Pre-adult Brain Development (Biological)

Question 1

Describe Casey (2001) study?

Answer 1

-Exp 1= 59 40yr olds took part in the no/go task
-low delayers made more mistakes when told not to
click on happy faces
-Exp 2= 29 ps did the fMRI, found low delayers had more activity in their ventral striatum, high delayers had more activity in their inferior frontal gyrus

Question 2

Describe Eshel (2007) study?

Answer 2

-Aim= to look at differences between brain activity of adults + adolescents when facing a choice

Question 3

What is the aim of Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study?

Answer 3

To investigate the influence of brain development on risk taking behaviour

Question 4

What is the sample of Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study?

Answer 4

13-17 and 25-30
17 adults and 20 adolescents- all right handed, USA
Originally 19 adults and 22 adolescents

Question 5

What is the procedure of Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study?

Answer 5

• Ps attended an intake session at the lab and they were asked questions on their income
• Given $20 for taking part, they could win another $20 or lose $20
• A week later, ps completed a monitory gambling task under an fMRI
• Shown a ‘spinner’ (50% win, 50% lose). They could either accept/reject gamble
• They had 144 ‘spinner’ trials each

Question 6

What are 2 results of Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study?

Answer 6

• Adolescents had less activity in their amygdala (responsible for fear) than adults during the monitory gambling task
• There was more activity in the adolescents ventral striatum (reward system) than adults who had virtually no activation

Question 7

What is a conclusion of Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study?

Answer 7

The adolescents brain places greater value on potential rewards (more activation in VS of adolescents)

Question 8

How does Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study show sampling bias?

Answer 8

-relatively small sample size- 17 & 20
counter= Casey original sample=562
- lack of preadolescent participant group e.g. 8-12
counter= Eshel 9-17
-Volunteer sampling (recruited through poster and internet adverts)- doesn’t represent everyone- gamblers will volunteer
-ethnocentric-all American
counter=brain development is species specific

Counter= 11F + 8M (adults) 11F + 11M (teens) represents both genders (original sample)

Question 9

How does Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study show Nature?

Answer 9

• Adolescents have different neurological development= teens had more activity in the ventral striatum compared to adults in the gambling task- pre frontal cortex not fully formed- unable to suppress risky behaviour
• Casey (2001)= low delayers (more impulsive) had higher activity in the ventral striatum and high delayers have higher activity in the inferior frontal gyrus

Question 10

How does Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study show usefulness?

Answer 10

• Benefited society evidence (Barkley-Levenson brain development ventral striatum)- we can then develop and implement strategies to reduce risk taking in adolescents
• Easily replicable- more reliable (can replicate with crossculture, age, gender etc

-Not useful= limited sample

Question 11

How does Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study show Socially sensitive?

Answer 11

• Controversial= adolescents are risk takers (discrimination against teens)
• Exposes younger people to gambling
• Can take away blame from individual for addiction because brain development not fully developed
• Has benefited society

Question 12

What are 3 strategies of reducing risk-taking behaviour?

Answer 12

-Direct education e.g. safe driving campaigns
In some countries like USA they don’t get full
licence until they complete a trial period. No
driving at night and adult supervision
-Education of parents e.g. David Olds 1998
Nurses visited expecting single mothers during pregnancy to inform them of the importance of modelling good behaviour
-Social learning theory e.g. Bandura
Influenced by environment and role models

Question 13

How does Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study show Individual?

Answer 13

Personal choice to gamble- risk taking behaviour

Question 14

How does Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study show Reductionist?

Answer 14

Explanations of risk-taking in terms of adolescent brain structure and functioning e.g. prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum, are reductionist because they account for highly complex behaviours in terms of a few relatively straightforward neurobiological processes.

Question 15

How does Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) study show Nurture?

Answer 15

Study by the CDC found that exposure to forms of stress during childhood predicts later adverse forms of risk taking such as drug use, addiction and
suicide. This highlights the role of the childhood experiences in developing risk taking behaviours, thus supporting the nurture side of the debate.