key study: Barkley-Levenson and Galvan Flashcards
what was the aim of Barkley-Levenson and Galvan?
To investigate whether there is a difference in neural activity between adolescents and adult brains when given risk taking scenarios (gambling) with different expected values of outcomes.
what was the sample in Barkley-Levenson and Galvan’s study?
adults:
-19 right handed people aged 25-30 from the USA
-11 female, 8 male
adolescents:
-22 right handed people aged 13-17 from the USA
-11 female, 11 male
how were the participants recruited in Barkley-Levenson and Galvan?
obtained through poster and internet advertisements through the University of California, and a database of participants used in previous research.
describe the method of Barkley-Levenson and Galvan?
intake session:
-provided information about income and spending habits
-had a mock fMRI scan
-were given $20 as ‘spending money’
-were told they could gain up to and extra $20 or leave with no money
about a week later:
-took part in a neuro-imaging session
-completed a gambling task while having an fMRI scan
-completed 192 trials, 24 of them involved a loss, 24 had a gain and 144 had one option entailing gain and one with loss
-participants had to indicate on a 4 point scale how likely they were to gamble in each situation
-they were told one of the trials would determine how much money they left with
what were the behavioural results in Barkley-Levenson and Galvan?
-when no risk was involved, both groups made similar judgements
-an increased expected value increased the likelihood of both groups accepting a gamble
-adolescents were more likely to accept gambles with higher expected values
what were the neural results in Barkley-Levenson and Galvan?
-the ventral striatum showed more activity in adolescents brain when expected values increased
what is the ventral striatum involved in?
-some emotional responses, particularly those related to pleasure and behavioural motivation
-higher levels of activity indicates higher pleasure and motivation
how does Barkley-Levenson and Galvan explain differences in risk taking behaviour between adults and adolescents?
Higher activity in the ventral striatum of adolescents as the expected value increased
-Could be due to adolescents placing greater value on potential rewards than the adult brain does
-Adolescents more focused on the potential gain rather than the chance of loss
Adolescents appeared to be more avoidant of disadvantageous risks than adults
-Shown by reduced neural activity when responding to low expected value trials compared to adults
write a 5 mark summary of Barkley-Levenson and Galvan.
Barkley-Levenson and Galvan aimed to discover whether there is a difference in neural activity between adolescent and adult brains when given risk taking scenarios. The adult sample consisted of 19 people aged 25-30 from the USA, and the adolescent sample consisted of 22 people aged 13-17, also from the USA. The participants were recruited through posted and internet advertisements through the University of California. Participants went through an intake session, in which they gave information about their salary and spending habits, had a mock fMRI scan and were given $20 as ‘spending money’ for the experiment. They were informed they would be able to make up to an extra $20, or leave with nothing. About a week later, they returned and were asked to take part in a gambling task while in an fMRI scanner. The task consisted of 192 trials, 24 of them including a loss of money, and the other 144 trials had one option with a gain and one with a loss. Participants had to indicate on a four point scale how likely they were to take the gamble on each trial.
