Spinelli Et Al Study (bio) Flashcards

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1
Q

Spinelli Et Al Study (bio)

Aim

A

To analyse the relationship between serotonin transporter gene, life experience and exposure to stress (separation experiment) in rhesus macaques (monkeys).

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2
Q

Spinelli Et Al Study (bio)

Procedure

A
  • Monkeys were split into two groups:
    • Peer-reared (PR): Housed in an incubator for the first 14 days of life then placed alone in a nursery cage with a surrogate. After approx one month monkeys were put into a cage with three other monkeys. (this is meant to be a stressful upbringing)
    • Mother-reared (MR): Raised with their mother in a social group with 8 - 12 adults females (about half of whom had same-aged infants) and two adult males (This is meant to be typical upbringing)
  • Separation producers after 6 - 7 months (procedure lasted four-days):
    • PR: Put int individual compartments of the cage (couldn’t see but could hear peers)
    • MR: Mother was removed from the social group
  • Day 1 is the “acute phase”, Day 2-4 is “chronic phase”
  • Behavioural observations were made and recorded based on genes
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3
Q

Spinelli Et Al Study (bio)

Findings

A
  • PR monkeys showed more despair than MR monkeys
  • PR l/s monkeys showed more pathological behaviours (ex. Any repetitive, patterned, and rhythmic locomotive movement) than PR l/l monkeys
  • PR l/l monkeys showed more despair the PR l/s monkeys
  • Researchers hypothesise that behaviours associated with despair are actually coping mechanisms
  • Carriers of s allele were more likely to develop pathological behaviours
  • Findings support the influence of genes on behaviour as groups behaved differently in reaction to separation
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4
Q

Spinelli Et Al Study (bio)

Limitations

A
  • External Validity
    • Does not directly support the findings of the human study (Caspi Et Al)
    • Gene is not identical to the human gene
  • Difficult to draw conclusions for animal behaviour (ex. Despair = depression or coping mechanism?)
  • s/s monkey not included in the study
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5
Q

Spinelli Et Al Study (bio)

Ethical Considerations

A
  • Special justification required for:
    • Peer-reared upbringing
    • Separation
    • Euthanization would not be required at the end of the experiment however monkeys with “peer-reared upbringing” would only be appropriate subjects for similar experiments
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6
Q

Spinelli Et Al Study (bio)

Research Method

A

Experiment

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