PSYCHOLOGY IB EXAM

Study 3: Wernicke (1874

AIM To investigate the localization of function in patients with brain damage. Like Broca, Wernicke wanted to investigate another speech/language and comprehension disorder, in which he believed, resulted from a different area than Broca's area responsible for the comprehension of speech. Method: Wernicke worked in a similar fashion to Broca, by noting behavior and conducting post-mortem autopsies to locate brain damage after patients had died, particularly in stroke victims. Results: After performing the autopsies, Wernicke concluded that there was a section of the brain which was responsible for the comprehension of speech. The area later became known as Wernicke's area. Individuals with this type of aphasia might have problems understanding the speech of others or might substitute wrong words into planned phrases. He now had evidence that damage to Wernicke's area was responsible for the loss of ability to comprehend and understand speech, but still being able to speak. Conclusion: Through this study, Wernicke concluded that the area named after him (Wernicke's area) is responsible for an impairment of comprehending/understanding language. Through studies like Wernicke and Broca's, it became clear that specific parts of the brain were responsible for specific human activities and behavior. However, it was still very difficult to find ways to investigate this further, as cases

Jacowitz, K. E., & Kahneman, D 1995

Aim - to investigate the role of the anchoring bias in charitable donations Procedure- Researchers told participants in the San Francisco Exploratorium about the environmental damage caused by oil tankers in the Pacific Ocean and asked about their willingness to make an annual contribution to "save 50,000 offshore Pacific Coast seabirds from small offshore oil spills, until ways are found to prevent spills or require tanker owners to pay for the operation." They were then asked one of three questions: It would be great if you would be willing to contribute at least $5. How much would you be able to contribute? (Low anchor condition) It would be great if you would be willing to contribute at least $400. How much would you be able to contribute? (High anchor condition) It would be great if you would be willing to contribute. How much would you be able to contribute? (Control) Results- When no anchor was mentioned (the control group), the visitors on average said that they were willing to contribute $64.00. In the low anchor condition, the visitors on average said that they were willing to contribute $20.00 In the high anchor condition, the visitors on average said that they were willing to contribute $143.00 Conclusion It is clear from this experiment that the "anchor" had a major effect on the individuals' decision making. When the anchor was low, the contribution was low - but not in comparison to the anchor. Since the anchor was only 5 dollars, 20 dollars is four times the value of the original request. The high anchor was clearly too high for the participants, but they based their decision on the original anchor, with a much higher value that they were willing to donate when compared to either the control or low anchor group

Janowsky Study of: Noradrenaline levels and Depression (1972)

Aim To study the interaction of noradrenaline on depression Procedure: The researchers gave participants and drug (physostigmine) that reduced the levels of noradrenalin in the synaptic gap. Findings- Within minutes the participants reported feeling profoundly depressed and experienced feelings of self-hate and suicide wishes. Conclusions- Noradrenaline has an affect on depression, and may be a contributing etiology Criticisms- While noradrenalin levels can affect depression, there is no cause and effect relationship between the two.

Speisman et al. (1964)

Aim- To demonstrate the influence of appraisal on emotional experiences. Method: Participants were shown a 'stressful' film about 'unpleasant' genital surgery depicting Aboriginal boys have circumcision in the context of puberty. Accompanied by soundtrack, in which investigators manipulated the 'appraisal' of the surgery by showing the film with 3 conditions + 1 control: a) The trauma condition: participants could hear the noises of the surgery and they were also told just how painful this surgery is; b) The intellectualization condition: the participants heard a voice-over by an anthropologist explaining the history of the tradition c) The denial condition: the overall tone of the presentation was about the celebration of these young boys becoming men d) Silent - nothing Arousal state measured by galvanic skin response (GSR) measure of electrical conductivity of skin and indicator of autonomic arousal and heart rate. Findings: 1) Observations and self-reports showed that participants reacted more 'emotionally' to the soundtrack that was more traumatic. 2) Lowest in intellectualization and silent conditions. Conclusion Thus, according to appraisal theory, it can be concluded that the music affected the appraisal of the situation, which in turn affected the emotional reaction to it. Supports 2 factor theory of emotion

Martinez and Kessner 1991

Aim- To see the role that acetylcholine has on memory formation. How was this "formation of memory" tested with lab rats? The lab rats were put under three different controls: 1. Rats were injected with scopolamine (drug), which is known to block acetylcholine receptor proteins on the post-synaptic neurones. This means that acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter expected to help form memories cannot travel from one neuron to another, i.e. no nerve impulse is sent across neurones. 2. Rats were injected with physostigmine, a drug that is antagonistic towards acetylcholinesterase. Cholinesterase (or acetylcholinesterase) is what cleans up the acetylcholine from receptor proteins on the post-synaptic neurones, returning the neurones to their "resting potential", where no nerve impulse is being sent. Physostigmine blocks cholinesterase which prevents this "cleaning-up" of acetylcholine. 3. Rats were not injected or altered in any form at all. Procedure: 1. All rats were placed in the maze individually and completed the maze (maze had reward of food at the end) 2. Rats were given their respective treatments (see 3 groups above) 3. Rats were placed in maze individually and time taken to complete maze was measured Results Condition 1 (rats that were injected with scopolamine) took the longest to complete the maze Condition 2 (rats that were injected with physostigmine) took the shortest amount of time to complete the maze Condition 3 (rats with no treatment) had maze-completion times between the condition 1 and condition 2 rats Conclusion- Scopolamine has the effect of preventing or slowing down the process of memory formation. This can be concluded because the rats given scopolamine took the longest to complete their mazes. Acetylcholine is involved in memory. - Acetylcholine is involved in memory formation because the condition 2 rats were quickest in completing the maze. The more acetylcholine is available, the more productive memory formation is.

Goel and Dolan 2003

Aim- To understand the associated functional neuroanatomy of Dual Processing through this belief-bias Procedure- 14 volunteers using event-related fMRI, as they performed reasoning tasks under neutral, facilitatory (acting to induce or assist the facilitation of neural activity) and inhibitory belief conditions. Results- evidence for the engagement of a left temporal lobe system during belief-based reasoning and a bilateral parietal lobe system during belief-neutral reasoning. Activation of right lateral prefrontal cortex was evident when subjects inhibited a response associated with belief-bias (system 2) and correctly completed a logical task, a finding consistent with its putative role in cognitive monitoring. By contrast, when logical reasoning was overcome by belief-bias, there was engagement of ventral medial prefrontal cortex, a region implicated in affective processing. (system 1) Conclusion- different mental processes were competing for control of the response to the problems given in the belief-bias test. The prefrontal cortex was critical in detecting and resolving conflicts, which are characteristic of System 2, and had already been associated with that System 2. The ventral medial prefrontal cortex, known to be associated with the more intuitive or heuristic responses of System 1, was the area in competition with the prefrontal cortex

LeVay (1991

Aim- to examine the nuclei of the anterior hypothalamus of the brain. This part of the brain plays a role in the regulation of male-typical sexual behavior. Method- Quazi Study/Experiment (no random allocation of groups) Procedure- Brain tissue was obtained from 41 subjects at routine autopsies of people who died at seven metropolitan hospitals in New York and California. 19 were homosexual men who had died of complications resulting from AIDS. 16 were presumed heterosexual males - six of them died of AIDS and ten of other causes. Six subjects were presumed heterosexual women - one had died of AIDS, the five others of other causes. Result- the INAH3 nuclei of the hypothalamus was more than twice as large in the heterosexual men as in homosexual men. There was a similar difference between the heterosexual men and the women Conclusion- There is a correlation between hypothalamic structure and sexual orientation in men.

Reid Montague

Aim- to investigate cognition of consumers' preferences. Procedure- Invited 70 participants to a blind taste test of Pepsi and Coca-Cola. They were then placed into the fMRI machine for scanning their brain activity. Participants were asked to rate the two after the blind test. P's were then told which drink was Coke and which was Pepsi. They samples the two drinks. Were given an fMRI and ask to rate their preference. Results- Pepsi was by far the most preferred drink in the blind test. The Ventral Putamen, part of the brain's pleasure center, was shown to be more active, in the fMRI scans when tasting Pepsi over Coke. However, when the P's knew which drink was which Coke was the preferred drink and fMRI showed a different part of the brain , the medial prefrontal cortex was more active Conclusion- The cerebral cortex intervened with its higher cognitive processes and triumphed over the immediate feeling of reward that was evoked by the taste impression showing that our judgement of what we believe as products that our "us" over-ride our actual preferences. fMRI scans (neuroplasticity technology) can be used for identifying consumer preferences

Winkielman et al 1998

Aim- to investigate the availability heuristic and memory Procedure- Participants in two groups were asked to either recall four childhood memories, or 12 childhood memories from each age in their childhood in response to word prompts. For example, participants might have been asked to recall a memory from age 7 that related to the keyword "apple". Afterwards, both groups were asked whether there were some large chunks of their childhood that they couldn't recall. Results- Participants who had to recall 12 childhood events (a difficult task) were more likely to infer that they could not remember large parts of their childhood than participants who had to recall 4 events (an easy task), although the former recalled three times as many events. This pattern of results suggests that memory judgments are based on the experienced ease or difficulty of recall. Conclusion- the negative impact of recalling 12 events was attenuated when participants were led to attribute the experienced difficulty to the task rather than to the poor quality of their memory. The findings emphasize the role of subjective experiences and attribution in meta-memory judgments.

Baumgartner 2008

Aim- to investigate the role of oxytocin following breaches of trust. Procedure Researchers used an fMRI to study the role of oxytocin in creating trust between participants during a social game called the "trust game." In a typical trust game, an investor (player 1) must decide whether he or she will keep a sum of money (for example 10 dollars) or share it with a trustee (player 2). If the sum is shared, the investment is tripled (30 dollars). Player 2 (the trustee) now has to decide whether he or she will repay the trust by sharing the gain with player 1 so that each gets 15 dollars or violate the trust by keeping the money. This game is thus built upon the dilemma of either trusting or not trusting. Trusting is profitable but there is also a risk in trusting. 49 participants were placed in an fMRI scanner. They received either oxytocin or a placebo via a nasal spray. Participants were then told to act as investors in several rounds of a trust game with different trustees. In a second condition, they were told that they were going to play a "risk game" with a computer, instead of with another human being. The participants received feedback from the experimenters in which they were told that their decisions had resulted in poor investment because their trust had been broken. They were then asked to make the next investment decision. Results- Participants who had received a placebo before they started playing were more likely to decrease their rate of trust after they had been briefed that their trust had been broken. Participants who had received oxytocin in the nasal spray continued to invest at similar rates. Participants in the oxytocin group showed decreases in responses in the amygdala. The amygdala is a structure in the brain involved in emotional processing and fear learning. It has many oxytocin receptors. Conclusion- Oxytocin may facilitate the expression of trust even after trust has been violated by potentially lowering defense mechanisms associated with social risk. Oxytocin could explain why people are able to restore trust and forgive in long-term relationships

Tali Sharot

Aim-Investigate upon the existence of Flashbulb Memory. Procedure-24 witnesses of the 9/11 incident were found from different location of Manhattan as subjects. Subjects were placed in an fMRI machine. Subjects were asked to recall the event of 9/11. Subjects were then asked to recall their summer holiday (for control purpose). Findings- People closer to where the event happened (where the World Trade Center was) had a more in-depth recall of the event. When compared to subject's summer holiday, the level of detail given for 9/11 incident was higher. Parahippocampal Gyrus - responsible for LTM retrieval was relatively inactive when recalling memories from 9/11 when compared to recalling events from summer holiday. Amygdala (responsible for processing memory of emotional reaction) was relatively more active when recalling memories from 9/11. Conclusion -Different part of the brain was used for different Flashbulb Memory retrieval and general LTM retrieval. Supports Flashbulb Memory as a different type of memory than LTM.

Newcomer 1999

Aim-to investigate whether high levels of the stress hormone cortisol interfere with verbal declarative memory. Procedure- All participants were employees or students at the Washington University Medical Center. Condition 1 - high level of cortisol: The participants in the high level cortisol group were given a tablet containing 160 mg of cortisol on each day of the four-day experiment. This dose of cortisol produces blood levels similar to those seen in people experiencing a major stress event. Condition 2 - low level of cortisol: The participants in the low level of cortisol group were given a tablet containing 40 mg of cortisol per day. This dose is similar to the amount of cortisol circulating in the blood stream of people undergoing minor surgical procedures such as having stitches removed. Condition 3 - placebo group: The participants in this condition were given placebo tablets - that is, a tablet that looked like the other tablets but with no active ingredient. This was done in order to have a control group. Participants were assigned on a matched-pair design for gender and age. The experiment was done under a double-blind control. All participants were asked to listen to and recall parts of a prose paragraph. This tested their verbal declarative memory. It is known that verbal declarative memory is often affected during long-term stress and the researchers knew from previous studies that cortisol could be involved in memory impairment. Results- The high-level group performed worse on the verbal declarative memory test than the low-level group. They performed below placebo levels after day 1. The low-level group (mild stress) showed no memory decrease. Conclusion: The experiment shows that an increase in cortisol over a period has a negative effect on memory.

Study Broca - "Tan" (1861)

Aim: To investigate the localization of function in a patient called "Tan." Broca wanted to investigate Tan's unusually language ability/capability by studying his brain. Method: Broca studied a patient over a number of years (as it was a longitudinal study), known as "Tan," because it was one of the few sounds he could make. After Tan died, Broca conducted a post-mortem autopsy on this patient (and several others) to figure out what part of the brain caused his or similar conditions. Results: After performing the autopsy, he now had evidence that damage to a specific area of the brain was responsible for the loss of ability to produce coherent speech. This area became known as Broca's area. The effects of damage to this part of the brain can most easily be observed in the speech of stroke victims, many of whom are temporarily or permanently unable to produce language, a condition known as Broca's aphasia. Conclusion: Broca concluded that the area named after him (Broca's area) is responsible for an impairment of language in a person. Through this study, new understanding and research had arisen of "localized functions of different parts of the brain, as a result of this finding from early research into the brain by scientists such as Broca

Atler & Oppenheimer, 2007

Aim: Investigate how font affects thinking Procedure- 40 Princeton students completed the Cognitive Reflections Test (CRT). This test is made up of 3 questions, and measures whether people use fast thinking to answer the question (and get it wrong) or use slow thinking (and get it right). Half the students were given the CRT in an easy-to-read font, while the other half were given the CRT in a difficult-to-read font Results- Among students given the CRT in easy font, only 10% of participants answered all three questions correctly, while among the students given the CRT in difficult font, 65% of participants were fully correct Conclusion- When a question is written in a difficult-to-read font, this causes participants to slow down, and engage in more deliberate, effortful System 2 thinking, resulting in answering the question correctly. On the other hand, when the question is written in an easy-to-read font, participants use quick, unconscious and automatic System 1 thinking to come up with the obvious (but incorrect) answer

Kahneman & Tversky

Aim: Investigate how the availability heuristic affects judgement Procedure- Participants were asked, "If a random word is taken from the English language, is it more likely that the word starts with the letter K, or that K is the third letter?" Results- Over two thirds (105 out of 152 participants) thought it was more likely that words in English would begin with the letter K (​In fact, there are about twice as many words in the English language that have K as the third letter than there are words that begin with K) Conclusion This results of this study are likely due to the availability heuristic. It is much easier to think of words that begin with the letter K (such as kangaroo, kitchen, kidnap) than words that have K as the third letter (such as acknowledge, ask). Because participants find it easier to recall words that begin with K, they incorrectly assume that there are more such words

Dweck and Blackwell 2007

Aim: The aim is to investigate whether intelligence is affected through student's mind sets (the core belief that abilities are malleable and not fixed) and whether that mind set is critical to adopting learning-oriented behavior. Method: Half a group of students were taught that intelligence can be increased through more exercises that is intelligence is malleable. Another half of students attended a neutral session on memory Results: The students that were trained to adopt a growth mindset about intelligence (that is intelligence is malleable and can be increased through effort- a concept they termed efficacy of effort-were more motivated and showed improvement in math results. The other students had no improvement in math results Conclusion: telling students that intelligence can be developed has incredible impact on their motivation to exert effort in their education and learning.

Raine et al. (1997

Aim: The aim of the experiment was to discover (using PET scans) if murderers who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) show evidence of brain abnormalities. Methods: 41 participants (39 male, 2 female) NGRI's (average age of 34.3) 41 participants (controls), selected based on sex, age and matched to a NGRI participant Each participant was injected with a glucose tracer (bonds to glucose) (for PET scans) Glucose tracers tracks brain activity as the brain absorbs glucose (as energy) PET scans show colorful maps of brain activity; red = most active, blue = least active. They had to perform tasks requiring them to detect target signals for 32 minutes Results: NGRIs had less activity in the pre-frontal cortex Linked to self-control and emotion NGRIs had lower activity in the amygdala and medial temporal hippocampus Thus they were less afraid of being caught and showed more failure to learn consequences for violence acts. Through Raine's study, psychologists were able to determine a link between the amygdala (biological factor) and crime (behavior). And a lack of inhibition of violent behavior Conclusion Certain parts of the brain when not functioning correctly can play a role in violent behavior, especially the amygdala. Variations in structure of the corpus callosum were also seen.

Kahneman and Tversky 1974

Aim: To investigate how anchors influence thinking and decision making Procedure Participants spun a wheel with numbers ranging from 1 to 100. However, the wheel was fixed so that the wheel would always land on either the number 10 or 60. Afterwards, participants were asked to estimate what percentage of U.N. member countries were African countries Results- Participants who spun the number 10 tended to give a significantly lower estimate for African membership in the U.N. than participants who spun the number 60 The mean estimate for the "low anchor" group was 25%, compared to 45% for the "high anchor" group Conclusion The random number had an anchoring effect on participant's estimates for African membership in the U.N., even though it clearly had no relation to the topic

Baddeley and Hitch 1966

Aim: To investigate if participants can use different parts of working memory at the same time. Method: Conducted an experiment in which participants were asked to perform two tasks at the same time (dual task technique) - a digit span task which required them to repeat a list of numbers, and a verbal reasoning task which required them to answer true or false to various questions (e.g., B is followed by A?). Results: As the number of digits increased in the digit span tasks, participants took longer to answer the reasoning questions, but not much longer - only fractions of a second. And, they didn't make any more errors in the verbal reasoning tasks as the number of digits increased. Conclusion: The verbal reasoning task made use of the central executive and the digit span task made use of the phonological loop.

Anderson & Pichert: Schema Buyer/Burglar

Aim: To investigate if schema processing can influence encoding and retrieval. Method: Participants heard a story about two boys who stayed home from school. They went to one of their houses, which was described as isolated with a leaky roof and a damp basement, along with other details. This story was based upon 72 points. Half of the participants were asked to read the story from the POV of the house-buyer and the other half, from the POV of the burglar. Then a distracting task was performed for 12 minutes, followed by a 5-minute delay. After the delay, half of the participants were given a different schema and the other half were told to retain their original schema, then they were asked to recall the story from that schema (buyer or burglar). Results: Showed that the changed schema group recalled 7% more points on the 2nd recall test and that recall of points directly linked to the new schema increased by 10%, whereas recall of points from the previous schema declined. The group that continued with the 1st schema remembered fewer ideas in the 2nd trial. People also encoded information that was irrelevant to their prevailing schema. Conclusion- It was shown that schema processing may effect the retrieval stage.

Ledoux

Aim: To investigate the brain's emotional circuit - effects of lesions on fear conditioning Method: Made lesions in specific neural pathways in rats to determine the functions of the damaged pathways and disrupt the conditioning response. •The lesions were first made in the auditory context where the brain processes sound, then the auditory thalamus - which provides most auditory inputs to the cortex. Findings: The brain structures of the thalamus and the amygdala play different roles in the generation of emotion. Lesion in the auditory cortex rats still learned to fear tone. Lesion in the auditory thalamus eliminated the rats' susceptibility (vulnerability) to fear conditioning. •Most of the cells in the thalamus transmit to the cortex BUT some also transmit to the amygdala, a region of the brain already implicated in various emotional behaviors. Thus indicating that the pathways with lesions led to the thalamus or amygdala, affected emotional responses. Conclusion: •It can be concluded that the biological factor of brain damage to either of these areas would result in issues in generating emotions.

Loftus and Palmer (1974) Aim

Aim: To investigate the effect of leading questions on eye witness testimony of an event Method:P's were shown 7 films of car accidents (5-30 seconds) After each clip, p's were given a questionnaire asking: To give an account of the accident Number of questions, including the critical question "How fast were the cars going when they?" Verb in the critical question was changed to smashed/collided/hit/bumped/contacted Experimental conditions: Participants were split in 5 groups of 9 - each group were asked the question with a different verb Results: Results showed that that the speed estimates were influenced by the wording (verb) used. The more severe-sounding verb produced higher speed estimates For example, 'smashed' gave an estimated 9m/h higher than 'contacted' Conclusion: L & P concluded that the wording of the question did have an effect on the speed estimates given.

Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)

Aim: To investigate the processes of memory that there are different types of memory that are used for different tasks. The multi-store model generally assumes memory is passive and that there are separate cognitive methods by which it is used. Thus, like a computer memory, it needs a separate processor to insert and retrieve memories. Theory (derived from study): The multi-store model consists of three parts, the sensory memory, the short-term memory (STM) and the long term memory (LTM). Some information from the sensory store moves to the STM (limited capacity). Some information from the STM moves to the LTM via constant rehearsal of that information. Once that piece of information is stored in the LTM it is long lasting; perhaps even for a lifetime if that certain piece of information is that strong. The difference in forgetting between STM and LTM is that: memory forgotten from the short term store is lost whereas forgotten memories in the LTM are still in the system but cannot be retrieved.

Brewer and Treyens (1981) "picnic basket"

Aim: To see whether a stereotypical schema of an office would affect memory (recall) of an office Methods: Participants were taken into a university student office and left for 35 seconds before being taken to another room. They were asked to write down as much as they could remember from the office. Results: Participants recalled things of a "typical office" according to their schema. They did not recall the wine and picnic basket that were in the office. Conclusions: Participants' schema of an office influenced their memory of it. They did not recall the wine and picnic basket because it is not part of their "typical office" schema. Strengths: Strict control over variables to determine cause & effect relationship

Peterson & Peterson 1959

Aim: To test the hypothesis that information can only be held in the short term memory for duration of 20 seconds without rehearsal. Procedures: The participants were to remember 48 syllable of three consonants. The participants were also given an interference task (counting backwards in threes from a randomly chosen three digit number). The participants were required to be 100% correct in there recall for the answer to be considered correct. Findings: Recall decreased steadily between 3 and 18 seconds. This suggested that the duration of short term memory is not much more than 18 seconds . Conclusion: The duration of STM is not much more than 18 seconds without rehearsal. Therefore, without rehearsal information stored in the STM is quickly lost without rehearsal. This supports the hypothesis that short term memory has a duration of 20 seconds. It was also found that STM is different from long term memory because LTM has a much longer duration.

Bartlett (1932) War of the Ghost

Aim: to investigate the effects of schemas on participants recall. Schemas include prior expectations, attitudes, prejudices, and stereotypes. Procedure: English participants took part in the experiment. They were shown a range of stimuli including different stories and line drawings. A repeated reproduction method was used as participants were asked to reproduce the stimulus they had seen repeatedly at different time intervals. The story was from another culture and conflicted with the English participants schemas. Their final stories were then analyzed to assess the distortions. Findings: He found considerable distortions in the recollections. These reflected attempts from the participants to make them fit in with their own culture. He found a failure to recall unfamiliar details and elaboration of certain content. The changes made the story easier to remember. Conclusions: Bartlett concluded that the accuracy of memory is low. The participants were actively reconstructing the story to fit their existing schemas, so his schema theory was supported. He also concluded that memory was forever being reconstructed because each reproduction showed more changes.

Marucha 1997

Aim: to investigate whether there is a link between stress and time taken for recovery Method: 11 dental students had their palates punctured (minor pain) during summer, and 3 days before an examination period (stressful period) the researchers then studied how long it took the tissue to heal Result: wounds took 8 days to heal during summer, but 11 days to heal during examination period 40% increase in healing time during stress Interleukin (substance to aid wound healing, as it facilitates regrowth of tissue) Subjects interleukin levels declined 68% during exams Conclusion: cortisol (stress hormone) lowers interleukin levels, meaning that the body will have a weaker immune system, as the body has lower resistance

Dabbs et al. (1995)

Aims: The aim of this experiment was to investigate the relationship between testosterone and both sex and aggression. Methods: They explored the relationship between testosterone levels and types of crimes committed by 692 prison inmates. Results: Men who had committed personal crimes involving sex and violence had significantly higher testosterone levels than men who had committed property crimes Conclusion- Abnormally high testosterone levels is a contributing factor to aggressive behavior in males.

Arnold Berthold (1849)

Aims: The aim of this experiment was to test the effects of testosterone through the castration of roosters. Methods: Quasi Experiment 6 healthy roosters Surgically castrated them (removing testicles thus stopping the production of testosterone) He then divided them into 3 groups of 2 roosters Group 1 - control group- roosters were left in their own capons Group 2 - transplanted with testicles of another rooster Group 3 - reimplanted with their own testicles Results: Berthold observed that the castrated roosters displayed different behavior, where they were less masculine and less aggressive towards other roosters. Such behaviors included a lack of crowing, fighting, and showed a less desire to mate. Those roosters that reacquired testicles behaved like normal roosters again. Autopsy of roosters revealed that the testicles did not re-establish nerve connections with the rest of the body. Conclusions: Berthold concluded that the testicles must have produced a biochemical that influences aggression and dominant male behaviors. This study relates to the function of testosterone because when roosters had testes (which secrete testosterone) they displayed dominant male behaviors and aggression.

Tierney 2001

Background- MA (37-year old man) was participating in a normal speech study. By chance, it was found that he had a lesion in his left frontal lobe, probably due to encephalitis (brain inflammation) suffered when he was a small child. MA had deaf parents so from an early age he had been using sign language to communicate with them. Aim -to find out if another part of the brain can take over functioning, particularly speech, normally localized in the left frontal lobe (Broca's Area). Also, researchers want to know if use of sign language might affect which area of the brain is responsible for speech Procedure- PET scans were used to compare MA's brain to 12 other fluent sign language users while they performed various language and movement tasks. Results- the PET scans showed that MA's right hemisphere was more active than controls' during the production of both speech and sign MA's visuo-spatial abilities were slightly below normal.

CLOA BEGINS

CLOA BEGINS

Clive Wearing case study

Clive Wearing was a musician who got a viral infection - encephalitis. This left him with serious brain damage in the hippocampus (biological cause), which caused memory impairment (effect on cognition) He suffered from anterograde and retrograde amnesia Results: He can not transfer information from STM to LTM. His memory lasted 7-30 seconds, and he is unable to form new memories. Wearing still has the ability to talk, read, write, conduct and sight-read music (procedural knowledge) Wearing's episodic memory and some of his semantic memory were lost. MRI scans of Wearing's brain showed damage to the hippocampus and some of the frontal regions. Conclusion: The case of Clive Wearing provides insight into the biological foundation of different memory systems, which is a cognitive process. Wearing's case highlights the interaction between cognition and physiology as it establishes the link by illustrating the effect of physiological causes in the brain (brain damage occurring in hippocampi region, on the social and cognitive interactions of the individual.

Brown & Kulik (1977)

The aim of the study was the investigate whether dramatic or personally significant events can cause "flashbulb" memories. Procedure: They asked 40 white & 40 black Americans whether they recalled vivid memories of hearing of major events, such as, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, & Martin Luther King. They tested their hypothesis by comparing non-consequential events against consequential events. Results: They found that J.F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963 led to the most flashbulb memories of all participants (90% of participants recalled this in context and with vivid detail) African Americans recalled more FBM's of the assassination of Martin Luther King more than the Caucasians recalled it (as a FBM) For the tenth event (which was self-selected) most participants recalled shocking events like the death of a parent. Conclusions -This study carried out by Brown and Kulik (1977) supported the theories of flashbulb memories whereby they were: a) Form in situations where we encounter surprising and highly emotional information b) Are maintained by means of overt rehearsal (discussion with others) and covert rehearsal (private) c) Differ from other memories in that they are more vivid, last longer and are more consistent and accurate d) Require for their creation the involvement of a specialized neural mechanism which stores information permanently in a unique memory system

Kasumatsu and Hirai

aim: to see how sensory deprivation effects the brain and how serotonin effects behavior procedure: studied Buddhist monks who did a 72 hour pilgrimage to a holy mountain in Japan. They didn't consume water or food, didn't speak, were exposed to cold weather. took a blood sample before the monks ascended into the mountain and immediately after they reported having hallucinations results: after 48 hours the monks started having hallucinations, they found that there were higher levels of serotonin In the monks brains which activated the hypothalamus and frontal cortex resulting in the hallucinations. Conclusion: concluded that sensory deprivation triggered the release of serotonin which altered the way the monks experienced the world (this is a behavior) effects human behavior in terms of arousal and emotion.