Studies Flashcards
Why is dual binding important (3 examples?)
Traffic lights, post into a red box, names with faces
Previous findings (Para et al., 2016)
Alz sufferers perform the same as healthy adults on single task arrays, but were significantly worse at verbal recall and presentation together (e.g., walk and talk at the same time)
(Para et al., 2017) Previous findings (Della Salla et al., 2002).
Long-term binding in Alz patients is significantly worse (e.g., names and faces)
(Para et al., 2017)
Which gene mutation causes what?
Gene mutation preselenin-1 E280A causes autosomic dominant familial Alz disease, detectable at age 48 (Lopera, 1997)
(Para et al., 2017)
4 AIMS
- Whether binding deficits extend to STM
- Whether the binding deficit extends to visual domain
- Whether this is a feature of ageing (memory declines with age)
- Whether this is a preclinical marker of Alz disease
(Para et al., 2017)
Participant recruitment and inclusion criteria
Recruited from Columbia, underwent genetic screening for gene mutation. Carriers and controls had to have no psychiatric history, and no problems with memory (concluded with a self report and family questionnaire). Aslo had to pass mini mental state examination
(Para et al., 2017)
Neuropsychological test battery
Included tests that assessed associative learning, language, perception, visuospatial, memory, attention ]
(Para et al., 2017)
Test format
Based on a change detection paradigm, 500ms fixation screen, 2000 study display, 900ms fixed retention interval. 50% of tasks where different and 50% were the same
(Para et al., 2017)
What were the test array changes?
Single: Either colour only or shape only change
Binding: Both colour and shape changes
(Para et al., 2017)
How did the controls do? Does this agree with previous research?
The controls performed well on the test battery, and equally across the task. This concurs with previous research that states dual binding is a healthy function of WM (Luck & Vogel, 1997; Brockermole et al, 2008; Wheeler & Triessman, 2002).
(Para et al., 2017)
How did the asymptomatic carriers do? Does this agree with previous research?
They performed as well as the healthy controls on the test battery (except for Recall of the Rey Figure). However, they performed below cut off (like the Alz patients) for Paired Associative Learning Tasks and Dual-binding.
This concurs with previous findings (Fowler et al., 2002) who found that those who performed worse on the Cambridge Neuropsychological Paired Association Test were more likely to develop Sporadic Alz in the following two years.
(Para et al., 2017)
What is the issue with Paired Associative Tasks? Compared to dual-binding?
These tasks are sensitive to the effects of aging, so it is unclear whether aging causes this deficit.
However, dual-binding is not sensitive to aging (Brockermole et al., 2008).
(Para et al., 2017)
What evidence exists that a task is sensitive to aging?
The hippocampus has been linked to associative learning (Mayes, 2007) (and the Paired Associative Learning task) Hippocampal atrophy is linked to aging. This is inter-item learning, intra-item learning (e.g., dual-binding) is linked to other brain regions and connectivity, not damaged by aging (Zimmer et al., 2002). This may explain why dual binding is difficult, because it requires good connectivity.
(Para et al., 2017)
What do the results from this study and other studies suggest? (2)
The type of information (visual / verbal) and the type of retrieval (recall / recognition) does not matter. Alz affects all of STM binding
The gene mutation causes 100% of ALZ cases
(Para et al., 2017)
What is good about the methodology? (4)
No ceiling effects
No floor effects
The differences in memory performance cannot be attributed to individual ability because the tasks were titrated to each person (like Logie et al., 2004; 2007; Parra et al., 2009).
The tests within the test battery are not sensitive to age/SES/academic ability - no semantic difficulty (Brockermole, 2008).
How many people have Alz?
5.8 million people in the US had Alzheimers in 2019. This equates to 1/10 over 65’s
How does light affect rhythms?
Daylight is an exogenous zeitgeber that is processed by the retina. This acts like a pace maker for the hypothalamus, which regulates rhythms such as sleep-wake and temperature. When it is dark, melatonin secretion increased and body temperature drops.
It also regulates hormones and cortisol, which keeps us alert (peak 6am, trough 12am)
Siffre (1975) method and results
Lived in a cave in a glacial cave for 6 months without zeitgebers. simply ate and slept when he felt like it. Found his natural circadian rhythm (sleep-wake) stayed around 24-25 hours, but sometimes ran to 48 hours.
Without the influence of external factors
What has been recorded regarding light and melatonin? (3)
- Blue light in particular (short wavelength) boosts alertness (mimicks the sun’s light wavelength) and suppresses melatonin secretion.
- The Journal of Metabolism documented that artificial light suppressed melaltonin by 85%.
- Queener, 2017 found participants with blue-monitoring light slept better, for 24 minutes longer and fell asleep faster. They also detected a 58% increase in melatonin production (more than over the counter melatonin prescriptions)
However, at night - blue light may not be the only cause of reduced sleep, as phones etc may be mentally and physically stimulating too. (Rice, 2013)
Types of rhythms and examples
Circadian: 24 hour / day (such as sleep-wake cycle)
Ultradian: Less than a day (e.g,. heart beat, digestion)
Infradian: Over a day (menstrual cycle)
Siffres follow up
Examined the study of aging at age 65. Found his body clock ticked more slowly and sleeping patterns changed
Issues with cave study
Case study, cannot generalise, had contact with the outside world
Folkard (1985) Follow up Method
Sent 12 participants to a cave for 30 days without ex zeit, except for a clock which the experimenters controlled. They agreed to go to bed when the clock said 10:45 and awake at 7:45. Overtime, the experiementers eventually sped the clock up so the days were only 22 hours long.
Folkard (1985) Follow up Results
All but one’s cycle adapted. Showing that body clocks can be easily adapted (particularly in a time where the effect of artificial light was thought to be limited).
Campbell & Murphy (1998) Method and results (how was this measured)
Found that shining light onto the back of participants knees (whilst covering their eyes).
They measured nocturnal melatonin secretion and body temperature.
The cycles advanced and altered their circadian rhythm (up to 3 hours).
Blind contradiction to photosensitive findings
Research has reported however, that blind people often experience bouts of insomnia, as they do not receive light through their retina so their cycle runs freely.
however, the rate of breast cancer amongst blind women is lower (Bacal et al., 2006).
Why is sleep research important? (3)
- To better understand insomnia (1/3 people suffer from at least mild insomnia). Better treat these disorders and relieve distress
- Help to educate people on how to improve their sleep (e.g., do not sleep after playing on phone, as this can alter melatonin production). Flux apps have been developed to produce warmer hues and reduce blue light
- Chronic suppression of melatonin has been linked to some cancers (Gross et al., 2017). E.g., female shift workers have exceptionally high breast cancer incidence rates. And rats given only dim light at night compared to bright light actually reduced their breast cancer growths (Bacal et al., 2006).
Rosenhan (1973) Thud study: What is abnormal and normal behaviour? Context? DSM?
What is considered abnormal is often merely non-conformist. Mental illness is seen as different (e.g., hallucinations).
Context is important: Walking down the street in a bikini is considered strange, but being on the beach 100 metres away in the same outfit is acceptable.
Based on the notion that psychological categorization does more harm than good. The DSM can determine a group of symptoms as psychiatrically abnormal, and change within 5 years to normal.
Rosenhan (1973) Method
12 ‘sane’ participants (men and women, some psychology students, but varied in education and age) were sent to 8 psychiatric hospitals in 5 different states. They ranged in funding, quality of care, patient-staff ratio. They arrived for an interview and reported hearing voices that were strange and difficult to interpret. They reported their life-events preceding the appointment as they were. No other symptoms were reported. Immediately upon admission they stopped ‘performing’. They were asked to keep a journal (originally in secret, then as nobody cared, publically). They engaged normally and commented that their symptoms had resided and that they felt ‘fine’.
Rosenhan (1973) Results
Average hospitalisation period lasted between 7 - 52 days (M = 19).
One was labelled a schizophrenic in remission
35/118 ‘Insane’ patients often reported ‘you’re not crazy’ ‘you’re a journalist or professor’.
Diary writing was seen as compulsive and distrubed behaviour’
Walking the halls from boredom was considered an expression of ‘nervousness’
Follow up study Rosenhan Method
Alerted psychiatric wards that he was sending clinically ‘sane’ patients and that they were tasked with recognising them. They used a scale 1 (confident) - 10 (not confident) that the patients was a pseudopatient
Follow up study Rosenhan Results
41 were alleged to be fake by at least one staff member.
19 were suspected by at least 2 members of staff
In fact, no pseudopateints were sent
One patient who recovered his relationship with his father, fought with his wife and family like any other family, and disciplined his children was considered emotionally instable with violent tendencies.
What does the rosenhan study teach us?
Labelling is a sentence. Once a label sticks, all of a persons behaviour is considered deviant and abnormal.
Asch and Gestalt psychology contest that some personality traits strongly influence impression formation (warm/cold)
Bakker et al (2017)
Why important?
0.5% of people suffer from GD, but they are becoming a sensitive topic and face social stigma. LGBTQ+ is becoming a greater source of conversation in todays political climate, so it is imperative to gain better understanding of the disorder.
Aid legislation
Reduce distress
What is GD? Why is gender identity important? how is it treated around the world?
Psychological distress from a feeling of biological and mental sex incongruence.
Strong and persistent desire to change the sex assigned at birth.
Gender is an integral part of identity (Money & Erhdart, 1972).
In the Netherlands and some other European countries, GD is treated with hormones after the age of 12.
In the US and UK the legal age is 16.
Counselling and family therapy is also advised
Current resting-state research on GD hypotheses (2)?
- GD people have different cerebullum differentiation in FC (Swaab, 2007)
- GD people have different self-perception, types of referential thinking (Burke et al., 2017)
Bakker et al (2017) participation selection
40 cisgender and 40 transgender girls and boys were chosen. No hormonal treatment, but counselling was permitted.
Prepubescent girls and boys were also used as puberty can change FC in the brain
Bakker et al (2017) method
Using fMRI, the boys and girls were exposed to a pheromone that activiates a sex specific response in the brain
Bakker et al (2017) prepubescent results
Pre.pub showed no difference in FC patterns. Concurs with past research that FC develops with brain maturation. Sex-dimorphic brain differences are only detectable after puberty
Bakker et al (2017) adolescent results (3 TYPES)
- VN: Visual perception of complex stimuli (emotion). GD girls showed a brain activation pattern atypical of their gender, more closely resembled boys. No pattern however was seen for GD boys. Contrasts with previous research (Mueller et al., 2016) –> GD men showed atypical response in this brain region. May be methodological issue (different samples cannot compare)
- Posterior DMN (default mode network). Both boys and girls showed atypical response, This area is linked to referential thinking
- SMA: Linked to motor cortex and body satisfaction (Mueller et al., 2016, Ferri, 2012). Both showed atypical results
Issues with Bakker et al (2017)
- Pediatric sample size is small not culturally diverse
- Restricting the use of hormones can contribute to depression and distress, which in turn can alter brain FC over prolonged periods of time
- It is worth noting that only 16% of adolescent cases of GD continue into adulthood
Loftus (1975) EWT why important? (4)
EWT was a crucial part of testimonial evidence in courts. However, memory has been to be malleable, delicate and subject to persuasion.
Each year, 10,000 people may be wrongfully convicted
Stresses the importance of interviewer training (e.g., avoid leading questions)
Head of APA (Anderson, 2018) found that 33% of EWT were false.
One study found that of 300 incarcerated people, 2/3 were due to EWT.
Loftus (1975) method
Participants were shown a video of a traffic incident, followed by a questionnaire. They were asked a critical question about the speed of the colliding cars. The verbs ‘bumped’ and ‘smashed’ were used.
Loftus (1975) results (2)
Participants using ‘bumped’ reported lower speeds (M = 31mph) and smashed reported higher speeds (M = 41mph).
They were also asked to report whether they saw broken glass. Participants were more likely to report seeing broken glass with the ‘smashed’ verb.
What did Loftus show?
Post-event information can be misleading and alter memory
Issues with Loftus (research using real-world examples) (2)
- Cutshall (1986) interviewed witnesses to real life robberies. He found they provided accurate recall, even with two misleading questions. May not be applicable in real life
- Deffenbaucher (1983) found that stress affected EWT. Accuracy was improved with arousal (up to a point) but this relationship was curviinear. Those who were threatened during an armed robbery were more accurate at recall than onlookers, up to a year later.
Weapon-focus effect
Loftus found that (using eye-tracking) that weapon distracted attention away from the criminals face. Recall for faces was 33% worse in the weapon condition, compared to a control condition
Own-age bias
Rhodes (2012) found that recall was superior for people of similar age.
Preferential Learning hypothesis: Individuals differ in regards to how much expertise they have for age groups. Usually encounter their own more
Differential experience hypothesis: More contact and experience with our own age group
Effect of Delay and Time (2)
Mormon found 35 minutes delay did not effect recall, but after a week - memory started to deteriorate
This may not be reliable as participants may have known they had to remember something
Loftus (1975) showed 150 participants a video of a car. Afterwards they were asked 10 questions (9 were filler).Half were asked ‘how fast was the car going past the barn down the lane’ and the other were asked ‘how fast was the car going down the lane’?. One week later 17% of participants from condition 1 reported seeing a barn, compared to only 2% from condition 2.
Loftus and Palmer (1974) issues
- Was not ecologically valid (video screen, not physically present)
- Did not elicit same emotional response
However, as it was a laboratory study, it is easy to replicate
How did EWT research emerge?
Memory research involved revising and reciting lists (Crowder, 1979). Research also focused on what people forget, not what they REMEMBER.
Real life example of EWT
Morgan & Loftus (2013) accompanied the US military to observe their interogation training. Soldiers were interogated for 3 minutes (aggressively and sometimes with mild violence). Using misleading questions, 85% false identified their torturer, and identified a man that looked completely different.
How did Loftus discover memory planting?
Patients were exiting specific branches of psychotherapy (using dream analysis and imagination exercises) with rich false memories of horrific and satanic experiences, even of pregnancies being terminated with stabbings. However, no physical evidence suggested that this actually happened.
Research on memory planting (4)
- Loftus originally used the scenario of a child being lost in a mall, but this was considered to realistic.
- However, in Tennesse participants were convinced they had nearly drowned when they were children and in 3. Canada, nearly half believed they had been attacked by a dog.
- Loftus planted false memories of food aversions and observed that these participants actually avoided these foods at picnics
Fraser, 2012
Many Americans will recall watching the second tower fall within an hour of the first plane hitting on 9/11. However, there was no media broadcasting of the second tower until a day later. These memories are reconstructed and combined with existing memories to be congruent with other information, post-event
Who is susceptible to memory alterations? (5)
- Compliant personalities
- Martin and Halversons 1981 - if it is consistent with your schema. For example, children remembered and altered images to fit with their gender schemas (e.g., a boy wearing a dress was recalled as a girl wearing a dress)
- Milgram (1970s) experiment showed that authority can heavily influence obedience. If questioned, those who are compliant may alter their memories
- Expert effect - the presence of an ‘expert’ may cause a witness to doubt their memories in favour of the experts
- Loftus found that people with larger brains and smarter individuals were less effected by misleading information
Issues with EWT research (2)
- Planting false memories is disturbing. Loftus beleived however that the temporary discomfort was outweighed by the importance of EWT research as memory was being abused.
- Currently, there is no clear theory underpinning the misinformation effect
What good has come of EWT research?
- In 2012, APA compiled an advisory brief and presented it to the Supreme Court, emphasizing the importance of EWT and the need for courts to scrutinize it better. The bill was not passed on grounds that more research is needed. This at least has got the ball rolling.
- Loftus opened up the development of the cognitive interview (Fischer & Giesllman, 1992).
Fischer & Giesllman, 1992
COG INTERVIEW
- REPORT EVERYTHING
- REINSTATE MENTAL CONTEXT
- CHANGE ORDER
- CHANGE PERSPECTIVE
Meta-analysis found that compared to regular interviews, the cog int. retrieved 34% more information.
However, in the police resources and time are limited, both of which are required for the cog int.
Individual differences in sleep
Younger people sleep more than elderly people, wake up to 6x a night (leads to napping in the day)
Adolescents have phase delay (wake up later, groggy)
Adult sleep patterns: Typically 8 hours (25%) REM, childhood disorders disappear but apnoea / insomnia increases in frequency.
Kripke (2002)
Mortality and sleep
Those who slept for less than 7 hours had 15% increase in mortality rate
Those who slept for over 9 hours had 30% increase
Cultural differences in sleep
Tynjala (2003) 40,000 adolescents from 11 countries. Found psychoactive substances and use of leisure time correlated with sleep
Finnish children had the most issues sleeping (girls more than boys) and woke feeling tired
Swiss children slept the most (10 hours), Israeli children slept the least (8 hours)
Cultural factors must be considered, e.g., staying outside late will affect sleep (Spanish children’s bedtime was 11pm).
Why is GD SEVERELY important
- Socially isolated from social stigma.
- Can experience impaired relationships, particularly with those who hold negative views.
- Suicide rates are extremely prevalent within trans communities. In Sweden, 19x more likely. Goldblum (2012) found 18-45% of trans people had considered suicide, compared to only 4.6% of nontrans people.
Salmon et al. (2002)
Found from 101 participants (diagnosed with mild AD), that neuropsychological tests (verbal recall, fluency etc) were highly sensitive (98%) and specific (93%) at diagnosing mild early onset AD.
Although follows ups each year are needed to check on the dementia assessment, as some (11%) of patients were wrongly diagnosed. Also shows how and why some doctors are concerned about using the Mini Mental State Examination to diagnose, as it is victim of false positive diagnoses.
Real world issues from shift work (sleep deprivation)
- Most night-shift worker accidents occur between 12-4am (when cortisol levels are lowest) - circadian trough
- Many disasters have occured (e.g., Chernobyl)
- Shift workers (working for 15 years or more) are 3x more likely to develop heart disease, and 62% more likely to develop breast cancer.
