SAQ - link to the topic

Question 1

Explain one research method related to investigating the brain and behavior - Milner’s H.M.

Answer 1

• HM was a longitudinal case study, meaning it was a study over a long time period and an in-depth qualitative investigation of a person in a unique circumstance
  
  • unique circumstance: removal of hippocampus
  • Dr. Milner studied HM for over 50 years until he died in 2008
  • method triangulation was used and change in results could be observed over time
  • holistic: looked at range of effects of surgery
  • established a starting point through qualitative research method
  • no cause & effect relationship is determined as researchers did not manipulate the independent variable
  • findings on HM can’t be generalized to all human beings
  • study cannot be replicated
  • some parts of study were retrospective since there weren’t a lot of data on HM’s actual cognitive abilities before the accident
  • high ecological validity since no variables were manipulated and HM was observed in his natural environment
  • met high ethical standards of consent, confidentiality and protection from harm

Question 2

Explain one ethical consideration related to investigating the brain and behavior.

Answer 2

• anonymity was well established: HM’s full name, Henry Molaison, was not revealed to the public until after his death

Question 3

Explain one technique used to understand the brain and behavior

Answer 3

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): brian imaging technique that gives 3-dimensional picture of brain structures
  
  • non-invasive, minimal potential harm done to patient
  • faster results compared to PET scan
  • no special preparation needed
  • provides localization of brain
  • indicates structure but doesn’t show change in brain over the period of scan
  • expensive
  • usually correlational, no clear cause & effect relationship -> researchers randomly allocated participants into juggling group or control group to help establish cause & effect relationship between juggling & neural density
• Voel-based Morphometry (VBM): analysis technique in MRI that measures grey matter or neural density, contrasts with Pixel counting which measures volume of brain region
  
  • results showed that there was more grey matter in mid temporal area of juggler condition after they practiced juggling for 3 months, whereas there was no change in control group -> suggests strengthening of synapses in juggling group due to long term potentiation, reveals that juggling relies more on visual memory than procedural memory since changes in procedural memory would show change in cerebellum instead
  • decrease in grey matter of juggler condition after they stopped juggling for 3 months whereas there was no change in control group suggests that there was neural pruning due to discontinuing juggling practice
  • strengthening of sypases & neural pruning are forms of neuroplasticity, so the study showed how environment affects neural network through the use of MRI and VBM

Question 4

Explain localization of function.

Answer 4

• Localization of function is shown in Milner’s HM since the study was focused on the role of hippocampus in medial temporal lobe
  
  • method triangulation is used to see what he can/cannot do, which revealed that hippocampus was responsible for:
    
    • encoding of memory: transfer of information from short-term to long-term
    • unrelated to: general intelligence, personality, storage of short-term & long-term memory, working memory, procedural memory, encoding of implicit memory, retrieval of memory

Question 5

Explain neuroplasticity.

Answer 5

Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) was used on MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans
- because MRI scans are usually correlational, researchers randomly allocated participants into juggling group or control group to help establish cause & effect relationship between juggling & neural density
- there was more grey matter in mid temporal area of juggler condition after they practiced juggling for 3 months whereas there was no change in control group -> suggests that strengthening of synapses in juggling group was due to long term potentiation & reveals that juggling relies more on visual memory than procedural memory since changes in procedural memory would show changes on cerebellum instead
- there was decrease in grey matter of juggler condition after they stoped juggling for 3 months whereas there was no change in control group -> suggests there was neural pruning due to discontinuing juggling practice
- strengthening of synapses & neural pruning are forms of neuroplasticity, so the study showed how environment affects the neural network

Question 6

Explain neural networks.

Answer 6

Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) was used on MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans
- because MRI scans are usually correlational, researchers randomly allocated participants into juggling group or control group to help establish cause & effect relationship between juggling & neural density
- there was more grey matter in mid temporal area of juggler condition after they practiced juggling for 3 months whereas there was no change in control group -> suggests that strengthening of synapses in juggling group was due to long term potentiation & reveals that juggling relies more on visual memory than procedural memory since changes in procedural memory would show changes on cerebellum instead
- there was decrease in grey matter of juggler condition after they stoped juggling for 3 months whereas there was no change in control group -> suggests there was neural pruning due to discontinuing juggling practice
- strengthening of synapses & neural pruning are forms of neuroplasticity, so the study showed how environment affects the neural network

Question 7

Explain neural pruning

Answer 7

Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) was used on MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans
- because MRI scans are usually correlational, researchers randomly allocated participants into juggling group or control group to help establish cause & effect relationship between juggling & neural density
- there was more grey matter in mid temporal area of juggler condition after they practiced juggling for 3 months whereas there was no change in control group -> suggests that strengthening of synapses in juggling group was due to long term potentiation & reveals that juggling relies more on visual memory than procedural memory since changes in procedural memory would show changes on cerebellum instead
- there was decrease in grey matter of juggler condition after they stoped juggling for 3 months whereas there was no change in control group -> suggests there was neural pruning due to discontinuing juggling practice
- strengthening of synapses & neural pruning are forms of neuroplasticity, so the study showed how environment affects the neural network

Question 8

Explain one neurotransmitter and its effect on behavior.

Answer 8

• acetylcholine:
  
  • excitatory neurotransmitter: has activating effect on a neuron & increases chance that neuron will fire action potential
  • agonist: binds to receptor site on postsynaptic neuron, causing neuron to fire
  • endogenous: produced within body
• scopolamine:
  
  • antagonist: fits into receptor site on postsynaptic neuron -> inhibits neuron from firing
  • exogenous: produced outside body (enters body through injection)
• participants when they received placebo: acetylcholine acted normally in synapse during neurotransmission -> higher brain activation was measured by fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) in hippocampus, a structure with high level of acetylcholine receptors
• participants when they received scopolamine: scopolamine acted as a blocker for acetylcholine in synapse during neurotransmission -> lower brain activation

Question 9

Explain the neuron

Answer 9

• acetylcholine
  
  • excitatory neurotransmitter: has activating effect on a neuron & increases chance that neuron will fire action potential
  • agonist: binds to receptor sites on postsynaptic neuron, causing neuron to fire
  • endogenous: produced within the body
• scopolamine:
  
  • antagonist: binds to receptor sites on postsynaptic neuron & inhibits neuron from firing
  • exogenous: produced outside the body (enters body through injection)
• participants when they received placebo: acetylcholine acts normally in synapse during neurotransmission -> higher brain activity was measured by fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) in hippocampus, a structure with high level of acetylcholine receptors
• participants when they received scopolamine: scopolamine acts as blocker for acetylcholine in synapse during neurotransmission -> lower brain activation

Question 10

Explain the synapse

Answer 10

• acetylcholine:
  
  • excitatory neurotransmitter: has activating effect on a neuron & increases chance that neuron will fire action potential
  • agonist: binds to receptor sites on postsynaptic neuron, causing the neuron to fire
  • endogenous: produced within the body
• scopolamine:
  
  • antagonist: binds to receptor sites on postsynaptic neuron -> inhibits neuron from firing
  • exogenous: produced outside the body (enters body through injection)
• participants when they received placebo: acetylcholine acts normally in synapse during neurotransmission -> higher brain activation measured by fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) in hippocampus, a structure with high level of acetylcholine receptors
• participants when they received scopolamine: scopolamine acts as blocker for acetylcholine in synapse during neurotransmission -> lower brain activation

Question 11

Explain one excitatory or one inhibitory neurotransmitter.

Answer 11

• acetylcholine:
  
  • excitatory neurotransmitter: has activating effect on a neuron & increases chance that the neuron will fire an action potential
  • agonist: binds to receptor sites on a postsynaptic neuron & causes neuron to fire
  • endothermic: produced within the body
• scopolamine:
  
  • antagonist: binds to receptor sites on a postsynaptic neuron -> inhibits neuron from firing
  • exogenous: produced outside the body (enters the body through injection)
• participants when they received placebo: acetylcholine acts normally in synapse during neurotransmission -> higher brain activation is measured by fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) in hippocampus, a structure with high level of acetylcholine receptors
• participants when they received scopolamine: scopolamine acts as blocker for acetylcholine in synapse during neurotransmission -> lower brain activation

Question 12

explain an agonist

Answer 12

• acetylcholine:
  
  • excitatory neurotransmitter: has activating effect on a neuron & increases chance that the neuron will fire an action potential
  • agonist: binds to receptor sites on a postsynaptic neuron & causes neuron to fire
  • endothermic: produced within the body
• scopolamine:
  
  • antagonist: binds to receptor sites on a postsynaptic neuron -> inhibits neuron from firing
  • exogenous: produced outside the body (enters the body through injection)
• participants when they received placebo: acetylcholine acts normally in synapse during neurotransmission -> higher brain activation is measured by fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) in hippocampus, a structure with high level of acetylcholine receptors
• participants when they received scopolamine: scopolamine acts as blocker for acetylcholine in synapse during neurotransmission -> lower brain activation

Question 13

explain an antagonist

Answer 13

• acetylcholine:
  
  • excitatory neurotransmitter: has activating effect on a neuron & increases chance that the neuron will fire an action potential
  • agonist: binds to receptor sites on a postsynaptic neuron & causes neuron to fire
  • endothermic: produced within the body
• scopolamine:
  
  • antagonist: binds to receptor sites on a postsynaptic neuron -> inhibits neuron from firing
  • exogenous: produced outside the body (enters the body through injection)
• participants when they received placebo: acetylcholine acts normally in synapse during neurotransmission -> higher brain activation is measured by fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) in hippocampus, a structure with high level of acetylcholine receptors
• participants when they received scopolamine: scopolamine acts as blocker for acetylcholine in synapse during neurotransmission -> lower brain activation

Question 14

Explain one research method related to hormones and/or pheromones.

Answer 14

• true experiment: researchers could establish a clear cause & effect relationship between IV & DV
  
  • carried out a baseline test to eliminate possible confounding variables of individual differences btwn groups
  • experiment ran over several days & participants were not in lab the whole time -> researchers did not have full control over extraneous variables (e.g. individual stressors in lives of participants)
    
    • in spite of this, there was clear relationship between amount of cortisol ingested & performance on memory test
  • different texts were used for days 1&4, however, researchers counterbalanced use of different texts to act as control that the difficulty of the text did not play a role in recall
• ethical considerations: participants ingested cortisol which affected their memory negatively, but they had signed informed consent form beforehand & damage wasn’t permanent

Question 15

Explain one ethical consideration related to hormones and/or pheromones.

Answer 15

• true experiment: researchers could establish a clear cause & effect relationship between IV & DV
  
  • carried out a baseline test to eliminate possible confounding variables of individual differences btwn groups
  • experiment ran over several days & participants were not in lab the whole time -> researchers did not have full control over extraneous variables (e.g. individual stressors in lives of participants)
    
    • in spite of this, there was clear relationship between amount of cortisol ingested & performance on memory test
  • different texts were used for days 1&4, however, researchers counterbalanced use of different texts to act as control that the difficulty of the text did not play a role in recall
• ethical consideration: informed consent
  
  • participants ingested cortisol which affected their memory negatively, but they had signed informed consent form beforehand & damage wasn’t permanent

Question 16

Explain one hormone and its effect on behavior.

Answer 16

• true experiment: researchers could establish a clear cause & effect relationship between IV & DV
  
  • carried out a baseline test to eliminate possible confounding variables of individual differences btwn groups
  • experiment ran over several days & participants were not in lab the whole time -> researchers did not have full control over extraneous variables (e.g. individual stressors in lives of participants)
    
    • in spite of this, there was clear relationship between amount of cortisol ingested & performance on memory test
  • different texts were used for days 1&4, however, researchers counterbalanced use of different texts to act as control that the difficulty of the text did not play a role in recall
• ethical considerations: participants ingested cortisol which affected their memory negatively, but they had signed informed consent form beforehand & damage wasn’t permanent

Question 17

Explain one pheromone and its effect on behavior.

Answer 17

• evolutionary psychologists argue that smell is sign of our MHC
  
  • the results suggest that MHC may influence human mate choice

Question 18

Explain one research method related to the relationship between genetics and behavior.

Answer 18

• quasi-experiment: causal claim cannot be reached due to the fact that one or more conditions of a true experiment cannot be met
  there’s naturally occurring IV (e.g. socioeconomic status)
  
  • double-blind experiment: neither the researchers nor participants were aware of which T-shirt they were being exposed to at any point in the study
  • reductionist: over-simplifies behavior of human mate selection by bringing it down to MHC, ignoring cognitive & socio-cultural factors
  • met ethical standards: consent was obtained from all participants & they were debriefed

Question 19

Explain one ethical consideration related to the relationship between genetics and behavior.

Answer 19

• met ethical standards: informed consent
  
  • The psychologist should explain what is involved in advance and obtain an agreement from participants to participate
  • consent was obtained from all participants

Question 20

Explain one example of an evolutionary explanation for behavior.

Answer 20

• study seems to support an evolutionary argument for mate selection in humans
  humans find the smell of those with dissimilar MHC more pleasing -> more diverse MHC genes of parents -> stronger immune system of the offspring
• reductionist: over-simplifies behavior of human mate selection by bringing it down to MHC, ignoring cognitive & socio-cultural factors

Question 21

Explain one gene and its link to behavior.

Answer 21

• gene studied: 5-HTT gene
• study is correlational in nature -> can’t argue a gene “causes” a behavior, instead we need to recognize gene-environment interaction
  part of a field study called “epigenetics”:
  
  • argues that in order for behavior to occur, genes must be expressed, which is a complex chemical reaction to environmental or physiological changes
• mutation of 5-HTT gene itself made for a “higher vulnerability” for depression but this had to be in combination with 3 or more stressful life events
• there were participants who didn’t carry gene mutation that became depressed -> we can’t say that gene expression alone causes depression

Question 22

Explain genetic similarity.

Answer 22

• study explained genetic similarity through concordance rate of depression