Lecture 27 Flashcards
What are some key terms for genetics?
Sex cells are the sperm and ova, each contain 23 chromosomes, these are a threadlike structure made up of genetic material, there are 46 chromosomes in every cell except sperm and ove. A gene is the molecules on the chromosome that transmit the hereditary blueprint, the genotype is what our genes code for while the phenotype is the external effect of the genotype.
Do babies prefer looking at faces or non faces?
infants tend to look at pictures with faces more often than ones without, even if they are only a few hours old, this could be due to them developing knowledge of what a face looks like when born.
What two major factors contribute to mental function?
Both genetics and environmental factors contribute to mental function, the extent to which one contributes can vary depending on the trait. We are typically born with given genetic potential for given actions.
What study types are typically used to examine the relationship between genes and environment?
Twin studies typically are done to examine the effects of environmental conditions and genetics. Fraternal or dizygotic twins share 50% of their genes identical or monozygotic twins share 100% of their genes in common. We can then ask if monozygotic or dizygotic twins are more similar. Many personality characteristics tend to be shared by monozygotic twins, the similarities tend to get greater over time because they can choose their own environments rather than the parents choosing.
Adoption studies could also be done, asking if the adoptees are more similar to their biological parents or to their adoptive parents(environment).
What is a correlation?
A correlation varies from 0 to 1 with 1 being completely related and 0 being not related.
What can selective breeding of active mice and inactive mice show?
Selective breeding of active mice and rats and inactive mice and rays and Cross-fostering the children can be done to show that genetics can determine the activity level of the animals, even though they’re environment does not encourage the particular behaviour it’s actual parents had (inactive mice offspring were raised by active parents and vice versa). These behaviours are polygenetic (controlled by large number of genes), from this we can determine that humans are likely to have a similar genetic element.
What was Cooper and Zubek’s experiment?
Cooper and Zubek did selective breeding to get smart maze rats and dumb maze rats, they then got the offspring and at weaning split them into Standard environments, impoverished environments and enriched environments. Dumb rats didn’t get worse with the impoverished environment but did get better in the enriched environment (much better). Smart rats did much worse in the impoverished environment but roughly the same in the enriched environment.
When do differences between twins start to show up?
Differences between twins typically start in the womb, where one fetus will typically get more of the nutrients than the other.
How much of our IQ is down to genetics?
For humans it is believed that 40% to 70% of IQ is determined by genes (multiple genes), environmental contribbution wanes with age and by adulthood, adoptive siblings are no more similar in IQ than strangers.
