Blakemore and Cooper Flashcards
which area is this?
biological
aim 1
investigate the development of the primary visual cortex in cats
aim 2
consider whether brain development/plasticity was due to nurture rather than nature
sample
kittens hand raised in the dark
randomly allocated to diff conditions
only two (1 in each condition ended up being reported on)
method
lab
design
independent measures design
Iv
reared in a vertical or horizontal environment
Dv
if the kitten could detect the opposite IV condition
EX can a kitten raised in a horizontal environment detect vertically aligned objects
materials
-glass platform
cylindrical with black and white lines fitting 1/2 IV conditions
-collar on kitten so can’t see own body
-can’t see top or bottom of the barrel
procedure
raised in the dark other than the 5 hrs a day in virtical/horizontal environment
-at 5 months they were then put in a fully lit normal room and behaviour was observed
-also did 2 selectivity tasks
Task one lines
perspex with black and white lines ether horizontal or vertical were thrusted at the kitten to see if they had a startle response to the lines
task two stick
a stick was waved in front of the kitten ether horizontally or vertically and if they tried to chase it they had perceived it
2 kitten testing 7.5mths
at 7 month old they took a kitten from each condition and electrodes were planted into the brain to measure activity of neurons when presented with bars of light of both conditions
behavioural findings (permanant)
kittens didn’t startle lines of opposite condition were thrust towards them
kittens didn’t chase stick in other condition
EX horizontally raised kittens didn’t startle at vertical lines
behavioural findings (non permanent)
no startle response for ten hours
no visual placing reflex for ten hours
