8. SINGLE CASE RESEARCH Flashcards
(38 cards)
What is single case research?
Research focusing on the behaviour of an individual.
What are the two main types of single case research?
Case studies and single-case experiments.
What is a case study?
An intensive, detailed study of a single individual or unit.
What is a single-case experiment?
An experiment using repeated measurements of an individual over time.
What is the goal of case studies?
To generate new research questions and study rare phenomena.
What is the goal of single-case experiments?
To evaluate the effect of interventions on individual behaviour.
What is the difference between nomothetic and idiographic research?
Nomothetic focuses on groups; idiographic focuses on individuals.
What is the focus of nomothetic research?
Universal laws and generalisation across individuals.
What is the focus of idiographic research?
The uniqueness and richness of individual cases.
Who is Gustav Fechner?
The founder of psychophysics, who linked physical sensations to the mind.
What is the Fechner-Weber law?
The perceived intensity of a sensation increases logarithmically with the stimulus intensity.
Who is Herman Ebbinghaus?
A psychologist who studied memory using nonsense syllables on himself.
What is the forgetting curve?
A graph showing how information is lost over time if not reinforced.
Who is Paul Broca?
A neurologist who identified Broca’s area, involved in speech production.
What is Broca’s area?
A region in the frontal lobe responsible for speech production.
What is amnesia?
A memory disorder caused by brain damage or trauma.
What is anterograde amnesia?
The inability to form new long-term memories after a trauma.
What is retrograde amnesia?
The inability to recall memories from before a trauma.
Who was H.M.?
A famous amnesia patient with intact STM but impaired LTM after lobectomy.
Who was Clive Wearing?
A musician with severe anterograde and retrograde amnesia, but intact procedural memory.
What is split-brain research?
Studies on patients with a severed corpus callosum to alleviate epilepsy.
What is hemispheric lateralization?
The specialization of brain hemispheres for different functions.
What did Roger Sperry’s split-brain studies show?
The left hemisphere handles language, while the right handles spatial tasks.
Who is Sigmund Freud?
The founder of psychoanalysis, known for using case studies.
