Doucet Et Al Study - HL (bio) Flashcards

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1
Q

Doucet Et Al Study - HL (bio)

Aim

A

To examine the role of the secretion of the areolar gland in suckling behavior in 3-day old infants.

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2
Q

Doucet Et Al Study - HL (bio)

Procedure

A
  • Researchers administered the different secretions to 19 three-day-old infants nasally and then monitored their breathing rate and behavior
  • They compared the infants’ reactions to seven different secretions: AG, sebum, human milk, cow milk, formula milk, vanillin, and familiar milk.
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3
Q

Doucet Et Al Study - HL (bio)

Findings

A
  • Researchers found that infants only began suckling when exposed to areola gland secretions. tHe infants showed and increase in their breathing rate as well (secretion may cause a chain reaction of behavioral and physiological events)
  • Areolar secretions from lactating women are especially salient to human newborns
  • The stimulus of the areolar odor may initiate a chain of behavioral and physiological events that lead to the progressive establishment of attachment between the mother and infant
  • There may be a pheromone in human milk
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4
Q

Doucet Et Al Study - HL (bio)

Strengths

A
  • Repeated measure controls for variability and lab experiment helps establish a cause-and-effect relationship; however these confounding variables would not matter under these circumstances as the subjects are all newborn babies
  • High ecological validity since its a biological process (mother and baby/infant)
  • The testing was done by 3 experimenters who were blind to the nature of the odors
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5
Q

Doucet Et Al Study - HL (bio)

Limitations

A
  • More research is necessary to draw conclusions
  • The olfactory system is very complex (400 odor receptors) hard to see how pheromones work
  • Many body odors are actually not caused by secretions, but by bacteria that mix with our secretions
    - For example, in the armpits.
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6
Q

Doucet Et Al Study - HL (bio)

Ethical Considerations

A
  • Informed consent from the parents
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7
Q

Doucet Et Al Study - HL (bio)

Research Method

A

Experiment

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