Canli et. al

Question 1

Background

Answer 1

People are more likely to recall emotional experiences compared to non-emotional ones
amygdala appears to play a critical rolein such an enhancement of emotional damage

Question 2

Past studied using PET and MRI scans have shown correlations between?

Answer 2

the amygdala activation and the presentation and recall of emotional stimuli

Question 3

What is a structural scan

Answer 3

it takes detailed pictures of the brain

Question 4

what is a functional scan

Answer 4

shows activity levels in different areas of the brain

Question 5

what is the amygdala? (4)

psychology being investigated

Answer 5

almond shaped
set of neurons
located in the brain’s medial temporal lobe
plays a key role in the processing of emotions

Question 6

What is the fMRI

psycholgoy being investigated

Answer 6

it is a neuroimaging procedure using MRI technology that measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow

Question 7

How does the fMRI work?

3 key notes

Answer 7

non-invasive brain scanning technique
uses radio waves, coupled with a strong magnetic field, to get a detailed view of the brain

The fMRI sends a magnetic field through a person’s head. This causes the nuclei in hydrogen particles to spin a particular way and the scanner pics this up. Because hydrogen concentrations vary in different parts of the brain, a detailed picture is made.

Question 8

Method

Answer 8

Lab experiment and correlational study

Question 9

Design

Answer 9

Independant measures design

Question 10

Sample (3)

Answer 10

10 women
all righthanded
volunteer

Question 11

why were there only women include in the study

Answer 11

because they report emotional experiences more and show more psychological reactivity with valence judgements

Question 12

Aims

2

Answer 12

1. to investigate whether the amygdala is sensitive to varying degrees of individual emotional experiences
2. To test the role of the amygdala and the memory that is associated with intense emotion

Question 13

IV

Answer 13

intensity ratings of each stimulus

Question 14

DV

Answer 14

self report percentages of forgotten, familiar or remembered

Question 15

Correlations between the amygdala activation and the presentation and recall of emotional stimuli were because of what three reasons

Answer 15

1. Some individuals are more responsive to emotional experiences than others (amygdala activation= personality)
2. Some individuals may have already been in a state that enhanced responsiveness during scanning
3. Amygdala activation= individual emotional experience

Question 16

Summary of procedure (5)

Answer 16

• ppts saw neutral and negative scene
• they then indicated how they experienced the emotional intensity of each scene
• a separate fMRI scan was recorded for each experience
• three weeks later, ppts memories were assessed
• each amygdala response could be related to the pts report of emotional intensity

Question 17

neutral emotions are?

Answer 17

○ those that do not cause activation of the sympathetic nervous system
○ e.g. person walking on street, birds flying

Question 18

Negative intense emotions are?

Answer 18

○ those that will activate the sympathetic nervous system
○ e.g. Someone fighting

Question 19

Apparatus

Answer 19

• fMRI scanner
• 96 pictures from the International Affective Picture System each with ratings on valence and arousal

Question 20

How was readings on the MRI calculated (2)

Answer 20

• ppts were measured first at baseline then at activation
• baseline tasks are an objective measure of testing the intervention of a procedure

Question 21

What did participants do after seeing the fixation cross (4)

Answer 21

• they had to indicate their emotional arousal
• by pressing a button
• they had to choose one of four buttons
• 0 being not emotionally intense at all and 3 being extremely emotionally intense

Question 22

Describe the recognition test (4)

Answer 22

• included old 96 scenes and new 48 scenes
• new scenes had been matched with valence and arousal
• asked if they had seen picture before,
  remember= certain
  know= less confident
  no= don’t remember

Question 23

where were the photographs from

Answer 23

international affective picture system

Question 24

How long was each picture presented for

Answer 24

2.88 seconds

Question 25

what was the time difference between pictures

Answer 25

12.96 seconds

Question 26

How were the scenes viewed

Answer 26

through a mirror directed at a back-projected screen

Question 27

How was head movement minimised

Answer 27

- by using a bite bar that was formed with each subject's dental impression - motion artifact was examined and corrected automatically

Question 28

Why would they look at the fixation cross

Answer 28

to make sure that they are looking at the same spot

Question 29

how many new foils were there

Answer 29

48

Question 30

What was the correlational map for

Answer 30

to show correlation between brain activation and subject arousal ratings and memory scores

Question 31

# correlation conc 1

Answer 31

amygdala activation is significantly correlated with higher ratings of individually experienced emotional intensity

Question 32

# sensitive to conc 2

Answer 32

amygdala is sensitive to individually experienced emotional intensity of visual scenes

Question 33

How is there application to everyday life

Answer 33

the findings of the study may be useful for advertising agencies. If emotionally intense information is more likely to be recognised or recalled then ads may be designed to contain intense imagery

Question 34

Controls (3)

Answer 34

- order of pictures were randomised - each pic presented for 2.88s 0 12.96 secs between the pics

Question 35

Result 1- self report

Answer 35

0- 29% 1- 22% 2- 24% 3- 25% therefore, difference in recall was not caused by the number of scenes in each category

Question 36

Result 2- activation

Answer 36

amygdala activation was significantly bilaterally correlated with ratings of emotional arousal

Question 37

Result 3- memory recall

Answer 37

Memory recall was better for pictures rated '3' compared to others. 42% of scenes rated '3' were remembered

Question 38

Result 4- left amygdala

Answer 38

left amygdala was found to correlate with the emotional intensity of the memory

Question 39

Result 5- about not amygdala

Answer 39

other brain locations in the frontal and temporal regions also correlated with emotional experiences and subsequent memory

Question 40

Arousal

Answer 40

how active the SNS is when exposed to a stimuli

Question 41

Valence

Answer 41

attractiveness or aversiveness of an event or situation

Question 42

Reliable? Yes (2)

Answer 42

Uses scientific equipment such as the fMRI scan has standardised procedures such as 2.88s to look at scene

Question 43

Generalisable?

Answer 43

Has an all female sample. This means that it can't be generalised to men As the ways in which males and females process emotional information may be different and therefore conclusions about brain regions may only apply to females

Question 44

Correlational approach, good?

Answer 44

analyses used in correlational mapping which only shows relationship between the valence of pictures and brain activation. Therefore, cause and effect may not be established as extraneous variables are not considered

Question 45

Ethics- protection

Answer 45

participants were exposed to emotionally charged imagery which may have stressed some of them No happy imagery was used to alleviate any negative mental state that they may have developed.

Question 46

Why would study be difficult for children (2)

Answer 46

- children might need to stay still - may be scared of machine

Question 47

Nature points (4)

Answer 47

- the study is about brain function which is a biological mechanism - amygdala is part of brain hence is biological - blood-oxygen levels were measured, which is biological in nature - females were used due to them being more likely to show emotional reactions which is a biological difference to men

Question 48

Explain why the study is from the biological approach

Answer 48

- study was investigating role of amygdala in memories. Biological approach is interested in role of the brain in our behaviour

Question 49

Weakness of using brain scans (2)

Answer 49

- people may act differently compared to when having the scan so emotional intensity in real life-situation may have been different - people may feel stressed when doing the scan affecting their rating of emotional intensity reducing validity