Paper 1- Biological

Question 1

Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the biological levels of analysis.

Answer 1

London Cab Driver: Quasi Lab experiment
-High ecological validity
- Used when IV can’t be produced in a labrotory experiment.
- Naturally occuring so there is no control over variables
- Cant be replicated

Newcomer: Double blind laboratory experiment. Used interviews to determine the impact of hormones (cortisol) on memory.
- Strict control over variables
- Easy to replicated
- High validity
- Allows for irrelevant factors to be eliminated
- Low ecological validity
- Demand characteristics my impact the results

Question 2

Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the biological level of analysis.

Answer 2

Define ethical considerations.
Newcomer: Induced stress using cortisol to understand how stress impacts memory.
Rosenzweig: Some rats were placed in deprived enviroments to understand the effects of enviroment on neuroplacisity which may have caused distress and the rats were euthanized to study their brains.

Question 3

Explain one study related to localization of function of the brain.

Answer 3

Define localization and why it is significant.
London Cab Driver: Quasi Lab experiment- Used MRI scans to observe the differenced between brain snams of cab drivers and non-drivers. Since the hippocampus grew it shows that the reliance on navigation skills occurs there.
Draganski et al (2004)

Question 4

Using one or more examples, explain effects of neurotransmission on humans.

Answer 4

Define and explain neurotransmision
Define neurotransmitters and its significance.
Kasamatsu and Hirai (1999): Show how the neurotransmitter serotonin can affect behaviour.
Martinez & Kesner (1991): how the acetylcholine can affect behaviour was seen by researchers

Question 5

Discuss ethical considerations in research into generic influence on behavior.

Answer 5

Minnisota twin study:
- Self-fulfilling prophecy: if one MZT has depression, their twin may express the self-fulfilling prophecy and demonstrate symptoms of depression as well.
- Stigmatization : Twins may be stigmatized – social discrimination of an individual with characteristics that distinguish them in society. People may be stigmatized because their twin has a disorder, even if they themselves do not.

Weaver (2004):
- May have caused distress to rat by trapping it in the tube for 20 min.

Question 6

Discuss how one or more hormones affect human behavior.

Answer 6

Define hormones and endocrine system.
Discuss studies and the homones in each.

Newcomer: Double blid laboratory experiment. Used interviews to determine the impact of hormones (cortisol) on memory.

Schacter and Singer (1962): To determine the impacts of Adrenaline on humans.

Question 7

Discuss two effects of the environment on physiological processes.

Answer 7

London Cab Driver: Quasi Lab experiment- Used fMRI scans to observe the differenced between brain snams of cab drivers and non-drivers. Since the hippocampus grew it shows that the reliance on navigation skills occurs there.

Rosenzweig & Bennett (1972): An example of a study which investigates the effects of a deprived or enriched environment on neuroplasticity is an experiment conducted by Rosenzweig and Bennet (1972).

Question 8

Examine one interaction beteen cognition and physiology in terms of behavior.

Answer 8

Define cognition and physiology
London Cab Driver: Quasi Lab experiment- Used fMRI scans to observe the differenced between brain snams of cab drivers and non-drivers. Since the hippocampus grew it shows that the reliance on navigation skills occurs there.
Rosenzweig & Bennett (1972): An example of a study which investigates the effects of a deprived or enriched environment on neuroplasticity is an experiment conducted by Rosenzweig and Bennet (1972).

Question 9

Discuss the use of brain imaging technologies in investigating the relationship between biological factors and behavior.

Answer 9

London Cab Driver- MRI
Draganski- MRI

Question 10

With reference to relevant studies, to what extent does genetic inheritance influence behavior.

Answer 10

Minnisota Twin Study: To a large extent - 70% of intelliegence can be contributed to genetics.

Sheilds (1962): This study supports that genetic factors have a larger influence on behaviour than environmental factors as the MZTs reared apart had a higher similarity in IQ compared to the DZTs reared together.

Question 11

Examine one evolutionary explanation of behavior.

Answer 11

Internet disgust study: Curtis et al. (2004)
Findings suggest that disgust is evolutionary.
Natural selection may have helped human ancestors to be more disgusted at things which threatened the immune system to avoid things that could potentially lead to diseases or sickness. This would allow them better chances of survival and reproduction to pass on their genes.
Smelly t-shirt: The smell of the MHC gene is more appealing when dissimilar to our own leading to healthier offspring. This increases the chance of survival to perpetuate the human species.

Question 12

Discuss the effect of pheromones on behavior.

Answer 12

Get help!!!

Question 13

Biological Approch to Analysis

Answer 13

All cognitions, emotions, and behaviours have a physiological basis.

Question 14

Ethical considerations

Answer 14

Ethics must be considered in order to ensure that the participants are not harmed and that research collected is ethically valid.
Made by APA
Studies should always abide by these standards
Talk about:
- Protection of participants
- Consent
- Withdrawl
- Confidentialty
- Deception
- Debriefing

Question 15

Weaver (2004)

Answer 15

Investigate whether environment affects behaviour, in this case stress levels.
Meathods: two groups of rats
Weaver et al. investigated the stress levels of rat offspring with calmer and more nurturing mothers, compared to the stress levels of rat offspring with more anxious, less attentive mothers.
-The stress levels of the rats were measured by placing each rat in a confined tube for 20 minutes and then recording the amount of corticosterone, a stress hormone, was in the rat after the confined tube.
- conducted another experiment: The second study was focused on the nurture of the rat offspring, examining whether rats with more nurturing and calmer mothers had lower corticosterone.
The first group was made up of rats that received less attention from the mothers, but were now receiving vigorous licking and grooming from other rats.
the second group was made up of rats who received vigorous licking and grooming from their mothers, but were now receiving less attention.
1st Experiment: found that rats with calmer and more maternal mothers had lower stress levels than the rats with more anxious mothers that showed less attention to their offspring.

2nd Experiment: that not only can inheritance of genes affect behaviour. The environment can have an impact on genes and gene expression.

Question 16

Draganski et al (2004)

Answer 16

Aim: Find out whether the human brain can change structure in response to environmental demands
Procedure:
Random sampling design, self-selected sample
Randomly allocated a sample of volunteers into 2 groups
One : jugglers
Two : non-jugglers
Made sure that both groups had no experience of juggling before the start of the experiment
First MRI performed
Participants in the juggler group subsequently spent three months learning a classic juggling routine with three balls
Second MRI performed
Participants in the juggler group spent three months where they were instructed not to practice juggling
Third MRI performed
Findings:
Prior to the start of the experiment there was no difference in brain structure
Second scan the juggler had more gray matter in some areas of the cortex mostly the mid-temporal area
Third scan differences decreased but jugglers denser gray matter

Question 17

Curtis et al. (2004)

Answer 17

Method:
Tested whether there were patterns in disgust responses via an online survey
77 000 participants from 165 countries.
Participants were asked to rank their level of disgust for 20 images.
Within the 20 images were 7 pairs where one was infectious or harmful to the immune system and the other was similar but non-infectious.
For example, one image was a plate of bodily fluid and its pair was a plate of blue viscous liquid.

Results:
The disgust reaction was strongest for images which threatened the immune system.
Disgust also decreased with age and women had higher disgust reactions than men.

Question 18

The Smelly T-Shirt Study: Wedekind et al (1995)

Answer 18

Aim: to determine whether one’s MHC would affect male choice
Procedure: Natural + Double-Blind Experiment
Random sampling made up of 49 females and 44 males with a wide variety of the MHC gene. Men were asked to sleep in a t shirt for 2 nights while avoiding any spices, cologne or odor impacting behaviors. Women then smelled 7 shirts (3 similar MHC, 3 dissimilar and 1 control) and were asked to rate each odor from unpleasant to pleasant.
Findings: Women preferred the odor of men with an immune system dissimilar to their own which would provide a healthier offspring

Evolutionary explanation: The smell of the MHC gene is more appealing when dissimilar to our own leading to healthier offspring. This increases the chance of survival to perpetuate the human species.

Question 19

Kasamatsu and Hirai (1999)

Answer 19

Aim:
To see how sensory deprivation affects the brain
Also to see how the serotonin affects behaviour
Methods:

Studied a group of Buddhist monks who went on a 72-hour pilgrimage to a holy mountain in Japan.
Monks did not consume water or food; did not speak and were also exposed to cold weather.
Researchers took a blood sample before monks ascended into the mountain and immediately after they reported having hallucinations
Results:

After about 48 hours, monks began to have hallucinations, seeing ancient ancestors or feeling their presence by their sides.
They found that serotonin levels had increased in the monks? brainsthus the higher levels of serotonin activated the hypothalamus and frontal cortex resulting in the hallucinations.
Conclusion:

Researchers concluded that sensory deprivation triggered the release of serotonin, which altered the way that the monks experienced the world, a behaviour expressed by humans.

Connection of study to question
Thus, this study shows that the neurotransmitter serotonin affects the human behaviour of increased arousal causing hallucinations (as demonstrated by monks after a spike in serotonin), therefore affecting human behaviour in terms of arousal and emotion.

Question 20

Martinez & Kesner (1991)

Answer 20

Aim:
To determine role of neurotransmitter acetylcholine on memory, specifically memory formation.

Methods:
Rats were trained to go through maze and get to the end where they received food.
After rats were able to do this, he injected:
1st group -scopolamine, which blocks acetylcholine receptor sites.
2nd group - physostigmine, blocks production of cholinesterase (does ‘clean-up’ of - acetylcholine from synapse and returns neuron to its ‘resting state’).
3rd group – control (no injections).

Results:
Results showed that:

Scopolamine - slower at finding way round maze and made more errors than control/physostigmine group.
Physostigmine - ran faster compared to both groups and made fewer wrong turns.

Conclusion:
Acetylcholine played an important role in creating a memory of the maze.

Evaluation
Strengths:
Design and application
Use of an experimental method with a control group made it possible to establish cause- and-effect relationship between levels of acetylcholine and memory.
Limitations:
Questionable to what extent these findings can be generalized to humans. (Possible tapply research on rats to human beings)
Assumed that memory processes are the same for all animals.
Connection of study to question
Thus, this study shows that the neurotransmitter acetylcholine affects the human behaviour of memory causing an increase in memory functions with higher amounts of Ach compared to lower levels of Ach, which decreases memory functioning.

Question 21

Bouchard et al. (1990) - Minnesota Twin Study

Answer 21

Aim:

To determine how much of intelligence is attributed to genetics and environment.
Method:
Longitudinal study
Over 100 sets of MZT (monozygotic – identical twins raised together) and DZT (dizygotic – fraternal twins raised together) from around the world who were reared/raised together and apart.
Researchers gave them approximately 50 hours of psychological and physiological testing.

Results:
Similarity rates between MZTs reared apart was approximately 76%
Bouchard determined a heritability estimate of 70% of intelligence attributed to genetics, and 30% to other factors.
Connection of study to question

This study relates to the effect of genetics on behaviour as the concordance rate between twins shows that their behaviour was affected mostly (70%) by genetics, rather than the environment, where the other 30% may be attributed to other factors in the surrounding environment.
Evaluation:
Strengths:
much research has supported his findings, making them more reliable
large sample of participants, making the study more externally valid than most twin studies

Limitations:
Bouchard used media coverage to recruit the sample
No control over the frequency of contact between twins before the study
Bouchard assumed that the twins reared together experienced the same environment – equal environment assumption

Question 22

Schacter and Singer

Answer 22

Aims:
To test the two factor theory of emotion (that emotion arises from a combination of a cognition and arousal), using the hormone, adrenaline.
Methods:
Test 184 college males
Divided into 4 groups
All groups were told that they were going to be given an injection of Suproxin in order to test its effect on vision
Even though men were really receiving adrenaline
First three groups were given an injection of adrenaline
Last group was given a placebo
4 Groups divided into 2 subgroups
Condition 1 - euphoria
Confederate encouraged participant to play with games inside the waiting room (with office equipment)
Condition 2 - anger
Confederate completed a questionnaire at the same pace as the participant but became more and more angry as the questions became more personal
Participants were either informed of the correct effects of adrenaline (under the impression that it was suproxin) or given no information at all
Control group was given false effects but otherwise remained tested under same conditions
During this time, participants were observed for changes in emotion
Participants were then asked to fill out a questionnaire detailing their state of emotion
Results:

Showed that participants that were given information on the effects of adrenaline showed minimal changes in emotion
But those who had been told no effect, thus no explanation for their state of arousal showed much higher changes in emotion (in regards to the scenario they were in)
Participants who received a placebo experienced no state of arousal and this had no need to explain their feelings through their surroundings tho they had minimal changes in emotions
Those who were misinformed about the effects of adrenaline were included for control purposes and so their results were not included
Conclusions:

Researchers concluded that emotion occurs by a process of cognitive labelling: the interpretation of physiological cues is combined with contextual cues to construct a person’s subjective experience of emotion. *When explaining this study, do not go this much in-depth as in the above. State only the most relevant things that the examiner should know.
Connection of study to question
This study shows that adrenaline can contribute to changes in emotion, a behaviour expressed by humans.

Question 23

Maguire et al. (2000) London Cab Driver:

Answer 23

Aim:
Maguire hypothesised that full licensed taxi drivers in London would have a different hippocampi structure in their brains compared to “normal? people.

Methods:
Independent Measures Design
50 non drivers, 15 drivers : all right handed males
This was based on the knowledge that London taxi drivers must do a two-year training course where they end up being able to find their way around the city without a map.
MRI scans were used to scan the structure of their hippocampi, which were compared to already existing MRI scans of healthy males who did not drive taxis.

Results:
Taxi drivers? left and right hippocampi had a larger volume compared to the non-taxi drivers.
Some parts of the hippocampi were smaller in the taxi drivers.

Conclusions:
Maguire concluded that there was probably a redistribution of grey matter in the hippocampi of taxi drivers due to the regular use of the spatial memory skills required to remember roads; the neurons are stronger in areas of the brain which are used most.

Question 24

Rosenzweig (1972)

Answer 24

Aim: To investigate whether environmental factors such as an enriched or an impoverished environment affect development of neurons in the cerebral cortex.
Procedure:
-Rats were placed in either an enriched environment or an impoverished condition.

-In the enriched environment, 10-12 rats in a cage were provided with different stimulus objects to explore and play with. This group also received maze training.

-In the impoverished condition, each rat was placed in an individual cage, ensuring isolation, and no stimulation was applied.

-The rats typically spent 30-60 days in their respective environments before they were killed so the researchers could study changes in brain anatomy.
Lab experiment

Findings:
-The anatomy of the brain was different for rats in the enriched environment and the impoverished condition.

-The brains of the enriched environment rats had increased thickness in the cortex.

-The enriched environment rats had developed more acetylcholine receptors in the cerebral cortex, which are important in learning and memory.

-The frontal lobe, which is associated with thinking, planning, and decision making, was heavier in the rats that had been in the enriched environment.

-Overall, the combination of having company and many interesting toys created the best conditions for developing cerebral thickness.