End of year Flashcards
What are the 2 major divisions of the nervous system
CNS
Peripheral NS
What is the CNS
The body’s master control unit
What is the peripheral NS
The body’s link to the outside world
What are the divisions of the CNS
Spinal cord
Brain stem
Brain
Define Spinal Cord
A column of nerves between the brain and peripheral NS
It is an extension of the brain that is responsible for reflex actions. It allows the brain to monitor processes such as breathing and to control voluntary movements
Describe the role of the brain stem
Connects the brain to the spinal cord
What are the 2 divisions of the peripheral NS
The Autonomic NS
The Somatic NS
What is the role of the autonomic NS
Regulates involuntary bodily processes, including heart rate, respiration, digestion and pupil contraction.
It operates automatic without conscious direction
What is the role of the Somatic NS
Carries sensory info from sensory organs to CNS and relays motor commands to muscles and controls voluntary movements
What is the role of the sympathetic NS
Triggers the fight or flight response to prepare the body for action and stress
What are the 2 divisions of the Autonomic NS
Sympathetic NS
Parasympathetic NS
What is the role of the parasympathetic NS
Reverts the body back to its original state after the fight or flight response
This calms the body and conserves energy
What is the role of the hypothalamus
controls basic functions such as hunger, thirst, sexual behaviour
Also controls the pituitary gland
What is the role of sensory neurones
convey information about sensory stimuli: vision, touch, taste, etc. towards the brain
What is the role of motor neurones
convey instructions for physical operations: e.g. release of hormones from glands, muscle movement, digestion, etc.
What is the role of relay neurones
connect different parts of the central nervous system
What is the difference between Excitatory and Inhibitory transmission
Excitatory make the nerve impulse more likely to be triggered
Inhibitory make a nerve impulse less likely to be triggered
What is the definition of a hormone
chemical messengers secreted from glands in the body which pass through the bloodstream to cause changes in our body or behaviour
What is the role of the Thyroid
Secretes Thyroxin, which regulates metabolic and protein synthesis.
What is the role of the adrenal gland
Secretes adrenaline to trigger a fight or flight response, which increases heart rate, blood pressure and release of glucose and fats for energy.
What is the role of the testes
Secretes Testosterone for the development of male sexual characteristics and increases muscle mass
What is the role of the ovaries
secretes Oestrogen for the development of female sexual characteristics, as well as menstruation and pregnancy
What is the role of the Pneal
Secretes melatonin, used to regulate the sleep/wake cycle.
Evaluate localisation of function
Research support from case studies- Phineas Gage- damaged frontal lobe that is responsible for mood regulation- his personality was altered
Equipotentiality theory argues that that basic motor and sensory functions are localised but higher cognitive functions are not. Research found that other brain areas can take on the role of damaged areas, therefore severity of damage is determines by damage amount rather than damage location
Damage to connections between areas may result in the brain areas not being able to function, without actually being damages themselves. Dejerine (1892) found that damage to a connection between the visual cortex and Wernicke’s area lead to vision and comprehension issues.
What was the aim of Sperry’s study
To assess the abilities of separated brain hemispheres
What was the procedure of Sperry’s study
Participants sat in front of a board with a horizontal rows of lights and were asked to stare at the middle point. The lights then flashed across their right and left visual field. Participants reported lights had only flashed up on the right side of the board
What were the findings of Sperry’s study
When their right eye was covered and the lights were flashed to the left side of their visual field they claimed not to have seen any lights at all. However, when asked to point at which lights had lit up they could do
What was the conclusion of Sperry’s study
In order to say that one has seen something the region associated with speech must be able to communicate with areas of the brain that process visual info
Evaluate Sperry’s research
Small sample 11 participants All participants were male Research opposed the idea that right hemisphere has no language ability. E.g case study JW could speak using right hemisphere after split brain procedure All participants had epilepsy Lateralisation decreases with age
Define plasticity
The brains tendency to change and adapt functionally and physically as a result of experience and new learning.
Why do infants have a better plasticity ability
Their brains experience rapid growth in the number of synaptic connections. As we age, rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened.
What did Boyke (2008) find
Even people above 60 increased neural growth after learning a new skill (juggling).
What did Kuhn (2014) find
Kuhn (’14) found that playing video games for 30+ minutes per day resulted in increased brain matter in the cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum. Thus, the complex cognitive demands involved in mastering a video games caused the formation of new synaptic connections in brain sites controlling spatial navigation, planning, decision-making, etc
Define functional recovery
The idea that following physical injury or other forms of trauma, unaffected areas of the brain can adapt to compensate for those that are damaged
What is the link between functional recovery and age
Negative correlation
What is an fMRI
A brain scanner which measures increased blood flow to brain sites when individuals perform cognitive/ physical tasks.
Evaluate fMRI
S- Non invasive
S- High spatial resolution
L- Low temporal resolution 4-6 second delay
L- Only measures blood flow
L- May overlook interconnectivity of brain sites
L- Expensive
What is an EEG
Measures electrical activity in the brain using electrodes attached to the scalp, and measures how electrical activity in the brain varies over time/in different states (e.g. waking vs. asleep)
What are the 4 basic brain wave patterns detected by an EEG
Alpha- awake, relaxed
Beta- awake, highly aroused or in REM sleep
Delta- deep sleep
Theta- light sleep
Evaluate EEGs
S- High temporal resolution S- Non-invasive S- Risk free S- Cheap S- Medical applications L- Low spatial resolution L- Uncomfortable
What is an ERP
Small voltage changes triggered by a specific event or stimuli.
2 types:
Sensory- occurs within 100ms of stimulus
Cognitive- Occurs > 100ms after stimulus
Evaluate ERPs
S- Continuous measure of neural activity in response to a stimulus
S- High temporal resolution
S- Non-invasive
L- Only monitors outer layers of brain
L- Extraneous stimuli must be controlled otherwise difficult to draw conclusions
L- Lack of standardisation in methodology
L- Low spatial resolution
What is a post-mortem
The brains of individuals who displayed cognitive abnormalities being dissected and checked for structural abnormalities/damage
Evaluate post-mortems
S- High Spatial resolution
S- Allows for detailed examinations of deep brain structures
S- High detail examination
S- Highly applicable- can establish language, brain and behaviour links
L- Difficult to establish causation as conclusions are often heavily impacted by confounding variables
L- No temporal resolution
L- Ethical issues- patient can’t consent
Describe circadian rhythms
Follow a 24-hour cycle: e.g. the sleep-waking cycle
Describe ultradian rhythms
occur more than once a day: e.g. the cycles of REM and NREM sleep in a single night’s sleep
Describe infradian rhythms
Infradian rhythms: occur less than once a day: e.g. menstruation (monthly) or hibernation (yearly)
Define endogenous pacemaker
Internal biological structures that control and regulate the rhythm
Define exogenous zeitgeber
External environmental factors that influence the rhythm.
Define interference
Forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one/both memories to become distorted/forgotten
Define proactive interference
When an older memory interferes with a newer one
Define retroactive interference
When a newer memory interferes with an older one
Describe McGeoch and McDonald (1931)’s procedure
They studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between 2 sets of materials.
Participants had to learn a list of 10 words until they could recall them with 100% accuracy. They then learned a new list.
The 6 independent groups were:
Synonyms- words had same meanings as the originals
Antonyms- words had opposite meanings to the orignals
Unrelated
Consonant syllables
2 digit numbers
No new list
They found recall of the original list depended on the second list. The most similar words caused worst recall, showing interference is strongest in similar memories
Describe McGeoch and McDonald (1931)’s findings
They found recall of the original list depended on the second list. The most similar words caused worst recall, showing interference is strongest in similar memories
Evaluate interference theory
Research support from lab studies. Thousands of lab studies such as McGeoch and McDonald (1931).
Lab studies often use artificial materials. Therefore the lab studies are not always representative of real life.
Real life studies such as Baddeley and Hitch (1977) support the theory as it shiws the theory is applicable to everyday situations.
Short times between learning.
Define retrieval failure
A form of forgetting that occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory. The memory is available but not accessible until a suitable cue is provided.
Define cue
A trigger of info that allows us to access a memory. They may be meaningful or indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning
What does encoding specificity principle state
If a cue is to help with info recall it has to be present at encoding and recall. If cues available at encoding and recall are different there will be some forgetting.
Describe the procedure in Godden and Baddeley (1975)’s study
Divers learned a list of words either on water or on land and then had to recall either underwater on land. This created 4 conditions.
Describe the findings of Godden and Baddeley (1975)’s study
Accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions.
Describe the procedure in Carter and Cassaday (1998)’s study
They gave antihistamine drugs to their participants that caused drowsiness. This creates an alternative state from the normal alert state. Participants had to learn a list either on/off the drug and had to recall either on/off the drug. This created 4 conditions.
Describe the findings in Carter and Cassaday (1998)’s study
Performance in matching conditions was significantly better.
Evaluate retrieval failure theory
Supporting evidence- Godden and Baddley + Carter and Cassaday.
Context difference to extreme- in real life context difference is not as significant as divers study. Reduces real life applications
Recall versus recognition- context effect may be related to memory type. When the divers experiment was repeated with recognition, no context-dependent effect was observed
ESP is difficult to operationalise/test.
Real life applications- education, EWT
Define EWT
The ability of people to remember the details of events that they observed.
Define misleading info
Incorrect info given to the EW usually after an event.
Define post-event discussion
PED occurs when there is more than one witness to an event and they discuss what they have seen, which often impacts EWT accuracy
Describe the procedure of Loftus and Palmer (1974)
Participants watched film clips of car accidents and gave them Qs about the accident. They were asked a critical (leading) Q: how fast was the car going when they … each other? The verb used in the Q was changed between groups. Words used were: hit, contacted, bumped, collided, smashed. A mean speed estimate was calculated for each group.
Describe the findings of Loftus and Palmer (1974)
Contacted: 31.8
Smashed: 40.5
Describe Loftus and Palmers second study
They conducted the same study but instead asked if the participant saw broken glass. They were more likely to answer yes if they heard smashed instead of hit
Describe the procedure of Gabbert et al (2003)
Each participant watched a crime from different angles. This means there were some details some participants saw and others didn’t. Participants were allowed to discuss what they saw before their recall was tested
Describe the findings of Gabbert et al (2003)
71% of participants mistakenly recalled details they did not see but heard in discussion. the control group who did not discuss did not recall any other details they did not see. Gabbert et al concluded this was due to memory conformity due to NSI.
Evaluate research into misleading info
Useful real life applications
Artificial tasks- watching videos is different from actually witnessing an event.
Individual differences such as age- research suggests EWT is less accurate in older people.
Demand characteristics- lab studies
Describe Anastasi and Rhodes (2006)
They found that age groups 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate than ages 55-78. They also found age groups were more accurate at identifying people their age (own age bias)
Define anxiety
A state of emotional and physical arousal. E.g worried thoughts, tense feelings, increased heart rate and sweatiness.
Describe the procedure of Johnson and Scott (1976)
They led participants to believe they were taking part in a lab study. While seated in a waiting room they heard an argument in the next room. There were 2 conditions:
Low anxiety- a man walked through carrying a pen with grease in his hands
High anxiety a man walked through with a paper knife with blood on his hands.
Participants were then asked to pick the man out of 50 photos
Describe the findings of Johnson and Scott (1976)
Low anxiety 49% accuracy
High anxiety 33% accuracy
This is due to tunnel theory, as participants focus on the weapon (source of anxiety)
Describe the procedure of Yuille and Cutshall (1986)
They conducted a real life study following a shooting in a gun store, where the shop owner shot a thief dead. 13/21 witnesses were interviewed 4-5 months after the shooting and their answers were compared to the original police interviews after the shooting. Accuracy was determined by the number of details reported. They were asked to rate their anxiety at the time and if they had experienced any emotional problems since the event.
Describe the findings of Yuille and Cutshall (1986)
They found that accuracy remained high, and there was little decrease in detail or accuracy over time, apart from estimates of some details such as age/height/colour/weight. Participants who reported higher stress were 88% accurate compared to the less stressed group’s 75% accuracy.
What did Yerkes and Dodson (1908) conclude
The relationship between anxiety looks like an inverted U on a graph. Very low anxiety produces low accuracy as well as very high anxiety. There is an optimal anxiety level for recall performance.
Evaluate anxiety as a factor affecting EWT
Weapon focus may not be relevant- Johnson + Scott may have tested surprise instead of anxiety. Research by Pickel found EWT poor in surprising conditions, regardless of anxiety
Field studies lack control
Ethical issues- psychological harm
Inverted U is reductionist- anxiety is hard to operationalise
Demand characteristics in lab studies
Describe Pickel (1998)
He conducted an experiment using scissors, a handgun, a wallet and raw chicken in a hairdressing video to test effect of unusualness on EWT. He found EWT was low in unusual scenario.
Define cognitive interview
A method of interviewing EW to help them retrieve more accurate memories.
What are the 4 CI techniques
Report everything- Witnesses are encouraged to include every detail, even if irrelevant, as trivial details can trigger important memories.
Reinstate the context- EW returns to crime scene either physically or mentally by imagining environment and emotions, to use external cues to aid recall
Reverse the order-EW us asked to recall events in a different order to the original sequence. This prevents EWs from reporting what they expect to happen. Prevents dishonesty
Change perspective- EW are asked to recall from another perspective (e.g victim or perp) to disrupt the effect of expectations and schema on recall.
Describe ECI
Fisher et al (1987) developed additional elements of the CI to focus on social dynamics of the interaction. E.g interviewer choosing when to establish/relinquish eye contact. It also aims to reduce EW anxiety, minimise distractions, get EW to speak slowly and asking open ended Qs
Evaluate the CI technique
Time-consuming in comparison to standard police interview, as time is needed to establish rapport and relax the EW
Some elements more valuable. Milne and Bull (2002) found each element is equally valuable but using report everything with context reinstatement produced best recall than any other condition. Could be strength as elements of Ci can improve police interviews.
Research support for ECI- Kohnken et al meta-analysis combined data from 50 studies and found ECI produced 81% more correct info than standard police interview
However Kohnken et al also found that ECI increased incorrect info reported by 61%
