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Psychology A-Level > Research methods- Biological Approach > Flashcards

Research methods- Biological Approach Flashcards

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1
Q

What are brain scanning techniques used for?

A

To research the structure and function of the brain.

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2
Q

What does CAT scan stand for?

A

Computerised Axial Tomography

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3
Q

What are CAT scans?

A

Involves passing X-rays into the head and multiple beams are passed around the head from different angles to gather more information.

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4
Q

What are CAT scans useful for?

A

Detecting areas of the brain damage following an accident or the positioning of tumours in the brain.

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5
Q

What are CAT scans not useful for?

A

Giving us information about how the brain is functioning.

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6
Q

What are some strengths of CAT scans?

A
  • For revealing abnormal structures in the brain such as tumours in the brain or structural damage.
  • High quality of the images.
  • Help surgeons better plan a procedure before surgery takes place.
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7
Q

What are some weaknesses of CAT scans?

A
  • Require more radiation.
  • Only provide structural information.
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8
Q

What does PET scans stand for?

A

Positron Emission Tomography.

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9
Q

What are PET scans?

A

A form of nuclear medicine procedure as they involve injecting the patient with a small amount of radioactive material in order to conduct the scan.

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10
Q

What are PET useful for?

A

Investigating areas of the brain that are not functioning normally, which could indicate damage or tumours.

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11
Q

What are some strengths of PET scans?

A
  • Show brain in action, useful for psychological research.
  • Indicate the specific areas of the brain.
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12
Q

What are some weaknesses of PET scans?

A
  • At times results are not easy to interpret.
  • Precise location of active areas in relation to brain structure is difficult to pinpoint.
  • Radioactive substances cause damage to the tissue of the body. (ethical issues).
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13
Q

What does fMRI scans stand for?

A

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

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14
Q

What are fMRI scans?

A

Enables images of brain activity to be gathered without the use of radiation.

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15
Q

What are some strengths of fMRI scans?

A
  • Shows important information about which areas of the brain are being used at any one time.
  • Safe method, as it doesn’t use radiation.
  • Doesn’t involve injections, so it’s non-invasive.
  • Images extremely clear.
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16
Q

What are some weaknesses of fMRI scans?

A
  • Only effective if the person whose being investigated stays perfectly still, and this may be a problem for (e.g.) children.
  • 5 second time lag between brain activity and image appearing on screen which can cause problems when trying to interpret the info received.
  • People with metal surgical implants, may be unable to have this kind of brain scan because of the high-powered magnetic fields.
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17
Q

What is a twin study?

A

Where twins are compared on a specific trait to see how similar they are.

18
Q

What are the two types of twins?

A

Monozygotic twins and Dizygotic twins.

19
Q

What are Monozygotic twins?

A
  • identical
  • share 100% of their genes.
20
Q

What are Dizygotic twins?

A
  • non- identical
  • share 50% of their genes (like any other siblings).
21
Q

What does correlation mean?

A

If we are looking at a behaviour measured numerically, we can calculate a correlation coefficient to measure similarity.

22
Q

What does concordance rate mean?

A

If we are studying a behaviour which is all or nothing, we use a concordance rate which is the percentage of those studied are concordant (similar).

22
Q

What is an example of correlation?

A

IQ

23
Q

What is an example of concordance rate?

A

Whether someone has been diagnosed with schizophrenia or not.

24
Q

What is an example of a twin study?

A

Gottesman and Shields (1966).

25
Q

What is the conclusion from the study of Gottesman and Shields (1966)?

A

There may well be a genetic element that could explain why people develop schizophrenia.

26
Q

Why can’t we say schizophrenia is completely genetic?

A

Because the concordance rates for the Monozygotic twins wan not 100%.

27
Q

What are two strengths of twin studies?

A
  • Enables researchers to investigate the influence of genes because it is assumed that both MZ and DZ twins share the same environment.
  • The sample is large and data is likely to be representative.
28
Q

What are two weaknesses of twin studies?

A
  • Twins studies may overestimate genetic influence.
  • Twin studies provide a very broad indication that a behaviour has a genetic origin, but they cannot identify the specific genes involved.
29
Q

What are adoption studies?

A

Adopted children are compared with 1) biological relative i.e biological parent and 2) adoptive relative i.e adoptive parent or sibling.

30
Q

What is an example of an adoption study?

A
  • Heston (1966)
31
Q

What is the conclusion of Heston (1966)?

A

The finding’s support the influence of genes in schizophrenia.

32
Q

What are two strengths of an adoptive study?

A
  • Has the advantage of removing the extraneous variable of environment.
  • Useful in showing that twin studies overestimate genetic factors.
33
Q

What are two weaknesses of an adoptive study?

A
  • Apparent similarities with biological relatives relatives may be due to environmental similarities rather than genes.
  • People who adopt other people’s biological offspring may not be representative of the population.
34
Q

What are the three types of correlations?

A
  • Positive correlation
  • Negative correlation
  • No correlation.
35
Q

What is a positive correlation?

A

As one variable increases, the other variable also increases but necessarily at the same rate.

36
Q

What is a negative correlation?

A

As one variable increases, the other variable decreases but not necessarily at the same time.

37
Q

What does no correlation mean?

A

There is no relationship between the two variables.

38
Q

What is a correlation?

A

A way of measuring the relationship between co-variables, instead of looking at the difference. (i.e. in an experiment)

39
Q

What is a scatter diagram?

A

Used to illustrate a correlation between 2 co-variables (display it visually in graph form).

40
Q

What is a correlation co-efficient?

A
  • Helps us know if the pattern of dots on a scatter graph represents a meaningful association.
  • Measures the strength of the relationship between the co-variables.
41
Q
A

Psychology A-Level (13 decks)

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