Psychology Biological Level

Question 1

What was the Avery et al study? (2001)

• SAD

Answer 1

Randomly assigned 95 SAD patients to one of 3 groups
1) Dawn stimulation (began 4:30am)
2) Traditional bright light therapy
3) Placebo of dim red light at dawn
Structured interview -depression rating
Found: (3) showed less improvement & more side effects & complained of insomnia significantly more than others after 4 weeks
Conclusion: SAD symptoms were related to a shift in sleep patterns
Treatments in (1) & (2) helped realign sleep patterns by encouraging inhibition of melatonin at right time - therapeutic & less side effects

Question 2

Body temperature in SAD ..?

Answer 2

Body temperature tends to rise and fall more in SAD than normal people who are synchronised with their sleep/wake cycle
=> melatonin involved

Question 3

Reserpine in depression?

Answer 3

Reserpine is a drug used to treat high blood pressure but also reduces seratonin as a side effect and can lead to depression

Question 4

What was the Mark A Mintum et Al study?

Answer 4

Compared PET scans of 46 depressed brains to 29 non-depressed
Used chemical altabserin which bind to seratonin receptors compared numbers of seratonin receptors
Found: depressed brains had significantly less receptors in hippocampus
Means seratonin levels are limited => depression

Question 5

Bonson et al (1996) - seratonin & depression

Answer 5

Used questionnaires
Found LSD users who enjoyed hallucinogenic effects BUT also had depression & were being treated with antidepressants tended to have reduced symptoms but normal LSD doses no longer had the same effect

Question 6

Dopamine and Parkinson’s Disease

Answer 6

Dopamine affects the way the brain controls movement and controls the flow of information to the frontal lobe which is why low levels lead to a decline in cognitive functions like memory, attention, problem solving & can lead to development of Parkingson’s

Question 7

L-dope drug & dopamine

Answer 7

L-dopa is a drug designed to relieve symptoms of Parkingson’s Disease by raising dopamine levels
Over-medicated patients developed positive symptoms like hallucinations and delusions

Question 8

What is the dopamine hypothesis

Answer 8

That the brains of schizophrenic patients produce more dopamine than normal brains which causes thee symptoms - overactive dopamine receptors
• amphetamines can cause psychotic like episodes (only positive symptoms) and traditional antipsychotic drugs block dopamine receptors

Question 9

Robert Plomin (1998) genes & intelligence

Answer 9

Studied 50 students with an IQ score of over 160 and compared their DNA to that of normal/average children
He found a variant of the IGF2R gene on chromosome 6 was twice as common in high IQ than average IQ children
- but small effect of only 4 IQ points intelligence is polygenic

Question 10

Bouchard and McGue (1981) - genes & intelligence

Answer 10

If HZ twins reared apart have a higher concordance in IQ scores than DZ, then genetics are important in determining intelligence
They found DZ twins reared together had a concordance rate of 60% whereas HZ twins reared apart had a concordance rate of 72%

Question 11

Cornet et al (1998) genes & intelligence

Answer 11

Studied ‘super bright’ kids with IQ over 136
Found that 33% had IGF2R gene while only 27% of ‘normal’ people have it
But admits that it only accounts for 2% of intelligence
Environmental factors must play a role

Question 12

Bailey and Pillard (1991) genes and homosexuality

Answer 12

Studied how often both twins were homosexual
Found that DZ twins had a concordance rate is 22% while MZ had a rate of 52%
Strong genetic correlation but other factors but be used to explain why this is not 100%

Question 13

Kanwisher et al (2012)

• Localisation of function

Answer 13

Aimed to investigate the functions of specific areas of Broca’s area in the brain
Scanned participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as they performed tasks
• asked to read either meaningful sentences or sequences of nonwords
= A subsection lit up more when processing meaningful sentences
• performed easy and difficult versions of general cognitive tasks e.g. maths are holding a set of locations in memory
= parts of Broca’s Area lit up during the more difficult versions
Found there are two distinct regions in Broca’s area - language and (difficult) general
General region seem to be connected to a larger network across the frontal and parietal lobes and all communicate with each other
Language section also part of a larger language network across - left hemisphere
Conclusion: Broca’s area doesn’t perform one single function i.e. language

Question 14

Criticism of Kanwisher study?

Answer 14

Peter Hagoot: only tested language and general cognitive => it is unclear if Broca’s area is involved in other areas of cognitive function

Question 15

What is a life event?

Answer 15

A significant change in a person’s life that disrupts daily routines

Question 16

Who developed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale and how?

Answer 16

Holmes and Rahe - to doctors who identified groups of patients who complained of illness after having many life changes
Argued when someone experience a ‘substantial adjustment,’ positive or negative, they are more likely to get stressed
=> stress response leading to adrenaline and/or cortisol release => stress related illness
Developed by selecting 43 significant life events and asked 394 people to rate them in stressfulness
e.g.
Highest death of a spouse 100 LCU
Lowest minor violations of law 11 LCU

Question 17

Rahe et al (1970) experiment - life events and stress

Answer 17

Correlational study - whether scores on social readjustment rating scale correlated to illness
Thought life events caused stress because they forced people to change the way they think, believe & act => psychological effort to cope -> stress response
2500 male American sailors were assessed using SRRS to measure the life events they had experienced in the last six months - recorded number of doctors visits or illnesses developed
Found positive correlation of +0.118 => meaningful relationship

Question 18

Criticism of Rahe et al (1970)

Answer 18

• does not consider individual reactions to certain life stressors
• Sample limited to male U.S. Navy reduces validity- focused only on one sex/ethnicity
• correlation does not mean causation

Question 19

Keirolt-Glaser et al (1984)

• effect of the environment on physiological processes

Answer 19

Investigated effect of natural life stressors on immune system
Tested 75 medical students preparing for the final exams
Measured natural killer cell activity from blood samples before and during the exam period
Participants also completed questionnaires on experience of negative life events and socialisation
Found: NK cell activity was significantly reduced during exam period => stress
Greatest reductions from those reporting higher levels of social isolation
Conclusion: examinations stress reduces immune function more vulnerable to disease
Repeated measures experiment
=> same students for both conditions
=> eliminate effect of individual differences in immunity

Question 20

Cobb and Rose (1973) - work & stress

Answer 20

Investigated role related stress in mail at traffic controllers to see whether jobs with large responsibilities would be more stressful
Compare the incidence of illnesses among groups of traffic controllers and a control group of other airmen (medical examinations were necessary for renewing their licenses)
Found a traffic controllers were four times more likely suffer from raise blood pressure than airmen in control group
Also showed a significantly higher incidence of diabetes and peptic ulcer
Air traffic controllers need to pay continuous attention, often working with poor information, rapidly & without error - huge responsibility => lower levels of health

Question 21

Case study of HM

Answer 21

HM suffered severe epileptic fits so part of his hippocampus was removed to relieve his symptoms
Afterwards he suffered from anterograde and retrograde amnesia
= means that he lost his memory for events prior to the brain damage and he also couldn’t form new memories

Question 22

What was the Brookee and Hellekson study? (1992)?

~> SAD

Answer 22

They found that Sarasota, Florida (close to the equator) reported 1.4% of SAD - significantly less than Fairbanks, Alaska which reported 9.2%
• Shows link between light levels and SAD - role of melatonin