both healthy and right handed)
What was the procedure used in the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study for measuring neural activity
MRI - measuring Brain structure and density/volume
- participants have to lay still which is very restricting
- how big a structure is or any abnormal growth
- used as a baseline
fMRI- functional MRI
- measuring bloodflow to structures - can show us how active they are at one point in time
- used during a task to measure function/activity in that part of the brain
What was the procedure in the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study for testing ‘risk taking’ and expected value
-participants to complete information on income and spending money per week
-familiarised with the MRI and given $20 for taking part
-were told they could win or lose another $20
-after one week participants were called back to do a gambling task in a fMRI scanner
-shown a spinner where money could be lost or gained and could keep the outcome
114 spinners win or lose
24 spinners win or win
24 spinners lose or lose
What were some of the differences found by the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study between adolescence and adults brain activity
More activity was found in the left ventral striatum in adolescents brains and this increased as expected value increased
What did the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study find about the role of the ventral striatum in risk taking
The ventral striatum plays a dominant role in pleasure and more likely to take risks.
What differences from the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study are found in risk taking behaviour between adolescents and adults
- Positive correlation between the expected value and the likelihood of accepting the gamble
- Adolescents are more likely to take a greater risk as the expected value increases (the ventral striatum is more dominant due to frontal gyrus not fully developed in adolescents yet)
What positive or negative considerations are there in placing participants in a fMRI scanner for research purposes
+For research purposes, conclusions can be drawn from the brain activity and data can be used in the real world - familiarised them (mock)
-Restricted movement in the scanner in a closed space
+No harm to participants
How might the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study be considered reliable
High in internal reliability = step by step procedure, scans are standardised
Low in external reliability = Won’t necessarily get same results with a different group of people.
How does the Barkley-Levenson and Galvan study highlight psychology as a science
- Objective scans, non bias however still requires analysis
- High in internal reliability
- Is falsifiable with money
What did Gibson and Walk study
The visual cliff
What was the aim of the Gibson and Walk study
If depth perception is innate we would expect it to be apparent by the time a young animal is mobile because this would be adaptive e.g. useful and survival aids
What was the human sample used in the Gibson and Walk study
36 human infants from 6-14 months were tested (American)
What was the animal sample used in the Gibson and Walk study
Chicks, Turtles, Rats, Lamb, Pigs, Kittens and Puppies (ranged from 1 day to 4 weeks old)